393: A Traumatic Memory

A Traumatic Memory

"Oh my God, Oh my God!" Adelle paced around the room. "What were they thinking? Keeping us inside this place? I'm going to call the police!"1

She took out her phone and dialed the emergency police number but halted when she saw that there was no signal. "What's this? We're not even above a mountain, why is there no service?!"

"Calm down..." Ran Xueyi stopped her from going crazy by taking the phone away from her hands. "They must have jammed the reception services the moment we entered the villa so we won't be able to contact anyone. It should be the same with the internet connection so it's useless to use our phones now."

Adelle was devastated when she heard this. In this era where Wifi became an essential need to this generation's people, even if there's no such situation they are in right now, who would be able to stay still without the internet within those three days?

Song Yu Han sat down next to Ran Xueyi and said in a low voice, "In this way, it would force everyone from doing what they wanted us to do."

Ran Xueyi nodded. By taking away the only thing that will keep everyone's attention away from the insidious game they devised for everyone to play, those who didn't want to participate and were not tempted will have no other choice but to think of other ways to relieve their boredom.

"But how is it that you know a lot about this game?" Song Yu Han asked her. 

"That's right! You didn't look like you're surprised when they announced the game. Did you already expect this or did your senior tell you beforehand?" Adelle calmed down a little but she was still concerned about their safety.

"No one told me." Ran Xueyi shook her head and paused, "I had a similar experience like this in the past. I think I was fourteen or fifteen years old but it didn't happen in a private villa. It was on an isolated private island."

Like what was happening to them right now, the services and internet was completely nonexistent from that place. The houses were small huts made of wood and planks. It was similar to living in a semi-primitive area in an ancient era. Guards with guns and tasers surrounded the borders of the island, but they weren't there to kill people. They were just there to scare them from leaving. Besides, there was no boat in the first place for them to ride back to their homes. 

Ran Xueyi could still remember when she was dragged into that island and upon hearing the same line from the organizer, she quickly hid away inside an unattended cave for five days. There, she was safe from the guards and people who wanted to take her to the small huts. The only problem was that she had no food and clean water to drink. And so, on the third day of having eaten and drank nothing, Ran Xueyi was forced to sneak around and steal some food and water from those people. 

"That's when I witnessed the true unspoken rules that everyone is talking about in this industry." Ran Xueyi recounted with a headache. 

Song Yu Han and Adelle never thought that something like that actually happened to Ran Xueyi. Adelle thought that everything was a joke and at first didn't want to believe. After all, the world has become too safe that what Ran Xueyi said could not possibly happen without alerting the authorities, right? 

However, hearing that Ran Xueyi had a first-hand experience, she shuddered and became afraid again. 

"But... aren't the unspoken rules just sleeping with the investors and sponsors to get resources?" Adelle questioned. 

Ran Xueyi shrugged, "Yes, but those people called that a pimping business rather than unspoken rules. The unspoken rules are another thing... It's like a game that wealthy people started to play for the unfortunate and miserable people who are greedy for success."

The true unspoken rules were a survival game. It doesn't start with one game. The wealthy people who brought them to that place will decide on a draw lots on what to play. Ran Xueyi once witnessed a model being chased by a rabid dog and bitten until he bled. There was also an idol who was tag teamed by several men. Of course, the most common was that the models, actors, and idols were forced to sleep with these people. 

She was able to avoid doing any of these, but she ended up leaving the island with traumatic memories that nobody will ever believe happened in reality. 

"But you're not one of them..." Song Yu Han had been thinking and interrupted her thoughts. "Since you debuted as a child star, you have been in the A-list celebrities. Why were you dragged there when you're not supposed to be in that place?"

Ran Xueyi smiled cruelly, "It was my previous manager who deceived me."

Well, it was actually her parents who ordered her manager to deceive her. But Ran Xueyi only found out about it two years ago when she started to investigate in Ren Country. At that time, her father was facing a huge problem in the company and kept it a secret to her grandfather. He must be thinking of using his daughter to get a rich man's support to help the crisis he was facing without knowing where she was sent and what would happen to her if she hadn't escaped.

The room was suddenly blanketed with silence. The soft rustles of leaves and the wind whooshing outside of the glass window comforted Ran Xueyi a little bit and swept away the bad memories. 

It had been years since that time happened. Ran Xueyi almost forgot about it until today's event relived the memories of that time she struggled to keep inside a pandora box.

A hand grabbed hold of her own, interlocking her fingers with theirs. When she looked up, Song Yu Han's eyes flashed brightly, turning into gold while having a grim expression on his face. 

He thought he'd already unraveled and found out everything he wanted to know about Ran Xueyi, but it seems that there were still some things she was hiding. 

Just thinking of a young version of Ran Xueyi running for her life to survive and escape the clutches of these people, his heart couldn't help but throb in pain for her. How... just how can somebody experience so many terrible things in their life? Just how many times does Ran Xueyi have to face and escape death? Why can't she just live a peaceful life?

"I'll find them and murder everyone for you..."

He leaned his forehead on her shoulder and murmured. 

"I'll burn that island if I have to so don't be afraid anymore."

...

Poisonlily has something to say: Just gonna remind you, this is a fiction novel. However, I did some research and it seems that there really is some events like that and took place somewhere. 

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