Chapter 497: Self-Rescue (Part 2)
There were more than a dozen children, both boys and girls, of all different ages.
Some seemed to be only one or two years old, unable to even speak clearly, while others were three, four, five, or six.
Little Tang Mo, using the faint light, looked at the dozen or so young faces before him and was stunned.
Some of these children wore bright, clean clothes and shoes, while others were in patched, filthy garments.
Most of them were awake, and the only thing they were doing was crying.
Watching the children wailing "WAH, WAH" one after another, Little Tang Mo, the oldest among them, felt his eardrums taking a beating. It was giving him a massive headache.
He was almost certain of it: these were all children who had been abducted, just like him!
"Momo, Momo... WAHHH..."
Little Tongtong had been tossed to the outer edge of the group. When she saw Little Tang Mo sit up, a look of joyful surprise lit up her eyes, and she immediately started crawling toward him.
When Little Tang Mo saw her, he let out a huge sigh of relief and quickly pulled her over for a careful inspection.
"Are you okay? Where does it hurt, Tongtong?"
Tears streamed down Tongtong’s face as her small body trembled. She hugged Little Tang Mo tightly.
"Momo, I’m scared."
"Don’t be scared, I’m here." Little Tang Mo patted her shoulder, tucked her messy hair behind her ear, and wiped the dirt and tears from her face.
"Does it hurt? Are you injured anywhere?"
Little Tongtong showed her chubby little hand to Little Tang Mo. "My hand is scraped. It hurts."
Little Tang Mo took a closer look and saw it was just a small scrape, which made him sigh in relief. He blew on it gently. "I’ll blow on it and it won’t hurt anymore. Does anywhere else hurt?"
Little Tongtong shook her head. "It doesn’t hurt anymore. I’m hungry."
As if on cue, Little Tongtong’s stomach started to rumble. GURGLE GURGLE.
Little Tang Mo: "..."
’Even after being kidnapped, all she can think about is food. Only Little Tongtong could get hungry in a situation like this.’
But... he was hungry too.
Little Tang Mo pulled out the pocket watch he wore around his neck and checked the time. It was already eight in the morning on the second day.
The pocket watch was a gift from Wu Qihua. Her father had bought it for her birthday when she was young, but she gave it to Little Tang Mo because he liked it.
"Momo, where are we?" Little Tongtong had woken up alone in this strange place and had been terrified, but she wasn’t as scared now that she saw Little Tang Mo.
Now that she was less afraid, she was aware of her hunger and even knew to look around.
Little Tang Mo looked at the wooden planks under his feet and on the sides, then up at the boards above, where a hole let in light and air. He furrowed his brow.
"I’m not sure. It looks like we’re in a room."
’A rectangular room... it’s a bit strange. And it’s holding more than a dozen children...’
Little Tang Mo went to the wall and knocked on it. It made a strange, hollow sound. The floor beneath him sounded hollow too...
Little Tang Mo tried to examine it more closely, but the crying was just too loud...
What could these two-, three-, four-, five-, or even one-year-old children possibly understand? Waking up in a strange place, all they could do was cry.
Out of the dozen or so children, everyone was crying except for Little Tang Mo and Little Tongtong.
They were all crying their hearts out, and some looked like they were about to pass out.
Looking at them, Little Tang Mo remembered what Su Li had told him about how kidnapped children were treated, and his heart ached terribly.
"Alright, stop crying. Don’t cry anymore..."
Little Tang Mo put aside his investigation of their surroundings and hurried to console them. Little Tongtong saw this and started to help.
After a Herculean effort, the crying in the compartment finally subsided.
The dozen or so children, their faces still stained with tears, looked at Little Tang Mo while letting out hiccups from crying.
Little Tang Mo was the oldest, a big brother figure to them. Because he wasn’t crying and was even comforting them, the children unconsciously began to rely on him.
Little Tang Mo stood in the middle, surrounded by a crowd of sitting and standing children, all calling him "Big Brother" and saying they wanted to go home.
"We can all go home, but first you have to listen to me. You can’t keep crying. If you keep crying, you’ll get tired, and you might get hit."
Kidnapped children shouldn’t cry and make a fuss constantly. Otherwise, the traffickers might get impatient or worried about the noise and find ways to shut them up.
And that process of shutting them up would inevitably involve being beaten or harmed in other ways.
Not crying and not making a fuss was a way to protect themselves.
Little Tang Mo softly repeated what Su Li had told him to these poor little kids.
He could comfort them when they were scared and console them when they cried, but... when they were hungry and thirsty, Little Tang Mo was helpless.
As for the cold, all they could do was huddle together for warmth.
"Everyone, don’t cry. You have to be good. We... we will be rescued. We’ll go home."
Perhaps because Little Tang Mo was so calm, the younger children subconsciously believed him.
With someone to look up to, the children immediately started huddling together for warmth.
Little Tongtong looked at Little Tang Mo and took on the role of a big sister, taking out her handkerchief to wipe the other children’s faces one by one.
Once they quieted down, Little Tang Mo began to study their surroundings again.
This sealed wooden room did have a door, but it was shut tight and wouldn’t open. He couldn’t reach it if he tried to go up, and the floor below...
Little Tang Mo stomped his foot. The sound was dull, but it still didn’t sound like solid ground.
’Where on earth are we?’
Just as Little Tang Mo was thinking, he suddenly heard voices.
He immediately pressed his ear to the crack in the door to listen.
"...That was a great sleep," a muffled male voice said.
"Let’s get something to eat, then it’s time to deliver the goods. We’ve got a lot this time, and the quality is pretty good," said an unfamiliar, slightly hoarse female voice.
"Yeah, don’t worry. It won’t mess with the schedule. Don’t you trust me?" the man replied nonchalantly.
"Don’t get too complacent."
"I won’t. You can count on me." The sound of their conversation grew closer.
"These things are so annoying. They’re probably all awake by now, crying their heads off. If you ask me, we should’ve kept them unconscious the whole way."
"Keep them unconscious the whole way? How much medicine would that take? Unless they get really rowdy, just let them cry a little. You play the radio so loud when you drive, it’s not like it bothers you anyway."
The voices were getting nearer. Little Tang Mo was about to pull back, but someone called out to them, and they seemed to stop.
"You two go eat first. I’ll take them some food. We went through a lot of trouble to get these, can’t have them starving to death."
This voice made Little Tang Mo jolt. It was the voice of the woman who had carried him here.
"Alright, we’ll go eat then... Oh, you’re taking one with you when you leave, right?"
"Yeah, the youngest boy is being delivered here."
"The one for Zhengxi Village, right? Last time, they refused the three-year-old and insisted on one who was just over a year old and wouldn’t recognize anyone..." the first man said casually.
"Alright, is that any of your business?" the woman cut him off impatiently.
The first man and woman left, the man still muttering, while the other woman headed this way.
Little Tang Mo immediately backed away from the door and shushed the other children. "Don’t cry."
’Can’t let them knock us out for the whole trip.’
Little Tang Mo quickly sat back down, his gaze falling on the youngest child in the compartment, his expression complicated.
’This child... is about to be sold right here...’
A strange series of CLUNKS and RATTLES was followed by the sound of a lock turning. As the children trembled, the door opened.
The woman with the delicate, kind-looking features appeared before them, holding a leather whip.