CHAPTER 58: CHAPTER 58: THE CRIME OF GENDER 58

Xiao Xia’s back was being firmly pinned down by Qin Shuangshuang’s foot, making it impossible for her to struggle. The bowstring around her neck continued to tighten, and soon, Xiao Xia began to feel a sense of suffocation!

Quickly, golden stars started to appear before Xiao Xia’s eyes, followed by waves of dizziness and blackouts. The pain of suffocation made it impossible for Xiao Xia to even scream!

At this moment, Xiao Xia experienced a near-death sensation, something she hadn’t even felt when she was starving to death before. She had never imagined that death was this close, so close that she could even feel her head and body separating!

Just as Xiao Xia thought she was surely going to die today, the bowstring around her neck disappeared. Air re-entered her painfully aching lungs, and she couldn’t help but curl up, coughing heartbreakingly while greedily taking deep breaths!

Qin Shuangshuang squatted down, slapped Xiao Xia’s face, and smiled maliciously, "How about it? How does this feel? If you don’t speak, we can go a few more rounds and see how long you can hold on!"

Xiao Xia gasped for air like a bellows, sending a venomous glance at Qin Shuangshuang, then looked at her family crouched in the corner, ignoring her plight, with an undercurrent of gloom in her eyes.

Qin Shuangshuang stepped on Xiao Xia’s back once more, causing Xiao Xia to scream out in shock. Just when she was nearly in despair, she saw Fang Zhongyi, who had been looking for them as well, and sobbed with a hoarse voice, "Uncle Fang, save me!"

Fang Zhongyi turned his head and stayed silent. He wasn’t an idiot. Though he had deep feelings for the people of Fang Family Village, when it came to his precious daughter, Fang Zhongyi wouldn’t act out of misplaced kindness. Moreover, he had a faint sense of foreboding, though he couldn’t quite believe it.

Qin Shuangshuang sneered and grabbed Xiao Xia’s hair, wrapping the bowstring around her neck once more. This time, Qin Shuangshuang used more force, and Xiao Xia’s face flushed bright red, with mucus and tears streaming down as she kicked wildly behind her. Just as she was about to choke, Qin Shuangshuang finally released her.

After Xiao Xia caught her breath, Qin Shuangshuang continued to speak coldly, "Well, will you talk now? I, for one, don’t know my own strength. If you still don’t speak, next time you might not have the same luck as these past two times and might not get away from being strangled to death!"

After experiencing near-death twice, Xiao Xia looked at Qin Shuangshuang with eyes full of terror and panic, but she still refused to disclose Fang Yaoyao’s whereabouts. Instead, she said with a voice that was barely coming out, "Killing is against the law. You can’t kill me!"

"Against the law?" Qin Shuangshuang sneered, "Are you stupid? What time is it now? Not to mention killing, no one would care even if you were eating people. At this point, seeing as you still have such flesh on you, you should understand..."

At this point, Qin Shuangshuang suddenly stopped, as though a bolt of lightning had cleaved the fog blocking her vision. In a flash of insight, Qin Shuangshuang suddenly thought of the most probable, yet most frightening guess!

She had been shortsighted before, because Fang Zhongyi had saved her in his past life and was her mentor in this lifetime. She admired and revered Fang Zhongyi infinitely, both emotionally and rationally!

So Qin Shuangshuang’s subconscious always felt that even if the Fang Family Village people were unreliable, even if they wanted to eat people, they definitely wouldn’t dare do it while Fang Zhongyi was in the village. They would at least wait until he left the village to dare eat people, right?

But now she suddenly thought that her assumptions were far too simplistic! She had forgotten that she too had been driven mad by hunger, using all her rationality to suppress the urge to drool over her kind in the past.

Why did she assume those villagers would fear Fang Zhongyi and not dare eat people! She had experienced firsthand how potent the power of hunger was. Without a strong will, in the face of such hunger, a person could do anything.

Wrong! Wrong! Everything was wrong!!!

Because of her blind admiration for Fang Zhongyi, Qin Shuangshuang always thought the Fang Family Village would dare to eat people only after Fang Zhongyi left.

But considering Fang Zhongyi’s feelings for Fang Family Village, this assumption was fundamentally untenable. Therefore, it must have been the villagers doing something to hurt Fang Zhongyi’s heart, perhaps... eating Fang Yaoyao, which led Fang Zhongyi to leave the village heartbroken, never to return.

At this moment, seeing Xiao Xia and her family’s well-nourished bodies, plus Xiao Xia’s obviously terrified gaze, yet no matter how she pressed, Xiao Xia wouldn’t speak up. Even after Qin Shuangshuang repeatedly promised not to pursue any consequences as long as she spoke of Fang Yaoyao’s whereabouts, Xiao Xia still wouldn’t relent. Why?

There’s only one reason: Xiao Xia knew that not speaking left a sliver of hope for survival, but once she spoke, Qin Shuangshuang would absolutely not let her go!

This Xiao Xia very likely wasn’t instructed by others to lure Fang Yaoyao away; instead, she had done it of her own accord. As for the purpose, it was self-evident!

As soon as she thought of this possibility, Qin Shuangshuang felt her blood turn cold. She couldn’t afford to waste time arguing with Xiao Xia. She immediately searched frantically around Xiao Xia’s house—every room, hidden cellar, even overturned water jars to see if there were any secretive passageways hidden underneath!

Seeing Qin Shuangshuang’s actions, Fang Zhongyi also suspected something. With a grim face, he joined Qin Shuangshuang in searching everywhere. But no matter how they searched, there was nothing! Nothing! Nowhere could they find a hidden place where someone could be hidden.

Xiao Xia’s house seemed like an ordinary farmhouse on the outside, with nothing suspicious. But Qin Shuangshuang was not ready to give up and continued searching everywhere.

She was convinced that within this courtyard, there had to be a secretive place to hide people or to engage in some clandestine activities.

Qin Shuangshuang searched over and over again, finally finding a concealed entrance to a subterranean passageway beneath some farming tools in the granary. Qin Shuangshuang didn’t bother with those tools; with a single energetic pull, she tossed both the wooden board and tools aside!

As the wooden board covering the passageway was lifted, a set of muddy stairs was revealed along with a faint stench emanating from below! The minute Qin Shuangshuang smelled this odor, her heart sank, and she couldn’t help but become frantic.

Qin Shuangshuang’s movements were significant, and soon Fang Zhongyi, searching outside, followed the sound and found his way over. Looking at that cave and the faint stench, his complexion turned pale as well.

After calming his mind for a moment, Fang Zhongyi was the first to step on the dirt stairs and go down. The hole wasn’t dug too deep, and a few simple torches were placed below.

This setup wasn’t strange for Fang Zhongyi and Qin Shuangshuang. It was common for farmhouses to have large vegetable cellars, cool in summer and warm in winter, making it hard for stored vegetables to spoil!

Although Xiao Xia’s family had an extra vegetable cellar, it wasn’t particularly odd. Digging another was unnecessary but, to villagers, it was just a bit more effort.

These finely crafted large vegetable cellars typically had a passageway a few meters long, leading into a room-sized space for storage, such as greens or home-brewed rice wine and pickles.

Qin Shuangshuang and Fang Zhongyi lit the torches and walked inside. The closer they got, the stronger the stench became. Qin Shuangshuang and Fang Zhongyi, filled with unease, quickened their pace. In an instant, they covered the few meters of the passageway, and they finally saw the space inside. Upon seeing it clearly, both Qin Shuangshuang and Fang Zhongyi’s pupils shrank fiercely!