Transmigration; Married to My Ex-Fiancé's Uncle-Chapter 391; Lin mansion 2

The staircase seemed to descend far deeper than should have been possible given the mansion’s structure. Down and down, spiraling through darkness punctuated only by Shuyin’s phone light cutting narrow paths through shadow. The air grew colder with each step, but worse than the cold was the smell, unwashed bodies, human waste poorly managed, sickness, and beneath it all the sour stench of fear and despair.

Finally, the stairs ended at a heavy door, locked from the outside with multiple mechanisms. Shuyin’s jade eyes made quick work of the locks, though they were clearly designed to withstand any escape attempt from within. The final tumbler clicked. She pushed the door open.

The sight that greeted them defied comprehension.

The hidden chamber was far smaller than the number of occupants could possibly justify. A space perhaps thirty feet by forty feet, with a low ceiling that seemed to press down oppressively. And crammed into that inadequate space, huddled together like animals in a too-small cage, were children.

So many children.

They were packed so tightly that movement seemed nearly impossible. Bodies pressed against bodies, some sitting, some lying in whatever small space they could claim, all of them filthy beyond description. The smell intensified a hundredfold with the door open, months of confinement in conditions no human should endure.

Shuyin’s hand rose to cover her mouth, fighting the urge to vomit. This wasn’t just imprisonment. This was torture through neglect, systematic dehumanization.

"How many?" Lu Yuze’s voice was barely a whisper behind her, horror stripping away his usual composure.

Shuyin activated her jade eyes, counting, though the cramped conditions made exact numbers difficult. "At least two hundred," she said, her voice shaking. "Maybe more. They’re packed in here like...." She couldn’t finish the comparison. No words were adequate for this level of cruelty.

The children didn’t rush toward them. Didn’t call for help. Didn’t move at all beyond the slight shift of eyes tracking the intruders. They simply watched with the dull, empty gazes of people who’d learned that hoping was more painful than accepting their fate.

None of them looked healthy. All showed signs of severe malnourishment, distended bellies on skeletal frames, skin stretched tight over protruding bones, hair thin and patchy from nutritional deficiency. Many had visible sores, infections left untreated, bruises in various stages of healing that spoke of beatings administered to maintain control.

This was Shuyin’s first real encounter with the trafficking operation’s victims. She’d known abstractly that such crimes exist but hadn’t known it would be to this extend and in her mother’s mansion, and now knowing and seeing were entirely different experiences. The reality of two hundred children reduced to this state, the systematic nature of their suffering, hit her with devastating force.

"Mama," Yuyan whispered, tears streaming down her face, "they’re starving. Look at them. They’re actually starving." Yuyan was also seeing something like this for the first time.

She had been brought up by her father, pampered and adored so, she hadn’t come across such situations apart from reading or watching documentaries.

It was true. These children weren’t just malnourished from inadequate nutrition over time. They were actively starving, their bodies consuming themselves in the absence of sufficient food. How long between feedings? Days? Longer?

"We’re getting them out of here this instance," Shuyin said, her voice hardening into steel. "Right now. Immediately. This ends today."

She stepped fully into the chamber, trying not to step on the children who had no room to move away from her path. They flinched when she came close, cowering, raising skeletal arms to protect their heads in automatic defensive gestures. They’d been beaten. Regularly. Trained through violence to be docile and obedient.

"I’m not going to hurt you," Shuyin said softly, though she knew words meant nothing to children who’d been lied to and betrayed by every adult they’d encountered. "None of us are going to hurt you. We’re here to help. To get you out of this place."

Not a single child responded. Not with words, not with gestures, not with any indication they’d heard or understood or cared. They’d been broken so completely that even the promise of rescue couldn’t penetrate their protective shutdown.

Shuyin turned back to the stairs where her family and the workers stood frozen in horror. "We need to move them immediately. Right now. This room is...." She couldn’t even articulate how inadequate, how cruel, how deliberately torturous these conditions were. "We have empty guest rooms throughout the mansion. Clean rooms with beds and windows. Start preparing them. We’re moving every single child out of this chamber within the hour."

"Two hundred children?" Ting Fei said, his voice reflecting the overwhelming logistics. "Moving them discreetly...."

"I don’t care about discreet anymore," Shuyin interrupted sharply. "I care about getting them out of this nightmare immediately. Mobilize every servant in the household. Strip the guest wing completely, we’ll need at least forty rooms, maybe more. Clean bedding, clean clothes if we have them, water, food. Move. Now."

The workers scattered, running back up the stairs to begin preparations. The sound of their departure made several children flinch violently, curling tighter into defensive positions.

Shuyin knelt carefully in the small amount of clear floor space near the door, making herself as small and non-threatening as possible. "Lu Yuze, take the children upstairs. They shouldn’t see this. Call your medical associates, we need doctors, in plural, who can come immediately and who won’t ask questions or file reports. As many as you can gather on short notice. Tell them it’s urgent, life-threatening, and completely confidential."

Lu Yuze nodded, already backing toward the stairs with Chen Xiao still in his arms. "Come on, Yuyan. Let’s go help prepare rooms."

"But Mama...." Yuyan protested, not wanting to leave.

"Please do as I say," Shuyin said firmly. "I need you to make sure the rooms are ready. These children deserve clean, comfortable spaces. You understand what they need better than the servants do. Make it perfect for them."