Trafficking

Inside a dim trunk, ten young children were tied up and stacked on top of each other. Low, sobbing sounds could be heard from time to time, and a depressing and gloomy air pressed on them. Although they were not old enough to understand what was happening, the young children still felt the weight of despair hanging over them.

The trunk of the car opened with a loud bang and revealed a burly, fierce-looking man. With a child held swinging in each hand, he took the children of all ages and appearances into a cellar. After a few trips, the trunk was emptied.

The cellar was pitch black inside; even the light from the open cellar door couldn’t fully illuminate the space as the man ferried children inside. Numerous children were huddled inside with bound hands and feet, only faintly visible in the weak light. There were far, far more than the ten children the brute threw in.

Rattling chains accompanied the heavy sound of the cellar cover closing once more. The meager light shining into the corrugated iron room was snuffed out once more.

After the bad man finally left, the young children in the cellar wept quietly one after another. Their sobs were occasionally interspersed with pitiful wails of, “I want Mommy.”

Bai Yichen woke up in the midst of this. As one of the children recently thrown into the cellar, his body was bruised and scraped from the rough handling.

However, his injuries weren’t the most pressing matter. He could already tell he was exceedingly unwell. His limbs felt like limp cotton, completely devoid of strength, and his head was heavy and dizzy. His throat burned in pain, and even felt a bit swollen. At that moment, even if he wanted to cry and beg for his Mommy like the children beside him, he wouldn’t have been able to.

He forced himself to calm down, and tried to investigate the background of this world with composure. As he called out for the “White Moonlight Survival System” in his head, the information appeared in his mind.

This world’s technology and culture were similar to that of his original world. The white moonlight he was currently possessing was named Bai Yichen. He was eight when he died due to fever and a weak body while he was being transported by child traffickers.

白月光: White moonlight is a character archetype for the beautiful, pure, and unattainable first love of the protagonist. They are usually tragic characters who die young.

Bai Yichen’s heart sank when the severity and cruelty of the situation became clear to him, but regardless of this, he still wanted to survive, and he had finally obtained his miraculous chance. It didn’t matter if the system named Jinjiang01 was real or fake, he wanted to try. He wanted to live.

But right now, Bai Yichen was most concerned about the condition of the body he now possessed. He glossed over everything other than the status the system gave regarding his body; even the background information he received about the world’s main gong character and his childhood friend, Song Junchi, and even the shou protagonist, Su Yuanhang. He was only vaguely aware that the Bai Yichen of this world was the white moonlight in the gong Song Junchi’s heart. However, Bai Yichen, who possessed a frail body, was kidnapped by human traffickers when he was eight. In addition, he was coddled and pampered from birth. Although the Bai family immediately mobilized the police to search, after being jostled around by the kidnappers in transport, he caught a high fever and died, thus becoming the cinnabar mole forever residing in Song Junchi’s heart.

朱砂痣: Cinnabar mole refers to the unforgettable mark left on a person after experiencing a romance. Usually carries the connotation of heartbreak.

Song Junchi inherited his family’s business in adulthood, becoming the domineering CEO of the Song Family Group. One day while riding the elevator, he encountered the new hire Su Yuanhang. The elevator unexpectedly stopped in the middle and he discovered Su Yuanhang’s severe claustrophobia. Afterwards, he learned that this fear was because he was kidnapped by traffickers as a child. Thinking of these loathsome human traffickers, Song Junchi immediately thought of the white moonlight in his heart, Bai Yichen, who died under these loathsome kidnappers’ hands. So, he couldn’t help but sympathize. From then on, he cared for Su Yuanhang and in the end, these two slowly grew closer to each other.

In conclusion, except for the cannon fodder white moonlight child who died rather young, this was a healing story.

But in this circumstance where Bai Yichen became that cannon fodder who died young, he didn’t feel healed at all. No matter what, he wanted to keep living.

Bai Yichen lowered his head to look at his hands and feet. Although they were bound by ropes, he realized the kidnappers didn’t truly believe they could escape, perhaps because they were all young children. As such, they saved themselves a few minutes of trouble by tying the children’s hands in front of them rather than choosing to securely bind their hands behind their backs. But, because he was tied like this, he had an opportunity.

Just as Bai Yichen was struggling with the ropes binding him, outside the cellar, a lean man standing out in the wind some distance away leisurely walked over. He turned to that burly brute, who was now tinkering with the car, and asked, “Lao-er, how was it? Was the way here smooth-sailing?”

“Not too bad. Didn’t run into anyone searching cars on the way here. What about on your end?”

“Haha! This place is hidden so well, how would anything happen here? It’s just that these little bastards’ crying earlier made my head hurt. Now that the door’s closed, it’s much more peaceful.” The lanky man drawled as he moved coarse straw to the side, evenly covering the cellar door secured with metal chains until it was difficult to see even the slightest glimpse through it.

The burly man thought of throwing children into the cellar earlier and how all the little bastards were so quiet. He couldn’t help but keep his expression taciturn.

After the two men finished their discussion, the lean, stick-like man reached out to pat the other’s shoulder. “Come on, I got some alcohol and food. Let’s have something warm to eat first, and when we’re done, we’ll continue on the road tomorrow. The crew is already waiting for us at the old place. Once we’re there, we won’t have anything to do with these little bastards anymore.”

The burly brute’s eyes lit up when he heard the lean man mention hot food and alcohol. The weather had been getting colder and colder recently, so naturally, being able to eat something hot out in this remote wilderness was perfect. As such, the two men slung their arms over each other’s shoulders and walked away, leaving only the discolored soil covered with straw, looking no different from its surroundings.

    ……

As the night gradually wore on, the pitch-blackness of the cellar remained unchanging, whether the outside was bathed in daylight or darkness. The only change was that the children who had been weeping and crying out for their moms earlier exhausted themselves, curling up together to sleep.

Although the ropes were tied in front of him to save themselves the effort, the knots were professional. Moreover, they were very tight. Freeing himself when he couldn’t even decipher where the knot began or ended in the dark was extremely difficult.

Bai Yichen endured in his efforts for a long while; his cheeks had both lost all sensation, and he felt the weakness in his hands and feet grow even worse. But each time his energy flagged, he forced himself to gather his resolve and persist, because he knew he was fighting for his life.

Finally, while he didn’t know what crucial point in the knot he’d loosened, the ropes around his hands fell slack.

Bai Yichen’s spirit surged. He quickly freed his hands and immediately felt for the ropes around his feet to untie them.

Bai Yichen already felt weak and like he no longer had any energy to move around, but that powerful will to live still burned in him, allowing him to pull himself up by the wall and stand up on faltering legs. The cellar was a pit of black and there was no source of light, but after sitting in the darkness for so long, Bai Yichen could faintly distinguish some darker shadows on the floor. He knew these shadows must be the other kidnapped children, but at that moment, investigating the exit first was more important. If he could, he would of course bring these children with him to escape.

He leaned on the wall, carefully avoiding stepping on the children lying on the ground, and felt his way upwards towards the cellar door.

He maneuvered around the children and walked carefully up the stairs, quickly arriving at the door. He lifted his hands to the door and used all his strength to push against it; Bai Yichen’s heart sank helplessly…

…because he heard… the sound of metal chains.

Bai Yichen tried again and again, a few more times, but only confirmed the cover was firmly secured and locked with that metal chain. At that moment, he nearly lost hope.

Secured like this, there was no way he could open it, even if all the kids came together and pushed at once.

Then again, human trafficking was usually a death sentence if caught, so how could they afford to be careless?

Knowing now that he was unable to escape, Bai Yichen slid down with his back against the wall. The cellar clearly wasn’t used to store vegetables, so the insulation wasn’t very good, and the ventilation may have even been deliberately designed. It was cold and damp inside, and occasionally, a gust of wind could even be felt. Nearer to the cover here, the wind was stronger, and he couldn’t help but shiver.

It should be winter now.

He looked back towards where he came from. He knew all these children were kidnapped, but wasn’t worried. From the information he received, the traffickers would be captured while transporting these children to the next destination, and they would all be rescued.

But as for himself… he wouldn’t survive until then.

A chill wind blew across his boiling forehead, but Bai Yichen only felt a pounding pain there. His limbs grew even weaker. He knew he already had a fever, and the manner he was meant to die in was a fever ravaging a too-weak body.

The whole situation seemed to already be at its most dire, and there wasn’t much worse it could get.

Bai Yichen clenched his teeth and made a resolution in his heart. He would use the last of his strength to pound on the cellar door

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bang after bang, small and tender fists pounded on the wood, the sound ringing out on the other side.

A few sleeping children were startled awake by the sound, but because they couldn’t clearly see what the source was in the darkness, they only widened their eyes in fright and timidly shrank in on themselves silently.

Bai Yichen’s throat was hoarse and unable to make any kind of sound. However he stubbornly fought for the chance to pound again and again, so that the sound would carry as far as possible.

But no one came. Still, no one came……  

Not even the traffickers came to investigate.

His eyelids heavily sank. Maybe it was today, this evening exactly, that he would just fall asleep and never wake up again. This chance was like a joke. Just like this, it would disappear…… 

Bai Yichen recalled his short life. He possessed the arrogance of youth, living smoothly without obstacles, but when he was nearing thirty, he was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Afterwards, he struggled with cancer and suffered countless hardships. He’d had enough of the torment of chemotherapy, and in the end, he still brought many, many regrets with him to the afterlife. And just at the moment he believed his consciousness would scatter, he heard the system’s voice…

Irritation welled up in his heart, and Bai Yichen’s eyes suddenly opened. An unwillingness to accept this fate shone brightly in deep, black eyes. He didn’t want things to end like this, he already died once. He only just won a second chance like this. He didn’t want to die! He wanted to live! Live!

As long as there was still a trace of hope, he would always keep struggling…

If he wanted to live, what he needed was a warm bed and blankets and a fever-reducer. Perhaps just these simple things would have allowed him to survive. But right now, the traffickers didn’t even come to check on them. It was impossible to obtain fever medicine. A blanket? There weren’t any here either. However, he definitely couldn’t remain at the drafty door to be battered by wind. He needed to find warmth, a warmer place…

Bai Yichen leaned against the wall again. With a difficulty that was far greater than when he first came, he nudged against the wall back to where the other children were laying down. Right as he moved to lay down in a spot furthest from the wind, his hand brushed against a very different material. It was much smoother, and not freezing cold.

Bai Yichen’s heart lurched in his chest. Although he wasn’t able to see clearly, under his fingertips he felt a cabinet made of wood. Bai Yichen had never felt so overcome with joy than he did now at this discovery. What did a cabinet mean? It meant he had a perfect place to block the wind. Moreover, no matter the case, sleeping on the raised wood of the cabinet was a hundred times better than laying on ice cold ground.

Bai Yichen grew dizzier by the second as he felt his way along and removed the wooden plank blocking the cabinet before opening the doors and crawling in. The instant he crawled inside the cabinet he, having kept himself upright out of sheer force of will, couldn’t hold on any longer. His last thought was that this cabinet seemed to be so much warmer and softer than in his imagination.