Chapter 530: Saving People (5)
"Who... who are you?"
It took a long moment for the village chief to find his voice.
Where were his men?
Where were the most capable young men in their village?
Staring at the strikingly handsome man before him, a man who terrified him to his very core, the village chief’s heart sank until it hit rock bottom.
For the past few days, the village chief had an indescribable sense of foreboding. This feeling had manifested as irritability, but he’d assumed it was just because his son’s wedding was finally approaching.
The strangers who appeared two days ago had put him on high alert, but thankfully, they left without finding anything.
Even though they were gone, his cautious nature had led him to order the village’s young men to start vigilant patrols.
When Su Li and her group first entered, he sensed something was wrong and had gestured for his men to be on guard.
By all rights, the two young men who had come over for the meal should have seen his signal. Then, their backup should have come to rescue them.
It was impossible for the entire village to be trapped here. When he heard the familiar sound of gunshots from the doorway just now, he thought they were finally being saved.
But the one who opened the door and walked in was not one of their young men.
The village chief stared at the man before him, his eyes frantically searching for a familiar face among his lads.
"How could this happen? I asked who you are! Where are our village’s young men? Where did they go?"
The village chief shrieked, but the newcomer was completely unaffected, walking unhurriedly through the door.
"Wu Sheng."
While the village chief was aghast, Su Li and the others let out a huge sigh of relief, because this person was none other than Wu Sheng.
Wu Sheng had come with Su Li and her team, but he had gone on ahead before they entered the mountains.
In his own words, "You guys are too slow. I’ll go in first and scout the path."
Previously, Wu Sheng and Tang Yuanxiao had helped capture suspects, and their ability to genuinely take on a hundred men at once had been a real eye-opener for the captain and his team. So, whatever Wu Sheng said, went.
Wu Sheng said he’d go first, and then he vanished without a trace.
No matter how much Su Li and her team hurried, they couldn’t possibly keep up with Wu Sheng.
Su Li had witnessed Wu Sheng’s ghost-like stealth skills back when she was herding cattle in Xinghua Village. So, after reminding him not to be reckless and to prioritize his safety, she had let him go on ahead.
Wu Sheng’s speed was no joke. While Su Li’s team was still on their way, he had already taken a shortcut and arrived at Taoyuan Village with maximum haste.
After arriving, he began his observation, infiltration, and investigation.
No matter how vigilant the people of Taoyuan Village were, with patrols day and night, it made no difference to Wu Sheng.
The young men the village chief was counting on, the ones he hoped would turn the tables—Taoyuan Village’s youth patrol—had already been taken out by Wu Sheng in one fell swoop.
Now that Wu Sheng had confirmed there was no longer any threat, he revealed himself.
Seeing Su Li’s look of pleasant surprise, a rare smile finally broke through his stern expression.
"Are you hurt?"
He was wearing a simple camouflage suit, his face covered in familiar black paint. Seeing his familiar appearance, Su Li shook her head, filled with emotion.
"I’m not hurt." ’Just scared half to death,’ she thought.
Wu Sheng looked at Su Li’s still-pale face. "You were scared, weren’t you?"
He picked up Little Tang Mo, whom Su Li was protectively holding, and pulled Su Li to her feet.
Su Li looked at the familiar blackened face before her, flooded with memories and countless emotions.
"You... you just unilaterally steamrolled them, didn’t you?"
’A moment of silence for those young men. Compared to being arrested by the police, being targeted by Wu Sheng was their true hell on earth.’
Wu Sheng replied with a straight face, "What are you talking about?"
"Where are our young men? Lai Wang? Laibao?"
After Wu Sheng appeared, the captain and his men breathed a sigh of relief and immediately got back to their positions.
Held by the police, the village chief shouted defiantly, calling for his village’s young men.
But... it was useless.
There was no response at all.
"What... what did you do to Lai Wang and the others?"
The village chief roared at Wu Sheng, "And who are you? Who the hell are you people? Why are you arresting us?!"
"Stay put! You still have the nerve to shout? You’re suspected of human trafficking. All of you, hold still and don’t move."
The captain looked at the village chief, thoroughly annoyed and sick of the sight of him.
He pointed his gun at the villagers in the courtyard, who had been stirring restlessly. "Stay down! All of you, stay down."
The villagers obediently squatted back down, but their faces showed no signs of remorse—only a faintly visible defiance.
"What human trafficking? We don’t know what you’re talking about. If you mean my son’s new wife, we paid a hefty bride price for her. Her mother promised her to us."
The village chief denied it without hesitation. Hearing this, Miao Zhi suddenly exploded.
"Pah! Bride price my ass! You’re human traffickers! I’m not even dead yet and you’re already spewing nonsense! Pah!"
Miao Zhi, who had been trembling this whole time, rushed over to the restrained village chief and began to beat him, kicking and punching, trying to vent all her fury.
"I’m a university student from the Imperial City! You think I’d marry into a place like this? You must be dreaming! Pah! Bride price, my foot! You depraved monsters! Your whole village can go to hell!"
After beating and cursing the village chief, Miao Zhi grabbed the nearest object and hurled it toward the crowd of villagers.
"You... you’re all accomplices! You’re all human traffickers! You all deserve to die! Just you wait! Wait for your death sentences, wait to rot in prison!"
Miao Zhi gasped for breath, her gaze sweeping over the squatting people in the courtyard with waves of hatred.
"Miao Zhi..." As the only other woman there, Su Li hurried forward and wrapped her arms around Miao Zhi’s shoulders.
Hearing Su Li’s voice, Miao Zhi turned and buried her face in Su Li’s shoulder, struggling to calm herself as she panted.
"Su Li, this whole village is full of monsters. Every single one of them knew I was trafficked. They bought us like we were livestock. I tried to escape twice, but they wouldn’t let me."
"They’re not human. They’re a village of animals. Even the three- and four-year-old children are little beasts!"
The world Miao Zhi had lived in before was too simple. As a child, she cried over snacks or trivial family matters. Later, her life was about studying and school, and the worst of her sorrows were minor squabbles between friends.
Her world had been filled with friendship, family, and love. The most evil person she had ever encountered in her life was Mrs. Tang, who would abuse Little Tang Mo. The worst criminal she had ever known was a common thief.
She knew human traffickers existed, but she had never truly comprehended the bloody reality behind their crimes, never knew that human nature could be so utterly ugly.
And she never knew... that a group of people like this could exist in the world—people who looked so normal, kind, and simple, but were in fact so twisted.
They were the most hardworking, with the most rustic faces, seemingly without a shred of menace. But they were human traffickers.
And every single one of them was a trafficker.
The entire village was directly or indirectly involved in human trafficking, yet they didn’t see it as a crime.
Men and women, old and young, from eighty-year-olds down to three-year-old toddlers, all treated her as an object as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
An object that had been purchased for a huge sum of money, an object that could not be lost. The entire village helped to watch over her, to guard her.
In just half a month, Miao Zhi had witnessed the greatest evil in the world.