Skin - Chapter 82

Chapter 82 – Being Betrayed

　　Watching the car driving away, Lu Shichen looked solemn. He walked over and asked Captain Zhao, “Are the other positioning devices on Lin Mai still effective?”

　　”The red dots in the monitoring system have completely stopped, and the other backup devices should have been secretly dealt with by the kidnappers,” Captain Zhao replied, “Now we can only determine the direction of the kidnappers’ vehicle through monitoring…”

　　”Have the technical investigation department locate Meng Zhao’s phone immediately,” Captain Zhao hadn’t finished speaking when Lu Shichen interrupted him, “Catch up with him in ten minutes. Be extremely covert and don’t sound the alarm.”

　　”What happened?” Captain Zhao asked.

　　Seeing the two red taillights about to disappear into the darkness, Lu Shichen had no time to explain the situation to Captain Zhao. He made a prompt decision, rushed to the nearest police car that was still running, opened the door and got in.

　　He released the handbrake, stepped on the accelerator, and drove quickly to catch up.

　　What did he say to Meng Zhao on the phone? While driving, Lu Shichen recalled Meng Zhao’s expression when he received the call. Meng Zhao subconsciously held his arm at that time. That call must have brought him a great shock!

　　After that, Meng Zhao let go of him, walked into the woods next to him alone, and signaled him not to follow.

　　‘Come alone and don’t tell anyone else, otherwise Lin Mai and her son will die.’ Lu Shichen speculated on the content of the phone call.

　　Meng Zhao must have been threatened by the kidnappers, and next, the kidnappers will monitor him throughout the process through his mobile phone, which is why Meng Zhao couldn’t explain to himself.

　　Thinking of this, Lu Shichen turned off the car lights to prevent himself from being exposed.

　　The road ahead was pitch black, and the only thing he could see were the two red taillights at the end of the road.

　　He had to keep a distance and not follow too closely. Lu Shichen stared at the two red spots and controlled the speed of the car on the dark road.

•|•

　　”Turn right at the next intersection.”

　　”Go straight until you see the second fork in the road.”

　　”Turn left.”

•|•

　　Following the instructions from the phone, Meng Zhao drove the car more than 20 kilometers.

　　The car was traveling along a remote road. Apart from the light from the headlights, there was no light along the way. In the rearview mirror, the road was pitch black and nothing could be seen.

　　While Meng Zhao was driving, his brain worked fast, thinking about countermeasures.

　　Because of what had happened the previous night, before leaving this morning, he and Lu Shichen went to buy two folding knives for self-defense. If he was alone, he might still have a chance to escape, but the other party had Lin Mai and her son as hostages…

　　How are Lin Mai and her son doing now? This afternoon, the police forged a small black box based on Lin Mai’s description and put it in a black handbag and gave it to Lin Mai. The box was welded shut and only contained an ordinary pen. The kidnappers could not open it for the time being and should not realize that they were deceived.

　　Wu Jiayi took so much pains to set up such a trap and tried every means to kill him. On the one hand, it was because he dug out the “dark cage” and sent Wu Weihan to prison. As a father, Wu Jiayi would definitely not stand idly by. On the other hand, it also showed that the evidence in Lin Mai’s hands was crucial. He kidnapped the mother and son with such a fuss, and took so much pains to lure himself here to die. This meant that Wu Jiayi absolutely did not want anyone to continue investigating the matter. It seemed that he was really panicking this time.

　　But thinking from another angle, since they wanted his life so much, it at least meant that as long as he was still alive, Lin Mai and her son should be safe for the time being.

　　Judging from the previous day’s situation, there should be three assassins. It is almost impossible to defeat these three professional assassins by one’s own strength, but there is still room for maneuver without worrying about the safety of Lin Mai and his son. He should try to buy time and wait for Lu Shichen and Captain Zhao to find out the abnormality in his behavior and rush here. Meng Zhao was thinking about the next plan in his mind.

　　The car was driving on a bumpy dirt road. After turning a corner, Meng Zhao saw the destination mentioned on the phone.

　　It was an abandoned factory building, the black-grey square building stood quietly in the night, with a faint light from inside. The surrounding trees were in disarray, with branches intertwined with each other.

　　”Throw away your phone and come in!” The kidnapper ended the call after sending the last message to Meng Zhao.

　　Meng Zhao got out of the car cautiously, closed the door, and looked around carefully. After confirming that there should be no ambush nearby, he hid the folding knife in his sleeve and slowly walked towards the factory.

　　The factory’s security door wasn’t very large, Meng Zhao bent slightly, looked around, and walked into the door.

　　Just as he stepped in, the security door behind him slowly fell down, completely trapping him in this space.

　　In the empty factory building of several hundred square meters, there stood three tall men in black. Just like the previous night, they wore hats and masks to cover their facial features.

　　A young man tied up with a rope was lying on the ground nearby. His mouth was taped and he had fainted on the ground. The woman squatting next to him was Lin Mai, who was holding her son with her hands. Perhaps because she had been threatened by the kidnappers, Lin Mai did not move and did not dare to do anything.

　　But the strange thing was that when he saw Meng Zhao coming, Lin Mai did not seem to show the feeling that she would be rescued immediately, nor did she make any movement to ask for help. She just lowered her head, as if she did not dare to look at Meng Zhao.

　　There was no time to care about them, Meng Zhao’s eyes moved to the three men. He stared at the three opponents who wanted to take his life, tense and observing their every move.

　　The killers on both sides did not move, as if they were waiting for instructions. The tallest man in the middle seemed to be the leader of the two. Even with a mask on, one could see the scar that stretched to the corner of his eye. He was playing with a bag in his hand. When Meng Zhao’s eyes swept over the black bag, his face suddenly changed – that was not the bag that the police had prepared for Lin Mai!

　　The man also noticed Meng Zhao’s eyes, grabbed the black leather bag in his hand, and patted it twice in the palm of his other hand. The eyes and scar under the brim of his hat looked a little sinister: “Here you are, Officer Meng. We have been waiting for you for a long time. You are really a good policeman for the people. I have to thank you for saving my life on behalf of Ms. Lin.”

　　In an instant, Meng Zhao realized that he had been deceived, and the entire Yancheng City Bureau had been deceived! He immediately sorted out all the threads of the matter in his mind. It turned out that the person who leaked the whole plan was none other than the mother he had painstakingly worked at rescuing!

　　When did this deception begin? Meng Zhao quickly went through all of Lin Mai’s reactions in front of him – the bloodshot eyes from staying up late, the sobbing when she begged him to save her son, and the tears that made people feel pity…

　　Suddenly, Meng Zhao’s mind flashed back to the peephole that was blocked by light in the morning. Lin Mai was clearly standing behind the door at that time, and saw him and Lu Shichen through the peephole, but she did not open the door immediately. What was Lin Mai doing at that time? She was most likely hiding the bag she had found!

　　From the very beginning, she had left herself a backup plan. On the one hand, she hoped that the police could successfully rescue her son. On the other hand, if the police failed, this bag would be her bargaining chip with the kidnappers and the last straw to rescue her son!

　　As for whether the bag fell into the hands of the kidnappers or the police, it was insignificant compared to her son’s life!

　　A wave of anger rushed up Meng Zhao’s throat, not only for himself, but also for all the police officers who had worked hard to prepare this plan all day! No one could have expected that this mother had deceived everyone from the start!

　　Then he felt that he was ridiculously naive. Twenty years ago, his mother died because of this woman’s husband. Twenty years later, he was in dire straits again because of saving this woman’s son. He clenched his fists, and his knuckles made a series of tiny noises.

　　But now is not the time to vent his anger. He suppressed the anger in his heart, sneered, and said in a sarcastic tone: “I should thank Ms. Lin for teaching us such a wonderful and profound lesson.”

　　Lin Mai, squatting next to his son, still kept his head down, not daring to look up at Meng Zhao.

　　”You should thank her,” the man laughed. “To tell you the truth, you have already been sold by this woman for a good price. Five million and a green card to buy your life, do you think it’s worth it?”

　　In the huge and empty factory, Meng Zhao heard Lin Mai’s very low sobs, but the anger of being used made him no longer have any mercy on the woman.

　　Suddenly, with a “clang” sound, the iron door behind him fell to the ground and closed completely.

　　This heavy muffled sound seemed to be announcing Meng Zhao’s death sentence.

　　After a moment of silence, Meng Zhao spoke again: ” Lin Mai, you actually believed their lies. For them, killing you is the wisest choice. Do you think that you can walk out of here safely if you deceive me and all the police officers who tried their best to save your son?! Wait and see, not only can you not save your son, but you will also lose your life!”

　　As he spoke, he quietly moved towards Lin Mai and his son. But as soon as he took a step, the person on the far left immediately warned him, “Don’t move!”

　　The assassins who were standing on both sides immediately walked to both sides of Meng Zhao. Three people, from three directions, slowly approached Meng Zhao, trying to surround Meng Zhao without any blind spots, leaving him no room to fight back.

　　‘Being discovered, it’s really hard to deal with,’ Meng Zhao thought.

　　In fact, from the moment he entered the door, he paid close attention to the environment of the factory, thinking about how to get out alive.

　　In the northeast corner of the factory, where Lin Mai and his son are, there is a broken window that can be used as an escape exit.

　　However, it is obviously not easy to break through the siege of these three people, withstand the distance of more than ten meters, and approach the window. Meng Zhao originally wanted to use words to distract the killer’s attention and hide his true intentions, but now it seems that the opponent is extremely cunning, and this trick simply does not work.

　　The scarred man in the middle sneered, “Want to escape? Officer Meng, don’t even think about getting out alive today.”

　　The three men took out daggers and continued to approach Meng Zhao, five meters, four meters, three meters… With every step shortening the distance, Meng Zhao was one step closer to death.

　　In any case, Meng Zhao couldn’t wait any longer. If the three men got any closer, it would be difficult for him to defeat them one by one. He had to take action. Meng Zhao quietly clenched the folding knife hidden in his sleeve.