Chapter 657 - 655: Isolated from the World

Su Li was jolted awake by the cold.

The moment she woke, Su Li shivered, and then the pain hit her.

A sharp, throbbing pain pulsed in her head, and her tongue ached.

The tongue is a sensitive part of the mouth; even a small canker sore or inflammation can be agonizing. Although Su Li hadn’t had the strength to bite down hard, she had still managed to bite her tongue.

Su Li endured the pain and moved her tongue slightly. She tried to ignore the headache and slow her breathing, listening intently for any unusual sounds.

After listening carefully for a moment and hearing nothing, Su Li cautiously, slowly opened her eyes.

When she did, she was met with pitch-black darkness, as if her eyes were still closed.

It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, and the absolute blackness began to fade.

Su Li gingerly checked herself over. Her hands and feet were free; there were no signs of bindings. Aside from the headache and the cold, she felt no other discomfort.

No injuries and no restraints. The situation was slightly better than she had feared.

Su Li could now deduce that Wu Sheng hadn’t been injured.

The news of Wu Sheng’s injury was a lie, fabricated to throw her into chaos. The realization brought Su Li a wave of relief.

If it hadn’t been for that news, she wouldn’t have been so distraught. She wouldn’t have let her guard down, wouldn’t have climbed into the car without a second thought just because she recognized the clothes and heard a familiar form of address. She hadn’t even stopped to consider if there was something wrong with the car itself.

Without the shock of that news, she would have remembered that people like Wa Wa Lian called Wu Sheng "Boss." That wasn’t exactly a secret; anyone could find that out with a little effort.

She’d been through so much and had become quite cautious, yet she’d fallen for it in the end.

Even though she’d been tricked and ended up in this situation, and even though she knew Tang Mo and Wu Sheng must be frantic with worry, Su Li couldn’t help but feel relieved.

Relieved that the news of Wu Sheng’s injury was fake. Relieved that he was okay.

All these thoughts flashed through Su Li’s mind in an instant, but the final one made her want to laugh and cry at the same time.

She’d never imagined that one day, while facing a situation like this, her very first feeling would be relief that a man was unhurt.

The corners of Su Li’s mouth twitched. Hearing no other sounds, she slowly sat up.

Her body felt limp and weak, likely an aftereffect of being drugged.

Su Li felt around. Her clothes were undisturbed; even her scarf, hat, and the gloves hanging from her neck were all still there.

Su Li turned and saw the only source of light.

It was a small, rectangular window, about forty to fifty centimeters wide and twenty centimeters high, probably for ventilation.

Using the faint light filtering in from the small window, Su Li surveyed her surroundings.

It wasn’t completely dark, but she could only make out the general shape of the space. It wasn’t particularly large or small; it seemed to be a single room.

There was something scattered on the floor, and the air was thick with dust and a musty smell. The place had likely been abandoned for some time.

Feeling the thick layer of dust on the floor, Su Li slowly got to her feet and walked cautiously toward the small window.

By now, Su Li was certain she was alone in the room.

Whether someone was guarding her from outside, she couldn’t be sure. The most important thing was to figure out her surroundings.

To be honest, Su Li was still baffled as to why she’d been targeted and why she had woken up in a place like this. She couldn’t think of a reason anyone would do this, or what their motive could be.

She didn’t know if this was retaliation for something she had reported on for work, a personal vendetta, or something else entirely.

No matter how she looked at it, it was strange.

The perpetrators had specifically used the lie about Wu Sheng being injured, which meant they probably knew him, or that this was somehow related to him.

’Something to do with Wu Sheng, and just days before their wedding?’

A thousand possibilities flashed through Su Li’s mind.

’A rival in love? Or someone who couldn’t stand to see her marry Wu Sheng? Or was it someone seeking revenge, someone who couldn’t bear to see her happily married?’

In an instant, several names flashed through Su Li’s mind:

Qin Shanshan, Bai Xinyue, Li Anna, Ye Xilan... and wait, Mrs. Tang?

It felt like any of them could be responsible, yet none of them seemed plausible.

Qin Shanshan was still in prison. Bai Xinyue was supposedly still dealing with her past. Li Anna shouldn’t be this crazy. As for Ye Xilan... she should know that if she dared to do something like this, Wu Qihua would make her regret it for the rest of her life, not to mention Wu Sheng...

Then there was Mrs. Tang. After she had abused Little Tang Mo and nearly killed him, Su Li equated her with an animal. Su Li wouldn’t be surprised by anything Mrs. Tang did.

But wasn’t Mrs. Tang in a sanatorium, unable to get out? Tang Yuanxiao had said so himself.

’She shouldn’t have the means or the opportunity to arrange something like this... right?’

As these thoughts raced through her mind, Su Li reached the small window.

The window was a little high; Su Li had to stand on her tiptoes to see outside.

Gusts of wind blew in through the window, cold enough to make a person tremble.

But Su Li paid it no mind. After a shiver, she reached up, gripped the windowsill, and stood on her toes to look out.

Su Li could see outside.

The world outside was a vast expanse of white, with fine snowflakes drifting down. Although it was night, the snow kept it from being completely dark.

It was because of the snow outside that the room wasn’t pitch-black.

Her view was limited. No matter how high she stretched on her toes, she couldn’t see the ground below. She had no way of knowing that the room she was in was a kind of semi-basement.

From her side, she had to stand on her toes to reach the window, but on the outside, the sill was only about a meter off the ground.

Straining on her toes for just a few moments exhausted her, and she quickly lowered herself back down.

After resting for a couple of seconds, she stood on her toes again and tried to reach her hand out the window.

She managed to get her hand halfway out, and she could even feel the wind and snowflakes against her skin.

But it was useless.

Outside, there was nothing but the occasional moaning of the wind.

It was deathly quiet. Not even the sound of a person, a stray cat, or anything else could be heard.

It was unnervingly silent both inside and out, as if Su Li were the only person left in the world.

Everyone wants a quiet environment to live in, especially for sleeping at night. But when it’s too quiet, especially in a situation like Su Li’s, the silence becomes unsettling and frightening.

Su Li kept listening for a long time. She even strained to see her watch in the faint light, but she couldn’t see it, and she still couldn’t hear anything.

There was nothing but the sound of her own breathing, the small noises she made herself, and the ticking of her watch’s second hand.

Su Li stared out the window for a while, stomped her feet to warm up, and finally, tentatively, called out.

"Is anyone there?"

"Is there anyone here?"

Besides Su Li’s own voice and its faint echo, there was no reply.

For the next hour or so, Su Li kept trying to call for help, but there was never any response.

Su Li finally confirmed it: she was locked in here, but there was probably no one guarding her.

That was good news.

The bad news was that if no one was guarding her, it also meant there was no one nearby at all. There was no sign of life.

It was as if this place was completely cut off from the rest of the world.