The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 713, Page 709: Rescue!!!

Now, the cunning and suspicious Michael finally dropped his pretense and completely turned against Zhang Jin, imprisoning the two of them in this dark and sunless water dungeon because he suspected that they were undercover police agents from "over there".

Zhuang Yan, refusing to believe it, gritted his teeth and stubbornly looked up at the tiny hole above his head.

He reached out his hands to try to climb, but found that the surrounding walls were covered with slippery moss, and the wet stone walls had an eerie gray-green hue in the dim light.

Each attempt caused his fingertips to slip on the moss, and the rough stone surface made his palms red, but he could never find a foothold.

The water dungeon reeked of decay, the murky water reaching above ankle level, and every movement stirred up nauseating ripples.

Zhuang Yan wiped the water droplets from his face and squinted as he examined the meticulously designed cage—every inch of the wall seemed to have been specially polished, so smooth that it inspired despair.

"Monkey, don't waste your energy. This dungeon is designed to be wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. You can't get out without external help."

While Zhang Jin was speaking, he suddenly felt something wriggling on his leg.

He hurriedly rolled up his trouser leg and touched it, "Damn it!" He didn't know when, but his leg was covered with leeches.

Leeches are also called water leeches in some places.

Leeches are disgusting creatures. They are a general term for a group of organisms, of which about 300 species have been discovered worldwide, and about 70 species are known in my country.

Except for some species that are predatory or scavenging, most of them lead a temporary ectoparasitic life, feeding on the body fluids or blood of other animals.

Leeches in the tropical rainforests of the Indochina Peninsula are called leeches, but the leeches here are even more dangerous.

The body is leaf-shaped, divided into many body rings, and is soft and stretchable. It has a sucker at both the front and rear ends. It is hermaphroditic and fertilizes other organisms.

First, it sucks onto the host's skin with its suckers, then cuts the skin with the teeth on its jaws and secretes a histamine-like compound that dilates blood vessels, causing the wound to bleed continuously. It also secretes a natural anticoagulant, hirudin, to prevent the inhaled blood from clotting.

When leeches attach themselves, the human body usually does not notice it.

Leeches have many contralateral blind sacs in their digestive tract, which occupy most of the space in their body and can store food. They can suck blood up to 2.5 to 10 times their own body weight in a single feeding.

In order to force Zhang Jincheng to confess, that bastard Michael actually had his adjutant pour a bucket of bloodsucking leeches into the water dungeon, leaving Zhang Jincheng and his companion with no way to escape.

In just a short while, Zhang Jincheng and Zhuang Yan's legs were covered with leeches.

Some of them have already gotten very fat from sucking, some as thick as a thumb.

Zhang Jin pulled one off his leg and slammed it against the cave wall. He said to Zhuang Yan, "Quickly roll up your trouser leg and check if there are any leeches sucking your blood."

Upon hearing this, Zhuang Yan quickly rolled up his trouser leg and immediately gasped – more than a dozen dark brown leeches were greedily clinging to his calves, some of them already swollen and shiny.

He suppressed his nausea and pinched the edge of a leech's sucker with his fingernail, but heard a crisp "pop" sound. The leech broke in two, and the remaining half on his skin was still wriggling.

"Don't pull it off!" Zhang Jin said, finding a sharp stone in the puddle. "Use this." He demonstrated by quickly scraping the skin with the stone at an angle, and the leech fell off, leaving only a bleeding triangular wound on the skin.

As Zhuang Yan removed the disgusting little things, he cursed, "Damn it, how come I didn't feel anything? These things don't feel any pain or itching when they suck blood?"

"That's right, this thing sucks your blood without you even realizing it, and by the time you notice, it's already saturated."

"We must kill them, otherwise they'll keep climbing up." Zhang Jin said, as he kept removing these hateful "vampires" from his legs and then squeezing them to death.

These stubborn, disgusting things seem endless. As soon as you finish one leg, the other leg is covered in them, and sometimes they even crawl up the leg.

Zhang Jin thought to himself that Mi Gao was really vicious. At this rate, he wouldn't last five days, he would drain their blood in half a day.

Just as the two were frantically cleaning up the leeches, they suddenly heard the ear-piercing sound of chains rattling overhead.

A blinding beam of light shone down from the cave entrance, making them unable to open their eyes.

"It seems our 'distinguished guest' has awakened." Michael's cold voice came from above, accompanied by footsteps. "So, are you satisfied with this gift?"

Zhuang Yan squinted and looked up, only to see Michael's sinister face appear at the edge of the cave entrance, with two heavily armed bodyguards standing behind him.

The murky water reflected the light, illuminating the entire water prison and allowing them to see the leeches crawling densely on the surrounding walls.

"Michael! If you've got the guts, come down here!" Zhang Jincheng roared, his voice echoing in the water dungeon.

Michael merely sneered and pulled an exquisite silver cigarette case from his pocket.

"Don't rush, the real show is just beginning." He slowly lit a cigar. "I've prepared a little game for you—every day, someone will pour a new bucket of 'little guys' into the water dungeon."

As he spoke, he snapped his fingers.

A soldier immediately picked up an iron bucket full of leeches and waved it at the entrance of the cave.

The slimy creatures wriggled inside the bucket, which was quite gruesome.

“Of course, if you’re willing to tell me about the mission ‘over there’,” Michael exhaled a smoke ring, “I’ll have someone pull you up immediately.”

Seeing that Zhang Jincheng and the other man remained silent, Michael lost interest.

"Looks like they like you guys." Michael grinned as he stood up. "Enjoy yourselves, see you tomorrow."

……

In the dungeon, the concept of time was lost.

After an unknown amount of time, the two men's movements to remove the leeches became increasingly slow, until their minds and consciousness became somewhat numb. They were also exhausted and no longer had the strength to pull the small creatures down.

What's worse, Zhang Jin said they were exhausted and thirsty, and didn't know how long they hadn't had any water.

Zhuang Yanjian was already injured and was barely able to hold on. He stopped and leaned against the wall, saying to Zhang Jin, "Brother, my throat feels like it's on fire. I really want to climb down and swallow this disgusting filth."

"Don't drink the water here, it's too dirty."

Monkey, hang in there.

"If you drink this water, you'll get diarrhea within two hours, and your body will quickly become dehydrated," Zhang Jin said as he walked towards Zhuang Yan.

Zhang Jin walked to Zhuang Yan's side, grabbed his hand, and suddenly felt that Zhuang Yan's hand was very hot. He was startled and hurriedly touched Zhuang Yan's forehead, which was burning hot.

Zhang Jincheng's heart tightened immediately, and he said anxiously, "Monkey, are you running a fever?"

He guessed that Zhuang Yan's back wound was likely infected, otherwise he wouldn't have developed a high fever.

"Big brother, I'm fine..." Before Zhuang Yan could finish speaking, his legs went weak and he was about to collapse.

Zhang Jin quickly supported his waist, then bent down and lifted him up.

He hoisted Zhuang Yan onto his shoulder and used one hand to pull the leeches off Zhuang Yan's legs.

However, this meant Zhang Jin could no longer remove the leeches from his body.

Zhang Jin thought to himself, let them suck it as much as they can, I'll just keep going for as long as I can.

Time seemed to move incredibly slowly; Zhang Jin said he smelled the scent of death this time.

Zhang Jin couldn't help but look up at the rope hanging in mid-air. If he pulled it, Zhuang Yan could be saved, and he could get out too.

He suddenly felt an urge to pull the rope.

Before he could even reach out, Zhang Jincheng started cursing himself, feeling ashamed for having such thoughts.

He then thought of Lei Jun, who, in order to destroy the enemy's missile site, did not hesitate to drive the missile launcher vehicle, which was about to be launched, into the cave.

These guys are awesome!

Zhang Jin said to himself, "Persist, you must persist. Only by persisting will you have a chance."

Zhang Jin gritted his teeth, feeling Zhuang Yan's weight on his shoulder grow heavier and heavier.

He could feel his blood being slowly drained away by those greedy leeches, and his legs felt as heavy as lead.

The stench inside the water dungeon, mixed with the smell of blood, was nauseating.

After an unknown amount of time, Zhuang Yan, who had been unconscious, woke up. He found himself perched on Zhang Jincheng's shoulder and struggled to get down. Sensing that Zhuang Yan was awake, Zhang Jincheng whispered, "Don't move!"

Zhuang Yan said in a weak voice, "Quickly put me down, the leeches will suck your blood dry..."

"Consider it an act of charity for these little creatures; it's a good deed," Zhang Jin said jokingly.

"Big brother, I'm really impressed that you can still joke around..."

“Actually, if we feed them all, they won’t bite us anymore,” Zhang Jin said with difficulty. He felt weak. As he said this, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind, and he excitedly said to Zhuang Yan, “Monkey, I’ve come up with a way to completely solve the ‘Jin San District Flour’ problem.”

"You're really something... Big brother... Save your energy... Whether you can get out of here alive is still uncertain, so don't worry about it."

"We can't die, the mission isn't over yet, how can we die..." Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Jin felt Zhuang Yan stop moving again, and immediately called out to him softly, "Monkey, wake up, hold on..."

Zhang Jin said his legs were getting weaker and weaker, so he had to use one hand to hold onto the damp wall to keep himself from falling.

He knew in his heart that if he fell too, they would be truly finished.

Zhang Jin said to himself: I have found a way to solve the flour problem in the 'Jin San District', so I must not die like this.

Otherwise, I would be letting down my ancestors... I would be letting down my people... I would be letting down my department... who raised me, and my parents, wife, and children who are waiting for me to return.

Although Zhang Jin said he knew there would be no miracle and no one would come back to save him, he would never give up. He knew that every minute that passed meant a glimmer of hope...

……

Just as Zhang Jincheng's body was about to reach its limit, he suddenly heard the sound of the top cover being moved, but no light shone in. A familiar voice came down: "Brother Zhang, are you all alright?"

It's Ah Gui's voice!

Zhang Jin felt a surge of warmth in his heart and immediately replied excitedly, "Is this Brother A-Gui?"

"It's me. Wait for me to lower the rope and rescue you." As he spoke, a thick rope was lowered.

Zhang Jin hurriedly put Zhuang Yan off his shoulder, put one hand around his waist and the other hand on the rope.

Then, he tied the rope around Zhuang Yan's waist, made a knot, and looked up at A Gui and said, "Brother A Gui, the monkey is unconscious. Pull him up first."

"Okay!" As soon as he finished speaking, Zhuang Yan was easily pulled up to the top of the cave.

Zhang Jin was puzzled as to how A Gui had managed to pull Zhuang Yan up so easily all by himself.

Then the rope drooped down again. "Brother Zhang, tie the rope around your waist, and we'll pull you up," A-Gui whispered from above.

Zhang Jin used his last bit of strength to tie the rope around his waist. As the rope began to rise, he vaguely saw six or seven blurry figures peeking out from the top of the cave, and then he realized that A Gui had not come alone.

"Hold on tight!" A-Gui's deep voice was particularly powerful in the darkness.

Zhang Jin said he felt his body suddenly lift off the ground, and the damp wall rapidly fell in front of him.

As soon as his upper body emerged from the hole, several rough, large hands firmly gripped his combat uniform.

Zhang Jin recognized that these were hunters from the village, each with a sharp machete tucked into their waistband.

It was nighttime, and he had no idea how long he had been down there.

Zhang Jin's legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground.

The dungeon was located between the large wooden house and the cliff behind it. A few meters away was a house that looked like the guards' quarters.

Ah Gui hurriedly removed the ropes from Zhang Jincheng's body and whispered, "These guys are like me. They used to be Kang Laoda's men, but later they were taken in by Mi Gao in the mountain stronghold."

Michael's men don't treat us like human beings; they've all wanted to leave for a long time. When they learned you were imprisoned in the water dungeon, I told them, and they were all willing to come and rescue you.

"How long have we been locked up?" Zhang Jin asked softly.

"It's been more than two days, and this is the second night. I didn't dare to come the first day because the situation was unclear."

"Thank you..." Before Zhang Jincheng could finish speaking, Agui waved his hand and said, "Now is not the time to talk about this. Let's hurry up and go into the mountains to talk about it."

Zhang Jin said that he saw someone carrying Zhuang Yan on their back, and he hurriedly said to A Gui, "You guys go first, I have to go back to get something, and then I'll catch up with you."

After thinking for a moment, A-Gui said to the others, "You guys take Brother Monkey first, I'll go back with Brother Zhang to get the things, and we'll meet up at Old Bear Ridge."

The others immediately took Zhuang Yan away. Only then did Zhang Jin realize that there were two people lying next to him. It seemed that A Gui and his group had killed the guards.

Zhang Jin hurriedly waved to A Gui, and the two quickly left the area, running back to their original stilted house.

Sneaking into the stilted house, Zhang Jin said he found their belongings were still there, scattered haphazardly on the ground, clearly indicating that they had been searched.

Zhang Jin said he put Lei Jun's clothes away and then left.

A-Gui followed behind him, feeling a bit strange. He didn't understand why Zhang Jincheng would risk so much to come back just to get a piece of clothing.

After leaving the stilted house, the two quickly ran towards the back of the mountain.

Relieved to finally reach the woods, Zhang Jin knew he had been given another chance at life. He gratefully said to A-Gui, "Brother A-Gui, this is the second time you've saved my life. I don't know how to thank you enough..."

"You're being too polite. Brother Zhang, don't forget you saved me twice. We're even now, hahaha..." A-Gui said heartily.

After escaping from the dungeon, Zhang Jin quickly recovered his spirits. He felt energetic again and his steps became much lighter.

The two walked through the dense forest. A-Gui skillfully pushed aside the vines blocking their way, and moonlight filtered through the gaps in the trees, casting dappled shadows on the ground.

Feeling that there was no danger around, A-Gui stopped and said to Zhang Jincheng, "Okay, let's rest for a bit before we go. There won't be any danger here."

As he spoke, A-Gui took a bag off his person, took out a package from the bag, and handed it to Zhang Jincheng.

"This is glutinous rice cake. You haven't eaten for two days, you must be hungry." Then he handed the water bottle to Zhang Jincheng.

Hearing what A-Gui said, Zhang Jin said he felt very hungry, even though he hadn't felt hungry at all before.

Ah Gui's consideration was so thoughtful that Zhang Jincheng didn't have time to say anything. He first took a sip of water and then wolfed down the rice cake. He finished the rice cake in a few bites. He never expected that the rice cake would taste so good. This was probably the best rice he had ever eaten in his life.

After finishing the whole bag of rice, Zhang Jincheng let out a long sigh and said, "Wow, it's so fragrant and delicious. I've never eaten such delicious rice before."

Thank you, Brother Gui!

Seeing Zhang Jincheng's satisfied expression, Agui laughed and said, "It's not that the rice was delicious, it's that you were starving." He paused for a moment, then asked, "You went back just to get this piece of clothing?"

“Indeed, this is no ordinary piece of clothing.” Zhang Jincheng said in a low voice, touching the garment with his hand. “This is the only thing left behind by the steel nail. I must keep it safe, otherwise I will be letting down my fallen brothers.”

"Oh, I see. You are truly kind and loyal people. I am honored to have friends like you," A-Gui said sincerely.

After eating and drinking his fill, Zhang Jin quickly regained his strength. He said to A Gui, "Alright, I'm rested. Let's hurry up and catch up with them!"

“Alright, let’s go!” A-Gui stood up and reached out to pull Zhang Jincheng along.

Ah Gui's unintentional action made Zhang Jincheng realize that he was not only warm-hearted but also thoughtful.

The two hurriedly headed towards Old Bear Ridge...

At daybreak, Zhang Jincheng and Agui arrived at Old Bear Ridge, where the others were already waiting for them.

Zhuang Yan also woke up, but he still had a high fever. After drinking water, he felt a little better, and the others who carried him here used the time to make a stretcher.

Zhang Jin said that what he was most worried about was Zhuang Yan's injury; if the wound on his waist became infected and ulcerated, it would endanger his life.

Although they hadn't been in the "Jin San area" for long, they had a fairly good understanding of the local society. They knew that it wasn't easy to find a doctor within a radius of hundreds of miles, and now they were pinning their hopes on A Gui.

Zhang Jin called A Gui aside and whispered to him, "Brother A Gui, the most urgent thing now is to find a doctor for the monkey as soon as possible."

He has a back injury; an infection could be life-threatening.

Agui thought for a moment and said, "There is a small village of our Kokang tribe about 40 or 50 kilometers away from here. There is an old hunter in the village who is very good at treating bruises and sprains."

(End of this chapter)