Ruan Chen has a photographic memory, but she still has difficulty finding the name that corresponds to this face in her mind for a while.
She has an appointment tonight; the person who called arranged to meet her at the third embankment of South Taihu Lake to tell her how to resolve Bo Nian's mental health issues.
The person seemed to know everything about Bo Nian's condition and asserted that Bo Nian would wake up in two hours.
The city bureau's psychological expert happened to be out of town following up on a case these past few days. After learning about the situation in Jingzhou, he rushed back overnight, but the earliest he could get to the hospital was the early hours of the next day.
Just now, Ruan Chen instructed Xu Xiaolan to give Bo Nian a sedative if necessary.
Ruan Chen knew it was a trap, but neither she nor Xu Xiaolan had any ideas, so they could only use this person as a breakthrough point.
She had a picture of a masked person saved on her phone. Checking the time, she realized it was almost time to go out.
Ruan Wenlou has recently become obsessed with practicing Tai Chi in the park at night. Usually, after preparing dinner for Ruan Chen, he goes out for a stroll, leaving the house empty.
Ruan Chen wolfed down a few mouthfuls of food, then slung his backpack over his shoulder and ran downstairs.
She originally intended to use a mobile app to hail a taxi, but when she looked up, she saw a taxi parked at the intersection with its hazard lights on, as if it had just finished a fare.
This is during the evening rush hour, and the app on my phone shows that it will take about 20 minutes to get a ride.
Ruan Chen jogged a few steps and ran towards the taxi at the intersection.
The driver was very friendly, rolled down the window, and said, "I'm waiting for you, young lady, slow down and be careful not to fall!"
Ruan Chen got into the car, panting, "Thank you, Uncle."
The driver smiled but didn't say anything. He asked, "Where to?"
"South Taihu Lake, Uncle, just drive along the embankment. I'll call you when we get there."
The early spring night was a bit chilly, and the car's heater was on full blast. Ruan Chen took off her backpack and hugged it to her chest, enjoying the comfortable warm air, and began to feel sleepy.
Before falling asleep, she vaguely thought that the car was great in every way, except that the air freshener in the driver's car smelled a bit overpowering and of poor quality.
Ruan Chen liked to sleep in this swaying environment with a bit of white noise, but she had something on her mind and couldn't sleep soundly. She was suddenly awakened after the driver slammed on the brakes.
She rubbed her eyes, yawned, and looked out the window. "Are we there, Uncle? Just keep driving forward, count to the third one..."
Ruan Chen stopped. The view outside wasn't of South Taihu Lake, but rather resembled the outskirts of Beijing.
She glanced at the time on the driver's meter; forty minutes had passed since she got in the car. Even during rush hour, South Taihu Lake was not far from the south of the city, and it would take more than twenty minutes to drive there.
She looked down and pinched the bridge of her nose, realizing how careless she had been.
Instead of immediately questioning the driver, Ruan Chen casually picked up the conversation and continued, "Uncle, did you change the subject?"
She silently took out her phone and pressed the power button repeatedly, triggering an automatic alarm.
She believed that once the city police received the alarm message from her mobile phone, they would immediately notify Xu Xiaolan and the others, and then locate them based on the phone's location.
“I didn’t take the wrong road,” the driver’s voice suddenly changed, becoming exactly the same as the voice Ruan Chen had heard on the phone that night. “I originally arranged to meet you at South Taihu Lake, but you’re such a dishonest girl. How could you tell the Municipal Bureau about our appointment so quickly? I had no choice but to change the location.”
The car window rolled down, and a cold wind rushed in. Ruan Chen heard the sound of ocean waves.
“This is Ocean Island. Construction began twenty years ago, with the aim of building the largest eco-resort in the country. However, during the construction process, there were frequent problems such as broken funding chains and changes in land use rights.”
The driver leaned back in his seat, lit a cigarette, and squinted.
Ruan Chen tried to open the car door with force, but it was locked and wouldn't budge.
"Don't bother, it's been specially reinforced."
The driver slowly smoked a smoke ring and continued talking about the history of Ocean Island, "Over the years, several unidentified skeletons have washed ashore on Ocean Island, and a few tourists who came to explore have gone missing. You young people like to go online, have you ever seen any paranormal events related to Ocean Island?"
"No, I'm usually quite busy, I don't have time to look at random things." Ruan Chen said, reaching into his backpack and rummaging through a pile of odds and ends.
Although she tried to keep her voice down, her backpack was really messy, rattling and clattering.
For the first time in her life, Ruan Chen felt that she really should pack her schoolbag properly.
The driver obviously guessed what she was looking for and smiled. "Let me guess what's in your bag? You're not going to pull out a paper cutter again, are you?"
He tapped on the windows around the driver's seat with a playful tone, "A box cutter can't break these windows."
More than a decade ago, several heinous cases of robbery, murder, and robbery involving taxi drivers occurred in Jingzhou. Since then, all taxis in Jingzhou have been fitted with this type of glass.
"Why are you telling me all this? Never mind where we meet, I'm here now. Tell me about Bo Nian's situation."
Ruan Chen stalled for time by making irrelevant remarks. She had already sent out the alarm signal five or six minutes ago. Xu Xiaolan and her team had just set up an ambush at South Taihu Lake, and the police cars would arrive in less than twenty minutes.
She wants to delay.
"It's just simple psychological suggestion and mind control, you should have guessed it by now, right? But the trouble is that the person I asked to give Bo Nian psychological suggestion... is a master of level eight mental strength."
Ruan Chen understood.
The psychologist from the Municipal Bureau is only at level seven; even if he came, the impact on Bo Nian would be negligible.
"The Municipal Bureau probably doesn't have the ability to hire a Level 9 mental strength expert, right?" The driver slowly smoked, glancing sideways at Ruan Chen's expression. "Aren't you feeling hopeless? Even if the Bo family or the Municipal Bureau manages to find a Level 9 expert in the end, they would have to be professionally trained. How many Level 9 experts are there in the entire country? No more than twenty. And even fewer have received systematic learning and training, so it's possible that they can't be found at all."
Ruan Chen remained silent.
“Are you thinking of letting it go and letting him commit suicide? Keep a close eye on him,” the driver seemed to enjoy analyzing the matter with Ruan Chen. “It’s no use. He will go crazy step by step. The only son of the Bo family, such an outstanding son, his parents must be heartbroken. They will use their entire fortune to save this son, but they cannot change what has happened.”
"The Bo family will eventually fall, and these poor parents will go crazy along with their son... And who is the culprit? It's you, Ruan Chen."
“Bo Nian could have resolved this matter by jumping down today, but you saved him and then brought it to the municipal bureau.”
"You prolonged the suffering of these poor parents, Ruan Chen, you are truly cruel."
The cigarette was finally finished, and eighteen minutes had passed.
Apart from the waves, there was not a sound.
"Ruan Chen, are you waiting for the Municipal Bureau? Why don't you take out your phone and take a look? You're really ridiculous right now, thinking you have everything under control, but you're actually about to die."
"The thrill of crushing geniuses is truly terrifying, especially when it's two."
The driver rolled up the window, opened the door on his side, got out, dragged someone out of the trunk, and secured them to the front seat with a seatbelt.
That's a real driver.
The fake driver checked the car doors and windows one last time to make sure they were locked. Standing outside the car, he smiled and waved to Ruan Chen, mouthing, "Bye-bye, Ruan Chen."
The car was started by a pre-programmed sequence, the engine roaring as it carried Ruan Chen and the unconscious real driver toward the sea.
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