It was twelve forty-five when Yueyue woke up Xiaoyun.
Yezi was already waiting in his truck, with his rifle in the passenger seat, when the two of them left the house.
"I know you have a pistol, but you are going to need something to intimidate them. Those gang members are just bullies who can only abuse the weak."
Xiaoyun didn't try to argue back. He accepted the rifle and got into the back of Yezi's pick-up truck.
"I thought we were sneaking in. Wouldn't this thing be too big to walk around with?" Yueyue raised her concerns.
"Just put it on your back. You know how to do that, right?"
Xiaoyun nodded in agreement, using the strap attached to the gun like a seatbelt, except it was placed backward.
---
As the pick-up truck arrived near the mansion at 308, Xiaoyun and Yueyue quickly jumped out of the car.
"Here's my phone number. Call me when you guys are finished, or just fire a few shots if something is wrong."
After copying it, Yezi drove off into the distance as the two of them resumed their journey towards 309.
Another few minutes of walking later, they were able to see Mansion 309 in front of them.
Nobody was standing outside patrolling just as they had planned. With the lights illuminating inside the house, it was clear the gang members hadn't changed their habit.
"Let's go to that side."
Yueyue nodded as the two walked off the road, heading towards the edge of the forest in the dark until they arrived at the mansion's backyard.
"What do we do now?"
A fence filled with barbed wire at the top was right before them, preventing them from even thinking of climbing past it.
"Shit... Let me think."
After standing there for a whole minute thinking of ways to get around the barbed wire, Xiaoyun finally came up with an idea.
Out of nowhere, a giant wooden crate appeared straight out of thin air, resting right next to the metal fence.
With another crate stacked over the original crate, a third crate appeared to the right next to the two stacked crates.
"There we go. That was easy... Hey, what are you waiting for?"
"Sorry."
Yueyue quickly followed Xiaoyun's footsteps, getting on top of the crates before jumping over to the other side.
Landing on her feet, the two quietly walked down the dirt path, all the way to the back entrance of the mansion.
Now, only a door stood in their way.
"It's locked," Xiaoyun commented, unable to turn the door knob after a small little turn.
"How about we go up to the second-floor balcony?" Yueyue suggested, noticing the balcony door was open.
"Good idea. Let me create more boxes——"
"No need. Let's just try to stand on top of each other. You bow down here, and I'll try to jump to the balcony."
Xiaoyun knelt back slightly, positioning his back against the wall and his hand down to his knee as Yueyue climbed onto his back.
With just a small jump, her hand was just able to reach the balcony fence. She slowly pulled herself over after noticing no one was inside.
"Xiaoyun, throw me a rope," Yueyue whispered after realizing the rope she had wasn't long enough to reach him.
"Here."
After receiving the rope that Xiaoyun had just created, Yueyue quickly tied it to the metal bar and gave him the signal.
"Okay, now we're in... Let me go first, you watch my back."
Xiaoyun quickly drew out his rifle, with Yueyue standing right behind with her pistol safety off as they began walking past the balcony door.
Nobody was inside the room, just like what she had seen earlier. However, there were clothes on the floor and a weird smell in the air.
The two blushed as they noticed the smell was coming from a white stain on the bed.
Combined with the wet mark and traces of blood surrounding it, the two immediately realized what had happened on the bed.
"Let's go to the next room," Yueyue murmured, not wanting to stay in this room any longer.
"Yeah..."
As Xiaoyun slowly opened the door, he slowly peeked through the gap to check the outside.
Before him was a long, empty hallway, with no one in sight whatsoever.
They could even hear a small echo as they stepped into the hallway and closed the door behind them.
"The boss isn't in the second room that we just entered. He is in the fifth room." Yueyue whispered, remembering the map Yezi and Mingpeng had made earlier.
As the two of them began heading down the hallway, they soon arrived near the door to the boss's room.
"Should we knock?" Xiaoyun quietly asked.
"Let knock, but stay silent. He won't expect it and open the door thinking we're his gang members." Yueyue suggested.
Xiaoyun decided to go along with the plan and gently knocked on the door, waiting for the person inside to respond.
"Who the hell is waking me up so late——"
As soon as the door was opened, the two of them instantly pointed their gun at the man's face.
"Don't move! My gun will fire if you don't listen. Do as I say." Xiaoyun warned, putting his finger on the trigger.
"Who the hell are you? How did you get into my base?"
The middle-aged man questioned, wearing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt as he stood before the two of them.
"Shut up the fuck up. Answer my question if you don't want a bullet in the head. Are you the boss of this base?"
Xiaoyun deepened his voice as he moved his finger even closer to the trigger, getting ready to pull the trigger at a moment's notice.
"Y-Yes, I am. What do you two want?"
The boss started to look a little nervous, his voice began to stutter as if he had finally realized the powerless situation he was in.
"Get on the ground and put your hand on the back. I won't repeat it."
Seeing the boss hesitating for a second, Xiaoyun kicked him in the shin, forcing the boss to kneel on the floor.
With a single eye signal, Yueyue quickly pulled out a piece of rope from her backpack, tying the boss's hands and legs together.
Next, she grabbed a nearby piece of cloth, blocking his mouth completely as only a muffled sound came out.
Lastly, they both drag the boss back inside the room, closing the door behind him as they have now secured the main threat.
"Okay, now the boss is down... What is this room?"
As the two of them wondered about their surroundings, they quickly noticed a little bit of blood trailing around the corner.
"This——"
Yueyue immediately leaned onto the wall and began vomiting. Her eyes were unable to believe what was before her eyes.
Even Xiaoyun was on the verge of throwing up. The atrocity in front of them was beyond their understanding.
It was four women tied to a pole naked, with a piece of cloth covering their eyes.
Their legs were spread wide open, with markings on their legs seemingly showing how many times they had been defiled.
A bunch of white liquid was still flowing out of their private part, which had been torn and abused beyond normality.
Hundreds of whip marks could be seen all over their body. Not to mention, their body were so skinny that their bones could be seen.
What was even more disgusting was the hundreds of tools next to the four women, with each single one of them with a blood stain.
"What the fuck... Why would anyone do this?"
Moving closer to check if they were alive, one of the woman seemed to have noticed him as their body began to shiver.
"Please don't kill me. I-I still can use my body." One of the women on the left yelled out.
"Just kill me already. I want to die!" The woman on the right suddenly began to yell out.
The other two in the middle seem to be broken, as not a single word came out. Their faces looked soulless.
"I am here to save you... Sorry, I didn't come sooner."
As Xiaoyun slowly removed their blindfold, their body continued to shiver. Their face was still full of fear as he tried to convince them that he didn't mean any harm.
Only when Yueyue finally recovered and started helping did the four women calm down, realizing the two people before them were there to help them.
"Thank you so much... I-I never expected someone would save me from this."
As the middle-aged woman bows down in gratitude, the two quickly rush to support her from falling.
"Can you put a bullet in my head? Please, I have nothing to live for."
One of the younger women who asked to die earlier repeated the same line as her eyes looked completely dead toward Xiaoyun and Yueyue.
"I'm afraid I can't do that."
As soon as Xiaoyun rejected his offer, the younger woman turned her attention to Yueyue. But to everyone's surprise, Yueyue gave her an alternative offer.
An offer that injected life into her soulless eyes.
"Don't you all want to get revenge for what they had done? Don't you want to kill these scumbags yourself?"
The young woman hesitated for a second, but slowly, she sat back up from the floor as if she had found a new goal in life.
"You're right. I-I want revenge. I can't die here."
Seeing the change in the young woman, Yueyue quickly pointed toward the boss, who had been trying to hide himself with his head facing the wall.
"Here, you all can beat that trash as much as you want."
The middle-aged woman and the young woman immediately rushed over to the tied-up man, beating him with their bare hands.
Even as their arms looked powerless, Xiaoyun and Yueyue could feel the fury inside them. Every punch was causing a bruise on the man's face.
Suddenly, one of the women who had been silent the whole time rushed over to the side, grabbing a rebar before rushing over to the tied-up man.
Before anyone could react, the boss's skull was pierced straight through on repeat til his brain parts were shattered all over the floor.
Everyone could see blood and brain matter all over her face, stunning even the two women whose fists were still in the air.
With a clunk sound, the rebar was dropped onto the floor. She fell back down onto the floor as if she had used up all her energy.
"Thank you."
As soon as the third woman finished speaking, the other two women quickly rushed over to get the rebar themselves and smashed the skull several times.
After letting out all of their frustration, they both bowed down in gratitude before letting go of the rebar as well.
"Thank you so much."
"No problem... But our job isn't done yet. There are still more gang members outside to clean up. Can you guys stay inside here for now?"
With the three women quickly nodding in agreement, Xiaoyun was getting ready to leave. But Yueyue suddenly noticed something.
"Um, is she okay?" Yueyue raised her concern, noticing the fourth woman sitting in silence the whole time.
"Let me talk to her. She's my little sister... She's a little traumatized since she's only..."
As the third woman approached her younger sister, Xiaoyun and Yueyue immediately realized it wasn't a woman.
Rather, it was a young girl who looked even younger than Nami.
"Fuck. All of them are guilty. I don't even need to make sure they are all innocent... Fucking trash bastard."
Xiaoyun readies his rifle as he gets ready to clean up everyone in the house. His face is full of rage, unable to hold in his disgust for humanity for the first time.
"Wait! Xiaoyun, there are still civilians who aren't a part of this. We need to be careful. What if they hold them hostage?"
After hearing Yueyue's warning, Xiaoyun's mind quickly cooled down as they both stood by in the hallway.
"You're right... I need to make sure no more innocents are hurt."
As Xiaoyun reached for the door handle, one of the women suddenly ran up to Yueyue before whispering something into her ears.
"Ahem, Xiaoyun, can you give them some clothes?"
"Sure. I can do that."
Xiaoyun put his hand inside his backpack, appearing to take some cloth out and handing it over to Yueyue.
"Yueyue, can you stay with these four? I'll go clean up the rest myself... They need you here. You need to make sure they don't do anything... stupid."
Xiaoyun warmly asked with a smile, but the tone of his words sounded the polar opposite as his eyes looked bloodshot.
"Fine... But stay safe out there, okay?"
---
As Xiaoyun headed out into the hallway, he kicked one of the doors down before anyone inside could react.
Two people were inside the room, lying on different beds. They instantly got up as the noise was way too loud to ignore.
"Who the hell are you?" One of them angrily asked, with the other one silently reaching for a knife on the table.
Xiaoyun didn't give them a chance to explain themselves and opened fire. Shooting them right on the head as he headed over to the hallway again.
"Next one... Not a single one of them is innocent... I can do this."
As he murmured to himself, he continued walking down until one of the doors suddenly opened before he could do anything.
Right before him were all six gang members, standing in the hallway right before Xiaoyun with knives, pipes, and even pistols.
"Put your hand up before we shoot you. Who the hell are you?" The group asked as they all pointed their weapon at him.
"Shoot me if you can." Xiaoyun coldly replied, aiming his rifle right back at the four of them.
"You motherfucker, you think your fake gun can scare us?"
Despite having a gun of their own, they all still rushed towards him with their pocket knife and water pipes.
With a loud firing sound, all six of them dropped dead on the floor. The carpet quickly began to turn red as their blood began to leak out of their bodies.
"Okay, that eight of them... where are the other two trash?"
Xiaoyun thought to himself as he kicked the last room door open, only to find two of them holding a knife to two people.
"Drop your gun, or we're going to kill them." One of the gang members threatened, with the other one holding a civilian hostage.
"Shit."
"Drop your gun now! Do you want innocent people to die, big hero?" The other gang member threatens.
"Do I look stupid or what? I'm not going to drop my gun." Xiaoyun yelled back.
"Aren't you the police? You have to serve and protect the people." The first gang member yelled back.
Xiaoyun hesitated for a second, noticing one of the gang members starting to press the knife into one of the hostages' necks.
"Do I look like the police? When did our country's police have an M16?"
Both gang members looked a little surprised as they noticed the weapon in his hand, but they quickly moved past it.
"I don't care. Drop your gun now before I kill these two in front of you. I'm not joking anymore."
The gang member on the left demanded as he pushed his knife even closer to the hostage, leaving a slight blood mark through the skin this time.
"Okay, okay. If you move your knife away from them, I'll drop my gun."
Xiaoyun slowly lowered his gun to the floor as the gang members began to move their knives away from the hostages.
"Kick the gun to us." The gang member on the right demanded.
"That's never going to happen. How about I kick it to the left here? Now, neither of us can get it."
Just as the gang members on the left tried to make a run for the rifle, the one on the right quickly held the other gang member back.
"We can see your pistol in your pocket! Drop that shit as well! Don't try to be smart!" The gang member on the right yelled.
"Fine, fine, I will drop it."
As Xiaoyun throws the pistol under the bed, the gang member on the left finally rushes for the rifle.
Within seconds, he could notice the gang member on the right lowering his guard as soon as the rifle was in the other gang member's hand.
"Bang! Bang!"
With two two-bullet sounds, both of the gang members dropped dead in disbelief as a bullet mark appeared right on their foreheads.
"Whew, that was a little harder than I expected..."
Xiaoyun murmured as he put away the brand-new pistol that he had made on the spot, shaking his head a little, trying to lessen the headache.
After kicking the two bodies to the side, he quickly strapped his rifle back on and picked up the other pistol.
Next, he began walking closer to the hostages and then began untieing them one by one, releasing them from the ground.
"I'm sure you guys heard the gunshot. I'm here to save you. Don't worry." Xiaoyun reassured the two hostages as he removed their blindfolds.
"Thank you so much!"
Both men bowed down in gratitude as they followed Xiaoyun out of the room, heading straight into the hallway.
---
When the three of them arrived back in the boss's room, all four women were fully dressed and standing in the corner.
"Is everything taken care of?" Yueyue asked.
"Yeah... All of them are dead now. There's no threat inside this house anymore." Xiaoyun replied.
The three women, along with the girl, immediately bowed down in gratitude. The older woman even knelt with her forehead on the ground.
"Thank you so much! My life is yours, Mister."
"No need. This is too much. Anyone would have done the same if they saw this before their eyes."
As Xiaoyun and Yueyue both helped her stand back up, one of the men held hostage from earlier suddenly ran over to them.
"Baiqun, is that you?" One of the men asked as he walked closer and closer to the middle-aged woman.
"Lingang! I thought you had died!"
The middle-aged woman and the man warmly embraced each other as tears of joy fell from their eyes.
"Oh, right, is anyone here Mingpeng's mother?" Yueyue asked as he suddenly remembered.
"I am. Is my son okay?" The young woman asked.
"Yeah, he's at his uncle's Yezi's house right now. We found him at 304 with one of the gang members trying to... eat him. But luckily, we saved him just in time."
As soon as Yueyue finished replying, the woman fell onto the floor and kowtowed in gratitude.
"Thank you so much. I can't thank you enough for what you have done for me. I owed my life to you."
"No problem, just helping people in need," Yueyue answered as they quickly rushed to support her backup from the floor.
As the mood in the room began to lighten, Xiaoyun noticed the two sisters in the corner who hadn't spoken much.
"Is she better now?" Xiaoyun curiously asked.
"Yeah, she's feeling better now. Come on, say thank you to our savior."
The older sister pushed the little girl up, who still looked a little afraid as her body kept shaking from nervousness.
"T-Thank you, sir." The little girl finally spoke out.
"No problem."
As Xiaoyun walked back to the side, a new problem arose, as now there were six people in front of him that he had no idea what to do with.
"Now all of them are dead. You guys are free to go now."
Seeing all six of them standing there in silence, Xiaoyun awkwardly scratched his head as he didn't really want to deal with the responsibility.
The burden of six people was way more than he was willing to handle, considering he could barely support his own family.
"Can we stay at your place? We don't have any food, but we can do any work," Lingang pleaded.
With the other five looking towards him with the same look on their faces, the room fell into silence as Xiaoyun refused to give an answer.
They all wanted a promise from him. A promise that carried heavy weight.
Something that he can't give away so easily, as images of Songming's experiences appeared inside his mind.
His mind was calculating the values, evaluating whether he could put them into some sort of work that could give tangible gains for his family.
"Sure, we can let——" Before Yueyue finished talking, Xiaoyun immediately interrupted her.
"Yueyue, you are not making that promise... Sorry, we can't fit you all at our place."
The disappointment on their faces quickly sent Xiaoyun scrambling. Deep inside, his heart didn't want to leave them just to die after saving them.
But the cost of maintaining six people was way too much at once. The amount of food and even the security concerns were beyond his limit.
"How about this: Let me call Yezi for a second. He can probably help you guys resettle here."
After pulling his phone and dialing Yezi's number, he quickly walked out of the room with Yueyue following right behind.
"Hey, Yezi, you there?"
"Yes, you guys are all cleared?"
"Yeah, it's all cleared now... We got, um, six people here, and I don't know what to do with them.
Can you drive up here for a second? I think you're a better fit to manage people than I am."
"Okay, I'm going."
As the phone call ended, Xiaoyun headed back inside the room with Yueyue as they looked at each other with a warm smile.
"Okay, now let's just wait a few minutes... You guys must be hungry. Here, have some snacks."
Xiaoyun started looking through his backpack, pretending to be taking out bars of chocolate when in reality, he was just creating them on the spot.
"Thank you!"
All six of them bowed down in gratitude again as Yueyue began handing the chocolate bar over to them one by one.
With every bar of chocolate disappearing bit by bit, it was clear they were trying to ration it as if they were scared it was their last meal.
Only the little girl instantly ravished the chocolate bar. A big smile appeared on her face as Yueyue handed her another one.
---
After a few minutes, the doorbell finally rang. All six of them followed Xiaoyun and Yueyue downstairs to the door.
"Hey, Yezi, here's your rifle back. You need it this more than me."
Yezi didn't try to refuse it this time after noticing him glance at his bandaged leg, which still hasn't fully healed yet.
"Thanks for saving my sister... Ahem, what's the problem you mentioned over the phone earlier?" Yezi curiously asked.
"I had no clue what to do with them. I can't just leave them to starve here, but I can't fit that many people back home."
"Why not just let them stay here and clean up the house? It's just some blood and bodies that need to be cleaned up..."
"Yeah... Can you stay behind and take care of them then?" Xiaoyun asked as he yawned out loud.
"Sure, I can do that. I need more hands to carry food from those grocery stores I found anyway."
Just as the two of them turned around and got ready to leave, Xiaoyun turned around, looking over to Yezi with a blank face.
"Just one more thing... can you promise that you will treat them kindly? I don't want to have a gang base next to my home."
"What? I am a reformed man, okay? What you are thinking of won't happen again. I can promise you that."
Hearing Yezi's reassurance, Xiaoyun looked towards the six people he had rescued one last time.
"Well then. Yezi here is going to help you all take care of your needs. But he is going to need your cooperation.
I'll probably be visiting here in a few days, just as a checkup in case you all need some help. Goodbye, everyone!"
"Thank you!"