Chapter 19: The Bait
“…”
Leng Qing Qiu’s sudden disappearance caught Lu Zhiyin off guard.
She couldn’t understand how the person who had been pushing her just moments ago could vanish just by shifting her gaze.
Watching the people walk by, Lu Zhiyin felt lost.
She felt her pocket; thirty yuan was still there, but money seemed useless to her now.
The priority was to find Leng Qing Qiu.
Even a fool like her knew what consequences a beautiful girl with limited mobility would face alone in a red-light district.
Forcing down the panic, Lu Zhiyin maneuvered her wheelchair with difficulty, turning around. Facing the crowd, she became even more confused.
Should she return to where Leng Qing Qiu had parked the car? Or should she wait at the current spot for Leng Qing Qiu to find her?
Anxiously scratching at her school uniform, Lu Zhiyin slowly moved in the direction she came from, calling out.
“Classmate Leng Qing Qiu? Where are you? Leng Qing Qiu?”
She called out a couple of times tentatively. As expected, the pedestrians on the street turned their gazes towards her.
Feeling suffocated by their stares, Lu Zhiyin lowered her head and stopped speaking.
She was terrified. After all, being alone here meant she could be taken away at any moment.
Lu Zhiyin touched her hair, using her long, greyish-white hair to cover her face, leaving only enough space to see.
She thought that as long as her face wasn’t seen, and people thought she was an ugly monster, it might reduce the chances of being attacked.
With that thought, Lu Zhiyin slowly moved along the path she had taken.
In a dark corner, Leng Qing Qiu quietly watched the white-haired girl in the wheelchair move against the flow of the crowd, making her exceptionally conspicuous.
Leng Qing Qiu had already put on a black mask. Her brown hair wasn’t particularly noticeable in the crowd, so Lu Zhiyin couldn’t find her in a short time.
She used Lu Zhiyin as bait to attract her target.
Watching Lu Zhiyin move against the crowd, Leng Qing Qiu felt no worry. She believed her plan would go without a hitch and that she could appear in time to save Lu Zhiyin if she encountered real danger.
However, during this time, Lu Zhiyin would likely be frightened.
Unaccountably thinking about the girl who had handed her skewers earlier, Leng Qing Qiu, hidden in the shadows, closed her eyes.
Then, she noticed the entrance of a bar. Her target had started to act.
This area was where her target most frequently appeared, which was why she had brought Lu Zhiyin here.
But even if she didn’t attract the specific person, it didn’t matter.
After all, those who intended to harm a lone girl were also deserving of death.
Thinking this, Leng Qing Qiu walked silently along the edge of the street, dressed in black, almost blending into the night.
“…Are you playing tricks on me again?”
Lu Zhiyin muttered to herself, head lowered.
Honestly, she knew very well that Leng Qing Qiu had deliberately abandoned her. After all, with such a large wheelchair, and the fact that she had been holding the handles, it was impossible to have lost her accidentally.
But what was her purpose? Lu Zhiyin couldn’t figure it out.
She had said she needed help killing someone, but then she threw her aside and left her to fend for herself. Lu Zhiyin really couldn’t understand Leng Qing Qiu’s thought process.
While maneuvering the wheelchair against the crowd, Lu Zhiyin recalled Leng Qing Qiu’s earlier words.
She had said her target tonight was a human trafficker who had kidnapped several girls and sold them to brothels. And wasn’t their destination the red-light district?
And now she was here.
“……?”
The hands controlling the wheelchair suddenly stopped. Lu Zhiyin seemed to finally realize something, her pupils trembling uncontrollably.
Is this… her being used as bait?
Knowing in her heart that she was probably a bait, Lu Zhiyin felt a pang of sadness.
She reached out and gently touched her chest. Then, the wheelchair suddenly started moving again, even though Lu Zhiyin hadn’t touched it.
Subconsciously, she thought Leng Qing Qiu had come back.
She turned her head, but what met her eyes wasn’t Leng Qing Qiu, but a lecherous old man.
He was wearing a black coat and smelled strongly of alcohol and smoke, which made Lu Zhiyin feel uncomfortable.
The man turned Lu Zhiyin’s wheelchair in a different direction, and Lu Zhiyin only then reacted.
“Help! Help! Human trafficker!”
She started to cry for help. Inarticulate, she didn’t even know how to call for help properly, only blindly shouting for help.
This kind of plea was perhaps a bit exaggerated, and the pedestrians on the street once again turned their many gazes towards her.
“Heh heh, not at all. This is my granddaughter. She has a fever and is talking nonsense,” the man behind her said with a fake smile, explaining to the passersby.
Strangely, these pedestrians actually believed the man’s words. After that, no matter how much Lu Zhiyin cried for help, no one paid any attention to her anymore.
Or rather, perhaps people knew that the man was not Lu Zhiyin’s relative. They were simply too lazy to get involved.
People had seen too much kidnapping and had become numb. In fact, some people even started to think it was the victim’s fault.
Why walk alone? Why come to such an unsafe place?
In the eyes of some, those who were kidnapped deserved it.
The man behind her seemed to have done this many times before. He skillfully pushed Lu Zhiyin forward quickly. To prevent Lu Zhiyin from causing any more unnecessary trouble, he pulled out a piece of cloth and stuffed it into her mouth.
Unable to cry for help, Lu Zhiyin began to try to hit the man behind her with her hands, but it was all in vain.
They moved further and further away like this. Finally, the man stopped with Lu Zhiyin in front of a dark alley. Not far from the alley was a brothel that was in business.
The man pulled Lu Zhiyin off the wheelchair and pushed aside her long hair. Looking at the girl’s face, he chuckled.
“Heh, you’re so pretty. You’re really lucky. This is enough money for a month’s worth of alcohol. Little girl, why didn’t you go somewhere else? You had to come to a place like this. Have some sense in your next life.”
He grabbed Lu Zhiyin’s hands, which were still struggling, tore a strip of cloth from her clothes, and tightly tied Lu Zhiyin’s wrists. The man looked at the girl’s frightened eyes.
He had done this many times before, snatching girls from the crowd.
Most of the girls sold to brothels by him would die quickly from endless customers.
After all, girls sold to brothels were different from those who worked there. Those sold to brothels were essentially machines without human rights.
“Mhm, mmm…”
Lying on the slightly damp ground, Lu Zhiyin writhed like a large caterpillar.
Fear occupied her mind, and she kept trying to retreat.
