Chapter 48 |
Someone had tied Zhang Heng to a chair—he had no idea for how long. When someone finally peeled the blindfold off his eyes, he saw that they had brought him to an abandoned factory.
Zhang Heng’s head was still a little foggy. After subdued outside the apartment, he was forced into a vehicle and then blindfolded. He could not tell what was happening around him except by the amount of time it took for them to travel in the car, they were still in Tokyo, but probably somewhere in the suburbs.
He was careless, he knew that. In reality, no matter how calm and how watchful he was, this was the first time he was involved in something like this and was bound to make mistakes. The person who took them clearly pulled some dirty tricks to find the apartment.
As if he read Zhang Heng’s mind, a guy with a crew cut pulled out a black tracking device the size of a bubble-gum from Ameko’s bag.
They probably put that in there when they kidnapped her with the blue Toyota. As Ameko was unconscious then, she would not have known what they did. On top of that, the tracking device was well hidden. Unless she had searched every inch of her bag, it would have been difficult to notice.
Zhang Heng cocked his brows. “Where is Ameko?”
The people who took them split them up at the apartment. They were probably transported in different cars too. Zhang Heng had not seen her since then.
“Think about your own plight first!” The crew cut gut snarled, giving Zhang Heng the stink eye.
Zhang Heng recognized the guy.
“Heh, now we can settle our account!” The crew cut guy put down the tracking device and rolled up his sleeves eagerly.
Just then, a deep, sonorous voice said from behind, “Alright! That’s enough for now. Let me talk to him.”
“Yes, Boss.” The crew cut guy’s demeanor quickly changed. He bowed to the man who had just walked in and promptly disappeared.
A short man stepped in front of Zhang Heng, grabbed the nearest stool and plopped himself down. “It was never our organization’s idea to involve you and Ms. Ameko in this. I apologize on behalf of our organization.”
Zhang Heng simply kept quiet.
“22 years ago, our Executive Vice President, he… and Tsuchiya Yosuke, er, which is also Mr. Takeda Tetsuya, had a little grudge. He sent me here to take care of things. The plan was to throw Tsuchiya Yosuke into the sea and feed him to the sharks, but Mr. Executive vice president had a sudden change of mind and decided to give him a chance. The executive v.p’s exact words were ‘The grievances between racing drivers should be resolved in the ways of a racing driver,” the squat man said.
“So, I’ve painstakingly set up a stage for Tsuchiya Yosuke. I’ll still need one more person to play the supporting role, though. It was giving a headache because Mr. Tsuchiya Yosuke is not exactly everybody’s favorite, and even after so many years, he didn’t make any friends at all. I heard that for nearly half a year, you have been delivering goods for him. So? Are you interested in joining the fun?”
“Are there any other options apart from me?” Zhang Heng asked calmly. Even though the guy looked gentler than his associate, Zhang Heng understood that the man did not really want to know his opinion.
“I like talking to smart people—it saves me a lot of time.” The man took out a dagger, walked behind Zhang Heng and cut off the rope binding his hands. “The game is simple. Whichever one of you wins this competition, I will let the three of you go. But if you lose… trust me, you don’t want to know what happens.”
Zhang Heng stretched his arms. He considered attacking the man, grabbing the knife, and make him a hostage, but when he spotted the two towering men guarding the door, he gave up the idea. There was no way out of this situation.
“How many will be racing? Where is it? What are the rules?”
“Don’t worry, you’ll know when the time comes. First, relax, and choose your car!” The man said, clapping loudly.
The guards at the door walked to the center of the factory to a covered mound. The men removed the covering and revealed the cars underneath. There were 5 in total: a red Nissan 180SX, a silver BMW M5, a gray Mercedes AMG GT, a yellow Dodge Viper, and a blue Ford F-150 Raptor.
“These cars have been modified with some performance enhancements. You can choose to drive the one you like best. If you’re not happy with it, you can retune it yourself. We can provide you with the parts. The competition is tonight at midnight. So, do any of these cars catch your eye?” The man asked. He did not leave right after, though, as if curious about what decision Zhang Heng was going to make.
To his surprise, the boy took only one look at the cars and then looked away. “I’m sorry, can I drive my own car?”
“Your own car? What is it? Porsche 911? Aston Martin? Ferrari?”
“A 1982 second-generation Mitsubishi L300,” Zhang Heng answered. “It’s parked just downstairs of the apartment where your men took me.”
“A civilian van?!” The man’s eyes widened.
Zhang Heng nodded. After the substantial modification he had done to the L300, the van was completely unrecognizable. Sure its performance had soared, but it was in no way comparable to a racecar. The man was not only generous—the five cars that he offered Zhang Heng were undoubtedly good. In fact, he was even willing to allow Zhang Heng to tune it up to his liking to prove that he did not sabotage them.
Zhang Heng knew that no matter how good the cars were, the best car for him was the car he was most familiar with.
“That’s a reasonable request that I can fulfill, but are you sure?” The man asked again.
Zhang Heng nodded.
The short man signaled to his men, and a few more walked in to bring the cars away. Then he looked Zhang Heng in the eye and said, “We shall see each other tonight, then.”
This time, Zhang Heng was left alone in the abandoned factory. There was water and food on the table, probably for replenishing his energy. Other than that, there was a gaming console in the corner of the room for him to pass the time. This was too good a treatment for a kidnap victim, and because of that, Zhang Heng was increasingly convinced that this race was not an impromptu, last-minute attempt.
This guy had clearly planned all of this for a very long time now. Those associates of his probably did not have any professional training, but because they came in numbers, it would be an unrealistic proposition even if the seafood store owner and Ameko were to force their way out. Moreover, his phone had been taken away, and he had no way of contacting the world outside.
For now, all he could do now was just eat a little something and wait for the competition to start.
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