After Suo Tian asked his question, the room fell silent for two seconds.
The middle-aged man, looking hesitant, addressed Suo Tian: "Boss…"
Suo Tian waved him off, cutting him short.
His dark eyes slowly swept over everyone, his voice much slower than usual: "Who threw the first punch?"
Yangyang, who had been calming Tingyun with Uncle Gazi, hesitated for a moment before pointing at the big guy and said to Suo Tian: "He started it. We couldn't hold back after seeing him kick my sister."
Hearing Yangyang's words, Suo Tian's expression didn't change.
He just looked in the direction Yangyang pointed, at the big guy whose face had darkened.
"Was it you?" Suo Tian asked.
The big guy looked up, somewhat panicked, and glanced at Suo Tian, then awkwardly stepped closer to the man in the white coat.
"I'm asking you a question," Suo Tian squinted.
"Th-that woman's insults were too harsh. I couldn't hold back, so I…" The big guy's previous arrogance vanished; under Suo Tian's gaze, he practically wanted to shrink his neck into his chest.
Before Suo Tian could respond further, the man in the white coat, standing in front of them, chuckled and waved at the people behind him: "Alright, alright. This is such a small matter. Just get these people out. We'll explain the rules to them later. And Yang Zhuang, I'm not kidding—the girl is Suo Tian's. How could you hit her? Apologize, now."
Hearing this, the big guy glared at me unwillingly.
He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the big bearded man: "Dr. Lin, the authority here currently rests with our boss. Don't act as if you're in charge. Whatever our boss decides, that's how it will be handled. Don't forget, the T Team also falls under the C Team's jurisdiction."
The "Dr. Lin" the bearded man mentioned was clearly the man in the white coat.
Lin chuckled and said: "I was just saying. We're all on the same side; no need to make things ugly. Apologizing is enough. After all, the C Team is only temporarily stationed here. When you leave, we'll still need the T Team brothers to handle security, right?"
I couldn't help but glance at Lin twice.
He looked to be in his thirties or forties, appearing relatively young, wearing gold-rimmed glasses.
As the saying goes, a person's appearance reflects their mind.
From Lin's look, it was clear how devious he was—sleazy and repulsive, especially that pregnant-like belly under his white coat.
At first sight, it reminded me of certain officials from the previous world's relevant authorities.
The middle-aged man, who had been hesitant the whole time, now nodded in rare agreement after hearing Dr. Lin's words.
He said, "Exactly. We're all in the same team. Right now, this point is just the two of our squads. We're executing the same mission. Things are practically done, so we shouldn't ruin the harmony over such a trivial matter."
Suo Tian didn't respond, only staring at the big guy for a long moment.
Just as the middle-aged man finished speaking, Suo Tian slightly turned to look at him, then immediately turned back.
I noticed his wrist twist, and in an instant, a small silver steel knife was clenched between his fingers.
"Boss!" The middle-aged man also clearly noticed the knife in Suo Tian's hand.
His face instantly changed, and he shouted out in alarm.
At that moment, before anyone else could react, there was a sharp whoosh sound, followed by a short, sharp scream from the big guy.
But the scream only lasted half a moment before he collapsed to the ground.
I quickly looked toward the sound and froze in shock.
The small steel knife that had been in Suo Tian's hand was now firmly lodged in the center of the big guy's forehead.
Almost the entire blade had penetrated his head.
Though the big guy no longer made a sound, his body convulsed uncontrollably up and down.
Within a few seconds, after kicking his legs twice, he was completely lifeless.
For a long moment, the room remained completely silent.
Everyone was stunned by what had just happened—until Li Yuxin, Uncle Qian's grandson, and Wang Tingyun's three children collectively burst into high-pitched cries, shattering the tense silence like a mirror breaking.
The big guy's body left a dark red pool of blood spreading all around him, glaringly vivid.
Dr. Lin's face twisted as he looked at the fallen man, then turned toward Suo Tian.
After a long pause, he spoke in an oddly cautious tone, "Suo Tian… was that necessary?"
Suo Tian didn't respond.
He made a hand gesture to the nearby black-clad men, and immediately someone stepped forward to carry the big guy's body out.
I hadn't expected Suo Tian to kill so easily.
I was still completely in shock, staring at him blankly.
Han Xue and Xu Shu next to me silently gripped my hand, equally stunned.
Once the floor was completely cleaned, Suo Tian scanned everyone again and said, "These are my rules."
His gaze then fixed on the lean man, adding slowly, "From now on, behave. I don't care about your rules, but when you follow them, make sure you don't break mine."
He then glanced around one last time, finally fixing his gaze on me, sizing me up carefully before moving his eyes away.
No one spoke after that.
I saw Dr. Lin's face turn visibly green with anger, but after locking eyes with Suo Tian's dark stare, he just snorted coldly and turned to leave.
The lean man and his group hurriedly followed.
Uncle Qian and Aunt Qian were also brusquely escorted out by Team T's leader and her people.
After this incident had turned deadly, there was nothing more we could say.
We could only watch helplessly as Uncle Qian and Aunt Qian, who seemed to have aged an entire year in an instant, sighed heavily and left the room with the children.
The middle-aged man whispered something to Suo Tian, then followed the big-bearded man and the other black-clad men out, leaving Suo Tian alone in the room.
Taozi had been kicked several times and was now carried back by Zhou Wen.
Han Xue went out with Uncle Gazi to comfort the frightened Ting Yun.
Zhang Hongsheng always tried to avoid Suo Tian, so he also left together with Chen Pu.
The room remained quiet for quite some time.
Shen Feng glanced at me several times, and seeing that I didn't plan to speak first, he cleared his throat, walked over to Suo Tian, and spoke apologetically, "I'm truly sorry. We didn't expect it to turn out this way. Those people went too far, and we couldn't just stand by… Anyway, I apologize, brother, for causing you trouble."
Suo Tian looked at Shen Feng for a moment, patted his shoulder, but didn't respond.
Instead, his gaze shifted to me. "Are you hurt?"
I slightly sucked in a breath from the pain in my swollen stomach and shook my head at Suo Tian. "No."
"How can you not be? I saw that kick—it was hard enough. I'm telling you, don't push yourself. If anything hurts, just say so." Yangyang walked toward me, disbelief written all over his face, scanning me up and down like a scanner.
I pushed him aside, trying to endure the pain, and said to Suo Tian and the others, "I just don't understand. Uncle Qian and the others were taken in by the valley and help with some farm work. But was it necessary to polarize things to this extent? Isn't this insulting them? Do they not even have the right to come in here? Are the people in the white houses somehow more noble? Or do Uncle Qian and the others carry some kind of infectious disease? They were only concerned about me, just came over to chat, and yet they were treated with such a dramatic purge?"
Hearing this, Xu Shu chimed in, "I really don't understand these people. At a time like this, is it really necessary to hurt someone's feelings over such ridiculous rules? Their attitude is so terrible, acting all high and mighty—someone who didn't know better would think we'd committed some unforgivable crime."
Shen Feng waved his hand to interrupt us. "This is their place, so of course they have their own rules. Even Suo Tian has to follow them. There's nothing for us to say. Anyway, we were impulsive today."
Hearing Shen Feng, I turned to Suo Tian, thought for a moment, and asked, "Do you know these rules? Or are these disgusting rules ones you set yourself?"
Suo Tian shook his head. "This outpost has only recently been put into use. Previously it was managed by Team D, but Team D was completely wiped out in Beijing not long ago. I just took over."
"That must mean those rules were set by the previous people. They're really stubborn—those people are all dead, and yet they still enforce all these weird rules," Yangyang shook his head.
Jun Di added, "You don't get it. They've been acting as guards in this valley for a long time, with nothing meaningful to do every day. If they can't strut and show off in front of people like Uncle Qian and the others, where would they even find a sense of self or superiority? The more they pretend, the more they forget their own abilities, and eventually they start looking down on everyone."
I strongly agreed with Jun Di.
He was absolutely right.
Just from the way they carried themselves when they first entered, it was obvious—classic bluffing, acting tough by taking advantage of us as outside survivors under their roof, while they were proper insiders.
They dared to be so arrogant, treating a feather as if it were a sword, completely forgetting that the owner of that feather was already dead far away.
Thinking carefully, weren't there many similar cases in life before?
People with a little bit of power always want to use it, hoping to gain respect, fear, and admiration from others.
Otherwise, how could city enforcers, who were supposed to maintain order, have clashed so seriously with the public?
It's all because they made the same mistake—overstepping authority.
It's nonsense.
In the end, it's just a bunch of people taking a feather for a sword and going overboard, making the public furious.
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