Chapter 272

A tractor swayed along the village road. The driver, a pipe clamped between his teeth, controlled the steering bar with both hands. His cheeks puffed in and out, and smoke billowed from his nose in sync with the engine's exhaust.

Occasionally encountering villagers returning home from the fields with their farm tools, they would wave and call out "Big Smoker." He would respond with an indifferent nod, putting on airs more grand than the mayor on a rural inspection.

Big Smoker had been lazy and gluttonous since childhood. In the past, when the commune earned work points, he often shirked his duties. At the year-end settlement, he earned less than a woman who had just given birth that year.

However, back then, his parents supported him. They toiled tirelessly, not only raising their unreliable son but also arranging a marriage for him with a widow.

But less than two years after his son was born, both parents fell ill and passed away. Without these two elderly laborers, the family suddenly had no means of support.

Before his wife could even think of leaving, Big Smoker ran off first. He left the village for the county town, claiming to be looking for a lucrative business. He would return home less than twice a year. Left with no choice, his wife abandoned their child and remarried.

Though his biological father was unreliable, the child was pitiful. Little Smoker grew up eating the "hundred family meal" of the village. As he got a bit older, he did his best to "repay" the villagers: he frequently engaged in petty theft, burglaries, and breaking into houses. Going to the juvenile detention center was like going home for him.

When he reached adulthood and was worrying that committing more crimes would carry too high a price, his long-lost biological father unexpectedly returned.

Big Smoker and Little Smoker embraced, weeping bitterly. The father and son's reunion was a natural course of events.

From then on, the father and son's lives suddenly flourished. Big Smoker bought a tractor. Villagers couldn't borrow it during weekdays, nor did he use it for construction work. Instead, he would only go out for a long-distance job once or twice a month. The rest of the time, the pair would eat and drink at home, and once tipsy, they would head to the foot bath house in town to have fun, often finding themselves in situations that made them "brothers-in-law" through shared illicit encounters.

"Dad, how about a quick drink at home?"

Little Smoker sat in the back of the tractor, which was covered in straw.

"Nah, it's not good for people to smell alcohol on us. Our good life depends on this work."

"Just one sip, Dad. My craving's kicking in, and it's unbearable. This trip had too many packages and took too long. I really can't hold it in anymore. Besides, we'll have to wait until late tonight to get in there anyway."

Big Smoker looked at his trembling right hand, then moved it from the tractor's steering bar. The tremor continued.

"Alright then."

Big Smoker drove the tractor into his yard.

Little Smoker went inside, brought out some liquor and leftover cooked dishes, and set up a table in the yard.

Big Smoker walked to the back of the tractor and pushed aside the straw, revealing four sacks. As if sensing the movement outside, all four sacks began to writhe, emitting muffled whimpers.

"Heh heh."

Seeing that the "goods" were fine and still restless, Big Smoker smiled with relief. After covering them back with straw, he went to join his son for a drink.

"CRACK!"

The whip cracked through the air. As Big Smoker and Little Smoker were drinking heartily, they felt a sudden tightening around their necks. Immediately, their faces were forcibly pressed together.

Coiled tighter and tighter, their heads were bound together into a beehive-like shape.

Yin Meng walked in, about to continue, when she heard Tan Wenbin's warning:

"Spicy Girl, don't be impulsive."

Yin Meng stopped, pulled out a preserved plum from her pocket, and popped it into her mouth.

Tan Wenbin: "White Crane, go check."

"Understood."

Lin Shuyou walked to the back of the tractor, pushed aside the straw, and saw the four sacks inside.

He lowered his head, then raised it, and directly activated his 'face,' revealing a White Crane mask that concealed his true appearance.

The knots at the top of the sacks were tied very tightly, making them too troublesome to untie. Lin Shuyou raised his golden mace and struck each sack once, with just the right amount of force to break the sacks without harming the "goods" inside.

The "goods" emerged: two young men and two young women. Their hands were bound behind their backs, and their feet and mouths were wrapped with thick black tape.

Lin Shuyou: "Zhuang Zhuang Ge, the goods are fine."

Tan Wenbin: "Good. Spicy Girl, you can be impulsive now."

Yin Meng folded the preserved plum bag, put it back in her pocket, and walked up to the father and son.

Although the father and son's heads were tied together, their hands and feet could still move and struggle.

Yin Meng bent down to pick up one end of the whip. Placing the sole of her boot on the point where the father and son's heads were bound, she pulled the whip with sudden force.

A powerful sensation of suffocation seized them, and the father and son began to struggle violently.

"Ptooey."

Yin Meng spat out the preserved plum pit.

The father and son both kicked their legs simultaneously and were strangled to death.

Throughout the entire process, everyone remained calm. After all, they were killing human traffickers, which felt more celebratory than slaughtering a New Year pig.

Tan Wenbin: "White Crane, move them inside."

Lin Shuyou carried the four people from the tractor into the house, two at a time, making sure to keep their backs facing away from the others during transport.

Once inside, he first helped them undo their original restraints, then bound them with their own ropes.

Midway, one of the girls pleaded with Lin Shuyou, begging him to be merciful and promising to agree to any request if he would only let her go.

Lin Shuyou ignored her.

One of the boys tried to escape the moment he was untied, but Lin Shuyou reached out and pulled him back, sending him crashing onto the ground on his backside, hurting so much that he started to cry.

All four were tied together with a single rope. Lin Shuyou tied a knot at the other end, setting it upright on the opposite side, with a lit candle placed below it.

This was a common Yin-Yang knot, used to bind oneself with a corpse; if one end was untied, the other would also loosen.

Lin Shuyou took out water and compressed biscuits, feeding some to each of the four in turn.

The girl who had pleaded earlier refused to eat, continuing to beg for mercy.

Lin Shuyou stopped feeding her, skipping her to feed the next person.

Finally, he took out tape and taped up all four of their mouths again.

Lin Shuyou stood up and said:

"This end will be burned through tomorrow morning, and then you'll be free. We still have other matters to handle, so you can't leave for now, to avoid alerting others. This might seem a bit harsh, but we did save you, and we don't need your gratitude. So, let's call it even."

After explaining, Lin Shuyou left. A short while later, he turned and returned, placing a sum of money next to the candle and thoughtfully dividing it into four equal portions.

When he came out again, Lin Shuyou saw Tan Wenbin setting up a barrier formation outside the house.

"Brother Bin, you've set up a formation. What if they can't get out in the morning?"

"It's fine. Given my skill in formations, one set up this quickly will only last until morning at most."

"Uh, then why set up this formation..."

"To prevent Yin Zhiping from potentially dropping by."

Actually, leaving someone to watch them and letting them go when the time came would have been simpler.

The problem was, having given up their holiday and traveled all this way, no one would be willing to simply take on a guarding duty.

Therefore, more arrangements had to be made in this regard.

Lin Shuyou: "They'll be fine, right?"

Tan Wenbin: "What could happen? This father and son were transporting people for the Lu family, not trafficking them into the village. So, there's no possibility of villagers helping to capture or hide trafficked individuals. Besides, we might not even need to wait until tomorrow morning; we might finish early and come back."

Lin Shuyou said with some helplessness, "Three-Eyed truly knows how to make things complicated. It would have been so much simpler to just charge in and kill them."

Tan Wenbin: "Why not use an easier method if one is available? It saves effort and reduces the chance of injury, which also prepares us better for the next wave. Three-Eyed's arrangement was correct."

At that moment, a man with a full beard, dressed in grayish-white clothes, walked into the yard.

Lin Shuyou's vertical pupils opened, and he immediately said, "Not a living person!"

The bearded man spoke, "Nonsense, of course, I'm not alive."

Zhao Yi's figure emerged from behind, asking, "Why are you so slow?"

Tan Wenbin: "Four living people needed to be settled first. How are you so fast?"

Zhao Yi patted the bearded man beside him, whom he had already manipulated into a puppet. "Because I'm transporting three coffins here, all filled with dead people."

Lin Shuyou asked in surprise, "The Lu family wants dead people too?"

Zhao Yi chuckled, "Heh heh, do dead people lose their fate charts? How else would those performing ghost marriages match them? Besides, it's not just ghost marriages; blood brotherhoods, sworn father-son relationships, and sworn sisterhoods are all possible."

Lin Shuyou: "How can they be so unscrupulous?"

Zhao Yi: "Normal. Your temple is still too small. In slightly larger families and sects, there's far more filth and corruption within."

Lin Shuyou countered, "Does the Zhao family have it too?"

Zhao Yi: "Of course."

Lin Shuyou: "Uh..."

Zhao Yi: "Once I finish my river journey, I'm going home for a major clean-up."

Earlier, during his conversation with Li, Zhao Yi had a faint feeling, and after receiving guidance from Old Lady Liu, he finally understood the direction he needed to take.

Keeping those corrupt practices and petty schemes around... ha, there's a reason why the Zhao family hasn't produced another Dragon King since Zhao Wuyang. If they can't even clean up their own house, how can they expect to produce a Dragon King whose duty is to cleanse rivers and seas?

Even if a descendant with Dragon King talent were born, that fate would not fall upon the Zhao family. It would be better cast upon some rising commoner in the jianghu.

Tan Wenbin pointed to the bodies of Big Smoker and Little Smoker, asking, "Should we make these two into puppets as well?"

Zhao Yi shook his head. "I can do it, but I can control two at most simultaneously. Three is pushing it and I might give myself away."

Lin Shuyou: "What about Brother Xiao Yuan?"

Zhao Yi: "Am I teaching you? Do I need to expand and give you examples?"

Lin Shuyou: "I'm just curious..."

Zhao Yi: "I'm hungry. Let's have dumplings for supper."

Lin Shuyou: "..."

Zhao Yi squatted in front of Big Smoker, covering his face with his right palm while his left hand began to form hand seals.

Soon after, Big Smoker's corpse began to tremble.

Its face first blurred, then sharpened, before returning to its original appearance.

Not needing to reshape the face saved time and effort.

Soon, Big Smoker sat up, then stood.

Lin Shuyou: "That long... if it were Brother Xiao Yuan, it certainly wouldn't take this long..."

Big Smoker spoke, "Hungry, eat dumplings, eat dumplings!"

Lin Shuyou immediately shut his mouth.

For supper, they truly did have dumplings.

Zhao Yi had specifically bought them on the way there; they just needed to be heated up over a fire in the evening.

When the time was right, under Zhao Yi's direction, those destined for coffins went into coffins, and those for sacks went into sacks.

Zhao Yi: