Chapter 23

In the blink of an eye, the three men who had surrounded and beaten Xu Dong were one unconscious, one injured, and the last one was staring in shock. How could he not realize that the three of them had kicked a hard stone? This young man in front of him, despite his young age, was likely a formidable person who was close to the limits in every aspect!

The man who had initially run the fastest and shouted the most fiercely was the first to be stunned. Then, he stared blankly at Xu Dong, involuntarily putting himself in the other's shoes. If he were in the other's position, how would he treat the three of them? Of course, he would bully the weak, break their limbs first!

Thinking of the fear that followed, he suddenly let out a shrill scream. When he had come with a ferocious momentum like a starving wolf, now he turned and ran like a wild dog with its tail between its legs.

However, he overlooked the fact that recklessly leaving his back to Xu Dong was the biggest tragedy of his life.

Xu Dong crouched down and swept out a kick. Right in front of him was the man who had been stabbed in the arm and was howling in pain. Xu Dong's kick hit the man's shin, causing him to scream like a banshee, as if he had suddenly tilted 90 degrees to one side, then fell heavily into the mud.

Immediately after, Xu Dong took a deep breath, pursed his lips, and dashed forward. With his body fully enhanced, his speed was almost at its limit, far surpassing the local thugs. In just a few breaths, Xu Dong suddenly reached out and grabbed the man's collar!

What happens when someone is suddenly grabbed by the collar while running? Either the clothes are torn instantly, or the upper body leans back while the lower body continues to move forward, causing a loss of balance.

The man was lucky because his linen shirt was sturdy, so he became very unlucky. Like a live fish, he was lifted by the collar and thrown to the ground, dazed and disoriented. The man saw stars and tried several times to get up but failed.

From the moment the three men rushed at Xu Dong to the moment all three were on the ground, the entire process took only about ten to twenty seconds. Xu Dong himself did not notice this, but the young boy watching nearby was glowing with excitement! Perhaps because he had been bullied badly, the boy picked up a stick as thick as a baby's arm, ran over panting, and started beating the three men's limbs, causing them to scream and beg for mercy, wishing they could bow down and beg for forgiveness.

Just as Xu Dong was about to speak to stop him, the boy stopped panting and said first, "I know that killing someone means paying with my life, but they bullied my family. I couldn't let it go without a good beating. But I didn't try to kill them; I just aimed for their limbs."

Xu Dong was slightly taken aback and thought to himself, "This kid is only twelve or thirteen, but he's quite perceptive!"

The boy threw away the stick and bowed to Xu Dong, "My name is Dalang. If it weren't for you, my family would have been beaten to death. I can't repay your kindness!" With that, he knelt down and quickly kowtowed to Xu Dong.

Being kowtowed to for the first time, Xu Dong felt a strange sensation and quickly helped Dalang up, "Let's not talk about this now. I saw your father being beaten badly; we should go check on him."

Walking over to the middle-aged woman, Xu Dong saw a man who was barely alive. To be honest, the man looked as if he had been beaten so badly that he wouldn't recognize his mother, with black eyes, a split lip, and blood streaming from his nose and mouth. But in reality, he had only suffered superficial injuries, nothing serious. The reason he looked like he was about to die was because he was already weak.

Xu Dong pursed his lips, "It looks like it's just superficial injuries, nothing serious. You can rest easy."

The middle-aged woman wailed, "Those damn beasts, they didn't even give us enough food to eat when we worked, and now they won't even let us leave. I told you, if we just endured, the village would be rebuilt, and life would be peaceful. But you didn't listen and insisted on running away. Now look at you, beaten like this. What are we supposed to do now?"

Perhaps the post-disaster life was too hard, and the middle-aged woman finally broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. Her cries were so sad that even the tough young boy Dalang's eyes reddened, and he hung his head in despair.

After hearing the woman's words, Xu Dong's mind suddenly stirred, and he used the Insight skill on the three men.

Soon, the identities and general living conditions of the three men were revealed by the Insight skill. It turned out that this family of three were carpenters from Nangjiao Village. Life had been smooth for them until a flood destroyed the village. Fortunately, the family of three escaped in time, but their home, which they had built over a lifetime, was gone.

Recently, a new village chief had taken office, and the family of three thought Nangjiao Village would be rebuilt soon. In fact, the village chief was very ambitious and had taken out a large sum of money to rebuild the village. However, the flood returned and destroyed the houses that had been hastily rebuilt.

It was said that when the village chief learned of the situation, he spat out a mouthful of blood and had to be revived by his subordinates. Faced with the prospect of losing everything, the village chief gritted his teeth and continued to invest his own money, hoping to keep the villagers' hopes alive and rebuild Nangjiao Village.

But one person's efforts were limited. The village chief was ambitious but a bit foolish. As his savings dwindled day by day, and the prospect of rebuilding Nangjiao Village remained distant, he came up with a plan. He reduced the food rations for the villagers by half to prevent his investment from being wasted. To prevent people from fleeing, he ordered the security chief to form a self-defense team to patrol and supervise. If anyone was found trying to escape, they were to be killed on the spot without reporting.

As a result, in just a few days, the land where Nangjiao Village stood was filled with resentment, and the progress of the reconstruction work was extremely slow.

After the Insight skill ended, a familiar tremor in his mind made Xu Dong feel a sudden joy. He hadn't felt this way in a long time, and he didn't expect to receive a mission at this moment! More importantly, the appearance of the mission meant he was on the right path. The key to the main mission was indeed the villagers of Nangjiao Village.

A series of information appeared in his mind:

Side Mission: The Wishes of the Disaster Victims

Mission Description: Nangjiao Village has suffered from natural and man-made disasters, and the villagers are in dire straits. Please rescue them from their suffering.

Mission Deadline: 10 days

Mission Completion Reward: Unknown

After carefully reviewing the information, Xu Dong looked thoughtfully at the three people in front of him. He then walked over to the three members of the self-defense team, crouched down next to one of them. This man was the most pitiful of the three, first bitten on the hand by a spring and then hit hard on the temple with a stick.

Unexpectedly, he was the first to regain consciousness and was about to sneak away when Xu Dong caught him. Hearing the footsteps, the man quickly closed his eyes and pretended to be dead. After a while, he suddenly felt a strong hand pinch his chin and force his mouth open.

The man, who had been pretending to be dead, opened his eyes "slowly" when he smelled the strong, muddy odor, staring in fear at the clump of dirty mud in Xu Dong's other hand.

Xu Dong pursed his lips, giving him a cold, composed look. Dragging the man to one side, he lowered his voice and said coldly, "I want to know the current situation in Nangjiao Village. Don't worry, if what you say is inconsistent with what your two companions say, I'll let you taste the mud in your mouth."

The man, already terrified by Xu Dong's agility, nodded rapidly, "I'll talk, I'll tell you everything. Where do you want me to start?"

Hmm? Xu Dong narrowed his eyes, pursed his lips, and forcefully stuffed the clump of mud into the man's mouth. The mud was filled with a putrid smell, and its taste and texture were so terrible that even Bear Grylls, who claimed to stand at the top of the food chain, might not dare to put it in his mouth. It was easy to imagine that the poor man's stomach was already convulsing in rejection of this terrifying food.

Ugh... Ah!

The next second, the man almost vomited up his bile.

His face was pale, and his whole body was trembling. Without caring whether he should talk or not, he blurted out everything he knew, even the number of moles on the round buttocks of the widow Lianhua in the eastern part of the village.

After repeating it twice, Xu Dong confirmed that nothing was missing and punched the man in the neck, knocking him out. He then did the same to the other two, finally gathering a series of information.

The new village chief of Nangjiao Village, Yang Shenghua, was a distant relative of the Yang family in Blood Helmet City. Due to his low ability, he was excluded from the core circle of the Yang family and decided to take the path of rural encirclement to achieve results and regain recognition.

The security chief, Stab, was a formidable person brought back by Yang Shenghua from Blood Helmet City. How formidable was he? He was a First Rank, One Star Armored Warrior. Although Big Bear from the north was also a First Rank, One Star Armored Warrior, Stab, who had served in the border defense army, could easily kill him. That was the difference between the two.

Stab formed a self-defense team to supervise the villagers, selecting mostly from the village's thugs and bullies. There were exactly twenty-four members. Under Stab's tyranny, this small self-defense team was enough to thoroughly control a thousand people.

Finally, under the oppression of the village chief and the security chief, the villagers of Nangjiao Village dared to be angry but dared not speak.

After obtaining this series of useful information, Xu Dong pursed his lips and began to consider how to complete this side mission.

After a long while, Xu Dong came to his senses, took a deep breath, and muttered to himself, "Although this is risky, it's the best way to stir up trouble."