Chapter 238: No Way? You Really Don’t Dare to Act?

Seeing them all dawdling, Gu Shengsheng took the initiative and stepped closer.

But the group behind her scrambled away even faster!

They clung to the wall, trembling uncontrollably.

If it weren’t for the fact that they were all big and burly while Gu Shengsheng looked so petite, anyone who didn’t know better would have thought Gu Shengsheng was bullying them.

Gu Shengsheng asked, "? Weren’t you supposed to be taking me away?"

One of them covered his face, wailing in misery. "Miss Gu, we were wrong, so wrong. We never should have been so arrogant as to come and provoke you."

"Please, just let us go. We’ll never bother you again. We’re just squatting here because we have nowhere else to go... just resting for a bit."

Seeing their sincere expressions, Gu Shengsheng replied just as seriously, "Mm, I know."

"But I’m willing to go with you now. I’m not messing with you."

"Let’s not waste any more time. If you’re not going to do it, should I just leave?" After saying this, Gu Shengsheng made a show of turning to leave.

Only then did a few of the men, who had clearly been beaten up, reluctantly step forward. Looking at Gu Shengsheng, they were at a complete loss. "Miss Gu... so how are we supposed to take you?"

Gu Shengsheng was speechless. "Tie me up."

"Take me to see your boss."

Of course, when she said that, the men broke out in a cold sweat.

They looked at Gu Shengsheng and nodded. "Alright, we’ll take you. As for tying you up... forget it. We’ll just respectfully escort you."

"Mm."

Gu Shengsheng nodded. They then seemed to contact someone, and a van arrived to pick them up.

The men sat with Gu Shengsheng. Though they were all big and burly, every single one of them was hunched over, not daring to look at her. It almost made Gu Shengsheng seem like the intimidating one.

In the van, Gu Shengsheng casually asked, "Do you know who you contacted?"

The one Gu Shengsheng had beaten the worst was the first to speak. "We don’t know. Miss Gu, we really don’t know them. We just have a phone number. And the voice is different every time we call."

"They just give us money and have us do things for them periodically. We’re just hired for odd jobs."

"Specifically, how many people have you kidnapped?"

"Besides you..." He thought for a moment. "There was some guy named Wang Yu over in Anxi. We haven’t done much here in Rui City. But we’ve done jobs in other provinces."

’Wang Yu?’ Gu Shengsheng mused. ’Isn’t he the director of the Anxi Museum? He’s been involved in this kind of thing too?’

’It seems anyone who manages to climb the ladder has to have passed through some gray areas.’

’Only after experiencing enough do you learn what you truly want.’ Gu Shengsheng wasn’t surprised by this.

’After all, the waters of the Antique Appraisal World ran deep. It was all too easy to take a wrong step.’

’Who knows how many talented people had fallen into an endless hell just because they wanted to make more money.’

Thinking about these things, Gu Shengsheng felt a sense of resignation. This was simply the state of things.

She could now be certain that this was a "reflux" organization, a group that specialized in the "compounding interest" of the Antique Appraisal World. But her grandmother was safe now. She was only here to tie up this loose end.

She wasn’t particularly worried.

Gu Shengsheng had always been good at relaxing.

She took a nap in the van, completely at ease. She wasn’t nervous at all, nor was she afraid they would sell her off.

In contrast, the burly men in the van with her were on pins and needles. They were terrified something would go wrong, or that Gu Shengsheng had set up a police ambush.

They didn’t dare to shut their eyes for a second the entire way.

They only breathed a sigh of relief when they finally reached their destination.

When the van stopped, Gu Shengsheng woke up.

At that moment, one of the burly men handed her a black cloth.

He said, "Um... Miss Gu, you have to be blindfolded to go inside. And your phone, along with anything else you could use to contact the outside world, has to be left with us."

"Fine." Gu Shengsheng was very cooperative. She took the blindfold and, just as she was about to put it over her eyes, she looked at the men.

"You don’t need to be blindfolded?"

The burly men nodded in unison. "We can’t go in. We get paid now, and then we wait for you out here."

"Um... even so, Miss Gu, you should still be careful."

After hearing this, Gu Shengsheng didn’t say much. She just nodded. "Mm. Alright."

"Goodbye."

Then, once she was blindfolded, someone handed her a cane. She held onto it, feeling her way forward as she followed.

’I can’t see anything, just total darkness. But I can tell the footsteps of the person leading me are a little off. He must have injured his leg; the force of his steps isn’t even.’

’As for smells, there’s nothing pungent, no fragrances, no scent of branches, not even the dusty smell of a junkyard. I can’t sense anything at all.’

’What kind of place is this?’ Gu Shengsheng wondered to herself.

After all this time, she had never gotten a clear sense of it.

Finally, after walking for about ten minutes, Gu Shengsheng came to a stop. A man with a deep, mellow voice said, "Sit."

Gu Shengsheng nodded politely and said, "Thank you."

For a moment, there was no movement from his direction. Then, Gu Shengsheng felt him stand up and approach her...

Then, the black blindfold was removed.

Gu Shengsheng looked at the tall man before her. He was probably around twenty-five or twenty-six and had a nonchalant air about him.

A hint of curiosity appeared in his eyes as he looked at Gu Shengsheng. "Miss Gu, aren’t you afraid?"

’Am I supposed to be afraid?’

After a moment’s thought, Gu Shengsheng theatrically hugged a nearby pillar and said, "I’m terrified."

The man across from her rolled his eyes. "Miss Gu, are you trying to fool a three-year-old?"

"Oh, well, I am very afraid. I’m scared on the inside, I just don’t show it on the outside. I’m a rather reserved person," Gu Shengsheng explained after a moment.

The man no longer had any desire to continue this line of conversation with her.

He then said, "Miss Gu, we didn’t bring you here to joke around, and we certainly aren’t playing house."

"My name is Pei You. The reason your grandmother was taken wasn’t because we lack the ability to hold her, but because we felt there was no need to use her as a threat."

"See? Didn’t you come over so easily?" After all, all they really wanted was Gu Shengsheng herself. The process didn’t matter.

Gu Shengsheng nodded. "Yes. You’ve achieved your goal. So what do you want from me? To join your Second-Channel Reflux Organization?"

When Gu Shengsheng asked this, he frowned in surprise. "You know what the Second-Channel Reflux is?"

"I didn’t expect you to have done your homework, Miss Gu."