A Phone Call

In a deathly silent and cold little room.

Daphne's sister Ammona, squatted in the corner, her eyes glazed over with hunger.

She emanated a terrifying stench, the smell of flesh beginning to rot even before death.

She endured seven days and seven nights in that small room, which was an extremely terrifying form of mental torture for a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl.

There were no demons or monsters here, no villains or bandits, only six bare walls. The low building pressed down on Ammona's head; she could reach out and touch the ceiling. The narrow space was silent, except for the food and water that were brought in at noon every day.

She didn't know how much longer she would be locked up here. In another corner of the room, two blackened mounds of dung had already piled up, and not even flies or rats could be seen.

The kidnappers from the King's Gang were very disciplined and knew proper etiquette. They would never let Ammona suffer any other grievances. These vicious criminals knew that loneliness was a highly effective form of punishment; it could destroy the little girl's mental world, make her continue to pressure Daphne, and force the two sisters to submit.

"Yes"

Ammona dialed the number again.

Is this the Transport Department's emergency hotline?

She had tried many times to call for help using her old push-button telephone.

"My name is Ammona. Are you the Ammona sister from yesterday?"

The voice on the other end of the phone was gentle and sweet; it belonged to a receptionist at the Security Management Centre of the District 8 Traffic Department.

Hello! How can I help you?

Ammona: "Yes... I've been arrested. I made this call yesterday, could I ask you about it? Please help me."

Operator: "Please speak, preferably in detail, Miss Ammona."

Ammona: "I was captured by some people, I don't know who they are, I don't know."

Operator: "Hmm."

Ammona: "My mind is a mess, I'm so hungry, sister, I'm so hungry I can't think straight. I..."

The operator on the other end of the line visibly became tense.

"--Little Ammona, could you please provide your home address?"

Ammona: "I'm not home, I'm not here."

Operator: "But without a home address, we can't send militia to help you."

Ammona: "Alright, I live at Happiness Lane 1037 in the Lower City of Tears. It's an apartment building on the second floor. Just take the elevator, exit, and walk to the end on your right."

Operator: "Okay. Ms. Ammona, you called our emergency hotline yesterday, right? I found the record."

Ammona: "Actually, I've already done it many times."

Operator: "Are you sure you've been kidnapped?"

Ammona was a little angry; she felt inexplicably wronged.

"--Yes! Yes! Sister! Yes! I've been kidnapped by several people! I'm now..."

Operator: "Ammona, calm down, then I can help you."

Ammona: "Okay, okay."

Operator: "You said there were several people, so do you remember what they were wearing? Did they speak? What language did they use?"

Ammona: "I don't know. I don't know, I don't know."

Operator: "You've been drugged?"

Ammona: "I don't know. I just took a nap, and when I woke up I was here."

Operator: "We can't pinpoint your phone's location via satellite signal. How are you contacting us?"

Ammona: "A cell phone. I don't recognize it. It's so old. It only has a few numbers: one is my sister's, one is the emergency number, and the contact name is [Receptionist] -- it seems..."

Operator: "What language is its operating system in?"

Ammona: "It's Arabic."

Operator: "This should be a hotel system work phone. Don't worry, Ammona."

Ammona: "Hmm."

Operator: "In many areas, gangs use Arabic-language mobile phones to send messages to victims' families demanding ransoms. These are outdated electronic devices, almost obsolete now. They're also used as phone bombs, but the one you have won't explode, don't worry, young lady."

Ammona: "Hmm"

Operator: "At least we know that a group of gang members kidnapped you. So, Ammona, can you describe your exact location now? Where are you?"

Ammona: "I don't know. There are walls all around."

Operator: "Is there no door?"

Ammona: "No, there's only one. One place to deliver food."

Operator: "What have you been eating these past few days?"

Ammona: "Leafy greens, soybeans, and rice. Yesterday it was pork and rice, the day before it was beef liver and two whole-wheat breads, and I can't remember anything before that."

Operator: "Uh, do these food items have packaging? Do they have labels?"

Ammona: "No."

Operator: "What about on the plate? What about on the food container?"

Ammona: "They're all bare."

Operator: "What do you see through the feeding window?"

Ammona: "Me"

At this point, the little girl suddenly became frightened.

"I'm afraid to look at that window, can I please not look?"

Operator: "Then I won't watch it! Ammona! I won't watch it!"

Ammona: "If I go take a look, will you be able to find me?"

The operator was also close to losing control of her emotions.

--This kind of emergency call really tests the psychological resilience of the rescuer.

The fact that the victim was able to make phone calls shows that the criminal group was not afraid of the traffic police at all. They left no clues, and Ammona's attempts to call for help were merely wearing down the little girl's patience, making her see hope again and again, only to fall from the height of hope back into the abyss of despair.

"Don't be nervous, Ammona, don't be nervous," the operator's voice trembled with tears. "How old are you? Talk to me, how old are you?"

Ammona: "I'm thirteen."

Operator: "My name is Bell Hines, you can call me Sister Bell."

Ammona: "Hmm"

Bell: "Are you alright now?"

Ammona: "I feel very hungry and it's so cold here."

Bell: "Have you eaten today?"

Ammona: "Please help me, please help me, please!"

Bell pounded his thigh hard at the Transportation Authority's board counter, trying to snap out of it.

"Don't worry, you'll be alright."

Ammona: "Hmm"

Bell: "If you don't want to look at that feeding window, that's fine, just ignore it for now."

Ammona: "Hmm"

Bell: "Talk to me, Ammona, I'd love to talk to you all day."

Ammona: "I need to call my sister tonight, so I can't chat with you for that long."

Bell: "Who is your sister?"

"I can't tell you," Ammona thought of Daphne's identity; her sister was a thief, and she absolutely couldn't tell the Transportation Department. "I can't tell you."

Bell: "But Ammona, if we can't find your family, how are we supposed to continue looking for you?"

"No! No!" Ammona suddenly started crying and screaming, "No! You can't!"

Bell: "Okay, okay, whatever you say."

"I'm sorry," Ammona's voice trailed off, "I'm sorry, Bell, I'm so sorry. You're not angry, are you? You won't abandon me, will you? I'm so sorry."

Bell: "It's okay, I'm not angry! I'm not angry!"

At this moment, Ammona gained a little courage.

She took a few steps toward the cold, dark room window, holding the phone as she walked forward.

"I'll go take a look."

Bell: "Well, then you need to be careful."

The only light source in the room comes from this small window.

Ammona: "I can't see anything. It's too small."

Bell: "What do you mean by 'can't see'?"

Ammona: "You just can't see how scared I am. I'm so scared."

In the quiet room, there was only a faint humming sound—it seemed to be the exhaust fan working.

Apart from some dust and smoke, there was nothing behind the rough cement hole. Under the light of the fluorescent lamp, the walls of the opposite room had not yet been painted. This place seemed to be an abandoned, unfinished building.

"Am I going to die here, Sister Bell?" Ammona asked.

Bell's mental state collapsed instantly.

--She collapsed even earlier than the victims; her emotional state snapped, and she could no longer maintain a good working condition.

She didn't reply for a long time; to be honest, that call to the emergency hotline felt like it came from hell.

There was no detailed address, no family information, no specific ransom terms, and no profile of the suspect. For seven consecutive days, the Transportation Department received these inexplicable emergency calls and dispatched militia to the City of Tears to investigate, but they found no useful clues at the apartment address.

Ammona seemed to realize something. "I'm sorry."

Bell: "It's alright, it's alright, Ammona. It's alright. I can still talk to you. It's alright."

Ammona hung up the phone in disappointment. After thinking for a long time, she dialed the [front desk] number again. This contact person must be the one who kidnapped her—she hadn't dared to dial the number herself; if this continued, she felt she would starve to death here.

"Hello."

The phone rang only once before a calm and collected male voice answered.

Ammona stammered, "Did you tie me up?"

The man replied, "Yes, little Ammona."

Ammona: "What do you want me to do? Can you let me out?"

The man then politely replied, "I'm afraid not right now, but please rest assured, as long as Daphne completes the mission and steals some money for us, you'll be able to reunite with your sister soon."

Ammona pleaded, "How much will it cost?"

The man immediately replied, "No need for much, even five thousand yuan will do—we're not some terrorist organization, unlike the Madness Butterfly Sect, which is devoid of humanity. Your father is a hopeless drug addict, and no matter what, we can't bear to see you two sisters homeless. This old drug addict is drowning in debt; how could we bear to ask you two sisters for it? That's against our principles."

Ammona: "Okay. My sister is a master thief, she definitely is."

"No, I'm afraid it's not that simple." The man immediately interrupted, "Daphne isn't very obedient, Ammona. Why don't you record a message? Or give her a call? Try to persuade her?"

This is the King's Gang's method. Mr. Pan never uses blatant violence to force newsboys to do things for him. He wants to seize the weaknesses of these tools and gradually erode the victims' mental world.

Ammona: "Uh, me."

The man added, "I'll go buy you some beef; you must be hungry."

Ammona: "Thank you. Me."

The man thanked him repeatedly, "No, no, no, I should be thanking you, little Ammona. I should be thanking you. If you hadn't wanted to stay in this little house, things might have gotten complicated."

The meaning of this "unwillingness" is that it's fortunate Ammona is still alive.

--If this girl is determined to die, Mr. Pan has no way to blackmail Daphne. Now it's the "Post-Gunsmith Era," and it's not so easy to make money through illegal means anymore. You have to follow the rules and be polite.

In less than a minute, a plate of steaming hot roast beef was brought in through the feeding window.

Ammona swallowed hard as the scalding hot meat went down into her stomach. She immediately regained her strength and felt completely alive—she even had the illusion that Mr. Pan outside the door was her benefactor.

Despite making so many calls, the traffic department operator was completely useless, and her sister never even considered coming to rescue her, even though Daphne kept saying, "There's a way, there's a way." -- But now, Ammona's survival depended entirely on Mr. Pan's food.

This made Ammona resentful, and when she called her sister Daphne, she felt somewhat bitter.

"Hello"

"Do you know where you are now?" Daphne asked anxiously, cutting straight to the point and pressing her hard. She was always impatient. "Ammona?! Speak!"

Ammona suddenly became timid again, not daring to contradict her sister. "I... I don't know."

"Don't worry, I'll be right there, I'll be right there!" Daphne said, even though she herself didn't believe it.

Ammona: "How about this, sister, you help them steal five thousand yuan. They said that if you do this, I'll..."

"Bullshit! It's not that simple!" Daphne immediately retorted, "If this happens once, it'll happen again and again! Then I'll never see you again! They're using you to blackmail me! That's definitely their plan! Do you think these guys are good people? They want me to kill someone? Do you expect me to agree? Wake up!"

Ammona: "But I just want to live. I just want to live."

"Don't worry. Don't worry, don't worry," Daphne immediately explained, clearly much more anxious than her sister. "Don't worry, I'm at the Dead Puppet Agency, I've found a helper, don't worry, Ammona, don't worry."

Ammona suddenly lost her temper and began to scream and curse hysterically.

"Daphne! Have you ever fucking cared about me?! What are you doing?! What are you doing?!"

"Give me the phone." A male voice suddenly interrupted.

Jiang Xueming took the phone and said to Ammona, "Little sister, I'm storing my luggage. It shouldn't take long."

Ammona: "Who are you? Why are you dragging a little kid like me into your adult affairs?!"

Jiang Xueming: "You called the Police Department?"

Ammona calmed down and felt that this man seemed more reliable. "Hmm."

Jiang Xueming: "Very good, you did well."

Ammona: "They're useless."

Jiang Xueming: "Very useful, extremely useful!"

Ammona: "Really? It's been seven days already?"

Jiang Xueming: "We've searched for seven days and still haven't found you. This means you're in a place that's not exactly remote, but sparsely populated, and your cell phone signal is very strong. That already tells a lot."

Ammona: "Ah"

Jiang Xueming: "Daphne said that she received the first phone call three hours after you were kidnapped. This means that you are not far from the City of Tears. Qingjin and the militia don't know about this. They can only follow your trail like headless flies in the city and search around the apartment."

Ammona: "Do you know where I am?"

Jiang Xueming left the weapon box at the Dead Puppet Agency's outpost and handed it over to Nanami's office, a local armed employee.

"I'll know soon, it should be quick. You have a feeding window there, right?"

Ammona: "Yes."

Jiang Xueming: "Go pee, don't be embarrassed."

Ammona: "Why? Huh? You want me?"

Jiang Xueming: "Go pee in a windy spot. If you have enough saliva, you can spit a few times too. Tell me the direction the water is flowing."

Ammona: "Okay. Alright."

About half an hour later, Ammona called back.

Jiang Xueming: "I'm already in the car."

Ammona: "The water flows from the outside in, I don't know if that's right."

Jiang Xueming: "Is it tilting to the left or right? Can you feel the direction of the airflow?"

Ammona: "It darted to the left, and the wind was coming from the right."

Jiang Xueming: "You should be in the north of the city. Wait a moment, let me check the map. It's a high-rise building facing south. It should be a racial housing project that Fuli Construction started building sixteen years ago. There are many of these buildings. You're in a tool shed, and the ceiling is only 1.8 meters high. These kinds of houses were originally built for short mixed-race people."

A few seconds passed.

Jiang Xueming: "You're in the buildings in the northwest of the city, in an unfinished building in the lower city of City of Tears. There's a strong monsoon in February, a strong wind blowing from Tear City towards the Eurasian Land Bridge tunnel—what smell can you detect?"

Ammona: "It smells a little bit like oranges. It stinks here."

Jiang Xueming: "That doesn't smell like oranges. There's a pharmaceutical factory there; it smells like Vitamin C tablets. I can confirm your location now."

Ammona: "Then can you call the militia to come and rescue me?!"

Jiang Xueming: "I'm afraid that won't work. A high-profile rescue operation would easily provoke the bandits, and they would kill you."

Ammona: "What should we do then?"

The call ended there.

Within five minutes, Ammona called her sister back, but her sister didn't answer.

After another ten minutes or so, she became increasingly anxious and frightened.

Then my phone suddenly rang; it was the receptionist calling.

"Hello"

Ammona gripped the phone nervously, speaking with a guilty conscience.

"Sister Daphne doesn't listen to me. I'm useless."

A familiar male voice came from inside.

Jiang Xueming responded.

"Finally caught this guy, he can run pretty fast."