Iron Rope's Shadow (Adapted from Conan the Movie)

"Incoming call: Judy" The answer button on the phone screen pulsed with urgency, and the phone vibrated and spun on the floor, as if urging its owner to answer the call quickly. A rustling sound emanated from the room, along with a soft thud of something hitting the floor. "Mmmph~" A muffled grunt escaped from a shifting figure. The figure writhed forward with difficulty, hunching its body to reach for the phone that was also wriggling on the floor. The faint backlight of the screen illuminated her face. A cascade of golden hair revealed her to be a woman. Tears welled in her eyes, her sapphire irises reflecting the image of the phone. Her brow was furrowed, her gaze locked onto the flashing screen, her anxious eyes conveying her desire to answer the call, yet her arm remained still. "Nngh!" The woman forced a muffled sound from her throat, exhaling heavily through her prominent nose. She then struggled to lift her head. The lower half of her face gleamed with a silvery sheen. Her mouth and cheeks were tightly sealed with silver tape, distorting her face. However, the outline of the tape suggested her mouth was slightly agape, a small mound bulging in the center, as if she were holding something in her mouth. No wonder she could only emit weak, nasal whimpers. Even with an AI assistant, her muffled sounds couldn't trigger an automatic answer. She needed to press the button herself, but she couldn't. She wriggled on the floor, and another silver-sheened object slowly emerged from behind her. It was also something wrapped in silver tape. The woman adjusted her position, leaning her hunched body to the side. The phone's faint light illuminated her profile. This silver, spindle-shaped object seemed connected to her clasped arms. Several loops of white rope were visible around her wrists, binding her hands tightly behind her back. The spindle-shaped object was indeed her tape-bound hands. Her arms and wrists appeared to be restrained behind her body by something else, allowing only a meager reach to her waist, unable to move any further forward. This limited range of motion prevented her hands from reaching in front of her, let alone touching the phone near her face. The woman thrashed her useless hands in vain, emitting strained grunts, then her upper body suddenly strained upwards, as if attempting to straighten her hunched posture. With a mournful cry, her attempt failed. Her body lifted slightly before crashing back down. The woman shook her head in defiance, her golden hair flying wildly, revealing two white ropes around her neck. She arched her body backward, her curled legs lifting into the air, trying to use her body weight to break the ropes, but to no avail. Under the flickering backlight, her legs, clad in coffee-colored stockings, were positioned in a forward-facing seated posture. Her ankles were also bound with white rope. A mere ten centimeters of rope connected her ankle bindings to her neck. No wonder she was trapped in that contorted, hunched posture. Her entire body was bound by ropes into an "ebi-shibari" position. The phone suddenly stopped vibrating. Soon after, the room's only light source extinguished, plunging the room back into darkness. Yet, in the darkness, the fierce and desperate cries and struggles of a beautiful woman still lurked. "Nina! Nina! What's wrong, answer the phone!" FBI Judy paced anxiously in her own room, picking up and putting down her phone, worried about the safety of her beautiful colleague, Nina. Twenty minutes prior, she had received a call from Nina, who informed her that a secret project's server in Europe had been infiltrated by unknown individuals and that she was pursuing them. The call had abruptly ended, and Nina's phone had been unreachable ever since. "Nina is just a civilian agent, not strong in combat. I hope nothing happens to her. I'll contact headquarters immediately to track Nina's phone signal and arrange for someone to investigate the situation!" Judy had already formulated a plan to help Nina. She then called headquarters to request assistance and subsequently dialed Nina's number repeatedly. Ten minutes later. "Hello!" Judy hastily answered the phone. "Did you find anything?" "We found it, at the F country intelligence data center, but it will take time to pinpoint the exact room. We've already notified the security personnel at the F country data center to investigate!" Judy's anxious heart relaxed slightly. The data center was Nina's usual workplace; she should be safe there. "Perhaps she's dealing with an emergency and doesn't have time to answer," Judy told herself, trying to think positively. "But I should still try calling Nina one more time..." "Beep... beep... hiss..." Nina's phone actually connected. A crackling static of signal noise came from the receiver.