Su Ran's movements were noticed by the man holding the whip, who then said to her, "Raise your head."
The man with the whip saw that Su Ran didn't move, lashed out with the whip, and with a "crack," the whip struck the ground. "You're not going to lift it, are you?"
After saying that, Su Ran immediately raised her head. The man looked at Su Ran and said with a smile, "I didn't expect you to be such a little girl. You've trained before?"
Su Ran hesitated for a moment and then shook her head. After all, she had never actually practiced it, but she had tried to learn a little bit by observing others. She was just a novice.
It's unclear what Su Ran did to offend the man, but his smiling face instantly darkened. She met Jiang Zhi's gaze, then turned her head away, refusing to look at him.
Then a whip lashed across her chest. Su Ran was far enough away that the whip didn't hit her face; the tip of the whip only grazed her chest and stomach.
Instantly.
Su Ran felt a burning pain in her chest, her forehead was covered in sweat, and her eyes were full of suppressed emotions. There was nothing she could do but endure it.
If she dares to make any other moves.
Then the guns around her would be pointed at her without hesitation. Before, dodging was just a conditioned reflex, but at this moment she hated her conditioned reflex.
Immediately afterwards, the man's second lash didn't land on Su Ran. Instead, he went over and struck other people, venting his anger. Her abrupt movement only attracted attention for a moment, but didn't draw much attention.
As the whip was about to strike, Su Ran kept an eye on the others' gazes and secretly dodged it, as did Jiang Zhi, who was standing next to her.
Although Jiang Zhi could make them laugh, whenever they got angry, Jiang Zhi would still get beaten up along with them.
As the man's anger subsided, the man tied to the tree slowly raised his hand and gave the middle finger.
The man then snatched a gun from the man next to him and fired wildly at the man tied to the tree, startling many small birds in the forest.
He then threw the gun on the ground, looked at the group of people behind him, and said through gritted teeth, "Anyone who gets caught by me and tries to escape, or runs to inform others, will suffer a worse fate than this person."
The man's voice was loud, seemingly venting his anger. Someone stepped forward to stop him, saying, "Enough! Too much noise will attract the army, and if the master finds out..."
The man angrily shook off the other man's hand, but didn't make any further moves. Su Ran was too far away to hear, but judging from the shape of his mouth, it seemed that he was saying "Lord".
Lord?
master?
Who is "Master"? Is it a code name for their superior?
Su Ran turned her head to look at Jiang Zhi, only to see the sinister look in his eyes.
It seems very likely that Jiang Zhi knows about "Master", or perhaps he came here specifically for "Master".
Su Ran was eager to know what Jiang Zhi had done before, or what his background was.
Around 11 p.m., Su Ran was resting against the iron cage when Jiang Zhi leaned closer and whispered something.
"The time has been moved up."
Su Ran didn't speak. After all, she was already inside the cage, which clearly indicated that the time had been moved up.
It's probably because of the man who ran away today.
Then Jiang Zhi's voice rang out, "When another group of people comes, they will be a bunch of newbies, so they will take up the cages. Then we can walk on our own. The handover will be the best time to run."
"There are more children than adults, and they are outnumbered. All they can do is use the guns in their hands to intimidate them. Under the moonlight, your clothes can be well concealed by the darkness."
Jiang Zhi looked at the clothes that were originally blue but now looked darker and felt a little guilty. Su Ran didn't understand what Jiang Zhi was blaming himself for, even though the clothes weren't his own; they were an overcoat that Su Ran had taken from other corpses.
However, the blood on it wasn't all from others; most of it was her own, after all, the whipping that afternoon had left her skin torn and bleeding.
Su Ran nodded silently after listening to Jiang Zhi's words. Time passed quickly, and they ran into another group of people. However, the number of people on the other side was half again as many as Su Ran and Jiang Zhi had guessed.
So the two of them were filled with anxiety, calculating their chances of escaping safely: "60 percent."
Upon hearing Jiang Zhi's voice, Su Ran couldn't help but curl her lips into a smile. "70 percent. I have a 70 percent chance of escaping. Don't underestimate me."
Jiang Zhi turned his head and saw that Su Ran was full of confidence, but he believed in her. Su Ran never made boastful claims and never did anything she wasn't sure of.
The two watched the movements closely. Just as Su Ran came out, she felt incredibly relieved the moment she was freed from the cage. Then, more children were pushed into the cage.
Su Ran looked at the cage, which originally could only hold a few people, now filled with people. The rest of the people were crammed in, and the box that was originally used to store clothes was now packed tightly.
Looking at this group of people, Su Ran knew very well that many people would die on this trip.
In such a situation, many people would be crushed to death, trampled to death, or suffocated to death.
Jiang Zhi nudged Su Ran with his elbow. Su Ran turned to look at Jiang Zhi, who silently shook his head.
Su Ran looked away; she wouldn't do anything foolish.
Several burly men stood aside discussing, "Is it really okay to let these kids out to roam? What if they run away? Should we just put them back in?"
Another man shook his head. "No need. This group is new, so of course we need to toughen them up first and suppress all their tempers. We've been with this group for dozens of days, and we've crushed any thoughts they might have had about running away."
"Yeah, just keep them locked up for now. These kids can't cause any big trouble. They're just a bunch of underage brats. What big things do you think they can do?"
The man's tone was full of disdain; after all, children who had been beaten were the most obedient, and besides, what child could possibly run away from such a terrible environment?
The group was all flattering each other and chatting. After all, time was tight, and none of them had any evil intentions about messing with these little brats.
The group just wanted to arrive early, hand over their tasks, and then go have their own fun.
The main force began to move, and Jiang Zhi disappeared to do something. Then, a commotion came from inside the iron cage, and he started crying loudly.
Children love to cry. Once someone starts, one after another begins to cry. Several big men yell at them to stop crying, but the more they yell, the more people cry.
They dared not use guns in this situation, because if the number of casualties wasn't that high, they would be the ones suffering.
Then someone appeared next to Su Ran. Su Ran looked at Jiang Zhi and asked, "Did you do this?"
Jiang Zhi laughed as he listened to Su Ran's words, "I was just telling the truth."
"What did you say?"
"It's about telling them that they will never see their parents again, never go home again, never play with their favorite toys again, and never eat delicious candy again."
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