Wudu, located in the southwestern inland of Huaxia, in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.
Wudu is a city with unique characteristics, known as a 'mountain city' and a 'river city'. Its terrain is predominantly hilly and mountainous, with mountains accounting for 76% of the area. The Yangtze River flows through the entire region for 691 kilometers, converging with other rivers such as the Jialing River and the Wu River.
The scenery here is unlike anywhere else!
Following the address provided by Lu Ming, Long Wang sped like lightning and arrived at the riverbank.
There were many villages of various sizes here, and most of the villagers made a living by fishing. People relied on the mountains for sustenance and the water for their livelihood. Naturally, living by the Yangtze River meant living off the Yangtze River.
There were many fishermen.
Lu Ming and Long Wang strolled along the riverbank, enjoying the scenery, while people constantly approached them, trying to sell them various fish products.
Finally, they reached their destination.
But before they could get closer, they witnessed an extremely bizarre scene: over a dozen fishermen were kneeling in a row, heads bowed, like children who had made a mistake.
In front of them, several young men in suits and ties, completely out of place in their surroundings, were scolding the fishermen incessantly.
Lu Ming and Long Wang exchanged glances, frowning simultaneously.
A crowd of onlookers gathered around.
Lu Ming walked over and asked a middle-aged woman, "Auntie, what are they doing?"
The middle-aged woman sighed repeatedly, "What else can they be doing? Bullying people."
Lu Ming didn't understand, "How are they bullying people?"
The middle-aged woman explained, "Those kneeling fishermen owe money to the Fan family and can't repay it. So, the Fan family sends thugs to bully them every now and then."
Long Wang, standing beside him, remarked, "If they owe money and don't repay it, they are in the wrong."
"Pah!" the middle-aged woman retorted, "What do you mean 'owe money and don't repay'? The Fan family's money can never be repaid! Their interest is calculated daily, and it's 50% of the principal plus the total interest. That means if you borrow 100 yuan from them, you'll have to repay 150 yuan the next day, and 225 yuan the day after!"
What?
Long Wang was stunned. It was his first time seeing interest calculated this way. After a month or two, the interest would be terrifyingly high.
Long Wang questioned, "With such high interest, do people still borrow from them?"
The middle-aged woman sighed sadly, "These few men were in urgent need of money and couldn't get it from anywhere else. In desperation, they borrowed some money from the Fan family, thinking they could manage for three to five days and then repay it. But then..."
"Then what happened?" Long Wang asked.
The middle-aged woman looked at the fishermen with great sympathy and said, "When they went to repay, the Fan family disappeared. They claimed the person handling the transactions wasn't there, delaying it for a whole week! You know, with such exorbitant interest, after a week, it becomes impossible to repay. From then on, these fishermen were blacklisted by the Fan family and were bullied every few days."
Hearing this, Lu Ming and Long Wang roughly understood the situation.
They hadn't expected the Fan family to engage in such business.
Long Wang was furious, "This is illegal! Those fishermen don't have to repay the money!"
"Don't repay?" The middle-aged woman sneered, "It's easy for you to say. Look at those young men, they are all thugs! If you dare not repay, they will beat you to death. Even if the police chase them away, they'll be back in a few days. There's no escaping them."
It was indeed true.
If you got entangled with this group of scoundrels, you could never shake them off.
The middle-aged woman added, "I heard that the one who owes the most has accumulated over 20 million yuan in debt! You know, he originally only borrowed 50,000 yuan."
From 50,000 yuan, compounding daily, it had grown to over 20 million yuan. It was terrifying.
Twenty million yuan was an astronomical sum for an ordinary person, an amount they could never repay in their lifetime. All they could do was resign themselves to fate.
The Fan family was truly wicked.
Long Wang and Lu Ming exchanged another look and walked towards the fishermen.
As they were walking.
They heard one of the young men say, "You dogs, owing money and not repaying. We told you to catch purple copper fish to settle the debt, but you can't even do that. Tell me, what use are you alive? Damn it, a bunch of useless fools, you might as well all die!"
The young man raised a club and swung it down towards the head of a fisherman.
With a thud, the fisherman's head split open, and blood flowed profusely.
The fisherman cried out in pain, clutching his head on the ground, groaning in agony.
The onlookers couldn't stand it anymore and rushed forward, wanting to speak up for the beaten fisherman.
However.
The young man roared, "Anyone who dares to take another step, I'll chop them!"
At his words, no one dared to move an inch.
The young man sneered, "You really think I, Xu Sheng Biao, the Azure-Eyed Flying Dragon, have a good temper? If you push me too far, every single one of you dogs will have your legs broken!"
He was Xu Sheng Biao?
The fishermen retreated, filled with fear.
The name Azure-Eyed Flying Dragon Xu Sheng Biao carried considerable weight in Wudu. Everyone knew him as a notorious, incredibly cruel thug.
Once, someone had dared to cast a glance at him, and he had gouged out the person's eyeballs with his fingers!
His methods were so vicious that people turned pale at the mention of his name.
Upon hearing Xu Sheng Biao's name, the fishermen cowered. No one dared to step forward, not even daring to look at Xu Sheng Biao for fear of having their eyeballs gouged out.
Seeing the villagers' fear, Xu Sheng Biao smiled.
"A bunch of dogs, still daring to bark at me,呵呵."
Then, Xu Sheng Biao placed the club against another fisherman's head, terrifying the fisherman into wetting his pants on the spot. He shook his head frantically, saying, "Don't hit me, please don't hit me."
Xu Sheng Biao, full of arrogance, said, "I won't hit you if you lick my shoes clean."
The fisherman didn't even think twice and went to lick the shoes.
Xu Sheng Biao, however, lifted his foot and said, "I'm not asking you to lick the top of my shoe, but to lick the sole clean."
"Ah? The sole?"
"Is there a problem?"
"No, no problem."
In the face of absolute power, what was dignity?
If he could avoid being beaten, the fisherman was willing to lick the soles of his shoes. At least this way, he could survive and keep his limbs intact.
Just then.
A figure suddenly emerged.
Under the gaze of everyone, Lu Ming walked out boldly and stood before Xu Sheng Biao.
The entire place fell silent.
Everyone's mind held only one thought: Was this person crazy?
Xu Sheng Biao was the most ruthless man in Wudu, someone who killed without blinking. And this person dared to defy him when he told him to stand still?
Was he crazy?
Did he not care about his own life?
Xu Sheng Biao was also surprised. It had been a long time since anyone dared to confront him so directly.
He looked at Lu Ming coldly, "You insignificant brat, are you seeking death?"
Surprisingly, Lu Ming did not confront Xu Sheng Biao directly. Instead, he pulled out a hundred-yuan bill from his trouser pocket and handed it over, saying, "Brother Xu, you dropped your money. I picked it up for you. Please take it."