“Help! Help!”
The terrified scream shattered the silence of the night.
Everyone woke with a start.
Hearing someone crying for help, people hurriedly lit candles.
Then another voice came from outside.
“Help! There’s a monster!”
The words instantly drove away any remaining drowsiness.
A monster?
Everyone’s hearts skipped a beat.
The guards on watch immediately got up and peered through the cracks in the door.
The prisoners crowded around the windows as well.
Then they heard Su Yuping’s frantic voice.
“Yaru!”
“It’s Yaru!”
Only then did everyone realize that the person screaming outside was Lin Yaru.
The night was pitch black.
No one could clearly see what the “monster” looked like.
The unknown was far more frightening than the truth.
“It’s covered in black fur!”
Madam Han, who stood closest to the window, was the first to speak.
“What do we do?”
“My daughter is still out there!”
Su Yuping was nearly hysterical.
The only person she could think to rely on was Lin Yixiao.
Meanwhile, Lan Luoyun was curious.
A real monster?
I’ve never even seen one in the twenty-first century.
Getting up, she walked over to the window.
After squinting carefully into the darkness, she froze.
Wait a second…
Why does that thing look familiar?
She looked again.
Then nearly laughed.
Monster?
It was just a wild boar.
An exceptionally large one.
The people in this room had spent their entire lives in the capital.
Most had probably eaten wild boar meat before.
But few had ever seen a living wild boar in person.
One of the guards soon confirmed her suspicion.
“Don’t panic.”
“It’s just a wild boar.”
“Not a monster.”
Still, the beast was enormous.
And Lin Yaru was in serious trouble.
Since Lan Luoyun had no interest in watching Lin Yaru wrestle a boar, she simply returned to her bed.
Beside her, Lin Nancheng stared in disbelief.
How could his wife still think about sleeping at a time like this?
Her composure was honestly impressive.
“Sir, please save my daughter!”
Su Yuping dropped to her knees before the guards.
At the same time, she secretly produced two pieces of silver and shoved them into their hands.
Meanwhile, Lin Yixiao didn’t hesitate.
He rushed straight out the door.
The guards were startled.
“Are you crazy?”
“You can’t fight a wild boar by yourself!”
Their concern wasn’t entirely for him.
If the boar became enraged and charged into the building, everyone inside would be in danger.
The ramshackle structure wouldn’t withstand a determined attack.
Yet despite the danger, none of the other family members volunteered to help.
Years of arrogance and mistreatment had finally come back to haunt Su Yuping and Lin Yaru.
No one felt particularly motivated to rescue them.
“Luoyun.”
“Maybe I should go help.”
Lin Nancheng couldn’t bear to stand by and do nothing.
“Father can’t handle that boar alone.”
Lan Luoyun immediately shook her head.
In her previous life, something similar had happened.
Lin Nancheng had rushed out to save people.
He had suffered serious injuries.
And afterward, Su Yuping and Lin Yaru hadn’t even thanked him.
Not once.
This time, she refused to let him get hurt for people who didn’t deserve it.
“Nancheng.”
“In our previous life, saving them brought you nothing but suffering.”
“Let’s wait and see.”
“Besides, if anyone should save Lin Yaru, it should be Lin Nanhao.”
Lan Luoyun knew wild boars well enough.
It wouldn’t stay focused on Lin Yaru forever.
Eventually it would panic and begin charging randomly.
Once that happened, everyone would be forced to act together.
And besides—
She had her storage space.
There was no reason to send Lin Nancheng into danger prematurely.
Let Lin Yaru suffer a little first.
Hearing her reasoning, Lin Nancheng reluctantly remained where he was.
At this point, he had become accustomed to trusting her strange instincts.
Outside, the confrontation intensified.
Lin Yaru stood frozen.
The giant boar faced her directly.
Nearby, Lin Yixiao searched desperately for anything he could use as a weapon.
Suddenly, something startled the animal.
With a furious squeal, it lowered its head and charged.
Straight at Lin Yaru.
“Yaru!”
Without hesitation, Lin Yixiao threw himself forward.
He knocked his daughter to the ground.
Lin Yaru escaped with only a few scrapes.
But the boar’s tusks slammed into Lin Yixiao.
The enormous beast tossed him through the air like a rag doll.
Everyone screamed.
Wild boar attacks were common in Southern Yue.
People knew exactly how dangerous they could be.
Many expected the boar to kill him outright.
Inside the building, panic erupted.
The guards shoved against the door.
“Everyone help hold it shut!”
“If that thing gets inside, none of us will survive!”
The warning was enough.
All the younger men rushed over to reinforce the entrance.
“Secure the windows too!”
Others hurried to barricade the windows.
Unfortunately, the building itself was little more than a shack.
The walls creaked ominously.
If the boar hit it hard enough, the structure might collapse before the door gave way.
At that point, Lan Luoyun finally stepped forward.
“Sir.”
“This house won’t hold.”
“If the boar charges the door, the building may collapse first.”
The guards were terrified as well.
Wild boars weren’t unusual.
But one this large?
They had never seen anything like it.
Lan Luoyun continued.
“Wild boars fear fire.”
“We should light torches first.”
“Then everyone can work together to subdue it.”
The guards weren’t sure whether she was right.
But they knew one thing.
Simply hiding behind the door wasn’t a solution.
Finally, one of them made a decision.
“All women and children stay inside.”
“All men come with us!”
The men immediately hesitated.
Nobody wanted to volunteer for that mission.
Some even suspected Lan Luoyun was setting them up.
The guard solved that problem quickly.
Drawing his sword, he pointed it at the crowd.
“Anyone who refuses goes first.”
“I’ll kill you myself and spare you the trouble of being gored by the boar.”
That settled the matter.
At least fighting the boar offered a chance of survival.
Disobeying guaranteed death.
At that moment, the boar slammed into one of the support pillars outside.
The entire building shook.
The guards quickly opened the door.
Nearby were several leftover pieces of firewood from the previous night’s cooking.
They grabbed them immediately.
Meanwhile, Lan Luoyun secretly produced two jars of liquor from her storage space.
To everyone else, it seemed as though she had found them in a corner.
Given the current crisis, nobody questioned it.
The guards poured the alcohol onto the wood and lit it.
Soon several blazing torches illuminated the darkness.
Outside, everyone held their breath.
Faced with a wall of fire and a crowd of humans, the boar finally stopped charging.
Its movements became uncertain.
Someone shouted:
“Now!”
“Subdue it!”
The men had been frozen with fear moments earlier.
That single command finally jolted them into action.
Those without torches grabbed heavy chains lying nearby.
They attempted to loop them around the boar’s neck.
But the animal kept darting back and forth.
No one dared get too close.
After several attempts, they still couldn’t secure it.
Just as panic began rising again—
A new figure arrived.
Chief Chen and several soldiers rushed onto the scene.
Without hesitation, they fired arrows into the boar.
The wounded beast slowed dramatically.
At last, the men succeeded in wrapping chains around its neck.
Even then, it continued struggling violently.
Lan Luoyun watched carefully.
Then she smiled.
The timing was perfect.
She slipped something into Lin Nancheng’s hand.
“Nancheng.”
“When nobody’s looking, use this on the boar.”
Taking his torch, she created a distraction.
Lin Nancheng moved behind the struggling animal.
Then he jabbed the mysterious object into its hide.
A few moments earlier, the boar had been fighting wildly.
Now…
Its movements slowed.
Then slowed further.
Finally, it collapsed to the ground.
Motionless.
Lin Nancheng stared in amazement.
He had no idea what strange tool Lan Luoyun had given him.
But one thing was obvious.
Whatever it was…
It worked incredibly well.