Chapter 246: Evil Will Be Punished
Ning Xiyue stayed silent, listening intently, waiting for Comrade Li to continue explaining the child’s identity.
“His father is none other than the newly appointed mayor of your town,” Comrade Li said bluntly, revealing the truth without holding back.
If he hadn’t told her, Ning Xiyue would have eventually found out anyway, so he figured it was better to prepare her in advance.
“What?”
Ning Xiyue was shocked. The news stunned her — could it really be such a coincidence?
In fact, she had briefly considered this possibility a few days ago when she overheard some of the aunties in the team talking. For a fleeting moment, she wondered if the child might be the mayor’s son.
But she had dismissed the thought, reasoning that bad people who abduct children for trafficking usually take them far away, not so close by. After all, a town mayor held some influence within the county, making it easier to track down a missing child.
So she didn’t take that fleeting thought seriously.
Who would’ve thought that these criminals were so vicious, taking advantage of the darkness under the lamp — and actually succeeding. For over a month, the child couldn’t be found.
The poor child was so close to home and family, yet couldn’t return, forced to suffer.
These people were brazen.
And this cruelty wasn’t just a physical torment — it was a psychological one. Anyone with weaker resolve would have been driven insane.
“Yes, it really is the mayor’s child. His entire family went crazy when he went missing. The elders ended up in the hospital, while the younger ones grew white-haired from worry, searching everywhere yet unable to find him.”
Comrade Li continued, recounting what he knew.
“Now that the child has been found, it’s known that he spent the past month in that house within the county. His hands, feet, and spirit are damaged, and the parents suffered greatly. But the child being back is a tremendous blessing. It’s given them hope and a reason to keep going.”
Such events were truly heartrending. Natural disasters are tragic, but human-caused disasters are often far worse — most calamities are man-made.
“By the way, Comrade Li, do you know about the bone the child was holding?”
Ning Xiyue suddenly remembered the other bone, tied with a separate chain. That child was the most pitiful of all. Even in death, his bone was hung there — sheer cruelty.
She didn’t know what that bone was about.
Could it have been another atrocity committed by those insane traffickers?
The child held that bone tightly, refusing to let go. There had to be a reason.
At the mention of the bone, Comrade Li’s expression darkened, his teeth grinding with hatred toward the traffickers and the child’s family.
“That bone is a little girl’s leg bone,” he said, “according to the traffickers, the girl was secretly sold for twenty yuan by her grandmother, who didn’t like girls. Later…”
As he drove, Comrade Li recounted the tragic story of the little girl to Ning Xiyue, his indignation evident.
After being sold, the girl was meant to be a child bride in the mountains. The buyer was already arranged, but before the transaction, she died.
On the day of the transaction, the traffickers neglected to give her sedatives, allowing her to escape. She also obtained an antidote and fled with Taotao, the mayor’s child, who had been beaten frequently for two days.
The little girl fed Taotao the antidote and tried to escape together. But outside was the mountains, unfamiliar to them. They couldn’t get far before being discovered and pursued by the traffickers preparing for the transaction.
During the chase, both fell, but the girl instinctively protected Taotao, resulting in her falling onto sharp rocks, leaving a hole in her back and half her life gone. Taotao was unharmed.
The buyer refused to accept her, and the traffickers didn’t treat her, abandoning her in a wolf-infested area. When they returned, all that remained was a bone covered in teeth marks.
The traffickers tied the bone at the cellar door to intimidate the children inside, especially Taotao, also tied there.
Because orders from above stated that Taotao couldn’t be sold and only had to survive, the traffickers used him as a scapegoat and watchdog — often withholding food and beating him when displeased.
This explained why, the first time Ning Xiyue saw Taotao on screen, he had gobbled down the cockroach so quickly — afraid the traffickers would ruin the only food he had.
And whenever the third child approached him, Taotao would be kicked.
Taotao held onto the bone during his rescue because the little girl was the only one who had helped, protected, and secretly fed him.
“This is infuriating! Just hearing your account makes me furious! How can there be such a cruel grandmother and such wicked traffickers? Comrade Li, that grandmother’s actions are criminal! Was she ever arrested? People like her deserve to be punished along with the traffickers!”
Ning Xiyue slapped her thighs in anger. How could there be such a sexist grandmother? She wasn’t even a woman herself? And yet she sold her own granddaughter. The despair… it was inhuman.
Comrade Li laughed heartily when mentioning the old woman.
“Just as heaven intended, we went to arrest people only to find that old woman had died. Wrapped in a straw mat, left unattended with no burial. Her sons were busy fighting over the inheritance, faces red in anger.”
For the first time, Comrade Li felt like laughing at someone without respect, joking heartlessly:
“The townspeople said she slipped at night. If taken to the hospital in time, she could have survived. But her sons were too greedy to pay for care. No one attended to her bedridden, paralyzed wife, and her condition worsened. Within ten days, she was dragged to her death.”
Upon hearing this, Ning Xiyue exclaimed with satisfaction: “Serves her right! Let her redeem herself in the afterlife for the little girl. What a terrible person. I wonder what she felt seeing her sons treat her this way before she died.”
“By the way, what happened to the traffickers?” Ning Xiyue asked, eager.
“They were all extremely evil. Each had abducted many children and women. All were executed by firing squad,” Comrade Li replied with relief.
This case involved many people and levels of authority. Some victims were relatives of officials. To prevent complications, everyone was executed at once.
Hearing this, Ning Xiyue felt immense satisfaction.
Evil gets its due; it’s never a matter of ‘too late.’
The net of heaven is vast and nothing escapes it. Evil-doers will be punished!
