He Lang jumped into the room, his hands trembling with some anger as he picked up the ropes on the ground. He stepped on the dirty cloth, and once he was done taking a look at the ropes, he tossed it roughly.

"Which one of you helped him escape? Who is it? Come out!" He gritted his teeth, the veins on his temples bulged.

Xiao Qingya thought, this man has anger issues!

However, considering that the grain barn owner might report them to the authorities, his anger was somewhat understandable. On the contrary to He Lang’s unstable state, Xiao Qingya became a little relieved.

[System, are we going to be saved?]

The System thought about it.

[It’s still uncertain, Host. Commoners in this era are generally afraid of the authorities. The grain barn owner might be scared he will be dragged into a child trafficking case.]

[It is still uncertain whether he will report the case to the authorities. Now that He Lang has found out the man had escaped, he might also evacuate all of you to another place soon.]

The little one blinked, a little confused.

The world she had spent fourteen years in was a modern world, not an ancient time, so it was normal she was somewhat still lacking in her knowledge about society in ancient time. As she digested the information, she slowly nodded.

At this moment, He Lang had come over to inspect the child one by one. He had counted the number of children present and found out that no one was missing.

He roughly grabbed the kid by her bound hands. She was so frightened that tears gathered in her eyes, yet she didn’t dare to let out a sob.

As he squinted his eyes, He Lang tossed her back roughly. The kid gasped in pain, and tears streamed down her face, the sound from her throat came out muffled.

After a while, He Lang frowned deeply. No one had their ropes untied, and he was also confident in his ability to tie up people with ropes. A child couldn’t possibly solve something complicated like that.

"Did he solve the ropes by himself?" He asked them harshly, a fierce glint flashed in his eyes.

Frightened, the children nodded even when they didn’t have the time to digest the question. Xiao Qingya also shrank back, trying to minimize her presence.

Considering her little figure, if He Lang treated her so roughly like that, she might get her limbs broken.

"Are you trying to damage our items, He Lang?" Liu Hei appeared with a look of disapproval on his face. He instantly noticed that there were more bruises on the kids’ skin.

He Lang turned around, pointing his finger accusingly at Liu Hei. "What do you know? That bastard run away from here–"

He abruptly stopped, his eyes held scrutiny and some doubt. His breathing grew heavy, and his loud voice was filled with interrogation. "Did you do it?! Was it you who released him?"

Liu Hei narrowed his eyes slightly. He was initially puzzled where He Lang’s unreasonable anger had come from, but soon he understood when he saw the missing adult in the room.

His face abruptly changed. He ignored He Lang’s accusation and asked back. "When did he escape?"

He scanned the room and found nothing wrong there, doing the same routine like He Lang had done earlier. Although He Lang was temperamental, his rope skills were undoubtedly something a child couldn’t easily solve.

His eyes fell on Xiao Qingya, and the little one shrank slightly. He moved his attention away, as if his fleeting was merely out of normal scrutiny.

All of a sudden, he walked toward the grain sacks, passing by Xiao Qingya.

Xiao Qingya’s pupils constricted, but she didn’t show anything on her face because of the System’s warning. She didn’t want the injured man to get into trouble.

Subconsciously, she held her breath. Her heart was breathing fast when she saw Liu Hei removing a few grain sacks from the bunch.

"What are you doing?" He Lang’s suspicion at Liu Hei lessened considerably. He approached him, joining in as the latter moved the grain sacks.

He already figured out what Liu Hei was trying to do. A glint flashed in his eyes. "Do you think he is still hiding here?"

Before Liu Hei could respond, He Lang’s voice reverberated into the room, full of warning. "Come out, you wretched bastard! Pray that I won’t find you or I will skin you alive."

No matter how they turned over all the grain sacks in the room, unfortunately, they couldn’t find anyone. He Lang snorted in annoyance.

"He must have escaped," Liu Hei said with certainty.

"Whose fault is it? Didn’t you keep watch last night? Don’t tell me you are slacking off?!" He Lang was quick to put the blame on Liu Hei.

Liu Hei’s eyes turned a little chilly. He said matter-of-factly, "I merely keep watch for a few hours and always stay in the same place. It was mostly your turn after we caught him. Tell me, did you leave your post to go to the bathroom or something?"

The words effectively made He Lang become quieter. He merely stared at Liu Hei with ferocious eyes, saying nothing.

He had indeed spent some time in the bathroom and it wasn’t short.

"Now, we need to move these kids away since our location has been leaked." Liu Hei decided. "Grab anyone you can."

The scars in his face made him look even more fierce at this time. He Lang didn’t refute his words. There was no better solution than the one offered by Liu Hei.

Xiao Qingya watched them vigilantly. Just as she guessed, Liu Hei snatched her first, beating He Lan into it. The latter snorted, and for the first time, he didn’t argue. He went to grab another kid.

They ran through the door with brisk and large steps.

She bit her lips, her hope of escaping was dashed.

[System, I don’t think I can escape this, can I?]

In the quiet morning, the distance between them and the grain barn was getting longer and longer.