Chapter 268 - 263: Seabed Cage
That night, Du Kang led a group of men toward Jiang Li’s current residence. As they rounded a corner, they happened to run into Wei Hu and his group, who were also on their way to settle a score with Jiang Li.
Wei Hu looked at Du Kang, then glanced in the direction he was heading. "You’re going after Jiang Li, too?"
That one sentence was all it took for the two rival groups to reach an agreement: they would go settle the score with Jiang Li together!
"Hmph. With this many people, I refuse to believe that bitch can still stir up any trouble!"
The two groups stormed menacingly toward Jiang Li’s residence.
...
Deng Jin looked at the woman who had shown up late at night, carrying a box.
"You’re Jiang Li?"
"I am. Captain Deng, I feel I’m in danger and urgently need help."
Deng Jin studied Jiang Li, recalling the rumors he’d heard that afternoon. ’So she’s the one who caused all this commotion?’
"Ahem, I had my reasons for doing what I did. I came to take someone home," Jiang Li said as she opened the box.
When Deng Jin saw the skeletal remains inside, a new respect appeared in his eyes. "Mm, I understand. You can stay here. I’ll have someone contact our country to arrange your return."
No matter how reckless Wei Hu’s gang was, they wouldn’t dare cause a scene at the police station. If he made the call now, someone could be here to pick her up as early as tomorrow.
"Thank you, thank you!"
Deng Jin lowered his head and went back to the case file in his hands.
It was a missing person case, and a rather complex one. The woman had disappeared on the day of the festival, and her husband claimed she had entered a shop and never came out.
They had already investigated, but the shop had no secret passages or anything of the sort.
The husband’s passport was about to expire, and he had been coming to the station every day for the past two days, urging them to hurry.
Deng Jin caught a glimpse of Jiang Li sitting on the sofa out of the corner of his eye. After hesitating for a few seconds, he forced his focus back on the clues.
Jiang Li contacted Lu Xingye and the others. When they heard she was coming back, the whole group let out a collective sigh of relief, wishing they could bring her home that very instant.
After letting them know she was safe, Jiang Li leaned back and dozed off.
CLANG! CLANG!
The sound of chains striking a metal cage echoed.
"Mmph! Mmph!"
Jiang Li’s eyes shot open, but a second later, she was so frightened she slammed them shut again. Then, she slowly peeked through her squinted lids and stared at the seawater in front of her, completely stunned.
A woman was trapped in a cage before her. She had an oxygen tank on her back and a chain shackled to her ankle. Jiang Li watched her frantically beat and pull at the cage bars.
The perpetrator laughed, then, with a twisted sense of humor, left the woman a single oxygen tank before swimming upward. Halfway to the surface, she even turned back to admire the woman’s despairing expression.
BANG!
A loud noise startled her awake from the dream. Jiang Li shuddered. She saw Deng Jin and his men standing at the door, and a commotion erupted from outside.
"Hand her over!"
"Deng Jin, if you don’t want trouble, you’d better hand her over! Otherwise, neither of our gangs will let you off the hook!"
Jiang Li got up and walked over. She saw Wei Hu and, to her surprise, Du Kang. ’What’s Du Kang doing here?’
They were here for her.
"Jiang Li, you damn bitch—"
Jiang Li shot him a cold glare. Wei Hu’s body trembled uncontrollably for a moment, but the hatred in his heart only grew stronger.
Deng Jin glanced at Jiang Li, who looked completely at ease beside him, and his mouth twitched.
"Wei Hu is here for revenge. Du Kang, what are you here for?"
Du Kang’s brows furrowed. He hadn’t expected Jiang Li to run to the police station. What could have been handled secretly had now become rather troublesome.
Still, it was just a police station. They didn’t take it seriously.
Seeing Du Kang remain silent, Jiang Li took out her phone and called Luo Jingheng directly. He picked up almost immediately.
"Hello, Jiang Li?"
"Mr. Luo, are you in the Golden Triangle too?"
Hearing Jiang Li’s voice, Du Kang’s expression froze, then turned awkward. He had been by Luo Jingheng’s side since he was a child.
He never thought that, in the end, he would be cast out so ruthlessly. He had assumed that after all those years, there was still some bond between them.
Luo Jingheng thought for a couple of seconds before replying in a gentle voice, "What are you doing in a place like that? Did you run into Du Kang or Luo Heng? Don’t worry about me. I have nothing to do with them anymore."
Jiang Li raised an eyebrow and glanced at Du Kang, whose gaze was shifting nervously. "Is that so? Well, I won’t disturb you then. I have something to take care of here, so I’ll hang up."
Jiang Li hung up and looked at Du Kang mockingly. "So, Du Kang, it turns out you were abandoned by Luo Jingheng."
Du Kang’s expression soured. "Jiang Li, I’ve always been the old master’s man."
Jiang Li clapped her hands. "Exactly. And that’s why he doesn’t want you."
Du Kang: "..." ’How did I never realize Jiang Li was so sharp-tongued before?’
Deng Jin watched Jiang Li, bewildered. These people were here for her, so why did she look so completely unfazed?
Jiang Li looked at Du Kang, then gasped in feigned surprise. "Don’t tell me you guys got kicked out by Luo Jingheng and now you want to take it out on me."
Du Kang had planned to complete his mission as quickly as possible, but he didn’t expect Jiang Li to see right through him, disrupting his rhythm.
The teasing look vanished from Jiang Li’s face, and she stared at Du Kang, her expression now blank.
"I value my life very much, and I don’t trust anyone."
Du Kang frowned. ’What does she mean by that?’ As his thoughts were led astray, Wei Hu and his men suddenly let out agonized screams.
He looked around, a sense of inexplicable panic rising in his heart.
"Jiang Li, what is the meaning of this!"
Jiang Li took out a flute, providing the answer directly.
A sharp, twisting pain erupted in Du Kang’s chest. He clutched it, doubling over in agony and staring at Jiang Li, drenched in sweat.
"You... When did you do it?"
Du Kang couldn’t fathom when Jiang Li could have possibly planted the Gu in him. He hadn’t noticed anything unusual when they were together back in the country. ’Why...’
The men Du Kang had brought were momentarily stunned. Seeing that he was about to pass out, they had no choice but to carry him away and retreat.
Jiang Li turned to go back inside. After a few steps, she suddenly remembered something important and went to find Deng Jin, where she saw the photo on his desk.
’This woman looks a lot like the one from my dream, the one locked in a cage and thrown into the sea.’
Seeing her staring blankly at the photo, Deng Jin thought for a moment and decided to give her a brief summary. "Her name is Geng Weiyang. She came here on vacation three days ago with her husband, Qiu Jitong; her best friend, Yin Chuman; and her best friend’s boyfriend, Xiao Linfeng."
"It was the day of the festival. That night, her husband, Qiu Jitong, came to report that his wife had entered a bar and never came back out."
"Her phone is unreachable, and no one can find her."
"Miss Jiang, have you seen her?"
Jiang Li looked down at the eyes in the photograph, and the beauty mark at the corner of one eye. ’They really do look like the same person.’
Deng Jin had two working theories. One, Geng Weiyang was abducted and has likely met with a foul end. Two, Qiu Jitong killed his wife for the insurance money.
They had encountered similar cases here before.
It was a pattern they’d seen: a husband covets his wife’s family fortune, lures her to a place like this, fakes her suicide, and then legally inherits her estate.
After studying the photo, Jiang Li looked up.
"If I told you that I dreamed she was in the sea, locked in a metal cage with shackles on her feet, and only a single oxygen tank beside her, would you believe me?"