Redemption from the Abyss: The School Beauty Insists on Pulling Me Out of the Mire

Xie Wang stood by the blue bricks of the barbecue restaurant's outer wall. The howling winter wind whipped up the corner of his school uniform, blowing away all the warmth from the charcoal fire on him.

He had one hand in his pocket, held the phone to his ear, and heard a mechanical voice processed by an electronic voice changer coming from the other end of the line.

The hissing sound of electricity, deliberately masking the true sound, sounded particularly jarring in the quiet old street corner.

"Who are you?" Xie Wang asked in a calm tone.

The person on the other end of the phone did not immediately provide identification information; only a slightly heavy breathing sound traveled through the airwaves.

"That's not important, I need money." The mechanical voice stated its purpose, carrying a sense of desperation.

Xie Wang lowered his narrow eyes slightly and moved his fingers half an inch away from his ear to take the phone away.

He quickly swiped the screen with his thumb, switched to the WeChat interface, and found the chat box codenamed K.

He typed a line on the screen with one hand, asking Uncle Kang to help him check the physical location of the virtual number, and then put the phone back to his ear.

"Words are meaningless. How can you prove you have what I want?" Xie Wang spoke slowly, deliberately stalling for time to buy time for the Apocalypse System's data counter-tracking.

A muffled, bitter laugh came from the receiver, followed by a system notification popping up at the top of the phone indicating a new MMS message had been received.

Xie Wang clicked on the flashing envelope icon, and a photo with slightly blurry image quality due to pixel compression popped up on the screen.

The photo was taken from above the driver's cab of a large vehicle, with water streaks left by the windshield wipers still hanging on the windshield.

A white sedan with local Jiangcheng license plates was parked at the intersection illuminated by high beams.

That was the car his mother, Xie Wan, used to drive. The distance between the cars in the photo was extremely dangerous, as if they were about to be completely crushed by this behemoth at any moment.

Xie Wang stared at the white car on the screen, his eyes growing colder and colder, as if the air around him had frozen into frost.

He suppressed the violent emotions surging in his chest and put the receiver back to his ear.

"Don't even think about finding me by following the signal from the communication base station." The man on the other end seemed to have guessed the reason for Xie Wang's silence and took the initiative to cut off his thoughts.

"This phone number is a black SIM card registered with someone else's ID card, and it uses multiple encrypted nodes overseas, so you can't find my real location."

Xie Wang leaned against the cold wall, keenly catching a faint echo mixed in with the background noise of the other person's words.

"You're the truck driver who caused the accident back then, right?" Xie Wang ignored his feigned mystery and revealed his trump card directly.

The previously composed breathing on the other end of the phone suddenly stopped, followed by an uncontrollable fit of violent coughing.

The man clearly didn't dare make too much noise in the current environment, so he could only cover his mouth with his hand to suppress his cough.

"Since you have such a big handle on yourself, why don't you go ask your former boss, Gu Tianlong, for money?" Xie Wang rubbed the edge of his phone with his fingertips, his tone filled with undisguised sarcasm.

"He controls the finances of the Tianlong Group, so the figures he can give you are definitely much higher than mine."

Upon hearing Gu Tianlong's name, the man opposite him let out a chilling laugh.

"Asking him for money? Do you think I have too much time on my hands?" he gasped, his voice filled with fear of the capitalist.

"We live in a society governed by the rule of law, and there are surveillance cameras everywhere. He wouldn't dare to hire someone to kill someone so openly as before."

"But I'm no longer of any use to him."

As the man finished speaking, his voice suddenly trembled, as if he had finally broken down after a long period of suppression.

"Wait, have you already guessed my true identity?" he asked warily.

Xie Wang did not answer, but listened quietly as he tormented himself in fear.

A few seconds later, the man let out another desolate sigh, as if he had given up all resistance.

"It doesn't matter, I don't care if you know who I am, anyway I'm already half dead."

"I need one million. As long as you transfer the money to the overseas account I specify, I will send you all the original videos and recordings from back then."

"After I've settled things with my family, I'll go to the police station to turn myself in and pay off all the debts I've accumulated over the past twelve years."

Xie Wang's phone vibrated; a message from Kang Ping had arrived.

He glanced down at the screen, which displayed an electronic map of Jiangcheng with red tracking dots.

The red dot is steadily positioned on Building 3 of the inpatient department of Jiangcheng People's Hospital.

Xie Wang looked at the location marker, a cold smile curving his lips.

This person really thinks that using a few foreign proxy servers can withstand the dimensional reduction attack of the Apocalypse.

But he didn't rush to expose the other party's disguise; he needed to ensure that the original evidence fell into his hands intact.

"One million is no small sum. You need to give me time to raise the funds." Xie Wang offered a reasonable excuse, trying to test the other party's bottom line.

"Are you sure you only want one million? That's not much for the crimes you've committed."

The man opposite gritted his teeth and gave an affirmative answer.

"I only want one million, not a penny more." He seemed afraid Xie Wang would change his mind, and his tone became urgent. "Transfer the money now, and I'll send the documents as soon as I receive the money."

Xie Wang stared at the flickering streetlights on the distant street corner, his mind making precise calculations.

If we arrest him at the hospital now, this desperate guy might destroy all backup evidence in desperation.

"Send me your account number. I need ten minutes to confirm the large online banking transfer," Xie Wang promised.

"I'll wait for you here for ten minutes." The man's voice relaxed a little, but was then overwhelmed by a heavy sense of guilt.

"I know that we are mortal enemies, and I would not regret dying for you."

"But this is all the result of my own actions. After you have the evidence, please don't worry about my family. They know nothing about this."

The busy tone of the call being disconnected echoed in the receiver.

Xie Wang put his phone back in his school uniform pocket, turned around and pushed open the heavy wooden door of the barbecue restaurant.

The private room was still filled with the aroma of pine charcoal, and Shen Hao was vividly recounting the thrilling scenes from the haunted house that day.

Xie Wang walked to his seat and greeted Lin Jianguo and Lin Wanqiu with a normal expression.

"Uncle and Aunt, there's been an urgent server malfunction at the company. I might have to excuse myself to deal with it."

He broke the laughter and chatter at the table.

Su Qinghe put down her juice glass and looked up at him with her cool, clear eyes.

When Xie Wang grabbed his coat, his gaze met hers for a moment, and there was an undercurrent in his eyes that only the two of them could understand.

Su Qinghe immediately stood up and naturally picked up the coat draped over the back of the chair.

"I was responsible for checking that set of underlying code just now. Let me go with you to take a look." She found a plausible reason for her colleague.

Mr. Lin waved his hand magnanimously, indicating that the young people should prioritize their careers.

"Since it's an urgent work matter, you should go and take care of it as soon as possible," Lin's mother said with a smile, reminding them to be careful on the road.

After saying goodbye to their elders and friends, the two walked out of the barbecue restaurant side by side.

Two minutes later, Uncle Chung arrived in his Maybach.