Chapter 49: Speak of the Devil

Hearing the hill-guard's warning, Lin Yu's brow furrowed instantly, a surge of anxiety welling up in his heart.

Yet, the thought of his family waiting for money—that entire household relying on today's fish sales to scrape by—made him grit his teeth. He resolved that the fish had to be taken to the city to be sold no matter what; the heavy burden of life weighed too squarely upon his shoulders to allow for any retreat.

He chuckled and said, "Uncle, thank you for the warning. I'll be careful. Well, I'll drop off some more goods for you when I return. My mother was worried you wouldn't know how to prepare those seafood items, so she said she would cure and pickle some more to bring you next time."

Upon hearing this, Yang Youjiang burst into laughter. "Thank your mother for me. Remember, stay safe out there!"

"I will! I'm off!"

Lin Yu waved, hopped onto the donkey cart, and urged the old donkey forward once more, setting out on the road to the city.

The donkey cart jolted along, producing its familiar creaking sound. Re-entering the main road, Lin Yu heightened his vigilance. After all, the road was indeed quite deserted, and in these remote wildernesses, who could tell if a pair of scoundrels might suddenly leap out?

Noticing Lin Yu's guarded expression, the passenger sharing the cart chuckled and asked, "Little Yu, what was that uncle telling you just now? Ever since we left his place, you've been all high-strung."

Lin Yu replied, "The uncle said a group of people had slipped into the nearby mountains. Nobody knows if they're poachers or fugitive criminals, so he told me to be careful."

"How would he know?"

"He's the local hill-guard; how could he not know what's happening in the mountains?" Lin Yu sighed softly and continued, "I just hope they aren't escaped convicts, or how will I sell my fish?"

Hearing this, the man smiled. "Then just stay put for a couple of days. Once this bunch is rounded up, it won't be too late to make the trip."

Lin Yu sighed lightly again, answering, "Easier said than done. It would be fine if I didn't go to the city to sell them, but the price won't be as good. I'm just doing this for a living—I have no choice. If I don't go sell the fish, the whole family will go hungry."

The man nodded repeatedly and said, "That's true, life isn't easy. Still, this is indeed far too dangerous, you'd better keep your wits about you..."

The two of them chatted casually all the way as the donkey cart meandered along the winding path.

As they walked, they reached a desolate stretch ahead. The surroundings were choked with dense, waist-high weeds that rustled in the gentle breeze, accompanied by scattered, crooked trees whose sprawling branches exuded a desolate and eerie aura.

Upon arriving here, for some unknown reason, a dark foreboding crept into Lin Yu's heart. He drew his fish spear a little closer, which brought him a small measure of comfort.

Right at that moment, two figures suddenly bolted out from the tall grass with blinding speed, blocking the path of the donkey cart in the blink of an eye, giving both Lin Yu and the passenger a tremendous fright.

Lin Yu hurriedly pulled tight on the reins, bringing the old donkey to a halt, and when he looked closely, his heart leapt straight into his throat.

Fear always materializes precisely when it is anticipated.

The two men were clad in filthy garments with unkempt hair. Their faces were coarse and fierce, their eyes flashing with malicious intent, and each brandished a gleaming blade that cast a dazzling, chilling glare in the sunlight. The knives swung back and forth in their hands as if in blatant intimidation.

One of the men, bearing a prominent scar across his face, grinned to reveal a mouthful of jagged, yellow-stained teeth—a sight chilling enough to make anyone's heart quail.

Stretching his neck, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "I planted this tree, I built this road! If you wish to pass through, leave your toll money behind!"

His voice echoed through the silent wilderness with an overbearing and arrogant edge, startling a few small birds in the roadside brush into taking flight with a frantic flurry of wings up into the sky.

As he shouted, he slashed the gleaming blade through the air, the edge flashing with an icy coldness under the sun, each sweep generating a rushing wind clearly intended to terrify Lin Yu.

The tall, thin man beside him chimed in, yelling, "Hurry up, don't drag your feet, or you'll taste the bite of our blades!"

His eyes burned with greed, sweeping back and forth over Lin Yu's donkey cart.

Lin Yu's heart skipped a beat as beads of fine sweat instantly formed on his forehead, his palms slick with moisture. Yet he knew that showing fear now was out of the question; gritting his teeth, he feigned composure and said, "Big Brothers, I'm just a kid, how could I have anything valuable on me? Please be magnanimous and let us pass."

"Cut the crap! You're wearing clothes like that, traveling with a donkey cart—you're telling me you have no money? Do you take us for fools?!"

"Big Brother, I really have no money. The donkey cart is borrowed, and the bicycle belongs to the big brother in the back." Lin Yu made a bitter face, inwardly cursing his wretched luck.

His mother had sewn these new clothes for him, and the very first day he wore them, he ran into this sort of trouble.

Upon hearing this, the scarred man let out a cold snort, stepped forward, and pointed his blade right at the bridge of Lin Yu's nose, viciously snarling, "Enough chatter! I don't care whose it is, it's ours now. Hand over whatever valuables you have on you right this second, and get down and get lost! Don't blame us for being ruthless if you don't!"

With that, he closed in a few steps further.

Seeing that polite words were getting him nowhere, Lin Yu's heart sank heavily. Realizing that matters wouldn't end amicably today, he gritted his teeth and prepared to grab the fish spear beside him to fight these two bandits to the death.

At that exact moment, however, the man sitting on the donkey cart suddenly stood up. Wearing a face full of ingratiating smiles, he pleaded with the two bandits: "Big Brothers, don't give a kid a hard time. Making a living out here is tough for everyone. You want money, right? I have some here, just spare us."

As he spoke, he began leisurely reaching into his pocket for money.

Seeing this, the scarred man smiled triumphantly, the scar on his face distorting along with his expression.

Tucking his knife into his waistband, he reached out a hand and said, "Hmph, you've got some sense. Wouldn't have been so troublesome if you'd done that from the start—timidity is the mark of a wise man, hand over the cash!"

He swaggered forward as he spoke, eager to take the money, his face painted with the smugness and greed of impending victory, his eyes squinted into slits of pure glee.

Yet, the instant his hand was about to touch the money, the man's expression changed in a flash.

Moving with the speed of lightning, the face that had just worn a flattering smile turned chillingly severe. His right hand struck out like a spitting viper, clamping onto the scarred man's wrist with absolute precision. With a fierce twist accompanied by a crisp crack, the scarred man's wrist was wrenched behind his back, wringing a miserable howl of agony from his lips.

Only then did the scarred man react, trying to draw the blade from his waist with his free hand to fight back, but the man gave him no such opening. Delivering a swift, direct kick to the back of the bandit's knee, he forced him crashing to the ground with a dull thud.

Following up without a pause, the man landed a decisive elbow strike to the scarred man's spine. Under this flurry of blows, the knife slipped from the scarred man's grip with a clatter, leaving him completely dizzy and utterly devoid of any capacity to resist, capable only of unleashing a continuous stream of curses.

Seeing his accomplice ambushed and neutralized in the blink of an eye, the tall, thin man flew into a rage. With reddened eyes and a wild roar, he lunged forward, hacking his knife down toward the man with ferocious momentum, hoping to cleave him in two with a single blow.

Yet the man was still subduing the scarred man, unable to free himself immediately, making the situation perilous in the extreme.

Watching anxiously from the side, Lin Yu's eyes darted. Spotting his chance, he instantly scooped up the fish spear and swept it forcefully across the tall man's ankles.

Charging forward with fierce aggression, the tall man had never anticipated such a dirty trick. Tripped by the spear, he lost his balance completely, let out a yelp, and took a violent header into the dirt as his own knife flew out of his hand.

With lightning-fast reflexes, the man used the brief window to free one hand, retrieved a pair of gleaming handcuffs from his waist, and with a sharp click, secured the scarred man's wrists firmly to the shaft of the donkey cart.

Then, spinning around abruptly, he charged at the tall man, who was just struggling back to his feet and unsteady on his balance. Delivering a flying kick that was both swift and vicious squarely to the tall man's chest, he sent the fellow flying backward like a tattered sack. The tall man crashed heavily to the ground, sprawling out in a heap and unable to drag himself up for a long while.

The man had no intention of letting him off lightly. Rushing forward, he clenched his fists and rained a flurry of blows left and right upon the tall man like a heavy downpour. Every punch landed solidly, beating the tall man into complete submission until he could only curl up on the ground, shielding his head and begging for mercy.

Within moments, the man had thoroughly subdued the tall man as well, efficiently snapping a pair of handcuffs onto him too.

Only then did the man draw a long breath of relief. Straightening his somewhat rumpled clothes, he pulled an identification badge from inside his jacket, flashed it at the two bandits groveling on the ground, and declared in a stern voice: "Don't move, you're under arrest. Gao Dasong, Yang Zhichao—I knew you incorrigible scoundrels wouldn't change your ways. It turns out my pacing this beat for the past few days wasn't in waste."

The moment the two bumbling crooks clapped eyes on the official badge, their complexions drained of color, and they lowered their heads in utter despair.

Meanwhile, Lin Yu was left utterly dumbfounded.

With wide eyes and a slack jaw, he stood frozen for a long time, utterly unable to process the reality before him. He never could have imagined that the passenger sharing his cart all this way was actually a police officer.