Chapter 16

Li Baihua's heart stirred. "Would you be interested in making movies? I can introduce you to a few directors."

Him, making movies? What kind of movies? Horror films?

Feng Yang chuckled softly and politely declined the latter offer, but readily accepted Li Baihua's invitation to intern with his team. Seeing that Feng Yang had no interest in that direction, Li Baihua did not press the matter.

That night, under the protection of the A City police, Feng Yang and the production crew arrived at Sheep Village, fifty li away. Yin Li, that sweet, naïve fool, had come along as well.

After speaking with Huo Yanran and looking up some reports online, they knew just how xenophobic and barbaric the mountain villagers could be. Even when planning the rescue operation, the police had proposed scouting out the situation in advance, entering the village under cover of night to rescue the victims, and leaving immediately afterward without wasting a moment, lest the villagers awaken and violently resist.

Worried that this rescue operation might be dangerous, Feng Yang had initially fiercely opposed Yin Li coming along. But Yin Li insisted. He had brought the eight bodyguards Chairman Yin had assigned to him, and he himself had practiced fighting and sanda since childhood. "...If anything really happens while you're rescuing people, nine grown men like us will definitely be a huge help."

Yin Qing, curled up in her mother's arms, nodded obediently. "Let my brother go. He wants to save more people too."

Chairman Yin also persuaded him from the side. "With so many people there, nothing will happen."

"My dad's right." Yin Li showed Feng Yang his solid bicep. "I'm one meter ninety-two. Just standing there will scare them to death."

Feng Fei, who had also applied to join the operation because he was worried about his younger brother, patted Feng Yang on the shoulder. "Just let them come. If something really happens, more people will always be safer."

Yin Li threw an arm around Feng Yang's shoulders carelessly. "When the time comes, I'll stick to you every step of the way. You can relax now, right?"

That made me even less relaxed. After all, he was a man planning to sneak off to Sheep Village's ancestral graves and stir up trouble when no one was paying attention!

Without giving anything away, Feng Yang glanced at Huo Yanran and Wen Wan, who were squatting obediently off to the side. I wonder if the living Yin Li is afraid of ghosts!

Chapter 16

Two police cars, a van, and a GL8 drove steadily along the mountain road, where there were no streetlights.

Inside the van, Li Baihua's production crew methodically checked their equipment. Tao Xiaotao and the other two male streamers kept nervously drawing breaths. Before coming here, they had been filled with righteous indignation, thinking only of seeking justice for the victims and exposing these ugly crimes on camera. Then, once the report aired, they would gain both fame and fortune, earn enthusiastic praise from viewers, receive heavy promotion from the platform, and perhaps even use this chance to officially enter the behind-the-scenes side of the entertainment industry.

But as their group slowly approached Sheep Village, many questions they had not had time to consider—or had been unwilling to consider—came flooding into their minds beneath the cover of night.

The villagers of Sheep Village were ignorant and backward. They recognized no national laws, abiding only by the interests of their clan.

Those villagers might very well be colluding with the human traffickers.

They might violently resist, even confront and clash with the police.

They might suddenly attack people!

The streamers recalled news stories exposed online years ago, where relatives of trafficked women had gone into mountain villages to rescue them, only to be beaten to death by villagers. Their hot-blooded minds gradually cooled, and they all started to feel nervous.

Li Baihua watched coldly from the sidelines. He understood the change in these young people's thinking and smiled as he reassured them. "Don't worry. You three just stay behind the main group. Even if a conflict breaks out, the police and bodyguards will protect us."

Though they would mainly be relying on the eight bodyguards Chairman Yin had sent. After all, the police had the important task of rescuing the victims. They should try not to cause them trouble.

One of the photographers, who had switched careers from being a war correspondent, teased them with a smile. "You young people really don't have much mental fortitude. Throw you onto an African battlefield, and every one of you would be scared stiff!"

The three streamers said nothing.

Li Baihua was instead somewhat curious about Feng Yang and Yin Li. He found these two young men rather interesting—one was calm and composed, utterly unruffled, while the other was excited as though he were some chivalrous hero punishing evil. In any case, neither of them seemed afraid.

Li Baihua could understand why Yin Li was unafraid. After all, the guy had brought eight bodyguards. It was their duty; even if they had to fight until their heads bled, those eight bodyguards would never let Yin Li suffer the slightest injury. But Li Baihua could not figure out why Feng Yang was so calm.

They were both eighteen- or nineteen-year-old young men. Perhaps Feng Yang was simply the type who took life and death lightly and fought anyone who refused to submit.

Feng Yang, resting with his eyes closed, had no idea what wild thoughts Director Li was entertaining. He was communicating with Huo Yanran, who had entered the village ahead of them, trying to learn the exact location of Sheep Village's ancestral graves. Time was tight on this trip into the village, and Feng Yang did not want any unexpected complications to delay them.

Unfortunately, the more one feared something, the more likely it was to happen. After the four vehicles entered the village, the two teams of police went to each household based on the information they had obtained beforehand to rescue the trafficked women and children. The production crew followed behind, secretly filming. Everything had originally proceeded in an orderly fashion. Then, while rescuing a girl imprisoned in one of the houses, an accident occurred—

The old woman of the household got up in the middle of the night to use the toilet. Half-asleep, she discovered men in the house and screamed in fright.

"Someone, come quick! There are thieves! Catch the thieves!"

That shout shattered the village's silence. In an instant, lights came on in the surrounding homes. Men opened their doors carrying hoes and iron picks. Only then did they realize that it was not just the household that had raised the alarm that had been robbed; something had happened at several other houses as well.

"My daughter-in-law ran away!"

"Dabao! Where's our Dabao?!"

"Someone came into the village to steal our wives!"

"Who are you? What are you holding?"

"That doesn't look like anything good. Beat them!"

"Don't move! Police!"

"Drop your weapons and put your hands up!"

Seeing that the situation had turned bad, the public security officers and criminal police carrying out their duties drew their guns and identification. To ensure the victims' safety, the police had originally intended to quietly get the victims out of the village first before considering arresting the criminals, so as to prevent the suspects from taking the victims hostage. They had never expected the operation to be discovered halfway through.