Chapter 55: 55: Ghost Hand
Seeing the hoodlums covered in scratches oozing with blood, everyone was astonished. These ruffians had been bullying the people of Lotus Township without repercussions, stirring trouble wherever they went as the villagers seethed in silence. Now, someone had the guts to give them such a severe beating.
One of the brawlers managed to pull out his phone and make an emergency call, crying out, "Uncle, I\'m at the market, come save me, I\'m about to be killed."
Some villagers standing by, who had also been oppressed by the thugs, secretly relished the sight of seeing them getting their comeuppance.
Seeing the thug on the phone, they quickly whispered to Long Xiaoshan, "Young man, you better leave now. That guy\'s uncle is the head of security for Zhang the Rich\'s family. If they catch you, you\'re in for a world of pain."
Chun Tao, hearing the Deputy Director, was also very worried and scared.
In the eyes of a village woman like her, even a village chief was an unchallengeable authority figure, let alone the head of regional security.
She hurriedly grabbed Long Xiaoshan\'s hand, "Little Xiaoshan, let\'s get out of here."
Long Xiaoshan nodded. He figured teaching these thugs a lesson was enough, and if things escalated, he would have to trouble Shangguan Baihe again.
He opened his car door, ready to leave first.
But it was still a step too late.
A middle-aged man with an oily hairstyle and a potbelly rushed over with several uniformed officers.
Lotus Township wasn\'t large; the township government was only a hundred meters away from here.
They arrived in no time.
The middle-aged man, seeing his nephew and the other thugs on the ground covered in blood, immediately bellowed, "What happened here?"
"Uncle, it\'s him. Catch him fast; I want him dead," the thug yelled.
The middle-aged man hurriedly ordered the officers to block the pickup truck and shouted, "Get out! Assaulting someone in broad daylight and trying to flee the scene?"
"What escape? Why don\'t you talk about what these guys wanted to do? They were openly harassing my sister-in-law and trying to blackmail me. Besides, you\'re just security guards; what authority do you have to catch me?" Long Xiaoshan stepped out of his car, speaking righteously.
"Who is this kid, preaching to me before his hair\'s even fully grown? Take him away," the middle-aged man snorted coldly.
The security officers who had accompanied him moved to apprehend Long Xiaoshan.
"How would I know why they\'re lying on the ground? I didn\'t do anything," Long Xiaoshan stated.
"Oh really?" The middle-aged man initially wanted to hold back and see if the young man had any connections, but now, enraged by Long Xiaoshan\'s lack of deference, he commanded, "Cuff him and bring him in for questioning."
Long Xiaoshan shoved aside the encroaching men.
"Damn it, he dares to resist," the security guards, mindful of Long Xiaoshan\'s strength, couldn\'t help but draw their rubber batons.
As the confrontation was about to turn physical, the surrounding crowd scattered.
Long Xiaoshan\'s eyes narrowed as well, and he was just about to make a call when a Santana car pulled up. Seeing the crowd, it stopped, and three people, both men and women, got out.
Leading them was a beautiful woman wearing gold-rimmed glasses, tall and curvaceous, who walked toward the crowd.
Someone shouted, "The Director\'s here!"
"Which Director?"
"Who\'s the Director?"
"Didn\'t you see the one who\'s tall and beautiful, even more gorgeous than a TV star? That\'s our Director Shen!"
The crowd parted, allowing the beautiful woman to step through.
The beautiful female director approached and, seeing the police with guns drawn, asked sternly, "What\'s going on here?"
The stern-faced police officer, upon seeing the Director, quickly stored his weapon and said, "Director Shen, it\'s this man. He\'s injured the Deputy Director\'s nephew, and we were about to take control of him."
Shen Yuerong glanced at the Deputy Director, then back at the young man who had caused the trouble, and found him familiar. Upon closer inspection, she exclaimed in surprise, "It\'s you, Long Xiaoshan?"
Long Xiaoshan also recognized Shen Yuerong at a glance.
After all, such a beautiful and elegant woman was indeed a rare sight.
But he hadn\'t expected her to be the Director of Lotus Township.
He remembered their last encounter on the bus, also involving hooligans, when Shen Yuerong had yelled that she was the Director. At that time, Long Xiaoshan had thought she was bluffing to scare the hooligans off, but it turned out to be true.
He called out, "Sister Shen!"
"It really is you," Shen Yuerong observed that Long Xiaoshan no longer had a shaven head and had grown some hair, which gave him a more civilized look, far removed from the appearance of a convict. She looked at the few people writhing on the ground and asked, "What happened here?"
Long Xiaoshan hurriedly recounted the indecent assault to Shen Yuerong and pointed to bystanders, saying, "They all saw it, and so did my friend."
Long Xiaoshan pulled Chun Tao forward.
Her clothes were wrinkled, and there were handprints on her chest, which spoke volumes.
Shen Yuerong frowned, looking at Chun Tao, an honest-looking and pretty village woman who was unlikely to seduce a few hoodlums. Shen Yuerong had no tolerance for such bullying of women and turned to another uniformed man behind her, saying, "Cao Suo, what do you have to say about this?"
Cao Suo, realizing that Shen Yuerong knew the young man, immediately had a bad feeling.
He hastily responded, "I wasn\'t aware of this issue. I will definitely investigate thoroughly. Take them all in."
"A mere admonishment is enough? They\'ve committed a crime," Shen Yuerong rebuked without mercy.
"Yes, indeed."
"Why haven\'t you taken them away yet?" Director Cao quickly called his subordinates and hauled the group of security officers away.
Watching them leave, Shen Yuerong apologized, "I\'m sorry for the chaos in our township; as the Director, I haven\'t done a good job."
Seeing the color of Shen Yuerong\'s face, Long Xiaoshan frowned.
Shen Yuerong looked particularly unwell, a stark contrast to when they had met on the bus. Back then, she had been radiant and lively, but now she appeared sallow and weary, with a noticeable pallor on her face.
It hadn\'t been that long; how could she look so different?
Could she have contracted a serious illness?
Long Xiaoshan instinctively used his Spirit Eye to have a closer look.
But upon doing so, he noticed a pitch-black handprint on Shen Yuerong\'s neck.
Such a conspicuous handprint should not have gone unnoticed.
When he retracted his Spirit Eye, the handprint disappeared.
A sudden realization hit Long Xiaoshan. This was no ordinary handprint; it was the mark of a ghostly hand.