Life Plan

Chapter 9, Kidnapping

The moment the elevator doors opened at the research center, Liu Chichi heard a piercing cry, as sharp as an ambulance siren. Looking closer, she saw police officers in front of her.

The two exchanged a glance, and simultaneously saw two words in each other's eyes—Oh no, has something terrible happened?

They arrived at the scene at the same time as the police, and only when they witnessed the scene did Liu Chichi understand why the nurse was so terrified.

A middle-aged woman was clinging to the entrance of the research center, half of her body was weak, but her hands were tightly gripping the doorknob.

The nurse who made the call was hiding behind the door, and seeing them was like seeing saviors. The center housed forty subjects, and the soundproofing wasn't very good. The cries and screams aroused the curiosity of many people, and the nurse on duty inside tried to keep them calm.

Director Jiang is in surgery, and the authorized research physician has just been called to the emergency room.

As Shen Shuyi tried to calm the woman down, she turned around first. She glanced at the police officer, then suddenly lunged at Shen Shuyi, grabbing her legs from the doorknob and pinning them tightly in her arms. She cried out intermittently, "None of them will escape! Arrest them! They killed my son!"

Liu Chichi quickly grabbed Shen Shuyi's hand to prevent her from falling.

The woman was clinging to Shen Shuyi's leg, while Liu Chichi stood in front of her. Tilting her head slightly, she noticed the basketball on the woman's keychain and softly asked, "Chen Bin's mother?"

Hearing her son's name, Wang Lan's emotional breakdown subsided slightly. She slowly raised her head, her eyes brimming with tears, and looked at Liu Chichi. Lowering her voice, her sobbing voice sounded strange, as if it were being squeezed from her throat: "Is my son here?"

"exist."

Is he still alive?

Liu Chichi was taken aback. The drug trial was not to begin until tomorrow morning, and she was already facing such a serious problem today?

Because of her brief hesitation, Wang Lan's hard-won composure cracked again. Shen Shuyi lowered her head and hurriedly replied, "Living, living, everyone is living well."

Wang Lan continued to stare intently at Liu Chichi. In her mind, this man knew her son and might know his whereabouts.

Liu Chichi quickly snapped out of her daze and nodded frantically.

After confirming Chen Bin's safety, Wang Lan collapsed to the ground: "He didn't answer the phone, I thought, I thought..."

Before the college entrance examination, Chen Bin's father promised to buy him the latest mobile phone and computer after the exam. After the exam, he changed his mind and said that he had to pass the minimum score to qualify. In the ensuing heated argument, his father told him to die, and his mother, who had always doted on him, did not speak up for him this time. Instead, she stood by her father and said that they really didn't have the money.

Chen Bin decided to do something "big" that would make his parents regret it. But he didn't dare to actually die. He happened to come across news about college students conducting clinical trials, and the comments were unanimously worried about their health, while some accused them of being greedy. These comments made Chen Bin think he had found a good idea. He secretly posted it on his WeChat Moments, enticing his mother to come.

He knew his mother would be worried about him.

Sure enough, Wang Lan tensed up instantly upon seeing the update, her anxiety reaching its peak the moment she couldn't get through to Chen Bin. At that moment, her taut nerves relaxed slightly, and she collapsed to the ground, feeling completely limp.

Taking advantage of this brief moment, Shen Shuyi dashed out.

Wang Lan was extremely agitated. According to the nurse, she stormed onto this floor, crying and threatening suicide, cursing the hospital for being heartless and repeatedly saying she wanted to retrieve her son's body. When the security guards arrived and wouldn't let her in, she started cursing the hospital for not even returning the body.

The wailing was loud, but she couldn't say who her son was. She kept repeating that she would jump if she wasn't allowed to collect the body. The nurses asked her in the ward, but no one responded.

The security guards dared not forcibly remove her, and were also worried that the situation would escalate, so they could only watch her howl.

"Who called the police?"

"it's me."

The security guard spoke first, but Wang Lan acted faster. Her legs went weak, but she quickly crawled towards the police, who promptly knelt down in front of her.

Intermittent sobbing, a hoarse voice, and a dazed state of mind made the police very nervous.

The security guard locked all the windows, but still felt unsafe and stood guard at the stairwell.

Wang Lan gripped the policeman's hand, sobbing, "My son has been kidnapped! These people are taking him to do human experiments! I can't contact him at all. If he dies, I won't live either..."

Upon hearing that they had been brought in for experiments, the police officer glanced instinctively at the hospital room sign. Shen Shuyi immediately said, "We are operating legally and in compliance with regulations. The subjects are all informed. We have documents and surveillance footage."

No one dared to move, and the situation remained tense until Chen Bin reached the center's entrance. Separated from his mother by a glass door, his red hair blazing like flames, he looked down at her and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Wang Lan, her body hunched over, clung to the glass, her eyes red and swollen, trying her best to get close to her son. Chen Bin noticed her approach and subconsciously took a step back.

The pale overhead light diffused across the glass, silently widening the distance between mother and child.

When she saw Chen Bin's blue and white striped hospital gown, tears welled up in her eyes again: "Mom begs you, please come back with Mom."

Chen Bin, head held high, declared, "I'm not going back. I'm doing this for the good of society!"

Liu Chichi was scrolling through the group messages. The on-duty nurse said that he had come out voluntarily. Shen Shuyi asked, "Did he mention joining the team?"

【No.】

"That won't do. His actions will disrupt the experiment. I'll talk to the research physician."

Liu Chichi sent her a private message: 【No need to say anything.】

【? 】

He will voluntarily withdraw.

Liu Chichi kept a close eye on Chen Bin's expression. He appeared nonchalant, head held high, but in reality, he was scrutinizing his mother. Just like participating in a clinical trial, people don't focus on something for no reason unless they have a ulterior motive.

Sure enough, Chen Bin seemed to be finally moved by his mother's humble pleas. He lowered his head slightly and said with a hint of regret, "But I want to make money."

Wang Lan immediately chimed in, "Is it a new phone? Or the computer you've been eyeing? Mom will buy it for you, Mom will buy it for you."

"Mom, you said it was too expensive before."

"It's not expensive, it's not expensive. Come out here, we'll go buy it now."

"real?"

Even through the glass, Liu Chichi could clearly see the expression on Chen Bin's face. Like a kidnapper who had taken a desperate gamble and finally received the ransom, his joy was mixed with the excitement of a successful scheme, and even a hint of greed.

But Wang Lan, who was closer, couldn't see it. She was busy rescuing her child and nodded repeatedly: "Really, Mom will transfer the money to you right now."

Liu Chichi had excellent eyesight. She watched as Wang Lan frantically entered 20000, which failed to pay. She then entered 10000, which also failed to pay.

Finally, five thousand was transferred out. Inside the glass door, Chen Bin, having received the money, suddenly turned cold: "That's not even enough to buy half a cell phone!"

"No, Mom, I don't have enough money. Wait a minute, it'll be quick."

No one outside dared to make a move. After Wang Lan tried repeatedly, she finally managed to transfer 23,000 yuan from five or six bank cards.

Chen Bin counted the total amount of several transfers, then suddenly looked up and asked, "You didn't set a delayed arrival, did you?" Seeing a hint of confusion on Wang Lan's tear-streaked face, he quickly lowered his head again, "Never mind, I don't think you'd understand anyway."

After all, he installed all the WeChat accounts on Wang Lan's phone. The first WeChat account registered with Wang Lan's phone number was actually used by him. That year, he had just graduated from junior high school. Many of his classmates bought mobile phones after graduation, but he did not.

He had argued with Wang Lan, but the real power in the family lay with his father, Chen Laosi, who disagreed. His parents both worked in a factory, earning a little over four thousand yuan a month, totaling eight thousand for both of them. Besides Chen Bin, they also had to support their elderly parents. Buying a mobile phone would be a significant expense for their family.

But Chen Bin said that he lived on campus during high school and definitely needed to stay in touch with the outside world, otherwise no one would know if something happened. However, Chen Laosi was adamant, and Wang Lan always obeyed her husband. In the end, she compromised and lent him her phone.

This phone, which had been passed from Chen Laosi to Wang Lan and temporarily lent to Chen Bin, was heavy and old. Even after he specially changed to a trendy phone case, it was still embarrassing for him to use; it could only handle basic social networking and couldn't even download a mobile game.

When they enrolled in high school, everyone scanned each other's QR codes. Seeing all those sleek, new-generation smartphones, Chen Bin lied and said he wouldn't bring a phone to school. There were plenty of students in the class who didn't bring phones either; for him, bringing out his old phone was even more embarrassing than not having one at all.

By saving money on meals and replacing the cafeteria food with instant noodles and fast rice, Chen Bin spent two months buying a phone worth a thousand yuan and returned the old phone to Wang Lan.

He said his classmate lent him his unused phone and taught Wang Lan how to transfer his living expenses to his phone online. That cheap phone was enough, but it still wasn't impressive enough; he always wanted to buy a newer, brand-name phone.

In Chen Bin's chat box, there were only Wang Lan's unanswered greetings and his notification of receiving a money transfer.

After clicking to confirm receipt, Chen Bin grinned at the nurse in the ward and said, "Sister, I'm not doing it anymore."

The nurse, her toes pointing outwards, immediately got up upon hearing this: "Get the team ready right away."

Liu Chichi took out Chen Bin's storage box, put it down, and took two steps back. "Take care of the contents. We are not responsible for anything after you leave."

Chen Bin received the money and was in an exceptionally high mood. He waved to Liu Chichi in a nonchalant manner and said, "Thank you, sister. See you next time!"

Liu Chichi understood his inexplicable farewell words. The best way to threaten a mother is to kidnap her child, and the most intractable kidnapper in the world is her child himself.

Chen Bin found a perfect way to kidnap her; he wanted to keep his mother living in the shadow of losing her child for a long time.

They tried several times to explain that this was not a horrific experiment involving the removal of kidneys and livers as depicted in the movies, but Wang Lan's prejudice was deeply ingrained. Her ignorance and fear of clinical trials were Chen Bin's most powerful weapon in threatening her.

As soon as Chen Bin finished speaking, Liu Chichi felt a wave of resentment rushing towards her. She subconsciously looked up and met Wang Lan's eyes, which were full of venom and stared at her intently.

The first thought that popped into Liu Chichi's mind was that she wasn't wearing a mask. She took a few more steps back until she was pressed against the wall, trying to ignore Wang Lan's resentment, and spoke to Chen Bin as calmly as possible: "You've been blacklisted. You won't be allowed to participate in the experiment anymore."

This news had already spread among recruiters and soon reached the ears of CRCs in various companies. In order to ensure that the experiment proceeded smoothly, no one wanted to become the second Shen Shuyi who was held hostage.

Chen Bin paused for a moment, then quickly scratched his hair indifferently. As long as Wang Lan was still his mother, there would always be a way.