Chapter 67 There's no escaping it.
The night was deep, and a damp, chilly feeling hung in the air.
The streetlights around the cemetery were dim and yellow, and as far as the eye could see, there were drifting white lights moving among the holly bushes and bare branches.
Those weren't ghosts, but rather cemetery staff searching for the missing man with flashlights, along with his family.
The office manager yawned twice in a row, then turned to the old doorman and asked, "Are the security cameras all broken?"
"It's been broken for a long time. I reported it half a year ago, but no one has come to fix it." The old man dismissed three pieces of information in one sentence, implying that it had nothing to do with him.
In June, the park's surveillance cameras started malfunctioning one after another. When he reported this to the deputy director, the director scoffed, "Who would steal an urn?" and then no one paid any more attention to it.
"I'm going back to sleep now." The director glanced up at the mountain again. "Adults can get lost? Don't make a fuss."
The old man said in a low voice, "He's disabled; he's blind."
"Disabled? Not brain-dead, don't they have cell phones?" A gust of cold wind swept over him, and the director shivered, shrinking his neck. "Don't call me about this kind of thing again. Also, tell them all to come back."
"They" refers to the staff members sent out by the park to help.
The darkness was torn apart by two beams of stark white headlights as a white sedan sped towards them from a distance, the blinding light forcing the group to squint and turn their heads.
The screeching sound of brakes startled the night birds perched on the branches, and the car came to a stop right in front of them.
A tall woman wearing a thin beige coat stepped out of the car. Without even glancing at the crowd, she closed the car door and ran up the mountain in her high heels.
The crisp sound of heels tapping on the stone steps grew fainter and fainter, and in the blink of an eye, the figure disappeared into the thick darkness of the night.
The security guard and the director simultaneously looked away. The security guard rubbed his hands together, muttering to himself: Where could a grown person go? He probably didn't want to burden his family and left alone.
The pine trees in the cemetery were planted densely, their needles stiff and sharp, and one could easily prick their hand if they weren't careful. Zhu Ao walked through the bushes with a flashlight, and several red marks had already appeared on the back of his hand.
"Zhu Ao!"
Qin Qiao stopped beside him, panting.
The flashlight was tilted to one side, its dim light illuminating her trembling eyes and flushed face.
"How can we not be anxious?" Qin Qiao interrupted him. "He's blind, and now he can't even hear. Where could he go?"
Her eyes darted anxiously around: "Where's Xiaojun?"
The words had barely left her lips when a figure darted out from the shadows of the trees, running down the steps, even skipping an extra step so that she was level with Qin Qiao.
"Mrs!"
Qin Qiao turned directly to Xiao Jun and asked coldly, "When did you arrive? You just left him here alone? When did you realize he was missing?" Her questions were urgent and rapid, without any pause.
Xiao Jun was both worried and guilty: "We arrived here around four o'clock. Chairman Chen said he wanted to be alone and told me to wait downstairs, and he would call me. I waited in the car until 6:10, and it got dark. I rushed upstairs to look for Chairman Chen... but he was gone."
Xiao Jun remembered the time so clearly because he had just finished a phone call with his girlfriend back in his hometown. When he hung up, he noticed that it was getting dark outside. He immediately ran upstairs to look for Chen Jiashu, but couldn't find him.
The East Cemetery covers an area of only a little over 1,000 square meters, quite small, yet it has three exits. An elderly gatekeeper guards the south gate, while the other two gates are open during the day, allowing outsiders free access, and are only locked at 7 PM. After all, this isn't a supermarket; normal people wouldn't enter a cemetery to steal. The old man told him all this, and he even asked the old man to check the security footage, only to be told that the cameras had been broken for over six months.
Xiao Jun reported to Qin Qiao in detail, and added at the end: "I searched the entire cemetery but couldn't find Chairman Chen, so I had to call General Manager Zhu."
Zhu Ao chimed in, "I brought a few trustworthy people with me. Jia Shu isn't answering his phone, so he's probably hiding. My plan is to search for him first... and if we still can't find him by tomorrow morning, then we'll call the police."
Qin Qiao took out her phone: "Call the police now."
"no!"
"If a company's leader suddenly loses the basic ability to perform his duties, it will directly shake the company's foundation. Shareholders, investors, and shareholders will all doubt whether the company can still operate normally. Within a week, the stock price will collapse!"
Her finger trembled as she hovered over the dial button. Qin Qiao stared at the "110" on the screen, the pale blue light illuminating her trembling red lips.
"Is the stock price more important, or his life?"
Qin Qiao raised her eyes and stared intently at Zhu Ao, her voice trembling: "Jia Shu can't see or hear now. If something happens, he won't even have the ability to save himself! Every minute of delay increases his danger!"
"What about his dignity?" Zhu Ao retorted, "You didn't see how the shareholders forced him out last July. Qiao Shu was a child he raised himself, yet those people wanted him to 'retire with dignity.' Back then, he could only make a pledge to prove he could still be competent within three months. Now that the news has spread, he doesn't even have any bargaining chips left!"
Zhu Ao's words hit Qin Qiao like a ton of bricks. She swayed, gripped her phone tightly, and her knuckles turned white from the force.
“Just one night,” Zhu Ao’s tone softened, and he pleaded sincerely, “If we still can’t find him by tomorrow morning, I’ll go with you to the police station myself. Jia Shu said yesterday that if he had another week, he would definitely get better.”
The wind picked up, cutting their cheeks like icy blades. Qin Qiao's face stung, but her body felt like it was on fire.
Every consequence Zhu Ao described is possible. But compared to the risks Chen Jiashu might face, they all seem insignificant.
"Call the police."
After Qin Qiao finished speaking, she raised her hand. But as soon as her fingertips touched the dial button, snowflakes appeared before her eyes, and she felt as weak as a piece of paper. With a gust of wind, she fell forward.
"Mrs!"
"Sister-in-law!"
"Qin Qiao!"
The cries faded into the distance, darkness engulfed everything, and she completely lost consciousness.
Qin Qiao was taken to the hospital by Xiao Jun, while Zhu Ao found the person in charge of the cemetery and promised to give 10,000 yuan to each person who helped and 100,000 yuan to find the person.
He did not reveal Chen Jiashu's identity, only saying that he was an important family member. With a substantial reward offered, more than twenty people joined the search, and even cleaning staff rushed over.
However, even as dawn broke, they still couldn't find Chen Jiashu.
The first rays of morning sunlight pierced through the glass window and slanted across Qin Qiao's face; it was this warmth that woke her from her nightmare. Before she even opened her eyes, she pushed herself up from the bed.
The sunlight felt warm on her skin, yet a biting cold seeped into her very bones. Qin Qiao opened her moist eyes, her body trembling uncontrollably, her fingers gripping the sheets tightly to steady her shaking form.
Qin Qiao took out her phone from her pocket and called Zhu Ao.
Zhu Ao's first words were, "The police have already sent eight people to search the area. I've contacted my superiors, and the operation is absolutely confidential." He paused, his voice tinged with the exhaustion of a sleepless night, "Qin Qiao, we are all very worried about Jia Shu, and we believe he will definitely come back. Before he returns, we need to stabilize the situation for him and maintain his status as 'Chairman of Qiao Shu Group'."
Qin Qiao hung up the phone, got up, and rushed to the cemetery.
*
The car drove over a deep pothole, jolted violently, and the tires briefly lifted off the ground before slamming back down. The violent jolt jolted Chen Jiashu awake from his unconsciousness.
He struggled to open his eyelids. It wasn't completely dark; a faint light could be seen seeping in through the gaps in the side windows. A strong, pungent smell of gasoline filled the enclosed space, making him dizzy.
His left shoulder and half of his back were burning with pain, but he couldn't care less. He gritted his teeth, sat up, and reached out to grope around on the ground.
It wasn't tile or cement; the plastic-textured floor was still vibrating slightly, and grains of sand rolled in my palm, as if they had been brought in from outside.
Even without hearing any sound, Chen Jiashu could immediately tell that he was in a moving car.
What kind of car?
Chen Jiashu reached forward tentatively, but touched nothing. Turning to the sides, his fingertips touched the cold car walls and doors.
There wasn't even a seat; it was like a minivan.
...Was he kidnapped?
Fragments of his memories before losing consciousness flooded back: he was about to call Xiaojun, and even though he couldn't see or hear clearly, he still keenly sensed someone approaching. But the instant he looked up, he was struck hard on the back; before the excruciating pain could spread, everything went black and he lost consciousness.
There are at least two of them; it would be difficult for one person to take him away.
Chen Jiashu quickly searched both pockets and found that his phone and watch had indeed been taken.
He climbed to the car door, where the cold, sharp wind blowing in through the crack felt like needles pricking his skin.
Chen Jiashu forced himself to calm down and quickly analyzed the current situation.
The draft from the door gaps indicates poor sealing of the car; the strong smell of gasoline suggests that the car is old. Forcibly prying open the door and jumping out of the car might allow for escape, but judging from the smoothness of the wheels rolling and the wind speed, the car is traveling at an extremely high speed, most likely on the highway. Jumping out at this point would almost certainly result in death.
The only chance is to slow down. For example, if the car crashes into the gate at a tollbooth to attract the attention of the staff, there might still be a glimmer of hope.
Chen Jiashu did not sit idly by and wait for his death. He began to pry open the car door with all his might, making sure that he could immediately open the door and rush out to call for help once the car stopped.
A slight noise inside the van caught the attention of the man in the passenger seat. He instinctively glanced back. This Dongfeng minivan had been modified; a partition had been added between the van and the driver's cab, and there were no windows, so naturally, nothing could be seen.
Lu Jun noticed that his older brother looked off, probably because he had also heard something else.
He lowered his voice: "Big brother, it seems he's awake?"
Lu Tao nodded and slowly stepped on the brake.
We drove for over ten hours without sleep, passing through two provinces, and have now arrived in Xicheng Province.
The provincial highway was flanked by barren land covered in snow, with distant, undulating, dark blue-green mountain silhouettes visible. There were few vehicles on the road, and I found myself unknowingly accelerating to over 100 mph.
Lu Tao turned the steering wheel to the right, and the van turned onto a small road. After driving for a kilometer or two, it stopped at the bottom of a low slope.
As the car stopped, a loud "whoosh" came from behind.
The two brothers exchanged a glance, then each pushed open the car door and jumped out. They saw Chen Jiashu had already fallen out of the car and was scrambling and crawling towards the depths of the wasteland.
"Help me! Help me!"
The hoarse cries for help were quickly carried away by the wind across the empty wasteland, disappearing without a trace.
Lu Jun gave an amused twitch of his lips.
As expected of Chen Jiashu, he managed to seize a fleeting opportunity to save himself even in such a desperate situation. It's a pity he's blind. He tried his best to escape, but even chose the wrong direction.
Lu Tao, meanwhile, leisurely surveyed his surroundings. It was this continuous mountain range that had trapped their ancestors for generations, and it had taken them half their lives to finally escape. Let alone a blind man, even a sighted person trapped here would have no chance of escape.
"Help... Help!..."
Chen Jiashu was still crawling on his hands and feet in the snow, but as he cried for help, he gradually realized that something was wrong.
He suddenly stopped moving.
Chen Jiashu raised his chin, his remaining vision revealing a large, blurry white expanse. A biting wind blew from all directions, as if to slice through every inch of his exposed skin.
But at this moment, he could no longer feel pain, only a numb, dull sensation. His other senses, however, perceived a profound sense of emptiness.
He immediately realized that this was not a tollbooth, but the real wilderness.
There's no escaping it.
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