Chapter 382


    The woman in the picture looked malnourished and thin.


    She also looked depressed and was a huge contrastpared to the other smiling women.


    However, Alice was born beautiful, so she still looked amazing in the photo, despite being sick.


    Ashlyn’s heart couldn’t help thumping wildly.


    “How did you get this photo? Where is the woman in the photo? Where is she right now? Is she still in


    your vige?” asked Ashlyn, who could barely contain her emotions at that moment.


    Mom… The woman in the photo has to be my mother!


    Ashlyn was sure that she hadn’t made a mistake.


    “Dr. Berry, this photo was taken on the year I got married. The vige organized an event, and we took


    a group photo. It has been over a decade since the photo was taken. The woman in the photo is no


    longer around.” Cadence shook her head.


    “She’s no longer around? D-do you mean she has passed away?” asked Ashlyn.


    All her excitement and happiness had faded in an instance.


    “She hasn’t passed. She simply left one day without a word. The guy who bought her said that he sold


    her to someone else. May I know who she is to you?” asked Cadence curiously.


    “She might be my mother,” answered Ashlyn as her eyes reddened. Sheter took a deep breath to


    regain herposure and asked, “Cadence, can you tell me the year she went missing?”


    Cadence thought about it for a while before answering, “That was over a decade ago. Let me think…


    It’s… Uhm… Thirteen years ago? Yeah. I got married that year, so it’s thirteen years ago.”


    Thirteen years ago, Ashlyn was only nine years old, but she clearly remembered that her mom died in


    a car ident when she was eight.


    My mom didn’t die then? Instead, she ended up in that vige? What exactly happened all those years


    ago?


    Ashlyn’s mind was a mess.


    She didn’t understand what could’ve happened, and she didn’t know if her mom was still alive at that


    moment.


    Someone bought her… Who would buy a random woman from an unknown viger?


    The more Ashlyn thought about it, the more her head hurt.


    It was as if an invisible hand had tossed her brain in a small sack and was trying its best to stuff it in.


    Car ident, survival, sold….


    Ashlyn felt like she needed to take the time to analyze everything.


    *


    The night was turning dark, and a white Land Rover drove into the secluded vige.


    The fog was thick in the vige.


    Cadence got out of the car at the entrance of the vige. She informed Ashlyn, “Dr. Berry, the guy who


    bought the woman lives in the house at the end of this road.”


    Cadence had to hurry home because her mother-inw wouldin if she stayed any longer.


    The woman simply went to tell Ashlyn everything because Cadence thought she was a good person.


    “Thank you, Cadence,” said Ashlyn. Sheter noticed that the roads in the vige were too small for


    cars to travel.


    As such, she could only park her car and walk the rest of the way to her destination.


    It took her about ten minutes or so before she saw an old wooden hut.


    The door was open, and the ce was dark. She knocked on the door and asked, “Is anyone home?”


    No one replied.


    Ashlyn frowned and waited for a while, but she still didn’t get a response.


    She fished out her phone and turned on the shlight. With the lights on, she walked into the house.


    It didn’t take her long before she found the switch. Click! The dim light bulb on the ceiling lit the house.


    She could barely make out the ce’s decoration, but she could tell that it was in a terrible shape.


    A square table stood under the lightbulb with two stools by its side.


    A bed was ced at the corner of the house, and a box was beside that bed.


    N?velD(ram)a.?rg owns this content.


    Nothing else was left in the room.


    Ashlyn scanned the house and thought about how her mother used to live in a ce like that.


    Her heart ached as if several ws were simultaneously digging into it.


    This is not a living space for a human! Even a dog would have trouble living here.


    She was still out of it when she suddenly heard a series of footsteps from the other side of the door.


    “Who’s there? Who’s in my house?” barked a crude voice suddenly from the yard.


    Ashlyn turned around instinctively and saw a reeking, dirty man walking towards the house.