Volume 1, Chapter 40: Save Me

"Why is this the Sifang Labor Dispatch Company?"

"Our hotel has some business dealings with this labor dispatch agency."

The office was less than one hundred square meters, and the interior decoration was quite ordinary.

Following Zhao Jian all the way into an office at the end of the indoor hallway, Lin Manru saw quite a few employees nodding and greeting Zhao Jian as they passed, which made her feel somewhat less nervous.

"I won't brew tea for you; you'll just have to make do with a bottle of mineral water."

Zhao Jian took an unopened bottle of mineral water from a small refrigerator and handed it to Lin Manru.

"Thank you, President Zhao." Zhao Jian's words and actions were appropriate in every way, which naturally inspired a deep sense of trust in Lin Manru.

She unscrewed the cap of the mineral water bottle and took two small sips.

Seeing that Lin Manru had already swallowed the mineral water, the smile on Zhao Jian's face vanished in an instant, replaced by a lewd and dissolute grin.

These women always think that unopened mineral water is safe.

Little do they know that malicious people have long since injected potions into the bottle near the cap using tiny needles.

Within five minutes, this drug would take effect in a woman's body.

This trick was specially designed to deal with difficult, pretty women, a foolproof method to make them surrender willingly. Many wealthy individuals and rich second-generation heirs used it.

During the process, they would even take out their mobile phones to record videos. With incriminating evidence in hand, they knew these women wouldn't dare to call the police afterward, or else their intimate little videos would be sent to their classmates, teachers, parents, and family members.

It could also turn these women into long-term, free hookup partners.

Zhao Jian wasn't qualified to mingle in the upper circles, but he had picked up this kind of trick.

"You look quite pure. Are you still a virgin?"

"What? You..."

Faced with Zhao Jian's impolite question, Lin Manru looked at him as if struck by lightning, only to find an evil, lewd grin hanging on his face.

"Heh heh heh..." Zhao Jian's greedy gaze roamed unscrupulously over Lin Manru's body. He licked the tip of his lips, staring fixedly at her rounded, perky breasts.

"President Zhao, you—you've gone too far!" Sensing danger, Lin Manru immediately stood up from the sofa, grabbed her handbag, and jogged toward the office door.

Lin Manru's slender waist and curvy hips drove Zhao Jian wild with desire. He took a stride forward, wrapping his large arms tightly around her from behind.

"Let—let me go! Help..."

Terrified out of her wits, Lin Manru screamed at the top of her lungs, flailing her hands in the air, and inadvertently struck Zhao Jian right in the eye with a punch.

The world went black before Zhao Jian's eyes. He let out a miserable shriek, instinctively clutching his eye as he stumbled back several steps.

Seizing the opening, Lin Manru hurriedly reached out to pull open the office door, only to find that it wouldn't budge no matter how hard she pulled.

"You damned country bumpkin, how dare you hit me? After I'm done with you, I'm going to post your photos and videos all over the internet. Let the beasts all over the country have a good look at your spread-eagled, slutty posture!"

Furious to the extreme, Zhao Jian lusted after Lin Manru's body, but she was, after all, just a country girl. As the esteemed president of a labor dispatch company, the disparity in their status and standing was obvious.

A wave of dizzying vertigo struck, turning Lin Manru's mind chaotic and leaving her entire body soft and weak.

An inexplicable, intense itch, as if countless ants were crawling over her skin, flared up within her body, accompanied by a sensation of being roasted over a fiery furnace. It left her mouth parched and her mind and body in burning anguish.

So hot...

"You drugged me! There was something wrong with that mineral water?"

"Hahahaha... You're actually not that stupid, woman!"

Zhao Jian had read countless people. Downstairs, when he deliberately feigned a casual movement to close the distance between them and rested his hand behind her fragrant shoulder, it had actually been a test.

If she were one of those women willing to trade her body for resources, she would have certainly batted her eyelashes, swayed her hips, and fallen compliant into his arms.

Yet Lin Manru's first reaction had been to run. It seemed she was not the kind of woman who could be easily taken.

While self-respect in a woman was admirable, it also made things difficult to handle, which was why Zhao Jian had tricked Lin Manru into coming up to the third-floor office and coaxed her into drinking the pre-drugged mineral water.

"The soundproofing in this office is excellent. You can scream all you want later!"

"You shameless beast!" Lin Manru bit down hard on her lower lip.

The sharp pain allowed her to regain a fleeting moment of clarity.

Quickly fishing her phone out of her bag, she unlocked it with her fingerprint, opened the top-ranked chat box labeled 'Lin Xiaoxu' on her current WeChat interface, and typed out two words: 'Save me'.

Zhao Jian snatched the phone out of Lin Manru's hand, immediately long-pressed the sent message 'Save me', and hit the recall button.

"Damned country bumpkin! Good thing I was fast enough to recall it!"

Zhao Jian's words plunged Lin Manru into utter despair...

After withdrawing five thousand yuan in cash from the ATM, Lin Xiaoxu walked slowly out onto the street.

He had originally intended to withdraw ten thousand yuan, but upon inserting his card into the machine, a prompt informed him that the daily withdrawal limit for his card was five thousand yuan!

He felt a bit puzzled inside. Weren't the funds in this card his own? Why would there be a withdrawal limit?

Moreover, going to the counter to withdraw an amount exceeding five thousand yuan required filling out an application form.

Most ridiculously, it also required providing a business license, utility bill statements, and a certificate from his employer!

This...

Stuffing the five thousand yuan into his trouser pocket, Lin Xiaoxu was just about to mount his three-wheeled motorcycle to go look for Lin Manru when his phone vibrated.

"Save me?" The WeChat message was indeed from Lin Manru, but strangely, just two seconds later, the 'Save me' message had been recalled.

Perhaps Lin Manru had sent the wrong message or made a typo, which was why she recalled it in time.

To be on the safe side, Lin Xiaoxu initiated a video call with Lin Manru to verify things, as she was a young woman after all.

However, after three consecutive video calls, the other party did not answer.

He dialed her phone number several times as well, but it also went unanswered.

"Oh no, something might have happened to Manru!" Slamming his foot on the accelerator, Lin Xiaoxu rushed toward the talent market at lightning speed.

Yet upon stepping inside the sprawling venue, Lin Xiaoxu was dumbfounded. The area was vast and crowded—where on earth was he supposed to look for Lin Manru?

Lin Manru was so pretty; the consequences could be catastrophic if she truly fell into the hands of villains.

Refusing to give up, Lin Xiaoxu wandered around, asking anyone he met, until he spotted a wild flower resting on a sofa at one of the booths.

This wild flower was the very one Lin Manru had picked by the roadside and held to her nose to smell that morning before boarding his three-wheeled motorcycle!