Chapter 498: The Ceiling

Just at that moment, I even felt that there was a large clump of hair hanging from the ceiling, probably the same thing that had scared us to death a few times before. So I looked up, and when I saw the shadow cast by the flashlight above, goosebumps rose all over my body. At the same time, my entire body instinctively leaned to one side.

But then I realized I saw nothing—it was just some pipes and a chandelier up there.

I found it strange and carefully scanned the ceiling. There was no way anyone could be up there. Just then, another sound came from the ceiling.

"I'm talking to you in your room. When this room was first designed, the acoustics between your room and this hidden chamber were specially set up so that I could always know what was happening upstairs."

I immediately understood what was going on. Damn, if that was the case, then every time I took apart a computer with my classmates up there, he could hear everything from down here. No wonder he had run off.

Damn, I'm so stupid. Someone so cautious wouldn't make such a low-level mistake; there had to be a backup plan. Every sound in Third Uncle's room was being monitored by him.

I took a deep breath and asked, "Who are you?"

"I know you can hear me. You have half an hour to understand your situation. I've sealed off both exits to the room you're in—you're trapped in there." The other party said. The sound was especially muffled through this method of transmission, making it impossible to identify specific vocal characteristics.

"Who are you? What do you want?" I shouted. "You are not Wu Sansheng. Your appearance proves something has happened to him. I need to know where the problem lies." "Once you understand your situation, you can use the computer in front of you to answer my questions."

I shouted again, then suddenly realized something was wrong. It was very likely that he couldn't hear the sounds I made here. One-way surveillance is surveillance; otherwise, wouldn't it become a phone call? I immediately went over to the computer. I knew there was no need to verify what this person said—the entrance and exit were certainly sealed.

No wonder there was nothing left in here. After he heard my conversation with my classmates, he must have cleared out everything in this room.

But he had left one email undeleted, making it easier for me to reply. How thoughtful of him.

I immediately replied, "I heard you. Who are you?"

After a moment, the other side replied: "Who are you? This room is very well sealed. No matter how loudly you shout, no one outside can hear you. If you don't want to die trapped in the room, tell the truth."

Just as I was about to answer, another email came in:

"You don't have much time. I can't stay long. If you tell any lies, I'll leave immediately. No one will ever know you're in there."

I cursed inwardly, thinking, what should I do? Lie—how? He must know I'm not Third Uncle. If I say I'm Third Uncle, he'll leave right away. But if I say who I really am... should I tell the truth and say I'm Wu Xie? That would blow my cover, wouldn't it?

Although it wouldn't be a huge problem to be exposed now, giving in under pressure like that seemed too weak.

I thought it over and immediately replied with an email: "Even if I tell you, you won't know who I am."

He replied almost instantly: "Tell me, and I'll decide."

Damn, this guy is pretty assertive, I thought. As I was about to figure out how to respond, another email came in immediately: "You have one last email. I must leave immediately. Don't waste time. Who are you?"

I touched my face, feeling extremely anxious. I typed two characters: "Not necessarily," then deleted them right away. I knew that this kind of person was very decisive.

But even if I told the truth, how would he judge that I was telling the truth? Actually, he didn't need to judge whether I was telling the truth, because through email alone, it was completely impossible for him to determine that. He just wanted to know which side I was on.

And whether I told the truth or not, after hearing it, he would basically ignore me and still leave. The scariest thing was that from all the signs in this place, I could tell he was a very cautious, swift, and disciplined person. When he said he would leave immediately, it wasn't a bluff. If I didn't answer, he wouldn't stay a moment longer just to satisfy his curiosity.

What I needed to do wasn't to tell the truth, but to make him interested in me, to get him to let me out.

So, how could I make him interested in me? I racked my brain. The only thing I could be sure of was that he trusted my Third Uncle very much. But I couldn't say I was Third Uncle. Should I tell him I was Third Uncle's relative? Should I say I was Second Uncle? Or should I say I was one of Third Uncle's underlings?

"I'm leaving." Just as I was getting anxious, another email came in.

I panicked immediately, and almost instinctively, I typed a few words: "I am Wu Xie. Wu Sansheng's nephew."

The email was sent in an instant. Before I even had time to regret it, I stared at the screen.

Time ticked by, minute after minute. There was no reply on the screen. My entire body began to grow cold. I thought, no way, did he leave that quickly, that decisively? Impossible. The network transmission was fast. After he sent that message, I replied immediately—he should have seen it. But then I thought again, no! Even if he saw it, so what? Maybe the name Wu Xie didn't interest him at all; he glanced at it and left.

Damn, I'm going to be trapped and die here. What do I do? What do I do? I took deep breaths to calm myself down—this wasn't the first time I'd been in a situation like this. I immediately searched around, trying to find any tool I could use. When I discovered that the only things here were empty videotape boxes, I nearly went berserk and kicked the iron shelves.

But I quickly calmed down again. I knew I wasn't completely without a chance.

Tomorrow, tomorrow morning the gardener Old He would come to water the flowers. If I could get his attention, I could have someone come rescue me.

Damn. I had no idea how to explain why Third Master was trapped in his own secret room. With all these videotape boxes and videotape machines in here, they wouldn't think I was copying pornography to sell, would they? Whatever. In a few days I'd be back to my true identity as Wu Xie anyway. If I had to lose face, so be it. But how could I attract his attention? The soundproofing here was definitely very good. To quote a line from a Hong Kong movie: Even if I screamed my throat out, no one would come to rescue me.

I looked at the pipes on the ceiling, wondering what kind of pipes they were. If I broke them and shouted into them, I didn't know if anyone outside would hear.

I climbed up using the iron shelf as a ladder to check, and I found it unreliable. These pipes definitely weren't Third Uncle's pipes—they had to be the neighbor's, and definitely sewage pipes. Besides the fact that the pipes were very sturdy, even if I managed to break one, I'd get sprayed in the face with sewage. Even if I could tolerate that, the chance of the sound traveling through the pipes to someone's toilet was too small. And if someone heard a strange sound coming from their toilet, they would definitely think it was just the air pressure in the pipes, at most a ghost. By the time they figured it out, I'd have starved to death.

However, I immediately thought of another method. I looked at the light fixture beside me.

The electrical wires here were live. If I connected the wires to the pipes, when someone took a shower over there, they might get electrocuted.

That way, the police would come to investigate why the water carried electricity. But a life for a life—that's not my way.

After thinking for a long time, I decided to first try shouting into the toilet. So I climbed down and, by exploiting metal fatigue, tried to break off a rusty iron rod from one of the shelves. To my surprise, the rod was very sturdy—I strained with all my might, but it didn't budge.

I folded it a few times, my heart immediately starting to race, and I shook it even more fiercely. Just then, I heard an aged voice coming from the sewer beside me.

"Come out."

I was taken aback for a moment, then heard the sound of an iron grate opening from over there: "Come out slowly."

I had seen the iron grate in this sewer earlier, but I never thought it could be opened. I felt a bit embarrassed, but only I knew about my earlier behavior. I bent down to look at the sewer and saw a flashlight beam shining over from that direction, so blinding that I couldn't open my eyes. "Come out slowly and don't move recklessly," the other person said again.

I immediately said, "Don't hurt me, I won't move recklessly."

As I spoke, I crouched down and crawled out bit by bit. Just as my head emerged from the sewer opening, a knife was pressed against my neck.

"Don't move," the voice said. I couldn't lift my head and couldn't see the person's face at all. I only saw him pinch my cheek and then feel the back of my neck. Suddenly, he laughed.

"What are you laughing at!" I said, somewhat annoyed.

"Wu Sansheng was right—even a small fly can ruin a big plan. You're alive and well, why would you bring this misery upon yourself?"

I didn't know how to answer, then I felt him suddenly pull himself up and quickly climb out of the manhole. After I struggled to climb out myself and rushed frantically into the alley outside Third Uncle's house, I found that no matter which direction I looked, there was no sign of him—only a pitch-black street remained.