Stepping on the nearby clutter, she yanked the giant teddy bear off the cabinet, kicking up a cloud of dust. Fortunately, Zhu Yaya was prepared and shut her eyes just in time.
After a moment, once the dust had settled, she opened them again. She dragged the giant teddy bear into another corner, positioning it so its front faced outward. Unzipping the back of the plush toy, she pulled out some of the cotton stuffing and, taking advantage of her petite frame, squeezed herself inside.
Hiding inside the stuffed animal, she didn't even dare to breathe too loudly. Most of the residents in Zhu Yaya's apartment complex were transplants who had settled in the capital, which meant they all went back to their hometowns for the Lunar New Year. Her next-door neighbors, a newlywed couple, had long since caught a flight down south for a vacation.
Zhu Yaya had absolutely no one nearby to cry out to for help.
Call 110 for the police?
But she wasn't entirely sure if the person impersonating Zhu Jianjun over text was actually coming over. What if she was just overthinking things? Wouldn't that be a massive waste of police resources?
Whatever, she needed to make the call! After all, how many female leads in novels ended up in dire straits simply because they didn't call the police in time?
She stealthily unlocked her phone, turned the screen brightness down to the absolute lowest setting, and dialed 110. The phone began to ring with a series of loud tones. Zhu Yaya thought to herself in a panic, why is the dialing sound so loud?
Finally, the call connected, and a mechanical female voice came through the speaker: "Hello--"
Zhu Yaya's eyes instantly welled up with tears of relief. Oh, thank goodness for the police lady!
She was just about to cry out for help to the police lady on the other end of the line.
"We are sorry, your mobile phone has run out of credit and your service has been suspended..."
Zhu Yaya instantly turned to stone.
She had just called the person impersonating Zhu Jianjun moments ago, so how could her phone suddenly be out of credit?
Refusing to believe her bad luck, Zhu Yaya dialed a few more times, only to receive the exact same response without exception--
"Hello. We are sorry, your mobile phone has run out of credit and your service has been suspended..."
"Hello. We are sorry..."
...
Right at that moment, a text message popped up at the top of her phone screen--
"Dear Customer: As of 23:59 on February 11, 20##, your account balance is in arrears by 3.71 RMB. Your mobile service will be suspended shortly due to insufficient funds. We recommend that you top up your balance as soon as possible to avoid service interruption affecting your normal communication. Follow the 'Huaxia Capital Telecom' official account for billing details and to recharge."
Zhu Yaya was in absolute despair!
Why couldn't they have sent this overdue notice earlier?
She had already transferred the only one hundred RMB she had left in her WeChat wallet to Zhu Jianjun. Now, with her phone out of credit and no cellular data, she couldn't even top it up if she tried!
Fine. If she couldn't make a phone call, she could at least send a QQ message!
Zhu Yaya's fingers immediately swiped over to the QQ app. She tried to send a message to Yan Heng to ask when he was coming over, only to despairingly realize that her messages wouldn't go through either.
Stuck on the QQ chat screen was Yan Heng's previous reply: "Give me ten minutes."
Zhu Yaya wanted to reply with a simple "Okay," but it failed to send. Thank goodness she had already told Yan Heng she was hiding in the storage room during their earlier QQ voice call.
Zhu Yaya turned off her phone screen and continued to curl up quietly inside the giant plush bear, not daring to make any large movements.
She had no idea what was going on outside, but the storage room was dead silent, so quiet that she could clearly hear the sound of her own breathing.
This giant plush bear had been sitting in the storage room for quite some time, and it had absorbed a faint, unpleasant smell of mildew and dust.
Zhu Yaya was a bit of a neat freak. Even though she was incredibly uncomfortable right now, she forced herself to endure it. It felt as though she had been waiting for ages, but when she carefully checked the time on her phone, she realized only a single minute had passed.
Why was time dragging on as slowly as it did during class?
Zhu Yaya felt like an ant on a hot pan, consumed by a mixture of fear and anxiety.
Her phone screen gradually dimmed from inactivity, but Zhu Yaya paid it no mind.
While Zhu Yaya remained hidden inside the giant teddy bear in the storage room, she had no idea that at that very moment, the lock on her front door was making an abnormal clicking sound.
A dark silhouette slipped silently into the apartment from the outside.
The intruder's gaze lingered hesitantly on the slippers by the entryway. Taking out a phone, the person dialed a mobile number.
Twelve seconds later, a mechanical female voice came through the receiver--
"We are sorry, the subscriber you dialed is out of service. Sorry, the number you dialed is out of service..."
The intruder: ...
Back in the storage room, Zhu Yaya was silently counting the seconds in her head when suddenly, her darkened phone screen lit up again.
Someone had sent her a text message.
Zhu Yaya's heart clenched. Curled up tightly inside the massive plush toy, she crouched with her knees pressed together and rested the phone on her lap. Thank goodness she had put her phone on silent earlier and hadn't even left the vibration on.
Leaning in curiously to read the message, she saw it was from Huaxia Capital Telecom--
"[Top-Up Notification] Dear Customer, you have successfully recharged 50 RMB at 00:10 on February 12, 20##. Friendly reminder: if you subsequently receive any cancellation or refund notifications, please verify them promptly."
Zhu Yaya: !!!
Who on earth had topped up her phone? Could someone have entered the wrong number?
Ah, who cares? Now that she had phone credit, she could finally make a call!
But to her utter shock, just as she pressed the number "1," the screen abruptly changed, and Zhu Jianjun's name flashed glaringly across the display.
The sight terrified Zhu Yaya so badly that her legs went weak, and she nearly collapsed to her knees. Her heart leaped into her throat, and her breathing grew ragged. She didn't dare move a muscle, her hands gripping the phone in a death clinch.
Anyone with a normal IQ would know absolutely not to answer this call!
Under these circumstances, there was one highly probable reason the bad guy would be calling her.
He had already broken into her apartment, couldn't find her, and was trying to use the sound of her ringing phone to locate her hiding spot.
A bone-chilling terror washed over Zhu Yaya.
Like hell she was going to answer that call!
Because Zhu Yaya let it ring for so long, the person on the other end eventually hung up, and her phone screen went dark once more.
But before Zhu Yaya could even breathe a sigh of relief, the screen lit right back up. The person was calling her again.
Zhu Yaya wanted to cry. She was just an innocent bystander, a mere background character who shouldn't even have a name in this kind of story! Why was she being subjected to such torment? Just who had set their sights on a weak and helpless girl like her?!
She remained hidden, still not daring to make a peep or move a single inch, even as her legs ached unbearably. Zhu Yaya felt like her legs were going to be permanently crippled if she stayed in this position much longer.
Very carefully, Zhu Yaya shifted her legs, changing from a crouch to a seated position, and then froze again.
The phone rang two more times before the caller finally gave up.
She waited for who knows how long. As the minutes ticked by, Zhu Yaya's overwhelming anxiety began to slowly fade away.
Why wasn't there any sound out there?
Could it be...
They weren't actually looking for her? Or perhaps the person hadn't even come to her apartment at all?
Zhu Yaya's courage started to return. She slowly stretched out her legs, feeling the urge to finally emerge from the giant plush bear.
Her Majesty is exhausted!
She must have just been overthinking things!
Why would anyone want to kidnap a nameless extra like her? She wasn't the female lead or even a supporting character, nor was she a filthy rich tycoon!
Zhu Yaya breathed a sigh of relief, wanting to come out and stretch her legs.
Her toes had barely poked out from inside the giant plush bear, not even touching the floor yet.
In that split second, she heard the sound of the storage room door opening.
