A raggedly dressed woman was barely clinging to life as she held a little girl in her arms.
The girl was very young—probably not even ten years old—yet her clothes were in disarray, and her body was covered with signs of abuse.
Both mother and daughter showed extremely weak signs of life.
Bruises and dark purple marks were everywhere on their bodies.
It was hard to imagine just what kind of torment they had endured.
“Creak!” Even someone like Bai Qiu, who considered himself cold and detached, was truly enraged this time.
But no matter how furious he was, he had to hold it in.
Saving them came first.
Without wasting a moment, Bai Qiu used his mental power combined with magic to locate their injuries.
He took out several bottles of healing potions, poured them over their wounds, and then fed each of them a bottle.
“Brother.” At that moment, Zhang Shiyao walked in.
When she saw the mother and daughter lying on the ground, her expression didn’t change much—because she had already seen similar scenes several times.
In this area, many women of different ages had been captured and locked inside these small houses, left to be abused.
The youngest were under ten years old, while the oldest were over forty.
Only a pair of young high school girls were in slightly better condition—likely because they had been captured not long ago.
“How many more like this are there?” Bai Qiu asked.
“There are 17 more. They’re being held in groups of two or three in rooms like this,” Zhang Shiyao replied.
By the time she finished speaking, she was almost gritting her teeth—clearly, her emotions were far from calm.
Bai Qiu nodded and said calmly, “I’ll leave them to you for now. I’ll go treat the others.”
He had purchased fifteen bottles per day of three different qualities of healing potions from Guinelia, based on the needs of ordinary players—and in this rescue operation, he used them all up.
Just as Bai Qiu was treating the last two injured victims, a sudden commotion erupted outside.
“Don’t move! Hands up!” A large group of people surrounded all the exits of the alley, armed with bows, shields, and also swords and blades.
At that moment, Zhang Shiyao had just helped the injured out of the small house.
The already terrified women immediately began trembling like frightened birds, and some of the younger children burst into tears.
Zhang Shiyao’s gaze turned icy as she fixed her eyes on the man who had just shouted.
A faint green light flickered in her eyes, and a storage card appeared in her hand.
There were too many enemies—and behind her were so many innocent victims.
If those surrounding them showed any intention of attacking, she wouldn’t hesitate to use the stored Demon-Gathering Thorn (Pseudo) to kill everyone there.
The man who had shouted was strong and full of vigor, his voice loud and commanding—but when his eyes met Zhang Shiyao’s, a chill inexplicably rose from the depths of his heart.
Was he really feeling fear… toward such a small, seemingly delicate child?
“Who are you? State your name!” At that moment, a furious shout rang out, shattering the windows of the surrounding old buildings.
Along with it came a surge of overwhelming magic power.
Bai Qiu had already set up a magical barrier to protect Zhang Shiyao and the innocent injured, so this roar was directed solely at those surrounding the area and the bound criminals.
Some of the criminals were knocked unconscious on the spot by his shout, blood seeping from their ears.
He was truly furious—if the people outside were in league with these bandits, Bai Qiu wouldn’t hesitate to carry out a massacre today.
The surging magic around him burned like tangible flames, enveloping his entire body and obscuring his appearance.
At the same time, Bai Qiu locked onto the highest-level individual among the group.
Level 18—decent.
By current standards, barely enough to be considered part of the T1 tier of players.
The nearly tangible magic radiating from Bai Qiu, along with his overwhelming presence, made those surrounding the area afraid to act rashly.
Seeing that no one responded, Bai Qiu spoke again:
“I’ll ask one more time—who are you? What is your purpose here?! If you don’t explain clearly, or if you dare to hide anything or lie, not a single one of you will be leaving today!”
The man who had shouted earlier looked indignant and was about to speak, but he was stopped by the highest-level individual.
That person stepped forward, took out a wallet from his storage card, then pulled out an ID and said:
“Comrade, I am Wang Haoyu, captain of the Third Squad of the Armed Police Unit in XX City, currently stationed at Safe Zone 2229. Our primary duty is to rescue civilians trapped in remote parts of the city and to capture criminals committing violent and terrorist acts within the city.
We received intelligence that a group of criminals led by Zhang San has been abducting and assaulting women in this area, with several lives already lost at their hands. Please explain in detail what happened here.”
As Wang Haoyu spoke, he glanced at the group of criminals whose limbs had been broken and who were now completely incapacitated, his brows knitting slightly.
Only then did the magic surrounding Bai Qiu recede a little.
Throughout the entire time, however, his gaze remained fixed on Wang Haoyu—if there had been even the slightest hint of evasion in his eyes, Bai Qiu would have already pinned him to the ground and broken his limbs.
“I’m Bai Qiu.”
The brief introduction made Wang Haoyu’s heart skip a beat.
Even if the story of “one man taking down six lord in a single night” had already faded in popularity, the recent title of Father of Map Exploration was now known to everyone.
“You’re Bai Qiu—the one who obtained the ‘Father of Map Exploration’ achievement?” Wang Haoyu asked cautiously.
Seeing Bai Qiu nod, Wang Haoyu quietly let out a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, he had stopped that fool earlier.
If they had followed their usual enforcement methods, they would have arrested everyone first and sorted things out later.
If he hadn’t been perceptive enough to approach Bai Qiu differently, he might already have ended up like those wailing criminals on the ground…
“All of their limbs—I broke them myself,” Bai Qiu said, seeing that Wang Haoyu didn’t respond, so he continued.
“As for what happened to those women and children, and what went on here before—you should ask the victims yourselves.”
After getting a rough understanding of the situation, Wang Haoyu said to Bai Qiu, “Bai Qiu, on behalf of these rescued civilians, I thank you for your bravery in standing up for justice.”
Bai Qiu waved his hand dismissively. “Spare me the polite talk. What I want to know is—what will happen to these people?”
“We’ll escort the surviving civilians back to the safe zone and arrange proper care for them. As for these criminals…”
“Not going to kill them?” Bai Qiu asked bluntly when he saw the hesitation on Wang Haoyu’s face.
“Bai Qiu, although this can no longer be considered a society ruled by law, we still want to preserve its principles as much as possible. So please, watch your conduct,” Wang Haoyu said, a trace of anger in his voice.
Bai Qiu’s indifferent attitude toward human life sent a chill through him.
If he were to become a killing maniac, then who would be able to stop him? Who could restrain him?
“Captain! Zhang San isn’t among these criminals!” After checking the number and identities of the captured offenders, one of the armed police officers came over and reported.
“What? Find him immediately! We must locate Zhang San today—he couldn’t have gone far!” Wang Haoyu ordered loudly.
The survivors, whose eyes had been dull and lifeless, seemed to regain a faint glimmer of hope upon hearing Wang Haoyu’s resolute words.
Perhaps these armed police officers really could secure their future.
“No need to search.”
— The end of the Chapter–
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