Flip the table and divide the family property! Take his wife and daughter into the mountains and eat

Following the abandoned railway tracks extending westward from the south platform, the night was as dark as ink that could not be dissolved.

Braving the biting night wind, Zhao Shanhe, like a silent lone wolf, trod on the embankment beside the railway tracks, which was covered with coal ash and gravel. The soft rustling sound of his suede military boots on the frozen coal ash was instantly drowned out by the howling north wind.

After walking for about two miles, a huge and distorted black shadow finally appeared in the thick darkness ahead.

An abandoned locomotive marshalling yard.

Seven or eight dilapidated green train carriages, their chassis rusted through, lay haphazardly on the broken tracks, resembling massive steel corpses. The air was thick with the pungent smell of waste engine oil and the smoke from burning low-quality coal.

Zhao Shanhe lowered his body and crept along the back of a rusty carriage.

Dim, yellowish light shone through the gaps between the carriages.

He held his breath and peered out with half an eye along the edge of the carriage.

In the open space in the center of the marshalling yard, several rusty gasoline drums were burning with bonfires. Sparks flew everywhere in the cold wind.

Beside the campfire, a dozen or so men wrapped in tattered military overcoats stood haphazardly.

Several men were carrying double-barreled shotguns with sawed-off barrels, while the rest had half-cut machetes wrapped in newspapers tucked into their belts.

The group, speaking with heavy Northwestern accents, threw broken sleepers into the fire bucket while unabashedly passing around half-empty bottles of strong liquor, occasionally bursting into wild laughter.

"Clang!"

A dull thud of metal striking metal suddenly rang out.

In the very center of the open space, a man covered in blood was tightly bound behind his back to a cement waste pillar by two rusty iron chains.

The man's head slumped limply, and his cheap leather jacket had long since been torn into tattered strips, his flesh torn and blood dripping down his trousers.

It was Scarface Liu.

A burly man from Northwest China stepped forward, carrying a bloodstained triangular iron rod, and delivered another blow to Scarface Liu's shoulder.

"Playing dead, huh?"

The burly man spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, then banged the triangular iron against the concrete pillar, making a loud clanging sound. "I've got plenty of time to play with you tonight. Tell me, where exactly is that bastard Old Scar hiding?"

Scarface Liu's eyes, swollen to a slit, were barely open, blood and foam continuously oozing from the corners of his mouth, and his throat emitted hoarse, wheezing breaths like a broken bellows.

"I really don't know..."

He convulsed in pain, weakly shaking his head: "Gentlemen, I'm just a cripple with half a leg gone. I only ever wanted to earn a meager living, how could I dare to do something like this that could cost me my head..."

"Snapped!"

The burly man swung his arm and slapped Scarface Liu hard across the face.

"Don't give me that crap!"

The burly man grabbed Scarface Liu by the hair and yanked him straight, his eyes filled with malice: "You think I'm some kind of idiot you can just fool? I know everything about you, you old bastard!"

A tall, thin man carrying a double-barreled shotgun paused for a moment.

He looked the bloodied man tied to the pillar up and down with some surprise, then leaned forward and joked, "Hey, judging from Brother Long's tone, this old guy used to be someone important?"

"A big shot? What kind of big shot is he? A complete idiot!"

The burly man sneered, spitting on the ground with utter contempt: "Just a lowlife who runs smuggled goods and scams! The lowest of the low, the kind of scoundrels who bullies the weak. He managed to live a comfortable life for a few days with these underhanded tricks, swaggering around with a dozen or twenty henchmen."

He suddenly exerted force on his wrist, causing Scarface Liu to let out a heavy, labored gasp, like a broken bellows.

"And what happened? The old man got into trouble at night, his boat capsized in a ditch, he broke his leg, and became a complete cripple."

The burly man's voice rose: "The most outrageous thing is that no sooner had he become crippled than his beautiful wife was slept with by his most trusted underling! They're having sex right under his nose every day!"

The surrounding outlaws pricked up their ears and whistled even louder.

"It is said that it was the dead of winter, and this old green-haired turtle was freezing outside like a grandson. He went home early with his head covered in snow. As soon as he opened the gate, he heard something strange coming from the heated kang in his own room."

The burly man gestured menacingly, poking the air twice with a bloodstained triangle, his tone utterly vulgar: "The old bastard peeked through the window crack, and lo and behold! The stove was burning brightly inside, and his loyal buddy, his cotton-padded jacket and underwear all thrown on the floor, was having a wild time with his beautiful wife in their bedding roll emblazoned with the Double Happiness symbol!"

The crowd erupted in another burst of laughter, as if the roof of the car had been blown off.

The burly man slapped Scarface Liu's cheek hard with the blood-stained triangular iron in his hand, making a crisp slapping sound.

"The smacking sounds of those two colliding could be heard clearly even through the paper window! Your woman screamed until her voice was hoarse, yelling with her eyes closed, more desperately than a wild cat in heat at the village entrance; they almost kicked the earthen bed down!"

The burly man spat a mouthful of phlegm onto the ground, his tone growing increasingly contemptuous: "That old bastard was so angry his eyes were practically bleeding. He dragged his newly crippled leg, trying to rush into the house to grab a kitchen knife and fight back. And what happened? He didn't even touch the edge of the kang (heated brick bed) before his good buddy jumped down naked, kicked him in the face, breaking three of his ribs, and beat him half to death next to the chamber pot on the ground!"

"If it weren't for a few old gang members holding him back, his mistress could have easily killed him on his own bed by grabbing the kitchen knife! In the end, all his gambling dens and money were taken, and he fled like a stray dog!"

The crowd erupted in uproarious laughter, as if the roof of the car had been blown off.

A dozen or so desperados laughed so hard they were doubled over. Some slapped their thighs, while others smashed empty bottles onto the railway tracks, shards of glass flying everywhere amidst vulgar whistles.

A tall, thin man carrying a double-barreled shotgun wiped away tears of laughter from the corner of his eye and leaned forward, asking in bewilderment, "Brother, something's not right. How could that woman change her mind so quickly? She's slept with this old man for years, after all. Even if the feelings are gone, she shouldn't be so heartless as to watch her lover chop him up with a knife right there and then, right?"

The burly man chuckled and rubbed a tuft of stubble on his chin with a bloodstained triangular iron, seemingly pondering what the man had said.

"What you said makes sense. If this happened to someone else, it would indeed seem a bit strange."

A man with a pockmarked face next to him took a big gulp of strong liquor and nonchalantly chimed in with his hoarse voice.

"Brother, what's so special about this! That old man's thing down there must have been ruined a long time ago."

He glanced sideways at Scarface Liu, who lay sprawled on the ground like a rag doll, and exhaled a puff of white smoke reeking of alcohol: "When he was still healthy, those women could barely tolerate him for the sake of money. But after he became crippled, those women were in their prime, how could they possibly endure it?"

The more Ma Zi spoke, the more vulgar he became, and he even made a malicious gesture towards Scarface Liu's crotch.

"It's like occupying a toilet without using it, forcing a beautiful young woman to live a life of widowhood for years! How could she not be resentful? What woman wouldn't be seething with hatred? She'd definitely wish he were dead so she could happily go off with her lover and enjoy her life!"

"Hahaha! What Ma Zi said makes sense!"

The surrounding desperados erupted in laughter again, some even sticking out their suede-clad feet to kick Scarface Liu's crotch.

Scarface Liu's body suddenly stiffened.

The man, who had been weak and powerless, suddenly burst forth with overwhelming humiliation and resentment in his eyes, staring intently at the burly man in front of him and his pockmarked subordinate.

The look in his eyes was so intense, it seemed he wanted to tear the other person apart.

His chapped lips were bitten until they bled, and from deep in his throat he forced out a wild, piercing roar: "Don't touch me... I'm going to kill you all! Kill you all!"

"kill?"

The burly man seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world. He suddenly kicked Scarface Liu's broken leg hard, making him cry out in pain and curl up like a shrimp.

"You piece of trash who needs to hold onto the wall even to pee, who are you going to kill?"

The burly man grabbed his blood-stained hair, his face contorted with laughter: "If you had used that same ruthlessness on your wife back then, maybe she would have been less resentful at night, and wouldn't be rushing to find another man to crawl into bed with in the dead of winter!"

The surrounding outlaws laughed even louder, their whistles and profanities soaring into the night sky.

The burly man released his grip, letting Scarface Liu slam against the pillar like a rag doll, then turned and waved his hand at his men.

"Stop wasting your breath on him! Beat him to death! If he still doesn't talk back after you're done, I'll take a knife and castrate his manhood! He'll never need it again anyway!"

Several thugs rubbed their hands together, carrying triangular irons and half a machete, and grinned as they approached Scarface Liu, who was tied to a cement pillar.

"I'm going to kill you... I'm going to kill you—"

Scarface Liu struggled frantically against the rusty iron chains, his eyes bloodshot as if they were about to bleed, and a desperate and helpless scream came from his throat.