While the access to the second floor was strictly controlled, the first floor had a rather lax security.
When they saw Li Chuchu's outfit, they knew she had come from the second floor. People from the second floor had more privileges, and they simply had no say in it. So, the group managed to get out with little effort.
Once they reached the alley behind Dongtai, they quickly split up to search.
The alley was pitch - black, separating two different worlds.
On this side, it was completely dark, with dilapidated houses where migrant farmers from other places lived. On the other side was the entertainment city, with dazzling lights and a luxurious and prosperous atmosphere.
Li Chuchu whispered in the alley, "Jiang Wen? Jiang Wen? If you can hear me, answer me. I'm here to take you home."
"Jiang Wen?"
But after walking for a long time, the only response Li Chuchu got was the howling wind passing through the alley.
She was still wearing a pair of ill - fitting high heels, which were really painful to walk in.
Just when Li Chuchu began to suspect that Li Xiaguang had lied to her, suddenly a furtive, short and fat figure sneaked out from a residential building on the other side of the alley.
The person was timid, with a cloth bag hanging on the waist.
The moment that figure appeared, a figure from the train suddenly flashed through Li Chuchu's mind. She shouted, "Quick! Catch the person!"
The figure was startled upon hearing this and turned around like a rat, running towards the other side.
No! She couldn't be allowed to escape!
Li Chuchu was almost certain that this was the aunt on the train.
After all this hard work, they finally saw her!
This evil person! Li Chuchu was determined to teach her a lesson today!
Li Chuchu chased after her desperately. Even in high heels, she ran like the wind. With an inexplicable sense of conviction in her heart, ignoring the pain on her feet, she used all her strength and kicked the figure to the ground with one heel.
"Ouch!"
The aunt let out a cry of pain and lay on the ground unable to get up for a long time. When the other two heard the commotion, they quickly ran over.
Shen Yanshan arrived first and helped hold the person on the ground.
The light from the alley entrance just shone on the aunt's face.
Sure enough, it was the Northeast aunt who had lain opposite Li Chuchu on the train.
Li Chuchu gasped lightly, leaned against the wall with her hands on her hips to rest for a while, then stepped forward and kicked the aunt, "Be honest. Where is that girl named Jiang Wen?"
The girl looked gentle and fair - skinned, but unexpectedly had great strength.
The aunt stiffened her neck and shouted in a rough voice, "What Jiang Wen or Cong Wen? I don't know! Why are you arresting me? I'll sue you to the police station!"
The human trafficker was shouting so loudly that Li Chuchu was afraid of attracting others. She directly took off the matching gloves and stuffed them into the aunt's mouth.
The aunt let out a couple of muffled sounds and wriggled on the ground like a maggot. Shen Yanshan simply gave her a kick on the butt.
Liu was a bit hesitant at first, but thinking that it was this person who had forced him to take a risk and enter the den tonight, he also symbolically kicked her and said, "Even if you don't call the police, we'll send you to the police station. You'd better be honest."
This voice had no deterrence at all, and the human trafficker wasn't afraid.
She tilted her head up high. Li Chuchu saw that she seemed to want to say something, so she took out the thing blocking her mouth.
The aunt stared at the group of people with a vicious look in her eyes and showed a malicious smile like a dead pig not afraid of boiling water, "You have no evidence. What can you do even if you send me to the police station? You're making an illegal arrest and causing malicious harm!"
Liu didn't say a word,
but there came a mocking laugh from the other side.
This made the human trafficker feel a bit panicked, but then she composed herself again. Even if they outnumbered her, they couldn't do much to her. And as long as Jiang Wen wasn't found, all their words were baseless.
She stared back with an air of "what can you do to me".
But Li Chuchu just said calmly, "Do you know who you've offended?"
The human trafficker was confused. Why was she suddenly bringing this up? Weren't they just two ordinary girls?
The girl said unhurriedly, "The second girl you abducted, Jiang Wen. Her uncle is the station master of Chuncheng Railway Station and the deputy director of the railway sub - bureau. Her mother is a martyr who sacrificed for the country in the north. However, when she went to Chuncheng to stay with her grandmother's family, you tricked her into coming to Guancheng."
The human trafficker's face changed a bit.
The flesh on her face trembled violently, and finally she showed a bit of panic. But she still gritted her teeth and pretended to be calm, "So what? As long as you have no clues, this has nothing to do with me. Do you think you can force a confession just because you have power and influence?" But her voice sounded less confident.
Li Chuchu gave a soft laugh, as if mocking the human trafficker for being stupid, "Do you think we'd come to arrest someone just based on a bit of rumor? You really lack some vigilance."
She casually played with the ring on her hand, "See my outfit? I've just sneaked into Dongtai to help the police arrest Li Xiaguang, who was working with you. If you're the principal offender, she, as the one who led Jiang Wen off the train, is an accomplice. After catching her, she has already confessed most of the things."
The human trafficker's pupils shrank slightly.
She stared directly at the girl whose expression was terrifyingly calm in the moonlight. She couldn't squeeze out a single word from her throat, only hearing the girl say word by word:
"Now, it's not me asking you to tell me Jiang Wen's whereabouts. It's us giving you a chance to get a reduced sentence."
Each word hit the human trafficker's heart, shattering her shaky defense line.
Li Chuchu gave another soft laugh, "Even if you don't say it, we already know where Jiang Wen is. But now, you should think about how to explain things to the police."
Saying that, she stuffed the gloves back into the aunt's mouth.
She said to Shen Yanshan and Liu, "Take this person back to the police station."
Seeing that Li Chuchu really didn't intend to let her talk anymore, it seemed that she really already knew where Jiang Wen was and wasn't in a hurry. The human trafficker's eyes suddenly dimmed, and her expression was struggling. Just as they were about to walk out of the alley entrance, she suddenly struggled violently, "Woo... Woo..."
Li Chuchu ignored her.
She pushed out the glove blocking her mouth with her tongue and gasped for air, "I'll talk! I'll talk! Li Xiaguang doesn't know the exact location. Only I know! Jiang Wen is in this alley. I deliver meals to her every day. The way there has to go around for a while. Ordinary people can't find it!"
After saying this, she seemed to have already seen her impending prison sentence, and her whole body instantly lost its luster.
Li Chuchu looked at Shen Yanshan. Shen Yanshan stood behind the aunt and tilted his chin towards her: Go and have a look.
Li Chuchu raised her eyebrows slightly and glanced at the human trafficker. The human trafficker said, "I'm telling the truth. Follow me."
...
It wasn't until the iron gate in front of them opened that Li Chuchu was shocked to find that there was actually more than one girl inside.