Chapter 8: Kidnapping

When Qi Yan slowly drifted back to consciousness, he found himself in a pitch-black cramped space. Feeling the constant vibrations and hearing the sound of a vehicle in motion, he deduced that he was in the cargo hold of a truck, his hands and feet tightly bound.

“Hiss... ow!” His head throbbed with pain—the aftereffect of being knocked out by a stun baton.

“So, you’re awake?” As expected, Li Lan was also locked up with him. Though darkness pressed in on all sides, there was a jumble of objects strewn about.

Qi Yan tried to recall what had happened before he blacked out. Their current predicament proved it wasn’t a dream; indeed, a group had come out of nowhere in the parking lot and abducted them with lightning speed.

“What the hell is this mess?!” The abrupt calamity made him curse under his breath.

Li Lan was tied up right next to him. He let out a long sigh, as if he knew who their captors were and what they wanted. After a long silence, he finally spoke, “I’m sorry. This really has nothing to do with you. I never expected that after they learned my itinerary, they’d intercept me at the airport, let alone in such an extreme way…”

“How much money do you owe them? Is it really worth all this?” Qi Yan blurted out his first thought. The kidnappers had acted with such efficiency; it was obviously premeditated. To brazenly kidnap people in broad daylight—this wasn’t a joke.

He had never offended anyone like this. The only explanation was that their true target was Li Lan, who happened to be with him.

“It’s not about loan sharks. They’re just... people who want my help with something. I’ve refused them repeatedly, so I guess they got desperate and resorted to this.”

Qi Yan’s hands were tied behind his back. His phone, which had been in his pocket, was certainly gone now—and Li Lan was in the same situation.

He could feel from the jolting of the truck that they were moving fast, but he had no idea where they were being taken.

“What sort of job? You’re just a college student—what could they possibly want from you? How did you even get mixed up with a gang like this?”

Li Lan hesitated. Normally, it would be impossible to explain, but he remembered he’d already shared some secrets with Qi Yan. Maybe he’d believe him.

“They want me to help them catch something. Months ago, they offered a huge sum to persuade me, but I refused no matter how they tried. I thought they’d given up after so many failed negotiations, but clearly, they’re more persistent than I imagined.”

The more Qi Yan heard, the more his head spun. Already confused and anxious from the kidnapping, he found Li Lan’s evasiveness infuriating. “Speak clearly! Stop with the riddles. What exactly do they want you to catch?”

Unable to see in the darkness, Qi Yan couldn’t read Li Lan’s expression, but the fear and reluctance in his voice was unmistakable. “An evil thing… I told you before, my constitution is special. I attract things that terrify most people. To put it bluntly, they want me as bait. Do you understand? I’m not talking about something as simple as a wild animal. This is a matter of life and death. No reward is worth that risk.”

“Evil… Oh my God, for Christ’s sake—are there really people out there with a death wish? Are they some kind of ghost catchers? Don’t tell me it’s some secret department nobody knows about! I don’t care what this ‘evil thing’ is—what do they want it for? Planting vegetables?”

Li Lan took a moment to calm him before continuing, “They’re indeed an illegal group. A while back, they somehow got hold of information about me and my sister, realized I had unusual abilities, and approached me. They started out polite. The business they’re in is truly bizarre. It’s like smuggling, only the contraband is things far more terrifying than drugs.”

“Around two months before my trip to Thailand, they discovered clues about a ‘water corpse’ in a wild lake north of Xincheng City, over a hundred and forty miles away, in the forests by Haimu Valley. I suppose they couldn’t capture it themselves, so they needed someone with my kind of constitution.”

Qi Yan arched one eyebrow up and the other down, stunned. “A… water corpse?”

“Yes. I don’t know much about it either, but from what they said, it’s a type of zombie—not the ghostly kind, but a physical entity visible to ordinary people. Unlike traditional zombies, this one lurks in water, making it hard to catch. As for their purpose, they never told me, but I suspect it’s like trafficking looted artifacts—selling to foreign collectors for a high price.”

Qi Yan finally grasped the situation and let out a bitter laugh. He licked his lips and said, “Alright, alright—I’m not interested. I want nothing to do with your… whatever you call this circle. The paranormal world, or maybe the Association of People Who Can’t Leave Well Enough Alone—whatever! To sum it up: they’re an illegal smuggling ring dealing in ‘black goods’. They tried to hire you, you refused, so they resorted to kidnapping. I just got caught in the crossfire because I happened to be with you?”

Li Lan nodded, defeated. “That’s about it…”

Qi Yan snorted in self-mockery. “Great, just great. What a wonderful trip this has been. In under forty-eight hours, I went from being haunted by a ghost in Thailand, to watching my friend lose his mind in front of me, to getting home and not even catching my breath before bumping into you and getting dragged into a crime spree.”

He kept venting, and Li Lan wisely stayed silent, letting him get it all out.

“Do you realize my whole trip to Thailand was paid for on credit cards? I already owe the bank nearly eight thousand. I’m unemployed, broke, and thought my life couldn’t possibly get any worse. But now—ha… compared to the past two days, I actually miss my miserable, useless existence. No, I love my life! What grave did I step on to deserve this fate?”

With that, he slumped against a crate, looking utterly dejected.

After he’d calmed down a bit, Li Lan ventured a suggestion. “Why don’t we try slamming our bodies against the walls? Maybe we’ll attract attention from someone on the road.”

“Don’t be reckless! Who knows what desolate place this truck is headed for? They’ve already taken our phones. Who’s going to notice? Do you want another shock from the baton?”