Yama Rising

Chapter 784: Forced Relocation

After grasping Tongtong's soul, he made a hand seal before crushing the soul.

Soul searching was a basic technique for Emissaries of Hell, but it was also an extremely effective and practical one.

If his theory really did prove to be correct, then all of the residents of the entire Huang Clan's village were beyond saving! All of these people deserved to die! A place like this, one that was so evil and putrid, shouldn't exist on the map of Cathay!

A dead person could never live the life of a living person. The best place for them to go to was his Yanluo Palace.

Whoosh... A wave of information washed into his mind, and a series of images appeared around him. It was as if he were strolling through a corridor of memories detailing the life of Tongtong.

This was what he had seen... A group of rowdy individuals barged their way into the earthen building, holding weapons such as wooden rods and knives. They were all dressed like gangsters, and Tongtong's parents screamed upon seeing them before hurriedly hiding Tongtong under the bed.

They weren't the only ones who had noticed the arrival of these unwelcome intruders. There was a confrontation taking place in the entire earthen building. The intruders had great strength in numbers, and all of them seemed to be cast from the stereotypical gangster mold with bald heads and lit cigarettes hanging out of their mouths. There were at least several hundred of them, and they filled the entire Huang Clan's earthen building.

The entire building was quickly plunged into chaos, and amid the countless clashing voices, it was impossible to make out exactly what was being said. However, the fear and fury hanging in the air were tangible even through this memory. Soon, a loud bang rang out, followed by the sound of children bursting into tears and adult screams, and this conflict was finally escalated into a physical altercation.

Boom! A closet was thrown down from upstairs and was smashed into smithereens on the ground below. Immediately thereafter, dressing tables, washing machines, cups, clothes... All types of household appliances and items began to fall like rain from all of the households.

"Are you going to move or not?!" The memories were very fragmented, and the perspective suddenly shifted, presenting an image of a bald young man smashing the wooden rod in his hand viciously down onto the woman before him. His eyes were red with fury, and he took a puff of the cigarette in his mouth before aiming a kick at the woman's stomach, then spat on her as he yelled, "You took the money, yet you don't want to move?! Let me ask you this again: are you going to move or not?!"

"If there's any god out there, please! Open your eyes!!" Blood was gushing out of a cut on the woman's head, and she was sobbing violently as she desperately grabbed towards the young man. "You only gave me three thousand in relocation compensation! Do you have no soul?!"

"So you're not moving, is that it?" The bald young man smashed his wooden rod down onto the woman's arm. "Don't say I didn't give you a chance!"

"Gods, what did we do to deserve this?!" An elderly woman with a head of white hair rushed out with tears streaming down her face as she shielded the woman with her own body. "Why don't you kill me, you imbecile!"

The rod fell viciously onto the elderly woman's shoulder, and she didn't even utter a single sound as she fell unconscious.

"Mother!! I, I'll fucking kill you!!"

There were far too many similar scenes unfolding all around Qin Ye, and it was truly like hell on earth.

"You like watching TV, do ya?! Smash it! Smash everything in here!!"

"You don't want to move, is that right?! You want to continue living in this rubbish dump?! Fine, I'll grant you your wish!"

Slap! A vicious slap was imprinted onto the cheek of a round-faced woman, and her hair was completely disheveled as she attempted to rush out like a madwoman, only to be held back by her family members. Several gangsters were currently carrying her television out of the room. Back in the 90s, a television was considered to be one of the three major pieces of furniture [1], and the television had only been purchased after her recent wedding.

"Stop... Please... I'm begging you... Waaah..." The woman was sobbing uncontrollably, and she was clawing at her own face so hard that her fingernails were drawing blood. However, the only response that she received was the excited yells of the gangsters, and the television was soon shattered against the ground below.

"Keep going! Smash everything they have! Let's see just how stubborn all of you are!!" The urge to destroy was like a wild beast that was constantly lurking in everyone's hearts, and in this hellish scene, that wild beast had been completely unleashed. The gangsters who had just smashed the television were yelling with all their might with veins bulging on their necks, as if they had just done something that they were immensely proud of.

Qin Ye saw an elderly woman desperately shielding the child beneath her with her own body while vicious attacks rained down upon her from all sides. She didn't even dare to raise her head as she shielded the child like a helpless mother hen. Finally, a rod struck the back of her head, and she slumped down onto the ground.

Qin Ye saw a young man having his head repeatedly smashed into the wall by several gangsters, and there was already so much blood on his face that it was impossible to discern his appearance. The room behind him was clearly a room for newlyweds with large red "囍" characters [2] plastered all over the walls, but the room had already been smashed to pieces...

Veins were beginning to bulge on Qin Ye's forehead. He had always known that humanity was capable of the greatest kindness, but also capable of the utmost cruelty. Swept up by peer pressure, these gangsters had renounced their humanity and transformed into animals, into demons.

He had a bad feeling that something extremely tragic was going to happen if things were to continue like this.

These gangsters were already walking a tightrope above the abyss of insanity, and just the tiniest spark would escalate this further into something that completely spiraled out of everyone's control.

Soon, this spark arrived.

"Are you moving or not?!" Inside a household, a gangster threw a vicious punch into a thin and frail woman's stomach, and she immediately crumpled to the ground as her legs gave out from under her. In the next instant, the door was thrown open, and a man rushed in while waving a wooden rod around in a deranged manner.

"Fuck you!! I'm going to kill all of you!!" His eyes were completely bloodshot, and his glasses were sitting lopsidedly on his face as he swung his wooden rod around like a madman. He had clearly never fought before, evidenced by the complete lack of technique, and he also didn't have the courage to truly kill these gangsters. All he was doing was swinging the rod wildly in an attempt to protect his family, but unfortunately for him, his wild strikes struck the leader of the gangsters squarely on the nose.

His strength had been amplified countless times by fury and adrenaline, and the lead gangster's nose was instantly broken as blood gushed forth in a frenzy.

He threw his hand over his own nose as he fell back, and all of the gangsters in the surrounding area immediately rushed toward him.

"Brother Ma!"

"Brother Ma, are you alright?"

All of a sudden, Brother Ma jumped up again and brushed off all of his lackeys.

He was very tall and imposing with a muscular physique, but at this moment, half of his face had been reduced to a mass of gorey blood and flesh. He gnashed his teeth together as he rushed over and grabbed the man by the head before slamming his head viciously into the wall over and over again.

"You dare to hit me, you little shit?!"

Thump!! 

"Who the fuck do you think you are?!"

Thump!! 

The woman off to the side was already completely rooted to the spot, seemingly in a catatonic state. However, she then immediately snapped out of it and desperately rushed over to Brother Ma as she screamed, "Stop! Please!! You're going to kill him!!"

Brother Ma completely ignored her. Thump thump thump!  After having his head smashed into the wall close to 20 times, the young man's breathing had become extremely faint. Only then did Brother Ma stop as he closed his hand around the man's throat and spat on his completely disfigured face. "Are you moving or not?!"

The only response that he received was the man's breathing, which had become almost nonexistent at this point.

"Are you moving or not?!"

Ptui... The man spat onto Brother Ma's face. Brother Ma touched the ball of spit that had just landed on his face, and his lips began to tremble. This was a sign that his rage had reached a boiling point.

"Stop!! He's going to die!!" Brother Ma dragged the young man over to the railing of the earthen building amid the woman's heart-wrenching screams.

"You think you're top shit, huh?!" He glowered at the man with a deranged look in his eyes as he forced the young man's body against the wooden railing with all his might. "Not so tough now, are you?! Hmm?! Are you moving or not?! ARE. YOU. MOVING. OR..."

Before he had a chance to finish, the railing snapped.

Everyone looked on with dazed expressions as the young man fell toward the ground. There was an incredulous look even on his face as he fell through the air, falling into the chaos down below...

Thump... A dull thump rang out alongside an eruption of blood.

Qin Ye closed his eyes as he recoiled slightly.

"Human nature can truly be disgusting..." He heaved a faint sigh and was just about to continue watching, but this was where Tongtong's memory snuffed out like a dying candle flame.

Thus, Qin Ye reopened his eyes, and upon seeing this, Kwon Kyung-ho immediately asked, "Did you find what you wanted to see, My Lord?"

"No," Qin Ye replied in a forlorn manner. "His memories aren't complete, and I only saw some things that I didn't want to see..."

"What was it?"

Qin Ye didn't respond. He merely cast his gaze toward the boarded windows, and only after a long while did he shake his head in response.

Forced relocation.

There was most likely barely anyone left who recalled how much blood the real estate developers had on their hands from the commencement of the real estate boom, particularly the real estate developers in the more rural areas.

This was a cake that was dripping with blood. Forced relocation could lower the relocation compensation from tens of thousands to less than a tenth of that, and of course, they weren't going to provide housing, either. It was clear that the Huang Clan's earthen building had undergone a forced relocation, and he now understood why there was such a massive crack from the second floor to the fourth floor.

No one cared how the original residents of the relocated sites were treated.

No one was interested to hear whether they wanted to continue living or not.

In the face of cold hard cash, their lives were as worthless as excrement.

However, this wasn't what he wanted to see; he wanted to know how Tongtong had become like this.

Currently, he already had some theories. He suspected that the person who had turned Tongtong into this gruesome monster was none other than that irredeemably heinous soul. He was also almost certain that this was the person Chu Renmei wanted to find, but this still wasn't enough.

Firstly, why did Chu Renmei want to possess him?

This indicated that the person she was going after was someone that she couldn't touch. They could be one of the residents in this building, in which case there would be no need for Chu Renmei to kill them as all of the residents were living like zombies anyway. Alternatively... This person wasn't in the earthen building! He was situated somewhere that the residents of the Huang Clan's village couldn't go, and Chu Renmei had to possess someone in order to leave and get to them!

Secondly, even if the person who had turned Tongtong into this monster and the person who had reduced this village into this living hell weren't the same person, they had to be closely connected with one another. However, was this really enough for someone to be branded with the title of irredeemably heinous?

Going off the first theory, there was only one possible candidate who could be the subject for Chu Renmei's vengeance: it was the person who had dug out her remains and thrown them into the waterhole.

This was a theory that made sense, but this was simply a result of capitalist system shortcomings, so it still wasn't enough to have one branded as irredeemably heinous.

For comparison, take a look at Dong Zhuo. He burned down the ancient Dusk City that had stood for over 1,000 years, killing tens of thousands of people. Then take a look at Qin Hui, his name was virtually synonymous with treachery in the historical records, and he had indirectly brought about the downfall of a dynasty. What about Su Daji? She was a demonic empress who had also brought about the end of a dynasty. 

How could someone who had merely ruined a village possibly rank alongside the likes of the aforementioned names and be given the title of irredeemably heinous?

That would make the title far too cheap.

"In any case, I have to find Huang Jiansen. He knows why the Huang Clan's earthen building became like this, and he knows everything about Chu Renmei, including her motive and why she hasn't touched the residents of the Huang Clan's village. Perhaps he isn't the final puzzle piece to solve this mystery, but he's definitely at least the key for me to access the next part of the puzzle!"

Information was what he needed the most right now. It felt as if he were completing a jigsaw puzzle. It was impossible to tell anything from individual pieces, but once the puzzle was complete, everything would be made clear.

Thus, he couldn't afford to give up even a single puzzle piece, even ones that appeared to be completely inconsequential.

He buried the memory of the forced relocation deep into his heart, then exited the room.

The wind blew the refreshing fragrance of the morning toward him, and he heaved a forlorn sigh as he appraised the Huang Clan's earthen building, which seemed to have come back to life.

There are still two days left including today. In two days, the Cold Suit Festival will arrive. I don't have much time left... 

[1] [The other two are the refrigerator and the washing machine]

[2] [The 囍 character is two 喜 characters placed side by side. 喜 means joy/happiness, so 囍 essentially means double joy/happiness, celebrating the coming together of two people, and it's customary to see red 囍 characters all over the place in Chinese weddings.]