"Missing a leg, you can earn an extra five thousand a month!"

"The more miserable you are, the more you earn. The harder your life, the more money flows like water!"

"One person, twenty thousand a month, what if it’s ten people? Two hundred thousand! That’s two million four hundred thousand a year!"

Zheng Shijie spoke, and in a few sentences, revealed a shocking profit.

Ten people, two million four hundred thousand...

If you can control fifty people... that’s tens of millions a year!

Net profit in the tens of millions!

Billionaires, you know? Those people with companies valued over a billion, don’t necessarily earn ten million net profit in a year!

And Zheng Shijie only needs to control fifty people...

He alone can rival a company valued over a billion!

"If there are a hundred people, two hundred people...."

Zheng Shijie muttered like a man possessed.

As his words fell, Sun Chuan gradually felt horrified, the hair on his arms stood on end, his whole body shivered, as if a ghost was blowing wind behind him.

Two hundred people, that’s around fifty million a year...

Cost?

No cost!

Qi Yu’s forehead bore corrosion marks, caused by corrosive acidic substances like sulfuric acid.

This stuff isn’t worth much; waist and hip bone injuries are caused with a stick, with some effort.

At most... it’s the so-called dislocating a thigh, requiring essential bleeding-stopping medical tools.

These things... aren’t worth much!

In fact, these people who earn you tens of millions don’t need to be treated well at all!

Serve them good food and drinks?

What if they get fat!? If they aren’t skin and bones, who would give money!?

Should we treat their illnesses? Getting sick is what you want! As soon as they’re sick, money flows like water from a turned-on faucet!

So, not even slops; some spoiled meals will do!

"Modern Beggar Gang...."

Xu Liang looked at the other party, and suddenly spoke a word.

Zheng Shijie paused, subconsciously lifted his head, those eyes filled with greed looked at Xu Liang, regaining a glimmer of clarity, then silently nodded.

"Mm."

"Alright, I understand."

Xu Liang nodded to show he understood, then felt a tremendous pressure weighing on his shoulders.

Behind him, Yang Ruoxi hesitated, wanting to ask something but feeling it inappropriate in this setting.

"Which river were those dozen jars thrown into?"

Five years ago.

Inside those dozen jars were a dozen ’finished products.’

But in 2000, Upper City set up a crackdown plan against human traffickers.

They set up checkpoints along the way, and searched strictly even during New Year.

Unaware of this, Zhang Yong and Zheng Shijie continued transporting, ran into a police investigation, feared trouble, and finally forced the checkpoint.

During their escape, over a dozen jars, people included, were thrown into the river....

It only takes a few minutes, and these people would die directly!

Unsurprisingly... those dozen or so bodies are still at the river bottom!

"Is there anywhere else to dump in Jiang City?"

Zheng Shijie laughed self-deprecatingly, then fell silent, finally saying:

"Cheng River."

"Where exactly in Cheng River?" Xu Liang asked again.

"Cheng River Bridge, I can’t remember anything more specific." Finished speaking, Zheng Shijie remained silent.

"Mm."

Xu Liang stood up, looked back at Sun Chuan behind him.

Including the detention center head, the people behind him looked extremely grim, especially Sun Chuan, who seemed like a bronze statue, face turning green.

Over a dozen people...

Not to mention those other so-called ’transactions.’

Just that one instance five years ago resulted in over a dozen deaths!!!

What level of case is this?

Breaking the sky wouldn’t be too much!!!

The more he thought, the worse his face looked, until a voice beside him awakened him.

"Take him, to Cheng River."

Xu Liang looked at the dark night outside, took a deep breath, and said. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Although it’s already six in the evening now.

No one would think about resting before going to retrieve the bodies!

Sun Chuan looked toward the detention center head.

The head took a deep breath, nodded to indicate he would make arrangements.

Seeing this.

Xu Liang stood up and, instead of asking Zheng Shijie anything, walked out of the reception room into the hall, quietly waiting for Sun Chuan to gather personnel and the head to organize.

"Bang!"

Xu Liang lit a cigarette, the flame burning the tobacco quietly in the hall.

He sat on the chair, took a deep drag, feeling the nicotine fill his chest, the weight on his shoulders no longer feeling quite as heavy.

Just as he exhaled the smoke, watching it drift away in the breeze.

Suddenly, shadows appeared by his sides.

"Bang!"

Su Yu and Yang Ruoxi sat on his left and right.

Su Yu sniffed, thought for a bit, saw Xu Liang smoking his third, and pulled the cigarette from his mouth, then extinguished it.

"Smoking too much isn’t good," she whispered.

Yang Ruoxi took out a lollipop from her bag and, without a word, stuck it in his mouth.

"Pop!"

Feeling the taste in his mouth, Xu Liang smacked his lips a bit.

Fine, he wouldn’t smoke then, after all, he wasn’t addicted.

Seeing this, Yang Ruoxi hesitated, wanting to speak but remained silent until Xu Liang couldn’t stand it any longer and spoke up:

"You can ask whatever you want now."

Upon hearing this, the other immediately asked:

"Are they... really doing this?"

"What else? You don’t really think Zheng Shijie is just messing with the police for fun, do you?" Xu Liang replied.

Yang Ruoxi and Su Yu looked shocked and amazed.

Really, just for begging, they would cruelly transform people...

But.....

"This wasn’t invented by Zheng Shijie and his people."

"This thing has existed.... "

Xu Liang thought for a while but couldn’t recall when it started, so he said, "At least a thousand years."

A thousand years...

So it existed even in ancient times!?

Yang Ruoxi and Su Yu were even more amazed.

"Have you heard of ’采生折割’ ?" Xu Liang patiently explained.

The so-called ’采生折割’ isn’t about picking flowers and grasses.

But targeting humans!

采 means select, ’生’ refers to life, 折割 means exactly what it implies, breaking and cutting.

Put together, it’s the act of selecting life, breaking and cutting.

"The Beggar Gang invented it."

"Either from human traffickers... or by outright kidnapping, then cruelly transforming them, like walking a dog, leading them to the streets to beg."

Xu Liang paused and continued, "Hmm, similar to training kids to be thieves, but more brutal, and more profitable!"

"More brutal... and there’s the so-called ’Beast Creation Technique’"

The so-called Beast Creation Technique.

It’s something between legend and reality.

Literally, it uses the methods of ’采生折割’ to create beasts!

As the rumor goes.

There’s a street performer with a dog whose fur is pitch-black, extremely intelligent, able to jump through hoops of fire, and understand other commands.

Moreover, whenever someone throws money, the dog would even put its hands together, stand upright, and utter blessings like ’May your fortune be as vast as the sea and your life as enduring as the mountains’ in a strange tone.

"This isn’t a dog, it’s a person."

"Silence a child with drugs, then sew or outright break their limbs to make them resemble a dog, then cover them in dog skin, and train them to utter fixed blessings—the so-called ’talking dog’ is born."

Xu Liang explained.

All such things were crafted by the Beggar Gang throughout history.

And Yang Ruoxi and Su Yu, at this time, felt their world views fiercely shaken.

The two young girls stood there, their delicate faces showing signs of bewilderment.

采生折割, Beast Creation Technique, talking dog...

From birth until now, they had no idea such things existed in the world.

Just hearing it was as if a missile exploded in their minds!

"Don’t worry, these practices will become rarer as time goes by."

Seeing this, Xu Liang still spoke a word of comfort.

One is his junior sister, the other a tagalong.

These are people close to him, their mental state can’t be compromised!

Upon hearing this, the two finally snapped back, nodded, but still couldn’t help feeling a bit scared.

Yang Ruoxi just thought for a moment, if she were kidnapped to be made into this...

She felt a chill down her spine and instinctively moved closer to Xu Liang.

Until.

Sun Chuan’s unpleasant face appeared before Xu Liang, his expression grim, and he said to Xu Liang:

"Everyone is gathered!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Liang paused, immediately stood up.

"Let’s go!"