Chapter 67: Entering the Village

“Lihua Village, where’s that?” Yin Chang asked, her expression unchanged.

The old woman pointed in a direction. “Not far, not far.” She added, “Our village has a car, we can take you there to choose. We’ll give you a cheaper price.”

“Go to the village, huh,” Yin Chang said, feigning hesitation.

“If you had more time, I could bring the goods over, but aren’t you in a hurry to catch an early bus?” the old woman said, even extending an invitation. “You’re buying so much. We have free-range chickens at home. I’ll have one slaughtered for your dinner.”

She seemed the very picture of rustic simplicity.

Yin Chang was still hesitant.

Qin Qing then coaxed her, “Let’s go. We have nothing to do this afternoon anyway.”

Only then did Yin Chang say, “Alright then, let’s make a trip.”

At that moment, the young woman squatting on the ground suddenly shot up, ramming into Qin Qing with the brute force of an enraged bull.

Yin Chang reacted in time, pulling Qin Qing to dodge. Qin Qing subtly evaded the attack, and in the next instant, she and the young woman were tumbling together in a heap.

The old woman shrieked, “Are you crazy!”

At the same time, she apologized profusely to Yin Chang. “This daughter-in-law of mine, a high fever damaged her brain when she was a child. She’s usually fine, but every now and then her mind isn’t clear.”

She then called out to the people around them, “Quick, pull her away.”

People from the surrounding stalls got up to help, but Yin Chang blocked them for a moment. She cried out, “Oh my god, cousin~”

She herself rushed to the front, ahead of everyone.

Qin Qing felt a sharp pain, as if she had landed on her tailbone. It hurt immensely.

In the chaos, she whispered, “Don’t go, don’t go.” Her voice trembled, filled with pleading.

Before the others could surround them, Qin Qing quickly whispered in her ear, “Don’t be afraid, we’re the police.”

The young woman’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Her eyes instantly turned red, and two streams of tears flowed out.

She stared intently at Qin Qing, as if trying to confirm that what she had just heard wasn’t an auditory hallucination.

Qin Qing gave her a quick blink, affirming it.

The young woman began to sob with muffled whimpers, her breathing ragged.

The two were helped to their feet.

To be precise, Qin Qing was helped up.

The young woman was hauled up by her mother-in-law, who grabbed her by the hair.

The old woman cursed as she hit her, “You still have the nerve to cry? What’s wrong with you, acting up for no reason.”

The force and viciousness of the blows were terrifying to watch.

But the one being beaten neither dodged nor cried out. Only an occasional muffled grunt of pain could be heard.

Yin Chang supported Qin Qing, her eyes filled with concern.

Qin Qing shook her head at her.

Only then did Yin Chang let her go and shout to stop the abuser, saying with annoyance, “Alright, alright, you don’t have to put on a show for us. My cousin is fine, we don’t need you to pay for anything.”

The other woman smiled apologetically. “You city girls are so magnanimous.” She then asked tentatively, “Shall we pack up the stall and head back to the village now?”

Yin Chang said, “You have to give us a cheaper price.”

“That’s a given,” the old woman said, then yelled to a young man in a black T-shirt nearby, “Xiao Gang, hurry up, go get the car. Take us back to pick out the goods first.”

“We definitely won’t delay your business, Auntie Hua,” Xiao Gang said and took off running.

Yin Chang glanced briefly at Xiao Gang, then said to Qin Qing, “The mountain road might be rough. You should go back to the county town and wait for me. I can go by myself.”

She patted the bag containing her compass and gave Qin Qing a meaningful look.

Qin Qing understood her meaning.

But it was even more dangerous for Yin Chang to go alone.

This wasn’t a case of crime within an individual family; it was possible the entire village had a problem.

The best course of action would be for them to stay put and call for armed police support.

Wipe the village off the map.

But Yin Chang seemed determined to go.

In the end, the two of them got into the vehicle heading for Lihua Village.

It was a minivan, packed full of people. Someone was even sitting on a small stool in the aisle.

These people were all villagers from Lihua Village who had stalls near Auntie Hua’s.

The vehicle could only stop at a flat clearing at the village entrance; they would have to walk the rest of the way to their specific destination.

A young man traveling with them explained that Lihua Village was not a single, concentrated settlement, but was scattered throughout the mountains. As Qin Qing understood it, the villages and the mountains formed a shape like the character ‘州’ (zhōu). The character’s vertical strokes were the mountains, and the dots were the villages.

They were heading to the outermost dot.

It was a road that wound deep into the mountains.

Qin Qing and Yin Chang stopped.

Auntie Hua said, “It’s not far, just a few minutes away. It’s not a long walk. After you’ve picked your goods and want to leave, you won’t have to carry anything yourselves. I’ll have my son see you out.”

The voices of other police officers came through the invisible earpiece in her ear: “We are following behind you. Luo Zhihan’s parents are with us.”

Only then did Yin Chang continue walking forward.

Along the way, the young woman kept looking at Qin Qing and Yin Chang.

But they paid her no more attention.

On this journey, they also learned that her husband’s name was Jianhua, and that she had no name in the mouths of others. People referred to her as Jianhua’s sister-in-law, Jianhua’s wife, the one from Jianhua’s house…

But Qin Qing knew she had a name that had faded away. Her name was Wang Hui.

After climbing a long slope and standing at a mountain pass, Auntie Hua pointed to a flat, open area in a low-lying basin ahead, where many houses were visible. She said, “Our village is right there.”

The mountains here were mostly steep, and the mountain roads were winding. Terraced fields could be seen along the way, but they were not neat and tidy, instead being divided into small plots by rocks of various sizes. The smallest was barely the size of a large square table.

As they got closer to the village, there were more people. Without exception, they all gave Qin Qing and Yin Chang, who were surrounded by the villagers, a few extra glances as they passed.

Yin Chang joked, “The villagers are all quite enthusiastic.”

Auntie Hua gave a dry, apologetic laugh.

[Warning, warning, about to enter a high-density Crime Value area.]

[Warning, warning, about to enter a high-density Crime Value area.]

The announcement from the System Panel came without warning.

Hiss…

This was a bit thrilling.

Just then, Yin Chang said, “How come there’s suddenly no cell phone signal?”

Qin Qing checked her own phone; she couldn’t connect to the service provider at all.

She raised her hand to her ear and tapped it lightly.

There was only static in her communication earpiece.

Auntie Hua explained, “It’s like this in the mountains, the signal comes and goes.”

Others chimed in, “That’s right, your phones just got here, they haven’t adapted yet.”

“So that’s how it is,” Yin Chang said with a worried tone. “I’m just worried it’ll be hard to pay after we’ve chosen the goods.”

“You can pay when you get outside, there’s no rush.”

Subtly, the few villagers had already blocked the path they came from, and they moved a little closer to the two of them.

Qin Qing glanced at Yin Chang, who was also looking at her. In the other’s eyes, she saw the same thought.

The situation was not looking good.

The other party had clearly come prepared.

They had been too reckless.

They could only hope their comrades following behind would notice something was wrong in time and react.

The villagers escorted the two of them all the way to Auntie Hua’s house.

At the courtyard gate was a little boy, about two or three years old. Seeing the group, he came running over with pattering steps.

He came up to Wang Hui.

Without calling out to her, he grabbed her clothes and back basket and started rummaging through them.

Apparently not finding what he wanted, he threw a tantrum, punching and kicking Wang Hui.

As he hit her, he wailed, “Useless thing! The airplane, where’s my airplane? I want my airplane! You just eat for free every day, what good are you!”

Wang Hui seemed accustomed to this sort of thing and continued walking forward on her own, with the child chasing and hitting her.

Auntie Hua didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with it.

A villager even joked, “Good boy, this kid is so much like Brother Jianhua. Brother Jianhua was this tough when he was little too.”

Auntie Hua told Wang Hui to go move the stock from inside the house.

Qin Qing looked; they were indeed good quality goods. Sacks were stacked neatly in the main hall.

Then she sent Wang Hui away and stayed to accompany them herself, saying, “My daughter-in-law is insensible, it wouldn’t be good if she had another fit.”

They never found an opportunity to communicate with Wang Hui.

Nor did they know what the situation was like outside.

Qin Qing praised the quality of the goods. “Didn’t you say there were other mountain products? Why are there only these medicinal herbs?”

Auntie Hua said, “My family only has medicinal herbs. The dried goods belong to other families.”

Yin Chang said, “Then let’s go look at the other families’ places.”

Auntie Hua quickly stopped them. “Why would you need to go yourselves? I’ll just have them bring the things over.” Saying this, she stood in front of the house and shouted a few sentences.

The echoing sound carried her message to the other homes in the village.

“You two just sit tight, they’ll be here soon.” She added, “I said I’d stew a free-range chicken for you. I’ll have my son catch one and kill it now.”

From behind the house came the sound of a chicken clucking and squawking as it fled for its life.

For the first time, Qin Qing felt a sense of empathy with her food, which made her feel a little restless.

Then came the strange sound of a chicken being caught by the neck. After that, Qin Qing saw a tall, thin figure enter the house from a side door, holding a knife in one hand and a chicken in the other. The knife was still caked with congealed chicken blood.

Qin Qing shivered for no apparent reason.

Although her consultant fee was charged by the hour, this case was really testing her nerves.

Before long, people began to arrive one after another, bringing mountain products.

Some were good, some were bad.

Qin Qing pretended to be selecting goods, but in reality, she was rapidly scanning the System Panels of the people gathering around.

There wasn’t enough time, and there were too many people. She was basically skimming ten lines at a glance, and her eyes were starting to blur.

But it wasn’t without results.

At the very least, she now knew the specific location of the abducted little boy, Luo Zhihan, and also that besides Wang Hui, there were other abducted women in this village.

What was appalling was that in this small settlement alone, there were five abducted women. The one who had been there the longest had been there for over forty years and was already the mother of four children. Wang Hui was the most recent arrival.

And apart from those who were clearly abducted and trafficked, there were also some girls in the village who had been tricked into coming back by men from Lihua Village who had gone out to work in factories. Under the guise of falling in love and getting married, they were trapped here forever.

Qin Qing couldn’t describe what she was feeling.

In the 21st century, such a place actually existed on the land of China.

Beneath the beautiful name of Lihua Village, the youth of one girl after another was buried.

Qin Qing and Yin Chang accepted everything, taking in a large quantity of mountain products.

Because their phones couldn’t connect to the internet, they could only keep a tab for now, agreeing to transfer the money to Auntie Hua all at once when they got to a place with a signal, and Auntie Hua would then distribute it among the others.

No one had any objections.

After taking stock of the goods, someone from the kitchen called them for dinner.

A figure came out carrying an iron pot and placed it on the table in the courtyard.

He looked up, and although Qin Qing was mentally prepared, her pupils still contracted in shock.

What kind of face was that?

Qin Qing could only say that even a resurrected Voldemort looked more human than him.

His entire face was a rugged landscape of purplish-red; it couldn’t even be called a face, but rather the look of flesh that had been torn and then healed directly.

He had no nose, just two small slits in the center of his head.

His eyes were the same, pulled into long, thin fox-like slits.

The exposed skin on his neck was the same color.

It was clear he had once been a severe burn victim.

And he was Wang Hui’s current husband, Jianhua.

Wang Hui, Jianhua, and their child did not join them at the table for this meal.

Besides Auntie Hua, two other men from the village were at the table to keep them company. They were said to be relatives.

The two men both looked to be in their forties. From the moment they sat down, their eyes were fixed on Yin Chang and Qin Qing, filled with a critical and appraising gaze.

Auntie Hua urged them, “Authentic free-range chicken, eat up, eat up.”

Yin Chang held her bowl but didn’t move.

Qin Qing knew her concern. She coughed twice to get Yin Chang’s attention, telling her that the food was fine and not eating would arouse suspicion.

She used tactical hand signals.

Thank you, Maria, the professional knowledge she had been cramming recently had come in handy.

At the same time, she used another hand signal to convey a different message to Yin Chang.

She raised her hand, palm out, fingers spread, then waved it toward herself—a gesture for “no.” Then she made a fake drinking motion.

Don’t drink the water!

Because the drug was in the drinks.

Yin Chang nodded slightly, indicating she understood.

Qin Qing gnawed on the chicken leg Auntie Hua had specially picked for her, eating without tasting a thing.

Ah, what fine ingredients, to appear on a battlefield. What a waste.

This chicken had died in vain.

It shouldn’t have been the one to die.

Qin Qing was mourning for the chicken.

Just then, she heard one of the guests, a man with yellow teeth, say, “We don’t have much else in the countryside, but our food is healthy, not like the plastic you city folk eat.” He then asked with concern, “You two look quite healthy. You haven’t had any major illnesses, have you?”