Chapter 172: Someone, Please Save Me

Lin Xiaodou was slightly taken aback.

She certainly hadn't expected Zhou Qinglang to step forward and help her.

Mainly because he had been nowhere to be seen for the past two months, she had assumed he was avoiding her for some reason and no longer wished to be friends.

Xiao Kaile chimed in, "That's right, let's all go together in a group; it'll be much faster to find someone that way."

Although that girl Liu Yaner always loved to use sarcasm whenever she came over for a free meal and enjoyed competing with him for food, she was still just a young, mischievous, and cute girl after all.

The mere thought of her being dragged away by those brutal and ruthless bandits filled his heart with anxiety.

Lin Xiaodou said, "Alright, let's set off right now!"

They couldn't afford to delay any longer, or the longer they waited, the harder it would be to find her.

The little Tibetan Mastiff was truly clever; while biting those scoundrels, it had deliberately marked and retained their scent.

Everyone followed right behind it, pressing forward along the trail.

After walking for about an hour, the group of five reached a dense patch of mountain forest.

This forest was located on the eastern side. Since the previous wildfire had primarily raged in the western sector, this area remained untouched.

It seemed very likely that the earlier wildfire had been deliberately set by those ruthless bandits as a smoke screen to cover their plundering, burning, and pillaging.

Upon entering the forest, the little Tibetan Mastiff ran at lightning speed, clearly picking up a familiar scent.

Fortunately, the physical conditioning of Lin Xiaodou and her companions was quite decent, allowing them all to keep pace.

Lin Xiaodou was the fastest of them all, moving even quicker than the Tibetan Mastiff.

This was the miraculous effect of the divine strength pill she had consumed, performance comparable to defying the heavens.

Zhou Qinglang was second, with the rest of the group bringing up the rear.

After running through the forest for over half an hour, a flash of white light suddenly tore across the sky, followed by a sharp crack of thunder.

"BOOM!!!"

The sky seemed as though it were being ripped apart.

In an instant, a torrential downpour cascaded down from the heavens like a waterfall crashing against the earth.

Thick raindrops pelted the leaves and ground intensely, making a deafening pattering sound.

"It's raining!!!"

Lin Xiaodou felt a mixture of relief and worry.

What relieved her was that the rain had come just in time.

Although the forest fire had been largely contained, the sector managed by the armed police force was still quite vast.

Relying solely on manual firefighting efforts would likely have kept them busy until nightfall, posing continued dangers.

Now, with this torrential downpour, the wildfire would gradually be extinguished, sparing the need for excessive manpower.

What worried her, however, was that rainwater easily washed away scents and traces, meaning the little Tibetan Mastiff might not be able to track the targets.

Moreover, with such a heavy downpour, traveling through the mountain forest was virtually impossible.

It was currently December, and the winter on the vast grassland was exceptionally bitter, with temperatures having plummeted several degrees below zero.

The chilling mountain winds howled like sharp blades slicing across the skin, bringing a piercing cold.

The freezing rain continuously soaked through everyone's padded cotton coats, leaving the whole group shivering uncontrollably.

Zhou Qinglang shouted loudly, "Let's find a place to take shelter from the rain first!"

The others nodded and immediately began searching all around for a refuge.

Enduring the pouring rain, the group searched the forest for twenty minutes before finally stumbling upon a small cave to take shelter.

Dusk was already approaching by this time.

The interior of the cave was dim, with some withered tree branches scattered about the floor.

The group gathered the branches together into a pile.

As it happened, Zhou Qinglang carried a box of matches with him and pulled out a single match.

With a scratch, the firewood ignited.

The flickering flames illuminated the entire cave.

The previously cold and gloomy environment instantly turned bright.

Everyone crowded around the campfire, basking in the warmth it provided.

They eagerly stripped off their heavy, soaked cotton jackets, clutching them tightly as they held them close to the fire to dry.

After a short while, their bodies gradually warmed up, and their spirits began to relax as well.

However, the mere thought of Liu Yaner still being in the hands of the bandits made Zhu Damei panic.

"When on earth is this rain going to stop?" she kept peering outside, complaining bitterly, "It just had to rain right now, talk about bad luck!"

Lin Xiaodou frowned, her heart even more tormented.

Yaner was having her period today and was already suffering from severe cramps.

If she got drenched by the rain out in the freezing winter weather, she would undoubtedly suffer even more.

......

Lin Xiaodou's worries were well-founded.

Earlier, Liu Yaner had rested on the bed for a bit, and her stomach cramps had subsided somewhat.

However, the frantic exertion during her desperate escape later on, combined with having her hands bound and being forced to trek on foot through the mountains, caused her menstrual cramps to flare up with a vengeance until she could no longer walk a single step.

It wasn't until she stumbled and collapsed hard onto the ground that the bandits finally took notice of her condition.

One of the bandits angrily gave her a kick and snapped, "Useless wench, can't you even walk properly? Get up for me right now!"

Liu Yaner's face was as pale as paper as she weakly replied, "I can't get up... my stomach hurts so badly..."

The man hollered, "What are you faking for! How could your stomach suddenly start hurting?"

The ringleader glared at Liu Yaner with utter dissatisfaction, "Get up and move with us right now. If you dare drag your feet, I'll deal with you right here and now!"

Trembling with fear and gritting her teeth, Liu Yaner had no choice but to blurt out the truth:

"I'm on my period, and my stomach hurts like crazy! I'm really not faking it!"

As soon as those words left her mouth, all the bandits present instinctively stepped back a few paces with expressions of disgust.

Bandits who normally feared neither heaven nor earth were, ironically, deeply superstitious.

They believed that a woman's menstrual blood was unclean and the most inauspicious thing imaginable, bringing a lifetime of bad luck to anyone who touched it.

Consequently, none of them wanted to get anywhere near Liu Yaner.

Thanks solely to this prejudice, they temporarily refrained from harming her.

However, these brothers of the underworld hadn't tasted meat in several months.

Now that they had finally captured a young girl, they certainly couldn't let her go.

In the end, the ringleader ordered a burly brute among the bandits to carry Liu Yaner on his back so they could continue their march.

Liu Yaner clung to the brute's back with her heart in her throat, feeling completely terrified.

Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined that she would end up being carried on the back of a bandit.

Just as she was lamenting her fate, the brute beneath her snorted through his nose, his tone dripping with extreme revulsion:

"Little girl, I'm carrying you today, but in a few days when that business of yours clears up, you'd better serve me well, or I won't let you off easy!"

Liu Yaner felt her mind reel, all the color draining entirely from her face.

Her teeth chattered, too terrified to utter a single word in response.

Before long, howling winds and a torrential downpour swept across the sky.

The gang of bandits had no choice but to halt their advance and take shelter from the rain behind a nearby rock cliff.

Staring at the heavy rain not far away, Liu Yaner looked anxious, praying incessantly in her heart:

Please, someone come and save me~ I'm begging you!