"Go to the side of the road…" Yu Lanchuan gritted out a single line. "Stop."

The rundown jeep didn't even slow down; it screeched to an immediate halt. Yu Lanchuan pushed open the front passenger door and got down from the car, shaking and trembling, and took deep breaths of the fresh air in the mountains.

The driver, Gan Qing, looked out curiously. "Why did you get down?"

This was a section of a mountain trail. On both sides were steep cliffs. Yu Lanchuan was standing right at the edge, his back profile solemn and sorrowful, like he was ready to leap down.

Hearing her question, Yu Lanchuan turned around gloomily and gave her a look. "I want to calibrate my psychological state."

"Hey, I'm a probationary driver. If my driving isn't good, you just need to give me some pointers," Gan Qing consoled him. "Be more open-minded, darling leader. It's not worth it to end your life early for something like this."

The darling leader exploded on the spot. "Given that you're a new driver who just got her license two weeks ago, I can understand if you make mistakes—mistaking the accelerator for the brake, taking up two spaces when reverse parking, mistaking the wiper switch for the turn signal… all these are fine. But I cannot understand why, when you're still in your probation period, you're already speeding! And drifting! Don't you think you're getting ahead of yourself!"

Gan Qing, "..."

"Get the hell down, give me the wheel!"

"Wait a minute."

"What else are you…"

Gan Qing suddenly pointed ahead. "Look there."

Yu Lanchuan looked in the direction of her gaze. Two teenagers were running towards their car. The boy in front was around fourteen or fifteen years old, with hair long enough to piss off a head teacher flying behind him. The girl at the back looked a little younger and was stumbling behind the boy. There were even scrapes on her face.

The two teenagers waved desperately at them, scrabbling their way to the front of the car. The girl looked obviously to be the soft and delicate type. She was panting so hard that her face was devoid of colour and she held onto the front hood of the car, unable to speak. The boy's eyes looked from Yu Lanchuan to Gan Qing, then he spoke for the two of them. "Gege, Jiejie, do you have space in your car? Can you give us a ride?"

"Wait a minute, what is this about giving you guys a ride all of a sudden?" Yu Lanchuan frowned. "Luckily the sun's up now. If it was earlier when it was still dark and two people suddenly ran out up here in the mountains, you could shock the hell out of someone. Where did you two come from? What are you doing?"

The girl shot the boy a quick look, like she was ascertaining his expression. "We are-"

"We ran away from home together." The boy quickly interrupted her. While speaking, he purposely combed his mid-length hair back, exuding the aura of a minor gangster in movies about black triads from the last century. "We don't want to go to school anymore. We hired a car and came to the mountains for fun—it's that scenic area with cliff caves right up ahead, you guys are going there too, right? In the end, halfway there, that asshole driver wanted to increase the fee. We didn't want to let him do as he wished, so we got down."

"Oh my," Gan Qing leaned against the car door and smiled widely. "Eloping at such a tender age?"

The parts of the boy's limbs that were exposed were very tanned and his skin was rough. It was immediately obvious that he was used to physical labour. The girl next to him was panting so hard it seemed like she couldn't breathe and both her legs couldn't stop shaking—this was a reaction someone who wasn't used to mountain trails would have after climbing up and down the mountains many times. The boy only had a thin layer of sweat over his hair at the front. His face was not flushed and he was not panting for breath.

"Which school are you two from?" Gan Qing asked.

The boy's gaze flickered. The girl next to him picked up the conversation. "No. 1."

"The city's No. 1 High School?" Gan Qing raised her eyebrows and turned to ask Yu Lanchuan, "We drove here from the city area, it's been about six hours, hasn't it? What kind of hired car can be hired for six hours? I'll get one next time and save ourselves the trouble of driving."

"No, it's the county's No. 1 High School," the boy immediately corrected. "Our county town has a No. 1 too."

He subconsciously avoided Gan Qing's beaming gaze. From their appearances, he rapidly discerned who among these two people was the one who was easy to talk to. He approached Yu Lanchuan and pleaded, "Dage, please give us a ride."

Yu Lanchuan didn't say anything. He patted Gan Qing and the two of them swapped seats. "We do indeed want to go to the scenic area…"

"We want to go there too," the boy said hastily. "We won't take up much space, the trunk will do too. You can just drop us off at the county town on the way back."

The girl looked tense. She waited apprehensively for the car owner to answer and at the same time, involuntarily turned her head back to look. Without her realising it, her hand that was resting by her side rubbed against the seam of her pants.

"Sure." Gan Qing spread her hands. "It's fine with us, as long as you guys aren't afraid that we're bad guys."

Only then did Yu Lanchuan nod, keeping his silence as though his words were as precious as gold.

The outside of the jeep looked dirty and old, but care had been taken with the interior. On the inside, it was clean and spacious, not the least bit cramped, and there was a barely discernible fresh mint smell in the air. The rearview mirror was hung with a garland of dried flowers and a wool blanket was draped over the back seat, covering a collection of poetry by Khalil Gibran. The girl carefully put the blanket and the book aside, then looked over the backseat at the trunk. The trunk was much more exciting; there was a tent, fishing rods, beer, equipment for campfire cooking, photography equipment… and even a guitar standing upright in a corner.

It gave out a feeling of a journey accompanied by poetry and wine and song.

To start a conversation, the boy asked, "Gege, Jiejie, where are you guys from? You don't sound like locals."

Gan Qing said the name of a small tourist town. "Have you heard of it?"

The boy stared blankly but the girl quickly nodded. "Yeah, it was very popular a few years ago. A lot of places have direct routes to it. I went there frequently when I was young."

"We opened a guest house there," Gan Qing said.

The girl relaxed slightly. "What's it called? Next time, I'll bring my family there."

"We've already closed the place and leased it out." Gan Qing turned around and smiled at her. "We've stayed here for nearly four years now, we're a little tired of it. We're planning to go somewhere else soon. We're going on a vacation before leaving, checking out all the scenery in this county that we haven't seen yet, then heading south."

The girl's eyes brightened. "You can live like that?"

"A guest house is not a money-maker, it's only enough to cover daily expenses." Gan Qing laughed and stretched out an arm to drape over Yu Lanchuan's shoulder. "I mainly rely on having a rich man who makes a profit in everything he invests."

"Go away," Yu Lanchuan said.

Before the girl's smile could unfurl, Gan Qing suddenly asked, "What's your name?"

The girl blurted out, "Jiang Ling."

"Jiang Ling." Gan Qing paused. A hint of a smile flashed across her eyes and she asked with feigned suspicion, "Ai, why do I feel like I've heard this name somewhere before…"

"No… It's not that 'ling,' it's… the 'ling' that means 'bell.'" In a fluster, the girl started to speak incoherently. "There are a lot of people in this area with the surname Jiang, perhaps the names sound similar…"

The boy gave her a forceful tug. The girl realised that the more she explained, the more suspicious she sounded and her face immediately paled.

Gan Qing reclined against the front passenger seat, poking her head out to look at her with a smile that was not quite a smile. "Oh? How did you know which 'ling' I meant?"

She had barely finished speaking when Yu Lanchuan suddenly stomped on the brakes.

Gan Qing slowly turned her body around, her fingers drumming against her knees every now and then. The smile was still on her face but her gaze was darkening.

The mountain trail was very narrow, only about the width of two cars. Vehicles going up and coming down the mountain would all have to pass through it. If they encountered another vehicle, there was just barely enough space for them to pass by each other. But all of a sudden, opposite them, two pick-up trucks were coming down side-by-side. They were coming right at them and just like that, the road ahead was blocked until not even the wind could pass through.

Right after that, the puttering sound of exhaust pipes sounded behind them. A few rundown motorcycles had emerged from somewhere, blocking their escape route.

Yu Lanchuan's eyes swept around him. He said slowly, pausing between each word, "Ran away from home?

The boy pressed his lips into a line. The girl crumbled into sobs. "Help us, please, I beg you, help us…"

The story began two days ago. The girl's father was in charge of the criminal investigation division of the prefecture-level public security bureau.

Three days ago.

The police cars kept a stern watch around the small town in the mountains, ready to surround the fish escaping from the net at a moment's notice. From not far away, there was the sudden sound of shouts, followed immediately by a pack of mad people who had wrapped themselves up like Death Eaters running out of a small courtyard and fleeing in all directions. Looking at the state of things, the police who were lying in wait nearby immediately swarmed up, anti-explosive shields, police batons and tasers all drawn. There were even a few holding actual guns for backup.

This time, the command had come from the province-level public security bureau. Throughout the entire province, the strict crackdown targeting the Paradise cult was being carried out in unison.

This Paradise cult especially loved building nests in remote and desolate places, duping those elderly left behind to watch over things in the villages to become their loyal believers. Then, with this as their foundation, they took the "villages surrounding a city" route to expand. The moment there was even a whiff of trouble, they would turn around and slip into those places where even public roads did not readily access, waiting for the spring wind next year to revive. Waging war against them was like trying to rid the city of cockroaches. Arming each household with insecticide was of no use; all the pests within the entire district, the entire city, must be completely eliminated once before there could be a few years' of peace. This time, the police had spent a long time brewing their plan. Their preparations were ample; they had obtained cross-province cooperation, mobilised their informers, put out numerous bounties on the heads of the wanted criminals, and even contacted a lot of local young people who had gone away to work as labourers to return to be "spies" before launching a concentrated attack to thoroughly dig up this immensely tangled and deeply-rooted evil cult, roots and all.

The nest in this small town was a critical mission. Captain Jiang from the city bureau had gone in person to oversee the operation to capture the cult, making every effort to take them all down in one go. After a round of intense scuffling, the cult members were all brought to justice. There were a total of eleven of them. They had been hiding in a house in the small town previously. The house owner was a believer and had taken care of their daily needs like an act of worship.

Captain Jiang took a look. The number of people was consistent with the reports from the informers. He waved his hand. "Take them away!"

He had barely finished speaking when a shriveled tiny old lady charged over with her two twig-like arms raised. "You're not allowed to go! That's the Advisor! He's here to save us, what are you people doing!"

A police officer said, "What advisor? Auntie, that's a swindler…"

The old lady spat in contempt, her spit speckling the young officer's face. "You will all face retribution!" she said viciously.

The officer was caught off guard and didn't dodge in time. He stood where he was and wiped his face, flabbergasted.

Out of the corner of his eye, Captain Jiang saw his own young subordinate being bullied and erupted in rage. "What's going on over there?"

"It's an old couple. The house belongs to them. Their children are in other parts of the country. It's been three years and their children only send them money, they haven't shown up the whole time. Their family can be considered well off. See, they built this three-storey house themselves. This old couple only has a grandson staying with them. They don't have anything as a spiritual support. Most of the time, they don't have anything to do and spend the whole day messing around with this pack. They believe in that Paradise thing and don't even care about their grandson. The kid has been skipping school for half a month already, the school's going to expel him."

Hearing that, Captain Jiang was even angrier. "In that case, aren't they guilty of harbouring criminals? Take them away!"

"Please take a look at these two, they're already seventy, nearly eighty. You'll even need to avoid them if you encounter them on the street. If anything happens, whose fault is it? Are we arresting two people guilty of harbouring criminals or are we inviting a pair of living ancestors back? Captain Jiang, if you ask me, we should just focus on reeducating them."

Captain Jiang thought a while and felt that his words made sense. Hence, he went up himself to carry out the task of reeducation.

"I'm really puzzled. The two of you don't care about your grandson and instead, spend money and effort to support this pack of bastards. For what? Can they support you in your old age and send you off on your final journey?" Captain Jiang asked.

The old lady said, "You have all been deceived by the secular world! Your eyes are blurred! Unclean things have attached themselves to your body for the sole purpose of not letting you return to Paradise. If you're a disbeliever, you will all rot in the earth!"

"That won't do. We will be cremated after we die. Even if we want to rot in the earth, national policies won't allow it."

"Stubborn and ignorant!" the old lady said furiously.

"You are the one who's stubborn and ignorant, Old Auntie. These people are spreading their cult illegally and using it to gain dishonest profit. They are a serious threat to public safety. By concealing them, you are also breaking the law, you understand? Just take that leader of theirs for example—that whatever-the-fuck advisor—he's a junior high dropout, nothing more than a gangster. His education level is not even as high as your grandson." As he spoke, Captain Jiang took out his phone from his wallet. "I even have his old photo. Let me show you, he dyed his hair blonde…"

The old lady felt that her faith was being besmirched. She threw herself on him, planning to tear into him with her teeth, and knocked Captain Jiang's wallet and phone away. A few officers rushed up to help him pick them up. Captain Jiang folded both his hands behind his back and did not touch her. He said calmly, "There is a warrant out for his arrest. Theft, robbery… just look at the terrible stuff he has done. Among the list of criminals, he's considered one of the lower grades."

The old lady was pulled away by others. She opened a pair of small triangular eyes clouded with cataracts and glowered at Captain Jiang. Her mouth mumbled something, putting a curse on him right there and then.

"Trying to curse me to death?" Captain Jiang was completely unconcerned about taboos and waved like a bachelor without family to worry over. "Same to you."

When that was done, he felt as though he had completely destroyed the idiocy of the ignorant masses, so he commanded everyone to detain the suspects and swaggered off. He did not see the overdue receipt from the dry cleaner that had fallen out of his wallet just now, on which was written his own phone number and the address of the dry cleaner at the entrance of the neighbourhood where his house was. It happened to be wedged in the cracks of the stones by the roadside.

The soil of ignorance scoured the earth for thousands of miles; grass could barely grow half an inch, while the cracks on the ground were a meter deep. This "reeducation" swept past like a round of pleasant breeze and fine drizzle, leaving not a single mark.

Three days later, Captain Jiang's thirteen-year old daughter, Jiang Ling, disappeared from the entrance of their home.

Jiang Ling only remembered that she had gone home in a group with her schoolmates as usual. She had just parted ways with them when she heard someone calling her name. At that time, it was only evening and the sky wasn't dark yet. There were people walking on the main road. She didn't have her guard up and thought that she was bumping into an acquaintance. She followed the voice and turned into an alley at the side, and before she could see anything clearly, someone seized her neck. And then, she had no idea what happened afterwards.

When she regained consciousness, she had already been kidnapped to a mountain ravine. Those kidnappers had tied her up and covered her with a white bag as tall as a human. On it were written the word "Paradise" in rust colour. They pointed a thirty-centimeter long sickle at her and took photos of her.

Quite a number of people had been kidnapped along with her. Outside, the kidnappers from Paradise were in conflict on how to handle their hostages—there were some who thought that they ought to imitate the terrorists in the Middle East and drag them out one by one to be executed, and intimidate the government's running dogs through bloody vengeance. On the other hand, the others thought that committing murder would make it hard to bring things to a conclusion. Furthermore, killing them was also useless. If they took a video and put it online, it would even easily expose their location. It was better to quietly contact the victims' families and threaten them in secret, and fight to infiltrate the inner workings of the public security bureau as quickly as possible.

This group of kidnappers were among the members of Paradise that had slipped the net. Right now, they were surrounded by enemies and had no plans. Even though the two sides with their different views were evenly matched when it came to letting their imaginations run free, regrettably, they could not understand each other's points. After debating for a day, they could not reach a conclusion, so Jiang Ling and the rest could still keep their heads on their necks for the time being.

The kidnappers used a cement factory as their operations base. They had believers in the villages located halfway up the mountain and there were people regularly delivering food up the mountain. Jiang Ling was set free by the food delivery boy who had taken advantage of the darkness to do so.

The food delivery boy—the one sitting right beside her now—had parents working in another part of the country. Since young, he had lived with his grandparents who had mysterious beliefs and he had long since wanted to run away. He stole 600 yuan from his grandfather and conveniently also scooped Jiang Ling out before leaving—not because he liked the girl but because it was his grandmother who had revealed the girl's address to the kidnappers.

The two teenagers fled through the night, slipping through the forest and crossing the ravines. After running for a night and climbing over a few mountaintops, they finally dared to hitch a ride on the road. They didn't even dare tell the truth when hitchhiking, for fear that the other party would not dare take them along in case of trouble.

Unexpectedly, they still did not manage to escape.

T/N:

[1] Gan Qing calls Yu Lanchuan 萌主 méng zhǔ. 主 here means "chief" or "leader" while 萌 is from the Japanese word "moe" which roughly means "to have strong feelings of affection for something cute." It's a pun on 盟主 (alliance leader) which is pronounced the same way. I couldn't come up with any way to keep the pun so "darling leader" it is.