That voice was like a rusty saw, violently sawing through Jiang Li’s already fragile nerves.
It was really Wang Guifen.
The cruel woman who had treated her like livestock and had even tried to sell her for a bride price.
The wet clothes in Jiang Li’s hands fell back into the basin with a “plop.”
She trembled all over, like chaff in the wind.
Fear.
A bone-deep, suffocating fear that made it almost impossible for her to breathe.
Ignoring the slippery floor, she stumbled toward the window.
She didn’t dare open it fully, only slid the curtain to create a thin slit, squinting her red, swollen eyes to look down.
The gate of the military district was a muddy mess after the rain.
But that did nothing to diminish Wang Guifen’s enthusiasm for causing a scene.
A middle-aged woman in a floral padded jacket, hair disheveled like a bird’s nest, sat right in the puddle at the gate.
She slapped her hands on her thighs with deafening force, crying and wailing as if she had suffered a grave injustice.
“No justice! Soldiers have kidnapped someone!”
“My poor daughter! A grown young lady, ruined by your men!”
“Someone come judge this! Is there no law left?”
Wang Guifen’s voice was louder than the village loudspeaker.
It was right after morning exercises, and people were coming and going through the gate.
With visiting family nearby and passersby, in no time a thick crowd had gathered.
Beside Wang Guifen stood a short, plump man.
He wore an ill-fitting gray Zhongshan suit, his head bald except for a few sparse hairs stubbornly crossing his “Mediterranean sea.”
His face was fleshy, and his small greenish eyes darted around the camp.
This was the bald factory director who had paid 3,000 yuan for a bride, Zhu Dachang.
“Comrade,” Zhu Dachang said, hands behind his back, his large belly sticking out as if eight months pregnant, swaggering before the sentry.
“I’m the director of Hongxing Machinery Factory. I’ve had drinks with your leaders.”
“Someone saw my wife run in here. Hand her over, or I’ll call above and have you stripped bare!”
The sentry, a young man, flushed with anger, gripping his rifle so tightly his hands trembled.
“Step back! This is a military restricted zone! Continue your disturbance and you’ll be arrested!”
“Arrest me? Try it!”
Seeing someone backing her up, Wang Guifen got even more brazen.
She scrambled out of the mud, her mud-covered hands reaching for the sentry.
“My daughter’s inside! I can smell her!”
“If that dead girl isn’t handed over today, I’ll smash myself against your gatepost!”
She actually staged herself to crash into the gate, screaming with little effect—a lot of thunder, little rain.
Upstairs.
Jiang Li clamped her mouth shut, tears streaming uncontrollably through her fingers.
It’s over.
Completely over.
With such a public scene, the whole military district would know.
Huo Yan couldn’t protect her now.
The army valued discipline above all, and this kind of civilian-military dispute was their worst nightmare.
Handing her over was the simplest way to resolve it.
Just thinking of what awaited her if caught…
Being locked in a dark room, beaten, stripped, and thrown onto that old man’s bed…
Jiang Li felt the sky collapse.
She slid down the wall, hugging her knees like a little beast awaiting execution.
…
Meanwhile, at the training ground.
Huo Yan held an 81-type automatic rifle in one hand, demonstrating single-handed magazine changes to the recruits.
His movements were fluid, almost too fast to follow.
Click! The magazine locked in.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three quick shots, three holes appeared in the target over a hundred meters away.
“Good!”
Cheers erupted around him.
Huo Yan expressionless, tossed the rifle to the company commander beside him.
He reached for a cigarette when Zhao Gang came running, out of breath, face dark as if he had swallowed a dead fly.
“Division commander! Something’s wrong!”
“Someone is causing a scene at the gate! They say… they’re looking for a girl, claiming your soldiers kidnapped her!”
Huo Yan paused mid-motion.
The match burned at his fingertips, flame licking his skin, yet he seemed unaffected.
“Looking for a daughter?”
He narrowed his deep eyes, a hint of cold light flashing.
“What’s her name?”
“Um… something ‘Fen,’ she’s rolling around there, causing a scene, a crowd has gathered, it’s terrible!”
Zhao Gang stomped anxiously. “The political commissar is already there, but that shrew refuses to listen. She insists the girl is inside!”
Heh.
Huo Yan sneered.
He flicked the match, tucked the unlit cigarette behind his ear.
“Wang Guifen.”
He spat out the name quietly, yet it carried a bone-chilling murderous intent.
Perfect.
They hadn’t come to pick a fight—yet they delivered themselves straight to his door.
Selling a daughter now? On his territory? Bold.
Huo Yan calmly adjusted his sleeve, then took his military hat from a guard and put it on.
The brim lowered, shadowing his piercing eyes.
Only his cold, chiseled jaw was visible.
“Move.”
He strode forward, each step purposeful—not to settle a dispute, but as if going to execute someone.
“Division… Division Commander, please don’t act rashly! The commissar says we should persuade with virtue…”
Zhao Gang hurried after him, heart racing.
He knew his commander’s temper best.
“Living devil” wasn’t a nickname for nothing.
Anger him, and even heaven itself would take a beating.
…
At the gate.
The scene was nearly out of control.
Wang Guifen, seeing no one dared stop her, grew bolder.
She charged past the cordon, heading toward the camp.
“Jiang Li! You dead girl, get out here!”
“You shameless money-grubbing girl! Running off with some wild man without caring about your family!”
“You’re asking for it!”
Political Commissar Liu tried to reason: “Madam, please calm down, what you’re doing is illegal—”
“Illegal? What law did I break looking for my daughter?”
Wang Guifen spat on the ground, pointing at Liu. “You’re all a den of thieves! Harboring criminals! I’m reporting you!”
Director Zhu chimed in mockingly: “Exactly. I paid for my bride. Why can’t I have her? Don’t think you can get away with it.”
In the chaos, a cold voice suddenly cut through like thunder.
“Who do you intend to report?”
Quiet, yet with a piercing force.
The noisy crowd froze instantly.
All eyes turned toward the sound.
On the main avenue, Huo Yan appeared with a few guards.
Tall, standing out at 1.9 meters.
A crisp training uniform outlined his broad shoulders and narrow waist perfectly.
His boots hit the cement with deep, rhythmic thuds.
Thud… thud… thud.
Each step felt like it pressed into the crowd’s hearts.
Not fast, but the oppressive aura forced the crowd to part like the Red Sea.
Wang Guifen’s voice caught in her throat at the sight.
This man… was terrifying.
Cold face like ice, eyes sharp as knives.
One glance from him and she felt every hair stand on end.
A true harbinger of doom.
Huo Yan reached the gate and stopped.
He didn’t look at Wang Guifen or Director Zhu first.
He calmly removed his gloves, handed them to Zhao Gang, then slowly raised his eyes.
Those hawk-like eyes locked onto the two clowns before him.
“Who just said you’d skin the sentry?”
His voice was soft, but deadly cold.
Zhu Dachang paled, but relying on local connections, he still puffed out his chest.
“I—I said nothing wrong! I’m the director of Hongxing Factory! What unit are you from? Bring out your superior!”
Huo Yan’s lips curved in a mocking smirk.
Ignoring Zhu, he turned to the mud-caked Wang Guifen.
“You say your daughter is inside?”
Wang Guifen swallowed. Fear tugged at her, but thoughts of the 3,000-yuan bride price made her bolder.
She scrambled up, pointing at Huo Yan’s nose.
“Yes! Inside! Someone saw that dead girl climb in! She’s definitely in that building!”
“It’s you! I can tell by your face! You’re a corrupt official who abducted her!”
The crowd gasped.
Such audacity!
Slandering an officer!
Huo Yan didn’t get angry.
He even smiled.
But the smile… sent shivers down the spine.
“Abducted?”
He repeated the word.
The next second—
His hand moved.
Fast as lightning.
Click!
The sound of a pistol chambering.
The black muzzle pressed against Wang Guifen’s forehead.