Lin Chen looked at the stairs.

Slight footsteps were approaching as two figures slowly appeared on the stairs in the pitch-black darkness.

The other party didn’t seem to expect that they were here. Their bodies shook and suddenly rushed forward. In an instant, cold metal was pressed against their chests, and a stronger sense of threat stimulated every hair on their body like lightning.

Lin Chen slowly turned his gaze, glanced at the gun pressed to his heart, and slowly raised his hand.

Now that it was an era of peace, guns were banned in the country. Except for police officers and military personnel, the only ones who would use guns so openly were gangsters. In the dim light, both of the figures had their faces covered and wore ordinary everyday clothes and a cap. The only thing revealed were two pairs of cruel and bloodthirsty eyes.

The movements of the two were concise and effective, with a sense of oppression. It was obvious they were experienced.

The barking of the dogs downstairs had changed from a loud howl to a low, suppressed whine that seemed it could explode at any time.

Lin Chen’s heartbeat was fast, but his expression was still calm. He glanced at Duan Yang reassuringly, raised his head, and asked the visitors, “Are you here to kill us?”

The other party didn’t understand what he meant. They quickly looked at each other and pressed their guns closer.

Since the safety was still on, it indicated that the other party wasn’t ready to do anything in the house; the barrel of the gun was cold, which meant the other party hadn’t shot the gun for a period of time. Lin Chen looked straight ahead and calmly explained. “This is a question, not an imperative statement. I want to know if you want our lives or something else.”

“Is there a difference?” A cold and hoarse voice came through the mask.

“Well, if you want to kill us, then I’ll try my best to seize our maximum value and make you give up on this idea.”

The barrel of the gun against his chest moved along his neck to his cheek and finally stopped at his temple.

Lin Chen raised his head and looked directly into those gloomy eyes. “What value do you think you have?’

“The purpose of coming here is our greatest value.”

“If you know our purpose, why don’t I just kill you.”

“Because you don’t look like you do. When you walked up the stairs and saw us just now, you didn’t choose to shoot first. Your companion gave you a look that told you to exercise restraint. You must have a task to complete. Until that task is accomplished, we shouldn’t be in danger.”

After he finished speaking, the cold muzzle of the gun began to poke his temple repeatedly. “Do you know that smart people die faster?”

Lin Chen thought for a while and replied, “Although smart people may die faster, so do idiots.”

The other party laughed and asked, “Who the hell are you?”

Lin Chen quickly became vigilant.

It was obvious these intruders were follow-ups from last time. When the other party asked who he was, it meant they knew Duan Yang’s identity. Duan Yang was their target, and he was just an accessory they accidentally encountered during their operation. For vicious gangsters, once they learned that he wasn’t their target, they were likely to kill him.

Lin Chen once again felt his fate was truly bad. To get his wound sewn, he had to encounter this kind of crisis where a slight mistake could lead to a fatal outcome. Among all the dangers he had encountered in his life, such an irrational situation was quite rare.

Now was the time to take a gamble. He must show his worth. “I’m his shixiong.” He lowered his eyes toward Duan Yang as he said this.

Hearing what he said, the young man’s hands trembled, but he still resisted his fear and didn’t look up. At this moment, Duan Yang didn’t forget to tie the knot on the sutured wound and even carefully wiped his palm with iodophor as he tore off the adhesive tape and fixed the gauze covering the wound. He finally raised his head and looked at him. “Shixiong, it’s done. How do you feel?”

Lin Chen felt that Duan Yang’s mental quality had potential to be a field doctor.

“Good,” he said indifferently.

But then, Dr. Duan regained his nature. He raised his head cautiously and looked at the two gangsters and stammered, “You.. You.. Who are you?!” As he spoke, he still held his medical scissors tremblingly, doing a futile defense.

Lin Chen motioned for Duan Yang to put down his “weapon” and raised his hands. “We want to live, so do as you please. You can even blindfold us if necessary.”

Before he finished speaking, a thunderbolt struck outside the window. He looked up at the suddenly lit sky and stopped talking.

The two gangsters looked at each other as if they were judging his value. Then, one of them took out a rope and tied him up forcefully, while the other held his gun and aimed at them silently.

Although he wasn’t proficient in knotting, Lin Chen could tell the other party’s skill was obviously beyond that of an ordinary gangster. His wrist was being strangled painfully, and he couldn’t move. He looked at the person holding them at gunpoint. The other party was calm and stable, aiming the gun at them with an unwavering gaze. Apart from knowing he had killed before, Lin Chen couldn’t see any clues in that gaze. These two were more like well-trained mercenaries than common gangsters on the streets, but since when did mercenaries start taking on the business of kidnapping people in pet hospitals?

Duan Yang was also aware that something was amiss. The young man wanted to talk to him, but Lin Chen shook his head and motioned for him to be quiet.

They performed well from start to finish, so they didn’t suffer any physical pain. They were tied up tightly, blindfolded, and had their mouths covered with duct tape. The other party even put on noise-canceling headphones on their ears. In an instant, Lin Chen felt completely separated from the world. The air was humid and hot, extremely sticky, and then a cool breeze came, indicating that it was most likely raining heavily.

With his five senses sealed, Lin Chen’s sense of touch became more acute. He laid his legs flat and felt the floor vibrating. The other party was obviously searching for something in the room. It should be the medical materials related to Duan Yang. They were light in their movements, with no preoccupation as they performed their task concisely.

The other party’s search ended quickly.

About ten minutes later, Lin Chen felt he was lifted up, and the cold barrel of a gun was pressed against his back. He and Duan Yang stumbled and were guided downstairs.

It was late at night. The moment he walked out of the door of the pet hospital, the oncoming heavy rain made him suddenly tremble. When he stepped into the rain, the cold water instantly penetrated his clothes. The coolness seemed to have drilled into his heart along his blood vessels. He couldn’t see anything. The headphones had blocked most of the thunder, and he could only feel the tremor of the surrounding air and then guess the moment the sky was suddenly lit up by lightning.

He hoped that some residents would get up at night and see this scene in the alley that was illuminated by the streetlamps or lightning.

After walking for a while, they were pushed into a van. At first, he didn’t lift his leg high enough, and his knee slammed into the van, making a loud noise.

The other party seemed to be aware of his intentions and grabbed his hair. He pressed the barrel of his gun against Lin Chen’s forehead and whispered, “Watch it.”

Lin Chen lowered his head and was obediently pushed into the van. The door closed, and the vehicle started, carrying them an unknown distance.

Lin Chen was still guessing their destination at first, but gradually the loss of senses made his brain numb. Psychologists have done similar experiments. After isolating the subjects from external stimuli, most of them would report pathological mental states, including emotional stress, mental dullness, hallucinations, and the like. The cruelest punishment in the world was sensory deprivation.

Lin Chen felt that he couldn’t calculate the time, and his thoughts began to drift. In a very short period of time, many scenes that he had suppressed suddenly erupted.

Blood and fire interweaved, and the faces of the dead and killers appeared in a loop.

He kept trying to expose the skin on his hand to more things. The tingling sensation of his wound sobered him, and finally he lay down in the car.

Most likely because he moved too much, Duan Yang squeezed to his side and snuggled up to him, as if relieved.

He didn’t know whether the young man understood Morse code, but he touched the back of the other’s cold hand and tapped it casually so as not to slow down his brain.

He slowly typed out the words “Zhorui Pharmaceutical”. It took a while for Duan Yang to react.

The young man whimpered and wrote back on his hand: [What did you say?]

Only then did Lin Chen realize that there was a real problem with his thinking. Why did he choose something like Morse code when he could just write?

He wrote the key words again and put a question mark at the end.

[I don’t know.]

Duan Yang’s words were written quickly. Presumably, the young man was also at a loss to his own kidnapping.

However, this meaningless communication was like a lifeline for Lin Chen. He wrote whatever came to mind to the young man, and eventually it had little to do with their kidnapping. He was soaked, but it was like finding a lifeboat in a sea covered with icebergs.

He didn’t know how long it took, but the van finally stopped.

The door of the car opened, and he smelled seawater in the air. Then there was the sound of waves slapping the shore, as if someone were using a bamboo broom to sweep broken glass on the floor.

The rain had stopped.

He and Duan Yang had been taken to the seaside. A broken fishing boat was parked at the pier, bouncing up and down with the dark waves.

The other party held their gun and forced them to board the boat.

Lin Chen suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart. They still had a glimmer of hope if they were in China, but if the other party smuggled them out of the country, then they truly were dead.

Soon, an open gap in the cabin of the fishing boat confirmed his conjecture.

Looking inward along the wet wooden board, the bottom of the cabin was crowded with more than a dozen people. Lin Chen glanced at the armed gangsters and then at the doctor, who was so shocked he couldn’t speak, and said nothing. He just obediently climbed down.

The people at the bottom of the fishing boat didn’t show any fear of being imprisoned. They were all in high spirits, as if they were talking about something. This reminded Lin Chen of the legendary stowaways.

But if these people were stowaways who wanted to leave the country, why would the kidnappers detain them with these people?

After they walked into the cabin, the sound of impact drills and nails followed. Someone had nailed a board and sealed them at the bottom of the small fishing boat.

They were now in a real desperate situation. Duan Yang helped him and found an empty spot in the cabin to sit down.

In the darkness, Lin Chen felt someone pushing him and asked, “Are you going to work in Dana too?”

The author has something to say:

Lin Chen: Sorry, I’m going to look for someone.