Chapter 68: The Rescue

The question seemed to be one of concern, but hearing it made one’s hair stand on end.

Yin Chang seemed not to notice anything amiss, chatting very amiably with the two men.

Calling them “Big Brother” one after another, she never let the smiles leave their faces.

Big Brother said: “This place of ours is great, with beautiful mountains and clear waters. The girls who stay here become beautiful even without any of those skincare products.”

Yin Chang nodded: “Yes, I think it’s great too. So great that I want to bring all my colleagues here.”

Big Brother said: “You’re a straightforward girl, and quite the conversationalist. You’re having a good time chatting with us, right? Don’t you think we’re no worse than those city men of yours?”

Yin Chang nodded: “You’re so right. Most men I’ve met aren’t as wicked as you.”

The big brother was delighted: “Really? You think I’m that good? You could even tell that? Hahaha, you have a pretty good impression of me, huh?”

Yin Chang slammed the table excitedly: “So impressive it’s unforgettable. You have to believe me, I will definitely tell every single woman I meet for the rest of my life about today’s experience. You will be immortalized in my stories.”

This left the two men stunned, a hint of shyness even appearing on their dark, swarthy faces.

“It’s not that great, but it’s good that you’ll remember.”

Yin Chang: “Not only will I remember, but if I get the chance, I will definitely take care of you personally.”

It was clear that Yin Chang’s words had them very excited. They were getting a bit carried away.

Under such circumstances, prying information from them also became relatively easy.

The two men vied to show off in front of Yin Chang, allowing her to coax a great deal of information out of them.

For example, that there were hunting rifles hidden in the village, two in total.

For example, how many able-bodied young men were in the village and in which houses they were roughly distributed.

For example, the village’s customary architectural structure—every family had a cellar, a hidden attic, and a granary that was either empty or full.

This kind of detailed information was not important to the villagers and wouldn’t be shown in detail in the log.

What Qin Qing could do was occasionally interject as Yin Chang chatted with them, using their answers to further confirm information about all the victims in the village.

With the help of the System Panel map, Qin Qing was basically able to mark the locations and basic situations of all the people who needed to be rescued.

Auntie Hua persuaded them: “You must be thirsty after talking so much. Here, have a drink. This is our homemade mulberry wine. It won’t get you drunk.”

Qin Qing picked it up and sniffed it: “It smells so good, the fruit aroma is very strong.”

Auntie Hua and the two men’s gazes were all focused on her cup.

Qin Qing put it down again.

“Unfortunately, I’m allergic to alcohol. I can’t touch a single drop.”

Yin Chang agreed: “Me too. We’re actually cousins; it’s a family trait.”

Auntie Hua gave a dry laugh: “Eat, eat.”

Before the meal was over, it began to rain.

To maintain their identities as tourists, the two of them naturally couldn’t travel in the rain and were starting to get anxious.

Auntie Hua warmly invited them to stay.

“Don’t worry, if the rain doesn’t stop, you can stay here for the night. We don’t have much else in the village, but we have plenty of space.”

The two of them pulled up chairs to watch the rain from under the eaves, while the two men played cards with them.

They were constantly on guard, wary that this family would make a move. They hadn’t drunk the mulberry wine and were now delayed by the rain, which could very well make the family lose patience and resort to direct violence.

The longer it dragged on, the more serious the situation would become.

Amidst the sound of the rain.

Qin Qing seemed to hear something.

“Is that a bird call?”

Yin Chang’s eyes lit up. She mouthed a sentence.

Backup has arrived.

Qin Qing quickly took out her notebook and wrote her partner’s name, which became visible.

This proved they were within 50 meters of them.

Yin Chang observed the positions of the others, then got up and walked toward the woodshed.

Immediately after, Qin Qing heard a series of short chirps.

The two men stood up, somewhat alert: “What’s that sound?”

“The wind?” Qin Qing said. “The wind is quite strong here.”

Only then did the two of them sit back down.

She saw the returning Yin Chang give her a hand signal, indicating that she should retreat immediately.

Qin Qing remained composed, playing the rest of her hand at a normal pace. She stood up and stretched lazily: “I’ve been sitting for so long, I’m going to the toilet.”

Yin Chang walked over: “Me too, let’s go together.”

The two men also stood up, as if to follow them.

Yin Chang let out a charming laugh and complained, “Big Brothers, we’re going to the toilet. You’re not thinking of following us, are you?”

The men were dazed by her laugh and rubbed their ears: “Of course not. We were just afraid you wouldn’t be able to find it.”

“Isn’t it just next to the woodshed? What’s so hard to find?” Yin Chang pulled Qin Qing’s hand and walked in that direction. Halfway there, she half-turned and pointed at the two men, “Don’t you follow, or I’ll get angry.”

“We won’t, we won’t. What kind of people do you take us for, little sis?”

While smiling at the two men, Yin Chang squeezed Qin Qing’s hand tightly.

After rounding the woodshed and getting out of the two men’s line of sight, the two of them immediately dashed into the rain, rushing toward their backup.

Next to the woodshed and the toilet was a three-meter-high bank.

It was quite a height.

Qin Qing took a deep breath and followed Yin Chang, jumping straight down.

Fortunately, the ground below was soft earth, made even softer by the rain. So it didn’t hurt, but it felt as if the joints in her legs were going to slam shut.

Without pausing to recover, they scrambled out of that patch of ground in a few steps, found the path they had come on, and charged forward.

There was no time to think about anything else. With the System Panel open, she kept moving forward in the direction of her allies’ support.

The people in the house behind them seemed to have discovered they were gone. Qin Qing heard heavy and rapid footsteps.

Her heart leaped into her throat.

There was a downhill section, and Qin Qing’s foot slipped, causing her to slide all the way down.

She was covered in muddy water, a complete mess.

The footsteps behind her grew closer and closer.

She spared a moment to glance back and saw it was Jianhua, the man who looked like Voldemort.

His face was expressionless.

But in his hand was an axe, glinting with a cold light.

The other two men were with him, also carrying things. A meter-long thick club, and a dark cattle rope.

They just chased from behind, without even shouting “stop.”

They were like confident hunters pursuing panicked prey that had lost its way.

The sense of pressure was almost suffocating.

Qin Qing desperately kept up with Yin Chang’s pace.

Ahead, a tall figure appeared in the misty rain.

Carrying live ammunition, fully armed.

First one, then two, then three…

Finally…

They met them, and then moved past them.

They were actually Armed Police.

Perhaps only people like this, carrying highly destructive weapons, could still make one feel an overwhelming sense of security.

One of them stopped and saluted them.

Yin Chang wiped the water from her face and quickly relayed the information they had previously investigated.

As for Qin Qing, she took out a notebook (the ordinary one used for recording deliveries) and handed it to the person before her. On it, she had drawn a simple map of the village: “Comrade, these are the locations of the victims. They are all abducted children and women. However, some of them may have been here for so long that they are no longer aware that they need to be rescued. I have noted the specific situations on it. Thank you for your hard work.”

“This is very useful!” The man saluted again and caught up with his teammates.

Through the curtain of rain, Qin Qing saw that the three men who had just been chasing them had been taken down and were lying in the muddy water.

The officer from the provincial bureau, who was their contact this time, brought them two raincoats.

Qin Qing waved her hand, refusing: “It’s fine, we’re already like this anyway.”

The officer from the provincial bureau said: “I knew this matter wasn’t simple as soon as you lost signal after entering the village, so I called for backup directly. We were following you the whole time, but we didn’t take the main road; we were hiding in the woods. Seeing that you could still temporarily control the situation and hadn’t called for help, we waited until backup arrived to send you the signal. You two ladies are very impressive, finding so much useful information.”

Yin Chang was discussing information with this officer.

Qin Qing looked at the village, which was just a vague silhouette in the rain, feeling a little worried.

This raid on the village was just the beginning; the whole affair was not that simple.

–

This was a major case, bypassing the county-level units to be filed and investigated directly at the municipal authorities.

The investigation targeted not only Lihua Village but also the relevant town, district, and county units that Lihua Village was subordinate to.

If this situation existed in Lihua Village, what about the other neighboring villages and towns?

This was not something that could be investigated and concluded in a short time.

But at least their direct mission this time was completed: to find the abducted Luo Zhihan for that couple.

It was said that when the Armed Police burst into the home of the family who had bought the child, the whole family was gathered around the child’s brand-new rocking car, their faces full of blissful smiles. When strangers kicked the door in, their first reaction was actually to protect the child.

When they learned that the child’s biological parents had come looking for him, they even shouted angrily at them: “Since you can give birth, just have a few more. Why do you have to fight with us for this one? Our family spent so much money, so much money!”

Could human nature really be so twisted?

Yes.

Among the children rescued this time, there was one who stomped his feet demanding his “mommy,” punching and kicking the Armed Police.

There were also two women who were rather special.

One was a woman who had been abducted over forty years ago. She now had children and grandchildren here and had become numb to life. She was very young when she was abducted and was raised as a child bride, so she had no memory of her biological parents at all. Her entire understanding of the world was confined to this village.

Now, even though she was nominally rescued, her soul remained imprisoned. If she left this village, she would have no idea where to go.

There was another woman who had been here for over twenty years.

Even more cruelly, she was about to give birth when she was abducted. She delivered the baby on the way while being transferred, and the traffickers sold her and her child separately.

The first thing she did upon being rescued was to beg the police to help her find her child.

So she was brought before Qin Qing to help her find out where her child had gone.