Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Gu Nianzhi looked at the woman in front of her with sincerity. She could see that this woman had an air of chivalry. To put it another way, it was the air of an older sister. She was protective toward those who were weak and toward animals. There was no way she would be indifferent with her begging like this.
Under the circumstances, Gu Nianzhi felt like it was safer to ask a stranger for help than to ask Smith and the others for help. Who knew if Smith’s phone still had the Trojan malware monitoring all his activities or not? If she called them when they still hadn’t realized the Trojan malware was on their phone, then she would be walking right into the trap.
The lady boss with blond hair and blue eyes looked at her again. It looked like she had made up her mind. Gu Nianzhi was happy. She heard them telling her to come out again. The lady boss pushed the sofa away with a swift movement and exposed a basement under the sofa. She said in English with a German accent, “Go down there. Tell me more about it when I come back.”
Gu Nianzhi thanked her quickly and jumped down without saying anything else. The lady boss put the rug and the sofa back, then she made her hair look dishevelled and loosened her collar. She made herself look like she had just gotten up and walked out with tens of thousands of expressions on her face. With a newly lit cigarette in her hand, she said languidly, “What is it, sir? My bar’s closed… but, if you want a drink, I’ll fix you one myself.” She gave that dashing-looking man an amorous glance.
The handsome man standing in front of her was Als. His eyes were still red. He looked like a person who was drunk but who had been forcibly awakened by someone. “No need. I want to ask you something. Did an oriental girl come by here?” Als took out his phone, and on it was a picture of Gu Nianzhi. It was a picture that she didn’t know had been taken. She was sitting by the window, and the white curtain was dancing in the air. Her black hair was flying upward, and her eyes sparkled with an expression that looked like she was smiling and not smiling at the same time. She looked like a forest fairy.
The lady boss looked at it and said, “Wow! Such a beautiful girl! Is she your lover?”
Als was rendered so speechless that he could not keep his balance. He stared at her. “What lover? She’s a fugitive! A fugitive!”
“Fugitive? Oh? What did she do?” The lady boss asked with curiosity, “Such a beautiful girl, I would definitely remember her if I saw her. Sir, is there reward money for catching her? As you know, my little business can’t make ends meet. If there’s a reward, I’ll ask some of my friends to keep their eyes open. The moment we see her, we’ll call the cops. How about it?”
Als was satisfied and nodded. “Fine. Of course there’s reward money. It’s a lot. Enough to buy this little bar of yours.”
“That much?!” The lady boss’s eyes sparkled and showed an appropriate amount of greed. She patted her well-developed chest and swore, “I will catch her! No, I’m not going to just sit here. I have to walk around and see if she’s hiding at the foot of that hill or by the lakes in the forest. Yes, and that nearby valley. It has a lot of rivers. People can also hide there.” The more she talked, the more excited she became. She looked like she couldn’t wait to call her friends and start looking around. After all, money makes the world go ’round.
It looked like Als was convinced. He nodded slowly. “I forgot about the valley nearby. Let’s go! To the valley!” He turned and left. His thick military boots made a loud sound on the bar’s floor.
As the sound gradually became more and more distant. The lady boss went back to the “staff only” room from before. She closed the door, pushed the sofa aside, lifted the moveable floorboard, and said, “Come out. They are all gone.”
Gu Nianzhi stood on the basement stairs as she poked her head out and looked around. The lady boss stretched out her hand and pulled her out. Gu Nianzhi climbed out of the basement and said in a low voice, “Thank you for helping me.”
“No problem. It just so happens that I’m closed today. Nobody else saw you. Don’t be scared.” The lady boss looked at her. “Tell me, what did you do? That man isn’t just any police officer, he’s a soldier. I recognized his epaulet. He must be a colonel.” She paused and then continued, “Such a young colonel, he must have accomplished a lot.” After saying that, she cast a sidelong glance at Gu Nianzhi. She was becoming suspicious.
Gu Nianzhi smiled and told the woman about Als. “That person just now, was he wearing a black uniform, very handsome, but also very feminine?”
“…Oh, I think so. Why? Are you really his lover? The lady boss’s eyes became wide, and she looked intrigued. “Could it be that he wants to make you his? But you would rather die, and that’s why he took you captive? Such a sadomasochistic affection! I like it!”
Gu Nianzhi’s forehead creased in consternation. This boss lady is really too out there! Such ridiculous imagination. Why not go write a web novel?! Gu Nianzhi couldn’t help but condemn her in her mind. Nevertheless, she put a weak smile on her face and timidly said, “No, I offended an influential official, and that person wants to hurt me…” Oh, that sounded even more ridiculous!
“Ah? The lady boss’s eyes became bigger. “Influential official? Who?”
Gu Nianzhi lowered her head. “I don’t dare say his name. If I can escape, I’ll definitely tell you who this person is…” So sad. She couldn’t even say the name of the person she was afraid of. The lady boss showed an expression full of pity. “Fine, don’t say it, then. I believe you. What do you plan on doing?”
Gu Nianzhi thought about it for a while. “It’s already late. Can you let me stay for the night? I’ll leave first thing in the morning.”
“Sure, that’s not a problem.” The lady boss was very forthright. “Behind there is an employee’s living quarters. It was originally for my two employees, but business got slower and slower. It’s empty before ten at night. There’s no need to have any employees. It so happens that no one lives there now. You can make do with it for one night.”
Gu Nianzhi nodded, then she thought of phones. She asked, “Can I borrow your phone?”
The lady boss took out her phone and unlocked it with her fingerprint. “Take it. Calling your family?”
Gu Nianzhi made an “uh huh” sound and took the phone. She automatically thought of calling Huo Shao, Yin Shixiong, or Zhao Liangze, but her finger slid down on the lady boss’ phone and dialed He Zhichu’s phone number instead. She didn’t want to leave Huo Shao, Yin Shixiong, or Zhao Liangze’s number on someone else’s phone. Their numbers were a secret. She couldn’t let outsiders know them. There were many consequences if one of their numbers became known to others. None of the consequences were something that Huo Shaoheng and those who were in their kind of field could accept.
He Zhichu’s phone rang for a long time, and no one picked up. Even the voicemail didn’t come up. It was as if it hadn’t gone through at all. Gu Nianzhi had some misgivings. Could it be that He Zhichu hadn’t come back yet?
During the past ten days under house arrest in Reinitz’s country residence, she didn’t know what was going on in the outside world. She hadn’t seen He Zhichu’s name appear or even Li Haiqing’s case mentioned. What was happening out there?
Gu Nianzhi had an urge to go back to Munich, but she couldn’t right now. Als was hunting her down with a vengeance. She had to wait until tomorrow or the day after. She would leave when their guard was down.
The lady boss looked at her sympathetically. “It didn’t go through? Or is it that no one’s picking up?”
“I don’t know.” Gu Nianzhi shook her head and returned the phone to the lady boss. “Thank you.” She asked, “Do you have a computer here? Can it go online?”
The lady boss nodded. “Yeah, there’s a laptop. Me and my two other friends usually use it to watch movies and play games. Use it if you want to.”
Gu Nianzhi was very happy, and she followed the lady boss to the temporary staff living quarters, eagerly waiting for tomorrow to come. Before the lady boss left, she gave her a laptop. “It’s very old, make do with it.”
Gu Nianzhi’s smile blossomed, and she excitedly held onto the laptop. After the lady boss left, Gu Nianzhi laid on the bed, opened the laptop in a hurry, and connected to the internet.
She first browsed through the news. It wasn’t much different from when she was with Reinitz. She took a look at it again. The computer didn’t have any instant messaging programs. She decided to download one. There was a Hua Xia instant messaging program. He Zhichu didn’t use it, and Huo Shaoheng and the rest didn’t either, but Ma Qiqi was on it every day. At least she could still contact Ma Qiqi.
Gu Nianzhi happily found the download web page, and clicked download. However, the computer needed a password to download things to the hard drive. Gu Nianzhi hit the laptop hard, wondering if it really needed to have such tight security.
The lady boss had already left. Gu Nianzhi would feel bad if she called her just to ask for the password to download things this late at night. It was too tasteless. The best she could do was ask the lady boss tomorrow morning when she arrived.
She turned off the laptop. Gu Nianzhi was a bit sleepy. She yawned, and then she suddenly remembered that other than a cell phone, there was also a landline. That was why she subconsciously thought of calling the lady boss’s cell phone.
Gu Nianzhi was suddenly not sleepy anymore. She got out of bed, went to the bar’s lounge, and found the landline. She called He Zhichu’s number again. This time, she dialed the Hilton hotel where He Zhichu was staying. The phone rang three times, and then it stopped. It didn’t go through.
Gu Nianzhi wouldn’t give up. She then called the phone in the Hilton’s lobby. It went through, but the moment she started talking, she heard a very low crackling sound. She hung up immediately. Her heart was pounding. She was very familiar with that crackling sound. Someone was listening in and recording right now.
That crackling sound was a hallmark of old answering machines.
