Chapter 79: Village’s Affairs Exposed, Personnel Captured

Chapter 79: Chapter 79: Village’s Affairs Exposed, Personnel Captured

Following the village head, Rian Sinclair silently observed her surroundings. Many villagers were outside, supposedly busy with work, but in reality, they were undoubtedly sizing up Rian’s group. The houses in the village were distributed evenly. The two or three houses nearest to the village head were five-story modern villas, followed by brick-and-tile houses, and finally, mud-brick houses at the very back. This layout seemed to indicate a strict hierarchy.

Nearing the mud-brick houses, Rian frowned and stared off in a particular direction. Fiona Sinclair had been keeping a close eye on her boss. Seeing this, she asked softly, "What are you looking at, Miss?"

Rian retracted her gaze. The people ahead had stopped to look at her. She then stepped forward and replied to Fiona in a low voice, "It looks like there’s a warehouse over there. I’m not sure if my eyes are playing tricks on me."

Fiona looked toward where Rian had been staring. Although she didn’t see anything, she made a mental note of it, planning to have the bodyguards investigate later.

The village head stopped in front of a mud-brick house and pushed the door open. "Old Man Collins, hurry up and come out to meet the big boss! Don’t just lie there in your bed."

Rian’s attention was drawn to the voice. A hunched old man emerged from the house. He kept his head lowered, making it impossible to read his expression.

The village head, however, couldn’t care less. "Big boss, this is just how Old Man Collins is. All his children left home, and his wife passed away several years ago. He’s always been an eccentric loner. Please forgive his manners."

Seeing the village head’s sycophantic smile, Rian didn’t reply and merely gave a slight nod. Noticing her reaction, the village head’s expression soured slightly. He pointed at the house and said flatly, "Well, here’s Old Man Collins’s place. Take your time chatting with him, big boss. I have some business to attend to at home, so I’ll be off. I’ll come pick you up for dinner later."

Rian nodded, and the village head left immediately with his men.

Old Man Collins silently brought over chairs for Rian and the others. Then, he sat off to the side without a word, taking puff after puff from his dry tobacco pipe. The scene instantly fell quiet.

Rian frowned, looking in the direction the village head and his men had left. The wicked intentions in the village head’s eyes when he looked at them had been genuine, so why would he just leave them here? He was probably held up by something, and that matter had to be more important than dealing with them. Rian was becoming increasingly eager to uncover the secrets of this village. She glanced at Old Man Collins, who was smoking to himself. Was he left here to keep an eye on them?

Seeing their target, Fiona pulled out a stack of documents. Naturally, she had to play her part properly and go by the book. "Old Master Collins, we are employees of the foundation. We need to learn a bit about your situation."

Old Man Collins merely looked up, took a drag from his pipe, and spoke slowly. "I’m seventy-two this year. My wife passed away nineteen years ago. My eldest son died six years ago, and my second son died three years ago. Both of them were married. My two daughters-in-law..." Old Master Collins didn’t continue right away. He took another puff of his pipe and looked out the window. A moment later, he looked back. "They left the village a year ago. They were both pregnant when they left, yet they didn’t leave a single child behind for this old man."

The old man lowered his head, let out a self-deprecating chuckle, and shook his head. "Forget it. I must have committed countless sins in my past life to end up all alone in this one."

Fiona didn’t say anything, maintaining her initial flat expression as she inputted the information into the system.

Rian had been drinking water ever since she walked through the door, and she suddenly felt the urge to use the restroom. She put on a bashful look. "I wonder if Master Collins knows where the restroom is?"

Old Master Collins simply glanced up. "Why would we build restrooms in our village? We just do our business in the woods. If you’re too squeamish for that, you’ll just have to hold it in."

Rian didn’t mind. She thanked him, walked out the door, and glanced around before running toward the nearby woods, clutching her stomach. The moment she entered the woods, the sweet expression on her face vanished. With natural poise and fluid movements, she evaded the surveillance cameras installed in the trees. Following the markers left by the bodyguards, she soon met up with Ben Sinclair.

Ben Sinclair bowed respectfully. "Miss Sinclair."

Rian nodded. "Did you find anything?"

Ben looked around and leaned in closely. "..."

...

Not long after, Rian strolled back into Old Man Collins’s mud-brick house at a leisurely pace.

The instant Rian walked through the door, Old Man Collins looked up. The flash of danger in his eyes was fleeting, but since Rian had been observing him the moment she entered, she naturally caught it.

Fiona Sinclair looked at her boss. Seeing Rian give an OK hand gesture, Fiona knew she had gathered most of the necessary information. While Fiona continued to record Old Man Collins’s situation, Rian stood off to the side, playing on her phone.

Time passed quickly, and dusk soon arrived. Seeing a message reply on her phone, Rian’s lips curled into a smile as she silently counted down a few numbers in her head.

The moment she finished counting, the door was violently pushed open. The middle-aged men who had been flanking the village head earlier rushed in, panicked. "Collins the Smoker, we’ve been exposed! Hurry up and let’s go. Don’t bother packing anything."

Rian turned around with a calm expression. The men frowned at her group, and Old Man Collins asked, "What do we do with these people?"

One of the men fixed his gaze on Rian’s pretty little face. He licked his lips, his voice hoarse. "Let’s kidnap them and take them with us."

WOW! Hearing the man’s words, Rian truly felt he was a complete idiot. Could he not see the bodyguards standing right next to her? Instead of focusing on running for his life, he actually wanted to kidnap someone on the way out? It was quite impressive.

"Kidnap me?" Rian’s unhurried voice rang out through the crowd. She looked at the men by the door. "Aiden Sinclair, Ethan Sinclair, tie these men up."

Aiden Sinclair and Ethan Sinclair immediately sprang into action upon hearing the order. They bound the six men using prepared ropes and stood off to the side, holding the ends of the ropes. Finding the men too noisy, Ethan Sinclair tore off some fabric from their clothes and gagged them.

Sipping her herbal tea, Rian looked at the bound men with great interest. "Exposed? Did the cops find you?"

The man who had first suggested kidnapping Rian looked up in shock. "How did you know?! Aren’t you just some boss with more money than sense? Could it be... you... you’re an undercover cop!"

Rian couldn’t bear to look at their sheer stupidity anymore. She stepped outside and saw that people from every household had been tied up and brought out. Wyatt Shepherd must have arrived.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, Wyatt Shepherd walked over and saluted. "Thank you for the intelligence you provided, Miss Sinclair."

Rian pointed to the warehouse she had spotted earlier. "Did you send anyone to check out that warehouse over there?"

Wyatt Shepherd nodded, but his expression was far from pleasant. Rian naturally knew the reason behind his grim look, as Ben Sinclair had already briefed her on it.

The warehouse, despite its shabby exterior, had a whole other world hidden inside. It had three floors internally, with the second and third floors consisting of various small rooms fitted with transparent glass. There weren’t too many people on the first floor, but one or two guards stood at every entrance. In the very center were numerous iron cages filled with people kidnapped from all over. If the captives dared to disobey those butchers, they would be met with slaps, verbal abuse, and beatings with clubs. What a bunch of scum.

Fortunately, they had been discovered and saved. Otherwise, where would they have ended up after today? Scattered all over the world.