Chapter 38: Two Billion
“Who are you?”
Ruan Yi knew the other party wouldn’t give a straight answer, but since the fools in TV dramas always asked, she figured she might as well try.
“I’m someone who can help you. Don’t ask so much.”
“Come here.” The message was accompanied by a location: a desolate, abandoned factory in the middle of nowhere.
Looking at the anonymous sender’s reply, Ruan Yi felt like laughing. This person really took her for an idiot.
The words “ulterior motives” were practically screaming through the screen.
Ruan Yi was certain that the person on the other side had a low IQ.
“Mhm, okay, okay. I’ll be there on time.”
But the other party hadn’t even said what time.
Ruan Yi scoffed and blocked the number, not taking the anonymous text to heart at all.
Inside a cluttered rental room, a man stared at the dialogue box on his screen that showed no further response. Veins bulged along his neck.
He abruptly raised his hand to smash the phone onto the concrete floor, but then pulled his hand back with a distorted expression. His flushed face looked exceptionally terrifying.
He knew he was no longer the young master who could squander money recklessly.
Ruan Yi was still on her bed, swinging her feet while replying to Lin Han’s messages.
Instead of playing along with some idiotic kidnapper, she’d rather spend this boring time thinking about how to deal with Shen Xun.
Years of experience reading novels told Ruan Yi that going to such a meeting never ended well; it was either kidnapping or a setup.
She wouldn’t fall for such a petty trick.
Only protagonists who are forced to lose their IQ for the plot would fall into such a trap. She was very smart; only a fool would—
Ruan Yi was kidnapped.
Just as she headed out to find Lin Han to discuss a strategy, she saw an ice cream truck.
A deluxe ice cream with double scoops of chocolate and matcha.
She was so greedy that as soon as she approached the truck, she was yanked inside. It was swift, precise, and ruthless.
Could she be blamed…? Who knew that in the 21st century, there were still such vintage kidnapping methods!
Who could have imagined that anonymous messages wouldn’t even be the primary tool?
Kidnapping Ruan Yi only required the most primitive method used for kidnapping children.
Ruan Yi twisted her body, which was tied into a “zongzi” with hemp rope. Two red marks were being rubbed into her wrists, and even breathing felt oppressive.
“Mmph! Mmph!” Ruan Yi tried to cry for help, but it only earned a sneer from the kidnapper’s lackey.
“Heh, save your strength, big beauty. Even if you scream your head off, no one will—”
“Pah!” Before he could finish, Ruan Yi suddenly snapped her head back and spat with all her might, flinging the foul-smelling rag onto the man’s face.
How could a tiny piece of cloth stop someone from speaking? They must have watched too many TV dramas.
“HELP!!!” The girl’s piercing scream shook the dust from the ceiling of the abandoned factory.
The lackey looked dumbfounded at this young miss, who was tied up like a bow, using a volume loud enough to lift the roof to yell in a tone reminiscent of mountain songs.
“Catch the pervert! Someone is forcing me to play SM!”
“Shut up!” The lackey lunged over in a panic. Before his fingers could touch Ruan Yi’s chin, the iron door of the warehouse suddenly emitted a harsh grinding sound.
Ruan Yi’s scream caught in her throat. She wanted to see who the kidnapper really was, but the man was wrapped tightly from head to toe, a pure black balaclava concealing his features.
The lackey froze in place, his voice panicked.
“Boss… she, she’s too loud…”
“Useless.” The man raised his foot and kicked the chair away without hesitation.
Ruan Yi fell heavily onto the concrete floor, her lower back throbbing in pain.
Before she could react, the man’s leather shoe crushed down on her slender wrist. The hemp rope was pressed into the girl’s soft skin. The piercing pain immediately made her stop all movements.
“Eldest Miss Ruan, weren’t you very formidable?”
The man leaned down, the foul stench of smoke and alcohol spraying onto her face.
“How are you looking half-dead now?”
The man suddenly grabbed her hair and yanked it back. Ruan Yi was forced to tilt her face up, meeting eyes filled with incomparable malice and hatred.
Ruan Yi was already crying from the pain.
How could someone hate her so much? Even if she had the setting of a malicious supporting character, she hadn’t actually harmed anyone. Why was this happening…?
The only person she had ever “harmed” was Fu Wang, and this man clearly had nothing to do with him.
“Who… exactly are you?” Ruan Yi didn’t want to be a fool, but this time she really wanted to know the answer.
The man reached into Ruan Yi’s pocket and took her phone. He aimed the screen at the girl’s pale face, and the sound of it unlocking rang out.
Ruan Yi instinctively tried to stop him, but the kidnapper pressed her face against the rough concrete floor with the back of his hand. The pebbles dug painfully into her skin.
Waaah… damn it… it hurts so much. What if I get killed after the ransom is paid?
My browser history hasn’t been deleted yet; I need to leave some innocence behind in this world.
A certain Ruan Yi was already somewhat delirious, entertaining herself in her misery. After all, this was her second time facing death.
“Xiao Yi, what’s wrong?” Her mother’s gentle voice came from the receiver.
“Ruan Ying, look who this is?” The man was clearly suppressing his voice to hide his true tone as he put the phone on speaker.
The sound of porcelain breaking came from the phone. “What do you want! Don’t hurt my daughter!”
This was the first time Ruan Yi heard her mother’s voice on the verge of collapse.
“I don’t want much. Two billion. Deliver it to the abandoned pier by 10 PM tomorrow night.”
Ruan Yi’s eyes widened in shock.
Two billion in cash! “Not much”? Does this brain-dead kidnapper know how many suitcases that much money would fill?
How was she worth that much!
“I’ll give it! As long as you don’t hurt my daughter!”
Her mother’s voice came without a hint of hesitation.
The man didn’t seem to expect her mother to agree so easily. Even though the threat was successful, his expression under the balaclava became even more distorted and hideous.
He hung up the phone and kicked Ruan Yi’s calf. “That bitch Ruan Ying actually agreed to spend two billion to save you just like that?”
Ruan Yi’s tears kept falling from the pain.
Dammit, I’m definitely going to kill this beast. I’m really dying from the pain.
How could a girl who had never been treated this way endure such agony? Her consciousness was already becoming blurred.
She would never eat ice cream again… never again.
A sudden boom shattered the silence of the factory.
A Lamborghini Urus smashed through the iron gates like it was out of control, sharp iron shards flying through the air.
Ruan Yi felt a bit of heartache for such a nice car.
The driver’s door was flung open. The man got out at maximum speed, his blood-red eyes filled with nothing but slaughter.
The kidnapper seemed frozen with fear, but then he recognized the person who got out of the car.
“Shen Xun, you came alone?” The man laughed and stepped on the chair Ruan Yi was tied to.
“Believe it or not, I’ll right now—”
Before the words could leave his mouth, a gust of wind struck. The man’s fist, carrying the sound of tearing air, smashed heavily into his face. The massive impact sent the man flying back, crashing into the iron shelf behind him with a roar.
The kidnapper slumped amidst the wreckage. His jaw was skewed at a bizarre angle, and blood gushing from his nose and mouth soaked the balaclava.
Before he could even scream, Shen Xun was already upon him. His knee pressed hard against the man’s chest, and his well-defined palm gripped the other’s throat.
“Hey, pay attention to me! Someone is hauling me away!”
Ruan Yi screamed in collapse. At this moment, several lackeys were secretly trying to drag her away.
Shen Xun turned his head abruptly, his pupils contracting into pinpoints as sharp as ice blades.
“Fuck!”
The consequence of being blinded by rage.
His “home” was almost stolen.
Translator’s Note: Zongzi refers to a traditional Chinese rice dish wrapped in bamboo leaves, often tied with string—a common metaphor in novels for someone bound tightly with rope. Ruan Yi’s internal monologue about her browser history is peak Gen Z energy. Also, two billion RMB is roughly $280 million USD—definitely a “not much” amount only a villain would ask for!
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