On the tenth day that Lily goes missing, news finally comes after being silent for a long time.
"Captain! We find a water bottle in the lower reaches of a river!"
"What do you find?"
"Water bottle! Plastic water bottle!"
The leader immediately says, "Bring it over and let's take a look."
The policeman takes the water bottle in the bag out. The bottle has already turned yellow, and the
advertisement and LOGO on the bottle body are unclear to see. However, from the bottle design, it is
very common in Country Y.
The leader looks at the bottle carefully with white gloves. Nothing is unusual. Although the area is
sparsely populated, some adventure lovers may come here for expedition. They bring the water with
them and throw it away after drinking it.
This bottle only means that someone passed by that area.
"Where did you find it in the river?"
"The lower reaches of the forest."
The downstream of the mountain forest is a dense jungle. A vast river lies above the jungle. A dozen
kilometers ahead, some people are living there. It is too difficult to get target lock by this bottle.
Furthermore, with this water bottle, no one is confident enough to find anything after going to all this
trouble on the investigation.
It is a waste of Lily's life to do these useless things.
Just as the leader takes off his gloves and is about to let someone take the bottle away, Rex suddenly
takes the gloves and puts them on.
The leader looks at Rex in confusion, "Mr. Rex, what's wrong?"
Rex is silent. He picks the bottle up and looks at it closely. It is clearly just an ordinary abandoned water
bottle, but he feels that this water bottle has some relation with Lily.
Everyone is waiting for him quietly. Time passes by. Rex looks at the bottom, the bottle body, and
finally, the bottle cap. Just as they think that Rex will find nothing, he suddenly stops.
He puts the bottle back into the evidence bag and carefully looks at the green bottle cap. Two shallow
scratches are on the bottom of the bottle cap, which could only be seen under the light.
With the rightward stroke and downward stroke, it's a letter 'L'.
The rightward stroke is deeper. The person must be anxious when she makes these scratches which
are in different depths.
"Mr. Rex, what's wrong?"
"Lily!" Rex suddenly says, and his hands holding the bottle cap is trembling, "'L' is her initials."
Hearing this, the leader immediately walks forward to take a look. These two strokes are not clear. He
could only recognize them after looking carefully. However, no matter what the strokes are, no one
would leave such a boring mark unless it is urgent.
"Great!" The leader calls the officer who found the bottle, "Go to survey it right now! Ask the technicians
map out the geological map of the forest. Go to ask the two teams to station at the foot of the mountain.
Be careful! It doesn't matter if you're far away. Also, you can use the drone for surveying. You should
keep in your kind that you must be careful. You must not be discovered. Don't alert them!"
"Got it!"
Rex looks at the small bottle cap he holds. He is excited and says in a hoarse voice, "Can I have this
bottle cap?"
According to the rules of the bureau, it is impossible, but looking at his appearance, the leader nods his
head in agreement, "If you want, then take it."
He has been a policeman for so many years, so he understands this feeling clearly.
To outsiders, this is just a simple bottle cap, but to Rex, this proves that Lily is still alive. She is still
alive, and she is actively trying her best to send out a survival signal to them.
Now, what he hopes is that Lily would be rescued without getting hurt. As for the other things, he
doesn't care and he would never care.
He is the one who loses her, causing her to suffer abuse and humiliation. If he were to find that man
one day, he would definitely hack him to pieces.
...
After acting with Hawk that night in the wooden house, Lily notices that the attitudes of the people from
the Country Y around have changed a lot.
They just treat her as the hostage and captive before, imprisoning her in the room like a beast. Their
gaze on her is numb and empty.
However, after that night, they look at her with greed, covetousness, and more of an unfriendly
aggression.
Sometimes, when she goes to the bathroom, there would always be people who smile maliciously at
her on the way. Seeing the sinister smile, Lily feels it is disgusting.
Lily finally understands what Hawk's words mean, 'Once you do it, it's all different'.
They must have thought that she becomes the slave of Hawk, who could do anything for him, including
things between men and women.
They may think that she could be trampled and humiliated at will. It is hard for these men to have fun in
the forest. These young men are waiting that Hawk is tired of Lily. Then they could play with her.
These men gaze at her with desire. Hawk is the only one who can protect her now. This is also the
reason why he does this. Apart from saving her life, he also makes her not dare to run away.
She will be dragged away by someone else and sullied if she goes out of this room.
Lily's last hope is gone. If she fails to run away, she will be kept on a short leash. She will never have
another chance.
Day after day, when she stays in this primitive jungle, she gradually becomes anxious. She begins to
worry about what she should do if Rex could not find her.
People's will is always fragile. Once she starts to think about this, she becomes more and more
uneasy. She could only desperately suppress such uneasiness to avoid being noticed.
One night, she tosses and turns, unable to asleep. She hears the door open. She immediately opens
her eyes and keeps still as she is listening to the sound of footsteps coming from behind.
She hears the man walks to the window. A few seconds later, it is the sound of the liquid shaking and
the terrifying sound of swallowing.
It's Hawk. He's the only one here who dares to drink anytime, anywhere.
Lily heaves a sigh of relief. Even she doesn't know why, but now that she knows it is Hawk, she was
somewhat glad.
"You're awake," suddenly, he says with confidence.
Lily is nervous again. Knowing that she couldn't pretend to be sleeping, she gets up and sits at the end
of the bed, staring at him through the darkness.
"Don't look at me like that. I have told you if you look at me with scare, I will be tempted." After staying
together for a few days, he tells her his feeling more bluntly.
Hearing his laughter, Lily gets goose bumps, "What do you want to do?"
Hawk walks to the bedside, holding his wine. He looks down at her for a moment. Then, he bends
down and sits beside the bed. He props up the bed with one hand and looks up at the empty wooden
wall. "I will do nothing to you."
Lily frowns, not believing him, but then, she is surprised at his words.
"Today is the anniversary of my mother's death."
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