Chapter 23

Hearing the sound of sirens, the human traffickers who had rushed to the nanny van froze.

“Damn it, how did the police get here so fast?!”

From the moment Jiang Shuwan ran out of Ma Chunhua’s yard screaming for help, they knew today’s plan had failed.

Even if they racked their brains, they couldn’t figure out how Ma Chunhua—an experienced hand—had made a mistake, nor could they understand why this female background actress, who came to someone else’s house for dinner, just happened to have a nanny van waiting for her outside.

In short, none of it made any sense—but the operation had still gone completely wrong.

Normally, once things fell apart, they should’ve fled immediately. But this group was arrogant. The “meat” was already at their mouths—they weren’t willing to give it up.

So, they intended to smash the nanny van and take everyone inside, regardless of gender. After all, there was always a “market” for them. As long as they used the trafficking routes they’d built over the years, every person could be exchanged for cold hard cash.

In their calculations, even if Jiang Shuwan had called the police the moment she ran out, it would still take at least twenty minutes for the police to arrive. By that time, they’d have already snatched their targets and vanished.

But—

Idealism is plump, reality is bony.

They’d assumed grabbing a few small-time actors would take just a few minutes. Yet the target not only kicked Scarface Zhu Lao’er flat on his back, but then bolted like a gust of wind.

They’d assumed it would be easy to trap the nanny van in a village they knew like the back of their hand. But that van drove like it had lived there for years—racing through the winding village roads with zero hesitation, leaving them far behind.

And—

They thought smashing the car and grabbing people would be a piece of cake. But the nanny van, which had no badge and looked plain, turned out to be surprisingly sturdy. Just breaking a single window took all their strength.

Each of these seemingly minor “unexpected” factors added up, and the scene they had imagined—like starving wolves pouncing on lambs—never happened. On the contrary, by the time they caught up to the nanny van, way more time had passed than expected.

And then, “unexpectedly,” the police arrived.

The gang exchanged looks and quickly made a decision—split up and run.

They didn’t even care about the car anymore.

Forget that there was only one road out of the village—driving away now would basically be like announcing their position over a loudspeaker to the police.

---

Inside the nanny van.

Xiao Zhang, who had been curled up holding his head, cautiously peeked up. “Th-they’re gone?”

Old Lin, still gripping a stick, let out a long sigh, shoved the stick back under the driver’s seat, and said, “They ran.”

Xiao Zhang slumped back in his seat. “God, that scared me to death… Aiyo!”

He had accidentally slapped his hand down on shattered glass, leaving a cut on his palm. Thankfully, he reacted quickly—the wound wasn’t deep. He immediately warned, “There’s glass everywhere! Teacher Ji, be careful!”

In the back seat, Ji Hanzhang withdrew the hand that had been shielding Jiang Shuwan and glanced out the window.

The traffickers had already fled into the distance. Not far away, five or six police cars with flashing lights had stopped along the village road, and officers were rushing toward the direction the suspects had escaped.

Ji Hanzhang turned to look at Jiang Shuwan, who was now pulling the coat off herself. He warned her, “Watch your hands. Don’t touch the glass.”

As soon as Jiang Shuwan pulled off the coat, she looked at Ji Hanzhang.

Her window had also been shattered. Thanks to him throwing his coat over her just in time, she hadn’t been hurt. But sitting right beside her, Ji Hanzhang had clearly used his body to shield her when the window broke—so his condition was uncertain.

Sure enough, the moment she looked up, she saw two long, thin cuts on his neck. The crimson blood stood out sharply against his pale skin.

“Teacher Ji, you’re hurt!”

Jiang Shuwan looked at the wounds with a complicated expression. Thankfully, they weren’t deep—just surface scratches. Still, the fact that Ji Hanzhang had immediately protected her in such a critical moment, even taking off his coat, moved her deeply.

They weren’t even that close.

And today’s whole disaster had started because of her.

Ji Hanzhang let out a quiet “Mm” and said calmly, “It’s nothing. Just a small cut.”

When Xiao Zhang heard that Ji Hanzhang was injured, he immediately began freaking out again—though he was quickly “shut down” by his boss.

The others in the car all checked themselves. Aside from a few scrapes, no one had serious injuries. Mostly because it was cold, and everyone was bundled up in thick clothes.

But there was shattered glass everywhere, and any careless movement could result in “secondary injury” like Xiao Zhang. So, everyone decided to get out of the van.

A few elderly villagers who had been curiously watching from a distance now began shuffling over.

One elderly man, about seventy, smiled kindly as he spoke in heavily accented Mandarin: “You were filming a scene just now, right? Are you finished now? Aiyo, this van looks expensive—what a pity to see it smashed like that.”

Jiang Shuwan and the others exchanged looks, puzzled as to why these villagers thought they were filming.

Xiao Zhang, even more agitated, said, “How could we be filming?! What kind of scene would require smashing a van this expensive?!”

Seeing the wrecked nanny van, he felt like his heart was bleeding. Even though it wasn’t his car, it was still incredibly valuable!

The old man’s face twisted in confusion. “It’s not a shoot? But there were sticks and knives and everything.”

Jiang Shuwan observed the elderly folks’ expressions. They didn’t seem to be joking. “You all ran and hid just now because you thought we were filming?”

The old man replied, “Of course! Gotta stay out of the way during filming—don’t want to be caught on camera and cause trouble.”

They thought it was a film shoot and had deliberately avoided the scene to not cause any issues.

A chilling realization crept over Jiang Shuwan. Her voice went dry. “So… do film crews come here to shoot often?”

The old man beamed and nodded. “Oh yes! There’s always people getting grabbed and tied up—what do they call it? Right, live-action filming!”

A cold shiver ran down Jiang Shuwan’s spine. Her body trembled involuntarily. She turned to Ji Hanzhang, her eyes filled with rare helplessness.

Ji Hanzhang’s face was solemn, and though his expression remained calm, it was clear he had understood everything. He looked back at Jiang Shuwan—this girl who had faced human traffickers with such boldness and courage, now showed a rare moment of vulnerability.

He hesitated for a moment, then reached out and gently patted her shoulder.

Jiang Shuwan trembled slightly.

Ji Hanzhang picked up the conversation, asking the elderly man kindly, “There’s always a camera crew when filming. Did you see any cameras?”

The old man grinned, revealing silver-capped teeth. “Aiyo, it’s all real-scene filming nowadays. Aren’t the cameras always hidden in corners? You must’ve hidden them well—were probably trying to test us, weren’t you?”

Ji Hanzhang looked at the smile on the old man’s face. After a brief pause, he nodded and said, “That’s right. I was testing you.”

Jiang Shuwan lowered her eyes and stared at the ground, murmuring, “Yeah, the cameras were all hidden.”

All the strange details that had been nagging at her suddenly made sense.

When she had run out of Ma Chunhua’s courtyard screaming for help, none of the neighbors had come out to see what was going on.

When they had been chased through the village in the nanny van, not a single villager paid any attention. In fact, several times, she had seen elderly villagers rush to pull children off the roadside, as if avoiding a plague.

She had thought it was just that the villagers here were particularly cold and indifferent.

Who would’ve thought the truth was so much darker?

They simply had grown used to it.

This village must be an important base of operations for the trafficking gang. They had likely committed many crimes here—some even out in the open—using “filming” as a cover to fool the villagers.

The villages around the film city almost entirely depended on it to make a living—renting rooms to production crews and extras, or working in the film city themselves as extras or crew. Those who stayed behind in the villages were mostly elderly people and children—those least capable of discerning what was really going on.

Maybe these old people and children had mentioned something to their families about “real-scene filming” in the village, but film crews using rural settings around the city was such a common occurrence. As for hidden cameras—unless you’d seen one yourself, you’d just think they were confused or mistaken.

Using the excuse of filming to openly commit crimes in the village.

Something so outrageous—who would suspect it? Who could believe it?

These kind, smiling elderly villagers had no idea that the people they’d seen being snatched and bound were being handed over to monsters and taken away to hells unknown.

The truth was horrifyingly cruel.

---

Two hours later.

After finishing her statement, Jiang Shuwan was brought to Jiang Zhan’s office. He dumped a handful of red dates and goji berries into a tea cup, filled it with hot water, and handed it to his niece. “Here, have some tea to calm your nerves.”

Jiang Shuwan took the cup and looked around the office.

It wasn’t a big room. Two desks and several cabinets already made it feel cramped. One desk was piled so high with documents that there were more stacked in heaps against the wall, presumably because the desk couldn’t hold them all.

The entire space felt quite crowded.

But at least Jiang Zhan didn’t smoke, so the air in here was much better than in the room where she’d given her statement.

Jiang Zhan plopped himself down on the edge of the desk and looked her up and down, grumbling, “Tell me, have you read yourself stupid from too many books? Some half-stranger invites you out to eat and you go without thinking? Is your family starving you or denying you water? Even if your living expenses are tight, isn’t that idiot Han Jinzhou still around? He’s working his butt off day and night to make money—who else would he be earning for if not for you?”

Jiang Shuwan blinked innocently. “That older sister seemed really kind. How was I supposed to know she was a bad person?”

Jiang Zhan scoffed, “Do bad people have it written on their foreheads?”

She looked at him, blinked again, and said nothing.

Only then did Jiang Zhan realize that he wasn’t talking to his rough-and-tumble colleagues, or his cunning nephew Han Jinzhou, but to his pure and gentle niece. He cleared his throat and softened his tone.

“I’m just worried about you. Think about it—if anything happened to you, even if Han Jinzhou tried to fix it by throwing money around, wouldn’t he crush me to death with it first?”

Hearing this, Jiang Shuwan cleverly replied, “Then maybe it’s better not to tell him about what happened today?”

Jiang Zhan’s eyes widened. “Don’t even think about it. As soon as I wrap up here, I’m calling him!”

Jiang Shuwan tried to play dumb. “Is that really necessary?”

“How could it not be necessary? This is serious! You still want to keep it from him?” Her clueless and unbothered attitude was giving him a massive headache.

“You were lucky today, you know that? Last year, we already noticed strange disappearances around the film city. But with the constant flow of people, it was hard to pin anything down. These traffickers are especially cunning—that’s why we haven’t been able to catch them. But the undercover we planted among the extras managed to gather some clues. It was only after Sun Yunyun disappeared that we traced it back to Shangsi Village.”

Jiang Shuwan understood—this must have been the undercover actor Wang Youde had mentioned earlier.

Jiang Zhan continued, “If Shangsi Village hadn’t already been under surveillance, do you think we could’ve shown up so fast today? Just think about it—if we were ten minutes late, would you still be standing here, safe and sound?”

He was getting angrier and angrier the more he talked. Finally, he said, “I think you should forget about your so-called internship and go back to school. This place is a mess—you shouldn’t be here.”

Jiang Shuwan resorted to her classic tactic of “smile and nod at everything.”

Humbly accept, resolutely ignore.

She waited until he’d finished his long-winded rant before casually asking, “Uncle, whose office is this? It looks like everything on the desk belongs to you. When did you transfer departments?”

Jiang Zhan: “…”

Critical hit.

KO.