They all stood or sat rooted to their places when they heard the telephone ring.

Ring!

A second ring was heard.

Dongfang Zhengyi turned around. He ran to their phone. He immediately picked up the receiver. Instantly, he put the receiver to his right ear.

"Hello!" came a voice from the other end.

Zhengyi gasped. The voice that came out of the receiver was Xinxiu's.

"Xinxiu?"

There was a gentle tap on Zhengyi's shoulder. When he turned his head, Zhengyi saw everyone had gathered behind him.

"Wear this," Yixiong put the earphones connected to Huahshiang into Zhengyi's left ear.

"Yige! That's right, I'm Xinxiu," said the person from the other end.

"Mr. Dongfang! I am Qiulin Xinzhang. Please ask Mr. Beihai where he is. If he is inside a room, please ask him to describe the room!"

Zhengyi could clearly hear the police officer's words.

"Yige! Right! It's me, Xinxiu."

"Xinxiu. Where are you?"

"I don't know where I am. I'm in a room right now."

"Please explain in detail the state of the room you are in right now."

"This isn't the room they kept me in. I made it out of that room. There are lots of rooms here. I went into this room, which is right next to the room where I was being held. I saw there is a telephone. So I tried calling home. "

Suddenly there was no more Xinxiu's voice.

"Xinxiu, Xinxiu!" Zhengyi shouted. "What happened?"

"Mr. Dongfang, please don't panic."

Zhengyi was really worried. It was possible the criminals caught Xinxiu using the phone. If that was indeed the case, Zhengyi couldn't imagine what they would do to Xinxiu..

"Mr. Dongfang, please put down the receiver first. Maybe Mr. Beihai will call again," Qiulin said.

Xinxiu called too briefly. There wasn't enough time for the police to trace where these phone calls were coming from.

The situation was silent for a moment. The crowd behind Zhengyi also didn't move.

Ring

The phone rang again.

Zhengyi, who was still standing there, picked up the receiver right away.

"Yige!"

Luckily, Xinxiu immediately calls again. Hopefully, this time, our conversation will be long enough for the police to have enough time to track them down.

"Xinxiu, what happened?"

"I don't know. The telephone connection suddenly went off. I'll continue what I was talking about earlier."

"Okay! What's in that room? I mean, the room you're in right now."

"Tables, chairs, beds, and cupboards. Just like an ordinary bedroom."

"Is there anything else?"

"There isn't any."

"What about the room they held you in?"

"It's bigger than this room. There's a bathroom there. So I'm free to go to the bathroom anytime."

"Is there anything special in there that could be a clue?"

"Nothing. Everything is like a normal bedroom."

"How did you get out of the room? I mean, the room they held you in."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"About an hour ago, someone came. He asked if each of us had relatives in this city. Casually, I said I didn't have one. Indeed, I have no relatives here. So I wasn't lying at all. But I told them you all have relatives living here. I made up the names randomly. But I said I didn't know where your relatives live. I said that we all wander here wanting to be away from family, so of course visiting relatives here isn't a good option."

"Eh?" Zhengyi felt a little confused.

Is he unable to hear my question clearly? Why is he talking about other things?

"Yige, they always lock the door of the room where they kept me. From inside this room, I could hear their conversation. They usually talk loudly. About ten minutes ago, suddenly there wasn't any sound. I decided to try opening the bedroom door. Turned out they forgot to lock it. So I just walked out."

"Mr. Dongfang. Try to get Mr. Beihai to talk about the people who detained him." Qiulin Xinzhang's voice sounded so calm.

"Xinxiu! How many people detained you?"

"I don't know how many people there are in total. But so far, I've only seen four."

"Four people?" Are they all men?"

"Yes. All men. They are in their late twenties. They appear alternately. Ah, this afternoon I managed to slip the pen I brought into the pocket of the person who took my lunch plate and bowl. I wrote a brief message on the torn sheet. Then I folded the torn sheet and stuffed it into the end of the pen. I don't know if such an action is useful or not, but I have to try it, right?"

"What did you say?" Zhengyi was so surprised to hear Xinxiu's statement.

"Pen! Do you remember? Before leaving the house, Renge gave me the pen. That's the pen I put in one of them's pants pocket!"

"Mr. Dongfang! Check to see if the tip of the pen that Mr. Duanmu found has torn sheets like the one Mr. Beihai just mentioned," Qiulin Xinzhang said.

"Yige!" Suddenly Xinxiu whispered. "Looks like they're back. I need to get back to my room soon."

After that, the phone connection was lost.

"What did Xinxiu say?" Yiren asked.

"Xinxiu said he slipped a pen into the pocket of one kidnapper. At the tip of the pen he stuffed torn sheets."

"That's very dangerous," said Yiren. "What if the kidnappers find the pen?"

Zhengyi nodded. "It's dangerous. But it's worth it."

"I think Xinxiu hid the piece of cloth in a fairly hidden place in the pen," Yixiong said. He looked at Zhengyi. "You said at the tip of the pen?"

Zhengyi nodded. "Xinxiu said so. We have to dismantle the pen to find the cloth."

"We just need to open the tip. But we really have to open the pen so we can see the inside, which is the ink storage rod."

"Now we have to check the pen," said Zhengyi.

"Where's the pen that Jinqkang found earlier?" Yixiong asked.

Yiren instantly ran into his room. He immediately returned holding the pen that Jinqkang had found this afternoon on the side of the road in front of the grocery store in front of their housing complex. He gave the pen to Yixiong, who opened the tip of the pen right away.

"Ah!" Yixiong shouted. He twisted and removed the tip of the pen.

"Is there really something inside it?" Yiren asked.

Yixiong nodded. He tried to pry the object in the small object. It didn't take long before he managed to pry a piece of cloth out of it. He gave the piece of cloth to Yiren, who spread it straight away.

The piece of cloth was tiny. The length was only about five centimeters, while the width was about one centimeter.

"There is writing," shouted Yiren. "But it's not clear!"

He brought the piece of cloth to the dining table. He sat down and tried to read what was written on it. Everyone walked to the dining table and surrounded Yiren. Zhengyi removed the earphones from his left ear and immediately joined the crowd around Yiren.

"Help me, Beihai Xinxiu," said Yiren.

"Xinxiu must have written that message before inserting this piece of cloth into the tip of the pen," Yixiong said.

"What's next?"

"It looks like a series of numbers. But it's not clear," said Yiren.

Qiuzhen looked down at the piece of cloth. "It's like our landline number. I guess Shiowge hoped that someone would find this pen and then be kind enough to contact us."

"I think the chances that someone will return this pen to us are slim," Zhengyi said.

"But the truth is this pen did come back to us, right?" said Yiren.

It is a miracle that is very difficult to explain!

Zhengyi ran back towards the Huahshiang. He put earphones to his ears.

"Hello Mr. Qiulin Xinzhang!"

"How is it, Mr. Dongfang?" asked Qiulin Xinzhang.

"That's right, sir! There is indeed a piece of cloth inside the tip of the pen that Mr. Duanmu found this afternoon. So it seems Mr. Beihai's kidnapper was around here!"

"Thank you, Mr. Dongfang. This is a precious clue."

"Mr. Qiulin, this time it was not the kidnappers who called here but Mr. Beihai himself. So it's very possible that there wasn't any scrambler installed on the phone that Mr. Beihai used to call this house. I mean, did the police manage to track down where Mr. Beihai was calling from this time?"

"Too bad, Sir! Even this time, we failed to trace where Mr. Beihai called from. I think, It's clear they installed the scrambler, but not on their phone."

Zhengyi sighed. He had hoped that a phone call from Xinxiu would end all of this in an instant. But it turned out that their struggle was still very long.

"Zhengyi, let me talk to the police." Yixiong suddenly tapped his shoulder. "Before this, you almost stepped out of the house."

Zhengyi smiled broadly. He gave the earphones to Yixiong. After that, he continued what had been delayed, namely going to the nearest bus stop.

After exiting the gate, Zhengyi did not look left or right. He walked right away. He walked with firm steps.

"Where are you going, Sir?"

Zhengyi turned towards the source of the voice. He saw their neighbor, Xuande Zhanji, standing in his yard, about a meter from the gate of his yard.

Zhengyi was confused. He was not prepared to answer such a question. "I just want to relax my legs. I couldn't sleep tonight."

"I understand," said Xuande Zhanji. "Even though I'm tired, I'm also having a bit of trouble sleeping tonight. How about we walk together?"

Zhengyi didn't know how to refuse Xuande Zhanji's request. He was just silent while Xuande Zhanji opened the gate and walked over to him.

"Let's walk," said Xuande Zhanji.