These traffickers must have weapons; their actions were clearly planned with a division of labor.
After he and An Jing left the cargo ship, he summoned all the private detectives who had come to help. They gathered to discuss their respective roles and responsibilities, ensuring that the rescue of the children would be foolproof.
...
Xiao Xingxing had just suffered a severe beating. He was chained by the neck and hung from a tree.
The traffickers intended to punish Xiao Xingxing in front of all the children, to deter them from any thoughts of escape.
Xiao Xingxing gripped the iron chain around his neck tightly with both hands, managing to breathe with great difficulty.
Xiaoxiao stood beneath the tree, crying out loudly, "Brother Xingxing! Brother Xingxing..."
She desperately tried to climb the tree to save Xiao Xingxing, but each time she managed to climb a little, she was beaten down by a stick. Her back was already covered in wounds.
Seeing that she was also being beaten, Xiao Xingxing, from his vantage point on the tree, shouted in a pained voice, "Don't hit her, don't hit her!"
He regretted not seizing the opportunity to escape.
Last night, he had noticed that the guards watching over their thatched huts were all drunk again and not keeping proper watch outside.
He had been observing these people for a long time and felt that nights when they had been drinking were the best opportunities to escape.
In the past couple of days, he and Xiaoxiao had noticed that the number of children who had come to the deserted island to work was decreasing. Some children they had seen cutting rubber the day before had disappeared the next day.
They had vanished inexplicably during the night and never reappeared.
This had happened in the thatched hut where he and Xiaoxiao lived.
Once, he woke up in the middle of the night and inadvertently glimpsed someone secretly entering their hut while everyone else was fast asleep. The person had directly covered the mouth of a boy next to him with something and taken the boy away.
He had been so terrified that he hadn't dared to open his eyes, pretending to be fast asleep and oblivious.
But he sensed that if they didn't find an opportunity to escape soon, even if they worked diligently here, they couldn't predict what dangers awaited them.
So last night, he had made up his mind. He secretly slipped out of his hut, went to Xiaoxiao's hut, and quietly woke her up.
He took her with him, intending to escape. Regardless of whether they could leave this deserted island, he thought they should first find a place to hide so these bad people couldn't find them.
But who knew that they hadn't gotten far before they were discovered and captured.
Of course, they knew the consequences of being caught trying to escape. Xiao Xingxing took all the blame, which is why he was brutally beaten by these people.
Fortunately, these people hadn't beaten Xiaoxiao last night, but during the day, seeing that they still wouldn't let him go and had hung him from the tree, Xiaoxiao desperately wanted to save him.
The shouts and cries from them momentarily resonated with the other children who were watching.
Every child on this island lived in constant fear, and their emotions were stirred, leading to a chorus of weeping.
Tianyi and the others, having dispersed and quietly searching the island from different locations, all heard the children crying.
They moved swiftly towards the direction of the children's cries.
Hearing the cries, Tianyi practically ran.
When he looked through the trees and saw Xiao Xingxing hanging like a dog from a tree, with injuries on his body and face, he was utterly enraged.
He had forgotten the plan they had discussed beforehand, which was to wait for others to arrive and quickly deal with the traffickers before rescuing the children, even if they found them.
He sprinted directly towards the tree where Xiao Xingxing was hanging, snatched the rope from the person holding it, and punched the man in the face.
Before the man could react, he delivered another punch, knocking him to the ground.
Xiaoxiao suddenly saw Qin Tianyi and, as if seeing a god, ran to his side, crying, "Uncle Qin, please save Brother Xingxing."
Tianyi didn't have time to look at her closely, but he recognized Xiaoxiao from her voice.
He slowly lowered the rope in his hands, bringing Xiao Xingxing down from the tree.
The traffickers nearby reacted, surrounding Tianyi. One of them shouted, "Who are you! You dare come here, don't you want to live!"
Tianyi glared fiercely at the traffickers, feeling that these people were utterly unworthy of being called human. "Your day of reckoning has come!"
He sped up his actions to lower Xiao Xingxing. Unable to attend to his own child immediately, he had to deal with these people first.
He adjusted his clothes, flexed his wrists and shoulders, preparing for a one-against-ten battle.
These traffickers, who were arrogant and extremely cruel in front of the children, were intimidated by Tianyi's stance. None dared to charge at him first.
Tianyi casually picked up a wooden stick from the ground, hit the fallen man again with a fierce blow, and then advanced towards the others.
Someone signaled to the others, saying, "Let's go together. Surely we can defeat him!"
"Yes, together."
Feeling outnumbered, they charged at Tianyi in a group.
Xiaoxiao quickly ran to the base of the tree, supported Xiao Xingxing, and tried to unlock the chain around his neck.
But her small hands lacked the strength to open the iron chain. "Brother Xingxing, are you okay? Uncle Qin... Uncle Qin is here to save us!"
Xiao Xingxing felt some relief from the pressure on his neck, but he was already very weak, and his chest ached intermittently.
"Dad, Dad is here..." He clutched his chest, having also heard Tianyi's voice, and his whole body relaxed.
But as he relaxed, his chest pained even more, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
"Brother Xingxing, what's wrong? Where do you feel unwell? Did they hurt you?"
Xiao Xingxing said with all his might, "My... my heart doesn't feel well..."
"Medicine, medicine, where is your medicine?" Xiaoxiao asked urgently.
"In my pocket," Xiao Xingxing said weakly.
Xiaoxiao fumbled through his pockets and found a small medicine bottle. She immediately unscrewed it and saw only one pill inside.
She poured the pill into her palm and fed it to Xiao Xingxing's mouth, watching him swallow it with difficulty.
She wanted to find water for him, but there was no water nearby. She asked, "Brother Xingxing, do you feel any better?"
Xiao Xingxing didn't want her to worry and was about to say he was fine when he lost consciousness.
Xiaoxiao was terrified. She looked at Qin Tianyi, who was fighting the traffickers, and shouted, "Uncle Qin, Brother Xingxing has fainted!"
Hearing her cry, Tianyi was extremely worried but was entangled by these traffickers and couldn't break free.
As he was momentarily distracted, someone struck him from behind with a stick.
He quickly turned around, used his own stick to knock the weapon out of the attacker's hand, and then furiously beat the man, who collapsed on the ground clutching his head.
As he moved towards Xiao Xingxing, someone else attempted to ambush him from behind.
An Jing had arrived. He kicked the attacker away and said to Tianyi, "I'll handle it here. You go quickly to Xiao Xingxing."
Tianyi looked back at him and said, "Xiaoxiao is also here. She's next to Xiao Xingxing."