Chapter 52: Li Dian Shi, You’re In For A Treat Today—feel Free To Comment
After a busy day, the sunset dyed the horizon a brilliant orange-red, a breathtaking sight.
Lin Fan and Yang Ming each held a candied hawthorn skewer, leisurely strolling into the shantytown, where the prosperity of the bustling market seemed to have little relation to the people here.
“Bro, it’s that house up ahead, the one with the crooked-neck tree at the door.” Yang Ming pointed to a particularly dilapidated adobe house in front.
“Mm.”
After just a few steps, a little girl, about five or six years old, dressed in gray cloth clothes patched all over, came crying and sobbing out of a dirty alley. She squatted at the alley mouth, burying her face deep into her knees, her thin little shoulders shaking.
Soon, a group of slightly older children followed her out, forming a small circle and pointing at the little girl in the middle.
“Your dad is a killer.”
“You’re the daughter of a killer.”
“My mom won’t let me play with you. Don’t come looking for us anymore.”
“That’s right.”
Just as this group of kids was bullying the little girl, they suddenly felt the light behind them dim, as if blocked by some tall object. When they turned around and saw two constables eating candied hawthorns, they were all scared stiff on the spot, not daring to move, their little faces turning pale.
Lin Fan deliberately put on a stern face and pretended to be serious: “Who told you to bully people here? Hurry home and study.”
Soon, the group of kids scattered in panicked flight like a swarm of bees.
Especially one kid wearing split pants, with two bamboo sticks clamped between his butt cheeks, wailing as he ran home to find his parents.
Just as Lin Fan was about to step forward, the squatting little girl stood up, wiped her tears, and ran toward the distance, turning into a courtyard and even bumping into someone. That person curiously sized up the little girl and nodded in satisfaction.
“Bro, that house the little girl ran into is the home of the scapegoat.” Yang Ming said.
Lin Fan said: “Who is the man who came out?”
Yang Ming looked carefully to identify him.
The man walked out of the courtyard and happened to see Lin Fan and Yang Ming at the alley mouth, especially their constable uniforms. His face changed abruptly, and he immediately lowered his head, wanting to turn left into another small alley, clearly trying to avoid them.
“He looks familiar.”
“Go, grab him and ask some questions.”
Yang Ming immediately set off, charging over. Not long after, he dragged the man back, still smacking him on the head while walking and cursing.
Run, run, run my ass.
The captured man had a sharp, monkey-like face and clearly wasn’t a good person. When he saw Lin Fan, his legs went weak, and he was scared unsteady on his feet.
“M-Master Lin.”
Nowadays, if you ask those local ruffians who they fear most, in the past they would definitely pat their chests and swear they feared no one but the boss.
But now, they feared Lin Fan the most.
Because he really went for the kill.
Yang Ming said: “Bro, this guy is one of Huang Wei’s men, specializes in human trafficking. That little girl just now is the daughter of the scapegoat. After he took the blame, he handed his daughter to his brother and sister-in-law, but they contacted this guy to prepare to sell her off.”
Damn it!
Hearing this, Lin Fan couldn’t help wanting to go in and beat the two of them up.
But he held back, waved his hand, and told him to scram.
The man acted like he was reborn, scrambling away out of sight, afraid that staying one more moment would get him inexplicably dragged to the Public Security Bureau. He’d heard it was horrific there; passersby near the prison often heard the screams from inside.
Watching the man’s departing back, Lin Fan thought of Huang Wei, who he had beaten up in the Loyalty Hall. For now, he’d put him on the back burner, deal with Yuan Jiang first, and then get to Huang Wei when he had free hands.
The two arrived outside the courtyard of that house. The courtyard wall was low, and the so-called door was just a few broken wooden boards pieced together. Before even pushing it open, they heard a woman’s shrill, acerbic cursing from inside.
“You money-losing thing, just like your dad. He mixed with the gang and in the end only got twenty taels as settlement fee. Other girls can sell for ten taels of silver, how are you only worth five taels?”
“Eat? You still want to eat? Kneel over there for your old lady.”
“Spineless wretch.”
Bang!
Lin Fan kicked open the door. The woman who had been cursing inside abruptly stopped. Just as she was about to yell who the hell kicked her door, her face suddenly changed drastically, and she fawned forward, “You two constables, I don’t know…”
“Constable my ass.” Lin Fan wasn’t in the mood to hear her nonsense and slapped her hard across the face.
The woman let out an “ouch” of a miserable scream, spun in place from the slap, staggered, and fell to the ground. Clutching her face, she looked at Lin Fan in terror, not daring to say another word.
At the dining table, a man held a bowl, mouth agape, staring dazedly and astonished at the scene, not daring to breathe.
In the corner, the little girl knelt facing the wall, her thin body trembling.
“Yang Ming, take this child back tonight and bring her to the Public Security Bureau tomorrow.”
After Lin Fan finished speaking, he turned to leave, but unexpectedly the woman hugged his leg. “Constables, what are you doing? I’m her real aunt. You can’t just take the child away like this.”
When the constables arrived here, she had already felt the situation was off.
If the constables really took the child away, where would she earn the five taels of silver she had negotiated? While saying this, she glanced at her bowl-holding husband: deadbeat, even now, say something.
As if noticing his wife’s pleading look, the man set down his bowl, rubbed his hands, hunched his waist, and cautiously stepped forward. “Constable, this…”
Slap—!
“Constable my ass.”
Lin Fan gave him no chance to speak, raising his hand for a slap, kicking the woman away in one smooth motion, then turning and walking outside.
Yang Ming hugged the little girl and followed.
Inside the house, the couple stared dumbfounded, eyes wide, completely clueless about what had happened. This constable didn’t give them any chance to speak at all.
When he returned to the Public Security Bureau, before he could even settle down, he learned that the Prefect had sent someone to find him, wanting him to come over. Lin Fan frowned slightly: hadn’t they already settled it?
Why come troubling him now.
He thought this, but still headed to the Li Mansion.
……
Li Mansion, courtyard.
The Prefect looked at Lin Fan, who was quietly sipping tea yet turning Yong’an upside down, cleared his throat, and tried to make his voice sound steady and authoritative.
“You messing with the Loyalty Hall and the Fierce Tiger Gang, even Chen Xingzhi, this official has your back. But why the hell did you go after the Hu Family for no reason? Master Hu came specifically to find this official, putting me in a tough spot.”
“When you handle cases, you need to consider the impact. The Hu Family has been rooted in Yong’an for three generations with high prestige. Moving against them has a huge impact and could easily affect Yong’an’s stability.”
The Prefect had taken money, and Master Hu was very generous, sending gold bars that he liked a lot. He had indeed shelled out big.
He knew Lin Fan was a restless guy.
The moment he took the money, his heart wavered: pull Lin Fan down completely and kick him out of the Public Security Bureau.
Lin Fan set down his teacup and didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he tilted his head back and looked at the last gorgeous streak of sunset on the horizon.
“What time is it now?”
“About you hour.”
The Prefect didn’t understand why Lin Fan asked about the time.
“You hour already? I’m very precise with timekeeping. At this time, I need to do martial arts practice. This courtyard here is pretty good. Prefect Sir, you sip some tea first. Any matters, wait until I’m done practicing.”
Lin Fan stood up, set aside the knife at his waist, took off the iron rod on his back. Once he gripped the iron rod, he casually twirled a rod flower, then smashed it fiercely into the ground.
Boom!
A muffled thunderous roar exploded.
The blue bricks on the ground instantly cracked in a spiderweb pattern around the rod tip, shattering in all directions, with debris flying and a clear pit appearing.
The Prefect was startled by the sudden noise, his whole body jolting, nearly dropping the teacup in his hand.
He stared dazedly at the cracked, sunken pit, involuntarily swallowing. He didn’t understand martial arts practice, but he knew one thing: if that smash’s force had landed on him, it would be horrific.
Lin Fan took a deep breath and said to himself: “This rod is made by Big Ox the blacksmith, weighs sixty jin, forged from fine iron, hard for ordinary people to wield. Today, Prefect Sir is in for a treat. Care to… comment?”
The words just fell.
He swung the rod up, whistling continuously, as if tearing the air apart. Rod shadows churned, imprinted in the Prefect’s eyes, indistinguishable.
“Force Splits Mountains and Rivers.”
Lin Fan leaped into the air like an eagle spreading wings, swinging the rod down. With a bang, the ground cracked, debris flew, and the muffled explosion made the Prefect’s heart pound.
“Sweep Through the Army.”
Lin Fan roared, voice like startling thunder, gripping the rod single-handed, waist and horse united, sweeping toward the hundreds-of-jin rockery in the courtyard.
In an instant.
The rockery couldn’t withstand it, like tofu smashed, instantly shattering into pieces. Countless large and small stone fragments exploded outward, rolling everywhere on the ground, dust rising to the sky.
The Prefect was completely dumbfounded.
Mouth slightly open, staring in shock.
This scene was even more terrifying than the initial pillar-sweeping impact.
His hand holding the teacup trembled uncontrollably, oblivious to the fragrant tea spilling out.
He didn’t know how long passed.
The commotion faded.
The courtyard was a mess of craters and depressions, too many to count.
Lin Fan stood with rod retracted, slowly exhaling turbid air. From the intense exercise, white vapor seemed to surge from his body.
He re-slung the iron rod on his back, dusted off his hands, looked at the pale-faced, dazed Prefect, and said flatly:
“Prefect Sir, care to comment? As for the impact you mentioned, mm… indeed need to pay attention to impact.”
The Prefect hadn’t snapped back, eyes wide.
This was human?
This crap could really be done by a human?
Monster, this was a monster.
