Xiao Jiu twitched her lips speechlessly: "Alright, stop pretending. Aren't you guys being hypocritical?"

"Hypocritical? If you're so hypocritical, why don't you run away? All your classmates have run away, why don't you? Aren't you afraid of us?"

But your daughter is quite calm, much better than the ones we tied up before who cried and made a fuss.

If you cooperate, we won't let you down. Go up there, cover yourself, close your eyes and get some sleep; good days are coming.

Long after they started targeting her, Xiao Jiu had already moved all the valuables from her luggage into her spatial storage.

She also regretted not informing her family in time when she came back this time. However, she was more curious about how these people were so bold as to do this in broad daylight and no one cared. It wasn't until she got on the bus and smelled a certain medicinal scent on the quilt that she understood why these people were so confident.

They started rummaging through her luggage right in front of her. Of course, they couldn't find any money, and they even gave her a lewd look from head to toe.

It seems they planned to search her body after she fell asleep.

"Stop looking, I'm just a poor student, I have no money left after buying the train ticket,"

They kept reminding her to pull the blanket up to keep warm, and Xiaojiu did as she was told, but she held her breath. It was dark and they couldn't see clearly, so she would take a deep breath every now and then when they weren't looking.

Then, feigning drowsiness, he gradually fell into a deep sleep as the road bumped along.

"Big sister, this brat is asleep, shall we leave tonight?"

"Where are you going? That brat dared to stab me! My hand still hurts!"

Old Xu and I are going to the clinic to get our wounds bandaged up in a bit. We'll go to Xiao Cao's house tonight, and then take a bus to Luoshi first thing tomorrow morning; everyone's waiting there!

"If I hadn't overheard on the bus that this girl was already in high school at a young age, I wouldn't have gone through all this trouble, involved so many people, spent so much money, and contacted you all to abduct this little bitch!"

It's fortunate that we scared her classmate away, otherwise there would have been a lot of trouble. I wonder if Shunzi and her friend caught up with him yet!

They were definitely not locals. Judging from what they said, they must have a base in Los Angeles. She must have found her at the Los Angeles bus station, identified her as a target, and quickly made arrangements.

This woman is a repeat offender, and judging from what she said, she even has connections in various counties. She has quite a few gangs; no wonder she can be so bold.

The surrounding counties of Los Angeles have mountains and rivers. Where there are mountains, there is trade. Wasn't Cao Amei sold to the deep mountains by her brother back then?

Since she was able to run back on her own, it proves that she's not too far from here, and these people are all speaking the local dialect.

Xiao Jiu suddenly got excited when she heard this. She had lived a routine life for so many years and had never experienced anything as exciting as today!

If she could help wipe out this gang, how many children would be less likely to be abducted later on!

Fortunately, she was still young, so they wouldn't be so heartless as to bully her.

If it's broken, it won't fetch a good price, so she fell asleep with a clear conscience.

Zheng Yuan ran fast, and even if someone chased him, he wasn't afraid because he was young and strong, and his legs were longer than theirs.

They led him along, but seeing that he was heading towards the police station, they dared not follow any further, fearing that they might not catch up with him and instead get caught themselves.

When Zheng Yuan ran in, panting, to report the case, he was dumbfounded when asked about Xiao Jiu's home address and her parents' workplaces.

"This girl didn't tell me any of this, oh dear, what should I do?"

When giving his statement, Zheng Yuan's brows were furrowed into a deep frown.

"I'm pretty sure it was a gang crime. There were two people following me when I ran out. Maybe they stopped following me because they saw me coming to report the crime."

This gang is very experienced. They start by slapping you, and while you're stunned, they begin to hurl insults, trying to establish connections, accusing you of crimes, and even using emotional manipulation by having people hiding in the crowd create a lively atmosphere and emphasize their status. They then resort to moral blackmail, emphasizing the hardships of parents and highlighting how difficult their daughter is to manage, leaving you with no way to defend yourself.

Zheng Yuan has an excellent memory and immediately reconstructed the scene roughly. As he described it in detail, the police officer's expression changed slightly.

"You said your junior sister has a particularly good mental fortitude, showing no fear, panic, anxiety, or crying at all? Did you personally witness her being taken away?"

"Yeah, actually, if the two of us team up to fight back, with so many people around, we might not be unable to escape. But, I saw two of them pull out knives and threaten me. To be honest, I'm a little scared. After all, I was just admitted to university through a special program. My parents raised me with great difficulty, and I don't want to ruin my future because of a little girl. Although I didn't see her being taken away, she's definitely in grave danger. You guys should send people to look for her right away!"

"It's already dark, where are we going to look for her? You make it sound so easy. You're a grown man, how could you just leave your junior sister behind and run off like this? If her parents knew, they'd be worried sick! You asked for her home address, and you don't know anything about it. So tell me, what do you mean?"

"Comrade, you're wrong about that. If that's the case, then all those people at the scene are accomplices, right? I just made sure I was safe first. Once I'm safe, can't I ask you to catch the bad guys? If we both get caught, who will call the police?"

"Also, I think you can't just sit here and ask me 'where to find her'. You need to use your expertise. Although I don't know her exact home address or where her parents work, I know her name and that she graduated from the county's top high school. She got into the top high school in the county, so the school must have her information. Finding her home based on the school's information shouldn't be difficult, right?"

Originally, he wanted to take a break, but in the end, he had no choice but to go directly to the principal's house at No. 1 Middle School under Zheng Yuan's urging.

Although Zheng Yuan didn't have the courage to fight against human traffickers, he worked until late at night, under the premise of ensuring safety, and finally found out Tao Tao's home address and where her parents worked.

When Tao Changyi and Zhao Lingli arrived at the factory director's office after receiving the news and heard that their little girl had been abducted by human traffickers, they were immediately terrified.

Zhao Lingli, struggling to suppress the dizziness and throbbing in her head, asked in a trembling voice, "I'm collapsing."

"Where are they? What do they look like? Are they locals? How many people are in their gang? When you talked to them, did they mention where they were going?"

Tao Changyi, with a calm and collected expression, grabbed Zheng Yuan's arm and said, "Young man, think about it carefully again. What are the characteristics of that group of people? What kind of accent do they have? Do they sound like they're doing business locally? This is very important. If they're not local, they'll definitely leave. It's late tonight, and if they don't have any other means of transportation, they'll definitely take the earliest bus tomorrow morning!"

Zheng Yuan deeply admired the parents' quick thinking; it was far more effective than the two bystanders who were just there to observe.

Zheng Yuan was very disappointed with the staff who cooperated with his investigation today, saying that they didn't know how to cherish children who weren't his own.

It's one thing to be unhelpful, but even the most basic questions require the family members to bring them up themselves. It's truly... utterly speechless!