Chapter 1: Into the Abyss (1)
Elyse had been drugged.
When she realized this, the van was already rumbling along a remote mountain road, surrounded by impenetrable forest on both sides. She tried to reach for her phone, only to discover her wrists had been bound behind her with zip ties. Her entire body felt cold—someone had stripped off her outer jacket, leaving only a thin shirt that offered no warmth at all.
She and several others shared the suffocating darkness of the cargo compartment. All of them were drugged and bound, some still unconscious, others, like her, slowly regaining awareness. The girl nearest to her was petite and unconscious; upon closer inspection, one of her ankles was bruised and purple, fingers swollen like radishes, clear signs of having been beaten. Elyse couldn't see clearly in the darkness, but she could feel the van jolting violently, each jolt sending shocks through her body.
She suppressed her scream, forcing herself to stay calm. While others wept and cursed and struggled, Elyse deliberately slowed her breathing, carefully sensing everything around her.
Minutes later, she concluded there were seven or eight people in the cargo compartment, at least two men and five or six women. The van was powerful, its engine sound heavy, clearly designed for carrying heavy loads. She tried to find a seam in the compartment to see outside, but it was completely sealed.
A man's terrified voice came from nearby: "Where... where are they taking us?"
No one could answer him.
The only thing Elyse could confirm was that the van was heading south.
South—toward the border.
When this thought crossed her mind, a profound dread surged from the bottom of her heart. As a Chinese citizen, she had naturally heard the terrifying rumors about the southern border: telecom fraud syndicates, human trafficking, organs harvested while victims were still breathing, and the scam compounds whose very names made people shudder.
Could they really be... heading to Myanmar?
The suffocating darkness made time stretch interminably. Elyse kept calculating—she had been unconscious for an unknown duration, and the van had been driving for at least another four or five hours. In four or five hours, a van starting from a central city could easily reach the border.
She didn't know who had kidnapped her, or why. She only remembered being on her way home from work, taking the usual route, the usual subway, walking through the usual alley shortcut. Then—someone clamped a hand over her mouth from behind, and before she could even struggle, something sharp pierced her arm, and consciousness slid away like water.
She was utterly ordinary, a twenty-three-year-old woman working a standard office job. No wealthy background, no extraordinary beauty. Why her?
The van finally stopped. The rear doors were yanked open, and blinding light flooded in—headlights from another vehicle behind them, combined with the stark illumination of early morning gray. Elyse squinted against the glare and saw armed men approaching.
"Move! Get out! Quick!"
They were hauled out of the van like cargo. Already stiff from the binding and the cold, Elyse was dragged out by her arm, stumbling as her feet hit the ground. She saw a desolate clearing in the forest, two vans, and about a dozen men with guns.
No one wore masks. She had to suppress another wave of terror. They weren't afraid of being recognized—meaning they never intended to let any of them go.
Someone held a tablet, checking each person against a list. When he reached Elyse, he paused, then looked up and sized her up.
One of the men spoke urgent, rapid Burmese.
The man with the tablet nodded, made a note, and gave an order. Then Elyse was separated from the group—the only one pulled away from the others.
The girls around her were crying, some screaming. Some men tried to fight back, only to be beaten and shoved back down. Elyse was pushed toward a different vehicle, a rugged off-road truck.
"Shane's orders. This one's for D-Zone."
The man holding her arm spoke Mandarin with a heavy accent, but Elyse understood every word.
D-Zone.
She was shoved into the back seat of the truck. Two armed men climbed in on either side of her, flanking her like escorts to hell. The truck started up, driving deeper into the mountains.
Before she could even begin to process her fear, the vehicle headed straight into another country's territory.