Rachel shivered and was stupefied.
The voice was clearly modified with a device. Rachel was guessing how old the man was.
Rachel swallowed her saliva and asked cautiously, “Excuse me, why did you bring me here?”
“What do you think?” The man smiled and asked in return.
Rachel felt that this man was very frivolous.
She pondered and deduced, “I’m just a poor person who has a unique identity, so you are not after wealth. This is a sinister and ominous place, so you are not after my body. You didn’t kill me when I was unconscious, so you’re not after my life. I can’t figure out your motives.”
The man laughed, “Ha ha, you are very composed and analyzed very well. I’m not after money or your body and will not take your life.”
Rachel squinted her eyes and slowly acclimatized to the darkness. Her vision sharpened and started to make out the images in the darkness.
She can barely make out several images.
The man stepped forward a couple of steps and said softly and slowly, “Lady, do you have a bright red colored jade in the shape of a four-leaf clover?”
Bright red colored jade?
Rachel immediately thought about “Forever”, the priceless gift that Ewan gave to Sienna.
She didn’t confirm nor deny it.
Instead, she asked in return, “Why do you want the jade?”
“Answer me, is it on you?”
Rachel said confidently, “I’m sure you’ve searched me so why are you asking?”
The man paused for a moment and became frustrated, “Intelligent women share the same problem. They are extremely irritating.”
Rachel was afraid of offending him any further and quickly answered cautiously, “It’s not on me.”
The man anxiously asked, “Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Ha ha ha…” The man suddenly laughed heartily and cynically. After a while, he said, “Don’t get me worked up. You’d better not lie to me. If you don’t give me the ‘Forever’, your life ends right now.”
Rachel’s heart trembled and she shivered in anxiety. She took a deep breath of the thin and ominous air and thought about how to save herself.
This man wants ‘Forever’?
Why does he want something that doesn’t belong to her? Was it because of its value?
Just as Rachel was deep in thoughts, the man mumbled to himself, “It took me decades to find out that it had always been with Ewan. Now I can’t get this precious thing from him but I know that he will give it to his wife. And you… Rachel, since you are now his wife…”
“He hasn’t given it to me yet,” Rachel answered immediately and interrupted the man.
What scared her was that this man wasn’t as young as she thought. Since he spent decades looking for this necklace, it meant that he wasn’t that young.
Even more frightening was that this man was familiar with them.
“Hasn’t given it to you?” The man sounded very surprised.
Rachel could hear from his words that he couldn’t get the necklace from Ewan so he was waiting for the necklace to be transferred to her before attempting to get it.
“Yes, he hasn’t given it to me. You had acted too soon.” Rachel swallowed her saliva. Her voice was weak from hunger and thirst as she promised, “I hope that you can release me. When one day he gives it to me, I will give it to you unconditionally. To me, life is the most important. I don’t care for that pearl jewelry.”
“Do you think that I will trust you?” The man scoffed and asked in return.
“Yes.” Rachel nodded anxiously, “You will believe me because I’m out in the open and you’re in the shadows. Even if you released me, your identity will not be exposed. I’m your bait for you to catch bigger fish. When Ewan gives it to me, I’ll courier it to you.”
“Courier?” The man sneered and said in disbelief, “You will courier ‘Forever’ to me?”
“Yes, courier to you.” Rachel was already desperate and capitalized on the man’s waiver, she continued, “If you harm me and if Ewan never remarries, you will never get what you want from a general of the country who has the might of the Army in his hands. If now you make a call to seek the ‘Forever’ as a ransom in exchange for me, I believe that you’ll be destroyed within a couple of days.”
“Ha ha ha …” The man laughed heartily and the surroundings echoed.
Rachel realized that this place was a cave.
The synthesized voice was eerie and caused her hair to stand on end.
The laughter persisted for a while.
Rachel found out that this strange man likes to laugh heartily.
The mysterious man was sullen for a while and said, “I can release you. But I will kill you immediately if you dare to tell Ewan about this. You should know that I have my men around Ewan. I will know everything as soon as you do anything.”
Rachel replied immediately, “I understand, I will not tell anyone about this. There is no comparison between pearls and life. So, you absolutely do not have to worry about this. As soon as I get the ‘Forever’, I will hand it over to you immediately.”
“Release her.” The man sternly ordered.
Rachel was stunned and puzzled.
Was that all it took?
The footsteps progressively became more distant. Rachel shouted anxiously, “How do I contact you?”
There was no answer.
The footsteps went further and further away.
Rachel felt someone holding onto the back of her neck and then a foul-smelling cloth was placed onto her mouth and nose.
She began to feel drowsy.
As she slowly lost consciousness, a bitter and cold female voice can be heard. It was weak and barely discernable.
“You must not give ‘Forever’ to this devil… he had stolen ‘Immortality’ and ‘Eternity’…”
“Do not give him ‘Forever’…”
Rachel tried desperately to open her eyes and struggled with all her might to stay awake as she heard a female voice.
It felt near to her and yet appeared to drift in from a thousand miles away. It was so indiscernible.
She was scared of ghosts but she believed that ghosts do not exist. So she believed that there was a woman in the shadows.
But no matter how hard she tried, she could not overcome the effects of the drug and she eventually fainted.
The moon was shining brightly and everything was quiet.
The quietness of the night was frightening.
Rachel felt her head was throbbing in pain and she couldn’t open her eyes but she could hear the chirping of the cicadas.
She was extremely sensitive to the sounds and could even hear the rustling of the grass swaying in the wind.
She slowly opened her eyes.
The dark black sky filled her eyes. The sky was full of stars and the half-moon was bright and immaculate.
It was beautiful.
Her body slowly regained its sense of touch.
She could feel that she was lying on the grass and the plush grass became her carpet. She started to recall what she had just experienced and suddenly came to her senses and rapidly sat up.