Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Inside the water vat sat a tall man. His hands were bound, and his mouth was sealed with tape. Half of his body was submerged in a pool of murky green water that emitted a putrid stench.

I covered my nose and walked over to rip the tape off his mouth.

“Brother Da, how did you run into Boss Hou?”

Brother Da let out a long, heavy breath and used his hands to brace himself against the walls of the vat as he stood up. He scanned his surroundings, and when he saw the battered and disheveled Liu Xiong, he was struck with shock.

“Boss, run! These people are human traffickers!”

Liu Xiong replied dryly, “I really appreciate the heads-up.”

Brother Da was Liu Xiong’s bodyguard. Before we entered the mountains, they were supposed to stay in the small town outside to serve as our backup. I had no idea why he had appeared in this tiny village even earlier than we had.

“Damn it! You stinking bitch, I told you not to lift that lid! I told you not to lift it! Do you not understand human speech?”

Xiao Hou was throwing a fit nearby. He rushed over to hit me, but since he was short and small, I sent him flying with a single kick to the chest the moment he reached me.

He collapsed on the ground clutching his heart, staring at me with venomous eyes. He tried to scramble up to charge again, but Boss Hou stopped him.

“Son, forget it. Don’t be stubborn with her.”

Boss Hou was clearly wary of me. He pulled Xiao Hou to his feet and spoke a string of unintelligible words in the local dialect to the surrounding elderly men and women. The crowd dispersed, and a moment later, an old man returned carrying a tray piled high with snowy white steamed buns.

Boss Hou pointed at the tray.

“This is your breakfast. Once you’ve eaten, get out to the fields and work.”

“Master Qiao, I know you’re capable. However, don’t even think about running. You can’t get out of this village. If you cooperate, they’ll suffer less.”

Boss Hou put the lid back on the water vat, placed the tray on top of it, and then led the elderly villagers away. He didn’t even spare us a second glance.

Once they were gone, Brother Da breathed a sigh of relief and explained what had happened. He had been catching up to deliver something to Liu Xiong, but he hadn’t expected to be tapped a few times by an old man and pass out. When he woke up, he was already in this village.

He tried to run as soon as he woke, but no matter how he ran or which way he turned, he always ended up back in the village. He had exhausted himself escaping and, with a belly full of rage and nowhere to vent it, he had grabbed an old man and threatened him to lead the way out.

Who would have thought that everyone here seemed to carry knockout drugs on them? He had been drugged unconscious several times, eventually ending up tied up and tossed into the water vat.