Chapter 272: There’s a Problem
Xu Youyou heard the words and followed Liu Xiangyi’s gaze.
Their car had not gone far from the hotel, and they were still in a bustling area.
Where Liu Xiangyi was looking, a lively parade was happening, with flower-decorated carriages moving forward. In the middle section was a large promotional billboard.
The billboard displayed the words “Freak Show” in Chinese, English, and Thai, with a photo of a woman next to the title.
Xu Youyou frowned slightly. “Is this photoshopped?”
After all, she never expected to see a human doll on the street.
The woman in the photo had her whole body crammed inside a vase, with only her head sticking out, looking particularly eerie.
Someone standing next to Xu Youyou explained, “Boss, this is the freak show, modern human dolls.”
The human doll punishment was so questionable in ancient times, but now, it seemed that modern people had adopted it.
“Who would want to watch something like this?” Xu Youyou didn’t understand.
“Boss, there are always psychologically twisted people in the world who like these freakish things. Their minds are beyond what others can comprehend.”
The person answering Xu Youyou was the Thai translator she had hired in China, who frequently traveled between China and Thailand, so he was very familiar with these matters.
Liu Xiangyi, hearing this, couldn’t help but ask, “Are you sure the photos are real, and that someone was really stuffed into a vase?”
The Thai translator nodded. “Miss Liu, our country has been stable for a long time, but here, it’s different. Although it’s a tourist city, freak shows and ladyboy shows are still very common.”
Liu Xiangyi’s face grew darker.
A thought flashed through Xu Youyou’s mind, and she asked, “Do you know the woman in the photo?”
Liu Xiangyi hesitated and nodded. “She’s the one who tricked me into coming here… my former roommate.”
Everyone present froze when they heard this. If Xu Youyou hadn’t saved Liu Xiangyi, she might have ended up like this woman.
Liu Xiangyi felt a pang of guilt. “Could it be because of me that she ended up like this?”
She thought it was her special physique that caused harm to her old roommate. Even though she wasn’t happy that her roommate had tricked her into coming here, she hadn’t suffered any real harm. Her resentment wasn’t deep enough to force her old roommate into becoming a human doll.
Xu Youyou quickly comforted her. “You can’t think like that. Maybe when she contacted you, she had already turned into this. Those people are greedy and ruthless. After tricking people into coming, they squeeze out the last bit of value from them. So this has nothing to do with you.”
Liu Xiangyi’s expression was still distant. She wanted to save her former roommate and was about to ask Xu Youyou for help. However, she couldn’t bring herself to make the request. Instead, she took a photo with her phone.
She thought to herself that if she sent the photo back to China, maybe her roommate’s parents would find a way to rescue her, and she would have helped in some way.
Xu Youyou had already bought her flight tickets, but a sudden system task came up, and the task location was still in the same area. She had to watch Liu Xiangyi and the others board the plane.
Before Liu Xiangyi boarded, she tried to persuade her. “Miss Xu, this place is too dangerous. Do you really have something important to do here? Otherwise, you can have a local handle it. You just had a conflict with those people this morning. What if they retaliate?”
Liu Xiangyi, who had initially said she would go back to China with Xu Youyou, was now suddenly worried about Xu Youyou’s safety.
“I have a lot of people with me, and I still have things to do here,” Xu Youyou said with a smile.
Liu Xiangyi and the others, who had almost fallen into a scam trap, hesitated several times before boarding the plane.
After watching everyone board, Xu Youyou’s face immediately turned serious. “Let’s go back.”
Xu Fang and the others didn’t understand why Xu Youyou changed her mind. She had just wasted money on canceled flight tickets and rebooked hotel rooms. But none of them dared to say a word of objection.
“Boss, I’ll contact the hotel to handle the check-in now,” Xu Fang said.
Xu Youyou was about to agree, but suddenly changed her mind. “Change to another hotel.”
At the first hotel, there had been several attempts by handsome men and beautiful women to trick her. At the second hotel, there wasn’t such an issue, but Xu Youyou still felt like she was being watched.
The new hotel was still in a busy area, and after checking in, it was already dark outside.
After the gunfire and explosions that morning, no one wanted to go out. Everyone stayed obediently in the hotel.
As the hotel dinner was delivered, another portion naturally arrived in front of Xu Youyou. But just as she was about to dig in, she suddenly stopped.
“Boss, is the food not to your liking?” Xu Fang softly inquired.
Xu Youyou shook her head, frowning. “From now on, to ensure safety, one-third of the people will eat the hotel food, while the other two-thirds will buy food from outside, getting it from at least three different restaurants.”
The bodyguards couldn’t help but mutter to themselves. They thought Xu Youyou was overreacting. However, since the employer was paying them so much, they kept their opinions to themselves.
Even though dinner was settled, Xu Youyou still felt a sense of unease, as if something was about to happen.
That night, she didn’t plan to go out to complete her task. She could only watch the five-day countdown on the system interface.
This time, the system task location was not in Bangkok, but instead pointed in a different direction.
Xu Youyou slept uneasily that night, dreaming that she was surrounded by black mist, with the eerie sound of children’s laughter in the background.
When she woke up, the sense of helplessness from the dream still left her shaken.
She had thought that after signing Liu Xiangyi, her work in this country would be over. If not for the constant echoing of Qing Yatou’s words in her mind, she would have left by now.
“Boss, as per your instructions, one-third of the group will eat breakfast in the hotel, and the remaining two-thirds will get food from three different restaurants. Which one would you like to try?” Xu Fang placed the prepared breakfast in front of Xu Youyou.
Xu Youyou randomly picked one.
Half an hour later, as the group was preparing to head out, the bodyguard captain suddenly looked troubled and spoke up. “Boss, Zhang Yong and the other six people ate something bad for breakfast, and they’re stuck in the bathroom. They probably won’t be able to go out with you.”
Xu Youyou paused when she heard this, then immediately asked Xu Fang, “What did they eat for breakfast?”
Xu Fang’s face turned pale. “Boss, they ate the breakfast provided by the hotel.”
Xu Youyou could tell right away that something was wrong with the hotel. She immediately ordered, “Send all the luggage to the car, leave one person to take them to the hospital, and the rest of you come with me.”
