[Merit +39.]
[Merit +45.]
Just as Dexter was enjoying the spectacle, two prompts popped up back-to-back.
Sweet! Even happier now!
'The greater the pain, the more merit I get, huh?' Dexter thought, then quickly shelved the idea to continue watching Lip and Ian's misery.
With their feet pierced by multiple nails, the intense pain sent Lip and Ian crashing to the ground. They cried out, desperately trying to get back up and continue running.
But they'd barely managed to stand before they collapsed again.
This fall...
Szzzt! Szzzt! Szzzt!
More nails dug into their bodies.
"Aaaah!!!" Ian immediately screamed in pain and started to cry.
Lip, however, was trying to be tough. Although his eyes were red, he didn't cry, only howling in agony.
Just then, Eddie rushed to the window, saw the ground outside covered in nails, and the horrific sight of Lip. He instantly became ecstatic. "Ha ha! You little punks! I'm gonna kill you!"
Eddie yelled excitedly, then sprinted to the bathroom, grabbed the mop, and charged out the door into the yard's walkway.
There were no nails on the walkway.
Eddie stood at the edge, used the mop to sweep away a few nails in front of him, took two steps forward, raised the mop, and started swinging at Lip, who was struggling to get up again!
Whack! Whack! Whack!
One hit, two hits, three hits!
The sound of the mop hitting Lip's body was a dull thud.
Lip couldn't take it anymore. Tears streamed down his face. He was terrified and started begging, "Stop! Please, let me go! Please, I'm dying! Help, help..."
The next second, Karen, who had been caught red-handed servicing Ian by Eddie, snapped out of her shock. Hearing Lip's screams, she bolted out of the house and rushed over to Eddie, yelling, "Dad! Stop! You stop right now!"
Eddie ignored her and continued to savagely beat Lip.
Karen went ballistic, throwing punches and kicks at Eddie, trying to stop him.
First, he found his own daughter servicing Ian, and now he was being assaulted by his own daughter...
Eddie finally stopped hitting Lip.
Lip was completely wrecked, sprawled across the ground full of nails, his body trembling, whimpering non-stop.
Eddie glanced at Karen, who looked like a wild animal, then at Lip, who was lying half-dead on the nails. Without a word, he walked out of the yard to find Ian!
Seeing this, Karen didn't hesitate or give chase. She cautiously approached Lip.
Kneeling next to him, Karen was panicking. "Lip, Lip, are you okay?"
"Call, call an, am, ambulance, the pol, police, quick, save, save Ian," Lip stammered out through the pain.
"Okay, okay," Karen mumbled, completely distraught, pulling out her phone and dialing 911.
At the same time, Eddie found Ian, who was sobbing and practically bleeding everywhere, and started beating him mercilessly with the mop. "You little punk! You shouldn't have messed with my daughter!"
"I'm gonna leave you broken today!!!"
Eddie was seriously out for blood with Ian, the primary culprit, hitting him harder with every swing!
In less than half a minute, Ian was beaten into silence.
Just then, Sheila, who had been watching from the window the whole time, unsure what to do, desperately shouted at Eddie, "Eddie, stop! You're going to kill him! Stop it right now..."
Eddie heard her and looked up at Sheila.
Karen ran over and saw Ian's horrific state. "Dad, I called the cops! They'll be here any second!"
As soon as she finished speaking,
Woo-woo! Woo-woo!
A police siren wailed from not too far away...
Hearing the sound, Eddie turned his head toward the sirens...
Dexter did the same.
A few seconds later, Eddie blinked, calmed down a bit, and threw the mop away.
---
[Merit +89.]
[Merit +98.]
More notifications appeared.
Dexter saw them and felt completely euphoric.
The reason was simple: this whole turn of events was a flash of genius.
He truly hadn't expected to earn this much merit from it.
Awesome!
A short while later, the police car arrived.
Tony got out and, seeing Lip's gruesome condition, couldn't stop his eye from twitching.
Tony's partner immediately drew his gun.
"On the side! There's another one on the side!" Sheila, afraid to leave the window, shouted loudly to warn them.
Tony and his partner quickly moved and soon saw Ian, who was in even worse shape and looked like he might die any second...
"Eddie! Put your hands up!"
"Get on your knees! Don't do anything stupid!"
Ian looked like he was barely clinging to life, and this was serious.
Tony and his partner didn't dare be careless and yelled in unison.
Eddie, who hadn't run and was waiting for the police, heard them. He didn't resist, obediently raising his hands and kneeling down. "Tony! This little scumbag was screwing my daughter! My Karen is only fifteen, she's underage! This is my yard! I was defending myself!"
"I'm pressing charges! I'm going to put him in jail!!"
Kneeling down, Eddie stated his case clearly and without hesitation.
Hearing this, "O((⊙﹏⊙))o," Tony's heart sank. He realized this had become a major incident!
Ian was indeed lying in Eddie's yard.
And Karen was indeed only fifteen, a minor!
If Ian actually did that to Karen...
The consequences would be unimaginable!
"Eddie, I need to cuff you first! We'll talk about the details back at the station," Tony said, his head pounding. He then signaled his partner to cuff Eddie.
Wooo-wooo!
The ambulance arrived.
Tony didn't waste time and immediately directed the paramedics.
After that, Tony stepped aside and called Fiona.
Fiona was working at the burger joint. She answered the phone, learned what happened, and felt her head spin, nearly losing it. "I'm coming right now!"
Tony knew where Fiona worked and figured it would take her at least ten minutes to get there. "Fiona, go straight to the hospital. Lip and Ian just got into the ambulance. Then, you can't stay at the hospital long. You need to come to the precinct as soon as possible..."
"Eddie said he's pressing charges against Ian."
"If he presses charges, Ian might end up in juvie..."
Fiona went ballistic. "Okay, okay!"
She hung up after two quick affirmations, ignoring everything else, and took off running.
The store manager nearby watched, completely stunned. "Fiona! Where are you going?! You're still on the clock!!"
Fiona didn't look back. "My brother got hurt, I have to go!"
Manager: "..."
---
Under the elevated train tracks.
Knowing the show Shameless so well, Dexter immediately knew that the person on the other end of Tony's call was Fiona. He then realized Fiona would definitely ditch work and rush either here or to the hospital...
'What kind of boss can put up with an employee like that?'
Dexter shook his head with a smile. 'This main quest is going to be tough to complete. There's so much to do.'
Thanks to the patron [Abao Dai] for the tip. Much appreciated.