ATDIWR Chapter 53

Chapter 53 Freak Show Discovered

By the time Ji An arrived, the power user traffickers and Yuan Mingan and others had already disappeared without a trace. Ji An could only discern the direction Yuan Mingan and the others had left by the traces of power user battles left on the road.

At first, it was fine; with these traces guiding him, Ji An’s tracking went relatively smoothly. But as he continued to discern, the traces of power user battles completely disappeared. Ji An’s heart sank with the disappearance of these traces; this was not a good sign. This almost certainly meant Yuan Mingan had been 100% captured by those power users, otherwise, she would absolutely not have given up fighting. Of course, another possibility was that Yuan Mingan had been killed in action, but fortunately, he hadn’t seen Yuan Mingan’s body along the way; this was probably Ji An’s only solace.

There were no traces left, so Ji An had no choice but to search for clues in the surroundings based on his judgment as he walked. Ji An even rummaged through all the clumps of weeds by the roadside but found no useful clues. By this time, the trail had been broken for about three hundred meters from where the last clue appeared, and Ji An even suspected he might have taken the wrong direction.

Suddenly, Ji An’s gaze fell upon a clump of weeds by the roadside. Ji An ran over, pulled open the weeds, and found a piece of fabric in the middle of the grass. The fabric looked new, absolutely unaffected by wind and rain before this, and Ji An found this fabric very familiar; Little Stone had been wearing it just a few days ago. Ji An’s heart was filled with joy; this proved that the direction he was searching in was correct. He quickly continued forward, searching in the grass and on the ground as he went, to see if he could find any more pieces of clothing. After about a hundred meters, Ji An really did find a second piece, and after another hundred meters, he found a third piece…

Ji An was almost certain that this was a mark left by Little Stone on purpose for whoever would follow. Ji An couldn’t help but marvel at Little Stone’s composure and intelligence. This ability to remain calm in the face of danger was something even few adults possessed. If Little Stone was properly nurtured, this child would surely achieve great things in the future!

Following the clues left by Little Stone, Ji An walked and stopped along the way, finally arriving at a somewhat chaotic residential area. Before the Apocalypse, this place should have been a suburban village near the capital. All around were low, messy bungalows, with no regular layout for the houses; they were scattered here and there, a pile here, a cluster there.

Fearing that the people here were all part of the same group, Ji An didn’t dare to make a sound. He quietly found a hidden corner and hid himself. He peeked from behind the wall, confirmed that the environment was safe and there was no one around, then closed his eyes and released his mental power.

The mental power of mental ability users is not formless; like other abilities, it is tangible. Ordinary people cannot see the mental ability of mental ability users, but power users can see it and feel the energy fluctuations. The most primitive form of mental ability is energy fluctuation, which looks like willow catkins floating in the spring breeze. But at this moment, Ji An couldn’t let his mental ability look like willow catkins; that would immediately attract the attention of power users. He transformed all his mental ability into something as fine as spider silk, of course, spider silk from before the Apocalypse, as mutated spider silk after the Apocalypse could be as thick as a baby’s arm. Thousands of fine spider silk crawled rapidly along the ground or climbed along the rooftops, infiltrating into thousands of homes in an instant.

In this small area, all situations poured into Ji An’s mind. Ji An closed his eyes, his back pressed tightly against the wall, holding his breath. At this moment, he was as if a supreme god high above the nine heavens, eyes closed, listening to the sounds of everything in this world.

Ji An saw many unfamiliar faces. They were cursing and playing cards while smoking cigarettes, others were sleeping soundly on straw mats, and some were simply bored, leaning by the door, playing with a weak mutated beast… The mutated beast cub was a pure white little white tiger. It was still very weak and couldn’t even crawl steadily. The man played with it however he wanted. The man did this in front of the mother tiger—a mutated blue-eyed winged tiger. A winged tiger refers to a tiger that has grown wings. In the Apocalypse, all sorts of animals have mutated. Some grew two or three heads, some grew extra legs or lost legs, there were all kinds of mutations.

In front of the blue-eyed mother winged tiger, the man cruelly tormented its cub. He broke the cub’s leg with his bare hands, shattered the cub’s hind leg with an iron rod, or cut the cub’s ears with a dull knife. The cub cried mournfully in pain on the ground, trying to seek its mother’s protection. The mother beast was also close by, mother and cub were so close their fur could touch, but separated by just a cage, the mother beast was completely unable to do anything. Although its throat was hoarse from roaring, its teeth broke from biting the iron cage made of ability-infused iron, and its forepaws dug until they were bloody… The man tormenting the cub seemed to enjoy the feeling of the blue-eyed winged tiger being powerless while its cub was tormented. He showed a twisted smile. The man pulled off a claw from the cub’s paw, and then used that same cub’s claw to stab violently into the cub’s eye. As he stabbed, he looked towards the mother beast, his expression filled with enjoyment…

However, his expression of enjoyment didn’t last even a second on his face; the next instant, it turned into terror! Because the cage that couldn’t be opened no matter how much the mother clawed at it just moments ago, somehow suddenly was opened by the blue-eyed winged tiger at this moment. The mother beast had already sprung out of the cage and instantly pounced on the man. The man only had time to let out a miserable shriek before being bitten through the throat by the blue-eyed winged tiger. This wasn’t enough. The blue-eyed winged tiger hated him too much. It frantically bit the man, devouring his flesh and blood in large mouthfuls, and even tore off one of the man’s arms.

His companion, who was sleeping soundly in the room, was woken up by the man’s miserable shriek. He cursed lazily from inside the room, “MD, if you’re going to play, keep it down! Don’t disturb my sleep, or I’ll chop you up!” The companion cursed for several sentences but didn’t hear the man respond. Only then did he realize something was wrong and came out of the room, grumbling, dragging his slippers. Then he saw the man’s terrible death, and the blue-eyed winged tiger, which should have been locked in the cage, was feasting on his body.

“MD, you damn furry beast! You dared to resist! Watch me kill you!” The companion said, sending a power attack towards the blue-eyed winged tiger. The blue-eyed winged tiger spat out the bloody flesh from its mouth, jumped to the side, bit the cub’s hind leg, gave a fierce push, and easily leaped onto the rooftop. Before leaving, it glanced under the tile where the little spider silk was hidden, as if sensing something, then leaped away with a few bounds.

The companion cursed angrily a few times but didn’t chase after it. Instead, he went to check the iron cage that had held the blue-eyed winged tiger. This iron cage was specially made with abilities; the blue-eyed winged tiger could absolutely not bite through it. It turned out it wasn’t bitten through by the blue-eyed winged tiger, but somehow, the lock was in an open state and had fallen off the iron cage. The companion suspected the man had been too careless and hadn’t locked it properly, and then the anxious blue-eyed winged tiger had somehow knocked it off. As long as the problem wasn’t with the cage itself, it was fine. After all, other mutated beasts were also kept in this batch of cages, and it would be a huge problem if they all escaped due to a malfunction. The companion wrapped the man’s corpse in a straw mat, threw it into the tall grass nearby, and then went back to sleep.

Only then did the little spider silk dare to poke its head out from under the roof tile. It wiggled, quickly swam back the way it came, and when it reached Ji An, it danced around him like a child, hopping and skipping. Ji An rubbed the little spider silk’s head and praised, “You did very well!” Yes, the lock on the cage wasn’t unlocked; it was pried open and removed by the little spider silk, and the mother blue-eyed winged tiger was released by the little spider silk.

The little spider silk rubbed against Ji An’s hand happily and then burrowed back into Ji An’s brain. The little spider silk was formed from Ji An’s mental power. It wasn’t that the little spider silk wanted to interfere; it was clearly Ji An who wanted to interfere. Rationally, Ji An knew he shouldn’t alert the enemy, as he carried the fate of not only himself but also Yuan Mingan, Little Stone, and others. But just letting him watch a small life being tormented like that before his eyes, he couldn’t do it.

But ultimately, none of this was what Ji An was looking for. Ji An continued to close his eyes, carefully sorting through the information seen by the other little spider Silk. Suddenly, amidst the cacophony, his mental power spider silk captured a somewhat familiar voice.

“MD, I didn’t expect that guy with the broken leg to have such high abilities! Luckily, our people ran fast, otherwise, we’d all be finished there!” The man speaking had his back to the little spider silk that had found this spot. The little spider silk wiggled, clinging to the tile like a tiny snake, quickly winding and crawling, and soon reached the side of the man. The little spider silk couldn’t wait to poke out a tiny head and look. Flat nose, small squinting eyes, protruding eyes—it was that man from that day.

The little spider silk was a bit excited after finding the target. It shook its tiny head twice. Suddenly, the squinting man seemed to sense something and turned his head sharply to look in the direction where the little spider silk was. “What’s wrong?” The tall man also turned his head and looked in the direction the squinting man was looking. There was nothing there, absolutely nothing. “There’s nothing there, what are you making a fuss about!” The squinting man seemed not to believe it. He actually grabbed a ladder from the corner and climbed onto the roof to check.

Fortunately, the little spider silk wasn’t hidden on the rooftop but under the roof tiles. It was originally as fine as spider silk, clinging tightly to the tile. Even with a careful look, it was hard to see. Even when the squinting man flipped the tiles, he found nothing. The squinting man looked left and right and found many spiderwebs woven by mutated spiders on the roof, here and there, quite a few. He was annoyed by his earlier paranoia and used a stick to stir up several spiderwebs within reach.

At the same time, Ji An was in so much pain he almost cried out. He had to bite his arm to stifle the scream that was about to escape. That’s right, the mutated spiderwebs the man had stirred up weren’t actually spun by mutated spiders; they were formed from Ji An’s mental power. At that moment, the man’s intuition was too sharp. When he looked over, it was already too late for Ji An to withdraw all his mental power; it was bound to be seen. Ji An could only transform his mental power into mutated spiderwebs on the spot. He didn’t expect the man, in his annoyance, would vent his anger on these webs. In fact, with Ji An’s mental power level, it would have been impossible for the squinting man to destroy his spiderwebs so easily. However, Ji An couldn’t resist at all, otherwise, he would be exposed. The squinting man destroying those spiderwebs was equivalent to directly harming Ji An’s mental sea of consciousness. The level of pain was far beyond what an ordinary person could bear.

Finally, the squinting man finished destroying them, feeling relieved, and climbed down from the ladder. “See? There’s nothing there. You’re too timid! You just caught a few people, look how scared you are!” The tall man mocked. The squinting man said angrily, “What do you know? If it weren’t for my sharp intuition, we would have capsized long ago. We wouldn’t be able to hide until now!”

“This time it wasn’t your sharpness; it was purely your timidity. I mean, what are you scared of? Just a government official, a useless level one old woman. If it weren’t for the fact that she can also perform, I would have killed her long ago. Speaking of which, we’ve killed quite a few government officials. Do you need to be this scared?”

“This time I always feel uneasy in my heart. That man with the broken leg had such a high ability level. I always feel his identity shouldn’t be simple!” Although Zhou Qin is the deputy commander of the Jing Shi Base, he doesn’t often appear on television. Kong Zhongcheng and Wan Xueying are their representatives. Moreover, in the Apocalypse, televisions and mobile phones are no longer things everyone owns; many people don’t have them. This results in a portion of people still not recognizing Zhou Qin and the others. Of course, desperadoes like these men definitely have a few electronic devices in their hands, but they are just a small gang. Even with electronic devices, they can only see a few base commanders on screen and can’t get more information. And Zhou Qin has lost over ten kilograms since his leg was broken. He often forgets to eat nutrient solutions, and his demeanor has become dispirited. He is like a completely different person from before. Even those familiar with him would dare not recognize him, let alone those who are not. Even if these people knew that a commander in the base had his leg broken after being betrayed by a brother, they wouldn’t associate it with Zhou Qin. These days, there are plenty of people with broken legs. Who would have thought that the recently injured deputy commander of the Jing Shi Base would appear in such a remote place in West City at this time?

The tall man mocked, “Your guts are really getting smaller and smaller.” For some reason, the squinting man’s heart was still uneasy and restless. “Anyway, it’s better to be cautious. We’ll leave after finishing this job. Safety first.”

“Let’s go, go inside. Just now, Old Gao sent a message that their people will be here soon, and this batch of goods will be transported immediately.” The squinting man glanced at the place where the little spider silk was hidden before entering the door but saw nothing.

Only after both of them entered the room did the little spider silk quietly peek out a tiny head from under the tile. Then it transformed a tiny hand and patted its little chest, looking startled. At the same time, the other spider silk instantly retreated like receding floodwater, disappearing without a trace.

And Ji An, who had withdrawn all the shattered mental power spider Silk, once again felt as if his mental sea of consciousness was being stirred by an invisible giant hand. He rolled on the ground, clutching his head, and finally couldn’t hold back a muffled groan. Ji An endured the pain in his brain, quickly took out a bottle of spiritual spring water from his spatial storage, and gulped it down fiercely. He drank an entire bottle before stopping. Ji An finally felt a cool and comfortable sensation in his mental sea of consciousness. At this moment, his mental sea of consciousness seemed like dry land, and the spiritual spring water slowly flowed and permeated this land, nourishing every inch of it. Ji An’s pale complexion eased. He sat up again and continued to send out the remaining little spider Silk to investigate.

The little spider silk was even more cautious. Its nearly transparent body moved quickly, peering into rooms through the windows one by one, and finally saw the people it was looking for in the innermost room. Several people were tied up like zongzi, their mouths gagged. Yuan Mingan, the only adult among them, lay beside them, unconscious. The little spider silk was excited to find the people and shook its linear body. It swam into the window like a flash.

Ordinary people cannot see the mental power of mental ability users, but Little Stone somehow felt an energy fluctuation. He looked in the direction where the little spider silk was but saw nothing. At this time, the little spider silk was actually right in front of Little Stone, only about a centimeter away from his face. Little Stone’s sensitivity made Ji An sigh in admiration again for the child’s sharpness. Ji An controlled the little spider silk to rub against Little Stone’s face. Then he saw a look of confusion appear on Little Stone’s face; he seemed even more puzzled.

He glanced at the unconscious Yuan Mingan next to him, trying to move past Little Rose to wake her up. But Ji An didn’t let him do that. He controlled the little spider silk to pat Little Stone’s shoulder. Little Stone must have felt it, widening his eyes and looking at the air with confusion. The little spider silk quickly wrote the two characters “Ji An” on the ground in front of Little Stone. Although Little Stone couldn’t see the little spider silk, he could see the words appearing out of thin air on the ground and immediately knew that Ji An had come to save him. He just didn’t know what method Ji An used to do it. Little Stone wasn’t afraid; instead, he nodded excitedly, indicating that he understood. Only then did the little spider silk laboriously use the two little hands it had just formed to pull out the wad of rags stuffed in Little Stone’s mouth and then untie the ropes binding Little Stone’s hands and feet.

The other children watched with wide eyes as the ropes on Little Stone’s body and the rags in his mouth were removed by something, yet there was nothing in front of them. Their eyes showed terror. Little Stone immediately whispered, “Don’t make a sound. This is Big Brother Ji An’s ability. He’s here to save us.” As Little Stone spoke, he untied the ropes on Little Rose’s body. The other children calmed down upon hearing Little Stone’s explanation.

Meanwhile, Ji An had sent his phone’s location to Gu Jinsheng and then set it to silent. He was afraid the phone might suddenly ring and alarm the guards. He himself quietly sneaked in, flipping into the room from the rooftop.

“Big Brother Ji An!” Little Stone, who had already untied Yuan Mingan’s ropes and was trying to wake her up, saw Ji An and called out in a surprised whisper. Ji An put a finger to his lips at all the children, shushing them. The children immediately covered their mouths, none daring to make a sound, seemingly afraid that even their breathing would alert the bad guys.

Ji An walked over to check on Yuan Mingan’s condition. Fortunately, she was still breathing, and seemed very stable. She only had some superficial injuries. As for whether her internal organs were injured, Ji An didn’t know since he wasn’t a healing ability user. But no matter what, she had to be woken up. The situation was critical now. From what he heard, the enemy’s reinforcements were about to arrive. If they were allowed to transfer the people away, it was very likely these children would never be found again. However, it was simply impossible for him alone to escape from a small village where all twenty households were part of the same gang, taking so many children and an unconscious Yuan Mingan. He needed a helper, at least someone who wasn’t a burden.

Ji An took out mineral water mixed with spiritual spring water from his spatial storage, and then, in front of Little Stone, threw a white pill into the water. It was actually just an ordinary cold medicine, completely incapable of waking someone up; it was purely to deceive others. Only then did he skillfully pour a small half bottle of mineral water into Yuan Mingan’s mouth. Within two minutes, Yuan Mingan woke up. Ji An quickly covered Yuan Mingan’s mouth, preventing her from making a sound, and whispered, “We’re still in the wolf’s den. I’m here to save you. Don’t make a sound. Follow me.” Yuan Mingan nodded. Ji An only then let her go. Ji An’s mental power had thoroughly explored the entire small village. He knew which route to take to escape without encountering people, or where the defenses were weaker. He waved to the few people behind him, gesturing for everyone to follow him.

It’s unknown which child was too nervous and stepped on a dry twig on the ground, making a not-so-loud sound. Ji An’s heart thumped. Sure enough, the next second, the squinting man turned in from outside. He was first surprised to see Ji An, and then a flash of wild joy appeared in his eyes. It was the kind of excitement that only the most confident hunter in the world would feel upon seeing their most satisfactory prey.

The squinting man didn’t even call his companions. Instead, he quietly closed the door, his eyes gleaming with lecherous light. “You’re a Tier 3 power user, right? At most Tier 3. I can probably sense your ability level.” The squinting man looked Ji An up and down like merchandise, extremely satisfied. “I originally just wanted to grab a few goods and leave, but I didn’t expect you to walk right into the trap. It’s worth it. Top-tier goods like you, whether it’s for a freak show or to sell, can absolutely fetch an unbelievable price. But don’t worry, with your unparalleled beauty now, no one would be willing to use you for a freak show. That would have to wait until you’re old and your beauty fades, more than a decade from now. At least for the first few years, you can live a good life.”

Freak Show! These three words made Ji An feel nauseous from his stomach. What is deformed? It means turning people into neither human nor ghost, cutting ears, slicing noses, gouging eyes, cutting off tongues, chopping off limbs or other body parts, turning a perfectly good living person into something like a human pig. This is a freak show. And yet, such disgusting things are given a nice name, called ‘Vase Girls’. Ji An couldn’t understand how anyone in this world could enjoy watching such things, such cruel acts! He finally understood why these people would still capture Little Stone and these other children, even though it was clear that homeless beggars couldn’t earn money. He knew what they wanted to do with them.

Ji An’s gaze towards the man changed from disgust to deep nausea. The squinting man naturally noticed it and was immediately enraged. “MD, pretty boy! I’m giving you a chance, but you don’t want it! If you’d be willing to serve this old man well, I was going to let you have a good life for a couple of days and then just serve guests comfortably in bed! But I gave you a chance and you refused, and you even dare to despise me! Do you believe I’ll make you perform in those freak shows? Those Little R people have advanced healing ability users in their hands. No matter how you’re tormented, you can be healed, guaranteed not to die. At that time, you’ll experience what it’s like to wish for death every single day. Those Little R people are the most perverted; they just love watching pretty boys like you being severely tortured, showing those expressions of wishing for death, and yet having no ability to resist, only able to lick their toes and beg for mercy like a dog! Hahaha…”

The squinting man became more excited as he spoke, as if imagining certain scenes. A certain part of him was already swelling. Ji An wanted to vomit. And the children beside him, having wandered for so long, were no longer children in the true sense. They knew everything they should and shouldn’t know. At this moment, after hearing the squinting man’s words, they were so scared they huddled together, shrinking into a ball. Even Little Rose was scared and hid in Little Stone’s arms.

The squinting man looked at the children’s terror and felt an unprecedented satisfaction in his heart. He savored the fear of his prey and asked Ji An with a smile, “Regretting it now? Kneel down and lick me, and maybe I’ll consider it.”

Ji An sneered and summoned the bow and arrow formed from his mental power. “I do regret it. I regret not sending you to die sooner!”

The squinting man showed no fear upon seeing the bow and arrow formed from Ji An’s mental power. It wasn’t that he hadn’t seen on his phone how Cruze was shot into an idiot by three arrows; he simply didn’t believe Ji An was the one who shot those arrows, or that he was such a master. The squinting man raised his hand and casually launched an ability attack at Ji An, full of confidence. “Oh, imitating that big shot, are we! Too bad you’re not that kind of big shot, and I won’t end up like that M Country guy…” The squinting man couldn’t utter another word after that. The expression on his face froze from confidence to terror. As he fell, he was left with only a drooling, idiotic look.

At this moment, Ji An also saw the tall man who had just walked over and witnessed everything. The tall man’s eyes flashed with panic, and he shouted, “Someone… Ah…” After a scream, the tall man fell down, becoming the second idiot!

“Run!” Since things had turned out this way, Ji An no longer thought about sneaking out with these children. He could only openly fight his way out.

“Children, stick close to Big Brother Ji An! I’ll cover the rear,” Yuan Mingan roared. With Yuan Mingan’s strength, there was no chance of winning against those people. But there was nothing else to do now. They couldn’t possibly let these children cover the rear!

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