novelraw Chapter 292 - 270: Striving Together
Chapter 292 - 270: Striving Together
It’s almost New Year, and there’s hardly any transient people passing through here, barely any vehicles stop, so it’s fortunate that Qian’s signal still remains after all this time.
The rescue mission has made significant progress, and all team members are excited, they’re about to rescue them soon!
But now, there’s still a very serious problem.
If they bring in a large team, once they alert the enemy, those people will hide Qian and Shi Yu away, making it difficult to handle. There are too many places in the mountains where people can be hidden, and upon entering the village, they will face a whole village of people.
If violent resistance against law enforcement occurs, affecting the safety of Qian and Shi Yu, it would be hard to manage.
"One, what are you planning to do?" Qiao Zhen is now as tense as Yu Minglang.
His sister, Shi Yu, is still missing, and whenever he closes his eyes, it’s as if he hears her crying for help, his heart tightly clenched.
This sister occupies half of his life in his heart.
He just wants to find her now, hoping she is still alive and well.
"We’ll go up there by helicopter, when approaching the village, we’ll parachute down, the whole team will infiltrate the village, grab someone and interrogate for the exact location, then we’ll directly launch an assault to rescue her."
"A whole village of people, how do you plan to infiltrate?" Everyone thought it was unbelievable upon hearing.
It’s easier at night, but now it’s daytime, with people everywhere!
"We’re 011, there’s nothing we can’t manage." Said one of the team members following Yu Minglang.
Yu Minglang is now terribly anxious, eager to find Qian, but he knows that he must close his eyes and rest, reinvigorate during the drive up the mountain. Only this way he can adjust his state, after being on a continuous spin for over a day.
He doesn’t dare to think about whether Qian is okay now, he hardly asks for anything, as long as she’s still alive, he’d be incredibly happy, as would Qiao Zhen.
No matter what you’re going through, please be strong and survive, we are almost there!
Meanwhile, Qian and Shi Yu have not suffered the horrific scenarios imagined by Yu Minglang, they haven’t been beaten, rather in a certain sense, they’re quite fine for now.
They have been bluffing people all morning, gnawed on a chicken, devoured a big steamed bun as well.
Because Shi Yu successfully fooled the old lady, along with Qian’s lively cooperation, people coming to watch them were a constant stream all day.
Shi Yu earned more than 20 bucks for Da Gen, which is a huge sum, Da Gen was overjoyed.
Qian left Shi Yu without sharing the money, but Shi Yu gave Qian half a chicken, which was significant, so Apo was also very pleased.
When Qian went back, she seized the moment when no one was paying attention to pinch an incense stick. As she left, she combined two burning incense heads with unburnt ones, placed them atop half a chicken. The bowl covering them had a lid made of sorghum stalk which concealed the incense inside.
After these arrangements, Qian followed Apo back to Apo’s shabby house. Apo was covered in injuries, some left by the old rascal, some inflicted by Da Gen, and others were due to the aches and pains from the cold spread by Qian. She was walking slower than yesterday, hobbling along beside Qian.
Right now, she’s uncertain about how to treat Qian, unwilling to accept the bride she bought can’t bear grandchildren, yet also doesn’t dare disobey Da Gen’s wishes. Da Gen claimed he had something today and couldn’t come, saying nothing should happen to Qian for three days. Apo was holding back, planning for a chance after these days to take action.
A glance of menace flashed in the old woman’s triangular eyes, while Qian was calculating Apo’s steps, her injuries, and recalling her fierce grip from yesterday, assessing Apo’s combat capacity, estimating the success rate of her plan.
The weather today is still freezing, the small mountain wind causing flushed cheeks among villagers continues to blow. Qian initially disliked this wind upon arrival but surprisingly, she now finds it quite agreeable.
She lifted the sorghum stalk cover to check, finding that incense sticks had ignited multiple other pieces.
Incense stick may be small, but its potential danger is significant. Qian remembers from a book she read, the embers of incense can ignite cotton or wood in 3-7 minutes. Despite the small size, the incense embers burn similarly to cigarette embers; even with errors, variance should not be large.
Once the incense head ignites the wood pile, there’s open flame; and when it spreads, the speed accelerates, indeed, Qian’s plan was to set the wood pile afire, drawing attention elsewhere.
The yards here are all fenced with branches or wood, buildings are flammable too, stirring up trouble this way, villagers would surely focus on fighting the fire, Qian and Shi Yu would find it easier to escape.
If aided by wind, it might be even faster.
Passing a household, through its worn, low yard, she sees a man inside whipping a woman, surrounded by people watching in amusement, including another woman holding a child.
Qian recognized the beaten girl; she was kidnapped along with them.
Her gaze darkened, strengthened in conviction that her plan must proceed. Some people don’t deserve sympathy; ignorance isn’t a justification for apathy. At this place, abandoned by law, their logic entirely follows established conventions, within their logic, their actions are not wrong.
Thus, Qian felt that, in her logic, her actions too bear no fault. These people strive to fulfill reproductive hopes, disregarding law and humanity, only holding onto the belief "why shouldn’t I get what I want", hence why should she consider anything else. She only wants to take herself and her friends, and run away.
As for that girl...
After a few steps, Qian turned back to see the battered girl lying lifelessly on the ground, then closed her eyes.
It’s impossible to take her; being centrally located in the village, she and Shi Yu risk getting caught if they approach, plus, the girl’s injuries are too severe, carrying her won’t allow them to run far, leading to complete ruin.
So Qian can only place hope on her and Shi Touyu, that once they escape, they can return for others and rescue the unfortunate girl.
Compassion, empathy, everyone possesses it, but it must be exercised at the right time.
In such moments, strategic perspective is fundamental for success.
Back at Apo’s doorstep, Qian seized Apo’s inattentiveness, quickly tossing burning incense heads onto the wood pile, squeezing a couple underneath in fear the ones on top wouldn’t catch. In her haste, she accidentally burned a finger.
But that’s insignificant, what matters is, she’s managed it.
No matter if it burns; achieving success, what’s a little burn?