Chapter 18

Feng Yang could not be certain whether the vengeful ghost had been born at this critical moment because of the Vengeful Ghost Talisman. If so, the Heavenly Dao might attribute part of the karmic debt for the vengeful ghost killing those three traffickers to their Vengeful Ghost Talisman.

What was more, Feng Yang did not advise the vengeful ghost to perish in body and soul just to die together with those thoroughly evil people. She had been an innocent victim to begin with. Having her life ruined by traffickers was already enough; even if she wanted revenge, she should not stake her chance at reincarnation on it.

Feng Yang sighed softly, stretched his long legs, and stepped into the ghostly barrier—only to be stopped at the edge of the black mist.

Feng Yang pressed his right hand against the invisible barrier, and his palm glowed faintly. The ghostly barrier that had been resisting his entry could no longer withstand it, melting open into a human-shaped passage. Feng Yang withdrew his hand and slowly walked inside.

In an instant, the ghostly aura surrounding him seemed to come alive and surged into Feng Yang's body. He did not resist. He also wanted to know what this newly born vengeful ghost wanted to "say" to him.

When Feng Yang opened his eyes again, he found his hands and feet bound, his eyes blindfolded, and his mouth gagged. He was curled up in a corner, swaying along with his surroundings. His initial judgment was that he was inside a moving, low-end vehicle. The road outside could not have been very good, or it would not have been bumping so badly.

Of course, this could not have been Feng Yang's own experience. Thinking of the traffickers' crimes and the vengeful ghost's experiences in life, Feng Yang vaguely realized something.

He drew a thread of soul power from the Vengeful Ghost Talisman into his eyes. His blindfolded eyes could finally "see" his surroundings—a shabby, filthy vehicle compartment where three young women, all seemingly in their early twenties, had been tied up. They lay unconscious in the van, while two lean men sat nearby, their hands and feet restlessly groping the girls' bodies.

Outside lay desolate mountains and wilderness, without a soul in sight. Only a bumpy yellow dirt road stretched ahead, and the vehicle left clouds of dust in its wake.

Understanding dawned on Feng Yang. This should have been a memory from the vengeful ghost's life. She wanted to use this method to tell Feng Yang what she had endured while alive, to make him feel everything she had felt.

However, being confined inside someone else's body felt truly unpleasant. The Vengeful Ghost Talisman in his palm warmed slightly, and Feng Yang's soul instantly broke free from the ghostly aura's restraints. Only then did he discover that the vengeful ghost possessing him had been a very pretty young girl in life. She looked seventeen or eighteen, with delicate features and fair skin. Unlike the two victims beside her, who were naked and covered in bruises, the girl's hands and feet were bound, but her clothes remained intact. She did not appear to have been violated.

But that did not mean much. Victims who fell into the hands of traffickers were like lambs awaiting slaughter in a butcher's hands. Those horrifying experiences were only a matter of time.

Next, Feng Yang witnessed everything the vengeful ghost had suffered in life from the perspective of an observer.

The vengeful ghost was named Huo Yanran. She had been nineteen when she died. During the summer vacation of her sophomore year, traffickers targeted her on her way home. A kindly-looking trafficker pretended to be from Huo Yanran's hometown, hoping to pry information out of her through casual conversation. But Huo Yanran was highly vigilant. She ignored the trafficker's attempts at conversation and refused to drink the water he offered her. She even loudly explained the various methods traffickers used to abduct people in front of the surrounding passengers.

These included deliberately striking up conversations to obtain personal information and offering food or drinks. Throughout her speech, she did not hide her suspicion and wariness toward strangers in the slightest. Huo Yanran's actions drew the attention of the entire carriage. Some passengers thought she was right. A young woman traveling alone should indeed remain highly alert to avoid being targeted by bad people.

But some passengers felt Huo Yanran had gone too far. They believed the person speaking with her might not have harbored ill intent and perhaps merely wanted someone to chat with during the long journey to pass the time. Yet Huo Yanran had treated him with such suspicion, even accusing him over a bottle of water. They thought her behavior was terribly rude. Some even felt that Huo Yanran was used to being fawned over because of her looks, which was why she so recklessly trampled on others' goodwill.

For a time, the entire carriage nearly erupted into an argument. Seeing this, the trafficker simply changed tactics. The woman who had stuck close to Huo Yanran in an attempt to get information claimed that Huo Yanran was being too aggressive, then left while wiping away tears in grievance. She used her actions to prove that she had no ill intentions. At that point, even the passengers who had originally sided with Huo Yanran felt embarrassed. Even Huo Yanran herself let down her guard.

She did not know that the traffickers had continued following and watching her. When Huo Yanran got off the train, they took advantage of an unguarded moment to drug her unconscious.

When Huo Yanran woke up again, she was in the scene Feng Yang had just seen.

The reason Huo Yanran had not been violated was that a minor leader of the trafficking ring had taken a liking to her. He wanted Huo Yanran to become his woman. That was why he had deliberately shown her favor when they first captured her—it was also a show of force.

Unfortunately, Huo Yanran refused to submit. The young woman was fierce by nature, and even after being captured, she never stopped thinking about escape. She would not let anyone touch her. At first, the minor leader of the trafficking ring still had the patience to coax and deceive Huo Yanran, but later he lost patience and tried to force himself on her. In the middle of it, Huo Yanran kicked him in the crotch. The minor leader writhed in agony, and in a fit of rage, he threw Huo Yanran to the other members of the criminal gang.

Huo Yanran fought fiercely and suffered a brutal beating from the traffickers. Once they grew tired of her, they sold Huo Yanran for fifty thousand yuan to a pair of bachelor brothers in the mountains. Huo Yanran lived on in humiliation, thinking only of escaping. She begged the villagers for help, but no one was willing to assist her. Some even pretended to be willing to help in order to take advantage of her. Huo Yanran agreed to them all. Yet after taking advantage of her, those people refused to help her. Left with no other choice, Huo Yanran could only make a desperate escape. She escaped twice in total, but each time, she was caught before she could leave the mountains. The second time, they even broke both her legs, stripped off her clothes, and chained her inside the woodshed.

Huo Yanran knew she could never escape again. But she did not want to bear a rapist's child. So she began acting obedient, pretending to accept her fate. Huo Yanran spent more than half a year lulling the brothers into complacency. At last, she was released from the woodshed.