Reborn As Super Heiress
Chapter 716 - 713: Danger in the Mountains

Chapter 716: Chapter 713: Danger in the Mountains

Having learned about the legend and history of the Chicken Blood Stone, Huo Sining grew increasingly fond of it.

Despite being close to the end of the year, there were still many stone miners around. Along the way, Huo Sining and her companion walked and stopped, encountering quite a few stone collectors trying their luck in the mountains.

There were many rocks on the mountain, but not every rock from Yuyan Mountain was a Chicken Blood Stone.

The area of Yuyan Mountain that produced Chicken Blood Stone was a great distance from the foot of the mountain. Led by Uncle Qi, Huo Sining arrived at an abandoned Chicken Blood Stone mine. According to Uncle Qi, this mine was an old pit that had once yielded a large quantity of high-quality Chicken Blood Stones, but now this area’s stones were exhausted, leaving behind nothing but a desolate and abandoned pit.

Huo Sining looked around the mountain’s base and indeed found many pieces of Chicken Blood Stone scraps.

Even though many people came to the mountain to mine Chicken Blood Stone, the vegetation in the Yuyan Mountain area was still quite well-preserved. Huo Sining and her associates wandered around the mountain for a while and discovered the streams were crystal clear.

It was summer, and the stream wasn’t too rapid. Walking along it, they could even see fish playing in the water. Despite the intense heat, the mountain was lush with greenery and the babbling brook made it a natural beauty spot.

It was still early, and Huo Sining was not in a hurry. She walked down the mountain on a winding stone path along the cliffside and, feeling tired, sat down on a slab to rest.

Unexpectedly, at that moment, a swooshing sound came from behind. Before Huo Sining could react, she felt a sharp pain in her neck and everything went black as she fainted.

In the moment of unconsciousness, Huo Sining had only one thought in her mind, "Damn it, I’ve been ambushed!"

She didn’t know how long she’d been out, but by the time she regained consciousness, it was already dark.

Huo Sining was secretly annoyed. She hadn’t expected these people to be so bold as to make a move in broad daylight.

It was extremely quiet around her. Huo Sining didn’t know where she was, but she felt the air was cool, which was in stark contrast to the heat she had felt at Yuyan Mountain. It was nearing the hottest period of the year when the temperature shouldn’t be so pleasantly cool during the day.

Huo Sining tried to move and immediately realized something was wrong; her hands were tied behind her back, and there was someone lying on top of her.

It was Liao Song and the others!

Only then did Huo Sining remember that she had gone up the mountain with Uncle Qi and Liao Song’s group.

She looked down beneath her and saw Liao Song’s familiar face. Not far away, Liao Song’s friend Zhong Zifan was also lying on the ground, seemingly still unconscious.

"Miss Huo, are you awake?" Liao Song asked urgently, feeling her rustling movements.

"What happened? Were we... kidnapped?" Huo Sining asked anxiously.

Liao Song nodded, "It seems we walked into an ambush in the mountains."

Huo Sining felt silent; it was because of her that Liao Song and his friend had ended up in this mess.

"Where are we now?" The surrounding was quiet, and Huo Sining did not hear any voices, indicating the kidnappers hadn’t stayed nearby.

"We’re probably still in the mountains, but our bags have been taken by the kidnappers. Without our phones, we have no way to call for help," Liao Song said with a worried expression.

"What do we do now? If no one comes to rescue us, aren’t we going to starve to death?"

Huo Sining tried to move a few times, but the kidnapper’s ropes were tied too tightly; she couldn’t break free and couldn’t help but frown and ask.

Liao Song nodded, "I guess those people tied us up here just to buy time, and they don’t really intend to do anything to us."

Upon hearing this, Huo Sining was taken aback, "What exactly is going on?"

Liao Song’s expression stiffened. He glanced at Zhong Zifan, who was still unconscious on the other side, sighed, and then slowly began to explain everything.

It turned out that Zhong Zifan was from Fuzhou. His family’s company was forced to declare bankruptcy before the new year due to betrayal by his uncle. His father also passed away from a sudden heart attack.

To fight back against his uncle, Zhong Zifan decided to start over. As a friend of Zhong Zifan’s, Liao Song naturally offered his full support. The two partnered to open a gambling stone shop.

This time, their trip to Changhua to purchase Chicken Blood Stones was because they had received a large order for these stones at their shop. If they could complete this purchase successfully, they stood to make a good profit, so both Zhong Zifan and Liao Song took it very seriously.

But judging by the current situation, it seemed that Zhong Zifan’s uncle must have learned about this deal and deliberately sent people to kidnap them, all to delay the proceedings.

Hearing Liao Song’s explanation, a silent realization dawned on Huo Sining.

Huo Sining had heard her share of unsavory tales about large families. This kidnapping seemed to be the work of Zhong Zifan’s uncle, whose intent was to foil Zhong’s business deal, thereby destroying the new shop and crushing the Zhong family.

An uncle who had harmed his brother and now targeted his own nephew—what kind of hatred could fuel such actions?

When they had come to Yuyan Mountain, Huo Sining and the others had all brought backpacks and had their mobile phones with them. But one could easily guess that the kidnappers would not leave their backpacks and phones behind.

Given the circumstances, they could probably only rely on themselves for rescue. Huo Sining glanced at Liao Song, who was struggling to crawl towards Zhong Zifan, seemingly trying to wake him up.

Taking advantage of Liao Song’s distraction, Huo Sining used her hands, tied behind her back, to touch her storage ring, from which she quietly took out a small and sharp fruit knife.

It had taken monumental effort for Liao Song to reach Zhong Zifan. Just as he managed to wake Zhong up, Huo Sining had already cut through the ropes on her wrists with the fruit knife.

Seeing Huo Sining deftly cut the ropes binding her legs and stand up with ease, Liao Song was taken aback.

Huo Sining smiled and showed the fruit knife in her hand, "Luckily, I came prepared. I hid something in my shoe for self-defense; I never thought it would actually be useful."

Seeing the small and sharp knife in Huo Sining’s hand, Liao Song couldn’t help but laugh and gave her a thumbs up.

"You’re always alert and far more thorough than us!" praised Zhong Zifan.

Huo Sining smiled and didn’t elaborate further. Speaking more might lead to mistakes, and she feared that saying too much might arouse Liao Song and Zhong Zifan’s suspicions.

The kidnappers, in all their scheming, could never have anticipated that Huo Sining’s ring contained a world of its own.