Easy Rescue

Easy Rescue

A few minutes later, the three burly men ran back and said dejectedly, "That old man got away!"

Li Quan cursed a few times, then glanced at Lin Li in the corner.

"You're his apprentice, right? Where does he live?" Li Quan asked.

Lin Li looked up in shock and hurriedly said, "I was scammed too! I don't know where he lives!"

"Fuck you!" Li Quan slapped him and asked, "You're his apprentice, but you don't know? You even helped him stop us. Don't try to argue. If the master owes money, the apprentice pays it back!"

With that, the group surrounded him. Lin Li was cornered against the wall, completely unable to resist.

He was the sort of person willing to face reality. The moment he willingly placed his trust in the old man, he had already prepared himself for the possibility of being cheated out of money.

But he had never expected that it would no longer be a matter of losing twelve thousand yuan. He had been dragged into another mess and saddled with a debt of a hundred thousand yuan. That was beyond what he could bear.

"Damn it!" Lin Li gritted his teeth, breathing heavily as he looked around helplessly.

"I don't have any money left. Some of the money he scammed from me was borrowed from other people."

Li Quan did not care about that. He immediately searched Lin Li and quickly took out his phone and wallet.

After staring at his ID card and student card for a while, he said, "With that IQ, you got into Fudan University? Don't give me that useless crap. You're not leaving today unless you give us an explanation!"

"Give me my stuff back!" Lin Li growled.

"What are you acting tough for?" The others unleashed a flurry of punches, forcing him to fend them off again and again.

Sometimes Lin Li thought he was impressive, but once he realized he had merely been stupid, he would fall into self-abandonment.

Watching Li Quan fiddle with his phone and hold his student card, Lin Li was filled with resentment. He was afraid this would blow up and become known across the entire university.

Thinking only of how to get away, he finally shouted, "Fine! Isn't it just a hundred thousand yuan? I'll take responsibility. I'll write an IOU and pay you later!"

"Oh?" Everyone immediately stopped.

They could tell that this probably had nothing to do with Lin Li, which was why they had mocked his intelligence.

They had mainly trapped him here because the old man had run away and they could not get their money back. Someone had to shoulder the blame, and it would be good enough if they could squeeze some money out of Lin Li.

On the other hand, Lin Li really had helped stop them from catching the old man, so he was not getting away today without giving them an explanation.

Even if things got out of hand and the police came, they were not afraid. After all, in this matter, they truly were victims too. At worst, they simply would not get their money back.

They had not expected Lin Li to actually accept it, taking on the full hundred thousand yuan and even agreeing to write an IOU. It saved them who knew how much trouble.

"Heh, you've got quite the stubborn temper! Fine, I like that. Come on, go get some paper and a pen," Li Quan said with a smile.

"Tch!" Lin Li pushed the others aside, sat down in a chair, and gulped down the soup. He looked quite tough.

It seemed as though he had given up on himself and decided to smash the pot since it was already broken.

He did not want this to reach the university or his parents. After realizing he had been scammed, his mentality had already collapsed, so he stubbornly decided to shoulder everything himself.

He would swallow the loss rather than let others look down on him.

That kind of stubbornness had been fine before, but this time was different. In truth, how could he possibly have a hundred thousand yuan?

Sitting in the chair, he began thinking about how to word the IOU so that it would lose its legal validity.

The others brought over paper and a pen. At the same time, Lin Li's phone rang.

But Li Quan had the phone. Lin Li asked, "Who is it?"

Li Quan turned the phone for him to see. "No contact name. Unknown number."

Lin Li said, "Hang up."

Li Quan hung up and sat down in front of him.

"Once I finish writing, I can leave, right?" Lin Li asked.

"Of course. Brother, you're fucking impressive, all right? Let's make this clear first: I'm not forcing you. You're doing this voluntarily!" Li Quan said, holding the paper and pen.

"Yes, voluntarily," Lin Li said.

"Once you write the IOU, it'll be in black and white. Even if you call the police, you'll still have to repay this money no matter what," Li Quan confirmed again.

"I know." After saying that, Lin Li fell silent. He looked imposing, though no one knew what he was thinking.

He had not expected this bastard to write the IOU himself. He could not even get his hands on it to tamper with it.

Li Quan smiled and wrote out the IOU according to the proper format. "All right, brother. I can see you're responsible. I believe you can pay it back, so I won't make things difficult for you. I'll give you one month. We'll hold onto your documents for now. No problem, right?"

Just as he was about to sign, Lin Li's hand trembled slightly. He slowly considered how he could escape.

He noticed that because he had agreed to write the IOU, they had relaxed their guard somewhat. But there were six of them. Escaping would not be easy.

Just then, his phone rang again.

Lin Li looked up and asked, "Who is it?"

"It's that same number," Li Quan said.

"I'll answer it," Lin Li said.

Li Quan nodded and handed him the phone.

Everyone was being very polite to him now, feeling that he was genuinely impressive.

Lin Li put down the pen and took the phone. "Hello?"

"Don't ask who I am. The power will go out in twenty seconds. Run straight outside. Don't worry about your wallet. You can get it back sooner or later," said the voice on the other end.

Lin Li froze, completely dumbfounded. For a moment, he did not know what to say.

"After I hang up, count down ten seconds." With that, the other party ended the call.

Holding the phone, Lin Li lowered his head and looked at the IOU on the table.

If he signed it, he would have to repay a hundred thousand yuan. He could not scrape together that much even if he sold a kidney. Of course he had to run.

"Why did they hang up? Who was it?" Li Quan asked.

Looking at the IOU, Lin Li blurted out, "An insurance salesman."

The others understood and did not suspect anything. It was not unusual to hang up on a sales call without saying a word.

Besides, they had already ignored and hung up on this number once before.

Thud! Suddenly, the entire shop went dark.

Then came the sound of a table being bumped. Everyone only felt someone rush past them!

He quickly dashed out the door, and heavy footsteps rang out on the stairs!

"Damn it! That kid ran!" Li Quan roared, and everyone hurriedly fumbled their way outside to chase him.

Lin Li had been far too cooperative before. When he was about to sign, everyone had been sitting around lazily.

The sudden blackout caught them off guard, allowing him to escape. Worse still, when they chased after him, they crowded into each other and wasted some time.

By the time they ran out of the shop and looked around, Lin Li had already vanished.

Just as they looked around in confusion—

"He ran to the right!" someone shouted from the second-floor window.

It turned out that one person had not squeezed downstairs with the others. Instead, he had watched outside from the second-floor window and pointed out the direction Lin Li had fled.

Li Quan immediately led his five brothers in pursuit.

After seeing them leave, the man who had shouted from the second floor leisurely went downstairs, walked out of the shop, and headed left in the opposite direction.

That person was Huang Ji. At the same time, he was playing with Lin Li's student card, which had been pressed on the table and completely ignored in the darkness.

After walking for a while, Huang Ji's phone rang. It was Lin Li calling.

"Who are you, really? Why did you help me? What about my student card?" Lin Li asked between gasps. He had run far away and only made the call after making sure he had shaken them off.

Huang Ji lowered his phone without saying anything and walked forward quickly.

He went straight up behind Lin Li and patted him on the shoulder.

Lin Li hurriedly turned around, recognized Huang Ji, and said, "Hey, Double Pupil Kid!"

"..." Huang Ji's face stiffened.

Lin Li quickly apologized, "Sorry, what a coincidence. I've got something urgent to deal with."

He nodded in greeting, then walked away with an apologetic expression.

Lin Li deliberately avoided Huang Ji. Covering his phone with one hand, he ducked into an alley and softly said into the phone, "I couldn't talk earlier, but it's fine now. Go on..."

There was no sound from the other end. Lin Li anxiously said, "Brother, were you outside the second-floor private room earlier? Thanks for helping me. I'll definitely repay this favor. Oh, and if you were there, they might have forgotten to take my student card and wallet when they chased after me. Help me get them, please. Thanks, thanks."

Yet there was still no reply from the other end.

Lin Li was dumbfounded. Then someone patted his shoulder again. When he turned around, it was still Huang Ji.

"Bro, I really have something to do..."

Covering the phone, he was in the middle of speaking when he suddenly saw Huang Ji raise a hand and offer him a wallet.

Lin Li took his wallet. His ID card and student card were both inside. He froze, then exclaimed, "It was you!"