Chapter 32 – Unlock Successful
Third Brother was daydreaming about the ten million yuan that was about to fall into their hands.
This time, he figured he’d get at least five million for himself. The remaining five million could be split between First Brother and Second Brother—he considered himself generous.
After all, if it weren’t for him, they wouldn’t have had a chance to make this ten million in the first place.
They had chosen a very remote unfinished building. First Brother and Second Brother had only returned after eating at a restaurant and packing some food to bring back, which took them over an hour.
When they came in carrying the takeout boxes, Third Brother was sitting cross-legged, humming a tune while scrolling through his phone.
Fortunately, Shi Cha and Lin Ran were still obediently tied up. This stopped First Brother, who had wanted to scold Third Brother, from saying anything.
He handed one of the food boxes to Second Brother and told him to feed the tied-up Shi Cha and Lin Ran.
Then he placed the remaining takeout in front of Third Brother and pulled some newspapers out of the bag to spread on the floor.
“Eat quickly. After we’re done eating, we’ll just make do with sleeping here tonight. At five in the morning, we set off—no one will be checking vehicles at that hour.”
Third Brother opened his takeout box and began devouring the food. As he chewed, he mumbled, “No rush. Let me finish eating first—then we’ll go collect the money.”
Second Brother, who was feeding Lin Ran, turned his head and looked at Third Brother. “Collect what money?”
Third Brother grinned proudly, his face beaming with joy. “I really pulled off a big one this time. You guys have no idea—these two brats come from really rich families.”
“How do you know that?”
Third Brother picked up a beer nearby and took a couple of gulps. “I just called their families and told them to prepare five million. They’ll be picking it up in an hour. First Brother, Second Brother, that’s a total of ten million! We’re about to hit it big! Haha—”
Before he could finish laughing, First Brother kicked him hard, sending him sprawling to the ground.
“Idiot! Who told you to act on your own?! The phone—how did you even call them?!”
Third Brother lay there, stunned, staring at the furious First Brother in confusion. He couldn’t understand why he was getting yelled at again.
“I used my own phone, obviously. What other phone would I use?”
First Brother quickly reached into Third Brother’s pocket and pulled out his phone.
The last call had been made 40 minutes ago.
“You son of a—did you seriously leave your phone on this whole time?!”
Third Brother still didn’t get it. “Yeah, why? What’s wrong?”
Second Brother smacked the food box in his hand right onto Third Brother’s head. “No wonder First Brother says you’ve got pig brains. You really do have pig brains!”
The two of them didn’t waste time explaining anything further to Third Brother.
Each of them grabbed either Lin Ran or Shi Cha and started dragging them toward the van parked downstairs.
Third Brother climbed up from the ground and followed behind, calling out, “Why are you all leaving? I haven’t finished eating yet. Oh right, in just twenty minutes we can go pick up the money…”
But as they reached the stairwell, First Brother, who had already gone down to the second floor, suddenly turned back with the others and returned to the third floor.
Third Brother was confused. “Huh? First Brother, why did you come back? Did you change your mind and decide to come get the money with me?”
First Brother couldn’t even be bothered to respond to him and instead turned to Second Brother.
“Something’s not right.”
Second Brother, who was dragging Lin Ran along, looked down at the pitch-dark grass below.
The area surrounding the abandoned building was already overgrown with weeds—some of them nearly waist-high. In the darkness, it was impossible to make anything out clearly.
But their instincts were telling them—someone might be down there.
Second Brother didn’t stop to think whether he was just being paranoid or if someone really was lying in wait.
He gritted his teeth, pulled a folding knife out of his pocket, and pressed it against Lin Ran’s neck, then shoved him toward the edge of the third floor.
He shouted down below, “Let us go, or both of these brats die!”
Unlike the dim-witted Third Brother, Second Brother had a murder charge on his record. So when things went wrong, he was the one who could truly go all the way.
If First Brother and Third Brother got caught, they’d be looking at a few years behind bars at most. But him? He’d be facing the firing squad.
Third Brother, still oblivious, sneered from behind, “Second Brother, are you losing it? There’s no one down there.”
But just as he finished speaking, a group of police officers suddenly rose from the tall grass, flashlights blazing. Several beams of light instantly landed on Lin Ran, who was being held hostage.
In the back seat of a police car, Lin Ran’s mother saw her son being held at knifepoint and her legs nearly gave out from fear.
The police began shouting from below, ordering them to release the hostages and surrender.
Sweat began to bead on Third Brother’s forehead. He turned to the grim-faced First Brother and asked, “First Brother, what do we do now?”
There were quite a few officers below, and it looked like they were completely surrounded.
First Brother shot Third Brother a venomous glare. “You’re all talk and no help! Ruined everything!”
Realizing how serious the situation was, Third Brother finally understood he’d screwed up. But he still had no idea how the police had found them.
He hunched his shoulders and muttered to himself that he hadn’t done anything—that it wasn’t his fault. But he didn’t dare let the other two hear it.
After thinking for a moment, First Brother shoved Shi Cha into Third Brother’s arms. “You hold onto him.”
Then he told Second Brother to keep negotiating with the police, while he said he’d head down to the van to grab some weapons—and that Little Fatty was still down there too.
Second Brother and Third Brother nodded quickly, continuing to hold their ground against the police below. But they had learned their lesson: after exposing Lin Ran, they both hid behind the pillars, making sure not to let their bodies show in the police’s line of sight.
The two sides were locked in a standoff for a while. Second Brother grew increasingly agitated as the police downstairs remained unmoved, continuing their meaningless attempts at negotiation.
What made him even more on edge was that First Brother, who had gone down to retrieve something, still hadn’t returned.
Even with a knife pressed to his neck, Lin Ran remained calm. Shi Cha, who was being held carelessly by Third Brother, was also composed.
But even so, neither of them dared to speak, afraid of provoking these desperate criminals.
Not long after, First Brother returned. Just as Second and Third Brother were about to call out to him in relief, several fully armed SWAT officers followed in behind him.
It turned out that as soon as First Brother reached the ground floor, he was caught by the special ops team lying in wait. He immediately raised his hands and surrendered, claiming the kidnapping had nothing to do with him.
“Big Brother?”
“We’re surrounded, Second Brother, Third Brother. Let’s give up and hope for a lighter sentence.”
Third Brother had already lost his nerve. Seeing even First Brother surrendering, he immediately released Shi Cha and raised his hands as well.
First Brother continued trying to persuade Second Brother, even bringing up his wife and child back in their hometown. In the end, Second Brother also lowered his knife.
Just when everyone thought the crisis was over, Third Brother suddenly seemed to have an epiphany as he stared at Lin Ran.
“You were the one who brought the police, weren’t you, kid? No wonder you were so eager to get me to call your family for ransom! You wanted to trap us all!”
Second Brother, who had originally thought the whole kidnapping scheme was just Third Brother being stupid, was stunned to realize it had been orchestrated by this boy all along!
The knife was still in his hand. Fueled by rage, he tightened his grip on the handle and lunged at Lin Ran, who was walking toward the police with his back turned.
Shi Cha wasn’t far from them. Seeing what was happening, he immediately pushed Lin Ran out of the way, his small body shielding Lin Ran’s back.
The blade sliced across Shi Cha’s arm, which was still tied behind him, leaving a deep gash.
Everything happened in an instant. The moment the police saw Second Brother lash out, they opened fire and brought him down.
…
After the two boys were rescued, Lin Ran kept his promise and became a good friend to Shi Cha.
Although Shi Cha still seemed distant, he went from saying five words a day total to saying five words just to Lin Ran.
This made Shi Jian feel a bit jealous, complaining that he seemed invisible to Shi Cha, and that Lin Ran was now Shi Cha’s real big brother.
When Lin Ran heard this, he teased Shi Cha constantly, urging him to call him “Brother Lin Ran” a few more times. But back then, Shi Cha stubbornly refused to say it out loud.
By the time he actually wanted to call him that, Lin Ran had already gone off to college.
And because Shi Jian had gone abroad, Lin Ran had no more reason to regularly visit their home. Both Lin Ran and Shi Jian had grown up. Even when Shi Jian returned to the country and they hung out together, they met outside the house.
That was how, over the next few years, Shi Cha completely lost contact with Lin Ran.
It was during that time Shi Cha began to reflect: had he been too closed off? Had he made Lin Ran think he never really saw him as a true friend?
…
When Lin Ran was in Kyoto attending a conference, the news about Shi Cha and Cun Yao continued to spread online. His manager, Li Xin’an, was the one who showed it to him after it had already gone viral.
The moment Lin Ran saw the news, he immediately tried calling Shi Cha. But no matter how many times he called, no one answered.
Li Xin’an said, “Fans are all saying that Shi Cha deceived your feelings by using two identities. You—”
“I knew it was him,” Lin Ran replied without even lifting his head, still staring down at his phone.
Then he stood up and tucked the phone into his pocket. “I’ve booked the earliest flight back to A City. Shi Cha won’t answer his phone, and I’m worried.”
Li Xin’an was shocked and quickly tried to stop him. “But what about things here? I don’t understand all the film reporting procedures!”
Lin Ran patted his shoulder. “I’ve already prepared everything. Xiao Zhou has all the documents. Let him handle it, and you help supervise. Also, tell the fans not to slander Shi Cha. I’ll explain things later on Weibo. That’s it. I’m heading out.”
“You… I…”
Li Xin’an couldn’t stop him and could only watch helplessly as Lin Ran walked away without looking back.
With a sigh, he muttered to himself, “Even the smartest people turn into fools when they fall in love.”
The assistant beside him didn’t quite catch that. “What?”
“Nothing. Contact the fan club now…”
…
When Lin Ran’s plane landed, it was already past 7 p.m. The first thing he did after disembarking was try calling Shi Cha again, but this time the phone was powered off.
He rushed home without pause. However, no matter how long he knocked on Shi Cha’s door, no one answered.
Shi Cha had changed the locks before, and even if he went to find Shi Jian, Shi Jian didn’t have the key.
Just as he was about to call someone to forcibly open the door, he suddenly remembered something: when he had renovated the place, he’d found using keys annoying and had installed a keypad lock instead. He wasn’t sure if Shi Cha or Shi Jian had changed the code since then.
But right now, he could only try it—better than doing nothing.
“052013.”
Five hours, twenty minutes, and thirteen seconds—that was the time it took him and Shi Cha to solve a seventeen-level Rubik’s Cube one afternoon.
“Unlock successful!”
Lin Ran gently pressed down on the handle, and the door opened.
The room was completely dark, with only a faint glow coming in through the glass, just enough to make out the furniture inside.
“Shi Cha? Are you here?”
But there was no response.
Lin Ran switched on the living room lights—no one.
Knowing Shi Cha’s personality, he wouldn’t just wander off. That only left the bedroom.
He gently opened the bedroom door, and standing in the doorway under the light, Lin Ran immediately saw a figure curled up on the windowsill.
The figure was hunched over, arms wrapped around their knees, completely enveloped in darkness.
Alone. Desolate.
In that moment, Lin Ran’s heart ached more than he ever thought possible. He never imagined Shi Cha would be hurt like this—because of him.
“Xiao Shi?”
His voice was soft, but strained.
After staying motionless for several hours, Shi Cha finally moved.
He turned his head and looked at Lin Ran, who was illuminated clearly under the light, and for a moment, his eyes were filled with disbelief.
“Brother Lin Ran?”
Lin Ran didn’t turn on the bedroom light. He slowly walked to the window and stopped in front of him.
Shi Cha rested his chin back on his knees and quietly murmured:
“I thought you’d never talk to me again.”