Brother Jian sneered, "Quite the cool customer, aren’t you, little girl? What makes you so confident you can take us on? You knew we were following, yet you still dared to confront us out here in the middle of nowhere."

"Isn’t that exactly what you were planning, too?" Su Qing gave a faint smile. "You wanted to deal with me out here in the wilderness, didn’t you? Otherwise, why follow me all this way and not make a move?"

"Heh, since we’re all on the same page, let’s cut the crap," Brother Jian said. "Just hand over what you’re carrying, and I’ll consider letting you leave in one piece. How about it?" 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"I’ll pass." Su Qing’s eyes curved into crescents. She lifted the case in her hand and said with a smile, "You want this? Come and get it. Let’s see if you have what it takes."

"Hmph, you damned girl. Looks like you want to do this the hard way." Brother Jian turned to the two goons beside him. "Go, teach her a lesson. I refuse to believe one girl can take on the two of you."

"Yes, Brother Jian." The two goons rubbed their hands together, leering at Su Qing as they started to step forward.

But the moment they tried to lift their feet, they found they couldn’t move.

"Agh, what is this stuff?" The two goons discovered that their feet had been completely entangled by creeping vines. They hadn’t felt a thing until they tried to move, at which point the vines suddenly tightened. If they hadn’t managed to steady themselves just in time, they would have fallen flat on their faces.

What truly panicked them, however, was the realization that followed. ’Can plants in the mountains just actively wrap around people? Is this some kind of fantasy plot?’

Brother Jian heard his goons cry out and didn’t understand what was happening at first. He was about to speak when he felt a sudden tightness around his own calf. He looked down, and his eyes flew wide open. Several vines had wrapped themselves firmly around his lower leg. The most crucial part was, he hadn’t noticed them at all!

"Fuck, what is this?!" Brother Jian cried out in alarm.

Su Qing gave a faint smile. "Enjoying the surprise?"

Brother Jian and his men: ’Surprise? What goddamn surprise?! This is a horror show!’

Su Qing’s reaction made Brother Jian suck in a sharp breath. "These things... they’re doing this because of you..."

Halfway through his sentence, Brother Jian stopped himself. ’No, that’s impossible. How can a person control plants? That’s unscientific!’

’No.’ Brother Jian shook his head, finding his own idea preposterous. ’But still, what’s going on with these vines that have us trapped?’

"Surprising, isn’t it?" Su Qing said with a wide grin. "I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but these vines do exactly what I say. Otherwise, why would they only be wrapped around you?"

"AAAAAH, you’re a monster!" one of the goons shrieked, stunned by Su Qing’s words. ’This kind of creepy stuff only happens in the ghost stories I heard as a kid! How can someone who controls plants exist in the real world?’

’A monster, she has to be a monster!’

One of the goons quickly reached for his waistband, intending to pull out a gun and shoot Su Qing.

However, the moment his hand touched his waist, more vines shot out and bound him instantly, pinning his arm firmly to his body. He couldn’t move a muscle. In the next second, the vines had enveloped his entire body, turning him into a living green column with only his head free to move.

The goon was so terrified he started screaming his head off, yelling for help.

Seeing their companion’s horrifying state, Brother Jian and the others were stunned. Any doubt they had about Su Qing’s words vanished. ’This woman can really control plants!’

’If we don’t fight back now, she’s really going to kill us,’ they all thought. ’After all, we know her secret. A secret this big... if it were us, we’d never let anyone who found out live to tell the tale. For her to reveal it to us so openly... she never planned on letting us get out of here alive.’

’No wonder. No wonder she dared to face them alone in these woods.’

But Su Qing wasn’t about to give them a chance. The vines moved even faster this time. Before the others could even get their hands on their guns, three more green columns sprouted up on the spot.

The four "pillars" stared at Su Qing in horror. Brother Jian’s teeth began to chatter. ’Even during street gunfights in Xiangcheng, I’ve never been this scared. But today... today I’m truly terrified.’ He was filled with regret for listening to the young miss and coming after Su Qing.

But it was too late for regrets.

"Miss, we... we were just... just following orders," Brother Jian asked, looking nervously at Su Qing. "We... we have no grudge against you. I don’t know if you could... could you possibly spare us? I swear, we won’t... won’t tell anyone your secret. We promise we’ll never bother you again, okay?"

"Yes, yes, that’s right!" The other goons had been scared out of their wits by Su Qing’s bizarre powers. "We promise! We swear we won’t say a thing! We really won’t! Please, let us go!"

In that moment, Brother Jian and his goons were being sincere; they had no intention of telling anyone Su Qing’s secret. After all, saving their own skins was the top priority.

Su Qing remained completely unmoved by their pleas. She smiled and said, "And you really think I can trust you?"

"Yes! Yes, you can!" Brother Jian and his men nodded their heads furiously.

Their unhesitating reply made Su Qing laugh out loud. "You? A group of big, brawny men who came into these deep woods to ambush and kill a ’defenseless’ girl like me? And you expect me to believe a word you say?"

Brother Jian and his men: ’Defenseless my ass! What kind of "defenseless" girl can carry a hundred-pound case with one hand without even blushing or panting? What "defenseless" girl can control plants to trap people this terrifyingly?’

"So, tell me," Su Qing asked, "who sent you? Was it An Zhiwei?"

"If you promise to let us go, I’ll tell you everything I know." Seeing Su Qing ask about the mastermind, Brother Jian, who had been on the verge of despair, immediately seized the opportunity. "I mean everything."

Su Qing looked at Brother Jian coldly. "I’m not asking because I don’t know. I’m asking for confirmation. Did you really think I couldn’t figure out who sent you?"

As she spoke, Su Qing snapped her fingers. Brother Jian and his men watched as several vines slithered over from a short distance away. Then, as if they had eyes of their own, the vines precisely plucked the guns from their waistbands and presented them to Su Qing like treasured gifts.

Brother Jian and the others were completely stupefied by this display. Their eyes were wide with disbelief, unable to accept that what they were seeing was real.

Su Qing toyed with the four guns, then gave Brother Jian and his men a smile. With a flip of her hand, all four weapons vanished without a trace.

At this sight, the eyes of Brother Jian and his men looked ready to pop out of their sockets.

’Can someone please slap us awake and tell us this is all a dream?’