*** Chen Murong's point of view. ***

So, it had been a week since we entered the Borderlands region. We had just made a temporally stopped at the Thames village to replenish our supplies. Then, we left the village to continue to our final destination. But, shortly after we left the village, the majority of the members of our group unexpectedly had food poisoning. I knew it was weird, but accidents did happen sometimes. Fortunately, Dawei and I were not on the poop train list.

So, when others were still busy doing their critical business, Dawei and I sat in our car, silently waiting. However, out of nowhere, we heard several gunshots.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Hearing the sound of the gun firing, everybody hurriedly hid in the safe position, got in a car, or drew a gun. Dawei and I still sit in the car since our mirrors were made of bulletproof glass. So, we took the time to examine around and noticed that several people were approaching us in all directions. From rough estimation, this group of bandits was about 100 people up in size, and all of them also appeared to be armed to the teeth. It seemed these bandits had successfully ambushed us without a doubt. We were stuck in this terrain like a rabbit that fell into a big hole and could not jump out.

Positively, Robert's team and our team also immediately reacted in a very professional way. Even though the situation was terrible, we still kept calm, took a few deep breaths, and shifted the focus to find a way to come out of this situation.

Hence, Robert acted as a negotiator with the bandit team. However, immediately after the objective of the robbers was revealed, Dawei and I stared at each other with a questioning look.

Why did these bandits want to kidnap us? It did not make any sense. If they did not know who we were, they might think we were descendants of wealthy merchants, and it would make sense to demand a ransom payment from our family. But, if they had already known who we were, they should know that they risked angering the central to capture the descendants of noble.

Anyway, our situation was at a disadvantage. No matter what the reasons were, it could not change the fact that we were in a dangerous state.

"This doesn't seem good. At this rate, most of our men will perish in the fight," I hypothesized after hearing the conversion between Robert and one of the bandits.

"True," Dawei agreed. "What do you think we should do then?"

I paused a little bit to think and, then, roughly told him my idea. The plan that I came up with was actually extremely simple. I would let the bandits capture us...

After listening to my plan, Dawei made a suspicious face at first, but eventually, he gave me an approval nod with a bitter smile. Then, I picked up my walkie-talkie and talked to all the people on the team to propose my plan.

Of course, Robert and his team did not agree with us. However, I did not wait for their approval. Dawei and I hastily got out of our humvee and begun negotiation with the head of the bandits right away.

The negotiation went well, or rather, went the least bad for us.

The bandits agreed to let our team go in exchange for us to follow them obediently. Therefore, Dawei and I were tied and brought back with them in one of their vans. Then, our trip to our captors' lair began.

During the bandit's lair journey, the bandits assigned two of their own people to guard us in a small compartment of a modified van. I actually did not mind about that because I knew they also remained wary about us. However, I did mind the choice of people that they chose to accompany us. They brainlessly selected two big stinky brawny guys to be on our sides at all times.

Damn, these guys really needed to take a bath. My nose was already red, suffering from their strong and pungent smells.

To make the situation worse, the van's air conditioning was also broken. Those two guys continuously let out a bunch of sweat. I felt it would be better if they just used an anesthetic on us and let us sleep like the kidnapper in the movie.

So, as you could probably guess, the trip was not enjoyable, but at least it was not last long. The bandits decided to stop in the evening after traveling for about half a day and set up their tents in the forest. Though Dawei and I were tied with a maple tree, and they made us sleep in the open under the night sky. At least two people were watching and guarding us at all times.

So far, during our capture, I felt relieved that we had not been hurt, violated, or forced to do anything yet. It seemed, apart from preventing us from escaping, they still treated us with a bit of respect.

Though, if they did act rashly in the future, we might have to stop pretending to be a little lamb in the hand of a fox. Dawei and I would teach them a memorable life lesson.

The trip lasted for another day, and we arrived at their destination sometimes in the night. It was dark, and I could not see clearly where we were. Nevertheless, I could tell that we had been brought to what I would call a medium-sized village in the middle of a Borderlands inner region forest.

After we entered the village, another tall guy approached us and brought us to an old wooden hut at the back of the village. He called a couple of young men out. After those two being told something, one of the young men nodded before he proceeded to bring Dawei and me to a smaller wooden shack not far away and signaled for us to enter it.

Once we both in the shack, the guy stood at the door and said, "You will be spending a night here in this shack. Our chief will meet you tomorrow. Oh, and don't waste time trying to escape. We have several guards standing outside this shack."

Then, the guy closed the door and locked us in with a keychain outside of the front door.

After the guy left, we both survey the room that we were in. This shack, or crude jail, was rather small. It was not exceeding 4 square meters large and was basically constructed by a chaotic assortment of wooden branches of different lengths plunged into the ground, forming a wall that was roughly two meters tall with a thatched roof glass on top. So, at least, if there were rain, we would not be soaked with water.

Weirdly, there was a little broken stool in the middle of the room, and there were no other pieces of furniture in the shack. The ground within the shack was also rather muddy, and some feces could be spotted at the corners of the shack. Some shameless people must have used the shack as their toilet recently.

I was moving the stool out of the way while Dawei tried to test the strength of the wall in all directions.

The guards that posed outside of the shack must hear and saw our movements. They shout, "Don't bother to find a way to escape. There is no such thing. Even if you could find one, there are no other people around here that you could call for help. There is nothing around here except us, the forest, and the ferocious animals. If you leave the village, both of you will end up becoming two bloody corpses within a day."

However, I did not put that guard's warning into my heart since I had a solid plan on how to escape tomorrow. I also had several special items with me that we obtained from the dungeon. It was not difficult to get away now unscratched if we put our effort into it. However, I would like to meet the chief of the bandit and figured out what happened first.

Consequently, Dawei and I whispered to each other about the plan for tomorrow. No matter what, we have to escape tomorrow. Only people with something wrong with their heads would like to spend another night in this damn place.

One night was already more than enough...

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Author's note

Another chapter is done! If you like, please support me with votes, comments, and reviews! Don't be afraid to share any of your suggestions, criticisms, thoughts, and opinions. Don't hold back! I am always happy to see some of your thoughts! Thank you! :)

Single Hamster