The sound of footsteps rustling behind her startled Sun Wenli, who immediately tucked her phone back into her pocket. Just as she did that, a figure appeared behind her: "Little girl, are you done? We're ready to go."
Sun Wenli was drenched in sweat from fright, but she forced herself to appear calm and nodded, desperately suppressing her trembling voice: "Okay, Auntie, I'll be right there."
The woman behind her continued, "There are a lot of snakes and insects here. I'll accompany you."
Sun Wenli could only nod in agreement: "Okay, thank you, Auntie." She quickly stood up, pulling up her pants, as the middle-aged woman behind her nodded in satisfaction at her actions.
Once they arrived at the designated spot, the man was drinking water. Sun Wenli noticed he was using a military-style thermos that looked brand new, its olive green paint showing no signs of wear.
Seeing her fascinated, the man thought she was thirsty and raised the cup that matched the thermos: "Would you like some?"
Sun Wenli nodded, "Sure, thank you, Uncle."
The man poured her a cup; the thermos worked exceptionally well, and the water was still steaming. She took a sip, and her tongue felt scalded.
At that moment, a phone rang from the man's basket. He casually pulled it out: "Hello? On the mountain? Yes, collecting firewood together. Don't hang around, head back to rest early. I'll settle the payment for you in the morning."
While Sun Wenli didn't understand their coded language, she recognized the large phone he was holding. Having seen numerous wilderness survival shows, she knew there was a type of phone called a satellite phone, specifically used in areas with poor signal, like mountains or islands, to communicate with the outside world. A satellite phone like that would cost several thousand dollars.
This was different from an ordinary phone; it was a specialized terminal. She found it hard to imagine an ordinary farmer in the mountains having such an expensive gadget, which made it clear who the phone belonged to.
If it weren't for the reminder from the bullet screen just now, she might have forgotten that besides herself and Xu Chao on Thunder God Mountain, there was also a third party—the snakehead—coming to buy her.
Now the situation was clear: this middle-aged couple were the snakeheads, the buyers. The excuse about coming to collect firewood in the mountains at night was just a cover. How foolish of her to have momentarily been bewitched and trusted them!
After the middle-aged man hung up the phone, he suddenly felt something steaming pour over him, and when it hit his face, he screamed in pain: "Hot, so hot! Damn you, bitch!"
Seeing the man hurt, the woman immediately dropped her pretentious demeanor and scowled, cursing, "F*** your mother, you little whore! If I catch you, I'll make sure you regret it!"
Sun Wenli didn't understand what "making a train" meant, but from the woman's words, she knew it wasn't good. She instantly retaliated by smashing the cup of hot water against the woman's forehead, making her scream in pain.
Meanwhile, the man, squinting through his blurred vision, stumbled toward Sun Wenli. Taking advantage of this moment, she fled again.
In her panic, she didn't know where she was running, only feeling the trees around her whizzing past.
Eventually, she found a thicket filled with thorns and painfully hid inside.
Her chest heaved violently, and she gasped for breath. She covered her mouth and nose with her hands to muffle her sounds, hoping not to be discovered, but the footsteps behind her relentlessly followed like a shadow.
"Where is she?"
"I saw her go this way!"
"You! You should have tied her up when you first encountered her, so she wouldn't have a chance to discover anything and escape now!"
"They're worried she might cause trouble along the way, so it's better to deceive her and keep her confused, making her follow our route directly to our smuggling point."
"If she runs away, we can just find her again. We may not know Thunder God Mountain perfectly, but we have enough familiarity with it—she won't get down without us."
"She probably wishes she never ran into us more than anything else."
"What about that bastard Xu Chao? Damn it, he can't even handle a woman and has made me go through all this trouble. I'm definitely going to deduct at least fifty thousand from him."
"Alright, alright, let's find her first. We'll make over five hundred thousand profit from this. Xu Chao said that girl comes from a good family, so we can extort more money from her. If we can't squeeze anything else out of her, we can sell her to the clubs over there. Either way, we'll make a profit!"
Sun Wenli was hiding in the thicket, ignoring the wounds on her hands and face from the thorns. She trembled slightly, biting down on her fingers, afraid to make a sound.
She had never realized how close death was to her! If these people found and took her away, it wouldn't just be her downfall—her parents would be drained of hope and resources too. If she were sold into that filthy place, there would be no way to escape. Her body would be violated and turned into rotting flesh, a stinking carcass, eventually suffering and dying from various gynecological diseases.
Living would just mean counting down the days, like a living corpse without freedom or sunlight.
She had to escape! Even if it cost her life, she had to get away!
To make matters worse, Xu Chao, who had been in contact with this pair of snakeheads, was approaching as well, soon meeting up with them.
Sun Wenli could clearly hear their voices discussing things. At that moment, her hand reached into her pocket for her phone. Cautiously, she took it out, gently wiped the tears from her face, and began typing on the screen: "I'm afraid I won't make it home. If I die, please tell my parents my bank card password is the old password at home..."
"Who has the patience to listen to your last wishes? You must come back alive!"
"The host and we have accompanied you all the way; we want to see you make a miraculous comeback, not to see you resign to your fate!"
Xiang Wan carefully looked at Sun Wenli's fate chart and smiled: "Take a leap of faith! I can see in the chart that you'll live to eighty-eight, surrounded by your children and grandchildren when you pass away."
"Eighty-eight! If I can make it to sixty, that would be enough for me. You'd be hitting the jackpot at eighty-eight!"
"Come on, sister! Never give up, never compromise!"
"Can't we call the police? The signal looks pretty good."
"Calling the police is fine, but the key is we can't provide a specific location. How will the police find you?"
Sun Wenli looked hopefully at Xiang Wan from her hiding place in the thicket: "Host, I want to go home. Can you help me get home?"
Xiang Wan thought for a moment: "There is a way; it just depends on whether you dare to try."
Sun Wenli perked up: "What do I need to do? As long as it gets me home, I'm willing to try anything!"
Xiang Wan immediately said: "Point the camera at Xu Chao or the snakehead couple's faces. I can see the right path down the mountain from their features."
Now, whatever Xiang Wan said was considered a rule. If other fortune-tellers made such claims, people would think they were just con artists. But as long as Zhuang Zhou Mengdie said it, she had the ability to make it happen. This was a testament to her abilities from every fan of her live streams.