51: Chapter 51 This is no human life! This is hell!

Su Yun's words made the atmosphere in the livestream even more oppressive.

Finally.

A faint, dim light appeared ahead.

They had arrived at Dahuai Tree Village.

Li Guohua turned off the headlights, leaving only the width lamps on, and quietly parked the car behind a haystack a few hundred meters from the village entrance.

"Master, I've arrived."

Li Guohua lowered his voice, picked up his phone, unbuckled his seatbelt, and got out of the car.

The night wind in the mountains was very cold, blowing a chill deep into one's bones.

A few dog barks came from the distance, and then, as if starting a chain reaction, all the dogs in the village began to bark along.

Woof, woof, woof! Woof, woof, woof!

The rising and falling barks echoed in the empty valley, making one's skin crawl.

"Don't panic," Su Yun said immediately. "It's normal for villages like this to have many dogs. As long as no one comes out to check, it's fine."

Li Guohua nodded, pulled a large wrench from under the car seat and tucked it into his jacket. Then, crouching low and using the cover of night, he gingerly made his way into the village.

This was a typical impoverished mountain village.

Most of the houses were made of adobe; only a few well-off families had built two-story buildings.

The village was silent, with only the occasional sound of coughing.

"Go west," Su Yun directed, looking at the system map. "Third row, the second to last house."

"The one with two tattered red lanterns hanging at the entrance."

Li Guohua's heart beat like a drum.

With every step, his legs felt weaker.

Twelve years.

He had dreamed of this scene countless times—dreaming that he found his son, dreaming that his son threw himself into his arms and called him 'Dad.'

But now that the moment was here, he was scared to death.

Scared that the person he saw wouldn't be his son.

Even more scared that what he saw... would be a result he couldn't accept.

Finally, he reached the outside of the farmhouse with the red lanterns.

It had a courtyard wall built of yellow mud, about two meters high.

The courtyard was pitch black; no lights were on.

Just as Li Guohua pressed himself against the base of the wall, preparing to look inside—

*Crack!*

A crisp sound of a whip suddenly rang out from the courtyard without warning.

Following that was the sound of a man cursing.

"Eat! Eat for me!"

"Damn it, what's the use of raising a waste like you? You can't even feed the pigs!"

"You still dare to steal food? I'll beat you to death, you dog!"

*Crack! Crack!*

Two more lashes.

Accompanying the sound of the whipping was the rattling of iron chains being dragged.

And an extremely weak, suppressed whimper.

That sound didn't seem like crying; it was more like the moan of a wounded small beast coming from its throat.

Li Guohua froze in place as if struck by lightning.

That whimper...

Even though twelve years had passed, even though that tender voice had changed its pitch—

He recognized it instantly!

That was his Lele!

That was the exact same whimpering sound he used to make when he was a child and afraid of the pain from injections!

"Lele..."

Li Guohua's tears fell instantly.

All logic and all fear vanished into thin air at this moment.

"Don't be impulsive!" Su Yun shouted anxiously from the other end of the phone. "Li Guohua! If you go in now, you're just going to your death! The police will be there any minute!"

But Li Guohua couldn't hear him at all.

There was only one thought in his mind now: whoever dares to touch my son, I will kill them!

He stuffed the phone into his pocket, leaving half the camera exposed.

Then, like a madman, he took a short run-up, grabbed the edge of the mud wall, and forced himself over it.

This scene made the hearts of the viewers in the livestream stop.

"Holy crap! Uncle, don't!"

"This is too dangerous!"

"It's over, it's over, something's going to happen!"

Li Guohua jumped into the courtyard, spraining his ankle as he landed, but he didn't even make a sound.

With trembling hands, he pulled an old-fashioned flashlight from his pocket.

*Click.*

The switch was pressed.

A beam of pale light pierced through the darkness of the courtyard, shining directly toward a cellar entrance in the corner.

At the end of that beam of light.

In that cold and damp corner.

Everyone saw the scene they least wanted to see in their lives.

A boy who looked only fifteen or sixteen years old was lying on the ground.

He was so filthy that his original color was unrecognizable, his hair was as messy as a bird's nest, and his clothes were tattered, revealing ribs that looked like a row of slats.

In front of him was a chipped dog bowl.

Inside the bowl were leftovers that had long since spoiled, with a few flies landing on them.

And the most shocking thing was his left leg.

That leg was at a bizarrely twisted angle, with a large indentation at the knee; it was clearly a comminuted fracture that hadn't been set properly and was completely ruined.

And around his neck—

Was a rusty iron chain as thick as a finger, the other end of which was firmly bolted to a stone millstone next to the cellar.

Hearing the noise, the boy looked up somewhat sluggishly.

On that filth-covered face, a pair of eyes were so hollow they lacked any trace of spirit.

He just stared blankly at the light of the flashlight, with half a mouthful of unswallowed spoiled food still in his mouth.

And next to him stood a shirtless middle-aged man covered in fatty muscle, brandishing a belt stained with blood.

Time seemed to freeze completely at this moment.

The hundreds of thousands of viewers in the livestream went silent collectively for that second.

Hell is empty, and all the devils are here.

What kind of life is this for a human?

This is clearly a hell where one is treated worse than a beast!

Li Guohua felt all the blood in his body rushing to his head.

That face—even though it was covered in mud, even though it was so thin it was almost unrecognizable—he knew it.

That was the son he had been searching for for twelve years!

That was the little rascal who used to ride on his neck and pee, the one who learned to recite ancient poems before he even learned to say 'Dad'!

"Lele!"

A distorted roar squeezed out of Li Guohua's throat, and he rushed over, scrambling on all fours.

He didn't care at all about the burly man with the belt; he threw himself directly onto the boy lying on the ground.

"Lele! It's Dad!"

"Dad is late! Dad is here to take you home!"

Li Guohua frantically tried to hug the child, but his hands reached out and then retracted; he didn't dare touch him.

The child was covered in injuries.

Old wounds were layered over new ones, flesh was turned out, and some places were even festering, emitting a foul stench.

"Ah! Ah!"

The boy was terrified by Li Guohua's sudden rush, his whole body trembling.

He didn't understand what the word 'Dad' meant at all.

In his clouded eyes, there was only a fear that reached into his very marrow.

He desperately protected the filthy dog bowl in front of him, curling himself into a ball, letting out a low, beast-like growl from his mouth, even opening his mouth to try and bite Li Guohua's hand.

"Don't hit me, I won't eat, I won't eat..."

The boy's voice was slurred and indistinct, as if he were holding a piece of red-hot coal in his mouth.

Li Guohua's heart was breaking.

He grabbed the boy's hand and pressed his own face against the boy's filth-covered face, tears and snot smearing everywhere.

"Look closely! I'm Dad!"

"Look at this!"

Li Guohua brushed aside the boy's hair, revealing a red birthmark the size of a fingernail behind his ear.

"You've had this since you were a month old! Dad remembers! Dad remembers everything!"

"Lele, let's go home. Dad will take you home to eat braised pork, to eat KFC—you can eat whatever you want!"