Chapter 57: That Person Has Already Made Arrangements

"Jiaru, calm down! Do you still have your phone?"

Xu Yunzhou's voice came through the invisible connection, revealing an imperceptible tremble amidst forced calmness.

Song Jiaru tightly gripped the iPhone 5 in her hand:

"Yes."

The other party being so secure in the knowledge that they had strong backing, completely uncaring about her calling for help, showed they were just like the local emperor of this territory.

This unbridled arrogance actually made the situation even trickier.

Xu Yunzhou forced himself to think rapidly:

"Send a message to Song Jinxuan immediately! Tell her you were forcibly taken away by Xu Kun's people, and tell her to contact her cousin Lin Ruoxuan right now!"

He had to grasp every possible lifesaver, even if the hope was slim!

"What? Jinxuan's cousin is Lin Ruoxuan?!"

Song Jiaru's beautiful eyes widened roundly, shock temporarily overwhelming fear,

"Big Brother, what exactly is this..."

"Is now the time to care about gossip?"

Xu Yunzhou was simply about to go crazy.

He quickly tabbed out of the game interface and clicked open that damn [System Mall].

His gaze swept rapidly over rows of flashing skill icons, complaining crazily in his heart:

[Super Hacker Experience Card] — What fucking use is hacking into the other party's system right now! Should I send a virus emoji pack to Xu Kun's phone?

[Soul Painter Experience Card] — Draw a memorial portrait for Xu Kun on the spot to liven things up?

(TL: "Soul Painter" is internet slang for someone whose drawings are abstract/terrible but somehow capture the "soul" of the subject.)

[Peak Basketball Skills Experience Card] — Expect Jiaru to bet on playing basketball with these scums tonight to win her freedom? He is Xu Kun, not Cai Xukun!

(TL: Cai Xukun is a real-life Chinese pop idol famously associated with a viral basketball video meme.)

[Swan Lake Dancer Experience Card] — Dance a little swan for Xu Kun's Hongmen banquet so he discovers his conscience?

(TL: "Hongmen banquet" is a famous historical trap/assassination attempt disguised as a banquet.)

The only one that looked reliable, the [Kung Fu Master Experience Card], could indeed fight, but the other party had numerical superiority.

Moreover, fighting in this kind of enclosed environment, even if she could instantly knock down a few, it was hard to guarantee Jiaru wouldn't get hurt.

It would also completely enrage the other party, inevitably leading to devastating retaliation afterward.

"Motherfucker! Why is this Mall full of useless things!"

Xu Yunzhou cursed lowly in frustration.

Unresigned, he immediately opened a web page again, trying to search historically how Song Jiaru survived this crisis.

However, there were no related reports at all, as if this incident had never happened.

Was it a false alarm that wasn't recorded, or... did something actually happen but wasn't exposed?

Xu Yunzhou felt a wave of headache; the unknown brought even greater fear.

Right at this moment, on the screen, Song Jiaru's phone rang, the name "Song Jinxuan" jumping on the screen.

She answered immediately as if grasping a lifesaver.

"Teacher Song!"

From the other end of the phone, Song Jinxuan's voice came over, unexpectedly calm, even carrying a trace of... weird composure?

"Don't worry, I've already told my cousin. Cousin she... only replied to me with five words."

Song Jiaru and Xu Yunzhou outside the screen held their breath simultaneously.

"She said: 'It's fine, rest assured'."

It's fine, rest assured?

Just these five casually spoken words?

Xu Yunzhou was stunned, a sense of absurdity surging in his heart.

What does Lin Ruoxuan mean by this?

Although she has money, the foundation of her business empire and core connections are all in Jingzhou and Shanghai. Since when could her hand reach the intricately intertwined underground forces here in Chengzhou?

Her intersection with Chengzhou, as far as he knew, was just coming to travel a few times, never having made any substantial investments in this place.

Song Jinxuan's words continued to come over, her tone even more meaningful:

"Cousin also said, that person has already made all arrangements. Told you to rest assured and go with them, at most you'll be a bit frightened, just treat it as... a tempering experience."

Song Jiaru abruptly turned her head, looking in the direction of Xu Yunzhou's illusory figure, her eyes full of inquiry:

"Big Brother, is she talking about you?"

Xu Yunzhou smiled bitterly. Did Lin Ruoxuan treat him as an omniscient and omnipotent god? If he had this ability, would he need to be anxiously worrying here?

Just as his thoughts were spinning like lightning, the moving commercial vehicle slowly decelerated, ultimately stopping in front of a brightly lit, single-family villa occupying quite a large area.

High walls and large courtyards, extraordinarily magnificent, yet also revealing a strict and isolated atmosphere.

The car door was pulled open from the outside. A man wearing a black suit and expressionless face made a "please" gesture:

"Miss Song, Brother Kun has been waiting respectfully for a long time."

Song Jiaru took a deep breath, looked at her phone, then looked at the direction of Xu Yunzhou's illusory figure beside her.

Biting her lower lip tightly with her shell-like teeth, she finally mustered up her life's courage and stepped out of the car, as if walking to the execution ground.

The interior of the villa was extremely luxurious, resplendent and magnificent, yet everywhere revealed a vulgar and oppressive feeling of a nouveau riche.

Leather sofas, mahogany furniture, a cheap "Fierce Tiger Descending the Mountain" painting hanging on the wall.

The man named Xu Kun was about forty-something years old, slightly chubby, wearing a silk Tang suit. Twirling a string of shiny, oiled beads in his hand, he sat boldly in the main seat of the sofa like a general.

Seeing Song Jiaru enter, greedy light instantly burst out from his small eyes. He stood up and extended his thick palm:

"Miss Song, hearing a hundred times is not as good as seeing once! You are indeed even more beautiful and moving than on TV!"

His gaze was like a sticky tongue, licking back and forth over Song Jiaru's body, full of possessiveness.

Song Jiaru trembled all over in fright, subconsciously taking a half step back, completely not daring to touch that hand:

"M-Mr. Xu, I wonder why you sought me out... what is the matter?"

Seeing her dodge, Xu Kun didn't get angry, but instead chuckled:

"Our Chengzhou produced a talent like Miss Song, it brings light to my, Xu's, face! Look, I specifically set up a banquet to celebrate your championship, to make a friend!"

"Thank you for your kind intentions, Mr. Xu,"

Song Jiaru forcefully suppressed her fear, her voice as steady as possible,

"It's getting late, I still have classes tomorrow. If there's nothing else, I would like to go back first."

"Go back?"

Xu Kun's face trembled, as if hearing the biggest joke in the world,

"Miss Song, I mobilized many people in the middle of the night to invite you here, and you say you want to leave just like that. Are you not giving me, Xu Kun, face too much?"

He extended three thick, short fingers, shook them, his tone full of charity and temptation:

"Three million! Just treat it as a meeting gift! Accompany brother for a few drinks tonight, chat, have a deep exchange of feelings... Afterwards, I absolutely won't treat you unfairly!"

This kind of monetary promise was the most common method in their circle to drag A-list female stars into the water.

Back then, a certain popular female star failed to control herself under huge temptation, and from then on was reduced to a tool for her sugar daddy to entertain honored guests.

Song Jiaru's face turned even paler. Pursing her lips tightly, her nails digging deeply into her palms, she shook her head firmly:

"Sorry, Mr. Xu, I am not the kind of person you think I am. I cannot take this money. Please let me leave."

Being rejected consecutively, the fake smile on Xu Kun's face instantly disappeared, replaced by a patch of gloominess.

"Miss Song, it seems you don't know that in this one-mu-three-fen land of Chengzhou, what I, Xu Kun, say is the rule!"

He smiled sinisterly, pointing his finger around,

"Look at this place, beautiful mountains and clear waters, but occasionally if a person or two goes missing, they won't be discovered even after soaking in the lake for a few days, oh?"

The explicit death threat scared Song Jiaru so much she trembled all over:

"Mr. Xu, how much money do you need, I... I'll try my best to find a way to scrape it together for you..."

"Smack!"

Xu Kun abruptly slapped the beads in his hand onto the mahogany coffee table, emitting a harsh sound!

"Refusing a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit?"

(TL: "Refusing a toast..." is an idiom meaning refusing a polite offer and forcing someone to use coercion.)

The huge sound and the oppressive feeling from a group of burly men almost broke Song Jiaru's psychological defense line.

She looked helplessly toward the direction of Xu Yunzhou's illusory figure beside her, letting out a heart-tearing, lung-splitting scream in her heart:

"Big Brother! What do we do?! I can't hold on much longer!"

"Fuck!"

In front of the screen, Xu Yunzhou's anger surged to the heavens, wishing he could drill into the screen immediately and chop this fat pig into meat paste!

But with calmness surpassing his limits, his perspective was like the most precise scanner, rapidly analyzing the scene—positions of doors and windows, distribution of bodyguards, blind spots of vision, the heavy ashtray on the coffee table, possible evacuation routes...

"Jiaru, get ready!"

His voice carried the decisiveness of breaking the cauldrons and sinking the boats,

"Wait for my signal, I will mount you, and we will force our way out! The target is to snatch a car, the keys are highly likely on the driver or that guy at the door!"

Escaping this devil's den comes first before talking!

At worst, flee far away immediately afterward and go straight to seek refuge with Lin Ruoxuan! Anyway, according to history, the destruction of this guy Xu Kun is exactly in this year!

Song Jiaru responded forcefully in her heart, carrying unreserved trust and determination toward him:

"Okay! Big Brother, this body is handed over to you! Even if I have to fight until the fish dies or the net breaks, I don't care!"