The security guard wearing glasses named "Wang Feng" was actually Li Mao, who had infiltrated the "Rose and Wine" nightclub undercover, trying to capture the crucial evidence.
The eight women were victims who had been lured from various places by the nightclub for certain transactions under the guise of "roses".
The eldest among them had lost her youthful innocence after all the hardships. Her face had become haggard and dull. Although she looked quite different from the girl in the photo, it was still easy to recognize her as Du Li, an old childhood friend of Liu Meixiang.
Why were only eight of them able to escape?
These eight women had either lost their relatives or didn't care about their reputations. They were willing to sacrifice themselves and bravely stand up as witnesses.
As for the other "roses", although they were too afraid to come forward for various reasons, they worked in perfect harmony, using their meager strength to create an opportunity for the eight women to escape.
For Li Mao, successfully rescuing eight women from that cage, including his wife's childhood friend, was the greatest achievement of this mission!
A month ago, taking advantage of the chaos caused by Fang Ling's death at Renkang Hospital, Li Mao managed to get into the "Rose and Wine" nightclub as a patrol security guard with a fake identity provided by Xu Zixi.
The job of a patrol security guard was to monitor the nightclub, handle emergencies, and prevent any disturbances. At first, Li Mao was only assigned to the first - floor lobby, so he had no access to the core operations.
However, even on the first - floor lobby, every late night, scenes that enraged him to the core would play out.
About a week later, by chance, he saw Du Li being beaten by a drunken customer. After the incident, when no one was looking, he left her a note with a plum blossom drawn on it.
He wasn't sure if Du Li would recognize anything from the note, or if she still had the desire to survive and escape. After leaving the note, he stopped trying to contact her.
Another week passed before Du Li secretly pulled him into a warehouse without surveillance one late night. She excitedly asked if he knew Liu Meixiang.
When Li Mao told her that he was Liu Meixiang's husband, and that he had infiltrated the nightclub to find a chance to capture its secrets and rescue her, Du Li covered her mouth and silently cried for a long time.
She never thought that after so many years in this hell, there was still someone who remembered her and wanted to rescue her. So, Du Li decided to help Li Mao.
The nightclub would send people to various places to "procure goods" every once in a while. Sometimes they would bring back four or five people, and sometimes just one.
The frequency depended on the "quality" of the goods and market demand. The last "procurement" was a week ago. It was said that the "goods" this time were of poor quality and the customers were not satisfied. So they were already planning the next trip, and it should be soon.
Du Li told Li Mao that the girls in the nightclub lived and ate in this cage. There were surveillance cameras and guards at every entrance on each floor. They had no way to escape. Unless a customer took a fancy to them and was willing to pay to take them away, they would have to stay there for the rest of their lives.
Even if someone managed to escape the nightclub, they couldn't evade the numerous surveillance cameras outside. They would be caught soon after they left, and then would receive severe punishment.
Li Mao asked her what would happen if someone got sick and needed medical treatment.
Du Li told him that if someone was seriously ill and had to go to the hospital, they would be sent to a hospital named "Renkang". The medical expenses would be deducted from their "salary". However, the medical and treatment fees at that hospital were extremely high. One treatment could cost them several months of income.
Renkang Hospital... Hearing this name, Li Mao became even more enraged.
Over the years, Du Li had never given up the idea of escaping. She had gathered her own forces inside the building. She realized that Li Mao's arrival was the dawn that could redeem them. So, they worked in perfect harmony to help Li Mao collect a lot of evidence.
Li Mao also managed to pass the news about the connection between the nightclub and Renkang Hospital to Xu Zixi.
This was when Alex's undercover work at Renkang Hospital paid off. He easily obtained the list from the dean's computer. Counting them up, he found that there were nearly a thousand women involved.
The earliest woman on the list was Fang Ling, who had been victimized 26 years ago. Since she was already "dead", her name on the list was crossed out with a square.
There were many other women on the list with their names crossed out in the same way, presumably they were already dead. However, there were still six or seven hundred women alive.
A week before the bidding meeting, Du Li told Li Mao that they were going to "procure goods" again. So Li Mao took a leave of absence for a couple of days under the pretext. In fact, he quietly followed them and managed to record everything they did along the way.
They already had a complete list of victims, videos, witnesses, and other kinds of evidence. On the day of the bidding meeting, taking advantage of the three - hour period when Zhao Quanjing was cut off from the outside world, they started to close the net.
When the nightclub caught fire and became extremely chaotic, Du Li and Li Mao led the others to escape.
At the same time, Fang Ruiyang, who had been lurking around in support, took full control of all the surveillance videos inside the nightclub, including those on the escape routes. He also emptied the nightclub's cloud storage.
When they were on the plane and finally confirmed that they had really escaped, all the victims, including Du Li, couldn't help but cry with their faces in their hands.
For a moment, the only sound in the cabin was the heart - wrenching sobs of the women.
During his one - month undercover operation in the nightclub, Li Mao had seen how humbly they lived. Sighing, he poured several glasses of water and handed them to the women, comforting them,
"Cheer up, everyone. Just escaping doesn't mean we've won. We still have a tough battle to fight."
Wiping away her tears, Du Li said firmly, "Brother Li, I know. I'm already prepared. I've been waiting for this day for a long time."