Ye Qing had spent many years enforcing drug laws on the border and was acutely aware of the situation with drugs.
When Ye Qing first arrived at the border, forces in the Golden Triangle were complex and intertwined, often leading to various kinds of turmoil. Drug traffickers, in their rush to make money quickly, would harvest the poppies as soon as they matured and immediately begin transport outwards.
As a result, the drugs coming out of the production areas were mainly raw materials, distributed to various places for processing.
Later, a major shift occurred in the Golden Triangle when a drug lord named Kun Sha rose to power, swallowing up several major forces in the area to become the strongest Great General in the Golden Triangle. The region then settled down from the turmoil, allowing traffickers to safely process the poppies into semi-finished or finished products before transport, thereby earning more money.
This basement was a small workshop where semi-finished products were processed into finished products. These workshops didn't really require much skill, but semi-finished drugs were highly toxic, and without proper protective measures, too much exposure could be fatal.
Ye Qing remembered Old Han's words earlier—it seemed that Boss Lin was unwilling to let his own men process these drugs, instead forcing the children to do it. No wonder so many children were found dead; they had all been exposed to excessive drugs in this workshop.
Ye Qing's heart grew heavier with hatred. He entered the basement, where the first two rooms were the workshop itself; one of them even contained several bags of white powder, likely the recently processed finished products.
The third room was larger. As soon as he opened the door, Ye Qing was hit with a stench of decay. Looking more closely, he saw the room was packed with sixty to seventy children, the oldest no more than fifteen or sixteen, the youngest merely four or five.
Upon seeing Ye Qing, the children panicked, fear clear on their faces. It seemed they were even more afraid of Boss Lin and his men than the disabled people were—after all, they were just kids!
"Don't be scared, everyone. I'm here to rescue you; it's okay, it's okay!" Ye Qing quickly waved his hand and said, "I'll take you out of here, I'll help you find your mom and dad, okay?"
No one answered. After a while, a child of four or five burst into tears, "I want my dad, I want my mom, I want to go home…"
"Little Douzi, don't cry!" A child of about ten immediately covered his mouth, whispering, "If you keep crying, they'll beat you again!"
Startled, the crying child stopped, but his nose still sniffled. He was just trying hard to suppress his sobs.
Ye Qing, deeply moved, said softly, "No one will beat you, no one will. Come on, follow me, I'm taking you to the police officers!"
As he spoke, Ye Qing bent down to pick up a four or five-year-old child and led the way out. The other children looked on with hope but did not dare to believe, hesitant to follow.
Seeing this, Ye Qing felt helpless. He turned to address one of the older children: "Come on, take everyone out. I'm not lying to you, I'm a police officer. The bad guys have been caught by our people. You're safe now. Follow me!"
The older child hesitated for a long time before finally gesturing to the others, "Let's go… let's listen to the police officer…"
Hearing the older child, the rest quickly followed Ye Qing out. However, they still hesitated as they left the basement. Thankfully, in the end, they all made it upstairs.
After they left, Ye Qing went back into the basement, took all the bags of white powder with him, and instructed the older child to have the stronger children move tables and chairs to block the door to buy some time.
Now that the bad guys were gone, the older child trusted that Ye Qing was a police officer and complied with his instructions. As soon as Ye Qing stepped out, the child summoned the others and they all scrambled to block the doorway as securely as they could.
Ye Qing looked at his watch; ten minutes had passed. The police and Boss Lin's men should be arriving soon. At the moment, Ye Qing didn't want to encounter either group.
With the white powder in hand, he walked into the adjoining courtyard. The house had been sealed tight by the group of disabled individuals, making entry impossible. Ye Qing had no intention of entering; he dragged the twenty-some men together and, waving the bags of white powder, said, "Do you know how heavy these few bags are?"
No one responded; they just watched Ye Qing, unsure of what he would do next. They all shivered, their limbs already broken; they couldn't afford any further abuse.
"I've estimated it and there's about two kilograms here. Two kilograms means each of you could be assigned one hundred grams," Ye Qing said coldly, looking at them all. "Do you know what one hundred grams means? One hundred grams is enough to meet the standard for the death penalty!"
The crowd looked at each other, fear written across their faces. Could it be that Ye Qing wanted to kill them?
"I was intending to spare your lives, but…" Ye Qing glanced at the bag in his hand and continued, "The crimes you've committed really are unforgivable!"
Suddenly, the crowd burst into terrified screams, with the more cowardly rolling on the ground, kneeling, banging their heads, begging Ye Qing for mercy.
"Don't beg me, this is what you deserve!" Ye Qing tore the bag open, casually grabbed a man in front of him, pinched open his mouth, and poured a mouthful of the white powder into it.
Everyone was petrified. This was drugs. They felt good when inhaled, but an overdose was lethal. With so much forced into his mouth, he was surely going to die!
The man desperately tried to spit out the white powder, but did Ye Qing give him a chance? He covered the man's mouth and nose with his hand, pressing hard. The man struggled a few times before ultimately swallowing all of the powder in his mouth.
Ye Qing looked at the bag in his hand and said, "You died a costly death. So much powder is worth more than bullets!"
The man collapsed to one side, frantically trying to claw at his throat, but it was too late. The powder had already dissolved in his stomach. Not long after, the man began foaming at the mouth, convulsing all over – the typical signs of a drug overdose.
The pain of the broken leg was now forgotten as his hands madly scratched his chest and abdomen, his feet kicking around, the broken leg rubbing blood everywhere on the ground. His hands turned his torso bloody. The feeling of an overdose was indeed excruciating!
Ye Qing stood by, quietly watching the man struggle from the beginning until he stopped moving altogether, his eyes wide open and bulging out in horror. Ye Qing harbored not an ounce of pity; these people had likely caused the deaths of countless children and deserved much worse!
The rest were stunned. They knew a drug overdose could kill but didn't realize the agony before death. Seeing Ye Qing's gaze turn towards them, each one shivered with fear, worried they might be next.
"One by one, you'll all get your share!" Ye Qing casually grabbed another person. This man struggled fiercely, shouting repeatedly, "No! Let me go! Let me go! I'm going to fight you!"
Ye Qing pressed his knee into the man's chest, silencing him instantly. He pinched open the man's mouth, poured in an equal amount of powder, then covered his mouth and nose, forcing him to swallow it all.
This time, Ye Qing didn't watch him but instead reached for the third person.
"Let me go, you madman, why are you doing this, you cruel demon..." the man yelled almost hysterically.
"Cruel?" Ye Qing said coldly with a smile, "You're right, letting you die is cruel. But sorry, I can't think of a crueler way right now. If there were a crueler way, I would surely use it to kill all of you!"
"Why are you doing this? We're all humans, living people. Aren't you afraid of retribution?"
"Retribution? I will wait for it to come. But now, what I am doing is your retribution. I want you to know the feeling of those children when they died!" Ye Qing forcibly fed the man more powder, giving him no chance to survive.
Several bags of powder ran out after seventeen people were dosed. The remaining five, seeing no more drugs, all had a look of sheer luck on their faces.
Ye Qing didn't go for more powder but walked to the door, dragging Brother Jiu over, pointed at the remaining five, and said, "I'm giving you a chance. Identify the ones who insulted those girls just now, and I might let you live!"
Brother Jiu had watched Ye Qing kill seventeen people in just ten minutes and was almost scared to death. Hearing these words, he immediately pointed at three of them, saying, "It… it was them..."
The three men's faces turned pale, and one of them shouted angrily at Brother Jiu, "Didn't you fuck too? Or rather, you were the ringleader!"
Brother Jiu's face also turned pale as he roared back, "What the hell are you talking about? Say that again if you dare!"
"I said it! You were the fucking leader, do you dare say you weren't? We're all fucking cripples, and you think you're still Brother Jiu. Even if I'm dying, I'll take you down with me!"
Brother Jiu was furious, but his status as Eldest Brother was useless now; he could only look at Ye Qing pathetically and say, "Mr. Ye, you… you promised to spare my life..."
"Don't worry, I keep my word!" Ye Qing tossed Brother Jiu aside, walked over to the corner of the yard, and picked up a broken-legged chair.
The remaining five watched Ye Qing with puzzlement, not knowing what he was planning to do.
Ye Qing placed the chair in front of them and stomped on its legs until they all broke. He picked up one of the chair legs and weighed it in his hand. The leg was about as thick as a child's wrist, with four sharp edges and nails protruding from it.
The five men looked at each other in dismay, their eyes filled with panic, not knowing what Ye Qing had in mind. Especially the three pointed out by Brother Jiu, they were nearing a breakdown, clueless about what terrifying idea Ye Qing was contemplating.