"After faking it the whole day, I'm tired now." Aria stood in front of the door, blocking everyone's exit. As nonchalantly as always, she said, "Okay, quit the act. Who will tell me where the keys to the basement are?"Olivia, who had taken Aria here, was barely hanging in there. One could see from her gaze the amount of regret she was feeling. Garrett cursed at Aria in the local dialect, which Aria couldn't understand. She wasn't dumb, so she grabbed Garrett and yanked him toward her. "You know where they are, I think."Liam threw a fit. "You dare touch my grandpa? I'll kill you!"Aria didn't bother looking at him. She'd hit anyone who came at her. "You'll never die in peace after beating up an old man!" Liam said, trying to catch his breath.Aria said slowly, "He's not an old man. He's more like a despicable creature. Your family's rotten from the older generations to the younger—your parents abduct other people, and your grandpa rears dogs that bite humans, so I'm dealing wi
Jenny turned back. She was still smiling when she collapsed into Aria's arms. Rainie was shocked. "Did you drug her too?""Her morals and outlook are already skewed, even though she's only six." Aria eyed her. "Some children are capable of greater evils than adults."While Rainie hesitated, Aria was already moving. Having studied criminology, she knew the importance of psychology.There had been cases where villagers had surrounded police cars in order to hinder officers from apprehending suspects. Despite identifying themselves, the villagers feigned ignorance and continued throwing bricks.These villages, despite pockets of kindness, harbored darkness. In one particularly egregious example, women were openly bought and sold. There, the concept of community was a cruel mockery, replaced by a living hell. Aria had assessed Rainie before deciding to trust her. Everyone else, including the children, remained off-limits for now. …The basement was vast and deep, noticeably cold
Aria paid no heed to his expression. She pulled him up and said calmly, "It will hurt, so hang on tight."Before Jeffrey could get a look at her, his dislocated arm was popped back into its socket with a loud crack. Jeffrey furrowed his brows as cold sweat ran down his back. Aria gave him a look. She had to credit Jeffrey for his pain tolerance. As expected of a soldier—the average person wouldn't have survived this. Even without dehydration and starvation claiming him, the untreated wound on his shoulder would lead to a runaway fever. Even now, his temperature was dangerously high. However, his mental fortitude was strong. Aria had provided him with a makeshift crutch, which he used to haul himself out of the basement.When Jeffrey exited the basement, Rainie wasn't the first person he'd noticed. Instead, it was Jenny. Jenny was lying beside the basement door. He'd planned to escape with Rainie, but on his way out of the village, he'd encountered Jenny and given her a bag
Sue only grasped Aria's plan as she began to drive. The injured Jeffrey disguised himself as Ollie. He had his arm draped around Rainie. Through the car windows, those outside couldn't discern his true identity.This village might have been small, but anyone leaving had to pass three checkpoints.It took Rainie a year to get past all three checkpoints. The first two were relatively easy, but the guards at the final checkpoint had very keen eyes. After stopping them, the guard peered into the car. He vaguely recalled that the Barter family car hadn't been so crowded when they entered the village. Rainie's face paled. However, Aria piped up casually, "Pull over and give him a scolding."Sue's hands trembled. "What?""How do you normally insult those in your way? Do it." Aria raised her chin. Sue met Aria's icy gaze, then at the pendant she was fiddling with. Sue contemplated using this opportunity to ask for help, but Aria's words chilled her. "The poison in your system will
The authorities at Uludon could not ignore the serious consequences of what had transpired.Cold sweat ran down Gregory Webb's back as he rushed toward Coral Village, racking his brain for solutions. Frank sat beside him, looking equally anxious. He turned his gaze toward Gregory and said, "I asked you about Olivia and Grant, and you assured me there was nothing wrong with them."Gregory paled. Feeling guilty, he said, "I had no idea this is how they were earning money.""You should at least know what's going on in a town under your jurisdiction, shouldn't you, as the county chief?" Frank's words were sharp. "When we tried to trace Rainbow, our leads were severed in your county.""I didn't understand why at first," Frank continued coldly. "But now I see—it's how the people here operate, and your leniency had been the biggest obstacle!"Gregory tried to distance himself from the scandal, assuming the airs of a bureaucrat. "You shouldn't let a small group of people shape your opin
Gregory's mind went blank when he heard the last sentence. He hadn't felt anxious when he'd heard that Perry Town had kidnapped someone and that Frank had come to seek him out, and he'd felt like he could deal with it even when everyone was waiting for him to surface on the Internet.However, he was now completely in a panic after getting that call because Ollie just had to lay his hand on someone backed up by Kenneth Kane. A heavy fog shrouded the mountains. The moment they took a turn into the paths leading to the village, their car was stopped by a horde of angry villagers. An old lady pounced forward, yelling, "Was it you who took that damn girl away?""Madam, calm down and listen to me, I'm—" Gregory raised his arms high. The old lady refused to listen to him. She spat on him. "I don't care who you are. Give us the girl!"Gregory was dumbfounded. He recalled how he'd been loved and respected by everyone the last time he'd shown up here. "Have you gone crazy? Do you know w
Rainie hadn't had the courage to get out of the car at first, as this place was the beginning of her nightmare. Even if she escaped this place, she would forever be different compared to her peers of the same age. Why had she been so dumb? Why had she believed the old man's words? Her blind trust had led to her abduction and imprisonment in the mountains. She'd been raped and had given birth to a child while all her classmates had bright futures. Two years of constant fear and diminished self-worth had carved a deep scar on her soul. Yet when Aria looked at her with that radiant smile of hers, Rainie felt a flicker of hope reignited in her heart. "You're right!" she agreed. "A woman's innocence isn't the only measure of her worth!""Then let's go," Aria chuckled. She turned her gaze to the lavish mansion. "They're probably waiting eagerly for me, their future daughter-in-law."…Gregory couldn't bear to imagine what would unfold. Aria's every word would shake the very foundati
Aria agreed coolly, "Sure."She then pushed Ollie to the side and let go of the rope she held. "You should be able to take fair action now, Mr. Barter."Dick immediately helped Ollie up. When he noticed that Ollie's legs were broken, his expression darkened. What wedding? He would just hold a funeral for Aria instead! "Tell me, miss, what did my son do to you?" Dick said with a sinister veneer of kindness on his face, "You should have considered yourself fortunate that he's set his sights on you. However, you weren't thankful at all! How dare you lay a hand on him!"Aria raised a brow. "He wanted to rape me, and you're telling me to be grateful? How is this lawful in any manner?""Here, in Perry Town, the Barter family is the law!" Dick bore down on Aria. "They kidnapped you because you look naїve and stupid—an easy target!"Aria fiddled with her amethyst pendant. "That was what you said when Rainie escaped from the village and asked for help from the town government, wasn't i