Chapter 31: The Bait Smelled Worse Than Cheng Fei
Cheng Fei instinctively reached into her pocket. In broad daylight, these people dared to stop someone on the street directly. It really showed how chaotic this place was, just like the woman at the internet café had said. Still, rats were rats. Even if they dared to commit crimes openly under the sun, they were naturally afraid of cats.
Just as Cheng Fei was about to call the police on the spot, the short-haired man suddenly rushed forward and tightly grabbed her wrist.
“Beautiful lady, isn’t this a bit too cold?” he said sadly while looking at the two numbers “1” already pressed on Cheng Fei’s phone. “Big brother here only saw you alone and thought you must be lonely. I just wanted to give you a job where someone keeps you company and you can also make money.”
“I offered my heart to the bright moon, but the bright moon shines into the ditch instead!”
Cheng Fei laughed awkwardly. “Thanks for thinking highly of me, brothers, but sadly I can’t do that kind of work.”
The smiles on their faces instantly disappeared, replaced by vicious expressions.
“So you’re refusing the easy way and asking for the hard way?”
“Do you know what happens to people who refuse kindness?” One of them pulled out a stainless steel stick about ten centimeters long from his pocket. He pressed a bump on it, and with a sharp click, a shiny knife blade popped out.
No way… they really dared to do this.
Seeing things turning bad, Cheng Fei no longer cared about anything and shouted loudly toward the street.
“Help! Someone is robbing me!”
A woman’s voice was sharp and clear. Cheng Fei used all her strength in that shout, loud enough for half the street to hear. Sadly, although a few people looked over, they quickly looked away again, as if this kind of thing was already normal to them.
Seriously?! They’re really this arrogant?! And these people are really this cold and uncaring?!
A thief was still a thief. No matter how they acted, they could not hide their guilty fear.
The two men knew what would happen, and they were afraid too. They looked at each other, then the man holding Cheng Fei’s wrist directly wrapped his arms around her waist.
Cheng Fei knew what kind of ending waited for her if she got dragged away, so how could she let them succeed? Sadly, she did not know how to fight, so she could only twist her body desperately and struggle with all her strength.
The other man also went all out and grabbed Cheng Fei too, determined to drag her into their territory.
“Move!”
Inside the car following behind them, the little-girl-looking female captain of the criminal police gave the order. The officers hiding around the area immediately rushed out all at once.
Before Cheng Fei could even react, the two men had already been pinned to the ground by more than ten plainclothes officers.
The shock from seeing something that looked exactly like a TV drama scene had not even faded yet. Then the young girl from last night, who looked only eighteen or nineteen years old, appeared again. Cheng Fei finally understood a little, but she was still mostly confused.
“Police arrest operation!”
A few minutes later, after hearing the full story inside the police car, Cheng Fei finally understood everything.
So this person in front of her was not a student at all. Judging by her age, she was clearly an older woman! Honestly, it was impossible to tell that she was nearly forty and still looked this good!
“To catch those two, we investigated more than ten small towns before finally finding clues about them. Originally, I planned to personally act as the bait myself. Who would’ve thought… there would be bait even more attractive than me.”
Was that supposed to be praise? Or was it simply the best proof of how unbelievably unlucky she was?
No matter what, Cheng Fei did not want to think about it. Memories of once getting into a fight and being taken to the police station told her only one thing: run quickly!
Because as the victim, she would next have to give a statement to the police, and at that time, showing her ID card would definitely be required.
Pretend she did not bring it? Who would believe that nonsense? Dressed like this, she obviously looked like a backpacker traveling outside!
If she took out that ID card, then in just a few minutes, she would go from a poor innocent victim to a criminal using a fake ID!
Cheng Fei’s eyes quickly moved around as she thought, and suddenly she tightly grabbed the phone in her pocket.
“Hiss!”
“What’s wrong?”
The policewoman asked out of concern.
Cheng Fei shook her head instead of answering. She bent down and searched through the backpack beside her. After looking for a while, she pulled out a small square pink paper package.
The policewoman laughed lightly. “There’s a fast-food restaurant ahead. Go on.”
“Ah…”
Cheng Fei picked up her bag and got out of the car. The policewoman narrowed her eyes slightly but did not stop her. After walking a few steps, Cheng Fei suddenly started speeding up.
“Captain, why did she leave?”
“She’s thin-skinned and embarrassed, that’s all. Forget it. If she doesn’t want to stay, don’t force her.”
Cheng Fei stopped at a street corner and hid near the entrance of a coffee shop while looking back toward the previous area. Only after seeing all three police cars leave did she finally relax.
This was already the third time. She had not even been outside for a full day yet, so how could she already be this unlucky?!
When she arrived at the bus station entrance and looked at the clean and bright long-distance buses, Cheng Fei suddenly did not really want to take an inter-county bus anymore. Renting a car did not seem practical since it could not go very far. Buying a car, however, would be useful, and it would also make it easier to run away again after safely returning home.
But that would mean she had to use her real identity.
What should she do?
Then suddenly, it felt like a bright light appeared inside the fog. Cheng Fei, while holding the fake ID, suddenly slapped her thigh.
How could she be so stupid?!
Yes, Gao Ming was definitely a top expert in the IT field. Looking up shady information was easy for him. But that only worked when there was little risk involved. Now that he had such great wealth and status, if he still dared to hack into government systems or break the law, he would basically be asking for death. The only thing waiting for him would probably be a pair of handcuffs.
After all, new talented people constantly joined government departments. Firewalls were not useless decorations either!
At most, he probably only dared to hack ordinary businesses and use security cameras to track her movements. But sadly for him, even Cheng Fei herself barely recognized how she looked before leaving Yunzhou, let alone other people...
Feeling much bolder, Cheng Fei walked down the main street and, after asking around a bit, entered a car dealership area.
The second-hand car market was pretty good. There were cheap, medium, and expensive cars all available. Because her wallet was rather empty, Cheng Fei could only look at the cheaper ones.
With the mindset of “cut the price hard,” she forcefully bargained a car from 20,000 down to 13,000 yuan, and she still was not satisfied. Business in the small county town was not very good, so the owner naturally did not want to lose a customer. He opened the engine hood, removed parts of the dashboard and seat belts, and showed her carefully that the car had not been damaged by flooding. In the end, he tearfully accepted the price and even gave her some free gifts.
Happily, Cheng Fei ran next door to the vehicle registration office to transfer ownership, get the driving license papers, and receive new license plates. Then she grabbed the steering wheel and stepped hard on the gas pedal as the car shot forward.
Looking outside the window, she grinned happily.
Getting a bargain really felt great.
A flood-damaged car? She did not care! If this money could safely get her home, then it was worth it.
The whole day had been spent dealing with the car, and by now it was already late at night. Even so, nothing could stop her desire to return home. After setting the route on her phone’s navigation app, she entered the highway through the nearest entrance.
…………………………
Meanwhile, at Shuohua, an invisible pressure seemed to spread from the manager’s office.
The employees only knew that their boss had shown up early with a dark expression, locked himself inside the office all day, and refused to let anyone enter. Nobody knew what exactly had happened that could turn such a gentle and elegant man into this state.
Still, everyone guessed it had something to do with family matters.
Was it an argument caused by different values? Or had the boss been cheated on? Nobody knew for sure.
Without warning, the office door suddenly opened. Then came the sound of a heavy slam as it shut again. Even though the boss’s face looked calm, the anger burning inside him could still be seen on his forehead.
Seeing a man act like this, people naturally suspected that someone had behaved improperly. Some female employees who admired the boss and loved gossip quickly came to that conclusion.
Late at night, the lights along the road lit up the glowing reflectors on the guardrails, like stars guiding travelers back home.
Two cars, different in shape and speed, were heading toward the same destination.