Initially, they had their eyes on another female teacher. Their reasoning was simple: there were too few attractive women in the village. Even the village belle was nothing special by outside standards. The sent-down youth were a much better target.
And among those sent-down youth, the educated teachers were the most desirable targets.
The ideal woman had to have both looks and education.
In short, the woman they had been targeting wasn’t that pretty. But if they swapped her for the one they were looking at now, her education wouldn’t matter in the slightest.
As Gu Jiaojiao walked along the path, she couldn’t shake the feeling that a pair of eyes was watching her. The gaze was deeply unsettling, and she couldn’t help but glance around.
Leng Yuan noticed her movement. "What’s wrong?"
Gu Jiaojiao didn’t hide it. "I feel like someone’s staring at me, and it’s making me very uncomfortable. But I looked all around and didn’t see anything."
The moment Gu Jiaojiao finished speaking, Leng Yuan’s gaze swept over their surroundings.
His eyes were sharp, honed from his frequent hunting trips in the mountains. He quickly identified several good hiding spots and stared at each one for a long moment. Finally, his brow furrowed, and he urged the others on.
"Hurry down the mountain."
Leng Yuan’s tone was grave. The children didn’t sense anything amiss, but Gu Jiaojiao knew he must have spotted something.
As for the children, they were still a little scared of Leng Yuan. Hearing his command, they picked up their pace without Gu Jiaojiao having to say another word.
Meanwhile, up on the mountain, the man peering through binoculars at the beauty was suddenly met with a pair of eyes—as wild as a wolf’s and sharper than an eagle’s. He jumped in fright, yanking the binoculars away and clutching his chest.
"Those eyes are terrifying."
The others around him were still waiting for their turn to look at the woman. Seeing his reaction, they gave him strange looks.
But the man immediately explained.
"Didn’t that other teacher tell us this guy was a tough fighter and that we should bring more men? I didn’t believe her at first, but that look he just gave... it was enough to scare a man to death."
His buddies were skeptical. "Was he really that scary?"
"Would I lie to you about something like this? Everyone better stay sharp. Don’t let your guard down just because we outnumber them."
The men fell silent, their vigilance heightened.
The traffickers saw the group suddenly quicken their pace and thought it was strange. It seemed they had been discovered.
But they had spent ages scouting that spot. They’d even checked beforehand—it was impossible to see their position from down below.
Regardless, this was their chance to get one hundred thousand yuan. They couldn’t just let it slip away.
The leader calculated Leng Yuan’s speed, then whispered a single command: "Release."
At his word, a giant boulder tumbled down the mountainside at an incredible speed. Anyone hit by it would be instantly smashed to a pulp.
The rumble of the rolling boulder was loud. Leng Yuan and Gu Jiaojiao spotted it almost instantly. The color drained from their faces as they both roared, "Get out of the way!"
The children panicked, not understanding how such a massive rock could suddenly come tumbling down out of nowhere.
The older boys were fast runners, but Xiao Ni and Xiao Yang were younger and slower.
Gu Jiaojiao and Leng Yuan each scooped one up and scrambled to the side.
Up on the mountain, the lead trafficker watched the scene unfold through his binoculars. Shielding the children behind him, Leng Yuan ran last, carrying Xiao Yang.
The massive boulder scraped past Leng Yuan’s back as it thundered down the slope.
Before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief, several smaller rocks came tumbling down. They were only "small" in comparison to the boulder; in reality, they were large enough to kill a person on impact.
There wasn’t just one—several of them fell, landing both in front of and behind him. They were aimed squarely at Leng Yuan.
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