52: Chapter 52: Delaying Time! Paid Fortune Telling!

At that very moment,

Zhao Laosan, who was standing nearby, finally snapped out of it.

Where did this lunatic come from?

Climbing over his wall in the middle of the night just to wail over the "dog" he had bought?

"Go to hell!"

Zhao Laosan cursed, threw down the belt in his hand, and grabbed a shovel leaning against the base of the wall.

Whoosh!

The shovel whistled through the air and slammed hard against Li Guohua's back.

Thud!

The dull sound made the hearts of the hundreds of thousands of people in the livestream tremble.

Li Guohua stumbled from the blow, but he didn't make a sound. Instead, he pulled his son even tighter into his embrace.

"Fuck! Still not letting go?"

"That's livestock I paid for! You dare try to steal it?"

Seeing how much of a beating this man could take, Zhao Laosan's temper flared even more.

He swung his arm in a wide arc, and the shovel came crashing down once more.

This time, it hit Li Guohua directly on the shoulder.

Crack!

The sound of bone fracturing was clearly audible.

Blood flowed down Li Guohua's forehead, but he seemed as if he couldn't feel the pain.

He glanced at the iron chain fastened around his son's neck.

The chain was as thick as a finger and covered in red rust.

"Unlock it! Unlock it for me!"

Li Guohua roared at Zhao Laosan.

"Unlock your ass!" Zhao Laosan kicked Li Guohua in the waist. "Trying to steal my stuff? I'll kill you today!"

Li Guohua's eyes turned bloodshot.

If he wouldn't unlock it, then he would bite it off!

He lowered his head, opened his mouth, and bit down hard on the cold, rusty iron chain.

Snap!

A tooth snapped off instantly, and he spat it out along with a mouthful of bloody water.

But he didn't care at all. He continued to bite, as if he wanted to crush all the injustice of the world and the grievances of the past twelve years and swallow them whole.

"Stop!"

Just as Zhao Laosan was preparing to deliver a heavy blow to Li Guohua's head,

A voice like a clap of heavenly thunder suddenly exploded in the courtyard.

It was Su Yun's voice.

His voice, coming through the phone in Li Guohua's pocket, was actually louder than the village's loudspeaker.

"Zhao Laosan! I dare you to try and touch him again!"

Zhao Laosan was startled by the sudden voice, nearly dropping the shovel in his hand.

He looked around, his expression as if he had seen a ghost.

"Who? Who's speaking?"

"I am the King of Hell come for your life!"

Su Yun spent 10 Merit points to check Zhao Laosan's information panel and then shouted loudly, "Zhao Laosan, male, 45 years old, a lifelong bachelor."

"Twelve years ago, you spent twenty thousand yuan to buy this child from human traffickers."

"For these twelve years, you've raised him like a dog, never giving him enough to eat and beating him at the slightest provocation."

"Three years ago, when the child tried to run away, you used a hammer to shatter his left knee!"

"Zhao Laosan, the whole world has seen the vile things you've done!"

"The police are already on their way! If you put down your weapon now, you might still keep your miserable life!"

Zhao Laosan froze.

He stared at the phone poking halfway out of Li Guohua's pocket, the ferocity on his face slowly turning into terror.

Livestream?

Police?

Although he was legally illiterate, even he knew what the police did.

"You... you're full of shit!"

Zhao Laosan roared with false bravado, but his body was shrinking back.

Just then,

Creak! Creak!

The gates of several neighboring houses all swung open.

Following that, the lights of the entire Dahuai Tree Village began to flick on one by one, like a relay race.

"What's going on? What happened at Laosan's place?"

"It looks like someone is snatching a child!"

"What? Snatching a child? We can't have that!"

"Grab your tools! Don't let them get away!"

A flurry of noisy footsteps, accompanied by barking dogs, surged in from all directions.

In less than two minutes,

The area outside Zhao Laosan's courtyard was packed tight.

There were at least a hundred people.

These villagers held hoes, sickles, carrying poles, and some even held butcher knives.

Each one looked fierce and malicious, staring at Li Guohua in the courtyard with hostile eyes.

This was Dahuai Tree Village.

This was that impenetrable den of a clan.

Here, a bought wife was family property, and a bought child was family labor.

Anyone who dared to come and take them away was cutting off their ancestral line; they would fight to the death!

Seeing so many people arrive, Zhao Laosan's back immediately straightened.

"Village Chief! Great Uncle! This bastard wants to steal my dog!"

Zhao Laosan pointed at Li Guohua, being the first to file a false complaint. "He even brought some kind of phone and is talking nonsense, saying he called the police!"

The crowd parted to make a path.

An old man wearing a Mao suit and fiddling with two walnuts in his hand walked out.

This was the Village Chief of Dahuai Tree Village, Wang Dafu.

Wang Dafu narrowed his eyes, glanced at the blood-covered Li Guohua, and then looked at the phone.

"Young man, I take it you're from out of town?"

Wang Dafu spoke slowly, his tone carrying an unquestionable authority. "Coming to our village to act wild—didn't you bother to ask around about what kind of place this is?"

"This child was raised by Laosan's family; he's his own flesh and blood."

"You breaking in the middle of the night to take someone—that's home invasion and kidnapping!"

"Folks, what should we do with a kidnapper?"

The surrounding villagers immediately began to jeer.

"Beat him to death!"

"Break his legs!"

"Throw him on the back mountain to feed the wolves!"

Their ability to turn black into white was truly breathtaking.

Li Guohua shielded his son beneath him, clutching the phone tightly.

This was his only lifeline.

"You... do you people have no respect for the law!"

Li Guohua was shaking with rage. "This is my son! He was abducted by you people!"

"The law?"

Wang Dafu sneered. "In Dahuai Tree Village, I am the law!"

"Get him! Smash that phone! Maim him and throw him out!"

At Wang Dafu's command, several strong young villagers prepared to charge.

It looked like the situation was about to spiral out of control.

The viewers in the livestream were going crazy with anxiety.

"These animals!"

"This is completely lawless!"

"Where are the police? Why aren't they there yet!"

Sitting in front of his screen, a thin layer of sweat broke out on Su Yun's forehead.

The police were still some distance from the village.

It was a mountain road; it would take at least another ten minutes!

But those ten minutes were more than enough for this mob to beat Li Guohua and his son into a pulp!

He couldn't fight them head-on.

He had to attack their hearts!

"Wang Dafu!"

Su Yun spent another 10 Merit points to check Wang Dafu's information and spoke again.

His voice was even louder than before, carrying an intimidating pressure that struck the heart.

"You old fossil, you're not dead yet?"

The villagers who were about to move paused.

How did the person in the phone know the Village Chief?

Wang Dafu was also taken aback, his brow furrowing deeply. "Who are you?"

"Who I am isn't important. What's important is that I know who you are!"

Su Yun spoke extremely fast, like a machine gun, giving the other party no time to think.

"Wang Dafu, 62 years old."

"On the surface, you're the Village Chief, but in secret, you're the biggest human trafficking broker in the surrounding ten miles!"

"Half the wives in this village were bought through your hands!"

"Just from commissions alone, you've raked in no less than five hundred thousand yuan over the years, haven't you?"

"All that money is hidden in an earthenware jar under your pigsty. Am I right?"