152: Chapter 152 The Scales in My Heart

Lin Ning frowned deeply, pulled out his phone, and opened the wanted list website.

The signal was poor, and the webpage loaded very slowly.

He held up his phone, his eyes nearly pressed against the screen, just to make out the content.

Search—

[Class B Wanted Notice: Li Mei, female, 34 years old, suspected of a major criminal case: murder of her husband Zhang, father-in-law Zhang, and causing serious injury to mother-in-law Wang, fleeing with her daughter. Reward: 50,000 yuan.]

Lin Ning stared at the screen, stunned.

Murdered her husband and father-in-law? Seriously injured her mother-in-law?

He exited the website, opened social media, and entered the keywords "Li Mei + location + murder case".

Post after post popped up.

["I'm from the neighboring village, I know about this. Li Mei married in eight years ago and never had a good day, being beaten all the time. Her husband was a gambler who would beat her when drunk, whipping her with a belt and burning her with cigarette butts. Her father-in-law was even worse, kicking in her bedroom door in the middle of the night. Report it to the police? Is it useful? The Police Station would just come over, mediate a few words, and leave. When she went back, she would get beaten even worse."]

["Her family took the bride price and ignored her, acting as if they didn't have this daughter. She ran away twice but was hunted down and nearly beaten to death. Later, when she was pregnant, she thought things might get better, but her husband even beat the child. That little girl was only three or four years old, and her father would grab her by the hair and throw her around."]

["Li Mei just couldn't take it anymore that day. I heard her husband was going to sell their daughter to human traffickers, so she grabbed a knife and... Sigh, if it were me, I would have slashed him too."]

There was another highly-liked comment:

["I've met her; she's an honest, simple woman who wouldn't even dare to speak loudly. Her in-laws were local bullies in the village that no one dared to provoke. To force her to the point of murder, just imagine what kind of life she must have been living."]

Lin Ning read through them one by one, his fingers slowly stiffening.

He respected the law and stood in awe of the rules; he understood even better that the reason this country was stable was because the principles of law were clear and justice would be served.

But he also knew that in this world, there were some evils against which the law was powerless, and some pains where endurance could not buy a way out.

The law is the bottom line, but it is not the only yardstick.

In his heart, he had his own scale.

This land had always championed resistance—resistance against oppression, resistance against bullying, and resistance against the evil that drives people to their deaths.

Li Mei was only protecting herself, and protecting the little daughter in her arms who would break half of her milk curd to share with her.

Lin Ning looked up into the distance.

Li Mei was crouching beside the herd of cattle, using a handkerchief dipped in water to wipe her daughter's face.

The little girl stood obediently, her eyes shining as she looked at her mother.

After wiping her face, Li Mei took out a piece of milk curd and handed it to her daughter, who broke it in two and tucked half back into her mother's hand.

Li Mei was stunned for a moment, then smiled and put it into her mouth.

Lin Ning stood where he was, watching for a long time.

Perhaps his gaze had lingered too long, as Li Mei suddenly looked up and glanced over in his direction.

Their eyes met.

Li Mei's expression changed drastically; she scooped up her little daughter, retreated sharply, and hid behind a cow. She stared fixedly at Lin Ning, her eyes full of vigilance and fear.

Slowly, Li Mei seemed to realize something. Looking at the hand Lin Ning held his phone with, her gaze gradually turned desperate, filled with supplication.

The little girl, held too tightly, squirmed uncomfortably and whispered, "Mommy."

Li Mei didn't move; she just held her daughter tighter, hiding herself behind the cow, with only half her face visible, staring intently at him.

Lin Ning locked eyes with her.

Three seconds.

Five seconds.

He was the first to look away.

He lowered his head, staring at a stone on the ground for a few seconds.

No reporting, no exposing.

He chose to turn and leave.

After walking a long way, he suddenly stopped and stood for a while.

The wind blew in from the wilderness, carrying the scent of grass and earth.

He did not look back, walking straight towards where he had parked, and drove directly back to the downtown area of Erenhot.

The streets were bustling with people—some glamorous and bright, others disheveled and worn. By the roadside, a few little brats were chasing each other, their laughter carrying far.

Lin Ning parked the car on the side of the road, watched quietly for a moment, then suddenly chuckled, turned the steering wheel, and drove towards the old town in the other direction.

Can't stop earning money.

This alley was darker and messier than the previous one; several streetlights had clearly shattered bulbs. Debris was piled at the base of the walls, and the air was filled with a stench mixed with tobacco, alcohol, and the smell of urine.

The deeper he went, the fewer people he saw, and the atmosphere grew inexplicably oppressive.

Lin Ning slowed his pace, his gaze calmly scanning everyone he passed.

Just as he turned a corner piled high with discarded wooden crates, his footsteps came to an abrupt halt.

Two men turned the corner at the intersection ahead.

Two men who looked unremarkable but had an unusual aura—a black-red halo flickering around them.

[Huang Ze, unemployed]

[Li Xiang, unemployed]

These two men were clearly also observing the surrounding environment and people at all times. When they looked at Lin Ning, his pupils contracted sharply.

He felt the targeted scrutiny and a dangerous aura.

Lin Ning swept his gaze over the two and continued walking forward.

Ahead was a straight alley. Huang Ze and Li Xiang were already in front of him, and invisibly, this resulted in a situation where Lin Ning was following them.

Lin Ning had no choice but to crouch down and pretend to tie his shoelaces, managing to create some distance.

While Lin Ning crouched there, his Psychic Power, like a fishing line, stuck to the two of them and extended forward.

Out of this alley was an open space surrounded by two or three extremely dilapidated buildings, with many building materials piled inside.

In the shadows to the west, four men were leaning against the wall.

There were no extra movements, no loud noises; they just stood there quietly, but the tense, cold, and hard hostility—the readiness to strike at any moment—was enough to make one's scalp tingle from over ten meters away.

And above their heads, they were all glowing in unison—

Four clusters of deep red, so dark they were nearly black.

Huang Ze and Li Xiang headed towards those four men.

Lin Ning cursed inwardly, what kind of shitty luck was this?

Lin Ning was already approaching the mouth of this alley; should he go back the way he came, or bite the bullet and walk past?

He "saw" Huang Ze look over with a mix of confusion and vigilance. Damn!

He had to walk past it now, otherwise, it would look too guilty.

These people were definitely not ordinary fugitives.

In the feedback from his Psychic Power, it was full of dangerous warnings; the aura on them—of having been stained with blood, having seen life taken, and being ready to flip and kill at any moment.

These weren't the small-time solo players he had dealt with before; this was a gang.

One of the men was smoking, his eyes sinister, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing his waist—it was bulging, clearly hiding something.

Another person was typing rapidly on a phone while talking to the others.

Lin Ning "saw" the shape of his mouth. His beginner-level lip-reading could only distinguish a few words: "Goods, route, tonight, many people."

The words collided in Lin Ning's mind, and the answer became clear in an instant.

This was a smuggling gang?! And what they were transporting was definitely not ordinary pig's trotters; otherwise, the color above their heads wouldn't be red to the point of black.

Lin Ning looked straight ahead, not glancing in their direction even once, and walked straight into the small path between the two buildings.

Danger.

Extremely dangerous.

Every cell in his body was screaming.

Just as Lin Ning was about to walk out, the smoking man suddenly raised his eyes and cast a cold glance in his direction.