Chapter 2: Bandits’ Attack
"Father! Mother!" The young woman reached out to her parents and struggled to break away from the bandit's arms but was slapped by the robber sitting behind her.
He grabbed the woman's chest wantonly and licked her neck as his hot and foul breath enveloped her when he said, "Little slut, be obedient. Otherwise, I will do you in front of your parents' corpses!"
The young woman was so frightened by the bandits' actions and words that she could only tremble all over and cried in silence. Besides her, most of the young women in the village suffered the same fate. They were either caught by bandits or died protecting their innocence while the men were being killed.
Amidst the panicked screams and the sound of horse hooves, Duan Yixin felt a headache that made her ears ring. She groaned and slowly opened her eyes, only to see raging fire destroying the houses made of straw and wood.
She felt dizzy and confused when she saw people running for their lives as if devils chased them. Before she could sort out her chaotic thoughts, someone grabbed her arm and pulled her up from the ground forcefully.
"Xin Xin, get up! Hurry up!"
She looked at the young woman who grabbed her arm while dragging her as the two of them ran towards the mountain. Duan Yixin became even more confused when she saw the frail young woman in front of her desperately run and turn around in panic from time to time.
More than an hour later, the two of them were hiding under a bush in the mountain foothills, breathing heavily. The young woman looked at Duan Yixin, saw the blood on the back of her head, and exclaimed in horror, "Xin Xin, you are bleeding!"
Duan Yixin reached out and touched the back of her head. When her fingers touched the sticky spot on her hair, she hissed in pain. Seeing her painful expression, the young woman panicked and asked anxiously, "Xin Xin, are you alright? Can you hold on for a while? We must hide here and wait until the bandits leave our village before we can go home."