Chapter 15
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Lu Jin watched as Zhou Huaixia got out of the car and approached. “You just said we needed to check two nearby construction sites. Why come here first?”
The other one was definitely closer.
Zhou Huaixia replied, “The developer of this site has a bad reputation online and recently halted construction.”
She had checked the background of the other site—it was managed by a major developer with well-established infrastructure. At the very least, there would be surveillance cameras, lighting, and security personnel patrolling at night. Construction had been ongoing there steadily for the past two months, with workers coming and going daily.
If anyone wanted to do something on a construction site, the smaller local developer’s site was more likely. Besides, this site’s built area was only a third of the other one’s, so a quick inspection would be easier.
The two of them arrived at the gate of the “Xinyu Construction” site. The protective gate was tightly shut, but the security booth was empty.
Lu Jin asked seriously, “How do we get in?”
Zhou Huaixia stood at the gate, not yet hearing the mysterious voice. She gestured to Lu Jin to look at the two buildings right at the front: “They’re topped out.”
Lu Jin was puzzled. “So?”
Zhou Huaixia pulled her to walk around the side. “So, some owners sneak in.”
They had barely walked halfway around when they found a section of the fence cut open, revealing the metal framework inside—an adult could easily squeeze through.
Lu Jin immediately gave Zhou Huaixia a thumbs-up. “Young but seasoned.”
Zhou Huaixia bent down and crawled inside first. Before she could go further, Lu Jin grabbed her by the clothes from behind.
“Wait,” Lu Jin whispered, lowering her voice. “Put your phone on silent. If we really find something, by the rules of movies and TV, the phone always rings at the worst moment.”
“My phone’s always on silent,” Zhou Huaixia replied, still checking once more to confirm.
The construction site’s surveillance cameras were either off or smashed.
Zhou Huaixia gripped a bottle of alcohol spray tightly in one hand, her phone in the other, ready to call the nearest police station at a moment’s notice.
Lu Jin suddenly moved closer, taking her hand in his left hand.
Zhou Huaixia looked at their intertwined fingers, then at Lu Jin. She whispered, “What are you doing?”
“I’m afraid you’ll be too slow to run if something happens, so I’m holding you,” Lu Jin met her eyes in disbelief. “Are you annoyed with me?”
Holding hands, what’s wrong with that?
Back when Zhou Huaixia clung to him day and night, he never complained—only secretly felt a bit annoyed inside!
“I thought you were nervous,” Zhou Huaixia defended.
Lu Jin gave a small laugh and, holding a scalpel in his right hand, asked, “There are seven or eight buildings here. Where do we start? What are we looking for?”
The front two buildings were topped out, the middle ones were only concrete frames, and the farthest one was still a deep pit being dug for foundations.
Zhou Huaixia looked around; there were no bright lights on the site, everything was dim, only faintly illuminated by moonlight. She whispered, “We’ll just circle around outside once and leave.”
She didn’t want to enter the buildings—they looked too dangerous.
According to past experience, if they heard that voice again, the person was probably nearby.
Once they confirmed the location, she could leave immediately to call the police.
The two circled counterclockwise, stepping carefully to avoid making noise.
After passing the two topped-out buildings and the row of concrete frames in the middle, Zhou Huaixia suddenly heard a very low voice and froze.
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“Uncle, the…”
The voice was young, and the sentence was unclear.
Who was this? Could it be the person the voice in the amusement park wanted to kill?
Before she could think further, Lu Jin suddenly pulled Zhou Huaixia down and crouched beside the outer wall of one of the middle buildings. She pointed with her finger to the right and silently mouthed to Zhou Huaixia, “Someone’s there!”
Zhou Huaixia looked right and saw two men emerging from the concrete frame of the building at the edge. The man in front was shorter, carrying a sack over his shoulder; the younger, slimmer man behind held two large, heavy-looking bags yet carried them steadily.
They were heading toward the deep pit still being dug at the back of the site.
“Uncle, there’s no exit that way.”
This time Zhou Huaixia clearly heard voices—it wasn’t her imagination.
Two thieves stealing materials from the site?
Lu Jin, pressed against the wall, pushed up his glasses twice, staring intently at the sack on the man’s shoulder. Then he whispered to Zhou Huaixia, “I think that sack’s suspicious. It looks like it contains something alive.”
Zhou Huaixia frowned and immediately tried to pull Lu Jin away quietly, but caught only air.
Lu Jin had already slipped forward, hiding behind a pile of construction debris to get a closer look at the sack’s shape.
Zhou Huaixia gritted her teeth, regretting it deeply. She should have known Lu Jin was overly passionate about justice and wouldn’t let this go easily. She quickly scanned the path ahead, held her breath, and prepared to rush toward Lu Jin to pull her away.
Before she could get close to the debris, Lu Jin had already moved again, clutching her backpack with one hand as she darted behind a pile of broken bricks.
“...”
Cold sweat broke out on Zhou Huaixia. This was the countless time today she regretted coming here to investigate some strange voice.
The two men had stopped at a nearly completed foundation pit, their backs to them, apparently talking.
The distance between Lu Jin and the two men was less than ten meters. Zhou Huaixia listened carefully, intending to see what the sack contained, but suddenly the two began arguing.
“Uncle, we already got the money. No need to kill.” The younger, long-faced man sounded anxious. He didn’t want to commit murder—once you kill, there’s no turning back.
The older man turned around, revealing a dark, weathered face with redness. He untied the sack and emptied its contents.
Inside was a chubby boy about ten years old, his mouth stuffed with a dirty rag. He wore a suit with suspenders, barefoot, his hands and feet tied, blindfolded and pale, barely conscious.
Lu Jin noticed dark stains on his clothes, like blood splatters, and that his right hand was crudely wrapped in a towel.
This was a kidnapping.
The older man roughly pulled off the blindfold from the boy’s face. “Now he’s seen us. Kill him or not?”
The younger man was shocked. “Uncle, why would you do this?”
The older man’s anger was unmistakable; his voice rose. “Yu Xinyu makes so much money, gives his son the best life, raising him like a pig, yet still owes us wages! My son’s so skinny, waiting every month for my paycheck to be sent home.”
The older man’s angry words echoed from afar, identical to the voice in the amusement park.
At the same time, Zhou Huaixia’s ear suddenly burned with pain as another voice, filled with jealousy, entered her mind.
“They’re all in their forties. Why does Yu Xinyu get to live the high life every day, with luxury cars and beauties, a wife to take care of the kids? I’ve caught his son—I won’t waste the chance by not killing him.”
Zhou Huaixia clutched her ear hard, glancing toward the pile of broken bricks diagonally opposite.
Lu Jin clearly sensed the danger and looked back at Zhou Huaixia.
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Zhou Huaixia silently signaled, “Find a chance to leave!”
The older man was facing their direction; Lu Jin couldn’t leave immediately.
The distance was too close; Zhou Huaixia dared not call the police aloud for fear the two men would hear. She pressed against the debris and sent a text to 110: “Xicheng District, Xiahu Road, Xinyu Construction site. Two men kidnapping Yu Xinyu’s son, preparing to kill him. Please hurry.”
After sending the message, she turned back to watch Lu Jin and the two men.
The older man grinned, revealing yellowed, blackened teeth. “Yu Xinyu likes to withhold wages, right? We’ll bury his son under his own property. When they pour the concrete, even the king himself won’t find him.”
The younger, long-faced man hesitated several times but finally met the boy’s eyes and agreed, “Let’s hurry.”
The older man grabbed the boy off the ground, and the two faced the deep pit.
Now was the moment!
Zhou Huaixia immediately signaled Lu Jin to dodge over.
Lu Jin, clutching her backpack, crouched low and rushed toward Zhou Huaixia.
“A new night has arrived. The promising Dr. Lu Jin, keep up the hard work! Go, go, go!”
A lively female voice suddenly came from Lu Jin’s pocket, piercing the silence of the construction site.
Zhou Huaixia’s vision blacked out. “...”
Lu Jin slowly looked down at her pocket. She had forgotten to silence her phone alarm.
Zhou Huaixia shouted, “Run!”
Too late—the moment Lu Jin moved, the younger long-faced man dropped the two bags and lunged at her.
Less than ten meters apart, a strong young man could reach her in two seconds.
Lu Jin didn’t even have time to turn before being tackled, her face hitting the ground. The scalpel in her right hand reflected light, but the long-faced man grabbed it and aimed to stab her.
In desperation, Zhou Huaixia pulled out the mini handheld fan the amusement park had given her and slammed it hard into the man’s eyes.
He instantly recoiled in pain, his stabbing hand frozen. Meanwhile, the older man threw the tied-up boy into the pit and charged at Zhou Huaixia. “Kill them all—bury them together!”
The younger man recovered and pinned Lu Jin down, holding the scalpel ready to strike her neck.
Zhou Huaixia gritted her teeth and didn’t dodge. She grabbed the half-eaten burger from before, clenched it tightly, and when the older man approached, sprayed alcohol into his eyes.
As he closed his eyes, she hurled the burger at the younger man’s eyes.
The older man reached out and grabbed Zhou Huaixia.
This time, it was completely over.
A wave of despair filled Zhou Huaixia’s heart.
“Bang!”
Suddenly, the construction site floodlights turned on, illuminating everyone’s movements clearly.