Lin Aiyun pressed her lips together and thought for a moment. She decided to try to get on the boy’s good side—after all, he was just a child, and children were usually easy to persuade. If she could get him to remove the cloth stuffed in her mouth, she might even be able to call for help.
With that in mind, she began trying to make sounds. But with the cloth in her mouth, no matter what she said, it all came out as muffled “mmm-mmm” noises. Not even she could tell what she was saying, let alone the boy.
“…”
Sure enough, the boy only glanced up at her briefly before looking away. He got up and went back to his spot, continuing to fiddle with his slingshot and pebbles.
Lin Aiyun didn’t give up. She made a series of unclear sounds, but all were ignored. Seeing this, she felt a little defeated. At the same time, she noticed her strength was slowly returning. She decided to stop wasting her breath and began secretly scanning the area for anything that could help her escape.
But clearly, whoever had brought her here wasn’t stupid. The surroundings had been cleared of anything sharp—not a single object that could cut through her ropes.
Time ticked by. Watching the light fade, Lin Aiyun knew night was falling. On a dark, windy night, murderers strike. She had no idea what would happen next, but she knew it wouldn’t be good.
Trapped in such an environment, her mind inevitably wandered to dark places. Her heart pounded with fear, but all she could do was pray that Auntie Hui had gone straight to the police after discovering she was missing.
No one knew how much time had passed. Sunlight had turned to moonlight when the door was suddenly thrown open from outside. Lin Aiyun’s eyes snapped open, and she looked toward the sound, desperate to see who it was.
In the glow of a kerosene lamp, she saw a face she never expected.
The faint, warm yellow light enveloped the figure, and for a moment, the world seemed to fall into a suffocating silence, pressing down on her chest.
The moment the person appeared, the boy who had been sitting obediently on the floor scrambled to his feet, ran up the steps in a few bounds, grabbed the person’s leg, and called out sweetly: “Mother.”
“I’ve left you food in the pot. Go upstairs, eat, and take your sister to bed. Your father and I have things to do—don’t come back down.”
The candlelight flickered, illuminating her face more clearly. It was none other than Su Xiaomei, who lived across from the Ding household.
As her words fell, Lin Aiyun shifted her gaze and noticed another figure standing behind Su Xiaomei. His face was hidden in shadow, but he was much taller than her—his head nearly brushing the doorframe. Dressed in black from head to toe, he didn’t look particularly stocky.
But Lin Aiyun knew this man was muscular and frighteningly strong. He was the one who had dragged her into the alley.
But wait—father? Wasn’t Su Xiaomei’s husband working in the northwest and hadn’t returned for years? Then who was this man?
“Okay.” The boy glanced back at Lin Aiyun, then slipped past the two adults and ran upstairs, his shoes clattering against the wooden floorboards.
Now Lin Aiyun understood why the boy had looked so familiar—his features were practically identical to Su Xiaomei’s, as if carved from the same mold.
As the sound of his footsteps faded, Lin Aiyun’s heart began to race. Helpless and immobile, she could only watch as Su Xiaomei led the man step by step toward her.
Three people were in the basement, yet it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Lin Aiyun could feel her breathing growing heavier, her bound palms slick with sweat.
“Oh, you’re awake.” The moment the man spoke, Lin Aiyun recognized him as the one who had drugged her at the market. At the same time, she couldn’t believe that one person could have two such different voices.
If his voice had been as gentle as a trickling stream when she’d seen him before, now it was as dull and rumbling as rolling thunder.
So Su Xiaomei and Niu Wenshan were in cahoots. And judging by what the child had called Niu Wenshan, their relationship was clearly more than ordinary.
“Surprised it’s me?” Niu Wenshan let out a low chuckle, tilting his head as he watched her face grow paler. “After all, you even went to the factory to ask about me. Haha—but sadly, it was her watching you all along, not me.”
His implication was clear: when he was supposed to be at work, he really was at work, while Su Xiaomei—a housewife with no job—took over the surveillance. That way, no one would ever suspect a thing.
Two people who seemed to have nothing to do with each other—who would ever connect them?
Niu Wenshan crouched down and reached out to grab Lin Aiyun’s chin. His hands were those of someone who did heavy labor year-round—fingertips covered in thick calluses that pressed painfully against her skin. She instinctively jerked her head away, glaring at him with wide, furious eyes.
“Hurry up. You said it would be tonight.” Su Xiaomei’s brow twitched at the sight of Niu Wenshan touching Lin Aiyun. A flash of irritation and jealousy crossed her eyes, and her voice carried an edge of urgency.
Hearing this, Niu Wenshan clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction and cursed: “The hell—I know. What’s the rush? We’re just getting started.”
If it weren’t for having to show up at the factory during the day to avoid suspicion, he would have gotten his hands on her a long time ago.
The moment his words fell, Lin Aiyun felt herself being lifted—the man had picked her up with no effort at all. Her back hit the wall, and just as she steadied herself, she saw him start to strip off his clothes.
Not a single word of preamble—straight to the point.
Terrified, Lin Aiyun scrambled to the side, trying to escape. Perhaps knowing her movements were limited and she couldn’t get far, neither Niu Wenshan nor Su Xiaomei bothered to stop her. In fact, the former even laughed as he watched her desperation and helplessness.
That eerie, mocking laughter echoed in her ears like a death knell, making her tremble uncontrollably.
She’d only managed to crawl about two arm’s lengths away when Niu Wenshan was already down to his shorts. Her eyes reddened. Her wrists and ankles ached from the rope burns, but she didn’t dare relax for a moment. Seizing the chance as he lunged toward her, she threw something with all her might.
“Fuck!” Niu Wenshan yelped in pain.
Seeing this, Su Xiaomei, who had been watching with her arms crossed, immediately rushed over, her face full of concern: “Are you okay?”
The two of them were busy clearing the dust and debris from Niu Wenshan’s eyes, not noticing that Lin Aiyun had quietly crept closer to Su Xiaomei. With precision and force, she slammed her head into the back of Su Xiaomei’s knee. Caught off guard, Su Xiaomei’s grip loosened, and the kerosene lamp crashed to the ground with a dull thud, splashing scalding oil all over both of them.
Niu Wenshan, wearing less clothing, bore the brunt of it.
In the chaos, Lin Aiyun grabbed a shard of the broken lamp. It was still burning hot, but she didn’t dare let go. The moment she had it in hand, she began trying to cut through the ropes around her wrists. But they had used thick hemp rope, tied tightly—it wasn’t going to come off anytime soon.
“Bitch! You’ve got a death wish.” Su Xiaomei was the first to recover. Ignoring the burning sensation on her skin, she lunged forward in the darkness and grabbed Lin Aiyun’s calf. Her long nails raked across the skin, leaving angry red marks. Lin Aiyun winced in pain, twisting her body to break free, but it was clearly impossible.
Working her way up from the calf, Su Xiaomei stomped on Lin Aiyun’s abdomen, again and again.
Lin Aiyun endured the excruciating pain. She didn’t dare stop cutting, nor did she dare fight back—afraid of provoking even more violent retaliation.
“Fucking whore—get over here! If I don’t make you call me daddy, I’ll write my name backwards.” Niu Wenshan shoved Su Xiaomei aside and lunged directly at Lin Aiyun. His tall, thin frame had barely touched her when heavy footsteps sounded from above.
Those were definitely not the sounds of two small children.
Lin Aiyun reacted first, letting out a heart-wrenching muffled cry. She had no time to guess who was upstairs—whether they were accomplices of Su Xiaomei and Niu Wenshan. She just couldn’t let go of any chance to call for help.
But the other two weren’t deaf. Niu Wenshan reacted almost instantly, clamping his hand over her mouth and nose. A suffocating pressure hit her, and the force only grew stronger. Lin Aiyun’s eyes widened. The shard in her hand was slipping—her breathing was becoming too difficult.
But this was her only leverage. Even if her palm was cut to shreds, she had to hold on.
“She’s dying.” Seeing Lin Aiyun’s breathing grow fainter, Su Xiaomei frowned and warned him.
“So let her die. Like we haven’t had bodies here before? Tomorrow we’ll just drag her out and burn her.” Niu Wenshan growled under his breath, his murky eyes fixed on the ceiling. What bothered him most right now was who had made those sounds upstairs.
Was it his imagination? Or was someone really there?
As far as he knew, Su Xiaomei didn’t have any close friends who could come and go freely from here. So then…
At that thought, Niu Wenshan’s eyes narrowed dangerously.
Hearing this, Su Xiaomei clenched her fists. This wasn’t like Niu Wenshan. If the girl died before he’d had his fun, she’d be the one to suffer for it later.
With that in mind, Su Xiaomei yanked at Lin Aiyun, giving her a brief moment to breathe. Acting on instinct, Lin Aiyun threw her head back with all her strength, resisting Niu Wenshan’s grip. She didn’t want to die—she’d been given a second chance, and she couldn’t let it end like this.
Before long, the sounds upstairs, which had briefly stopped, grew louder again. There seemed to be quite a few people, moving around the house as if searching for something. Su Xiaomei’s heart pounded wildly, and she couldn’t help but whisper fearfully: “What do we do? What if it’s the police—what if they’ve found us?”
Even though she was usually bold, her voice trembled slightly now.
“The kids are still up there—I have to go…” Su Xiaomei started toward the basement entrance, but after only two steps, she stopped abruptly and scurried back behind Niu Wenshan, shaking like a leaf.
Niu Wenshan wasn’t surprised by Su Xiaomei’s choice. A cold smirk tugged at his lips, but he had no time to mock her now—all his attention was focused on the ceiling above. The clattering sounds gradually faded, as if the visitors hadn’t found anything unusual and had moved on.
After a long silence, Su Xiaomei finally stammered: “Gone… did they leave?”
Niu Wenshan didn’t answer. He looked down at Lin Aiyun, who had stopped struggling for a while now. There was no warm breath against his palm. The light was dim, with only slivers of moonlight to make out vague shapes—he couldn’t tell if she was alive or dead.
After a moment’s hesitation, he tentatively released his hand. She fell to the ground like a feather, limp and motionless. Niu Wenshan clicked his tongue in frustration. He’d watched this woman for days, gone through all that trouble to get her, and hadn’t even gotten a taste before she died.
“Should we go out?” Seeing that Niu Wenshan wasn’t responding, Su Xiaomei thought he hadn’t heard her. She mustered her courage, tugged at his arm, and repeated herself louder.
“Shut up.” In the darkness, Niu Wenshan’s eyes gleamed with menace. He impatiently grabbed Su Xiaomei by the throat. This stupid woman was always useless at critical moments. What if those people hadn’t gone far and heard her voice, then came back?
There was only one way in and out of this basement—if that happened, they’d be trapped like turtles in a jar.
“Going out to die? The entrance is well hidden—no one will find it for a while…” Before Niu Wenshan could finish, a deafening crash exploded from above. He didn’t even have time to react before the shockwave from the blast sent him and Su Xiaomei flying half a meter.
Debris rained down in a clatter, dust filling their eyes and mouths. At the same time, a blinding light pierced through—banishing the filthy darkness and turning it bright as day.
Then, four or five burly men jumped down through the blasted opening one by one, the weapons in their hands sending chills down anyone’s spine. Niu Wenshan and Su Xiaomei had never seen anything like this. They were frozen in terror, pale-faced, not daring to move. Within moments, they were pinned to the ground, held fast.
Once the scene was under control, one of the men found the entrance, opened it with a few quick moves, bowed respectfully, and stepped aside, standing by the door. Soon, a tall figure appeared there, followed by two or three others.
Seeming to find the filth beneath disagreeable, the man frowned and made no move to enter. It was only when his gaze swept over the woman lying motionless on the ground—her life hanging by a thread—that he finally stepped forward and descended the stairs.
“Brother Cheng, she’s still alive.” Someone was crouched beside Lin Aiyun, checking her pulse and breathing.
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