Chapter 144 Entering the Human Traffickers' Hidden Stronghold

Ning Jinli waved her hand, "No, it's just that my internal energy was used up too much."

Due to the upgrades and changes to the spacetime channels, and the fact that she can now open new spacetime portals on her own, she now consumes a lot of internal energy every time she opens a new channel.

She had already opened one near Xiumei's thatched hut today, and now she's opening another one, making her feel like her body has been completely drained.

"Come on, follow me." Ning Jinli took a breath and pulled Xiumei's hand toward the wall.

Xiumei looked bewildered. "That's a wall! How do we get there?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Ning Jinli grabbed her and dragged her straight towards the wall.

Xiumei didn't have time to react and was so frightened that she tightly closed her eyes.

However, as soon as she closed her eyes, she heard Ning Jinli say that they had arrived at their destination, and she did not feel that she had bumped into the wall.

She slowly opened her eyes, her expression instantly becoming blank.

Just a moment ago I was in a death row cell, but now... how did the surroundings turn into a cave?

"Sister Xiumei, this place is called Medicine King Valley." Ning Jinli took her hand and led her out of the cave.

The dazzling sunlight made Xiu Mei squint, and the dizziness and unfamiliar surroundings made her feel extremely unreal.

“Your husband is receiving treatment here,” Ning Jinli said. “You should stay here with him for now and don’t worry about anything.”

Ning Jinli then planned to have the people from Medicine King Valley take Xiumei to settle down.

“Miss Ning…” Xiumei asked cautiously, her face full of astonishment, “You said you’re not a deity, but… how did you manage to bring me out of the prison cell in an instant? Isn’t that a deity’s magic?”

"Well," Ning Jinli scratched her head, "you can just think of it as a special ability I have, it has nothing to do with magic or divine powers."

Xiumei thought for a moment and said, "Then, Miss Ning, can you also rescue the other people who are imprisoned?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Xiumei shook her head again, "No, no, they are different from me. My family has been destroyed. If you bring them all out like this, the officials will not let their families go..."

Ning Jinli's mind raced, and she instantly came up with a good way to avoid the problem. She told Xiumei that she had an idea that would make the county government willingly release the person.

Soon, Ning Jinli returned to the county jail through the time-space portal.

Before that, she first used the portal in the Medicine King Valley cave to transfer the passage to the factory warehouse and went back to the modern world to get some tools.

On the other side.

Inside the brokerage shop, several burly men lay sprawled on the floor, too exhausted to even get up.

The plump proprietress was so frightened that she hid behind the counter.

She simply couldn't believe that her group of strong thugs couldn't even hurt a hair on this young man's head, and were instead beaten so badly they were completely helpless.

Xiao Qidi walked to the counter and tapped on the table. "Come out."

The plump proprietress slowly peeked out, forcing a smile that looked more like a grimace. "I...I really don't have any four- or five-year-old children here. I...I don't know where I can buy them. Maybe...you could try asking somewhere else?"

Xiao Qidi said quietly, "You said this is the only brokerage firm in the area, but even you can't find out about it. Where am I supposed to ask?"

"This...how should I know!" The plump proprietress trembled as she took out some silver from the counter, her voice trembling with tears. "I guess I'm just unlucky today. I'll compensate you, okay? Please, just leave."

Just now, the plump proprietress was thinking of keeping him here to serve her, but now she can't wait to get rid of this plague.

Xiao Qidi didn't even look at the silver she presented, and slapped his hand on the counter.

Bang!

The sturdy wooden counter shattered and collapsed with a crash.

The plump proprietress was completely terrified.

Xiao Qidi stared at her and warned in a deep voice, "If you don't tell me, I don't mind tearing your shop down."

Seeing that the plump proprietress was still in a daze, Xiao Qidi stepped towards the shelf in the front hall where some exquisite decorations were displayed.

"I'll talk, I'll talk!" The plump proprietress came to her senses and knelt down with a thud, pleading, "I'll tell you everything, please have mercy and don't hit me."

"Wouldn't it have been better if we had done this earlier?" Xiao Qidi carried a chair and sat down in front of the plump proprietress.

The plump proprietress looked conflicted. After a moment's hesitation, she mustered her courage and whispered, "The human traffickers... probably... have children in their hands."

Xiao Qidi asked, "Then, where did you find the human traffickers?"

The plump proprietress gritted her teeth, as if she had made a great decision, and said, "I can tell you some inside information, but you... you absolutely cannot tell anyone that you heard it from me."

Xiao Qidi nodded. "Tell me about it."

The plump proprietress struggled to her feet, leaned close to Xiao Qidi's ear, and cautiously said, "We have a human trafficking gang here, but they don't do business locally. They only bring people in from here and then sell them to other places. I don't think... you're looking to buy a child, are you? You're probably looking for a specific child, right?"

Xiao Qidi nodded again.

"Sigh..." The plump proprietress sighed and said, "If the child you're looking for has fallen into their hands, then I advise you to give up. You'll be lucky if you don't find your child, but if you fall into their hands, you'll be in trouble too."

Xiao Qidi revealed a cold smile, "Didn't you see my skills just now?"

"Oh dear, what good are your skills?" The plump proprietress shook her head repeatedly. "Even if you're a great fighter, would you dare to go against the government?"

Xiao Qidi's eyes widened in shock. "What do you mean? Are government officials acting as human traffickers?!"

The plump proprietress lowered her voice even further and said, "No, the government officials don't get involved directly. There are always people here who can't pay their taxes and have to give their wives and children as collateral. The officials then hand these women and children over to human traffickers to sell. Moreover, unsuspecting outsiders often come here and are squeezed dry by the officials under various pretexts. If they're lucky, they lose money to avoid trouble; if they're unlucky, not only do they lose their money, but they're also arrested by the officials and thrown back to human traffickers."

Upon hearing these words, Xiao Qidi's face darkened.

The hand resting on the armrest of the chair unconsciously clenched.

With a crack, the armrest was crushed into powder.

"My sandalwood chair..." The plump proprietress was on the verge of tears, patting her chest with heartache.

Xiao Qidi slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, "Tell me, how do I find the human traffickers?"

"I've already told you the inside story, but...you still won't give up?" the plump proprietress said with a worried look. "Besides, I don't even know how to find them..."

Xiao Qidi shot him a dagger-like glare.

The overwhelming murderous aura and intimidating presence nearly made the plump proprietress wet herself.

“Calm down… calm down,” the plump proprietress said, trembling. “I can’t find them, but… I can get them to come to me.”

Xiao Qidi continued to exert pressure with his eyes.

The plump proprietress said hesitantly, "Sometimes... I... occasionally I have people who want to sell themselves but can't find buyers, so I... I have no choice but to hand them over to human traffickers... As long as I hang something outside the shop, those human traffickers' henchmen will come over."

"I see," Xiao Qidi narrowed his eyes, "Then why don't you hurry up and hang it up?"

The plump proprietress looked troubled. "But the people I have now are all of good standing, and it won't be hard to find buyers. If... if I hand them over to human traffickers, it would be such a waste. If they come to me but I can't hand them over, then I'm doomed."

Xiao Qidi's expression was cold and stern, his thin lips slightly moving, "Isn't there one right in front of you?"

"Huh? Where?" The plump proprietress turned her head and looked around.

Xiao Qidi pointed to himself, "That's me."

The plump proprietress paused for a moment, then chuckled awkwardly, "With your looks and build, they probably don't believe I can't find you another job..."

Xiao Qidi said calmly, "Then I'll have to rely on you to help me gain their trust."

The plump proprietress had no choice but to agree.

She then quickly tidied up the shop, took out an inconspicuous little pendant from the cabinet, and hung it below the signboard at the entrance, propped up by a bamboo pole.

It was getting late, and the sun soon set.

Just as the lanterns were hung up on the street, a thin man with a weasel-like face entered the shop.

The plump proprietress greeted them with a big smile, "Oh, you've finally arrived!"

Without any pleasantries, the other party asked directly where the person was.

“That’s him.” The plump proprietress pointed to Xiao Qidi standing to the side.

Sure enough, just as she had said at the beginning, the thin man immediately looked suspicious and said while scrutinizing Xiao Qidi, "Such good stuff, can't find a buyer? Impossible!"

The plump proprietress was putting on quite an act, putting on a look of heartache and regret, clutching her chest and sighing, "Alas, it's not that I can't find him. After this kid came to me and signed a contract to sell himself into servitude, he was immediately spotted by a customer who wanted to buy him as a servant. But what happened? Less than half a day after I took him home, he came back to me with a bruised and swollen face, demanding a refund and compensation!"

"Huh? What's going on?" The thin man looked surprised.

The plump proprietress poked Xiao Qidi's forehead. "This kid's got a screw loose! He's a complete idiot. He's already sold himself into slavery, yet he won't obey his master! The master wants to teach him a lesson, but hey! He actually dares to fight with someone!"

The thin man laughed and said, "If the servant is disobedient, just beat him to death."

The plump proprietress shook her head and said, "Didn't you see how big this kid is? Four or five strong men wouldn't be a match for him. Besides, people buy a servant; they've already paid for it. Wouldn't it be a waste to kill him?"

The thin man kept scanning Xiao Qidi and nodded. "Hmm... he has a good build. I've never seen anyone so tall before, and he looks very sturdy."

The plump proprietress feigned extreme grievance, "I've already sold him three times, and each time he's returned. Every time he's returned, I not only have to return the money but also compensate the original owner. How am I supposed to do business like this?"

"Hahaha!" the skinny man laughed. "You've got yourself a hot potato. In that case, give it to me."

"Okay, okay, take him away quickly!" the plump proprietress said hastily.

The skinny man said, "Same as always, I'll pay you after I've done it."

The plump proprietress waved her hand, "I'm already thanking my lucky stars that you want this kind of goods. This time, you don't need to pay."

"Alright, then I'll take it with me." The thin man said, taking out a rope and approaching Xiao Qidi with some wariness.

The plump proprietress hurriedly said, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. Didn't I tell you? This kid is stupid. As long as you tell him to leave, he will go with you. He's very well-behaved when he's not working."

"What an idiot! I thought you were the only one cursing him like that." The skinny man breathed a slight sigh of relief, then said to Xiao Qidi, "Hey, you're coming with me later, okay?"

Xiao Qidi maintained a blank expression and nodded woodenly.

As soon as the thin man took a step, Xiao Qidi followed.

The two walked one after the other into the dark alley next door.

A horse-drawn carriage was parked in the alley.

Three burly men got off the carriage and immediately asked the thin man why he hadn't tied the man up.

The thin man explained the situation to them and then let Xiao Qidi into the carriage.

Xiao Qidi complied, but just as he lowered his head to crawl inside, a burly man suddenly pulled out a stick and struck him on the back of the neck.

Bang!

Xiao Qidi fell to the ground with a thud.

Then, the three of them quickly tied him up, put a sack over his head, and together lifted him into the carriage.

Once the carriage started moving, Xiao Qi quietly opened his eyes.

That blow wasn't enough to knock him unconscious; he was just cooperating on purpose.

The carriage started moving and bumped along for about half an hour before coming to a stop.

Throughout the journey, the burly man and the thin man in the carriage did not exchange any words, so Xiao Qidi was unable to hear any useful information and could only continue to wait for the right opportunity.

Then, the three strong men lifted Xiao Qidi off the carriage, tied him to a large tree trunk, and then pulled the sack off his head.

Xiao Qidi quietly opened his eyes a crack to observe the surrounding situation.

What came into view was a courtyard, and several men were tied up in the courtyard.

Candlelight was lit in the house next door, and the faint sounds of women and children crying could be heard.

It seems we've reached the human traffickers' hidden hideout.

Xiao Qidi focused his attention and strained his ears to try and hear Xiumei's daughter's voice, but the crying sounds were all similar and he couldn't tell them apart.

However, I overheard a few human traffickers talking about it.

“The previous batch of men have all been trained to behave, and their tongues have been cut off and their faces disfigured, so they can be safely taken to other places to be sold. But this new one is not so easy to deal with.”

"Hmm... This is a bit tricky. He's an idiot, so he's harder to train. But if we don't train him, according to the fat landlady's description, he's simply not fit to be a slave."

"Tsk, what a waste of that kid's physique. Otherwise, he could have been taught a lesson and sold for a good price."

"That's right, and he's quite handsome. If he weren't a idiot who could hit people, he could probably be sold to those male-obsessed customers for an even higher price just by cutting off his tongue."

"What should we do then? Send it back again?"

The human traffickers remained silent for a short while.

Then one of them spoke up: "We've already brought them all, and the proprietress doesn't even want us to pay, so let's not waste them. We can sell them to the butcher shop on the way back. They're such big and sturdy, they can yield a lot of meat."

Someone asked, "Should we go kill him now? I'm afraid that idiot might go crazy halfway there, and we won't be able to control him."

The person who made the decision said, "If we slaughter him now, the meat won't be fresh, and how will the butcher shop sell it as livestock meat? Just break his arms and legs. Let's get started. We should leave first thing tomorrow morning."

After the traffickers finished their conversation, Xiao Qidi saw several burly men walk out of the house, pick up thick wooden sticks, and head straight for him...