9 Chapter 9 Danger Encounter_1

Upon hearing this, everyone quickly started looking around and indeed Xiao Liu was nowhere to be found, which immediately sparked a discussion.

"Strange, where did Xiao Liu go?"

"Did he already leave?"

"No way, we all came out together, he was pretty drunk, how could he have left so quickly?"

After a while of discussion, a coworker slapped their forehead and said: "I remember now, Xiao Liu said that he was going to the restroom earlier and he never returned."

Wang Ji'an frowned and said as gently as possible: "Then let's go find him, hopefully nothing happened."

Despite his gentle words, he was inwardly cursing unreliable Xiao Liu and wishing he could just leave. However, since he was the host, if anything happened to someone, it wouldn't look good for him, so he had to pretend to be patient for the time being.

Thus, while the female coworkers waited in the hall, a few male coworkers went to the restroom on the same floor as their private room to look for Xiao Liu.

The person was found quite quickly, but the scene was indescribable.

Qin Sisi and the others didn't see it themselves, but later, people who liked to gossip described the on-site situation in detail: Xiao Liu was found in the furthest squat toilet, slumped over in a small space, soundly asleep. His entire body was covered in excretions.

Everyone was disgusted hearing this and for a long time afterward, Xiao Liu became everyone's laughingstock. But that's another story.

After hearing the report from several male subordinates, Wang Ji'an was so angry that he wanted to beat them, yet he could only suppress his rage. He left two men to watch over Xiao Liu while he called Xiao Liu's family to bring some clothes and pick him up.

Everyone else either shared a cab or hailed their own, and began their journey home.

Wang Ji'an offered to take three of his female coworkers home, who happened to live on his way, including Qin Sisi.

Qin Sisi initially did not want to ride in his car, but Wang Ji'an was sincere in his offer, and the other two female coworkers enthusiastically invited her, so Qin Sisi reluctantly got in the car.

However, when Wang Ji'an had dropped off the other two female coworkers and only the two of them were left in the car, Qin Sisi suddenly grew nervous, a sense of foreboding creeping up on her. She pinched her leg, warning herself to remain calm and that she might just be overthinking.

Time seemed to stretch out. Along the way, Wang Ji'an occasionally started a conversation with Qin Sisi, who answered absentmindedly. Her palms were very sweaty.

At last, the car entered the small district where Qin Sisi lived. Wang Ji'an parked under a shady path below her building. A pair of sleeping birds were startled by the noise and "flapped" into the deep blue night sky. The dim moonlight filtering through the branches lit up half of Wang Ji'an's face, making him appear somewhat ominous.

Although Qin Sisi felt nervous, knowing that she was finally home made her slightly relieved. After the car was parked, she turned around calmly and said to Wang Ji'an: "Thank you, Manager Wang. I am home now, you should also head home."

As she finished speaking, Qin Sisi opened the door, preparing to get off the car. However, Wang Ji'an grabbed hold of her, his tone was suggestive: "Why are you in such a hurry? Scared that I might eat you up?"

Qin Sisi's heart skipped a beat – his words were potentially ambiguous.

Qin Sisi felt the hairs on her skin stand up. Striving to control her panic, she forced a smile and said: "Manager Wang, you sure know how to crack a joke. It's really late. I must go now." With that, Qin Sisi forcefully shrugged off Wang Ji'an's hand, jumped out of the car and strode towards the stairwell.

Surprisingly, Wang Ji'an also got out of the car and followed behind, saying: "It's late. Let me walk you up."

Wang Ji'an's tone was concerned, and as always, his face was adorned with a gentle smile. But now, it instilled fear in Qin Sisi, rather than warmth. Her fear intensified as she started regretting attending that boring gathering, and even more so, having let Wang Ji'an drive her home.

Subconsciously, Qin Sisi looked up at the apartment building. Perhaps, because it was very late, most of the apartments were cloaked in darkness, and a few windows that had lights on had their curtains drawn. The dim streetlights, due to lack of maintenance, dimmed. In some places, they flickered continuously while others were completely dark. From the bushes came the sound of a stray cat howling. In the silence of the deep night, it sounded mysteriously unnatural.

Qin Sisi shivered and said in panic: "No, Manager Wang, I can go alone."

As Qin Sisi spoke, she retreated a couple of steps, accidentally tripping on the curb. Wang Ji'an saw an opportunity and rushed to help her, and before she could react, he had already walked her to the stairwell.

Wang Ji'an cast a lecherous glance at Qin Sisi, and pretending to be gentle, he said: "See, it's so dark in the stairwell. You're so thin, what if you sprain your ankle? I'd feel guilty. Let me walk you up."

Qin Sisi struggled to break free, shaking her head vigorously to deny, "No, no... that's not necessary. I'm used to it, there will be no problem. Please go home early!" She was disoriented with nervousness, but her mind was still clear; she knew that she absolutely could not let Wang Ji'an accompany her upstairs.

Wang Ji'an sneered inwardly: Going? Dear girl, tonight's setup was especially for you. I'm sure to have you tonight.

With these thoughts, a cold smile tugged at Wang Ji'an's lips. He took a step forward, grabbed Qin Sisi's arm and gently persuaded: "Let me accompany you upstairs first, and then I'll immediately leave." As Qin Sisi was growing suspicious, naturally, he needed to soften the situation with some sweet words. Once they were beyond the door, it wouldn't matter what she thought.

Qin Sisi felt extremely averse to Wang Ji'an coming close and tried shaking off his hand with force. However, how could frail little Qisi match up to Wang Ji'an's strength?

Feeling Qin Sisi's struggle, Wang Ji'an held her even tighter.

Qin Sisi, both agitated and angry, snapped: "Manager Wang, mind your manners."

Wang Ji'an scoffed. He had been looking forward to this day for a long time. The last time he attempted action he was disturbed by Qin Sisi's Little black cat. Tonight was a great opportunity and there was no way he was going to let this chance slip past him these times?

Qin Sisi's resistance was igniting the evil in Wang Ji'an's heart. Suddenly, he wrapped his hand around her delicate throat and threatened: "Qin Sisi, better behave if you don't want to get hurt."

With threat-laden words, Wang Ji'an forced Qin Sisi into the dark stairwell. Qin Sisi wanted to scream, but his hand was clamping her throat and she couldn't utter a sound. Her futile struggle only served to augment the chilling dread that was spreading within her.