Shao Huo was brutally kicked to the ground.
One of the thugs spat and cursed with a sneer, "Motherfucker, didn’t I remind you last night? Bring some money for us to spend today, are you deaf or dumb?"
"Shit! Just looking at your sorry ass pisses me off!"
Before he had finished speaking, a few of them started to beat and kick the emaciated Shao Huo again.
However, Shao Huo didn’t scream out in agony, instead, he just clenched his fists tightly, allowing them to beat and kick him while he bit down hard on his teeth, swallowing the resentment in his bones, his blood-red eyes shimmering in the dark night, his forehead covered in blood masking his entire face.
"Damn, you’re such a bitch. If you don’t bring money tomorrow, I’ll kill you!"
Having beaten him enough, the group finally stopped, but one thug, still not over his anger, grabbed Shao Huo by the hair and yanked him up.
The sinister face looked particularly ferocious under the dim moonlight, "Kid, if you dare tell that boy, I’ll cripple you!"
After saying this, he kicked Shao Huo hard in the stomach, causing him to curl up on the spot, his head pressed hard against the ground, and it was clear that the power of this kick nearly knocked the breath out of him.
"Pah! Bitch! Coward, you deserve to be beaten to death!" The group spat at Shao Huo insultingly.
Meanwhile, Shao Huo’s face had already turned a purplish hue from the choke of trapped air in his chest, not from the beating, which made the boy feel crazed.
Just because his family was too poor, he couldn’t afford to provoke these thugs. In today’s society, fighting was all about money, and it didn’t matter anymore who was right.
What mattered was who had the money, and justice always stood beneath their feet.
For a poor boy without money, power, or status, life was like being violated by a malicious rapist, unable to resist, he could only suffer silently.
At that moment, Shao Huo cried.
Kneeling with his knees on the ground, he covered his agonizingly painful stomach and pressed his head to the ground, the tears of humiliation no longer able to replace his sorrow.
Despite this, what else could he do?
Just then, as the assailants were about to leave, a strange man gradually approached from the darkness.
"Thinking of leaving after beating someone up?" Lin Zifeng’s indifferent face was as cold as ice, his voice also markedly mechanical.
The sudden voice genuinely startled the several thugs.
"Just one day and you’ve already forgotten me?" Lin Zifeng’s figure gradually emerged from the darkness, his face expressionless.
"It’s you again!" The group was startled, not expecting to run into this jinx here.
"Stand up, act like a man and stand up." Lin Zifeng ignored them and instead turned to Shao Huo, encouraging him.
"Lin, Brother Lin!?" Shao Huo slowly raised his head, struggling immensely to get up from the ground, and was startled to find Lin Zifeng unexpectedly in front of him.
"Shao Huo, it’s not terrible to be timid, but a person who only knows how to be weak and doesn’t dare to face things is a coward! Stand up. Stand up like a dignified man!"
"Lin, Brother Lin, I, I..."
"I’m giving you a chance, kill them. From today on, no one will dare to bully you again, and you will never be called a coward again!" Lin Zifeng’s cold voice struck every word in Shao Huo’s heart, like a siren song step by step guiding this timid, weak poor boy.
"I, I dare not..." At that moment, Shao Huo also slowly climbed up from the ground, wiped off the fresh blood remaining at the corner of his mouth, his eyes bloodshot, yet he dared not step forward.
Lin Zifeng shook his head with a piercing gaze and said nonchalantly, "To prove you are not a coward, pick up this knife and kill all those who have bullied you. Let their blood compensate for the dignity you have lost. You are a man, a real man with flesh and blood and a backbone of steel. Are you going to endure being bullied for the rest of your life? One day, when your woman, friends, and family are threatened, will you still endure like today? If you don’t become stronger, no one can help you. You only get one chance. Once it’s lost, it’s lost forever."
"But I..." Shao Huo was still engulfed in unbearable pain, a suffering unimaginable to others. He had a family, friends, a lover—if he killed someone today, what kind of disaster would that be for his family? It was an undeniably heavy blow. But whenever he remembered being bullied, the blood in his veins would boil, and the immense humiliation would constantly surround his heart.
"You only have one chance! You only have one chance!"
Under the dim bridge, Shao Huo’s emaciated body trembled continuously. He thought several times about picking up the small knife on the ground, but the fear and reluctance stiffened his arms, preventing him from even reaching for it, let alone killing someone.
Lin Zifeng did not continue speaking; his lonely figure slowly disappeared under the bridge.
Seeing Lin Zifeng leave, the gangsters immediately came back to life.
Watching Shao Huo’s trembling body, they began to mock him.
"Coward, you’ll always be just a coward!"
"Come on! Didn’t you want to kill us? Go ahead! Brother, my belly is so itchy, come on, take the knife and stab me!"
Shao Huo was kicked several meters away once again, a shame more agonizing than physical pain causing him to tremble uncontrollably.
His two frail palms began to show veins, and thick tendons on his forehead writhed non-stop.
"Fuck! You think you’re all that because someone’s backing you? Let me tell you, he’s gone now. If you dare, take that knife and stab me!"
The rowdy gangster twisted his neck and shouted arrogantly.
A coward, despised by everyone!
"Don’t push me! Don’t push me!" Shao Huo roared madly.
Another slap sent blood flying from Shao Huo’s mouth!
"So what if I’m pushing you? You coward, do you dare to take the knife and stab me?" The thug deliberately kicked the knife toward Shao Huo, convinced to death that Shao Huo would never pick it up to stab him.
"Come on, stab me to death if you dare!" The thug laughed wildly.
To prove you are not a coward, pick up this knife and kill all those who have bullied you. Let their blood compensate for the dignity you have lost. You are a man, a real man with flesh and blood and a backbone of steel. Are you going to endure being bullied for the rest of your life? One day, when your woman, friends, and family are threatened, will you still endure like today? If you don’t become stronger, no one can help you. You only get one chance. Once it’s lost, it’s lost forever...
The words of Lin Zifeng echoed in Shao Huo’s ears like a lingering echo.
Looking at the thug’s arrogantly ugly face.
At this moment, Shao Huo finally exploded with all the humiliation he had endured over the years.
"I’m going to kill you!"
Suddenly! Taking advantage of the thug’s moment of inattention, Shao Huo picked up the small knife, stood up abruptly, grabbed the collar of the thug who had just kicked him, and plunged the knife into his neck!
Instantly, a bright blood flower splattered all over his face.