On Rewarding Merit

Lin Mo's footsteps stopped in front of one of the people in charge, his shadow completely enveloping the man.

He looked down, his gaze devoid of any warmth.

The man stiffened his neck, forcing an incredibly ugly smirk at the corners of his mouth, wearing the shameless expression of a dead pig unfazed by boiling water.

"What, you want to fight? Try touching me."

Lin Mo did not speak. He simply reached out, spread his five fingers, and accurately gripped the man's thick neck.

Without even any obvious bulging of his arm muscles, he casually lifted the burly man, who weighed over a hundred and sixty pounds, off the ground with a single hand.

The man's feet kicked wildly in the air, his face turning the color of purple liver.

Soul Extraction!

Worthy of being the most frequently used divine ability.

The man's struggling movements instantly froze. Deep within his pupils, two eerie specks of purple light ignited, then rapidly expanded, swallowing all the vitality in his eyes.

"Where are the bodies of those people you killed?" Lin Mo's voice was very light, yet it pierced the ears of everyone present like an ice spike.

The man suspended in the air had hollow eyes and woodenly opened his mouth.

"They are all buried in the back mountain... We..."

Before he could finish his sentence.

Crack!

A crisp sound echoed, clean and decisive.

Lin Mo let go, and the body, still holding some residual warmth, slumped softly to the ground. Its neck was twisted at a bizarre angle, devoid of life.

Dead silence.

The remaining three people had the color completely drained from their faces, their bodies trembling like fallen leaves in the autumn wind.

One of them suffered a complete psychological breakdown, tearing his throat as he howled.

"The police killed someone! The police killed someone!"

Lin Mo turned his head, sweeping a cold gaze over them, and spat out only two words.

"Shut up."

Words followed by law.

The throats of the three men seemed to be tightly choked by an invisible hand. No matter how they opened their mouths or how hard they tried, they could not utter a single complete syllable.

Only muffled grunts came out.

This scene made Jiang Yunlu, who was standing nearby, skip a heartbeat.

She knew Lin Mo's secret and knew he was very strong, but that had always been a vague concept.

It was not until today that she witnessed this cold and resolute side of Lin Mo with her own eyes for the first time.

But this was born of a deep hatred for human traffickers.

Lin Mo reached out his hand. Soul Search!

A minute ago, outside, Kuang Jianhua watched Lin Mo's back as he walked into the cubicle. Muttering in his heart, he could not help but nudge Old Bai next to him with his elbow.

"I say, what's the background of this guy inside? This is quite a commotion."

"A big shot," Old Bai lowered his voice, speaking concisely.

Kuang Jianhua raised an eyebrow, sizing up the shadowy figures inside and the few pretty girls.

"A second-generation heir? Someone from above?"

"What second-generation? The man is a first-generation himself." Old Bai glanced at him, his tone carrying a bit of reverence. "Let me put it this way, even our chief acts like a polite and rule-abiding good boy when he sees him."

As soon as these words came out, no matter how slow Kuang Jianhua was, he understood the implication.

This was no ordinary river dragon; this was clearly a divine dragon descending to the mortal realm.

He simply crossed his arms, shut his mouth, and quietly played the role of a spectator.

But before long, that shrill cry of murder came from inside. Kuang Jianhua's professional instinct made him subconsciously want to rush in.

Liu Zheng stretched out a hand and directly blocked his path, steady as a mountain.

"Don't worry about it."

"Old Liu, they're shouting murder," Kuang Jianhua could not help but say.

"If he killed someone, then he killed someone." Liu Zheng shrugged, his expression as relaxed as if he were commenting on the nice weather today. "He has a license. It's legal."

Liu Zheng shrugged again.

"...Licensed to commit violence?" Kuang Jianhua's eye twitched, feeling his worldview taking a massive hit.

"Is he really that arrogant?" Kuang Jianhua still could not help but mutter.

Before long, Lin Mo walked out of the cubicle. There was not a single speck of blood on him, and his expression was as calm as if nothing had happened.

He walked up to the crowd, his voice not loud, but every word carried immense weight.

"I searched his memories."

"This gang, just the ones with names and surnames that can be confirmed, has killed thirty-three people. The number of victims they raped is so high they cannot even remember it themselves. Most of the bones are buried in the mountain out back, on the east side of the foothills. Pick a few people to come with me and dig up the bones."

Every word Lin Mo spoke struck the hearts of everyone present like a heavy hammer.

Especially Kuang Jianhua. He had handled many major cases and considered himself accustomed to the evil of human nature, but hearing this number still sent a chill down his spine.

The downside of Soul Search was that only Lin Mo could see those scenes.

But if he let them see those scenes, they would probably find it hard to accept as well.

Lin Mo paused, his gaze sweeping over the dumbstruck Kuang Jianhua and the group of agents, dropping one last sentence.

"Bring the tools and go dig."

"Not a single one can be left behind."

"Motherfucker!" Kuang Jianhua walked into the cubicle.

Then he realized that one of the men's necks had been snapped.

"This!"

He was terrified, but Liu Zheng walked in and patted him lightly on the shoulder.

"For the things these people have done, even death is too good for them."

"But he can't just abuse lynching! And it's a death penalty at that."

Lin Mo could naturally hear everything, but he did not bother to explain. He directly led the people to the back mountain to dig for bones.

He did not waste words. After walking around the back mountain, he finally stopped in front of a crooked pine tree thick enough for two people to embrace.

He kicked the dirt at the roots of the tree and waved to the agents behind him.

If they did not dig, it would be fine, but once they started, it was everywhere.

"Right here, dig down one meter."

The agents looked at each other in dismay, clutching their entrenching tools but not moving immediately.

The place was lush and green, and the trees grew sturdier here than anywhere else.

Digging for bones in such a place felt a bit incongruous.

They were a little confused. "Mr. Lin, this tree is growing so vigorously, could there really be..."

Before the agent could finish speaking, Lin Mo had already snatched the shovel from his hand and replied coldly, "The tree grows well because the base fertilizer is sufficient. Beneath this ground, it is entirely made of nutrients."

These words sent chills down everyone's spines.

The sound of the shovel piercing the soil was particularly jarring in the silent forest.

After just a few digs, the color of the soil changed from brownish-yellow to dark black, even exuding an indescribable metallic stench.

As a half-blackened finger bone was turned up, the agents' expressions instantly changed.

Lin Mo did not stop. With a pry of the shovel tip, a remains curled in a bizarre posture was revealed. The clothes on the corpse had not completely rotted away, and one could vaguely tell it was the skeleton of a half-grown child.

"It matches."

Lin Mo tossed the shovel aside and looked at the small skeleton.

He then pointed out several more locations to the various agents.

Everyone started digging. There were bodies of women, and bodies of children.

Every set of bones was messy; some were even wrapped together in woven bags, buried deep at a position two meters below.

Lin Mo took a deep breath.

He grabbed a shovel and drove it into the tree roots not far away.

A half-rotted corpse appeared before his eyes.