What? You're a notorious bandit? What a coincidence, me too!

Upon hearing those words, the man trafficker's head buzzed, and his scalp tingled.

"You...you...you said you lost Kang Peng? How did you lose him? When did you lose him? Where did you lose him?"

His voice was urgent, and his jaw was chattering.

"It's all my fault. I shouldn't have gone home to get some water. Why was I so naive? I just wanted a drink of water, my little grandson..."

The old woman burst into tears into the microphone, her words slurred and incoherent, making it impossible to understand what she was saying.

The man trafficker shouted a few times into the microphone.

A woman across from him said, "Guomin, I am your sister-in-law Qin, and this is how it is."

Your mother took your son to pick vegetables in the garden outside the back gate yesterday morning. She went home and went to get a glass of water, and the boy disappeared. The whole village has been searching for him all day, but they haven't found him. They've already called the police.

The man trafficker's head was buzzing, and he couldn't hear what the other person was saying anymore.

My child is missing?

My child is missing?

His face turned deathly pale.

They didn't even notice when the woman trafficker and Lin Chang'an returned.

The woman trafficker drove the three-wheeled vehicle eastward into the village. The man's heart pounded as if he had been struck by a heavy hammer. He wanted to open his mouth, but he couldn't utter a single word.

Suddenly, he felt tightness in his chest and shortness of breath, and his eyes rolled back.

Lin Chang'an glanced at the man but ignored him.

Soon the three-wheeled vehicle arrived at the mangrove forest at the east end of the village.

Lin Chang'an got out of the car with the baby and the woman in his arms. He leaned against the car and looked around.

A short while later, a woman emerged from around the corner of the village road.

"Is it her?"

Lin Chang'an glanced at him twice and asked in a low voice.

"I can't see clearly, I'm nearsighted."

The woman squinted at it, then shook her head.

But just as she shook her head, the woman in the distance suddenly waved in her direction, and then the woman trafficker's phone rang.

She answered the call.

"Come here alone with the child." The woman waved to her again from afar.

Lin Chang'an glanced at the woman trafficker, his meaning clear: you old bastard, you're not telling the truth.

The woman trafficker looked disgusted: "I told you, I'm nearsighted."

"Nearsighted? You think you're right?"

Lin Chang'an's eyes darted around, and he stopped pretending. He slapped the woman trafficker across the face, grabbed his phone, and spoke into it as he walked away.

"Aunt Mei, it's just selling a child, you're being overly cautious."

The person opposite paused for a moment, then, sensing something was wrong, turned and ran back into the village.

Lin Chang'an looked at Aunt Mei, whose face was obscured by her attire, and quickly took two steps to catch up with her.

The woman trafficker was relieved to see Lin Chang'an chasing after Aunt Mei.

Although Lin Chang'an's slap stung her face, it warmed her heart.

Finally, I can run.

She got on the three-wheeled vehicle, yelled at the old men inside, and told them to hold on tight.

When I twisted the accelerator, the three-wheeled vehicle stood still and didn't move. I looked at the keyhole, and it was empty.

The key was taken away by Lin Chang'an at some point.

She gritted her teeth in anger and raged on the spot for a few moments.

The car won't move, so people have to leave.

To avoid that strange man coming back, which would cause trouble.

She opened the door of the three-wheeled vehicle and shouted inside, "You bastard, can you even walk? Come with me now, this damn idiot took the keys out."

The man trafficker in the car seemed to be having trouble breathing. His face had turned red from holding his breath, and he slumped into his seat, curled up with white foam at the corners of his mouth.

"Hey, you idiot, what's wrong with you?"

The woman trafficker quickly went over, helped the man up, and patted his chest to help him catch his breath.

The man rolled his eyes, finally managing to catch his breath, his whole body trembling.

His face turned from red to white.

Are you alright?

The woman trafficker cried again in desperation, feeling that her life was so miserable.

Before I could even reflect on life, I heard the man say in a trembling voice.

"Kang Peng is missing."

"What?!"

"Our son is missing."

The woman felt a sudden buzzing in her head, as if an atomic bomb had exploded inside, leaving her completely blank.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

Her jaw clenched, and the few words seemed to be spat out as if they were being chewed up.

"Mom just called. It seems my son has been kidnapped."

The man lowered his head, breathing heavily.

The woman punched the man in the chest and said angrily, "What kind of joke are you playing on me at a time like this?"

The man remained silent, his chest heaving.

The woman's expression changed completely in an instant.

"Lost? My...my son is lost? My son is lost? I'll curse your mother Zheng Guomin, I'll curse your whole family Zheng Guomin..."

The woman trafficker was completely disarmed.

She grabbed the man by the collar and slapped him repeatedly across the face, her eyes filled with rage as if she wanted to kill him.

Her teeth were chattering, and she could barely stand.

"You know how much money and effort I spent getting this child, and your old mother, that damned woman, just lost it like that?"

"Zheng Guomin, Zheng Guomin, I've been married to you for so many years, what kind of life have I lived? I'm neither human nor ghost, and now my son is gone too."

"Karma, karma..."

The woman's eyes darted around, unsure of where to look, and she seemed like a frightened bird.

The man trafficker grabbed her hand, struggling to control his emotions, and said in a trembling voice, "Let's go back quickly. Maybe the boy is just lost and we can find him."

The woman trafficker banged her head against the car frame, tears streaming down her face.

His already wrinkled face now looked even more grotesque and distorted.

"Can it be found? Can it be found?"

The woman trafficker repeated the phrase, her voice growing louder and louder.

"Yes, we'll find him, we'll find him. My son must have just gotten lost, he definitely wasn't kidnapped, he definitely wasn't kidnapped. Nobody will blame my son, nobody..."

She muttered to herself, as if chanting a spell, and swayed from side to side.

"Yes, hurry home, buy tickets now, and go to the station now."

She frantically climbed out of the car, looking almost delirious, and sat in the driver's seat of the three-wheeled vehicle, twisting the accelerator.

The car didn't move, but the woman traffickers did.

"Where are my keys? Where are my keys? Who the hell took my keys?"

She frantically searched the car and her clothes, trying to find a key.

But there was nothing there.

She jumped out of the car, seemingly forgetting that Lin Chang'an had taken the car keys, and searched for them under the car like a madwoman.

He lay on his stomach and groped around under the car, but found nothing but rotten grass and clods of dirt.

She clearly had no idea what she was doing, circling the tricycle in place and frantically digging at the ground, as if the tricycle's key was hidden underground.

"I want to go back to find my son, I want to go back to find my son..."