"Hahahaha..." A sharp, piercing, and eerie laugh echoed in the closed room, like countless steel needles stabbing at the eardrums, sending chills down one's spine.

"Miss Xu, who said I was scared? I was just checking if I had arrested the wrong person! It seems I didn't!" A cold voice, laced with malice, came from behind.

Qiu Mang swallowed hard, staring intently at the red-flashing surveillance camera above him, and demanded sharply, "Who exactly are you? What is your purpose in kidnapping us here?"

"Yes! Who is behind this? Why don't they dare to show themselves openly?" Xu Jingyan asked angrily, her voice full of vigilance and unease.

"So many questions! I'll only answer one. Have you thought about what you want to ask?" came a childish, affected voice, laced with mockery.

The two exchanged a glance, and Xu Jingyan nodded slightly. Qiu Mang immediately asked, "What do you want in return for letting us out?"

"Let you go? Don't even dream about it! We went to great lengths to 'invite' you two here, how can we just let you go so easily?" The voice was full of sarcasm.

Upon hearing this, the hope in Qiu Mang and Xu Jingyan's eyes vanished instantly, and despair overwhelmed them like a tidal wave.

Seeing that her tough attitude was ineffective, Xu Jingyan immediately changed to a gentler tone and tried to bribe her: "If my parents find out that I'm missing, they will be extremely worried and will definitely call the police."

How about we make a deal? If you keep me locked up here, you won't get anything, and you'll have to worry about the police coming to your door all the time. But if you let me out, I promise my dad will give you a huge sum of money. How about it?

The room fell into dead silence, and the childlike voice remained unresponsive for a long time, seemingly weighing the pros and cons.

Xu Jingyan forced a smile and continued to assure her, "Don't worry, I mean what I say!"

“Miss Xu, you’re too naive. If you want money, I have plenty of ways to get it. Why choose the most dangerous one?” The childish voice rang out again, tinged with contempt. “Just stay put! There’s another ‘guest’ coming this afternoon, so you’ll just have to wait.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than a chilling, almost perverse laugh erupted in the room once more.

Xu Jingyan shuddered and instinctively shrank back, goosebumps crawling all over her body.

Qiu Mang also felt a chill run down her spine.

On the other side, Lu Haifeng slammed his laptop shut, leaned back in his swivel chair and spun around rapidly, his eyes flashing with a morbid madness.

He muttered to himself, "Lu Yanting, Lu Yanting, so many years have passed, it's time to catch up!"

Qiu Mang looked down at the timer on his chest, which was constantly ticking away. Time was ticking away second by second.

"Qiu Mang, what should we do? Do you have a way to escape?" Xu Jingyan asked anxiously, her voice trembling with tears.

"This bomb will explode in two hours. If we can defuse it and escape within that time, we can survive..."

As Qiu Mang spoke, he glanced at the rusty, tightly locked iron gate, then looked up at the tiny window, which was three meters above the ground and no bigger than a palm, and shook his head helplessly.

"But now, even if we can untie the ropes, escaping will be as difficult as climbing to the sky."

At 3 p.m., a black Maybach stopped in front of the abandoned factory.

Yan Kaili landed, pushed open the car door, quickly walked to the back seat, and respectfully opened the car door.

Lu Yanting was dressed in a black windbreaker and black military boots, exuding a sharp aura, completely different from his usual elite appearance in a suit and tie.

"Brother Feng, Lu Yanting has indeed arrived!" Qiu Hui shouted excitedly from the window, holding binoculars.

"Of course he'll come. Let's go, we should go 'welcome' this distinguished guest!" Lu Haifeng slowly stood up, his hands clenched into fists, his eyes surging with overwhelming hatred.

Lu Yanting strode open the rusty factory gate. In the dim light, the first floor of the factory looked particularly gloomy.

Ten meters away, on a dilapidated chair, a man was sitting leisurely with his legs crossed, and a burly man was standing next to him.

With a wave of his hand, the man summoned several men in black who immediately emerged from the darkness.

The men in black searched Lu Yanting and Yan Kai thoroughly, and after finding that they were not carrying any weapons, they left, closing the door behind them.

The entire space was plunged into darkness.

"Long time no see, Brother Yanting..." Lu Haifeng said with a half-smile, his tone full of provocation.

"Lu Haifeng! It's you!" Lu Yanting's eyes turned cold as he stared at the other person warily.

"Yeah, long time no see, bro~" Lu Haifeng twitched the corners of his mouth, revealing a sinister smile that sent chills down one's spine.

"Weren't you abroad? Why did you suddenly come back?" Lu Yanting asked, his voice low and icy, one hand in his pocket.

Lu Haifeng curled his lips into a smile, but the smile didn't reach his eyes: "Look at what you're saying. As a citizen of China, do I need to report to anyone when I return to my own country?"

In the darkness, his eyes gleamed with a hateful light, like a poisoned blade. "Speaking of which, I am not only Chinese, but also of the Lu family bloodline. I thought that after so many years of not returning, it wouldn't be right to come empty-handed, so I specially prepared a gift for you—those snakes, insects, and rats. Do you like them?"

"It really is you!" Lu Yanting's voice seemed to come from the deepest hell, and he exuded a suffocating sense of oppression.

"Judging from this reaction, you should be quite satisfied, brother, right?" Lu Haifeng smiled sinisterly.

Lu Yanting took a deep breath, suppressing his anger: "Where are Qiu Mang and Xu Jingyan?"

Lu Haifeng gave Qiu Hui a look, and Qiu Hui immediately understood and turned on the computer to project the screen.

Seeing the image projected onto the wall, Lu Yanting's pupils constricted, his voice filled with unprecedented ferocity: "Lu Haifeng! What exactly do you want? Release them immediately!"

"What's the rush? You'll see them soon..." Lu Haifeng drawled, a sinister glint in his eyes.

In the video, the time bomb counters on Qiu Mang and Xu Jingyan's chests began to jump wildly, and the ear-piercing "beep beep" sound echoed in the confined space.

Xu Jingyan screamed in terror, her face turning deathly pale.

The two sat back to back, and Qiu Mang was carefully untying the rope on Xu Jingyan's wrist.

Noticing that Xu Jingyan had begun to tremble violently, she lowered her voice.

"Xu Jingyan, cheer up, just wait a little longer, I'll be able to untie the ropes on your hands right away!"

Xu Jingyan choked up, large tears streaming down her face. Looking at the constantly changing numbers in front of her, she felt the terror of death for the first time.

"What's the use? Ten minutes left! Ten minutes left! There's no way we can escape from here!"

Lu Haifeng glanced at his watch and said leisurely, "There's still plenty of time. The bomb won't explode for another ten minutes. It's been a long time since we brothers have seen each other; how about we catch up?"