Chapter 23: 23

From Huo Ran’s knowledge of the locals, they’d be fine if their opponents were under 20 years old, but they’d probably have no chance when facing locals over 30 like these.

Although it was 3 vs. 3, he didn’t know Old Yang’s ability, and as for his own… Seeing as he’d barely been in any fights, only Kou Chen stood a fighting chance out of the three of them. 

That’s why Huo Ran went for the clubs in their hands. He admits that he didn’t have the ‘guts’ to hurt them. What if that angers them even more? He really didn’t want to get beat into a ditch.

The baton accurately aimed towards the club in one of the locals’ hands.

CLANG!

The club was still in his hand. 

Well that’s awkward.

And very dangerous.

He raised his hand and waved the club at his face. It wasn’t flashy, and compared to when Kou Chen made a guy fly, his movements were simple.

But it was powerful. Huo Ran could hear the swish of the club cutting through the air.

Swoosh.

As Huo Ran dodged to the side, Old Yang’s leg came down onto the club.

Careful!

Most people would slip and fall after trying that. It was like taking 0.25 of the opponent’s health and 804 of your own. 

But that shock only flashed through his mind for a second.

Old Yang didn’t slip. The club hit the floor, making the local stagger forward with it. Kou Chen brought an elbow down onto his back and sent him sprawling.

Old Yang was also wearing Arc’teryx shoes.

The mighty Arc’teryx! 

Huo Ran considered asking his dad for a pair of Arc’teryx shoes in exchange for a couple of kowtows.

But he could tell that Kou Chen wasn’t hitting with all his strength. He was probably also afraid of really angering these locals.

Huo Ran ran back in and joined the fight. Kou Chen and Old Yang had their knife and dagger, but it was really just for show right now, they were afraid to use them. The only thing that could be used was his baton. 

So Huo Ran aimed at their clubs. Hit, kick, get hit, hit, punch, get kicked…

Kou Chen fought eagerly with his bare fists, using a completely different strategy than his previous fights.

As he swung his fists, he yelled: “What are you doing! What do you want! Why are you starting a fight—ah—what are you doing—”

If it weren’t for the fact that Huo Ran could clearly see him, he would’ve thought Kou Chen was rolling around on the floor getting beat up. 

“What are you yelling for? Why are you yelling?” The locals weren’t at all used to this strategy of his. He yelled back angrily, “What are you doing, stealing other people’s wives! What do you want?!”

“We stole someone else’s wife my ass!” Huo Ran yelled, “That’s human trafficking! Human trafficking! Human trafficking…”

Huo Ran felt like a broken record, not knowing what else to say.

“What do you mean human trafficking?” The local was pissed, lunging at him, “They paid the bride price! That idiot Tang’s family paid the money!” 

That idiot Tang?

Huo Ran remembered what Madam Gao said. Her husband was Old Tang, and he beat her.

He’s an idiot?

Buying an idiot to be an idiot’s wife? An euphemistic bride price? 

The other locals shouted back from the forest Madam Gao ran into, and the ones over here paused for a second.

Huo Ran tensed up, trying to hear what they were saying.

He could faintly make out “didn’t…” something something.

Someone else shouted. 

“Didn’t find her!”

Huo Ran breathed a sigh of relief.

The locals hesitated, and at that moment, Kou Chen suddenly leaped up and aimed a kick at the closest guy’s shoulder.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

He barely had any space to run up, but his kick was still high and powerful. It shocked Huo Ran and the local was knocked back into the other two, making them all stumble back and fall to the ground. 

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Kou Chen’s sense of direction was decent, and Old Yang and Kou Xiao followed after him into the forest. From the back, Huo Ran was surprised that he was heading in the direction of the river and not back where they came from.

The locals didn’t chase after them, Huo Ran confirmed after looking behind him a few times.

But they still ran without stopping.

Mainly because the forest was bumpy and covered in all sorts of things, like leaves, sticks, and rocks, so they couldn’t run very fast. They had to run for longer in order to widen the distance between them in case the locals came after them. 

“How is it?!” Kou Chen yelled as he ran.

“They’re not coming after us,” Huo Ran replied, “Nobody’s behind us.

“Where should we stop?” Kou Xiao was a bit out of breath, but she still kept going.

“There’s a hill up ahead,” Huo Ran said. “And a forked road after that. One’s to the river and one’s to the village to stock up. We can stop there. A lot of people pass by so they probably won’t look for us there.” 

“Impressive,” Old Yang said, “You can even tell where the forest leads to?”

“I’ve been once with other people, one of them had a dog and it ran into the woods, so we had to go look for it.” Huo Ran said. “It’s in the same general direction.”

After some more running, Kou Chen started to descend down a hill: “This hill, right?” 

“Yup, be careful, it’s steep.” Huo Ran said.

“We’re finally… there…” Kou Xiao panted, but before she could finish, she slipped and fell, sliding down the hill.

Old Yang was behind her and tried to grab her bag, but missed.

“Kou Chen!” Huo Ran yelled. 

As Kou Chen turned around, Kou Xiao was already behind him. He reached out to stop her but she was sliding too fast, so she bowled him over.

The two of them slid down the hill together.

“AH! The foot!” Kou Xiao’s voice wavered as she slid down the bumpy hill.

“What’s wrong?” Old Yang followed behind her in worry, voice wavering as well, “What’s wrong with your foot?!” 

“Kou Chen’s foot!” Kou Xiao slid to the bottom. “I kicked his ankle!”

“It’s fine.” Kou Chen sat on the ground.

That obviously meant he wasn’t fine. If he was, then knowing Kou Chen, he would’ve been flaunting around right now.

“Take your shoe off.” Huo Ran ran down, throwing his bag onto the ground. He took out a long drawstring pouch from his bag. 

“A pad?” Kou Chen asked.

“What pad?” Huo Ran was confused.

“My sister’s pads look just like that.” Kou Chen said. “But they’re not that long.”

“…Fuck off!” Huo Ran glared at him. He quickly got out a popsicle shaped pouch from it, pink with a white flower pattern. “Look!” 

“I mean, Ranran,” Kou Xiao laughed out loud, “It really looks like it.”

“What is it?” Kou Chen poked it.

“Instant cold pack.” Huo Ran sighed and grabbed it.

“Cold pack?” Kou Chen was a bit shocked. “How do you keep it cold?” 

“You don’t need to. Just squeeze it when you have to use it.” Huo Ran said. “It’s like those hand warmers.”

“These exist?” Kou Chen took it curiously, squeezing it in his hand. “Like this? Cool… It’s getting cold! It’s really cold!”

“Let me see?” Old Yang reached out.

Kou Chen handed over, and he squeezed it too: “It really is, that’s cool. 

Kou Xiao played with it for a moment too, before it returned to Huo Ran.

“Did you twist your ankle?” Huo Ran looked at Kou Chen. “Take your shoe off, put this in your sock.”

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“It’s not that bad…” Kou Chen said that, but he still took his left shoe off and stuffed the cold pack into his sock. “How long will it stay cold for?”

It was probably twisted. It looked a bit swollen, but it wasn’t too serious. 

“Twenty, thirty minutes I guess.” Huo Ran said. “I brought four of them.”

“I find that you camping people,” Kou Chen said, “Are like Doraemon.”

“Little things like that aren’t usually needed.” Huo Ran said. “But just in case you actually do end up needing them.”

“What else do you have? Lemme see.” Kou Chen took his bag and peered inside it. 

“Are you gonna put them back after?” Huo Ran asked.

Kou Chen immediately took his hands back.

“What do we do?” Kou Xiao looked back at the forest after recovering for a bit. “We don’t know if she’s okay or not.” 

“I heard them say they didn’t find her.” Huo Ran said. “I’m not too sure, but it was pretty hard for us to catch her, and now she’s even wearing shoes.”

“Did those guys mean that she was married into the family?” Old Yang said. “They gave the bride price, so that’s marriage? Is that what they meant?”

“Sounds like it.” Huo Ran said.

“We still have to call the police, who cares if it was a proper marriage, if it’s an idiot for an idiot.” Kou Xiao said. “Anyone can see that something’s up with them! Even if it’s just a misunderstanding, we have to call the police! Did you see that she had old scars on her legs, and she said Old Tang hits her. Even if it wasn’t human trafficking, domestic abuse isn’t fucking okay either! Even in the city people die from that, much less in these remote villages…” 

“Calm down, calm down.” Old Yang rubbed her chin, patting her face gently. “We’ll call the police when there’s signal.”

“Don’t touch my face with your dirty hands.” Kou Xiao rolled her eyes.

“…Here.” Old Yang handed her a wet wipe.

“I have moisturizer on,” Kou Xiao said. “If I wipe it off I have to apply it again, that’s annoying!” 

“I’ll apply it for you.” Old Yang said.

“Oh my god…” Kou Chen covered his ears and laid down on the ground. He turned towards Kou Chen, “I can’t take it anymore, I bet they made maltose in their past life.”

“Go away then.” Kou Xiao kicked his butt.

“Come on, come on,” Kou Chen moved closer to Huo Ran, pushing him to the side. “Ranran, let’s go kiss over there.” 

“Can’t a twisted ankle make you shut up?” Huo Ran moved a meter away from him.

Kou Chen immediately scooted over: “I twisted my ankle, not my mouth…”

Huo Ran was about to beat him up, when he suddenly heard a notification sound.

Meow. 

“Whos?” Kou Chen jumped up.

“Mine!” Huo Ran ran to his bag, it was his notification sound.

“Holy shit, is there signal?!” Kou Chen ran to his own bag, moving so fast you wouldn’t even know he just twisted his ankle.

A few seconds later, they all had their phones in their hands. 

“No signal.” Old Yang said.

“Same.” Kou Xiao said.

“Nope.” Kou Chen frowned.

“I don’t have it anymore either.” Huo Ran stared at his phone, at the notification Xu Zhifan sent him this morning. “It was probably just for a moment, there’s signal closer to the village over there.” 

-go check if the ass pink rocks from the river last year are still there

The fuck kind of colour is ass pink?

“Won’t it be unsafe near the village?” Old Yang asked.

“We just don’t want to run into those guys again.” Huo Ran said as he typed out the same message to his dad and Xu Zhifan. Guess it’ll depend on his luck when they get sent out. 

-the forked road near the river, call the police, I think we ran into some human traffickers and an escaped victim, we’re safe, not hurt, and they’re not after us

“Let’s get going.” Kou Xiao stood up. “I’m okay now. Kou Chen, can you walk?”

“Yup.” Kou Chen stood up.

Huo Ran took out some bandages and tied them around the cold pack, so it wouldn’t fall out when he walked. 

“What an experience.” Old Yang said. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“As long as we make it back safe, it’s gonna be great bragging material for my brother.” Kou Xiao said.

“After we call the police… Are we gonna keep going?” Kou Chen asked.

Huo Ran looked at him: “Probably not? Xu Zhifan and my dad will call your dad when they get the message, your dad must be worried.” 

“He might beat me up.” Kou Chen said.

Xu Zhifan called Huo Ran twice but they didn’t go through. He tried Kou Chen’s number to no avail. So he flipped through the phone book and found Huo Ran’s dad’s number.

Huo Ran’s dad picked up immediately. 

“Uncle, I’m Zhifan.” Xu Zhifan said as he put his shoes on. “Did you get Huo Ran’s message?”

“Yes, I called the police.” Huo Ran’s dad said. “I’m heading over there right now.”

“I’ll be at the gates in a minute,” Xu Zhifan said. “Bring me with you when you pass by.”

“What are you going for?” Huo Ran’s dad said. 

“Even the police are involved, there’s no way I’m missing that.” Xu Zhifan said. “What’s Huo Ran gonna think of me if I don’t go?”

Xu Zhifan hung up and ran out, yelling out as he passed the first floor: “Granny, I’m going out.”

“Who?” His grandmother said.

“Your grandson!” Xu Zhifan ran out of the hallway. 

Huo Ran’s dad arrived soon after, and as he jumped in the car, he saw that he was on the phone with someone.

“They should be fine now. Huo Ran has a lot of experience. He said they aren’t hurt and nobody’s chasing them, so it’s gonna be fine.” He said. “Did you call the police too?”

Hearing that, he should be talking to Kou Chen’s family.

“Alright,” Huo Ran’s dad said. “There’s no traffic, I should be at yours in fifteen minutes, license plate 789.” 

“Kou Chen’s dad?” Xu Zhifan asked after he hung up.

“Mhm.” Huo Ran nodded. “Huo Ran left me their number. He’ll usually give me everyone’s contact information in case something happens.”

“His dad’s probably worried.” Xu Zhifan said.

“More worried about Kou Chen’s sister.” Huo Ran’s dad laughed. 

Passing by Kou Chen’s neighbourhood, one of the two Land Cruisers parked by the street honked, and a middle-aged man ran out of it.

“Huo Ran’s dad?” The man immediately ran over and yelled at Xu Zhifan sitting in the passenger seat.

This man must be Kou Chen’s dad. He wore ordinary clothes, and was more well kept than most men his age. But he exuded the air of ‘let me tell you, I’m a mafia man, the kind you can recognize with a glance’. Even if he were just standing, Xu Zhifan felt like he could guess that he was Kou Chen’s dad. 

He leaned back and pointed at Huo Ran’s dad in the driver’s seat.

“Hello, you can…” Before he could finish, Kou Chen’s dad whistled to the two Land Cruisers by the road.

They started to drive up, and he nudged Xu Zhifan: “Kid, you sit in the back.”

Xu Zhifan startled, he didn’t think Kou Chen’s dad would get in their car, it was a hatchback… But it was an emergency, so he quickly crawled into the back seat. 

“Lead the way,” Kou Chen’s dad got in the car, “They’ll follow us.

“…Okay.” Huo Ran’s dad sped up, and the two cars followed them. He glanced at the rear view mirror. “They should be fine, just two cars to pick them up is fine.”

“We don’t even need cars.” Kou Chen said. “I contacted a friend at the public security bureau, the police will be there with their cop cars. I’m not worried about Kou Chen, it’s mostly my daughter, she’s never been through anything like this, I’m scared she’ll get hurt.”

“It’ll be fine, they’re all typical paths, a small car like mine can drive through…” Huo Ran’s dad smiled. 

“I know, it’s a mini off-road Jimny,” Kou Chen’s dad said. “Those two can’t, right?”

“They’re too big, they can’t get through most of the paths.” Huo Ran’s dad said.

“Okay then, it’s just my three friends.” Kou Chen’s dad said. “We were planning an outing but couldn’t find a good spot, so they can go check the place out while we’re there.”

“…Oh.” Huo Ran’s dad nodded. 

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