Chapter 331 Collective
This conclusion surprised not only Gao Min, but even Wu Muhong: "How could this be?"
“You were there last night, so you should have seen the true face of that river. I can tell you definitively that the white shadows you saw by the river, your sister turning into that inhuman and ghostly form, and the rumors you just heard about how sinking a girl will result in giving birth to a boy, all stem from a giant magic array that was set up above Linjia Village to feed on negative human emotions.”
"The person who set up the formation exploited the local people's preference for sons, their desperate desire for children, and their selfishness, deliberately raising a man-eating monster. So the question is, in your opinion, is the person who set up this formation a god or a demon?"
Wu Muhong was stunned by this sudden truth and it took her a while to react. She hugged her arms and trembled.
"It's a demon! He must be a demon, a hideous demon!"
Ye Wanxi smiled slightly, not surprised by the answer.
"Since it's a demon, have you ever seen a demon make a deal with people, only picking up things that others would otherwise discard?"
Wu Muhong's face turned pale, and she shook her head, saying, "No, what they want is definitely someone else's most precious thing."
"What do you think is the most important and precious thing for the people of Linjia Village?"
"Son, they want a son, to carry on the family line and continue the ancestral worship."
Upon hearing this, Gao Min couldn't help but purse her lips and muttered under her breath, "Continuing the family line, huh? If you didn't know better, you'd think every family had a throne to inherit."
Ye Wanxi couldn't help but glance at her, a half-smile on her face, and said, "In that case, what could be more despairing than making them childless?"
Nothing is more despairing than giving hope only to take it away; this most fatal despair is precisely the final step of the magic circle.
Unfortunately, the people of Linjia Village seem a bit slow to grasp this.
After listening to Ye Wanxi's words, Wu Muhong thought back carefully and realized that several of the women who were sold here around the same time as her had indeed been pregnant.
She had been pregnant a few years ago, but at that time she hated this place and hated the man who made her lose her self-esteem and everything.
She herself did not want to stay here, and she did not want her child to be born into such a family and bear the sins that should not be placed on him.
So she plotted to have that alcoholic beat her during her pregnancy.
With her child gone, she became a living corpse, constantly thinking about how to die together with that drunkard and end her miserable and sinful life.
However, it seems that some of the women who were sold to the village in the past two or three years have not been able to conceive.
People in the village get married young. If they stop going to school and their elders are eager to have grandchildren, their families will arrange weddings for them even before they are fully grown up.
So in the past two or three years, some young people, namely the boys Ye Wanxi just mentioned, who were born after the magic array was set up, have already gotten married.
And none of these people made a move.
In Linjia Village, it's a big deal if a couple doesn't have children after two or three years of marriage. For example, when Wu Muhong first arrived in the village, she was very resistant and it wasn't until the fourth year that she got pregnant. She was even mocked by a group of old hags as a hen that doesn't lay eggs.
These girls had similar experiences to her. In such an environment, no one ever thought that it was the men in their village who couldn't have children. They only thought that these girls who were sold might have some kind of physical illness that prevented them from having children.
"You're crazy! If you can't have a child, why don't you go to the hospital for a checkup instead of blaming the woman? Don't you realize there are plenty of men like that in this world?"
“Puff…”
Gao Min, realizing from Ye Wanxi's smile that she might have inadvertently uttered something inappropriate, retorted angrily, "What, did I say something wrong?"
"That's right, Sister Gao is right. There are indeed many men in this world who are no good, no good character, and no good health."
"...The last sentence could actually be omitted."
Listening to their conversation, Wu Muhong found it amusing but also somewhat envious: "The inequality is predetermined from birth, it's subtle and gradual, and given the environment, how can we expect them to treat each other equally?"
The atmosphere among them instantly froze as soon as Wu Muhong said this.
Ye Wanxi's eyes flickered slightly, and she asked in a low voice, "I heard from Mr. Zou that many victims in the village are unwilling to come forward and identify the human traffickers."
Wu Muhong seemed surprised that Ye Wanxi would suddenly bring this up. She paused for a moment, then suddenly sneered, saying sarcastically, "Of course they don't want to come forward and identify her. If they do, wouldn't that define this as human trafficking?"
Gao Min didn't understand: "But this is human trafficking!"
Ye Wanxi could roughly guess what they were thinking: "Because of the child and...public opinion?"
"child?"
"Aside from a few young women who married infertile men, many of the women trafficked to Linjia Village have been forced to give birth. Once the crime of human trafficking is established, not only the traffickers but also their current husbands will be held accountable. They don't want their children to be fatherless, so naturally..."
Ye Wanxi nodded in agreement: "Just like some women nowadays, who are subjected to domestic violence and infidelity, yet still stubbornly refuse to get a divorce. Ha, don't ask, the answer is always the same: they want to give their children a complete family."
"Human traffickers and the men who bought them exploit this psychology. After buying the women, they quickly get them pregnant and give birth. They believe that the best way to make women accept their fate and settle down is to make them have a child with a man. As it turns out, they are right. With a child as a bond, most women cannot be heartless and ignore the situation."
Gao Min was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized: "Using a child to bind a woman, making her not fight back when hit, not talk back when insulted, and pretending nothing happened even after being sold. Damn, isn't this just being manipulated and brainwashed?!"
Upon realizing this, Gao Min felt a chill run down her spine.
Stockholm syndrome is something you only enjoy watching in novels and TV dramas. When it actually happened in real life, all she wanted to do was call the police on the spot and get as far away from these bastards as possible.
Looking at her manager's horrified expression, Ye Wanxi felt a little heavy-hearted: "This is only one of the reasons."
"Any other reasons?"
"And there's public opinion, and there's their families."
“Family…” Gao Min suddenly realized something, and her face turned slightly pale.
"I just saw many people like you outside. I bet many of them are also unwilling to contact their families, right?"
Ye Wanxi was speaking to Wu Muhong. She lowered her head and said with a bitter smile, "Yes, they are unwilling, or rather, afraid to contact their families."
(End of this chapter)
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