Chapter 1: Suspected Bandits

Time continues to pass, and Lü Zhe, who has tried in vain, has fallen silent. He used to detest the sound of someone snoring while sleeping, but now he finds that sound rather endearing. Having someone by his side, even without knowing their intentions, is far better than the previous darkness and silence. That person, aside from being somewhat fierce, seems to harbor no malice, and as Lü Zhe relaxes, he unexpectedly falls asleep.

Strangely, even when he felt he was on the verge of death, Lü Zhe's mind was still able to think

Until he discovered someone was there, Lu Zhe came to his senses and could not remember what he had just been thinking. He only knew to look in fear at the person standing in the darkness

The cries for help were not loud; they resembled a weak moan. However, no matter what, no one ever appeared.

The person then said a string of words, while holding something that rubbed against Lu Zhe's exposed skin on his arm, the rough sensation was clearly that of a stone

In that fleeting moment of light, Lu Zhe seemed to catch a glimpse of a rugged face almost entirely covered in a beard, which flashed by. Perhaps due to his nervousness, he unconsciously associated the face he saw with the image of bandits from movies (or TV dramas). Thinking about it this way, he probably found it amusing, and his inner tension gradually dissipated, allowing him to quietly await the subsequent developments

In fact, it was precisely because of the smell of the air that he believed he was in a pigsty

"Ka-ba, ka-ba! My friend, what exactly do you want to do with me?"

It is difficult to say...

Lu Zhe had never encountered such a scene before. The light that streamed in through the small, low circular hole was insufficient to illuminate the entire room. What met his eyes was a dim light, and around him were earthen walls made of a mixture of soil and straw. On the walls, wooden hooks were hanging some nameless objects.

Uh... the kicked Lü Zhe finally let out a painful groan, and his mood involuntarily began to tense up again. He was very worried that this person might be a madman; otherwise, who would speak to strangers in dialects that others could not understand in an era when Mandarin was widely spoken, shouting loudly while playing with a stone, making a "ka ba—ka ba—" sound?

Lu Zhe was both mentally and physically tense, and his mind began to wander. As he waited to regain his composure, a figure stood upright in the darkness, and he did not even know when this person had arrived

Just as Lü Zhe was trying to reach out to check whether the chrysanthemum had been damaged, a man who looked remarkably like a bandit appeared.

The appearance of the bandit uncle is filled with a sense of mystery! It is not that his entrance is particularly shocking, but rather that his attire is truly peculiar

That person reached out and pushed Lv Zhe; out of fear, he did not dare to make a sound, nor even to move a little.

Once again, it was a string of syllables. This time, Lü Zhe could hear the syllables clearly, but he still did not understand what was being said. It resembled a dialect from a certain place, www.hetushu.com. Some pronunciations were familiar, but when strung together, all that remained was confusion

Who exactly is treating me this way

Due to the darkness of the light, he could barely see something placed in the corner of the wall; he could roughly distinguish that it was a collection of jars and containers, but the shapes of those jars were beyond his recognition

Snore... Shh... Huh

When the room becomes completely dark, the feeling of panic intensifies, the body is utterly devoid of strength, and the mouth cannot scream. This state can torment a person to the point of mental collapse

Lü Zhe, stripped down to only his underwear, experienced a moment of mental disconnection. With his one hundred and fifty pounds of flesh exposed to the air, his fair skin and his not particularly robust height of one meter eighty-five lay completely intact among the grass.

... ... snore, rumble

Aside from receiving a kick, there seems to be no indication of any impending murder, and Lü Zhe's courage has somewhat returned

Finally ... . ... The momentary sound of "yiya" seemed to indicate that a door was being pushed open. However, the visitor did not appear directly; instead, there were continuous sounds from outside, as if something was colliding or being moved.

Various strange thoughts rolled through his mind like waves, and he found it odd that he could still think of these things instead of fainting from excessive nervousness

The weak voice of speech and the sound of snoring intertwine, portraying a bizarre farce

If you were to open your eyes and find yourself in an unfamiliar environment, with all familiar things drifting away from you, surrounded by things that are incomprehensible and unintelligible, what kind of feeling would that evoke in you

There is an indistinct smell in the air, as if something is fermenting, making the air in the room somewhat unpleasant

It seemed that the person was mumbling something, but Lv Zhe was so nervous that he couldn't hear a single word clearly. When he saw that shadow crouching down, he couldn't help but tremble in his heart, truly experiencing extreme fear and anxiety

He first felt a sense of doubt, confirming that he had not misheard, as he heard footsteps approaching from a distance. His mood shifted from inexplicable joy to sudden fear. In the midst of such great joy and shock, he found himself unable to exhale, the breath caught in his chest, unable to resist rolling his eyes back, nearly suffocating himself.

He once tried to rise from the pile of weeds to discern his surroundings, but he did not understand what was happening. He felt utterly drained of energy, and as the light grew dimmer and the silence around him became eerily profound, his mood turned increasingly frantic

Is that so? If you are asking for a ransom, you should at least specify an amount

With a "ka-ba" sound, a flash of light momentarily illuminated the room, but it quickly vanished again

It is unclear how much time has passed, but just as Lu Zhe was doubting whether he would collapse in the next moment, a faint sound was heard.

Why have you come here

The head is wrapped with a cloth strip, and the long hair is densely coiled. The thick sideburns are abundant, and the eyebrows are nearly identical, resembling a straight line. The prominent features of the face can be described as having thick eyebrows and large eyes; the upper body is clad in a strangely styled coarse linen short-sleeved shirt, revealing hairy arms and chest. Of course, it is evident through the hair that the muscles are well-developed; the lower body is dressed in similarly made linen shorts that extend just below the knees, with leg hair as thick and dense as ever. The footwear is somewhat peculiar, clearly a pair of so-called "tough shoes," which are essentially straw sandals! ... The most distinctive feature is ...! Indeed, it is noticeable that there is hair on the toes as well!

The next day? It seems to be the next day. Anyway, when Lu Zhe woke up, the room was filled with light again. He once again discovered that there was no one else in the room besides himself. He tried to lift his head and surprisingly succeeded! At that moment, a tremendous sense of happiness surged within him; being able to move meant he was not paralyzed, it was just...

This time, Lu Zhe saw the person staring at him with wide eyes, as if he was either astonished or somewhat angry. While playing with a stone in his hand that made a "ka ba" sound, he shouted loudly and irritably kicked out with his foot.

The original Adidas T-shirt worn on the body is gone, the Apple jeans have mysteriously disappeared, and the Li Ning sports shoes on the feet have not escaped unscathed, only that pair of red shorts remains vibrantly colored

Initially, he was afraid that making a sound would attract a hidden assailant who would beat him up, so he planned to wait until he had regained some strength to secretly observe his surroundings and escape when the opportunity arose. However, his body showed no signs of recovery. Due to hunger, he became increasingly weak, and his tense mood gradually led to a state of drowsiness. The calm demeanor he had previously forced himself to maintain was completely shattered, and he began to attempt to call for help

The continuous "ka-ba" sound echoed, and flashes of light swept through the room

Confusion and panic were almost the emotions that Lü Zhe felt upon waking up. He struggled to recall what had happened, but the more he thought about it, the more bewildered he became. He only remembered that he was about to step out of the mall with the items he had purchased when a loud noise suddenly struck. Before he lost consciousness, his vision was filled with red, and when he awoke again, he found himself in an unfamiliar environment

Realizing that the person had no intention of harming him, Lü Zhe's tense emotions gradually calmed down. He completely did not understand what had happened. The person did not light a lamp but instead played with the stones, making a "ka ba" sound. During this time, he also kicked a few times, and the places he kicked felt a bit numb. What does this mean?

What?

After a while, this person finally stopped playing with the stones, but the room had completely darkened. He said something in a tone that was both angry and helpless, and ultimately, he casually lay down on the nearby pile of grass like a corpse. Before long, he actually started snoring!

In Lu Zhe's eyes, this uncle is not merely resembling a bandit, but is almost identical to the "legendary" bandits

At first, he thought he had been kidnapped, but then he chuckled to himself. Although he had a bit of money at home, it was not enough to warrant a kidnapping. However, if it wasn't a kidnapping, then what was it? Was he knocked out and then thrown into some pigsty?