Chapter 77. Chapter 77 is over. I've been kidnapped by human traffickers...
In the dead of night, amidst a howling wind and swirling snow, I crawled out of a huge pit, shivering from the cold. My forehead still throbbed with pain, and I felt hot and dizzy. In the stench-filled air, I managed to stand up straight and, by the light of a few still-burning campfires, I could make out the scene inside the pit. I was so horrified I almost fainted.
The pit was filled with horrific corpses, and the stench emanated from them.
I was so frightened that I collapsed on the edge of the pit, covering my mouth tightly, and remained stunned for a long time.
The wind howled even harder, and the stench dissipated somewhat, allowing me to run frantically forward. I had to get away from this place, far, far away—it was too horrible!
That night, I ran a long way to a riverbank where a small fishing boat was moored. On the boat were some blankets, food, and water, which must have been temporarily left there by the fishermen.
I jumped onto the boat, untied the rope, and rowed frantically for a while before leaving the shore and drifting downstream. Only then did I wrap myself in a blanket and lean against the small cabin, dozing off with my eyes half-closed.
It was a particularly cold night. I wrapped all the blankets around myself and drank all the water. The water was cold, but it was better than nothing.
I still have a fever and I don't dare to eat dry bread, afraid I'll throw it all up.
After daybreak, my small boat encountered several fishing boats. Upon learning that they had spare fever reducers, I immediately traded all my dry bread with them.
I was given two pills instead. About an hour after swallowing one, my headache gradually subsided.
Then, following the directions given by the fishermen, I rowed to the nearest town. Wrapped in all the blankets, I went ashore.
I look a little funny, but I have no choice; it's the only way to save my life.
It's so cold, and it's almost night. If I don't wrap myself in these things, I'll get a fever again.
I took another fever reducer an hour ago, and it was only with great difficulty that my fever subsided.
As I entered the town, it was already completely dark. I was surprised to find that the temperature here seemed to be higher than in the previous small towns. Although it was snowing lightly, it didn't have that bone-chilling cold.
I pawned a blanket for some money, bought some dry bread and hot water, and wrapped myself in the remaining blanket in a stable next to an inn. It was sheltered from the wind and snow, and several homeless people were sleeping there; the innkeeper didn't chase them away.
I found a sheltered corner and had just taken a couple of bites of bread when a little boy in tattered clothes rushed in through the wind and snow.
Our eyes met.
"It's you?!" I exclaimed. It was the little boy with light red eyes. His face was covered in mud, and his sticky black hair covered half of his face, but I still recognized him.
He looked at me in surprise, then at the dry bread in my hand, and swallowed hard.
I shared half with him, and he sat beside me eating quietly. After he finished, he drank some of my hot water.
We didn't talk much, or maybe we were both tired. I leaned against one corner, and he leaned against another, and we both fell asleep after a while.
The next day, I took him to the pawnshop again, pawned the second blanket, and got some money to buy food and water.
After I had eaten and drunk my fill, I asked him why he was there.
He was reluctant to talk about it at first, but later, when we were looking for work along the streets and alleys and taking a break, he finally said, "I was almost sold too, sister, by my people."
I just said "oh" and didn't say anything more.
They offered neither words of sympathy nor words of comfort.
I felt he didn't need these things; pity and sympathy would make him uncomfortable. Sure enough, seeing my calm expression, his gaze relaxed slightly.
After wandering around this small town all day, we finally found a place that could temporarily take us in. There was no pay, but two meals were provided, and we would stay in a stable.
This is a tailor shop, and business has been booming lately. They're so busy that they need help with odd jobs like sewing shoe soles and clothes.
I'm not really good at needlework, but I had to work hard to earn a living. After giving the head tailor some money, I learned to sew buttons, clothes, and shoe soles in an hour, and then spent the whole night practicing.
The little boy was young, but smarter than me. He learned it in about ten minutes, but he practiced all night just like me.
"What's your name?" I suddenly realized I didn't know his name.
“Luo An,” he replied, stitching the soles of his shoes.
"My name is Lana." I finally finished sewing a row of buttons.
As dawn broke, he and I finished mending most of the clothes in the laundry basket.
The tailor shop owner was quite satisfied, and Luo An and I both breathed a sigh of relief.
From that moment on, we began working day and night. From the moment we opened our eyes in the morning, we were busy with sewing and mending.
"Luo An, why do I feel like we're sewing guards' uniforms?" Sometimes I would hold the clothes up to the long-lost sunlight to examine them.
“It should be,” Roan said, engrossed in sewing buttons on his collar. “I’ve seen the uniforms of the Northern Border Guards; they’re this kind of short, military green.”
"These kinds of clothes aren't made by specialized tailors..."
“They should be for temporary guards,” Roan looked up, “to be temporarily hired to defend the border.”
I was curious, "Why hire someone temporarily?"
Luo An lowered his voice, "Because the regular army has all gone to fight, there is a shortage of manpower to guard the border."
I said "Oh," and Luo An suddenly looked indignant. "Sister, I had just walked to the border of the Northern Territory with my people, and then they wanted to sell me to these mercenaries for their amusement."
I was so startled that I almost pricked my finger with the needle.
“They had already sold all the girls,” Roan’s eyes turned from light red to dark red, “and then they started selling boys. Before me, there was a boy who had been sold to temporary mercenaries, tortured for three days and three nights, and then thrown into a mass grave. That’s how I escaped.”
Wait, a mass grave?!
"Is the mass grave you mentioned the one that's separated from this town by a river?" I asked.
"Yes."
My sewing fingers froze on my knees. "I crawled out of that mass grave."
I also told him about how I was mistaken for someone with the plague, and that "if the ropes binding me hadn't come loose," or perhaps they weren't tied very tightly to begin with, "I would have died there."
Perhaps due to similar painful experiences, Luo An and I quickly came to trust each other.
"Sister, there have been so many temporary mercenaries lately, there must be a war going on here soon."
"Isn't there already a war going on? That's why so many people have been recruited to guard the border?"
“That’s different,” Luo An said deftly as he sorted the sewn clothes. “The border soldiers were sent to fight in a small border town. They were fighting a territorial dispute with a small town in the west. Now they are fighting with several half-beast tribes outside the north for a silver mine that was just discovered on the border. Those half-beast tribes also want to take it over.”
"People die for wealth, birds die for food." I scoffed.
Luo An is better informed than I am. He's a young boy who often helps his boss deliver goods, so he has more ways to get information than I do.
We worked day and night, mending about two hundred military uniforms, when the town began to stir.
In the cold midnight, through the window, I saw the patrolling firelight pass by again and again, and could hear the faint, disordered, heavy footsteps.
"Looks like we're really going to have a war, kid," I said to Roan, who was busy behind me.
Luo An was distracted; he had already sewed his cufflinks wrong twice before.
"Sister," he suddenly said, "the boss asked me if I was willing to earn some extra money. There's a batch of horses that needs to be transported to the Orc Tribe, and he asked if I could help give the horses laxatives."
"What?!" I exclaimed in surprise. "You absolutely mustn't do it! Who would want to give a horse laxatives?"
“I don’t know,” he said. “These people secretly contacted the owner after they learned that the tailor shop’s stables would temporarily house these horses.”
"But the tailor shop owner doesn't dare to do it himself, so he asked you if you were willing?" I asked angrily.
"Yes."
"He's looking for a scapegoat; if something goes wrong, you'll take the blame."
“I know, but,” Roan swallowed, “he said he would give me a bag of gold coins.”
It was a huge sum of money for a child from a poor family.
“Don’t do it,” I said firmly, “otherwise you’ll earn it but not live to spend it.”
But as it turns out, the lure of money outweighed my advice.
Luo An took on this job behind my back.
When I discovered he had been "missing" for more than three hours, I knew he had "bent over" for the bag of gold coins.
After letting out a deep sigh, I decided to go out and take a look anyway.
He helped me before, and now we are partners who depend on each other. I can't abandon him.
It didn't snow that night, but the wind was very strong. Gusts of wind blew by, almost blowing a person away.
I struggled along, leaning against the corner of the wall along the street, and it took me a long time to reach the post station on the edge of the town—the same post station where I met Luo An again.
Luo An had said he would give the horse laxatives here.
The strong wind made it almost impossible for me to open my eyes, but I still saw that the stable was empty, with no one and no horses.
Am I too late? But the horse was given a laxative, so it should be paralyzed and unable to move. Why can't I see a single horse here?
As I was wondering, a black hood fell from the sky and covered my head. Everything went black, and before I could even utter a sound, I was overwhelmed by a strange smell coming from inside the hood.
——
As I slowly regained consciousness, I felt myself being violently jolted beneath me, as if I were on a speeding carriage. I could also hear two men talking.
"If we sell these people, we can finally make a small profit this time."
"We arrested a few people last time, but they all escaped."
"This time it's good, not only did we manage to lure a few people, but we also managed to lure a batch of horses."
The two men burst into lewd laughter.
Oh no, I've been caught by human traffickers! I'm panicking, my mind is in complete chaos.
"Hurry up, crack the whip!" a man shouted. "Speed up, we need to cross the border quickly."
The carriage sped even faster, and the wind grew stronger, pounding against the sides of the carriage and nearly overturning it.
With a loud bang, the carriage did indeed overturn, but not because of Feng Xin; rather, it encountered a huge obstacle.
I fell to the ground along with the carriage, my whole body aching as if it were falling apart. A muffled groan came from beside me; it sounded familiar, like Luo An.
Unable to speak to him, I was in too much pain to open my mouth while trapped under the carriage.
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Author's Note: Thank you all for your support! There will be another update today, muah!
I've been on the best-selling list these past few days, updating twice a day~~ over 6000 words, mwah~~
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