Chapter 2099
[2099] If nobody knows, then it's not illegal, right?
"boom--"
Ye Feng slammed on the brakes, and the car slid several meters on the dirt road, kicking up a cloud of dust.
He pushed open the car door and got out.
Zhang Youting quickly followed.
The two walked quickly toward the mud-brick house.
The closer you get, the clearer the sound becomes.
Inside the adobe house.
Three young women were sitting on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs.
They were wearing Lingyun Real Estate uniforms, now covered in mud and grime. Their faces were bruised, and there was blood at the corners of their mouths; they had clearly been beaten.
The woman in the lead was a woman in her late twenties named Lin Xiaoyu. She held her head high, staring intently at the woman standing in front of her.
The woman was in her forties, with dark skin and a thin build, but her eyes gleamed with a sharp and ruthless light. She wore a tattered floral blouse and mud-caked canvas shoes, and indeed looked like someone from a poor family.
But what she said was completely inconsistent with her appearance.
"Wang Cuihua!" Lin Xiaoyu gritted her teeth, her voice trembling with anger, "You're committing fraud! It's a crime!"
“Scam?” Wang Cuihua—the woman from the impoverished household—grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. “Little brat, you can’t say things like that.”
She crouched down and reached out to pat Lin Xiaoyu's face, the gesture flippant and insulting.
“It was Lingyun Real Estate that came to us, saying they wanted to donate money to build houses for us ‘poor people.’ We never forced you.”
“But you’re not impoverished at all!” another female employee next to Lin Xiaoyu couldn’t help but shout. “We’ve checked your short video accounts online! You’re always making videos of yourself eating chaff and wearing tattered clothes to scam netizens out of sympathy and donations! Those videos are all staged!”
"So what if it's an act?" Wang Cuihua scoffed, stood up, put her hands on her hips, and looked righteous. "Those netizens who are willing to donate money are stupid! Your Lingyun Real Estate who are willing to build houses are even more stupid!"
As she spoke, she looked around at the dozen or so "villagers" gathered around her.
These people included men and women, young and old, but without exception, their faces all bore the same greed and indifference.
"Besides," Wang Cuihua turned to look at Lin Xiaoyu, her voice turning cold, "what's the use of saying all this now? Your people are in our hands, and there are only three of you on the construction site. If you don't do as we say today, don't even think about leaving here alive!"
"You dare!" Lin Xiaoyu gritted her teeth. "Kidnapping is a serious crime! What you're doing is illegal!"
"Illegal?" Wang Cuihua burst into laughter as if she'd heard a joke. After she'd laughed enough, she leaned closer to Lin Xiaoyu, lowered her voice, and said, word by word:
"Little girl, let me tell you, deep in these mountains—"
"As long as no one knows, it's not illegal."
As soon as she finished speaking, a man in his thirties rubbed his hands together and leaned closer with a lewd grin on his face.
"Sister Cuihua, why waste your breath on them?" The man stared at Lin Xiaoyu and the other two, his eyes gleaming. "I think these three girls are all pretty. Before selling them to Myanmar, why don't we let the brothers have some fun first?"
"That's right!" Several men nearby chimed in, rubbing their hands together and crowding around, eager to get started.
"You...you stay away!" The female employee next to Lin Xiaoyu was so frightened that her voice changed.
The men drew closer and closer.
Their eyes were filled with greed and desire.
Lin Xiaoyu bit her lip so hard it bled. She looked at the approaching men, then at the indifferent "villagers" around her, and a wave of despair washed over her.
Is it really going to be this day, ruined by these scumbags...?
Just then—
"boom!"
The dilapidated wooden door of the mud-brick house was kicked open from the outside.
The wooden door cracked open, scattering wood chips everywhere.
Everyone was startled and turned sharply to look at the doorway.
The last rays of the setting sun shone through the doorway, casting two long shadows on the ground.
Ye Feng stood at the doorway, backlit, making it impossible to see the expression on his face.
But everyone could feel the icy aura emanating from him. (End of Chapter)