Chapter 492: Chapter 461, Caught Again_1
Worried that the one-eyed man might be waiting outside to ambush her, Daohua ate some fruit and took another nap before leaving the space.
By then, it was already the morning of the following day.
“Everyone should be gone by now!”
Daohua surveyed her surroundings warily as she carefully walked towards the edge of the forest, until she reached the spot where she had parted with Dong Yuanyao and the others the day before, without encountering a single person.
Daohua breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at the small path whose destination was unknown, and then at the main road as she pondered which route to take.
Traversing the main road could lead to encountering people, and as long as she met someone, she could find out where she currently was and then figure out a way to return. However, she also might run into the one-eyed man and his gang on the main road.
Taking the small path would be less dangerous, but no one knew when she would find her way out, nor where it would lead.
As Daohua hesitated, the sound of arrows breaking through the air suddenly rang out. Subsequently, in her tightly constricted pupils, the Bald man appeared with three others within her line of sight.
Upon seeing them, Daohua cursed under her breath and turned to run towards the forest.
However, what met her was a flurry of arrows.
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!”
Several arrows landed just in front of Daohua’s feet.
“If you dare to run ahead again, I guarantee the next arrow will definitely hit you,” declared the Bald man coldly as he held his arrows, eyeing Daohua.
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Daohua stopped in her tracks and turned back to look at the Bald man and his companions with frustration.
The Bald man approached, his eyes coldly sizing up Daohua: “You really know how to hide, damn it. I spent half of yesterday searching for you with my men, but no luck. Are you related to a mouse or what!”
Daohua glanced at the Bald man beside her and then at the three people a few meters away, stealthily producing a few Sleeping Pills in her hand that was behind her back: “I’m not the person you’re trying to catch, so why are you relentlessly after me?”
The Bald man huffed: “You know our plan; do you think we can let you go?” With that, he waved towards the three men behind him, “Come on, tie this little wench up, and tie her tight, so there are no more slip-ups.”
As the other three approached, Daohua stood still, the Sleeping Pills in her hand ready to be thrown the moment they came close. However, at that moment, the sound of urgent horse hooves came from the distance.
Both Daohua and the Bald man’s group turned to look.
They saw the one-eyed man, bloodied, riding towards them, with the rest of his party also injured.
The faces of the Bald man’s group went pale while Daohua, upon seeing the one-eyed man, turned and bolted into the forest.
“Bald, seize that girl!” the one-eyed man shouted loudly.
Regaining his composure, the Bald man immediately led his people in pursuit of Daohua.
Unquestionably, Daohua did not manage to escape and was dragged back by the arm by Bald.
By then, the one-eyed man and his men had also arrived.
“Big brother, what happened? Where are the others? Why only a few of you came back?” Bald asked anxiously.
The one-eyed man did not respond; instead, he just looked at Daohua with a grim expression.
Daohua felt a chill down her spine under his gaze.
The one-eyed man said in a cold voice, “The others are dead!”
Bald man was shocked: “How did that happen?!”
The one-eyed man bent down, grabbed Daohua, and threw her onto the horse’s back.
Daohua screamed, wanting to struggle, but feeling the intense cold aura emanating from the one-eyed man, she stopped moving after a few attempts, as she couldn’t afford to be knocked out.
Seeing Daohua no longer struggling or screaming, the one-eyed man did not bother with her and told the Bald man and his group: “Get on your horses and let’s leave this place.”
Quickly, the group galloped away from there.
On horseback, Daohua felt like all her internal organs had been jostled out of place. Even though she was in agony, she dared not make a sound.
One of the Cyclops bandits had been killed, and she did not wish to become the target of their anger. She could only bite her lip and endure the pain, but from her drooping hands, Fragrant Pills kept dropping.
…
Not knowing how long they had been running, Daohua’s consciousness began to blur. Suddenly the pace of the horse slowed and before long, she was roughly thrown to the ground.
The intense pain brought Daohua’s thoughts back into focus. Looking up, she saw that it was almost dark, and at this moment, she was in a densely vegetated valley.
“After being carried on a horse for an entire day, this little lady is still awake. She’s got a strong constitution!”
“That’s right. Have you ever thought about what these young ladies from official families eat every day? Delicacies from the mountains and seas, unlike us who can only chew on bran and swallow vegetables.”
The Cyclops looked at Daohua lying on the ground, gave a cold glance to the two talkative men, and then signaled Bald with his eyes.
Bald saw the signal, nodded, and quickly walked towards Daohua.
As soon as Daohua saw Bald approaching with a stern face, she grew tense. Taking advantage of the cover of night, she hurriedly tossed a Fragrant Pill to the ground.
“Bang!”
After another hit, Daohua thought to herself as she lost consciousness, whether her neck, chopped so frequently, would break.
After Daohua passed out, the Cyclops led his men to a vine-covered cliff and stopped. Without needing any orders, the others quickly went forward to lift the vines.
As they lifted the vines, a cave several meters wide was revealed.
“Let’s go, we’re home!”
The cave was a tunnel, and after the group passed through for a while, they emerged from the other end.
Seeing the distant twinkling lights and vast fields, even the scar-faced Cyclops couldn’t help but show a rare smile.
…
“What on earth happened? You were only supposed to kidnap a couple of defenseless young ladies; how did it come to losing men?” an angry voice reached Daohua’s ears.
Then another voice chimed in, the owner was recognizable to her as the Cyclops.
“Magistrate Fan, the four girls’ identities we kidnapped this time are not simple, and some of them even had Hidden Guards. We moved quickly the entire way, and still, they managed to catch up.”
The middle-aged man with a goatee wearing a gray robe narrowed his eyes and sighed, “The last assassination attempt indeed put the Jiang Family on alert, even appointing Hidden Guards to their daughters.”
The Cyclops confessed, “Magistrate Fan, it is my fault for not being efficient in the task, failing to capture the daughters of the Jiang and Chen Families and even losing several brothers. Please punish me.”
Magistrate Fan remained silent for a while before finally speaking, “I’ll keep this incident in mind, and we’ll deal with rewards and punishments together later.”
The Cyclops, knowing he had been let off lightly, gratefully said, “Thank you, Magistrate Fan.”
Magistrate Fan looked at Daohua on the ground, “Tell me, whose daughter is this girl?”
The Cyclops replied, “She belongs to the Magistrate of Ningmen Prefecture. Should we kill her?”
Magistrate Fan frowned, “Keep her for now, though the Prefectural Magistrate of Ningmen may not have much backing, he is beloved by the people for the high-yield crops. She may prove useful in the future. However, remember this, make sure she’s well looked after. We can’t let any information about our village leak.”
The Cyclops nodded, “I understand.”
Soon after, the two men left the house.
Daohua didn’t dare to wake up immediately, feigning unconsciousness for a good while before daring to slowly open her eyes and look around the room.
“Creak~”
Just then the door opened again, and Daohua startled, lifting her head to see a young boy about fifteen or sixteen years old, carrying food and walking in.
The boy set down the food on the ground, gave Daohua a glance, and then without a word, walked out again.