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The time on the old mobile phone changed to eight o'clock. Han Liqun dialed the emergency number again, but to no avail. Since his first call to the police yesterday, he had been unable to dial any number except this one. He wasn't sure if there were other calls trying to come in, but based on the current situation, that scammer remained his only hope.
After pondering for a moment, he cleared his throat and dialed the number once more.
As he listened to the beeping sound on the line, he thought about what he could say to make the scammer believe him, to convince him to call the police and rescue him. He was deep in thought when the beeping continued for over ten seconds.
Those ten seconds felt like a lifetime for Han Liqun. At that moment, he had no desire to think about anything else; all he wanted was for the other party to pick up the phone. Time ticked away second by second, yet the phone kept beeping.
Han Liqun felt despair wash over him; he thought he was doomed.
Just as he was about to give up, a voice came through: "You really are persistent. What exactly do you want? Luckily, my plan doesn’t charge me for incoming calls; otherwise, I wouldn’t have answered. I'm just having a meal right now, so I might as well listen to what you have to say."
A weight lifted off Han Liqun's chest.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and slowly spoke, "I know my previous words sounded like those of a mental patient having a breakdown, but I'm very clear-headed now. I understand you don’t believe me, but I will do my best to prove who I am. First, my name is Han Liqun, and I'm forty-three years old."
The scammer didn’t seem to care whether or not he believed him; instead, he replied, "Oh, hello Han Liqun. I won’t tell you my name; people in our line of work don’t share their names. Just call me Yue. Now that I know your name, what’s next?"
Han Liqun thought for a moment and said, "Alright, since you know our names now, I can give you my WeChat ID. You can check how others refer to me there; of course, you can also see how much money I have in my account."
With that, Han Liqun provided his WeChat ID and password.
There was silence on the other end for a moment. Han Liqun leaned closer to the phone, straining to hear any sounds from the scammer. He could hear Yue smacking his lips; it was clear that the scammer was eating breakfast, but Han Liqun had no idea what it was.
In Han Liqun's mind's eye, he imagined a lavish feast—plenty of fish and meat—anything would be better than this dry bread and bottled water.
After several minutes of waiting, Yue finally spoke: "Hmm, you’re not lying to me. The WeChat ID you gave me does work; I see you have over a thousand yuan in your balance. However, since you've enabled fingerprint payment without a password or PIN, I can't withdraw this money at all. Are you trying to tell me that if I send you some money now, it will become mine? I've seen this trick before."
Han Liqun quickly responded: "I can deal with you right now. If I let you send me money later on, then you hang up immediately and block my number."
"Right!" Yue said, "Why didn't I think to block your number?"
"So you have to trust me," Han Liqun quickly replied. "Look, I have at least a thousand yuan in my WeChat. With your kind of trick, it would take a long time to scam someone, but if you follow my lead, that thousand yuan in WeChat will be yours. Plus, once it's done, I'll give you a portion of the money, as long as you can trust me."
Han Liqun heard silence on the other end. He knew the other person was thinking. After a moment, the voice came through: "But what exactly do you want to do? Just so we're clear, I only scam people; I don’t do anything like murder, arson, or forcing people into prostitution."
As long as the other party didn’t hang up, there was room for negotiation.
Han Liqun continued, "The reason I insisted on giving you my WeChat ID earlier was to make you believe me. What I'm about to tell you is absolutely true; please trust me. Yesterday at six in the afternoon, I was walking home when a van appeared beside me out of nowhere. Before I could react, I was pulled into the vehicle."
"You mean you were kidnapped?" Yue asked.
"Yes, I was indeed kidnapped," Han Liqun hurriedly confirmed. "But these kidnappers are different from others."
"What do you mean?"
Han Liqun heard a crisp sound from the receiver; it seemed Yue had placed his chopsticks down.
Han Liqun swallowed hard and tried to slow down his speech, hoping Yue would understand the situation clearly: "First of all, when I woke up, I found myself locked in a room with no doors or windows. The room is about twenty square meters."
"How did you get in there if there are no doors or windows?" Yue slapped the table. "Are you messing with me?"
"No, no," Han Liqun quickly explained. "Listen to me. This room has no doors or windows, but there is a window—it's just too high up, about four or five meters off the ground. Without a rope or anything like that, I can't get out. The window isn't large enough for someone to enter freely; it's just too high. Standing on the ground, all I can see is blue sky and white clouds—nothing else at all. I can't even hear human voices or birds chirping."
Yue's voice came through again: "It's eight o'clock now; most people should be going to work soon. You’ll probably hear something soon."
"No," Han Liqun replied. "Don't you remember? I was captured yesterday and haven't heard a single sound since then. This phone is one of those old models; it doesn't even have location services."
"Is that really true?" Yue still didn't quite believe it. "Then hurry up and call the police. What are you wasting your time talking to a scammer for? Aren't you being ridiculous?"
Han Liqun replied, "I don't know why, but my phone can only call you. So please, don't hang up. You need to call the police; they can trace my location through the signal."
Han Liqun heard the sound of dishes being cleaned on the other end of the line, indicating that Yue had finished breakfast.
Yue spoke up, "Are you just bored, trying to amuse yourself by talking to me? Your kidnapper locked you in a room with no doors or windows, and then gave you a phone that can only call me? Who would believe such nonsense?"
"Why wouldn't your kidnapper want to marry you?" Yue's tone dripped with sarcasm. "Do you really think a kidnapper would let you talk to anyone else? That's just a joke. I don't know who you are or why you gave me this WeChat ID. All I know is that there's no such thing as a free lunch."
Yue grew increasingly agitated. "I'm a scammer myself. Although I can't see through your scheme yet, I know where it leads. Once I get tempted by that thousand yuan, you'll trick me into spending hundreds more. I won't fall for that cheap trick; if you're going to scam someone, go find someone else. People in this line of work are all enemies, and it seems that's exactly what you are. So goodbye."
With that, Yue was about to hang up.
"Don't! Please!" Han Liqun nearly shouted. "Why can't you believe me? I'm not trying to scam you! I've shared my WeChat ID with you; how could I possibly be lying? Think about it—I've already told you everything. I would never ask for your money; if I ever do, just hang up on me."
At this point, Han Liqun's voice was tinged with desperation.
Having lived over forty years, Han Liqun had told countless lies—about seventy percent of what came out of his mouth was falsehoods, while only thirty percent was truth. Yet he had never spoken so much truth in one go as he did now, but it seemed impossible for others to believe him.
For a time, Han Liqun thought those who fell for scams deserved it; anyone with a bit of intelligence could quickly see through the flaws in such schemes. Yet those people chose to easily trust his words. At this moment, Han Liqun wished Yue were one of those gullible individuals.
But clearly, Yue was not.
Han Liqun understood one simple truth that most people overlooked: there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Yet when most people encounter such situations, they convince themselves that they are different from others and that their luck will be better than everyone else's.
Sometimes, people just can't see themselves clearly.
"You're being too mysterious; it's really hard to believe," Yue sighed. "I don't know what I've done to offend you. Can I apologize? All this talk about kidnappers and police... I'm just an ordinary person. Forget it, find someone else. I don't want to get involved in this anymore."
Han Liqun knew that Yue was rejecting him, but his phone could only connect to Yue. He absolutely could not lose contact with him; this was his only chance.
"No, Yue, I beg you! Please!" Han Liqun pleaded, almost in tears.
But Yue remained silent, seemingly about to hang up the phone.
"15957!" Han Liqun shouted.
"What?" Yue asked.
"My payment password. Trust me, take this thousand first. Once you save me, I promise I'll give you more!"
Han Liqun was now crying out desperately.
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