Fear of the Public Security Bureau is an instinctive reaction for every villager in Zhu Family Village.
Tonight, Zhu Family Village is truly bustling, so much so that it doesn't take long for someone to notice that the Public Security Bureau has arrived, and the village party secretary hurries over to the Tang Family, their torches illuminating the courtyard as bright as day.
Though she has no idea what Tang Xingfa is accused of, Li Guilan is frantic.
Dragging her husband and son, she prepares to leave, entirely too panicked to pick a fight with the Tang Family.
"Wait."
The stern public security officer speaks up.
Li Guilan’s legs tremble, and she instinctively tries to distance herself. "Me? I have nothing to do with the Tang Family. My name is Li Guilan."
"Li Guilan," the officer turns his gaze aside to the battered father and son. "Zhu Changling? Zhu Goudan?"
"Ah, yes."
Li Guilan chimes in.
Lin Shengwen raises a hand, a flash of disgust crossing his eyes.
He has heard every word of the dispute between these two couples just now—it was nothing less than a blatant human trafficking transaction.
"You're the ones we're looking for, bumping into each other makes our job easier! Take them all away!"
"Comrade, Comrade!" Zhu Fugui hurries forward. "I'm the party secretary. Isn't there some misunderstanding here?"
"Misunderstanding?" Lin Shengwen knits his brows. "Someone has accused Tang Xingfa, Zhang Miao, Zhu Changling, and Li Guilan of human trafficking, and Zhu Goudan of attempted rape! You're the party secretary? Such a massive crime happens right in your village, and you knew nothing about it? Take him back for questioning too!"
Goodness!
The villagers of Zhu Family Village are terrified, having never heard of such a thing in all their lives.
Human trafficking?
Rape?
Getting mixed up in either of these means facing the firing squad!
There is nothing to be done as they watch the group being led away, even the half-bag of grain on the ground and the money inside the house taken away as evidence. Only now do the villagers begin to piece things together.
So this was all about Tang Daniu, but wasn't it a matter of mutual consent between two families? How on earth did it become a capital offense?
The two recorders left behind by the Public Security Bureau take the opportunity to lecture the villagers on the law, terrifying everyone—especially those who had been frantically buttering up to Li Guilan during the banquet, each of them now desperate to distance themselves as far as possible from the two families.
"I always said what she did wasn't right. Such a good child, Tang Niuniu, she just drew a bad lot with parents like that! Truly cold-blooded!"
"Guilan is fine in every other way, but her brain turns to mush whenever it comes to that simpleton son of hers. I knew from the start this match wouldn't work!"
"Oh, we're all from the same village, I didn't want to go, but they dragged me over to the banquet..."
What should and shouldn't be said spills out; anyway, the recorders reap a rich harvest, indirectly confirming that all of Tang Ning's accusations are entirely true.
Lin Shengwen interrogates the suspects late into the night, and under the grip of terror, they quickly confess to everything.
As the sky grows pale with dawn, a nurse at the County Hospital changes Tang Ning's glucose drip, yawns, and returns to the nurses' station to prepare for the shift change.
Sun Peng glances at the still-motionless Tang Ning, stands up, and follows her out.
"When is she going to wake up?"
"I don't know."
The nurse has no desire to entertain him, but remembering he is from the Public Security Bureau, she adds, "This patient's body is far too weak and needs rest. She'll wake up when she's ready."
Saying as good as nothing, Sun Peng rubs his eyes and heads off to use the restroom.
"Host, you have defied this system's commands and insisted on going your own way. The system has decided to punish you."
Inside the ward, Tang Ning rolls her eyes, completely unbothered.
Ever since its creation, the Long Live Love System has never suffered such disdain, and it immediately decides to teach this ignorant host a lesson.
"I will give you one last chance. Will you follow the system's romance guidance, conquer a man, and reach the pinnacle of life?"
"No."
Tang Ning's head is still spinning; the wretched system starts chattering the moment her consciousness returns.
So annoying.
"What? I asked you: yes or no? Do you know what heart-wrenching agony is? Don't say I didn't warn you. 3, 2, 1—"
"Get lost."
The Long Live Love System: "..."
"Get lost. No. Shut up. Did you hear me clearly?"
The moment Tang Ning's voice trails off, she feels her mind fall silent for a split second, followed instantly by a searing agony in her brain!
It feels as though ten thousand needles are stabbing directly into her neural pathways all at once!
Heart-wrenching agony?
A punishment?
Tang Ning lets out a muffled groan, enduring it with every ounce of her strength!
Lin Shengwen finishes the interrogation just as day is breaking, and decides to drop by the hospital to take a look, only to run right into Sun Peng in the doorway.
"Just went to the restroom."
Sun Peng has nothing to feel guilty about—he just went for a pee—yet facing Lin Shengwen makes him instinctively cower.
Lin Shengwen glares at him and pushes open the door to the ward—
The next second, he lunges forward. "Quick, call a doctor!"
Sun Peng looks over and is startled out of his wits!
On the hospital bed, the young woman lies with her eyes tightly shut, drenched in a cold sweat, her teeth clenched so hard her lips are bleeding, her fingers digging deep enough to tear the bedsheet! It is as though she is desperately enduring a torment no human being should ever have to bear!
"Hurry up!"
Lin Shengwen pins Tang Ning down, and glancing back to see Sun Peng still standing there in a daze, he barks directly at him.
He can't even keep watch over a patient properly, completely lacking in situational awareness and deaf to boot—at this moment, Lin Shengwen feels like strangling Sun Peng.
Tang Ning is an insignificant little nobody, but over the course of a single night, Lin Shengwen has read through the entire story of her life, and coupled with that profoundly deep first impression, he can sum her up in just two words.
Pitiful.
The doctor on duty runs over having lost a shoe in his haste, and gives her a brief examination. Fortunately, Tang Ning's condition is gradually stabilizing by now.
"It's hard to say." The doctor lowers his stethoscope. "Rapid heart rate. Combined with what you just witnessed, it looks like a sudden acute attack. Our county hospital has inadequate equipment and limited medical staff; I suggest transferring her to the City Hospital for a full checkup. Alas."
The doctor sighs and shakes his head. "Still, the outlook is not promising."
Based on his experience, with the bedsheets torn to shreds like this, the patient sweating as if she'd been fished out of the water, and suffering an acute attack, this young woman's chances of survival are slim.
Lin Shengwen's brow knits tightly together, and Sun Peng is wracked with guilt.
Meanwhile, the patient in question, Tang Ning, is fighting a battle inside her own mind.
"Is this what you call heart-wrenching agony? Mediocre at best."
"Come on, is that all you've got? Don't hold back now, use everything you've got if you have the guts. Weren't you going to punish me? That was just a warm-up, do it again!"
"Want to make me bow my head? Want me to submit to a man in exchange for benefits? You've got the wrong person. If you've got the guts, kill me. If you can't kill me, you'll have to play by my rules."
"I dare you to keep trying."
The Long Live Love System goes dead silent, not daring to utter a single word in response.
Is it out of tricks?
Does it lack other punitive measures?
No, it has them. But if it tries anything else, this host really might die, and it doesn't dare risk it.
Now look at this—failing to subdue her right away, it has backed itself into a corner and can't get down.
For a host who would rather break than bend and is reckless to the extreme, the Long Live Love System genuinely finds her a handful.
How on earth is it supposed to get Tang Ning to fall in love?
The Long Live Love System plunges into deep, profound despair.
"Playing dead?"
Tang Ning's sneering voice rings out once more. "Hoh, trash!"