Soon, Wang An returned to the side of the leader, who had already fainted.
Without a word, Wang An dragged him away, only letting him go once they were far enough.
Immediately after, Wang An used the rope that had been binding the girl to tie the leader's hands and feet. He also took off the leader's socks, balled them up, and stuffed them into his mouth.
Finally, fearing he might spit the socks out, Wang An "kindly" cut a strip of cloth from the man's clothing and tied it tightly around his mouth, much like a horse's bit.
After bustling about for a while, the leader still hadn't woken up, so Wang An tossed him into a thicket of shrubs.
Yes, he tossed him. The leader only weighed about 130 or 140 jin, so Wang An was barely able to lift and throw him.
Having finished tinkering with the leader, Wang An returned to a spot not far from the campfire.
From this position, he could clearly hear the human traffickers talking.
After waiting for about ten minutes, one of the male traffickers asked the others, sounding puzzled yet impatient
"Why isn't the boss back yet? Has he suddenly become that courageous?"
As soon as he spoke, another male trafficker glanced at Huang Li and the other four girls and said with a lewd grin
"He's got those little pills, doesn't he? Maybe he wasn't satisfied enough and popped another one, gahahaha!"
Then, a third male trafficker spoke up
"What was the name of that girl the boss dragged away? She's the most stunning one out of these six, right?"
At this point, the old woman chimed in with a vulgar smile, sounding like an ancient brothel madam
"Her name is Guo Siya. You boys have no idea—that Guo Siya's house is full of pretty girls. Her parents had seven daughters in a row, and every single one of them is gorgeous. The people in their village say her family gave birth to seven celestial fairies."
To be honest, hearing this, Wang An couldn't help but feel a bit impressed. Mainly, he thought Guo Siya's parents were damn lucky to have had seven daughters in a row.
One had to realize that the probability of having only girls was truly not that high, even in all of China!
Hearing the old woman's words, the first man said with a lewd smile
"So many pretty daughters, and you only grabbed one? If Lord Long finds out about this, guess if he'll use you to feed the dogs?"
The third man followed up
"Exactly. You know Lord Long loves 'sister sets' the most, yet you botched this job. It's fine if he doesn't know, but if he finds out, his wooden donkey will give you plenty to suffer."
After he finished speaking, the old woman was clearly frightened, though she remained stubborn
"I wanted to grab a few more, but three of her older sisters are already married, and the oldest of the three younger ones is only thirteen. Why would I buy her? I'd have to feed her for years for nothing. Besides, who knows if they'll still be pretty once they bloom?"
Listening to their conversation, Wang An began to feel a bit worried.
Because if he guessed correctly, the "Lord Long" they mentioned was a ruthless figure renowned throughout the entire Ice City.
To put it bluntly, Wang An really couldn't afford to provoke such a person.
Fortunately, the so-called Lord Long didn't know anyone like Wang An. Furthermore, based on the timeline, Lord Long was currently busy fighting another gang for territory, and after the New Year, he would be sneak-attacked and stabbed to death by a youth.
Once Wang An thought of this, his anxiety vanished instantly.
Finally, as the six traffickers continued chatting, they realized something was wrong.
The first man suddenly said
"This isn't right. Why is there no sound coming from the boss's side?"
The second man added
"Yeah, I haven't heard a peep for a long time. The boss has never hidden himself from others when he's dealing with women."
The third man said directly
"It's the middle of the night; I'll go see what's happening."
As he spoke, the third man stood up, checked the gun in his hand, and walked toward Wang An's position, shouting as he went
"Boss! Boss! Where are you?"
Although the moonlight provided some light, when a person moves from a campfire into the darkness, they cannot see anything for a short period; it takes at least a few seconds for the eyes to adjust.
Therefore, seeing the guy approaching, Wang An didn't panic at all and silently hid behind a tree.
This was not the right time to strike. Primarily, the other five traffickers had also picked up their guns; if someone fired randomly, Wang An could easily be killed by a stray bullet.
Moreover, Wang An didn't want to kill anyone right now—specifically, he didn't want to kill in front of Huang Li and the other girls. If word of the killing leaked later, even with his connections to Zhang Shuya and the others, it would cause him immense trouble.
Thus, Wang An remained motionless behind the tree, quietly listening to the guy call out "Boss" over and over again.
The man only walked a short distance, reaching roughly where the boss had previously beaten Guo Siya, before turning back.
As he walked, he shouted anxiously to his accomplices by the fire
"Get up! Everyone get up! The boss and that little wench Siya are both gone!"
His accomplice questioned him
"Can two living people just fly away? If that Siya ran off, the boss would have shouted already."
Despite the words, the speaker also walked over, muttering as he went
"It's damn pitch black out here, I can't see a thing."
Soon, the two met not far from Wang An. The one who had entered the woods first led the other to the approximate area where their boss had been.
After confirming that their boss and Guo Siya had indeed disappeared, the man shouted frantically back toward the fire
"The boss really is gone, and so is that Siya!"
As soon as he finished, all the traffickers panicked.
They were in the middle of the wilderness, and two living people had simply vanished into thin air; anyone would panic in this situation.
Except for the old woman, the remaining two women and the last man all walked over. Meanwhile, Wang An hid behind the tree, motionless as a turtle.
Once all five had arrived, Wang An began preparing to act.
Sure enough, after confirming that their boss and Guo Siya were truly gone, the group instinctively dispersed to search.
And Wang An's opportunity finally arrived.
(End of Chapter)