Chapter 153: Fighting Violence with Violence in the Human Trafficking Village (4)

Chapter 153: Fighting Violence with Violence in the Human Trafficking Village (4)

The system was woken halfway through its sleep by the AI.

"How's the mission going?"

"Pretty good, I guess."

"Keding is our top performer," the AI said earnestly, "If things get too dangerous, you need to convince him to back off and leave if necessary."

The system blinked: "Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden? It's kind of scary."

AI: "This was the top 2 case from last year. Several people were scared enough to choose memory erasure, and one almost quit."

"I don't think there's a big problem," the system said, "He's already planning to steal all the village's quilts for a good new year."

AI: "...?

"I thought the mission was to strike against the Human Trafficking Village."

"Yes."

"The victim's wish was for all the criminals to be brought to justice."

"Yes."

"And then he's going to steal other people's quilts?"

"Based on my experience," the system said, "The nighttime temperature in this mountain village is around minus ten degrees. You really can't do without quilts."

The AI was a bit frantic: "How did he end up on the path of crime?!?"

The system: "Oh, the quilts were snatched by the magpies to line their nests—it's not Ke Bao's fault."

AI: "You guys, watch out!"

During the day, the system split itself into two parts, one part slept soundly while the other monitored the overall situation.

At night, Keding, well-rested and ready to go out for a feast, the system promptly conveyed the AI's care.

"It says you have over 2,750 supporting character breaking point values in your account, remember to use them."

"It also said... our company has paid annual leave, if you're feeling overwhelmed, take some time to recharge, we're not in a hurry to complete the mission."

Keding looked a bit confused.

"This mission isn't that hard."

The system: "Cut the humblebrag!"

"Although, the breaking points are enough for two rounds of draws, right?"

The system: "Thirty-five percent came from Tang Dad from the last world who tried to understand accounting qualifications."

"This dad is really bad at studying. He was half-crazy reading books at night, you did a great job!"

Keding didn't hesitate: "Let's draw eleven times first and see what we get before heading out!"

As a red velvet gift box floated into the air, accompanied by a clear bell sound, Keding reached out and poked it: "Come out, my double yolk!"

Two streaks of purple light emerged, followed by several blue and white lights leaping into the air.

"Congratulations, you have obtained——"

SR·Single-use Item: "What Are You Barking At?"

SR·Lifetime Item: "Huaqiang North Yiyang Finger"

R·Lifetime Item: "Customized Powerful Spray Paint - Poverty Alleviation Project for Laid-off Reemployed Artists"

R·Cursed Poop Blocker Coupon (Weekly) x4

N·Sleepless Nights Coupon (Weekly) x4

Keding paused for a few seconds.

"This time, you got two SRs! Not bad at all!" the System said. "Although there's a poverty alleviation project that snuck in, you've gained a lot!"

"Why is not being able to pass stool an R, while insomnia is an N?" Keding mused. "Is this ranking really reasonable?"

The System sighed. "Why do you always get distracted by these details?!")

Without further delay, under the cover of darkness, Keding headed out with chopsticks in hand.

The System followed closely and whispered, "The AI asked me what you were up to, and I told them you’re planning to dig around and take what you need."

"And then..."

A flash of light blinded him, and when he blinked it away, he saw dozens of translucent spirits hovering around.

"Don't be afraid," the System whispered. "The AI has temporarily granted you permission to see which families have the deepest blood debts."

The young man's previously light steps came to a halt.

He had circled around to the side of Wei Haoyu’s house and immediately spotted the grieving woman.

Huang Xuerui had been gone for less than a year.

Her face was still serene, but the stains from the pesticide she drank and the bruises from the beatings she endured were still visible on her body.

"I'm sorry, I need to borrow your brother's body for a moment," Keding gently bowed to her. "This family will go to hell within three months. I guarantee you."

Huang Xuerui looked at him quietly for a long time before nodding.

The System also bowed, unable to help but sigh softly, then led Keding further ahead.

As he moved forward, the number of ghostly figures grew, each one more tormented than the last.

Some were on the verge of fading away, while others, who had died more recently, wore faces twisted with hatred.

"The family over there drowned two baby girls."

"This household bought a child bride. The girl had reported to the police herself, but it was useless."

"This family has no spirits of the dead, but the son was stolen from a neighboring village. Afterward, they insisted the child was their own, driving the birth mother to depression and early death."

"And..."

Keding walked along, listening to her recount the village's horrifying stories, and asked, "Is this something you'd only find in novels, or does it really happen like this in remote mountainous areas?"

"The frequency of kidnappings might not always be this high," the system said, "but it's common for people to live worse than animals when resources are extremely scarce."

Keding steadied himself and started from Wei Haoyu's house, systematically covering the area.

Tonight's theme: let the winter wind howl even stronger.

Once he made up his mind, he moved quickly, ensuring a thorough operation so that everyone would have a bone-chilling New Year.

The system cooperated fully, releasing sleep gas and using an X-ray device to mark the specific locations of stored quilts in each household.

"You've deducted 500 breaking point points," the system said, "and before 5 AM, no one in the village will wake up even if they're struck by lightning."

Stray dogs and wild boars came in droves to collect their winter quilts, all of which were personally distributed by Master Keding.

Birds of prey headed straight for the kitchen, drilling through a large hole in the bedroom and into the living room, snatching whatever they could, even carrying away several gold rings.

The system found it quite curious, "How come even in these supposedly poor households, some people still have gold jewelry hidden away?"

"I guess some are just pretending to be poor to deceive government relief," Keding said while directing the wild boars to drag away large batches of quilts, "Think about it, if they had no money, where did they get the funds to buy sons and women?"

"Hiss, are they also scamming welfare?"

"They scam quite a lot of poverty relief subsidies," the system said, "When some inspectors report issues, they resort to making a scene—crying, making threats, and even pretending to hang themselves. The officials, afraid of trouble, end up tolerating it."

From 3:10 AM to 4:45 AM, Keding moved swiftly, dismantling the bedrooms of fifteen nearby households and the entire windows on the opposite side.

Since most families had thick and abundant quilts and bedding, the mountain animals used up most of them to line their dens, and the rest were tossed into Wei Haoyu's yard like a delivery.

"In old Beijing, we love that through-draft!" the system said with an emotional voiceover, "You know what’s really authentic? That bone-chilling wind!"

"That should do it," Keding said, blowing on his frozen hands, "I'll hide in the storage room first. Help me cover up the traces with bricks, and then we'll release the sleep control on three, two, one."

"No problem!" the system agreed cheerfully.

In the silent night, the free and unrestricted cold wind flowed through the wall openings of each household.

It brushed against red, freezing cheeks and passed through people wearing only thermal underwear without quilts, mingling with the chorus of snores and sniffles.

In a dark corner, two voices whispered the countdown.

"Three."

"Two."

"One."

The next second, a chorus of startled curses erupted like a spring thunderstorm.

A man cursed so loudly he was nearly hoarse, his voice rising in a high-pitched scream, but the cold made his voice tremble more with each word, sounding like a duck quacking.

More people were frantically searching for their missing quilts, not even bothering about the freezing wind blowing through the broken walls.

"Where are the quilts?"

"Honey, grab a coat so we can wrap up!"

"Don’t sleep! Light the stove and the fire pit—everything’s gone! All the quilts, coats, and jackets are gone!"

"Are they out of their minds? First, they stole the New Year goods, then the coats! Wait, what's happening with the walls? Our walls are gone, gone!!"

The commotion was so loud that the four members of Wei Haoyu's family were woken up in the middle of the night, wide awake, listening to the shouting outside.

They were all neighbors, and the mountains were quiet, so the curses echoed for a while.

"The blankets? Several households had all their blankets and coats stolen? How are they supposed to spend the night?"

"How is that possible? They demolished the walls in the middle of the night, and no one noticed? Peng Ge's family even arranged for someone to stand guard!"

"Quick, check if anything's missing or if we've got extra stuff!"

Before Wei Haoyu's family could even light the lanterns in the front and back yards, people from nearby houses were already searching with torches, looking for the thieves.

"Open the door!"

"Everyone, open up! We're catching the burglars!"

"Who the hell is it, again, tearing down walls, stealing meat and blankets? Do they want to ascend to heaven so badly they can't wait to die?!"

"If I—achoo!—find out who—achoo!—it is, I'll beat them to death! Beat them to death tonight!"

The entire village was in complete pandemonium, with old grudges and new grievances exploding over the past two days.

More than a dozen households were sleeping soundly, and when they woke up, their bedrooms had turned into mountain views. Branches from outside were poking right into the beds, and the cold wind, with ice shards, scraped against their faces!

No blankets! No coats! Even the wardrobes and cabinets were stolen clean—

Is this even living? Can we even have a decent New Year now?!

Catch the thief! They couldn't take it anymore. The thief must be caught tonight, and once caught, both legs would be broken!

"Everyone, search each other's yards and cellars! Search every household! The thief can't be far!"

"With so many blankets, where could he hide? Search quickly while they're still nearby—"

The constant shouting and cursing made Grandma Wei cry.

"How did we end up with all this extra stuff?"

Wei Jiehua said suspiciously, "With all this weirdness, could it be that outsider, the bastard from the Huang family, who did this?"

"Him?" Wei Haoyu glanced at the air vent, seeing Huang Yuxin had not eaten for two days and was lying listlessly, then scoffed, "If he had the skills, why would he still be stuck here? What are you thinking?"

With the piles of quilts and coats in the yard, it was only a matter of time before they were caught. Grandma Huang said anxiously, "Pretending to be sick won't work this time. They're going to search our house soon, what do we do?!"

Wei Haoyu clenched his heart, regretful but seeing no other way. "Hide them in the pigsty! Even if they had the nerve, they wouldn't dare look in there!"

Wei Jiehua opened the back door for a moment and listened, then said, "Brother, the walls of their houses have been hollowed out. What about ours?"

Wei Haoyu snarled, "It's just demolishing walls! Let's demolish ours too! The kitchen and bedrooms as well!"