"This is impossible!" Li Caiyi groaned in exhaustion as she plopped down to the ground.

It seemed she was a bit too optimistic about her current situation. In fiction stories, this should be where the protagonist cleverly thinks of the most brilliant escape plan. However, this was real life, not some kind of drama or scene from a book.

Li Caiyi looked up hopelessly at the stacks of documents in front of her. She had been working for an hour so far, but the height was still nowhere near the window.

After she opened the box, she was mildly disappointed when she found out the content of those boxes. The previous workers of this building must have packed their old documents in the boxes and forgotten about them.

At this point, Li Caiyi was ready to wave a white flag since there was no way some papers could help her get out of there. However, the stubborn part of her refused to give in.

Then, she thought of stacking these papers so they could turn into her footing to reach the window like a substitute ladder.

Initially, Li Caiyi was pretty confident with this plan. Still, after an hour, she had no choice but to admit that this plan was stupid.

The footing made by the paper was precarious. Since it was very dark, she would accidentally nudge some of it and make her effort crumble down in a matter of seconds.

Instead of saving herself, Li Caiyi only tired herself by doing this. She was exhausted, cold, and hungry, with no way to get out. Could this situation get any worse?

Li Caiyi leaned against the wall and curled herself into a ball.

Even though she wore layers of clothes, the sweat on her made her body feel even colder on this harsh autumn night. Her fingers were already numb from being exposed to the cold air for so long.

"Ah, I feel shitty. What should I do now?" Li Caiyi whispered to no one.

Previously, she was so scared of staying in the darkness alone, so she refrained from making any big noises. But now, she was too tired to even care about that.

How long did she have to stay in this place? Would anyone notice she was gone and come looking for her?

The bodyguards Meng Renshu assigned to watch over her didn't come in the end. Li Caiyi wondered if Huang Zhen did something to them. She hoped no one was injured.

The Dai brothers must be very alarmed because she suddenly went missing after their father's disappearance.

They probably were busy searching for their father now and had no time to look for her.

Being in a dark, enclosed space alone like this made her think of the worst. She had to get a grip and stop moping around.

Li Caiyi buried her head on her knee, trying to get some shut-eye. Perhaps after some rest, her head would be clearer, and she could think about another way to escape.

"Meow."

The faint sound of a cat meowing reached her ears. Li Caiyi automatically raised her head and looked around, but there was no sign of a cat nearby.

"Little cat? Is that you?" Li Caiyi crawled as she concentrated on hearing better.

"Meow. Meow."

The meowing kept coming closer and closer. If Li Caiyi wasn't so desperate, she probably would consider this moment one of her life's scariest moments.

"Eek!"

Li Caiyi yelped again when she felt a soft fur on her legs. She looked down and saw a silhouette of a small creature lazily nudging its furry head on her leg.

"It's you again." Li Caiyi smiled a bit and stroked the cat's head fondly. "From where did you come in, little cat? The door was locked from the outside."

Sure enough, the cat didn't answer and busily rubbed its body on her. Li Caiyi felt much better having it here to accompany her and regained some of her strength.

"Did you come here to comfort me? Thank you. I felt so alone and hopeless before, but I'm fine now, thanks to you."

"Meow."

Come to think of it, the cat from before was already in this room before her.

If she were to assume that the cat didn't come inside through the door like her and through some other way, then there was probably a way out of this room.

Li Caiyi just had to look harder.

With that idea in mind, she slowly got up and traced the wall with her hands.

The cat definitely didn't come from the window or door. Then the only possible answer was it entered through a hole in the wall.

With new hope in her, Li Caiyi looked around tirelessly. She didn't know how long she did that, but after some time, she finally found a small hole near the corner of the room.

It was so small that only a liquid creature like a cat could go through, but it was still an exit, regardless. The wall was already damaged from the start. She probably could widen the hole and slip through it if she exerted some strength.

Feeling ecstatic, Li Caiyi took the cat in her arms and hugged it tightly. "Thank you! This is all thanks to you!"

"Mrawwrrr!"

The cat was shocked and jumped out of her arm frantically before leaving through the hole in front of her.

"Alright, now it's up to me to enlarge this hole. You can do this, Li Caiyi! Fighting!"historical

***

Meng Renshu was sure Dai Zhiqiang had no reason to lie to him, but the report he had received so far was very discouraging, to say the least.

It had been two hours since he dispatched some people to search the factory area for Li Caiyi, but no news so far.

It couldn't be helped since this area was very spacious, with more than eight factories lined up near each other. This area was almost considered independent from S city due to its secluded location and was called the 'Industrial City' once.

To find a person in such a large area would be difficult, even if this place was practically left to be demolished now.

Meng Renshu knew that, but he couldn't stop himself from asking, "Mr. Mu, is there no new news from them? Why does it take so long to find her?"

"Young Master, there haven't been any new reports. Let's wait a bit more. Everyone is working hard to find Miss Caiyi as we speak."

The old driver slash caretaker had answered the same question twenty times in the past two hours, but Meng Renshu still couldn't calm down.

"The more time we waste here, the higher the risk for Xiaoyi."

"Yes, I understand your concern, but we must remain prudent. We should be able to hear something from them soon. Please be patient."

Easy for him to say.

Ever Li Caiyi was found dead in front of an abandoned building, Meng Renshu had developed an aversion for tall and empty buildings. He didn't even dare to raise his head to see the top since he feared what he might see.

Waiting like this felt like torture. Meng Renshu didn't feel like sitting around and letting the fear consume him, so he abruptly stood up.

"Young Master, where are you going?" Mr. Mu asked him in fluster.

"I'm going to find Xiaoyi. The more people looking for her, the better the chance to find her."

"Young Master, you can't! The wind is getting stronger. A storm is coming this way. Please come back!"