Chapter 224: Enemies Hiding in the Dark
Hearing that sound, Ning Xiyue felt a bad premonition.
Lao San glanced at Hong Gu, who was cleaning the children’s filth. “You go out and get Sister Qian, bring the knockout powder and feed them. Then we won’t have to fuss later — once the contacts arrive, we go.”
“Okay.”
Hong Gu obediently left to fetch the sedatives, hurrying without pausing; to Ning Xiyue she even seemed a little eager to leave. When Hong Gu glanced toward the stone door, fear flashed in her eyes.
As soon as Hong Gu walked away, Lao San pressed a small dent in the door and then pushed another raised spot in the left wall. With a boom the stone door swung open.
Lao San stepped inside and the door slammed shut.
Only then did Ning Xiyue identify the source of that strange noise. She widened her eyes, stunned at what she saw.
Good heavens.
What was inside!
There were six girls of about fifteen or sixteen, and two pregnant women. One of the pregnant women looked as young as fourteen, the other looked over forty.
The sound she’d heard was one of the younger pregnant women in labor; the older woman was assisting the birth.
Everyone else lay on the beds with numb, vacant expressions.
When Lao San appeared their eyes showed a flicker of change — a buried hatred — but they immediately looked away, unwilling to let him notice.
A short, sleazy little man came out from the back, hitching up his pants. Seeing Lao San, he grinned: “Oh, Lao San — you want some action today too?”
Lao San glared at him like iron. “Old Mao, you better watch it. If anything happens to any of the kids in these bellies, you’ll answer to the boss.”
“Relax, relax. I know what I’m doing — nothing’ll go wrong,” the man said carelessly.
Lao San focused on the woman in labor and stayed to guard her delivery.
The woman had been pushing for some time; the baby’s head was already visible. A cry rang out — the baby was born.
Lao San, seeing it was a boy, smiled. “Good. That’s settled then. Old Mao, this afternoon take the kid and deliver him — we’ll make a fortune this time.”
“Flower Sister, you’ve done well this round,” Lao San said, slapping the middle-aged woman’s shoulder with delight.
The middle-aged woman’s eyes held a deep, buried hatred, hidden under her eyelids. She said nothing and silently cared for the new mother.
Lao San and Old Mao paid her no mind and continued chatting.
After listening a moment, Ning Xiyue finally understood the full horror of this stone room.
These depraved traffickers didn’t merely kidnap girls to sell them into the mountains — they forced the girls to bear children and then sold the babies.
The two pregnant women were a mother and daughter. Shockingly, the older woman — the middle-aged one — used to be part of the trafficking crew. Later she discovered her own daughter had been abducted and even become pregnant. In a fit of madness she made a mistake, was punished by the traffickers, and was forced into servitude here as a warning to others.
That explained why Hong Gu had looked terrified — maybe she feared ending up like that middle-aged woman.
Ning Xiyue felt no sympathy for that woman; she only pitied the innocent daughter. This was karmic justice in a twisted way — evil deeds returning upon their doers’ children. But the root of all evil here was the traffickers.
After looking over the girls, Lao San went deeper into the stone chamber, where there was a clean room with a long desk.
On the desk sat a telegraph (a machine for sending coded messages).
Wait — what were those books on the table written in?
Damn — Japanese characters. Were these traitors secretly making money for a foreign power? Or enemy agents hiding among the people?
Either way, they couldn’t be spared.
Lao San handled the telegraph like he was used to it, so he must use it often.
Ning Xiyue was livid. The children and girls were very likely being sent out of the country.
Whatever Lao San’s true identity, he certainly had enemies (i.e., hostile connections) behind him. This organization’s network was vast and deeply hidden — the waters were deep with big fish. They had to be extremely careful and must catch everyone at once without alerting them.
Ning Xiyue wrote down every important detail, sorted out the relationships in her head, and, thread by thread, mapped what she’d seen into a mind map.
If this case was handled well, it could make society far safer. There could be no mistakes.
She drafted a report she could show Comrade Li and the others. Just as she finished writing, her brother arrived, breathless and accompanied by Comrade Li.
“Sis, are you okay?” Ning Qingyuan kept checking her over before he finally let go.
“I’m fine,” Ning Xiyue shook her head, then looked at Comrade Li, whose expression was grave. “Comrade Li, how many people did you bring?”
“Xiyue, most of our county Armed Forces Department came. They’re already hidden around the area. Don’t worry. Tell me again, from the very beginning — as detailed as possible. I need more information to analyze. We can’t miss a single point.”
“All right.”
Ning Xiyue highlighted the key points and started to tell him everything.
