Chapter 747 - Another Prison
The bright light outside shone into their eyes, and both Xia Ruoxin and Shen Wei used the cloth to cover their eyes once they came out. Anyone who had a bit of common sense would know that if one had been in a dark place for too long and the light outside was too bright, it would cause one to be blind. Besides, they could already feel the intensity of the light outside based on the light that shone in previously.
“Squat down.” Once they went out, a man with a hoarse voice yelled before hurling his whip onto the floor which made a reverberating sound and also a gush of cold air at the side of their ear. It was not hard to imagine how painful it would be when the whip hit someone’s skin.
They were hungry and thirsty, but the people outside did not seem to care about their life and death; they continued to lift the other cargo out from the ship one by one. As for these movable cargoes, they would place them here first since they could not run. Even if they did, they had nowhere to run as other than this piece of land, it was all deck. They did not have wings, and they could never escape from this place so their fates were still unknown.
The sky started to darken slowly, and the light started to become warm if one was able to use this as an adjective.
Xia Ruoxin touched Shen Wei’s elbow and took off the cloth covering her eyes. Luckily, when she went out, she wore more clothes, unlike Shen Wei who had nothing but one layer of clothing.
If they really did not have anything to cover their eyes, they could not possibly use their undergarments. Their outerwear was smeared with the smelly items that had even made the other women stay far away from them.
When their eyes slowly adjusted to their surrounding light, Xia Ruoxin then found out that they were overseas; but they did not know which country they were in. She secretly took a look at the Eurasian crew members, and none of them had an eastern face. Also, the people around them with numb expressions were not eastern people like Shen Wei and her… except for one or two who did not like to talk.
Their expression was dumb and did not have much spark in their eyes. Xia Ruoxin had even recognized one of them that had been brought out by the crew members several times. As to what they did outside, one did not have to guess; they perhaps had lost their soul or their freedom… or maybe their entire self and had resigned to their fate.
However, Xia Ruoxin had never resigned to hers.
It was their ninetieth day of being missing; three whole months. They had been floating on sea for a total of three months, and finally, their feet had landed on land, even though they were in another country.
The ship cargoes were brought out one by one while these women continued to squat on the deck board. No matter if the sun had burnt their skin or reddened their face—one had even started to feel faint from extensive hunger, they did not move and did not dare to run.
When the sun was about to set, the whip hit the floor again.
“Come up, one by one. Hurry up.”
Following this, there was another whipping sound that broke the air.
Xia Ruoxin shrunk her body. These whips did not have eyes, and if it really hit their bodies, their skin would be torn open.
They followed the crowd tightly from behind. It was their first time in three months to step on land and also their first time being under such a warm sun in a long time.
At the start, Shen Wei and her eyes were covered by cloth so they could adjust to the light now. On the other hand, there were a few people who rubbed their eyes from time to time; it seemed like their vision was impaired.
The ground was dry, filled with dust, and did not have any greenery, high-rise buildings, or traffic lights that should have been everywhere; as well as all sorts of vehicles and pedestrians.
This place was away from the hustle and bustle of city life, but to them, this silence in their ears was a fear that crept to them.
Then, they were chased into a run-down wooden house. Yes, it was a wooden house, a house made of wood and was very run-down. There was a large mattress along with a very dirty and old blanket that seemed to have been picked up from the dustbin as the cotton was exposed, and there was also an awful decomposing smell coming from the blanket.
Xia Ruoxin was not unfamiliar to this smell as after all; for the past three months, they had been smelling this to sleep every day.
The house should be the go-to-place for eating, drinking, and defecating.
Someone suddenly pushed her shoulder, and a lady with a thick waist walked in and said something in an alien language to them, which Xia Ruoxin and Shen Wei did not understand. To them, this foreign language sounded like the heavenly book in their ears.
The woman who spoke also knew that the newbies did not quite understand what she said so she gestured towards them before pointing to the mattress on the innermost side. She meant for them to go in, and it was their place to stay in the future.
Xia Ruoxin picked the innermost corner by the wall. At the very least, it was safer and Shen Wei was sleeping beside her. The women picked their own spot on the mattress and did not interact at all. No matter how this place looked, it was much better than the ship; and at the very least, they had a place to lie down and a blanket to cover them.
The sky outside was already dark, and Xia Ruoxin thought it was around eight or nine at night. She was very tired and wanted to sleep, but there was a bit of light left so she did not sleep too peacefully.
It was until she smelled food. She felt as if her nose had been trained up the past three months as she was able to smell both smelly and fragrant items. Hurriedly, she sat up and woke Shen Wei up.
Shen Wei still seemed to be in a daze and was throwing a small tantrum.
“What’s wrong?”
“There’s food.” Xia Ruoxin held her hand tightly and felt that if they went late, there would not be food for them.
Shen Wei jumped up in no time.
Even Xia Ruoxin felt a bittersweet smile.
There was a large container, and one person could have a bowl of rice which looked like white rice grain but was yellow instead. They also got a biscuit. As they rose the earliest, they were at the front and took the most and best food of the lot.
When they ate the rice, there was a grainy feeling which did not feel like white rice and was not delicious; but it was not hard to eat as well. After all, they had food worth for pigs on the ship so no matter if it was her, Shen Wei, or the other people; they were holding onto their bowl of rice and were afraid someone would snatch it. The people behind them either did not have the biscuit, the rice, or even anything at all.