In her previous life, when Qian Baoshan was discovered, it wasn’t here. By then, he had already made a lot of ill-gotten wealth, bought a large house, and constructed a spacious underground basement specially used for imprisoning those poor souls.

I wonder if there’s a basement in this courtyard? If so, where could it be?

However, Xia Wenjin wasn’t in a hurry. After all, she was in this house, and with just this much space, she would eventually find it.

Two quarters of an hour later, Xia Wenjin found herself underground, her mouth twitching.

Based on the location, this underground should no longer belong to Qian Baoshan’s property; he actually dug his basement into someone else’s home.

The only connection was a small, hidden protruding stone by the fake mountain near the wall.

She pressed there, and a narrow door appeared, requiring her to squeeze sideways to get in, leading to the ladder down underground.

The basement wasn’t large; even when the mechanism opened, Xia Wenjin could hear the low sobbing sounds coming from inside.

Inside, it was dark; the faint light at the entrance was just enough for her to follow the ladder down.

Xia Wenjin lit a flint, finding herself in a square-shaped basement. There were candlesticks at the four corners of the basement.

The basement was only five or six feet high, so tall people had to bend down. It wasn’t small in area, about three zhang in circumference, with a large bed set in one corner.

In another corner, though, were whips, ropes, and such. Obviously, this was the place where Qian Baoshan did as he pleased.

Xia Wenjin lit the candlesticks, and the entire basement immediately became bright.

Quickly, Xia Wenjin found another small door in the corner.

Unexpectedly, this small basement even had doors within doors, compartments within compartments.

And those suppressed cries were coming from within that small door.

The small door was locked.

Xia Wenjin went in, drawing the dagger from her sleeve. She swung it at the lock.

The sturdy lock instantly turned like tofu, became two pieces, and fell to the ground.

Xia Wenjin pushed open the door, and everything inside appeared before her eyes.

Compared to the large room outside, this was indeed not big. Less than a quarter of the outer room, but lying on the floor inside were three girls.

The three girls were all quite young.

The oldest was about twenty, the youngest just thirteen or fourteen.

Their hands and feet were bound, their clothes tattered and unable to cover their bodies, some obviously torn.

Just by looking at this scene, you could tell how beastly Qian Baoshan was.

The sudden light made the faces of the three girls full of fear, instinctively shrinking into the corner, their tear streaks on their faces not yet dry. They looked very pitiable.

From the fear in their eyes, they must have thought it was Qian Baoshan who came. Upon seeing it was a young girl, their panic turned to confusion.

They looked at Xia Wenjin, puzzled and uncertain, not knowing why a girl suddenly appeared here?

After all, they had been thrown in here after being tied up by Qian Baoshan. And this girl boldly walked in, holding a dagger.

Someone bluntly asked, "Who... who are you?"

Xia Wenjin scanned over them and immediately went over to release them.

The oldest girl cautiously said, "Miss, who are you? Why are you here? This is no good place, you should leave quickly!"

As she said this, Xia Wenjin had already cut the ropes on the hands and feet of the three.

Since being captured by Qian Baoshan to this place, they felt like they were in Hell.

During the day, when Qian Baoshan went to do his duty, it was a bit better.

At night, it was when they couldn’t live or die.

This vicious bastard Qian Baoshan would feed them a kind of drug every day that made their bodies soft and powerless, so much so they couldn’t even end their lives by hitting the wall.

Xia Wenjin just looked at them and understood why they weren’t moving.

She flipped her fingers, and a silver needle appeared in her hand. The silver needle pricked a few major acupoints on each person.

The girls, who just now felt soft and powerless, were already able to sit up.

However, none of the three stood up, nor did anyone intend to leave.

They stared blankly at Xia Wenjin, as if all this were a dream.

Xia Wenjin said to them, "You were maliciously brought here and have been tortured. You can report to the Government. The Government will give you justice."

Unexpectedly, saying this made the three girls cry again.

Xia Wenjin was startled, as now they were not immobile. Besides, she seemed to have pointed a clear path for them, so why the tears?

Still, the oldest girl sobbed and said, "Miss, in our current state, it’s better to be dead than alive. Even if we go to the Government, where is our way out? Our whole life has been ruined by that villain."

Xia Wenjin: "..."

Indeed, this world is not kind to women. The word chastity is like a mountain pressing on their heads.

Xia Wenjin sighed and said, "Since you don’t want to live, then you probably don’t want to go out. You might as well wait to die here in this secret room."

This statement shocked the three who were still crying, making them look at Xia Wenjin in disbelief.

They encountered such a tragic thing, indeed not wanting to live. Because they knew very well, if they stayed alive, going back home, as a woman who lost her purity, it would only bring ridicule.

Many would cast strange eyes on them, pointing and sneering behind their backs, insulting them.

Just thinking about such days made them feel hopeless. They would bring shame to their parents, be despised by siblings, make their family have no face to meet people.

Even though they did nothing wrong, only harmed by the evil.

Yet even if they really wanted to die, being told so bluntly was too unexpected, making them forget their sorrow.

Looking at their astonished eyes, Xia Wenjin said: "No one really wants to die! I know, you just feel like you can’t live on; in fact, you don’t want to die. Were you all captured by Qian Baoshan?"

The three nodded fearfully, the young girl in front of them looked even younger than they, but she was calm, seemingly in control, with eyes free of fear, hesitation, or panic, giving a sense of trust and serene ease.

She appeared here, cut their ropes, and was willing to let them go! Could this be a Bodhisattva sent to save them?

Xia Wenjin, with an indisputable tone in her voice, said, "You were captured by Qian Baoshan, he is the one who harmed you, the one making your life unbearable, the one who ruined your life, so he is the one who deserves to die!"