After Lu Mingshu explained how she got there, both parties went silent.
After a long time, the old woman broke the silence; “So, the youngster was missing, and you found out that it was the water dragon tornado after the investigation?”
“Yes,” she replied. “There are many people who travelled the route where he went missing. After asking them, I found out that, the day he went missing, there was a water dragon tornado.”
“How could you be so sure that it was because of the water dragon tornado?”
“I couldn’t, but that was the most suspicious thing.”
“Okay.” The old woman seemed to lightly let out a sigh.
Lu Mingshu asked, “Grandma, is he still here? Is it because of the separation that he can’t hear me?”
“He isn’t here anymore.”
“What?!” Lu Mingshu jumped out of her skin. “What do you mean he’s not here anymore? He…”
“He should still be alive,” the old woman teased. “That youngster, he’s so crafty and smart. He must have fooled the Drug Lord badly.”
Lu Mingshu didn’t get what she meant, but she could understand that Xie Lianzhen was fine.
Before Lu Mingshu could clarify, the uncle started yelling at the old woman, “Hey, old witch, what do you mean? Fooled the Drug Lord?”
“Heh.” The old woman snickered. “That kiddo is very sharp-tongued. As soon as he arrived, Xiao Zhangzi and Old Man Liao started rethinking their lives. If I was near him, I think I would be in a daze too right now. After a few days, he was taken out and has never returned since then.”
The uncle knew someone came in recently, but because he was too far, he did not know who the person was and didn’t keep up with it. He paused for a while before continuing, “How can you be so sure that it’s him fooling the Drug Lord and not the Drug Lord killing him?”
The old woman sneered: “Oh my, not only are you ugly, but you do not have a brain either. That kiddo is already at the peak of the Harmonization Realm, it isn’t that easy to end his life. Even if the Drug Lord has some extremely poisonous things to try it out, he would use us first. Why would he risk losing such a precious lab rat?”
“Bitch,” the uncle mumbled unhappily. “Why are you bashing me? Do you need some lessons on propriety in speech, old woman?”
“So what if I bash you? I tried propriety before, but I’m still stuck in this hellhole.”
The uncle was speechless.
“Grandma,” Lu Mingshu interrupted, breaking the tension between them. “When was he brought out?”
“Erm… three or four days after he came.”
In other words, Xie Lianzhen’s went missing again soon after he arrived at this place.
Lu Mingshu took in a deep breath and calmed herself down. She experienced how sharp Xie Lianzhen’s tongue was first-hand, and he never failed to give her the urge to murder him immediately. The old woman said that he left two of his neighbours in a daze as soon as he arrived, so fooling around with a lunatic obsessed with drugs shouldn’t be too hard.
“What’s the Drug Lord like?”
The old woman and uncle didn’t respond. Lu Mingshu somehow felt their fear. One would be extremely fearful of somebody who tortured them, regardless of how long it lasted. For both of them, who had been through this for such a long time, the fear and pain haunting them every single day…
Finally, the old woman broke the silence; “You’ll find out soon. Seize this time to rest or else…”
“Is it very painful?”
“Of course,” the uncle taunted. “How else would I end up in this state? Little girl, cherish your last few days! It will be your turn soon….”
“Number Five, come out!”
She finally heard the phrase that she was waiting for.
Lu Mingshu got up to tidy her clothing while the metal door was slowly opened.
With this distance, she was very sure that she could take down these guards who only recently broke into the Harmonization Realm if she attacked.
She slowly walked toward the gate, but as soon as she reached it, a huge rope flew toward her, tying her up in no time. There was a strong mystic force in the rope that confined her power.
Two people looked at her with satisfaction and pulled her out of her cell.
The old woman’s words rang in her head; “Don’t try to fight back when they are here to get you. They may seem weak, but they have their ways. It’ll be dangerous as soon as you step out of the cell. The more you try to fight back, the worse the time you’ll have.”
Why would she fight back though? Where would she look for Xie Lianzhen if she didn’t get to meet the Drug Lord?
Step by step, she slowly walked to the end of the corridor, passing the cells one by one, exiting the place shortly.
The sudden contact with sunlight caused her to squint her eyes in pain.
“Move!” the guards yelled at her. Perhaps they were happy with how cooperative she was, but they didn’t push her roughly. They only yelled at her.
Once she adapted to the brightness outside, she continued to walk forward, and her eyes darted everywhere, observing the environment.
This should be somewhere in the mountains. Their cells should be built by rocks from here. There isn’t much civilization nearby. The trees here are huge, blocking most of the sunlight, and there isn’t much grass around. Even though it’s already noon, the temperature around the forest is still relatively low, and the environment gives a cold feeling….
After they travelled for about a hundred meters, they arrived at another valley.
There were rows of houses in the valley, and the people wore clothing similar to the guards. They were working hard. They didn’t even pay attention to the guards when they brought Lu Mingshu over, as if it was normal to them.
Lu Mingshu looked at them closely. The landforms, buildings, people… everything was remembered in her heart.
The guards brought her to a cave.
Compared to the forest, the cave felt even colder.
After a long walk in the mountain ally, she finally arrived in a segregated cave. The cave was filled with tools of different kinds, and there was a weird smell coming from the cave.
“Drug Lord, Number Five is here.”
Lu Mingshu then saw a fat and white man coming out from the pile of tools.
Back in the cells, after Lu Mingshu left, the uncle suddenly started, “Old woman, you have not given up, huh?”
After a while, a moody voice could be heard, “Have you? That’s good. One will die as soon as they give up, and when you do, you won’t need to go through hell anymore.”
“Pah!” the uncle clicked his teeth. “Why would I want to die when an old woman like you is still alive and kicking?”
“Kiddo, you’re in a very bad state right now. You can handle up to five more times at most,” the old woman said gloomily.
The uncle’s voice became weak. He sighed. “Whatever. Tell me truthfully, you have been silent for such a long time, so what made you speak to that silly girl? Do you really think that she’ll be able to escape?”
“I’ll try anything since I still have hope. Old Man Liao, don’t you agree?”
The old man coughed and replied, “I really thought you were going to die when you kept quiet that time.”
“I don’t trust that kiddo.” The old woman sneered.
“So what?” the old man replied calmly. “There’s hardly ever any new people here, we do not have any choice.”
“But he isn’t honest!”
“Being honest won’t get you out of here.”
“So you don’t believe in that silly girl?” the old woman responded, realizing the old man’s emotions.
“I didn’t say that. Let’s just wait and see.” After this, the old man stopped speaking.