Barren Hills and Brutal Waters!

Li Family Village.

It was a backward village, the sort of place people called "barren hills and brutal waters."

For miles around, there was no one—only one desolate mountain after another.

Human trafficking cases were often tied to places like this. The locals were usually fiercely resistant to outsiders, nearly impossible to govern, poorly educated, and mired in ignorance.

As for just how ignorant...

"Everyone, get ready. Once we have her, we need to leave as fast as possible!"

Li Xiang's face was grave. He drew a deep breath, stood in the minibus, and snapped his right hand outward.

Snap!

A police baton extended in an instant. He gripped it tight.

Rescuing a trafficking victim was not as simple as walking in and saying a few words.

Everyone held their breath and watched outside. The minibus drew closer to the village along the rugged mountain road.

They entered the village.

Several people working in the fields straightened at the sight of the "iron vehicle," confusion in their eyes.

Xu De glanced to either side.

Most of Li Family Village's houses were made of mud. There was not a single paved road. At a glance, it felt like stepping into the 1970s or '80s.

If anything, it was even further behind.

This was where the victim, Wang Mei, had been sold.

Screech!

The minibus stopped outside the gate of an unremarkable courtyard. Mud walls surrounded it, with a mud-brick house inside.

Li Xiang moved at once.

"Out!"

At his command, the other six officers drew their batons and snapped them open.

Then they filed through the bus door.

Li Xiang faced the closed wooden gate. Without a moment's hesitation, he rammed it.

Bang!

The gate flew open, revealing the entire courtyard.

The woodshed stood on the left, the kitchen on the right, and the main room directly across from the gate.

Li Xiang strode in without hesitation.

"Wang Mei's in the woodshed. Find her, then we leave!"

Footsteps pounded.

The group moved fast, taking Wang Qiang and Xu De straight toward the woodshed without another word.

They did not even inform the homeowners. There was no need.

The homeowners had already heard the gate crash open.

Creak.

The crude door to the main room opened. An elderly man and woman came out, both hunched and gaunt, their ragged clothes hanging from them like bark from dead trees.

They came face-to-face with the officers preparing to break into the woodshed.

The two elders stared in shock. Then they recovered and shrieked in shrill, piercing voices.

"Ah!"

"What d'you think you're doing?!"

Their screams cut through the air as they tried to rush forward.

Li Xiang's brow darkened.

"Xiao Li, Xiao Wang, hold them back!"

The two officers immediately blocked the shouting elders. Frail with age, neither could get past.

But they kept screaming.

"They're stealing her! The police are stealing her!"

"Someone come quick! The police waited till our son was gone to steal her!"

Unable to get through, the elders dropped to the ground, rolled about, and wailed.

Their cries were loud enough to draw a crowd before long.

Li Xiang's nerves tightened. He pushed past the officer working on the lock and studied the woodshed door, barred with an iron rod.

"Forget the lock!"

He lowered his shoulder and slammed into the door with all his strength.

Bang!

The wooden door shuddered. Its hinges shook.

Li Xiang drove his shoulder into it again.

Bang!

The door burst open.

It was a woodshed.

Firewood gathered from the fields lay everywhere for cooking and daily use. Bricks paved the floor, covered with a layer of compacted earth.

On the wall opposite the light, steel bars sealed the only window.

The place felt like a prison cell: stifling, dark, and utterly devoid of sunlight.

"Mm..."

Beside a pile of firewood, a figure curled tighter in the shadows, almost indistinguishable from the wood.

She instinctively raised a hand to shield her eyes.

With the door broken open, harsh light fell across the floor in a bright rectangle, like a reflection from a mirror. After so long in the dark, she could not open her eyes against it.

Xu De spotted her at once.

Her hair was tangled into a filthy clump, caked with dust and bits of grass. Its yellowed, split ends were crusted with grime, and a foul smell rose from her.

Her cheekbones jutted sharply above sunken eye sockets.

Her swollen, drooping eyelids framed two clouded eyes, vacant and numb.

Was this...

"Wang Mei?!"

A voice rang out in the woodshed. No one could have said whose it was.

Beside the woodpile,

the woman stirred. Fear filled her eyes, and she curled up, trembling.

Another voice followed.

"Mei..."

This one trembled.

Wang Qiang, himself thin as a skeleton, stared at Wang Mei in disbelief. His lips quivered. He scarcely dared to breathe.

This was his daughter.

His daughter, trafficked away ten years ago.

She was twenty-four now. Though he had not seen her in ten years, though she looked forty, Wang Qiang recognized her.

"Ugh..."

Wang Qiang pulled Wang Mei upright and into his arms. He sobbed, his bony hands gripping her like iron. Nothing could have pried them apart.

There was no assault or beating, as she had expected.

The woman froze.

She looked at the man before her, then at Sun Hong, who was too choked up to speak.

Who were they?

Chained in place and looking like a madwoman, she stared at them with fear and confusion in her eyes.

She looked at Wang Qiang's rough, deeply wrinkled face and went still.

In her mind, ten years of memories from the woodshed began to sink away. In their place rose a blurred face she had long since forgotten.

The memory grew clearer until it matched the face before her.

Wang Mei froze. Looking at Wang Qiang, she felt her lips tremble.

She wanted to say something, but no words came. She wanted to tell him what she had suffered, but did not know where to begin. She wanted to break down and cry, yet when she opened her mouth, she only felt a wave of nausea rise in her throat.

All those emotions finally became...

Her voice.

"What took y'all so long...?"

Wang Mei spoke in a daze.

Her voice was quiet, without anger or even a sob.

Yet the officers around her felt their hearts sink, an emotion none could name pressing against their chests.

Wang Qiang could hold back no longer. He wept openly and held her tight.

"Officer Li, we should get her out of here first."

Xu De spoke suddenly, his gaze sweeping their surroundings, his brow furrowed.

He was not a police officer, but he knew what would happen if they delayed.

Li Xiang wasted no time.

"Go!"

At his command,

Wang Qiang did not even stop to wipe his tears or runny nose. He lifted Wang Mei and started out.

But as he stood, he discovered an iron chain locked around her ankle. Its other end was driven into the ground.

Without a word, Li Xiang struck the chain with his baton. It shuddered under the blow, and he yanked its anchor free.

The others quickly escorted Wang Qiang out.

Outside the woodshed,

the two elders saw them. Still rolling on the ground, they flew into a rage and shrieked.

"Someone come! Come quick! The police are taking her away!"

"You can't leave! We paid for her! You can't take her!"

"I can't go on living! The police are robbing us..."

Their wails rang out as the two young officers struggled to hold them back.

Li Xiang's scalp prickled at the noise. He hurried toward the gate.

In Wang Qiang's arms, Wang Mei suddenly remembered something. Panic flashed across her face as she looked at the officers.

"My child... My child..."

Her child?

Right. Wang Mei had a child.

Li Xiang froze and instinctively looked toward the main room, then outside.

He was about to speak.

But Xu De had reached the gate first. Seeing a dense mass of figures ahead, he spoke, his face grim.

"The child won't be harmed!"

"Get Wang Mei out first. Save whoever we can. If we wait another thirty seconds, none of us will get away!"

That was right.

The child would not be harmed.

Li Xiang understood at once.

The child was Wang Mei's, but also the buyer's. They would not hurt their own child. Wang Mei was the one in danger if she stayed.

"Captain Li!" The two officers behind him were close to being overwhelmed.

"Move!"

Li Xiang did not hesitate. He ordered them to fall back.

Then

the group surrounded Wang Mei and hurried down the village's dirt road toward the minibus.

They moved at a near run, breathing hard, and soon reached the vehicle.

Hiss!

The last of them had barely boarded. Li Xiang meant to drive off at once, but...

A moment later,

a crowd surged up from behind like a tide of black water and surrounded the minibus.

They were villagers.

Villagers of Li Family Village.

Led by the two elders, they packed so tightly around the minibus that there was no way through.

"Get out! Get out!"

"Go fetch Erniu from the fields! Tell him if he doesn't hurry back, his wife'll be gone!"

"Get out here, damn you! What right do you have to take her?!"

"You think you can bully us? Hand her over!"

"..."

Rage covered the villagers' faces. Some held hoes, others gripped sickles. They shouted at the people inside the bus, their voices rising into a deafening clamor.

In the back of the bus, Wang Qiang's breathing grew heavy. His eyes reddened as he felt Wang Mei trembling in his arms, and he held her tighter.

In the driver's seat.

Old Zhang tried to drive away, but the villagers in front of the car refused to budge. The only way out was to run them over!

"Fuck!"

Old Zhang cursed and looked around at the villagers surrounding the police officers, taking in the viciousness in their eyes and the hoes in their hands.

Those tools weren't just for show.

The people in this godforsaken place weren't afraid of the police at all!

Old Zhang's face turned grim. His heart sank as he looked back at Li Xiang and asked in a low voice:

"What do we do?!"