But Wan Qianqian and her parents never imagined that as they lunged for Su Qing, they would suddenly grow drowsy and lose consciousness before they could even lay a finger on her.

When Wan Qianqian and her parents came to, they found themselves bound tightly and tossed on the floor.

"How is this possible!" Wan Qianqian couldn’t understand. ’How did this girl, Bai Meng, take down all three of us in an instant? She should have passed out after eating that pastry I gave her! I watched her eat it with my own two eyes. How could it possibly have had no effect?’

And another thing...

Wan Qianqian glared fiercely at Su Qing, her eyes glinting menacingly. At this point, she didn’t even bother trying to make excuses. After all, "Bai Meng" had seen her parents’ faces before. Now that she saw Wan Qianqian with them, even an idiot could figure out what was going on.

But there was one thing Wan Qianqian couldn’t figure out: how had "Bai Meng" realized something was wrong before her parents even returned?

"When did you realize something was wrong?" Wan Qianqian asked through gritted teeth.

"Back on the street," Su Qing said with a slight raise of her eyebrow. "You were too obvious. You passed several other people and came straight for me. They were all better candidates to ask for help, yet you deliberately chose me—the one who looks the most helpless."

Wan Qianqian clenched her fists. "And just from that, you were certain we were trying to trick you?"

"Of course, there was more," Su Qing sneered. "You invited me to your home, but this courtyard is too close to where we met. If you really lived here, how could no one in the area recognize you? There are so many residential neighborhoods nearby, and surely some of them go to that state-run restaurant. Yet not only did no one know you, not a single person even found you familiar. Don’t you find that a little unreasonable?"

"Maybe my family just moved in. We don’t know anyone around here yet," Wan Qianqian retorted.

Su Qing smiled and nodded. "Alright, even if that were true, you were far too eager. I’d barely been in the door for a minute before you were pushing me to eat and drink, as if you were terrified I wouldn’t. You seemed a bit desperate."

"So our plan was full of holes," Wan Qianqian said, looking at Su Qing and demanding furiously, "If you saw through it, why didn’t you run away? You could have just refused my invitation to come over!"

"If I didn’t come, how would I have found your traffickers’ den? Besides, you’ve captured other people, haven’t you? And tonight, at midnight, that ’Old Rat Poison’ you were talking about is coming to pick up the goods, right?" Su Qing asked with a beaming smile.

At Su Qing’s words, Wan Qianqian’s family erupted in furious curses. They never imagined that their supposedly flawless scam would be so full of holes in this damn girl’s eyes. Worse, she had beaten them at their own game and turned the tables completely. The sheer thought of it made their blood boil.

Wan Qianqian still couldn’t accept it, her face flushed red with rage. "I saw you eat that pastry with my own eyes! Why are you fine?"

Su Qing raised an eyebrow, a smug, infuriating grin on her face. "Why don’t you guess?"

Those four words nearly made Wan Qianqian and her parents faint from pure rage.

"Oh, by the way, my name isn’t Bai Meng," Su Qing added, twisting the knife with a grin. Hearing this, Wan Qianqian nearly ground her teeth to dust.

"Alright, enough," Su Qing said, her smile vanishing. "Tell me now. Where are the others you’ve kidnapped?"

"Hmph." Wan Qianqian gritted her teeth, glaring at Su Qing in silence.

Su Qing sneered. "Refusing to talk? Then don’t blame me for being impolite."

Su Qing immediately took out a pinch of powder and sprinkled it over Wan Qianqian.

"AHHH—WHIMPER..." Moments later, Wan Qianqian felt a sensation like hundreds, thousands of bugs crawling all over her. That cold, slithering feeling made her skin crawl. But that wasn’t all. Soon, a sharp, cutting pain followed, as if she were being sliced by countless tiny knives, and she couldn’t stop herself from screaming.

But before Wan Qianqian could even get a full scream out, Su Qing grabbed a nearby pillowcase and stuffed it into her mouth.

"MMMPH! MMMPH!" Wan Qianqian had never experienced such agony. She began writhing on the floor, beads of cold sweat breaking out all over her forehead.

Watching from the side, Wan Qianqian’s parents cried, their hearts aching. Mrs. Wan shouted to Su Qing through her tears, "I’ll talk! I’ll talk! Please, let my daughter go!"

"Speak. Where are they?"

"In the cellar, under the storage shed behind the house! They’re all locked up in there," Mrs. Wan said frantically. She couldn’t think about anything else. That was her own flesh and blood suffering right in front of her; she couldn’t bear it.

Once Su Qing had the information, she sprinkled another powder on Wan Qianqian, then promptly knocked all three of them unconscious again.

The area behind the house was desolate, overgrown with weeds. Su Qing didn’t go into the cellar. Instead, she controlled the weeds, sending them snaking down to investigate. Sure enough, there were five or six people inside—all young women and three-to-four-year-old children, all of them unconscious.

After confirming people were trapped in the cellar, Su Qing hurried to the police station to file a report.

"What? Human traffickers, you say?" The police officer taking the report was shocked. "Are you sure?" he asked quickly.

Su Qing nodded emphatically. "I’m sure. The people they kidnapped are locked in a cellar at their hideout. And someone is coming at midnight tonight to pick them up. I can take you there."

"Alright."

When Su Qing led the police back to the courtyard, Wan Qianqian and her parents were still unconscious. Su Qing woke them up. The moment they saw the police officers standing before them, all three turned pale. They knew there was no escaping this time. After all, the women and children they had abducted were still locked in the cellar out back.

"Miss, thank you for your report." Seeing that this was indeed a traffickers’ den, the captain in charge of the operation, Qiao Wensong, said to Su Qing, "These traffickers have been rampant recently, and there have been several disappearances. We’ve been trying to track them down, so the information you’ve provided today is an enormous help. Thank you."

"Don’t mention it." Su Qing knew she didn’t need to worry about the rest. The police would handle the arrests from here. With that, she decided to take her leave.

"I’ll have a colleague drive you home. We’ll be in touch about a reward for you later," Qiao Wensong said quickly.

"That won’t be necessary. It was nothing," Su Qing said with a smile. She gave Qiao Wensong a wave, then turned and ran off.

"Hey!" Qiao Wensong tried to call her back. She had provided an incredibly valuable lead, after all. But Su Qing was too fast; in the blink of an eye, she was gone.

One of the officers next to him stepped forward, looked in the direction she’d gone, and chuckled. "Captain, she’s not one for fame or fortune, is she?"

Qiao Wensong nodded with a smile, then turned to give orders to his team. "Alright, everyone, focus. We’re catching every last one of them tonight. No one gets away."

"Yes, sir!"