Ancient Eden - Chapter 20

Mu Qing wasn’t sure that she could, with one blow, make the man smoothly pass out. If she made his head bleed and by doing so, made him so furious that he ended up calling the group of people over, it was better not to hit him.

For the time being, she had changed her strategy. She retreated slowly towards the door curtain, quietly lifted that piece of animal skin, and got out of the house.

Outside, the campfires had already been reduced to ashes, with the wind blowing, one could see occasional red sparks floating in the air. The people who were there originally were now long gone. They had probably all dispersed to go sleep.

Mu Qing sneaked towards a direction where it was sparser, passing by on tiptoe.

When she finally had that settlement behind her back, she stretched her legs and started running towards the forest with her heart beating violently in her chest.

Before that, she had no time to think about what to do after escaping into the forest, she only thought about getting away from this place and this group of people. She knew that it was likely that she could run again into that monster bird, or another beast that could be even deadlier to her, or later she could get lost and die in this forest. But it was better than losing her freedom and being forced by that old man with black teeth and sagging skin, over and over again.

Besides, her heart still held a slight glimmer of hope. What if she was lucky enough? For example, she might encounter a team of forest researchers or something like that.

She had always been a very optimistic person.

Just as she was about to dive, head first, into the forest, she realized that she was not lucky enough.

A hand suddenly reached out behind her and strongly grasped her waist.

She was so frightened that she seemed to have lost her voice and her ability to scream. She quickly turned her head back and found out that it was actually Li Mang. His eyes had the dim glimmer of a wild beast in the night.

Could it that he had been nearby all along and that she had just been too nervous to notice him?

Suddenly, a torch light was lit in the middle of the settlement, someone was waving the torch recklessly, while shouting non-stop. In the silence of the night, it sounded particularly alarming and soul-stirring.

It was the voice of that chief.

At the thought of being sent back to that house again, Mu Qing, at this very moment, realized the hatred she had for this man. Before, when he gave her to the chief, she did not realize, like she was now, that she hated him like this.

She didn’t even think about it, she lowered her head and bit him hard on the arm.

(7.1)

Mu Qing felt a strong salty taste in her mouth.

Li Mang managed to free his arm from her mouth.

Mu Qing then kicked him with force at that place that was covered by an animal skin.

Li Mang grunted and slightly bent down.

Mu Qing did not hesitate any longer and turned around, desperately running towards the forest. But she had yet to run two steps away, that a wave of pain came from her scalp. Her long hair had already been grabbed by him from behind.

Mu Qing was in so much pain that tears were about to fall down from her eyes. She was just about to open her mouth and curse him harshly when her mouth was firmly covered by him.

Mu Qing was unable to comprehend for a moment. He was covering her mouth to prevent her from making a sound, what did this mean?

She struggled while raising her head up to look at Li Mang.

The moon was bright. He was staring fixedly at her, and his expression looked a bit strange.

In the settlement in front, the chief’s shouts had already aroused many people. Many more torches were gathered, before scattering in different directions.

Mu Qing could already see seven to eight men coming in this direction.

Her heart was beating frantically, and she no longer struggled. She just took a breath and looked up at Li Mang again. She lifted herself up and pasted her breast, which because of that liquid that had been applied were still swollen and painful, to his upper body.

She revealed a smile to him and then said, “Li Mang, help me, please.”