Chapter 22: Taken by the Men in Black

Da Ya wiped away the tears that had been scared out of her and said, “A few days ago, Zhao Hu, A’dou, and Tieniu made a bet with a few boys from neighboring villages. They agreed to meet today on the back mountain to fight it out. Whoever won would be the leader among them from now on.

Xing’er and I followed them up the mountain because we wanted to watch the fun. Then we saw Zhaodi and Cui’er from the neighboring village nearby picking wild vegetables. Since we hadn’t seen them in a while, we went over to chat with them and didn’t follow Zhao Hu and the others. After a while, a group of men in black suddenly appeared. They threw some kind of powder at the boys, and they all fainted. Then the black-clad men took them all away.”

At the time, Da Ya and the others had been sitting behind a large rock chatting. When they saw the black-clad men appear, Da Ya and Xing’er quickly covered Zhaodi and Cui’er’s mouths, afraid they’d make a sound and get caught too. If that had happened, there would’ve been no one left to run back and report what happened. Once the black-clad men left, Da Ya led the girls back to the village to find the village chief.

“How many men in black were there? Who exactly got taken?” Xiaojiu asked calmly.

This wasn’t the time to panic. She needed to clearly understand what had happened in order to make a rational and accurate decision.

“There were five men in black. Six kids were taken: Zhao Hu, A’dou, and Tieniu from our village, plus Shuazi from Xiahe Village and Zhuzi and Hei Wa from Xinghua Village,” Da Ya answered word by word.

The girls still felt some lingering fear. Thank goodness they hadn’t made a sound at the time—otherwise, they would’ve been captured too. Then there would’ve been no one left to bring the news back.

“You two, go back to your own villages and report what happened. Da Ya and Xinghua, go find the clan elder. I’ll head up the mountain to check it out first.” Xiaojiu threw out these instructions before dashing up the mountain.

Hearing the commotion, Yan Jue came out from the house and said, “I’ll go with you to check the back mountain.”

Everyone quickly split up and got moving.

Xiaojiu and Yan Jue hurried to the spot on the mountain where the children had been taken.

There were no signs of a struggle—which made sense. The black-clad men had knocked the boys out with powder as soon as they appeared, giving them no chance to resist.

Yan Jue crouched down and picked up a bit of powder from a grass leaf, sniffing it lightly.

“It’s knockout powder,” he said.

“Can you tell what kind?” Xiaojiu also crouched down and was about to sniff a bit herself, but Yan Jue slapped it out of her hand.

“This is knockout powder. Don’t sniff it.”

Xiaojiu looked at him with wide eyes, as if to say, Then why were you sniffing it just now?

Yan Jue replied with a blank expression, “My body’s different from normal people. Ordinary drugs don’t work on me.”

“Oh.” Xiaojiu dusted the powder off her hand and continued looking for any possible clues.

The wind rustled softly through the grass. Aside from the powder on the ground, the area looked the same as always when they came up here.

“Village Chief!” someone called from a distance. The elderly clan elder, supported by his son, was climbing up the mountain.

Other villagers who had heard the news were also starting to arrive one after another.

“Those cursed men in black! They dared to take my Tieniu—may they die a thousand deaths!”

“Those heartless monsters! My poor A’dou…”

“Humph! Once we catch them, I’ll tear them to pieces myself!”

“I don’t even know where those evildoers came from. Our village has always been peaceful—how did something like this happen?!”

“If I ever run into those men in black, watch me break their heads with my cane!”

Even before the people appeared, the angry voices of a few elderly women could be heard cursing and shouting.

It was clear that if those men in black were here right now, the villagers might actually charge forward and tear them apart.

“Village Chief, we should report this to the authorities. They dared to kidnap people in broad daylight—the magistrate must do something!” Clan Elder Zhou, who had finally caught his breath after being helped up the hill by his son, spoke up.

The other clan elders were so anxious they were pacing in circles. The village may have always been poor, but it had been peaceful for many years—they’d never encountered anything like this before.

Now, after hearing the accounts from Da Ya and Xing’er, about how those black-clad people knew martial arts and even used drugs, the elders were genuinely worried about the safety of the children.

“I remember Cuihua went up the mountain with Zhao Hu and the others,” Xiaojiu suddenly said.

“What?! They didn’t even spare a chicken?” Old Lady Xu raised her voice in disbelief.

“Those heartless bastards!”

“It probably wasn’t like that. Cuihua most likely followed them willingly,” Xiaojiu said, pointing to the colorful chicken feed scattered not far from their feet.

“Cuihua is probably using her feed to leave a trail.”

This was special chicken feed Xiaojiu had exchanged from the system specifically for Cuihua. Since Cuihua had rather odd tastes, Xiaojiu gave her bright, multicolored feed.

Cuihua often ran off and didn’t stay put. Xiaojiu frequently forgot to feed her, and for some reason, Cuihua had developed a picky habit—she only ate the food exchanged from the system.

So Xiaojiu came up with a solution: she had Auntie Liu sew a little pouch for Cuihua, so she could carry her own food around and feed herself whenever she got hungry.

Seeing the feed scattered here and farther ahead, Xiaojiu knew Cuihua must be leaving a trail on purpose.

When the villagers heard this from their village chief, a spark of hope ignited in their hearts.

“You all go back to the village and wait for news. Master Yan and I will follow the trail and check it out,” Xiaojiu told the villagers.

“I’m coming too,” Zhao Dalang stepped forward. His son was among those taken—how could he let the village chief face danger alone?

A few strong men also stood up, expressing their willingness to go with the village chief.

“Village Chief, we’re coming too. This is a perfect chance to test the martial arts we’ve been practicing lately,” Lin Qi and the others said.

Seeing everyone eager to come, Xiaojiu deadpanned, “All of you go back. Master Yan and I are faster on our own. Taking you along will only slow us down.”

The men instantly regretted not training harder in their martial arts.

“Village Chief, we’ll try our best to keep up. You don’t need to worry about us. If anything happens, we can report back to the village right away,” Lin Qi quickly explained.

Xiaojiu figured it was fine for Lin Qi and the others to follow behind, so she said, “Alright, then you all follow from behind. The rest of you, go back and wait for updates.”

With that, she and Master Yan followed the trail deeper into the forest.

The villagers, seeing that the village chief had made her decision, had no choice but to return to the village and wait anxiously for news. Inwardly, they all made a silent vow: from now on, they would train their martial arts to the bitter end. If something like this ever happened again, they didn’t want to be useless and let their village chief take all the risks.

Lin Qi and the others hurried to keep up with the two ahead.