Get into the grove, or I swear I'll cut you down!

The man had both hands stuffed into the pockets of his khaki casual jacket. He lifted his chin slightly, scanning the surroundings. After confirming no one else was nearby, he pressed his dry, chapped lips together and asked, “Miss, which town is Ao Bei Village in? Which county?”

Chen Juanjuan was stunned. This person was near Ao Bei Village, yet he didn’t know where he was? Could it really be…?

Her hand gripping the sickle began to tremble. She bit her red lips, her bent waist taut like a drawn bow, pretending to continue harvesting cabbages.

“Miss?” The man kept his hands in his pockets, his messy hair swaying as he turned his head from side to side. “I’m talking to you.”

Chen Juanjuan forced herself to remain calm, but her legs began to shake, and the sickle in her hand could no longer cut through the cabbage. “This... is Quanyan Town, Yicheng County.”

“Oh, so I’ve crossed provincial lines,” the man muttered to himself, barely audible.

“Crossed provincial lines?” Chen Juanjuan, panicked and confused, somehow heard the man’s mutter clearly. She started to repeat his words in disbelief.

“Hm?” The man’s eyes widened instantly. He looked around once more, making sure no one else was there, and then slowly approached Chen Juanjuan. “How did you hear me? Throw the sickle at my feet!” he ordered.

Chen Juanjuan glanced at the man out of the corner of her eye. She had no intention of dropping the sickle. “What are you trying to do?”

“Just do it and you’ll find out!” The man’s gaze never left the sickle in her hands.

“I’m not coming over,” Chen Juanjuan straightened her back slowly, her trembling legs barely supporting her. She gripped the sickle with both hands, holding it protectively in front of her chest.

Only then did the man really take in her appearance and figure. “You’re actually quite beautiful!”

“What?” Chen Juanjuan was completely confused by his words.

At that moment, the man pulled one hand out of his pocket. “Throw the sickle over here, and your phone too. Don’t try anything funny!”

Terrified, Chen Juanjuan saw that the man was holding a black pistol!

She stammered, “Is your... gun... real?”

“It is!” The man grinned viciously at her, then pulled his other hand from his pocket, gripping the gun firmly with both hands.

Clearly, he was scared as well.

Chen Juanjuan didn’t dare refuse. She threw the sickle towards the man.

The man, holding the gun with both hands, saw the sickle flying straight for his head, and quickly retreated to avoid being struck. “What are you trying to do?”

“I’m scared!” Chen Juanjuan’s voice was trembling, tears streaming down her face.

She truly was terrified—she had thrown the sickle with all her might.

“The phone! Don’t even think about calling the police, or I’ll really kill you!” The man gritted his teeth, his eyes nearly bloodshot. “Hurry!”

“Please don’t shoot, I beg you.” Chen Juanjuan lowered her head, glancing at her tight skirt. “Sir, look at my clothes, how could I possibly carry a phone?”

She wasn’t lying. She’d hurriedly returned home, unable to change into casual clothes, and her phone was left in her bag—which was still at home.

“Good,” the man sighed in relief. He too noticed her fitted work attire, her waist and hips exposed, unlikely to hold a phone. He switched the gun to his right hand, bent over, eyes still locked on Chen Juanjuan, and grabbed the sickle from the ground.

Now holding the sickle, the man felt much more secure.

Watching him pick up her sickle, Chen Juanjuan’s anxiety increased. Please don’t shoot!

She prayed silently, over and over.

She had lived for years, participated in several bank robbery drills, but this was her first time seeing a real gun, her first brush with the threat of death. She realized all those drills had been meaningless; her legs went weak, barely able to hold her up...

“Come here!”

Suddenly, the man shouted.

After yelling, he glanced around again.

Once he confirmed no one else was in sight, he shouted again, “Come here, or I’ll really kill you!”

“I...” Chen Juanjuan raised her hands abruptly, like a character in a movie confronted by a gun.

She staggered to the man, her reddened, tearful eyes darting around.

She was searching for anyone else nearby...

But the reality was disheartening.

This place was so remote, and in the cold weather, who would come out unless, like her, they were harvesting vegetables? The village had only a handful of people, and with so many plots, the chances of crossing paths were slim...

Step by step, she reached the man.

Now, she caught a whiff of blood and the stench of someone who hadn’t bathed in days.

Her conviction grew: the man before her was a fugitive, armed with a real gun.

Suddenly, Chen Juanjuan remembered something.

A few days ago, while scrolling through a short video app, she’d stumbled upon a video: a security officer from the neighboring province, amid an emotional dispute, had shot and killed three people, seriously injuring two more, and was now on the run.

She hadn’t paid much attention at the time, thinking it odd she’d seen such a video by chance, since she usually didn’t watch such content.

How could she be so unlucky as to encounter something like this—especially from another province?

It was like a fierce Siberian tiger escaping from the zoo in the neighboring province, hundreds of kilometers away. The tiger could flee in any direction—how could it possibly end up with her?

Besides, there were surveillance cameras everywhere. As the saying goes, the net of justice is vast and unyielding—a runaway tiger would soon be captured.

“Why am I so unlucky!” Chen Juanjuan thought to herself, not daring to say it aloud.

“Hurry to the grove!” The man, now holding both gun and sickle, felt much more secure. He barked at Chen Juanjuan.

“I...” Chen Juanjuan was seized by a terrible premonition.

“Hurry, or I’ll really kill you with this sickle!” The man’s face contorted with rage, beast-like, as he pointed the sickle toward a patch of tall bushes near the pine forest.

The so-called grove was a dense thicket, taller than a person.

“I...” Chen Juanjuan instinctively wanted to refuse, her legs too weak to move.

“Hurry, or I’ll really kill you!” Suddenly, he raised the sickle and screamed hysterically.