Chapter 23 Chapter 23 "Yingxia, the flies around you are still...
Yao Yingxia didn't expect to see He Ming again.
Although he looks completely different from the He Ming of the past.
He probably hadn't had his hair cut in a long time. The strands of hair on his forehead had grown longer than his eyebrows, almost covering his eyes. His clothes were not as exquisite as they used to be. He was just an ordinary gray sweatshirt that looked loose and even pilled.
The person in the main seat also turned around at this time. There was a long scar on the left side of his cheek. It was Fan Xiangyang.
Seeing Yao Yingxia becoming extremely frightened, Shen Qingyuan realized that something was wrong. He grabbed her wrist and wanted to take her out of the car, but found that the door on his side was also opened.
Qin Mian looked past Shen Qingyuan, lowered his head and smiled at her: "Long time no see, old classmate." Standing next to him was Zhao Xiaohui.
Seeing that the newcomers had bad intentions, Shen Qingyuan said coldly, "What do you want to do?"
Qin Mian smiled and said, "Of course I want to reminisce with our old classmates." After saying that, he unexpectedly took out a towel and covered Shen Qingyuan's mouth and nose.
A pungent smell filled his nostrils, and soon he lost consciousness. Shen Qingyuan turned his head stiffly, and the last image that came to his mind was Yao Yingxia's pale face.
He Ming looked at Shen Qingyuan, who was still holding her hand even after she passed out. He suddenly grabbed her hair and grinned, "Yingxia, there are still so many flies around you."
Seeing the pained look on her face, He Ming finally felt a moment of relief from his long-suppressed emotions. He gently patted Yao Yingxia's face and said with regret, "I'm sorry, you can't take the exam today."
Yao Yingxia finally understood that he had deliberately chosen today, the important moment that would determine the admission quota.
She really wanted to say something like she had done before to temporarily appease He Ming and delay time, but seeing his crazy look and the big fuss he had made, she knew that nothing she said would be of any use now.
He Ming smiled somewhat cruelly: "I originally wanted to choose the day of the college entrance examination, but I can't wait that long." He leaned close to her ear, deliberately letting his breath touch hers, "I miss you so much, Yingxia."
She suddenly began to struggle, as if she knew that if she couldn't escape now, she would be completely stuck in the quagmire and never be able to get out.
But her strength was so small that He Ming held her down effortlessly. Soon, Yao Yingxia's mouth and nose were covered with a towel. Before she lost consciousness, she saw He Ming smiling.
He originally only wanted to take Yao Yingxia with him, but now he changed his mind and told Qin Mian and Zhao Xiaohui, "Take him with you as well."
Several people got into a □□ and drove towards a country road with less surveillance. They changed two cars along the way and drove out of City A at a high speed.
When Shen Qingyuan woke up again, he didn't know how much time had passed. He had a splitting headache, and his throat and nose were very uncomfortable. He forced himself to open his eyes, but found that his vision was blurry. The roof seemed very far away from him, with many steel pipes winding around it. The light from the incandescent lamp was a bit dazzling, which was completely different from the common interior structures in the city.
Shen Qingyuan sat up and his vision gradually became clear. He then found himself in a large factory. Looking around, he saw huge iron machines everywhere. They had probably not been in operation for a long time and were covered with a layer of dust.
He suddenly remembered what happened before he fell into a coma and was about to look for Yao Yingxia. He stood up and looked around, only to find that she was lying on the floor not far behind him.
Shen Qingyuan hurried over to check on her. He saw that her clothes were intact and she was breathing smoothly. There seemed to be nothing abnormal, but she couldn't be woken up no matter what.
He touched Yao Yingxia's pocket without any hope, and sure enough, her cell phone was also taken away. The situation was urgent at the moment, and he didn't know when those people would come back. He couldn't stay here and wait for death.
Shen Qingyuan carried Yao Yingxia on his back and went to look for an exit. The factory was so huge that it seemed as if the entire factory was endless. He walked to the nearest wall and found an iron door not far away. He hurried over and pushed it, but found it was impossible to open. The door was locked from the outside, and only a piece of iron bolt could be seen through the gap.
He put Yao Yingxia on the ground, making her sit up against the wall, and then began to look around for tools. If he could find a chainsaw, perhaps he could cut through the door bolt, or find a handy weapon.
While searching, he found another iron door, which was also locked.
Since those people dared to kidnap them, they must have made every possible preparation. But what if there was a mistake that left a way out?
With extremely slim hope, Shen Qingyuan walked around the wall and found a total of four iron doors, located in the east, west, south and north. As expected, without exception, they were all locked tightly.
In the end, he was unable to find any suitable tools or weapons, so he had to return to the first iron gate to meet up with Yao Yingxia, only to find that the girl who had just been sitting there and sleeping was gone.
He felt a little panicked for a moment, not knowing whether Yao Yingxia had woken up on her own or had been taken away. He didn't dare to call her out loud, so he could only run quickly past one metal machine after another, trying to find her.
But the factory was too big, like a maze. He wandered around for a long time but couldn't find Yao Yingxia. Just when he was about to run out of energy, he finally heard a sound coming from behind him on the left.
A crisp, metallic sound, muffled and seemingly echoing.
Shen Qingyuan turned around and locked his sights on a barrel-shaped machine. He walked quickly forward, climbed up with his hands, opened the cover of the machine, and sure enough, he saw Yao Yingxia.
She seemed terrified, burying her head in her arms and shaking all over.
The sound just now was caused by her shaking too violently and hitting the iron barrel.
Shen Qingyuan comforted her softly: "Yingxia, it's me, don't be afraid."
But she could no longer recognize his voice and maintained a completely defensive posture.
While in a coma, Yao Yingxia had a very scary dream. The dream also started like this: she was hiding in a dark cave entrance and was grabbed by He Ming. He pounced on her with a grin and did many scary things.
Seeing that she was already a little out of control, Shen Qingyuan had to grab her arm and forcibly pull her up. He saw that Yao Yingxia's face was pale, her eyes were trembling and could not focus, and she seemed unwilling to face what was about to happen.
Shen Qingyuan held her face and forced her to look at him: "Yingxia, it's me, Shen Qingyuan."
She finally regained some of her sanity and stared at him for a while, as if carefully confirming whether she was hallucinating. After confirming that it was correct, she hugged him tightly, as if this was her only life-saving straw.
Shen Qingyuan touched her head, his voice firm and reassuring: "You must calm down now, so that we can have a chance of survival."
Two minutes later, Yao Yingxia finally returned to normal and let him go: "Are we trapped?"
Shen Qingyuan nodded: "I've checked all the exits, they're all locked."
Her heart sank to the bottom again, knowing that He Ming would not let her go easily. This was just an interlude before the abuse, and her expression was a little dazed.
Shen Qingyuan tried to ease her anxiety through conversation: "Why did those people kidnap us?"
"They locked me in the classroom on purpose." She pursed her lips, skipping over the details. "Just then, your uncle showed up and rescued me, and then they were all expelled."
Shen Qingyuan asked: "Is it in November?"
Yao Yingxia nodded.
Shen Qingyuan remembered that Xu Lang had mentioned this matter to him, saying that more than a dozen boys were expelled from the senior year at once, shocking the entire school. Because at such a critical juncture, even if a student made a mistake, the school would generally handle it lightly based on the principle of not delaying their college entrance examination or studying abroad. He did not expect that the matter would be handled so seriously.
At that time, everyone in the gossip group tried their best to find out the reason why they were fired, but they found nothing.
It turned out to be because of Yao Yingxia. I guess my uncle put in a lot of effort behind the scenes.
Observing that Yao Yingxia seemed to have calmed down again, Shen Qingyuan continued to help her rally her spirits: "Our top priority now is to find a way out. Don't worry about anything else for now. My mom and uncle must have called the police and are trying to find us. They'll be able to rescue us soon."
Yao Yingxia nodded. Shen Qingyuan was right. Instead of being frightened and worrying about things that haven't happened yet, it would be better to find a way to leave here first.
She looked around, towards the open window on the wall. Since the door was locked, that was the only way out. But the windows in the factory were too high, conservatively estimated to be ten meters above the ground. How could they climb up?
Shen Qingyuan followed her gaze and remembered the ladder he had just found in the corner, so he hurriedly took Yao Yingxia to find it.
The ladder was found quickly, but it was only three meters high. Even if Shen Qingyuan stood on it and lifted up Yao Yingxia, it was still some distance from the window.
The two of them searched the factory again but found no tools suitable for raising the height or climbing.
In despair, Yao Yingxia looked at a corner of the wall again. There was a row of steel bars and nails extending all the way to the roof. Although it was very far away from the window, it was connected to a circular hole, but no one knew where it led to.
Yao Yingxia pointed it out to him: "Climb up from there, it looks like a ventilation duct, but it looks a bit small."
Shen Qingyuan thought it was feasible: "Maybe it's just because it's too high that it looks small. Let's give it a try."
As soon as he finished speaking, Yao Yingxia suddenly became nervous and made a gesture to keep quiet.
There were voices coming from far away outside the wall, and they seemed to be coming this way.
The two men looked at each other, and without caring about anything else, ran towards the iron nails in the corner of the wall together.
Shen Qingyuan asked her to crawl first. Yao Yingxia was very grateful that she was still able to remain calm and climb into the cave without any mistakes. At this time, the movement coming from the door was very close, and she could even hear Qin Mian laughing.
Yao Yingxia looked down anxiously. Fortunately, Shen Qingyuan was very nimble and climbed up quickly. He successfully hid in the cave entrance just before the door opened.
This ventilation duct was much larger than they had imagined, and they could even lie side by side in it.
Yao Yingxia's heart was beating like a drum, she lowered her head and did not move.
Zhao Xiaohui's shocked voice came from below: "Holy crap! Where's the person?"
Fan Xiangyang also found it incredible: "Logically speaking, the effect of the drug hasn't passed yet, so they can't wake up."
Qin Mian looked around: "Could he be hiding?"
Even though she didn't hear He Ming's voice, she knew he was here, with his terrifying eyes wide open, searching every place where she might be hiding.
Several other people began to rummage around the factory, making a frightening noise. Yao Yingxia was very glad that she did not continue hiding in her previous hiding place, because she heard the sounds of various machine covers being opened.
She was so frightened that her entire body was shaking so violently that even her teeth were chattering. Shen Qingyuan, who was standing by, clearly felt it and reached out to gently pat her back, but it didn't seem to help much, as Yao Yingxia's condition didn't improve at all.
They searched carefully but still found nothing. Finally, they gave up the search and gathered together again.
Zhao Xiaohui panted and said, "Brother Ming, the person is really gone."
Fan Xiangyang looked at the ladder beside the wall: "Did he climb out and run away?"
Qin Mian was skeptical: "That's impossible. It's so high up. Is there a door that's not locked properly?"
Zhao Xiaohui denied it: "I locked the door. I even checked it before I left."
After eliminating all possibilities, the impossible became possible. He Ming looked up at the window and finally said, "Let's go out and look. This is in the far suburbs, there's nothing around. They shouldn't be able to get far."
The footsteps gradually faded away, and then there was no movement at all below.
Yao Yingxia finally breathed a sigh of relief. Her heart was still beating violently due to the tension just now, making it difficult for her to breathe. She was just glad that she didn't faint from fright and become a complete burden.
To be on the safe side, Shen Qingyuan stuck his head out ten minutes later, and sure enough, the factory was empty.
They left the door open before leaving. It was already late at night, and the darkness outside the door made it unclear whether it was a way out or a trap.
The two of them didn't dare to go down like this rashly. Shen Qingyuan helped her sit up and wiped the cold sweat from her palms with his sleeves. Then he turned and looked at the other end that was immersed in darkness: "Let's go along the ventilation duct and see where it leads."
This was the safest suggestion at the moment. Yao Yingxia followed Shen Qingyuan, climbing through the twists and turns. There was an unpleasant odor in the pipes, which seemed to be a mixture of rust and mold. Fortunately, there were no forks along the way, so they just had to keep going.
After climbing for about twenty minutes, they suddenly saw a faint light in front of them. They quickened their pace and climbed for a while, but Shen Qingyuan suddenly stopped.
In the darkness, I heard him say with some disappointment: "We can't get out of here."
Shen Qingyuan made way for her, and she leaned forward, only to see that the ventilation duct had reached its end.
From here, I could see the streetlight nearby—the same faint light I'd just glimpsed through the pipe. Looking out into the distance, I saw an endless expanse of wasteland. Looking down, I saw a concrete road riddled with potholes. Jumping from this height would either kill me or leave me crippled.
Both of them felt a little heavy-hearted. They rested in silence for a while and had no choice but to return the same way they came.
Back to the original starting point, it was still silent below. Those people seemed to have left long ago and never came back.
Shen Qingyuan sorted out his thoughts and told her his analysis: "If we go down now, they may not have gone far and will find us."
Yao Yingxia nodded, knowing that this was definitely not a good time to go out.
Shen Qingyuan added, "We can't just hide here forever. Without water and food, we won't last long."
Even though medical research shows that adults can survive three to five days without food or water, if they don't receive rescue, they still need to find a way to survive on their own.
First they had to climb down from such a high place, and then walk dozens of miles to reach the main road. They didn't know how long it would take before they could meet any living people.
The premise of all this is to conserve enough physical strength. However, at this time they have not had a drop of water for more than ten hours and are already hungry and thirsty.
Shen Qingyuan finally made a decision: "Wait another three hours. I'll go out and explore the way. If I'm sure there's no danger outside, I'll come back to find you."
Yao Yingxia refused: "I'll go with you."
Shen Qingyuan smiled and said, "Yingxia, don't act on impulse. You know this decision is good for both of us."
He paused, his expression becoming serious again. "If I haven't come back yet, something must have happened. You can hide here for as long as you can. As long as you don't get caught, there's always hope of rescue."
She felt so uncomfortable that her eyes became sore. She wanted him not to say such discouraging words, but she knew very well in her heart that he was just stating a possibility.
Then he told the worst possible scenario: "Yingxia, if you don't wait for me and you don't get rescued, please, please don't give up hope of survival."
He looked at her earnestly and said, "While you still have the last bit of strength, climb down and find some water or food."
Even if she was caught by those people, at least she could still survive. If she really reached that desperate situation, he just hoped that she could survive.
She suddenly turned around, her back to him, her thin back trembling. She was extremely depressed, but she just endured it out of habit. From childhood to adulthood, Yao Qihang never allowed her to cry out loud.
Shen Qingyuan felt heartbroken just by looking at her like this. He carefully hugged her from behind: "Yingxia, I'm not gay."
She was finally frightened enough to stop crying.
"I like you."
In this darkest moment, he could finally confess his feelings and felt relieved.
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The author has something to say: Ah, my mood is so heavy [burst into tears]
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