Any subtle thought she had could not escape these people's eyes.
Because she tried to escape for the first time, she was grabbed by the hair and slapped. Then, two bullets were fired at her feet with a warning in broken Chinese, "If you dare to escape again, these bullets will hit your heart."
The people were accurate marksmen. Meng Jingwei's repeated escape attempts failed, so she could only obediently follow them, looking for a more suitable opportunity.
After all, no matter how fast she ran, she couldn't outrun bullets.
She didn't want to die yet!
"These people... are mercenaries."
Shu Yao sat on the ground. Seeing that Meng Jingwei was not an ordinary person, if she didn't speak, she might remain imprisoned like this.
With no other choice, she said, "I offended their boss, so they are doing everything they can to capture me."
As she spoke, Meng Jingwei stood aside, carefully observing Shu Yao's facial expressions. A gut feeling told her that Shu Yao was lying.
But Meng Jingwei knew that Shu Yao was unwilling to tell her the truth, so she decided not to press further.
"The cruise ship has already set sail, and this room is very enclosed. We have no way to escape." The room door could only be opened from the outside. Inside, there was not only no doorknob but not even a keyhole.
Meng Jingwei's gaze fell on the small window, but it was only as large as two heads and could not accommodate a person passing through.
"This cruise ship is heading to Country C, which is their territory. If we don't escape now, it will be even harder to escape once we reach Country C."
Shu Yao sat in a corner, leaning against the wall, her gaze calmly fixed on Meng Jingwei.
Shu Yao had beautiful features. Her unadorned face was very lovely, exuding a sense of aloofness and indifference.
Despite being kidnapped, there was no trace of panic on her face.
This...
Was she really kidnapped?
Meng Jingwei felt that Shu Yao was treating her like an idiot.
However, Shu Yao clearly knew the identities of the kidnappers, and she possessed useful information. Therefore, Meng Jingwei couldn't afford to fall out with her yet.
"Where will this ship stop along the way?" she asked.
"Directly to Country C."
"Directly to Country C? Have you been there before?"
"No, but I heard them talking just now," Shu Yao explained.
Meng Jingwei raised her hand and touched her head, muttering, "A plane is 40 times faster than a cruise ship. It takes twelve hours to travel from Hu Guo to Country C by plane, but by cruise ship, it would take... twenty days."
More than three days had passed since she was kidnapped. She clearly wore a specially made listening device on her wrist, and Chen Zhu must have known her situation.
But as of now, no one had come to find her.
There were two possibilities.
Either Chen Zhu was in mortal danger, or he had chosen to... betray her!
Whichever the outcome, it presented Meng Jingwei with a path forward: self-rescue!
Thus, for the next few days, the two women exhibited incredibly "well-behaved" conduct, leading the mercenaries to become increasingly lax.
They even untied the ropes binding them, allowing the two to move freely within the one-bedroom, one-bathroom room, and provided them with some books to pass the time.
As a week passed, Meng Jingwei ate on time every day, made no noise, and was obedient to an unbelievable degree.
Shu Yao finally couldn't help but look at the woman opposite her, "They've already let down their guard. Aren't you planning to escape yet?"
There were two beds in the room, both against the wall, with one person sleeping on each.
Meng Jingwei lay lazily on her side on the bed, raising her eyes to look at Shu Yao, who was sitting on the opposite bed. She ate sunflower seeds, spitting the shells onto the floor, "Why should we escape? Look, we're obedient, and they not only untied us but also gave us fruit and books. Wouldn't it be foolish to resist further?"
How could she not want to escape?
However, ever since the cruise ship set sail, the surroundings were all vast oceans. Should she jump into the water and wait for death?
Even if she could steal a life raft from the cruise ship, the commotion would be too great, attracting the mercenaries' attention.
And once she was floating in the sea, she would become a "living target" for the mercenaries, easily shot in the head.
Instead of struggling now, it would be better to find a suitable opportunity to escape after disembarking.
However, that afternoon, as Meng Jingwei lay on the bed reading, she saw the light in the room gradually dim. Her sunflower seed-eating motion paused, and she fell into deep thought.
They had departed from the port and traveled south, heading directly for Country C.
And the room they were in was on the west side of the cruise ship. Every afternoon, a ray of sunset would enter the room. But today... she couldn't even see the sunset through the small window.
"Is it going to rain? Why didn't I see the sunset today?"
Shu Yao opposite her also murmured.
Meng Jingwei immediately felt that something was wrong, so she moved the table to the window, stood on it, and stuck her head out. To her surprise, she saw the other side ablaze with sunset!
"What's wrong?"
Shu Yao got up, pulled Meng Jingwei down, and then climbed onto the table, sticking her head out to look outside.
"Didn't you say the cruise ship was going directly to Country C and wouldn't stop?"
Meng Jingwei stood in the center of the bedroom, her cold eyes fixed on Shu Yao, demanding an explanation.
"Perhaps... I misheard?" Shu Yao was equally confused. "When I boarded the ship, I clearly heard them say that this cruise ship was going directly to Country C."
Hearing her words, Meng Jingwei stopped talking. Instead, she turned around, went to the bed, lay down, and fell into deep thought.
Shu Yao took in Meng Jingwei's expression and tried to guess her thoughts, "You... you're thinking of escaping?"
It had to be said that Shu Yao was a very intelligent woman.
At least, she was much smarter than Li Yun'er.
Meng Jingwei ignored Shu Yao, rolled over, turned her back to her, closed her eyes, and pretended to sleep.
"If you escape, you have to take me with you, otherwise, I will report you to them," Shu Yao threatened.
These words struck a nerve in Meng Jingwei. The anger suppressed in her heart instantly surged to her forehead. She sat up directly from the bed, walked in front of Shu Yao, and grabbed her collar, "If you want to die, just say so! Believe it or not, I'll chop you up and throw you into the sea, saving you the cost of an urn!"
"Who... who wants to die? I just don't want to die, which is why I want you to take me out with you."
Shu Yao's aloofness vanished instantly. With a dejected face, she looked at Meng Jingwei with distress.
"I'm not your father or your mother. We're not related. Why should I save you?"
"I saved you that day too."
"You..."
Meng Jingwei was speechless.
Although Shu Yao had saved her that day, she had indirectly led her into the hands of these mercenaries. However, in the end, Shu Yao was still kind-hearted.
She truly couldn't bear to abandon Shu Yao alone.
"Fine."
Meng Jingwei let go of her hand in frustration, turned around, sat on her own bed, and pondered how to escape.
At this moment, Shu Yao walked over and handed Meng Jingwei a gold filigree circular necklace she wore around her neck, "We've met, so this necklace is a keepsake for you."
Meng Jingwei glanced at the necklace. Inside the hollow circular ball was a dazzling diamond. Upon closer inspection, a character 'Yao' was engraved on it.
It was a necklace that appeared ordinary but was incredibly precious.