Chapter 26: Oleander

Bai Xiaozhi: “…”

Kang Jie: “…”

Ah Lei: “…Relax, it’s nothing big.”

As he spoke, Ah Lei opened the comments section and replied to Nanalia: [Sis, you can step on me too (blushing emoji).]

After all, she didn’t know who he was.

……

Pain.

A throbbing pain in the back of her head, pulsing with every heartbeat.

Probably a lump had formed.

She didn’t dare move, afraid of touching it, the pain making her grimace.

“Where… is this?”

The room was dimly lit.

Someone was crying.

More than one person.

Faint sobs echoed from every corner of the shadows.

Her eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness.

Wu Xiaomi finally saw her surroundings clearly.

In the cramped room, over a dozen girls were tied up.

All young, in the prime of their beauty and innocence.

She was just like them, hands and feet bound, curled up in a corner.

“You got caught too, poor child.”

A sigh came from nearby.

Wu Xiaomi recognized the voice: “You’re… Nurse An?”

“Yes, we’ve met before, in Bai Xiaozhi’s hospital room.” Nurse An gave a bitter smile and shook her disheveled hair. “After you left, Assistant Chen kept talking about you… said if only he could see you again. Looks like he won’t get the chance.”

Wu Xiaomi forced herself to ignore the pain in her head and stay alert.

“We were kidnapped by traffickers?”

“Obviously.”

That masked man in black—was he a trafficker?

But why would a trafficker push her off? If she died, how would they sell her?

Or… maybe that wasn’t the one who pushed her? Had she mistaken him?

No, she couldn’t have. Those green eyes were too distinctive.

“I saw a lot of girls getting taken on Pineapple Pineapple before… never thought I’d be one of them.”

Nurse An had clearly cried earlier—her voice was hoarse.

But she knew crying did no good, so she had stopped.

“I overheard them say we’re being taken to the Syndicate auction.”

“Syndicate?”

“Probably just another name for the black market.”

Nurse An lowered her head.

After working in a hospital for so long, she had developed a unique perspective on life and death.

She wasn’t particularly afraid of dying. 

What scared her more was lying in a hospital bed while her children faked smiles, fighting over inheritance, not one willing to pay for her treatment. 

Or worse, having her lover abandon her care when she was near death.

More than death, she feared losing her dignity.

Feared discovering that in her darkest hour, no one truly loved her.

Feared the despair, the numb farewell to this world.

And now—

She knew she was about to spend the rest of her life as a slave, a tool for others’ desires.

That was her worst nightmare.

But… What good was fear?

There would be no heroes in this world.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get everyone out of here,” Wu Xiaomi said.

Nurse An was startled, looking at the girl who was just as trapped as the rest of them.

Even with a swollen lump on her head and blood staining the white shirt of her JK uniform, the girl showed no trace of fear.

“…Escape? Silly girl, you’ve been captured too, don’t you realize?”

Had she been hit dumb?

Nurse An looked at Wu Xiaomi with pity.

“Yeah… I do feel kind of dizzy. My brain’s a little foggy. But I don’t think I’m totally out of it,” Wu Xiaomi said, tongue thick, words slurred.

Even her speech was affected.

That blow probably caused some internal bleeding.

“The store doesn’t allow us to trade for firearms, and even homemade ones get confiscated. So, we just need to be strong enough without them, right?”

“That’s true in theory, but… how about you untie yourself first?”

[Sequence 117 – Flourish]

A small white flower began to grow over the rope binding her wrists.

But it grew slowly—breaking down the rope would take time.

“Thud—”

Before she could get loose, the door slammed open.

“Load them up.”

One by one, the women were hoisted and carried out.

Wu Xiaomi was the last.

The green-eyed masked man stood before her, ready to grab her.

“Wait…”

“Hm?”

“Tell me first—why did you push me that day?”

The masked man paused.

“How do you know it was me?”

“Your eyes—green. That’s rare in Asia. Usually only seen in Germans, Slavs, Pashtuns, or Turks… Plus your height and build made it easy to identify you.”

“…”

“I’m about to be sold anyway. At least let me understand. Your actions contradict themselves—if you wanted to sell me, why try to kill me?”

“It was the mission,” the masked man said impatiently.

“The mission… was to kill me?”

Back then, she had just arrived in this world—had no ties to anyone.

She couldn’t possibly have made enemies.

Then why would there be a mission to kill me?

Is there something wrong with my identity?

“Was it a conquest mission, or a side quest posted by another otherworlder?”

“An otherworlder. Female. Black hair. Judging by her outfit, probably a demon hunter.”

At that, the masked man stopped wasting time.

He grabbed the rope behind Wu Xiaomi and hoisted her up, carrying her outside.

After being in darkness for so long, the sunlight outside was blinding.

Her pupils throbbed in pain.

A horse-drawn carriage waited outside, the other girls had already been shoved in.

The wailing from inside was gut-wrenching, echoing down the entire street.

These traffickers brazenly transported their “cargo.” Some curious heads peeked out from nearby buildings, only to be driven back with threats and flashing blades.

In the past, vermin would at least fear the light. But now, things had flipped.

“No need to gag them? Tape’s not expensive,” the masked man asked the coachman.

“No need, relax. No one’s going to interfere.”

The coachman grinned and pointed at Nurse An. “When we grabbed her, her husband didn’t even fart—turned tail and ran. And her, and her, and her—their own friends didn’t lift a finger. Who else would help?”

“True,” the masked man chuckled. “This is our era.”

“Like fish back in water,” the coachman laughed as well.

Wu Xiaomi was thrown into the carriage too.

There wasn’t even a curtain.

One girl after another—hair disheveled, faces panicked and hopeless—were paraded down the street for all to see.

The girls cried, begging for help.

Passersby averted their eyes in a hurry.

And so the carriage swaggered past the exchange board, through the bustling crowd, like it was flaunting its impunity.

It didn’t look like a passenger carriage, but a livestock truck, openly headed for the slaughterhouse.

“Stop crying. No one’s coming to save us,” Nurse An said coldly. “Don’t you get it yet?”

What made her feel most hopeless about this experience wasn’t being abducted.

It was the indifference of those around them.

And the criminals’ complete lack of fear or shame.

The girls didn’t give up. They continued screaming for help, their voices raw.

They looked with pleading eyes at every passerby.

The young, strong men in the prime of their lives.

At the powerful conquest teams with the strength to intervene.

But they all acted like they couldn’t hear, turning their heads away, chatting and laughing with their companions.

As if—

Outside this tiny carriage, the world was still peaceful and calm.

An invisible wall split two different realities.

Wu Xiaomi leaned quietly against the carriage window.

Fully immersed, she felt the weight of this despair.

It was an experience she would never forget.

And yet, she didn’t cry for help, nor did she place her hopes on any stranger.

From where her wrists were bound,

Delicate white flowers began to bloom.

They were oleander flowers.

A symbol of purity and friendship.

But also a deadly poison.