cage
1720 Words
The van bumped along as it left the bustling city area and entered a desolate zone, where only a few isolated building silhouettes could be seen occasionally.
Chu Yao stopped talking. She released my arm, took out a compact mirror, and began touching up her makeup. Her movements were calm and unhurried, as if we were simply heading to an ordinary gathering.
I was still praying in my heart, hoping my suspicions were wrong and that we really were going to the company.
But the moment my phone was taken, panic overwhelmed me. I had lost my only connection to the outside world—and with it, all my control.
About an hour later, the van slowed down, turned onto a muddy path, and finally stopped in front of a two-story building. Under the car’s headlights, I could clearly see its full appearance.
The walls were mottled and peeling, the windows narrow, and almost every one of them was fitted with thick iron bars.
This didn’t look like a company dormitory at all. It looked more like a rundown warehouse.
The man in the passenger seat got out first and roughly pulled open the sliding door. “Get out!” he ordered in stiff Chinese.
My legs were so weak I nearly stumbled out of the vehicle.
Chu Yao stepped out gracefully as well, adjusting her skirt before flashing a charming smile at the man. “Brother Qiang, thanks for your hard work.”
The man called Brother Qiang ignored her. He walked straight to the rusted iron gate and knocked loudly. A small window on the gate opened, and a pair of wary eyes scanned us. Then came the heavy sound of locks turning. With a loud clang, the iron gate was pulled open just wide enough for one person to pass through.
“Go in,” Brother Qiang shoved me from behind.
The interior was dimly lit, with only a low-wattage bulb hanging at the end of the corridor, casting a sickly yellow glow.
“Chu Yao…” I turned back in terror, desperately trying to grab hold of the only familiar figure I had left.
Chu Yao followed me inside. The friendly mask she had been wearing was completely gone, replaced by an expression of cold indifference mixed with a trace of irritation.
“Follow me.”
She walked ahead confidently, her high heels clicking sharply and hollowly against the concrete floor. Brother Qiang and the other tattooed man followed close behind, blocking any chance of escape.
Chu Yao led me to the very end of the first-floor corridor and unlocked a door with a key. The moment the door opened, I was stunned.
Inside the room were five other people—both men and women, mostly young, all with haggard faces and hollow eyes. They turned to look at the doorway in unison, their gazes filled with numbness, fear, and a hint of curiosity. When they saw Brother Qiang behind me, they quickly lowered their heads again, as if they had seen nothing.
“You’ll sleep here tonight,” Chu Yao said coldly. “We’ll talk about the arrangements tomorrow.”
“What… what is this place? Chu Yao! Where’s the job you promised? What about the 20,000 yuan monthly salary?” I grabbed her arm, my voice trembling with fear.
Chu Yao forcefully shook off my hand, a mocking sneer appearing on her face. “Zhou Chengcheng, we’re already here. Stop dreaming. Face reality!”
Her words were like an ice pick, brutally piercing through the last shred of my hope.
At that moment, a girl in the corner who looked even younger than me whispered in a trembling, tearful voice:
“We were all tricked… There’s no job here. This is Thailand…”
“Shut up!” Brother Qiang growled. The girl immediately shrank back, burying her head between her knees and falling silent.
Chu Yao shot the girl a glare, then turned back to me. Her tone became icy and cruel:
“Chengcheng, don’t blame me. I went through the same thing. If you want to survive, just behave and do as you’re told. Here, there are only two paths: either become like me and find ways to lure more people here, or go to the ‘work area’ and start making calls to ask for money.”
Lure more people? Make calls to ask for money? My brain buzzed loudly.
“Chu Yao… how could you deceive me like this?” I instinctively stepped back, only to be blocked by the man behind me.
At that moment, a hoarse voice came from the corridor: “Ah Qiang, is the new piglet here?”
Following the voice, a middle-aged man wearing a flashy patterned shirt and a thick gold chain walked in. He was short but stocky, with a ferocious knife scar running from his eyebrow to the corner of his mouth. His eyes were as fierce as a wild beast. The moment he entered, the air in the room seemed to freeze. All the “piglets”—including Brother Qiang—straightened up subconsciously, visibly nervous.
“Brother Dao,” Brother Qiang greeted him respectfully.
So he was the boss. My heart nearly stopped.
Brother Dao’s triangular eyes scanned me from head to toe, as if appraising merchandise. He frowned in dissatisfaction. “This is it? Skinny as a stick and average-looking. What kind of money can she make?”
Chu Yao immediately sidled up to him, hooking her arm around his and speaking in a sickeningly sweet voice: “Brother Dao~ She may not be that pretty, but she’s smart and learns fast…”
Brother Dao rudely reached out and gave Chu Yao’s butt a hard squeeze. “You little slut, always bringing me low-value goods! Tonight I’ll make you pay for it.”
Chu Yao winced in pain but didn’t dare pull away. Instead, she smiled even more obsequiously. “Ouch, Brother Dao~ Be gentle. Her family doesn’t have much money, but that’s exactly why she needs it more! If we push her hard enough, she might perform better than those rich ones. Why don’t we send her straight to the ‘work area’?”
Watching her fawn over that ferocious man, watching her willingly push me into a deeper abyss just to save herself, a strong wave of nausea rose in my throat.
Was this still the same Chu Yao from my memories—the one who would be overjoyed for a whole day just because she got a little red flower?
Was this the same Chu Yao who used to cry in my arms after being bullied by boys?
Brother Dao seemed convinced by her words. He waved his hand in disgust. “Fine, fine. Send her to the compound tomorrow. Damn it, if you don’t start producing results soon, I’ll sell all of you!”
With that, he put his arm around Chu Yao and turned to leave.
As he passed the group of young people huddled in the corner, he seemed to remember something. He stopped and gestured to Brother Qiang.
Brother Qiang immediately understood. He roughly dragged a young boy wearing glasses out from the group and shoved a phone into his hand.
“Call your family,” Brother Dao said in a low voice that carried a bone-chilling coldness. “Tell them you’re traveling in Thailand and got detained by customs. Say you need 200,000 yuan as a ‘safety deposit’ to be released. Remember—”
He leaned closer to the boy, pulled out a gleaming dagger from his waist, and lightly tapped the boy’s cheek with the flat of the blade. “If you dare say one truthful word on the phone, if you dare mention anything about this place, I’ll cut off one of your fingers. I mean what I say.”
The boy turned deathly pale, shaking like a leaf. Tears and snot covered his face. Under Brother Qiang’s watchful gaze, he shakily pressed the call button.
The scene before me felt like a horrifyingly realistic nightmare. Fraud, k********g, violent threats…
Words I had only seen in the news were now playing out bloodily right in front of me.
And I had become a part of this nightmare.
Brother Dao and Chu Yao left the room. The iron door slammed shut again with a heavy clang. Under the dim light, only us “piglets” trapped in this cage remained, surrounded by an atmosphere thick with despair.
I leaned against the cold wall and slowly slid down onto the filthy floor. The physical exhaustion and mental shock left me nearly collapsing.
The boy with glasses finished the call and slumped to the ground, sobbing quietly. Someone beside him numbly handed him a dirty tissue.
“It’s useless… They’ve all tried…” the girl who had warned me earlier whispered again. “If you don’t pay or if you call the police, they’ll beat you… and then sell you to an even worse place…”
“Why…” I muttered hoarsely, “Chu Yao… how could you become like this…”
Uncontrollable memories flooded my mind.
In elementary school, she shared half of the candy she couldn’t bear to eat with me. In junior high, when she was bullied by older girls, I was the one who took her to tell the teacher. In high school, my mother often invited her over for dinner.
We once made a wish under a tree to be best friends for life…
Those sincere smiles, those warm moments, could no longer overlap with the woman who had just fawned over Brother Dao and coldly sent me to my doom.
The best friend I once trusted with all my heart had personally pushed me into hell. And tomorrow, what awaited me was the even more terrifying “compound.”
My father’s surgery fees, my mother’s tears, the family I had desperately wanted to save—all of it had become an unreachable illusion. As for myself, whether I could even leave this barbed-wire prison alive was now an unknown.
I finally understood completely. My mother was right. Those news reports were right.
I had fallen into a meticulously woven trap. And the person who pushed me in was the one I once trusted the most.
- Writer
