Chapter 182: Chapter 182: Birds in the Same Forest

The small, cramped room in the basement was shrouded in darkness. Only a small wall lamp cast a faint glow, illuminating a small patch of the bed.

Nina Summers lay alone on a hard plank bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, silently waiting for time to pass.

But as the minutes and seconds ticked by, Blondie never came to let her go, and the anxiety in her heart grew—

’After Melody Summers gets the message, will she really come?’

’Will these kidnappers really keep their promise and let me go?’

’Can I really get out of this hellhole safely?’

Waves of unease consumed Nina’s heart. Her anxiety was so intense it made her chest ache.

She wrapped her arms tightly around herself and murmured, "Mom... please, watch over me from heaven... please..."

Suddenly, with a CREAK, the door was pushed open.

Nina froze, feeling as if the blood in her veins had turned to ice. ’Could it be one of those animals from outside? A leopard or a tiger?’

She immediately got up, trembling, and looked toward the door—

Only to see Amy’s slender figure appear in the doorway.

It looked like she had just washed up. Her hair was still a little damp, draped over her shoulders. The light from the wall lamp made her seem even thinner.

Nina let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. It wasn’t a leopard, nor a tiger.

She quickly leaned over and whispered to Amy, "Quick, close the door! There’s a tiger outside!"

Seeing how scared she was, Amy found it a little amusing.

Amy wasn’t afraid. After all, the leopard was always kept near the stairwell and never came over here, but she still did as Nina said and closed the door properly.

Amy glanced around, taking in the room’s layout, and couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy. ’To think this newcomer, Nina, has better accommodations than an old-timer like me!’

Amy thought, ’My performance has always been good, but I can only live in a four-person room. Nina gets a two-person room right after arriving...’

Amy lowered her eyes to hide the resentment within them. She walked slowly to Nina’s bed, sat on the edge, and said softly, "...Have you thought it over yet?"

Amy hadn’t wanted to bother with Nina again. She just wanted to live her own life, have regular food to eat every day, and not get involved in other people’s business at all.

But then Amy remembered Yates’s warning. She was afraid that if Nina kept refusing, Yates would blame her for it, so she had to steel herself and come persuade Nina again. ’If I can actually convince her, I can take the credit with Yates later!’

With that in mind, Amy began tentatively, "Think about it again. It’s really not so bad staying here. Everyone outside is eating sand vine cakes, but we get to eat rice and white flour every day. If your performance is good, you can have vegetables and meat with every meal."

Amy thought she had made a very tempting offer, but Nina just shook her head gently.

Although Nina’s family wasn’t wealthy, her father, Caleb Summers, had a certain status. The benefits for those within the system were still quite good. His work unit would distribute rice and flour, and they would also get fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat during holidays.

While Zoe Kane would mistreat her at lunchtime, Nina still ate well in the mornings and evenings when Caleb was home. She had no intention of selling herself for a few bites of food.

Meeting Amy’s confused gaze, Nina spoke in a hoarse voice, "I... I’ll be able to leave soon... They agreed to let my cousin come in exchange for me... As long as my cousin gets here, I can leave..."

Amy frowned slightly. ’Leave? How is that possible?’

She blurted out instinctively, "How could that be... No woman who comes here ever gets out alive."

Nina trembled slightly at her words, looking up at Amy in panic.

She instinctively felt that what Amy said might be true. Even if she tricked Melody Summers into coming, these kidnappers might not let her go either.

Besides... she had been so caught up in Blondie’s promise to let her go that she hadn’t thought it through.

Now that she had a moment to think calmly, she and Melody had such a bad relationship. Would Melody really come?

Nina put herself in her cousin’s shoes. ’If I were Melody, I definitely wouldn’t come.’

’It’s so dangerous outside now. Who would risk traveling all this way just to "comfort a runaway cousin"?’

Nina could only hope now that by some miracle, Melody would have a change of heart and help her contact Caleb Summers. No matter what, Caleb would never abandon her.

Nina murmured to herself, as if to offer some comfort, "My... my father works for the government... He... he wouldn’t abandon me... I can definitely get out... I definitely can..."

Amy pursed her lips. ’So what if he works for the government?’ she thought.

’Plenty of government employees are clients here. Every time they come, they order lots of girls, some even do drugs, but I’ve never seen them rescue anyone!’

Seeing Nina’s anxious expression, Amy could only say perfunctorily, "Is that so? Your father must be really good to you."

Amy had no intention of shattering Nina’s beautiful dream just yet. After all, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Once Nina was desperate, she would stop having these wild thoughts and obediently stay.

But Nina just gave a bitter smile. "Is he...? He used to be very good to me... but ever since he married his new wife, everything changed... Now he only loves his new wife and son..."

Amy paused for a moment, and once she understood, she sneered and shook her head. "Love? Don’t talk about love. The only person these men ever truly love is themselves. Wives, children—they’re all just tools to them."

Hearing Amy say this, Nina looked up at her in surprise.

As if she had found someone to confide in, Amy said indignantly to Nina, "My mom was my dad’s new wife. His first wife couldn’t give him a son, only a daughter. After my mom gave him a son, he married her."

"He was so in love with my mom back then, and my name was supposed to be the proof. My Chinese name was a combination of their names—a symbol of their love. Sounds deeply romantic, doesn’t it?"

"But then, during the heatwave last year, he sold me and my mom! He took the money from selling us and said he was going to get back together with his first wife. It didn’t matter how we cried and begged him!"

"My little brother knelt and hugged his leg, begging him to at least not sell our mom, but he just beat him for it!"

"These men, they talk about love all the time, but it’s all lies! Haven’t you heard the saying? ’A couple is like two birds in the same forest, but when disaster strikes, they fly their separate ways.’"

"You just said your dad only loves his new wife and child now, but I bet that new wife and child of his will end up just like me and my mom!"

Nina stared blankly at Joelle Lawson. She was so incredibly gaunt, her frame so thin and small, she looked like she wasn’t even sixteen. Nina couldn’t believe she had been through so much.

To be sold by your own family... it was a despair so profound Nina couldn’t even dare to imagine it...

Meeting Nina’s pitying gaze, Joelle added with a hint of pride, "But it’s better this way. If he hadn’t sold me back then, I wouldn’t be living it up here. Based on my current performance, I’ll be able to move into a single room by the end of the year!"

That girl named Louise, the one who had been with her and Ethan Sutton, lived in a single room.

Because Louise was exceptionally beautiful and elegant, with fair skin and good looks, her performance was excellent. So she got fresh fruit, meat, eggs, and milk every day, plus beautiful clothes and jewelry.

On top of that, she could watch TV and use electronics. Her life was no different than it was before the disasters. Just thinking about it made Joelle envious!

Joelle thought, ’If I could live a life like that, it would be even better than before the disasters.’

After fantasizing about that perfect life, Joelle continued, "My father said he was going to get back with his first wife, but I refuse to believe that she and her daughter will come to any good end! His first wife is older than my mom, all washed up. Their fate will definitely be even worse than ours!"

The thought finally brought a bit of happiness to Joelle’s heart.

After saying so much, Joelle felt a sense of kinship with Nina.

She patted Nina’s shoulder and said, "You should just stop thinking about getting out. These days, instead of going out to get married and gambling on some man’s conscience, you’re better off staying here and enjoying life like me!"

Hearing Joelle say this, Nina quickly retorted, "No! My boyfriend is still very good to me..."

Joelle pursed her lips and rolled her eyes. "My dad was good to my mom at first, too, but so what? My mom worked her fingers to the bone doing housework and bearing his children, but after the disasters hit, he wouldn’t even give her food. Now, all I have to do is sleep with those men, and they give me money and food. I don’t even have to do their laundry, cook for them, or have their babies!"

Nina opened her mouth to argue, but she didn’t know what to say.

She felt like she was being talked in circles by Joelle. They were on completely different wavelengths.

Just as Joelle was about to continue persuading Nina to stay and enjoy the good life with her, the door to the small room was pushed open again from the outside.

Hearing the door open, both of them jumped, their hearts skipping a beat. They looked toward the doorway at the same time, their eyes meeting Melody Summers’s expressionless face.