When Magee finally came back to the cave, he brought some food with him. But he didn't find Emily
there, so he searched the whole cave but found no trace of Emily everywhere.
"Emily? Emily!" Magee called her name out loud but didn't get a response. Only the echo of his voice
bounced back to him and surrounded the empty cave.
'Where on earth did you go, Emily?' Magee started to feel anxious.
He put down the food and left the cave to find Emily. He looked around and tried to trace the possible
path Emily took, but he realized it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
'Perhaps Emily went out to look for me. She must be worried, otherwise, she won't go out on her own. I
should have come back early. No, I shouldn't have left her alone in the first place. What was I thinking?
She is weak and injured. What if she slipped and fell over? What if she fell unconscious in the woods?
What if she encountered a beast? No one was there to help her.'
Magee tried to focus himself on finding her, but he couldn't stop thinking of the worst case scenario that
could have happened to Emily. The thought of her getting into trouble made him panic, 'I shouldn't have
taken her here in the first place.'
"Emily! Emily!" Magee kept shouting.
Suddenly, he heard a response from somewhere not too far. "Sir!" It was his guards. They traced the
route and found Magee.
Magee was frustrated with them for showing up too late, but he would rather save his energy to find
Emily. He clicked his tongue and said, "Listen up! Emily is missing. Go and find her! Move now!
Whatever it takes, just find her!"
"Yes, sir!" The guards were tired and would like to rest for a moment, but when they sensed the anger
in Magee's tone, they dared not to say anything.
They knew that the only thing they could do right now to pacify Magee's anger was to find Emily.
Magee followed his guards in searching for Emily. She was injured so she couldn't have gone too far,
but they still couldn't find any trace of her.
"Sir, look at this! This looks like a footprint from Ms. Emily!" one of the guards suddenly said when he
spotted a footprint.
"Let me see it." Magee took a step forward and checked a fresh footprint on the muddy road.
It was the same mark as the shoes that Emily was wearing. "It's hers. She is not far away. And there's
a trail here. Let's go. Follow them!"
"Yes, sir!"
Magee was hoping that these footprints would eventually lead them to Emily, however, some of them
were lost in the puddle.
They already reached a dead end of the trail and they lost track of Emily again.
Magee was hopeless and desperate. He couldn't even find a phone signal in this area. They had no
choice but to look at every possible place in this area to find Emily.
'God, please keep her safe until we find her. I won't be able to forgive myself if something bad happens
to her.
I need to bring her back safe and sound, ' Magee told himself.
...
Meanwhile, in village head's house.
Mr. Yang could not keep Emily out of his mind. He wanted to see her, but he was afraid of his wife that
he didn't dare make a move.
Emily knew that she was just temporarily safe, so she needed to befriend the silly boy Donny to get
more information about the village.
The village was like a secluded area. It was far away from the main road and the city which was why
the villagers here didn't know anything about the outside world. Mr. Yang became the head, and the
biggest bully of the village.
The villagers lived here for generations and no one had the chance or the courage to leave the village
and see the outside world. They had been living the way they were and didn't know about other ways
of living. The male outnumbered the female population, that was why most males didn't have female
companions and the population started to diminish.
Since Mr. Yang was aware of the existence of the village, he found a solution to the population
problem.
He managed to spread mysterious stories of the village and the forest, thus attracting adventurous
travelers. But the way the village was tricky and only a few villagers knew the way out, so the travelers
had to hire a local guide to get them in and out of the village.
If there were female travelers, they would be led back to the village and be kept there until a male
villager bought them to be a wife.
It was illegal, but the villager didn't know the law of the world, nor did they ever care.
Emily was thinking about the other girls that were kept here. They didn't have the chance to go back to
their families again.
"Miss Beauty, what's in your mind?" Donny asked Emily in curiosity, "It's your turn! Come on!"
Emily suddenly came back to her senses, "Oh, all right."
They were playing the Chinese rope weaving. Emily took the rope and quickly made it into another
form, and then another.
Donny clapped his hands in excitement, "Miss Beauty, you really can do anything! It's my turn!"
Emily watched as Donny tried his turn in the game. She looked at his innocent smile and casually
asked, "Donny, have you seen any people be rescued by the villagers recently?"
"Of course. We've helped a lot of people. They were lost and we saved them!" Donny believed
everything Mrs. Yang had told him.
"No, that's not what I meant. Not someone lost their way. More like someone who was seriously
injured," Emily explained.
Donny thought for a while and suddenly raised his voice, "Yes! I remember there was someone! Mr.
Barefoot saved a dying man. He cured him. It was like magic!"
"A dying man?" Emily's eyes sparkled with hope, "Did you see him? What does he look like?"
"Well, I did." But Donny didn't continue. He seemed quite unhappy.
"Can you tell me more? I really want to know, please. I can give you this if you tell me." Emily tried to
ease his nerves.
She picked up a golden straw and twisted into a cute ring. She put it in Donny's finger. "Here, this is for
you."
Donny was thrilled. "It's so beautiful! My mom has a ring, too! Does that mean you're my wife now? I'm
so happy!"
Donny's childish laugh reminded Emily of her lost baby. She paused for a moment and tried to hold the
tears back. She then asked, "Can you tell me now, please?"
Donny paused for a moment while he played with the straw ring quietly, then said slowly, "He is a good-
looking person, just like you. But I don't like him at all."
"And why is that?"
"Because all the girls in this village like him instead of me. They don't play with me. They just want to
play with him."
"Really?" Emily described to Donny what Jacob looked like. She then paused and asked, "Is that what
he looked like?"
Donny nodded obediently and said, "I think it's him."
Emily was almost sure that it was Jacob, but she still couldn't put her hopes high until she could see
him in person.
That would be the only time she would believe.
"Miss Beauty, you can't like him. You can't do that! I won't allow you to do that!" Donny was now
jumping with his arms waving in the air, "You can only like me! I promise to be good to you all the time
and will keep you safe!"
Emily smoothed his hair and tapped him on the shoulder, "Don't worry. I was just trying to get to know
the village. And thank you for being nice to me, Donny."
Emily smoothed his hair and tapped him on the shoulder, "Don't worry. | was just trying to get to know
the village. And thank you for being nice to me, Donny."
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