Hospital 444
Chapter 567 - 29 Extreme Decision Making

Chapter 567: Chapter 29 Extreme Decision Making

"Why is Dad a criminal?"

When children are little, they are often asked a question... do you like Dad or Mom more?

It’s a question that is difficult to answer no matter what. Usually, children would say "I like both," but there are always people who want them to make a choice, and Hai Yunlan was asked this question as a child too.

"If I have to choose one, then it’d be Dad."

Hai Yunlan’s father... was an extremely upright man, what you’d call a "good person."

But being a "good person" is not so easy. Especially in Heisong Town.

The people of Heisong Town taught their children: always be cautious, don’t offend others lightly, and don’t reveal your real name to strangers.

In general, parents would give their children nicknames, and use these nicknames to refer to them in public. However, a real name had to be registered for the household registry, and anyone daring not to register would face severe punishment. In Heisong Town, unregistered "black households" without real names were not tolerated.

The schools taught the children: don’t hold grudges, don’t seek revenge. This was because in Heisong Town, even the smallest grudge could lead to terrifying consequences.

Everyone had the capability to easily send someone to the underworld, so no one dared to offend others lightly, everyone feared being hated.

But... the Wumianhui was an exception.

Armed with sophisticated weapons and uniform masks, they could not only conceal their faces but even alter their voices. These specially-made masks appeared to be warm in winter and cool in summer, of excellent quality, and not something ordinary people could easily remove.

What was most terrifying was that the Wumianhui could clearly access the townspeople’s registration information with ease. As soon as they saw your face, they could quickly find out your name.

The deterrent of death, initially equal for everyone, was imbalanced from the moment the Wumianhui came into existence.

When the Wumianhui first emerged, they weren’t as villainous as later on. They unified all the local gangs, and while they collected protection money, they did indeed maintain basic law and order.

Regional council members couldn’t wear masks to hide themselves, so they were willing to be the protectors for the Wumianhui that had swiftly unified the gangs and established a new order, providing them with the townspeople’s registration information. There were rumors that the Faceless Leader was a regional council member playing a double role.

Collusion between officials and gangsters, in this Southeast Asian country, was not something unusual, but the situation with the Wumianhui was a bit more special.

The judicial system and the Wumianhui, together, established a tacitly agreed balance and order between the legal and the underworld domains. The ordinary townsfolk had no choice but to pay taxes twice, one to the government and one to the Wumianhui.

But...

The Wumianhui might have had so-called rules, and its members often didn’t know each other’s identities, but it was impossible to entirely prevent them from causing harm to the townspeople. As the townsfolk became accustomed to submissiveness, the power of the Wumianhui began to swell.

Delavito was already a highly corrupt country; as long as the government and the Wumianhui followed the principle of non-aggression towards each other, the government wouldn’t investigate whatever the Wumianhui did. Most regional council members probably knew the identity of the Faceless Leader but as long as the Wumianhui didn’t hurt their interests and paid them off in time, why would they offend the Wumianhui?

Thus, in this Heisong Town, there were two absolute taboos that must not be violated: first, no one was allowed to defy the Wumianhui or use violence against them. Second, no one could investigate the identities of the Wumianhui members. Violating any of these would lead to being branded a criminal, not only paraded through the streets, but ultimately cursed with black spots and death.

Hai Yunlan’s father violated the first rule.

Because the Wumianhui had grown arrogant to an insane degree, loan sharking, running gambling houses, human trafficking, forcing good people into prostitution, arms smuggling, and drug trafficking weren’t the worst of it – they could now kill at will in broad daylight.

No one dared to resist.

That’s because at any moment, the Wumianhui could find out one’s identity information and then, as a criminal, you would be cursed to turn into a black skeleton.

As long as it wasn’t their own family members dying, people could only grit their teeth and endure.

Her father once said to her uncle, "How can our children grow up properly in Heisong Town? If someone dares to emigrate and flee from Black Reef Island, they too would instantly turn into a black skeleton!"

"We have no choice," her uncle shook his head and advised her father, "Brother-in-law, all we can do is endure. Those who secretly resisted the Wumianhui in the past soon had traitors among them. That’s because no one knows if the person beside them is a member of the Wumianhui. Moreover, to consume the spirits of non-members, the Wumianhui often forced passersby to use their own spirits to curse the criminals they convicted. Afterwards, these cursing sessions would be recorded on video..."

"Recorded on video?" her father was surprised at the time, "To use it to threaten them later?"

"Yes. If it becomes known that someone has lost their spirit and is still working for the Wumianhui, the hatred people feel towards the Wumianhui will immediately be directed at that person. In such a situation, they would be even more compliant with the Wumianhui."

At that time, Hai Yunlan was secretly watching from outside the door, she saw her father rush up to her uncle and ask, "Big brother! Did the Wumianhui force you to do something?"

"Yes..."

Perhaps unable to bear the guilt of his conscience, and believing in his brother-in-law’s character, her uncle knelt down on the ground, weeping bitterly, "At that time, I was just passing by, and they were... with a woman. The woman was almost unconscious, and when they saw me looking angry, they suddenly came up to me, forced me to curse that woman, to turn her into a black skeleton..."

"Did you... did you do it?"

"All they had to do was take a photo of me with a cellphone, and they immediately said my name. Then, they told me the name and appearance of that woman, said, if I didn’t do it, they would make me..."

Hai Yunlan couldn’t believe her ears upon hearing this.

"Why? Why would they..."

"They need to deplete the spirits of non-Wumianhui townspeople as much as possible. My angry expression showed I had a sense of justice, which was something they absolutely loathed."

Her uncle continued, "Ever since I was young, I had this female ghost with me, and every day at a fixed time, she would ask me for names. I had never once spoken anyone’s name..."

"Did you really say it at the time?"

"Her name was Suping Menglu... I will never forget her name. That night, while she was unconscious, she turned into a black skeleton lying on the ground..."

"At that moment, I felt that the female ghost was far less terrifying than these humans!"

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