Elder brother's garrison

"..." Xu An's eyes widened, his furious expression frozen in mid-air as if a pause button had been pressed, before receding like the tide and returning to calm. "..."

Xu An gave Gao Le a few venomous glances, then gave Xiao Bai a few more venomous glances, before walking out of the school.

The children behind Xu An followed him out like ducklings following their mother, looking lost, confused, and numb.

Xiao Bai observed the children that Xu An and Gao Le had brought this time. There were both boys and girls among them. The youngest was only six or seven years old, and the oldest was about the same age as himself. They were all good-looking. Perhaps the poor food and lodging in the human trafficking base had affected their mental state, but their neat features still showed some beauty.

As Xiaobai was thinking, he suddenly felt someone watching him.

Xiao Bai looked up and saw Gao Le staring at him.

"What are you doing?" Xiaobai asked.

"Why did you come here?" Gao Le asked.

“…I hate him more,” Xiaobai said to Gao Le.

Gao Le didn't say anything, he just nodded, and then led Xiao Bai and a group of duck-like children out of the school.

Chapter 3703 Village

When Xiaobai walked out of the school gate with Gao Le, Xu An and the group of ducklings behind him had already disappeared.

Xiao Bai looked around a few times.

"Where is he?" Xiaobai asked.

“He left first,” Gao Le replied.

Xiao Bai looked up in slight surprise and glanced at Gao Le.

Gao Le remained as cold and aloof as ever, not even glancing at Xiao Bai. He stared straight ahead.

But whether it was Xiaobai's imagination or not, Xiaobai felt that Gao Le seemed to be talking more than before.

Xiao Bai withdrew his gaze and looked at the iron fence around him.

The village school is about the size of a backward rural primary school. There is almost no vegetation around the school, and there is no green at all. The whole place is withered and yellow.

Outside the only building called the teaching building, there is a fence at least five or six meters high. The rusty fence is covered with shocking metal spikes, which seem to rattle loudly when the wind blows.

The only exit of the fence faces the school gate, where two strong men dressed as villagers are squatting. Around the fence, you can vaguely see some villagers wandering around aimlessly.

Gao Le, expressionless, led Xiao Bai and a group of children to the gate. The villagers guarding the gate seemed to know Gao Le well. They raised their hands and called out familiarly, "Brother Le, you're here!" and then made way for him.

Gao Le didn't react much to the villagers; he simply nodded and led Xiao Bai out of the fence.

Xiao Bai clearly sensed that the villagers' gazes were moving around him and the children behind him. This feeling was quite unpleasant, and all Xiao Bai could do for a moment was sigh and try his best to keep his eyes on the village.

Since I've finally managed to get out here, I'd better take a good look at what's going on in this village.

The road between the village and the school wasn't far; in fact, they were on the same main road. After Gao Le led Xiao Bai and the others down, they quickly entered the center of the village.

The village is relatively quiet.

Although there are small shops and vendors on the street, the shop owners hardly ever shout out their wares. They simply place all their goods in their shops and stalls. They don't seem to care much about the pedestrians on the street. They just sit in their seats, heads down, flipping through books or playing on their phones, like office workers wasting time waiting to get off work.

As Xiaobai watched, he suddenly realized something.

Xiao Bai had always felt that this village was strange, but she was sent to school shortly after arriving here, so she had very little time to observe the village and couldn't pinpoint exactly what was strange about it. It wasn't until she ran out with others that Xiao Bai looked around for a while and observed enough before finally discovering the source of this sense of unease.

—The people in this village don't talk about everyday things at all.

—It's too quiet.

Just as Xiaobai was pondering, Gao Le and Xiaobai's group passed by a small shop. The shop owner, who was usually quite bored, looked up and saw Gao Le, and unusually, he smiled warmly.

"Hey, Brother Le! Busy, huh!"

"Ah."

"What are you going to do with so many children?"

"A guest is coming."

"oh----"

In the brief exchange of questions and answers, the shop owner understood immediately, drawing out the words.

The shop owner's gaze swept over Xiao Bai, then he tore open a bag of snacks, popped a few peanuts into his mouth, and continued talking to Gao Le.

"This batch is of very good quality."

"Ah."

"Have one?"

"No."

Hey! Have a safe trip!

The shop owner tossed the remaining half-bag of snacks to Xiaobai.

Xiaobai didn't reach out to take it, but the little girls and boys behind her seemed to have been prepared all along and rushed up quickly, grabbing the snacks before Xiaobai could reach them.

The children stared wide-eyed, panting with longing, turning to look at Gao Le. Only after they saw no rejection in Gao Le's eyes did they feel relieved enough to reach their dirty little hands into the snack bag, grabbing candied peanuts and stuffing them into their mouths.

Clatter. Clatter.

Snacks spilled onto the ground.

The children immediately bent down and crawled on the ground to pick them up.

Several children were scrambling around a small bag of snacks, which made the snack shop owner laugh out loud.

"Haha, eat up, eat more, it's good to eat more!"

Gao Le withdrew his gaze expressionlessly and continued walking forward. After the group of children finished fighting over the snacks, they followed him reluctantly, licking their fingers.

Gao Le finally led everyone to a small villa in the middle of the village.

This villa is considered a pretty nice building in the village, with a small Western style and a clean and tidy courtyard. When Xiaobai and the children went in, the room was almost empty, with a few village women waiting for them.

Beside the villager, the children who had previously followed Xu An were now standing there timidly.

"You all go over there," Gao Le said to the children.

The children obediently walked past, and Xiaobai was pushed along by the crowd to the side of a villager's older woman.

The village women immediately grabbed the children's arms, pulled them to a bucket of water, and used a towel to rub the children's faces.

Such behavior was hardly gentle. Many children coughed as a result, but dared not struggle. After simply wiping the dirt off their faces, the village women took out some cheap cosmetics and began to roughly apply makeup to the children's faces.

An older woman was about to take Xiaobai over to wash her face and put on makeup, but Gao Le stopped her just as she got close to Xiaobai.

"She doesn't need makeup."

"Oh, oh..." The older woman in charge of Xiaobai was taken aback at first, but looking at Xiaobai's face and her spotless appearance, she seemed to understand something. "Oh my... indeed, this girl is so clean. Is she new here?"

"Ah."

"oops……"

The woman sighed, a sigh filled with complex emotions, but said nothing more, simply shaking her head as she left.

Xiao Bai watched as the village women wiped and applied makeup to the children in the room, and the air gradually filled with the strong smell of cosmetics and perfume. She turned her head to look at Gao Le beside her.

Can I go out for a walk?

"No." Gao Le refused almost instinctively, but after he refused, he seemed to realize that the person who asked the question was Xiao Bai. He glanced at Xiao Bai and slowly said, "...You really want to go out?"

"It stinks here," Xiaobai said, covering her nose.

"..." Gao Le didn't speak. He remained silent for a long time, seemingly reflecting on Xiao Bai's obedience and compliance along the way. Then he said, "You can go outside and stay there."

"Great."

"Don't stray too far, and don't even think about running away. You can't escape this village."

“I understand, everyone here is one of your people, right?” Xiaobai said.

"..." Gao Le looked at Xiao Bai and slowly nodded.

……

Gao Le didn't have anyone watch over Xiao Bai; he just let Xiao Bai walk out on his own.

However, it seems she doesn't need anyone watching her... because as Xiaobai walked out of the villa and stood at the gate, she clearly felt that the villagers and pedestrians on the street began to cast frequent glances at her.

Those gazes... were simple yet tinged with doubt and threat, not like they were looking at a child, but at prey.

Xiao Bai scratched his head.

It seems this village is pretty much what Xiaobai thought before. The people in this village are probably all in cahoots with Aunt Mei and her group. For example, Aunt Mei and her group are responsible for trafficking and selling the victims, while these villagers are responsible for supporting the village, providing cover, and ensuring logistics...

Or... to speculate further, this village was originally a normal little village, but the villagers were led by Aunt Mei and her group to engage in human trafficking and made a fortune.

Thinking about this, Xiaobai didn't want to think about it anymore.

Xiaobai originally intended to wait at the door for a while until the people inside were ready before going back, but at that moment, she clearly heard a creaking sound beside her.

Xiao Bai turned his head to look.

Xu An emerged from a dead corner of the villa's courtyard, a cigarette dangling from his lips. His gaze met Xiao Bai's, and the two fell silent.

oops……

This is really bad...

Xiao Bai felt it was too troublesome. She scratched her cheek in front of Xu An and prepared to turn around and go back to the villa.

But just as she turned around, Xu An called out to her.

"Did Gao Le send you out?" Xu An walked behind Xiao Bai, took out his cigarette, and gently rubbed the cigarette butt with his fingers until it went out, his eyes fixed on Xiao Bai.

“…Yes.” Xiaobai stopped and nodded to Xu An.

“…Heh.” Xu An suddenly chuckled and shook his head. “He seems to know you quite well.”

"It's probably because I'm more obedient," Xiaobai said.

“Whether he listens or not doesn’t matter…” Xu An picked up the cigarette, slowly crushed it into dust, and said slowly, “I guess he probably found some resonance with you, ha… Aunt Mei always says he’s promising and capable, but in the end he’s just an outsider.”

"……"noob.

“You know what? He’s a child who was abducted here, just like you. He was probably about your age when he came here.” Xu An grinned at Xiao Bai as if he were telling an interesting story. “But unlike you, Aunt Mei found that keeping him was more valuable than selling him.”

"...I overheard you talking about this."

"Is that your reason for going to him?"

"..."

"Gao Le, Gao Le..." Xu An murmured, but did not say anything more. He simply walked past Xiao Bai and entered the villa with a faint smell of smoke on his body.

Chapter 3704 What an expensive little white rabbit!

Xu An then obediently disappeared from Xiao Bai's sight.

This surprised Xiaobai quite a bit.

Xiao Bai thought that Xu An had finally caught him alone, and given his previous temper, even if he was worried about disfigurement and couldn't do anything to him, he would at least come up and beat him up a few times.

So it seems... Xu An's anger was only directed at Gao Le. If Gao Le wasn't present, he was quite emotionally stable.

As Xiao Bai pondered, some information flashed through his mind.

Um... Aunt Meryl Streep...

A village like this needs a leader, and Aunt Mei is currently the only one. However, she looks quite old and may not be able to continue for many more years...

Gao Le and Xu An are Mei's people; both seem to be highly regarded by Mei, so one of them might be Mei's "successor".

Based on current performance, it seems that Goller is more favored by Theresa May.

It turned out to be the case.

Xiao Bai seemed to understand where Xu An's hostility towards Gao Le came from.

Xiaobai had figured out some things that didn't really matter. She stood outside the door, looking at the scenery and the villagers coming and going on the street. After a while, the door behind Xiaobai opened, and a villager woman came out and called Xiaobai in.

Xiao Bai turned and went into the house.

Inside the house, the children that Gao Le and Xu An had brought earlier were already dressed and made up.

The makeup skills of these village women were truly appalling. They seemed to only know how to make the skin whiter, the lips redder, and the eyelashes longer. No wonder Gao Le didn't allow these women to do Xiao Bai's makeup.

Applying makeup to other thin, wiry children is called plumping up and concealing blemishes, but using this level of makeup skill on a complete novice would be a complete waste of talent.