Hua Xia has a top-secret special force, code-named "Hidden Dragon".
The captain and instructor of the Hidden Dragon squad, code-named "Dragon's Tooth," who was revered as the king among soldiers, met his demise overseas after being ambushed half a month ago, despite successfully completing an extremely dangerous mission.
A week ago, the Hidden Dragon squad held a funeral for Dragon's Tooth. The military posthumously awarded him three first-class merits, nine second-class merits, forty-three third-class merits, and a hundred and fifty-six fourth-class merits. He was also posthumously recognized as a top-class war hero.
…
"Phoenix Village, I’m back!"
Standing straight and stout, even his smallest gestures exuding a sharpness, Fang Lin, holding a large snake-skin bag, stood on the hillside, looking at the quiet village at the foot of the mountain, his eyes become misty with excitement.
However, as he approached Phoenix Village, Fang Lin's heart was filled with melancholy.
"I’ve been away from Phoenix Village for over three years, and it seems that not much has changed."
Unlike the other villages he had encountered along the way, Phoenix Village barely changed over the years.
Most houses were still the old adobe houses, with only a few homes newly built with bricks and tiles.
Surrounded by mountains on all sides, Phoenix Village was in harsh conditions, and the villagers, unable to prosper, were still living difficult lives.
Seeing Phoenix Village in the same state as when he left, Fang Lin couldn't help but feel a sense of loss.
Walking into the village, a young woman came head-on. She seemed to be in a hurry. Fang Lin greeted warmly, "Sister Xiangyi!"
Her face registered surprise at first, then recognition, and she exclaimed, "You, you’re Fang Lin? You came back!"
Before Fang Lin could say anything else, she hurriedly said, "You should go home quickly, something's happened to your family!"
Fang Lin's face changed quickly, "What happened to my family?"
"Don't bother asking, everything's turned upside down at home, you better hurry back."
Hearing this, Fang Lin felt a pang of urgency in his heart. Without further inquiry, he swiftly headed home.
The entrance of his residence was thronged with people. With his heart laden with worry for his parents, he didn't bother finding out who the meddling relatives were around his house. He shouted, "Make way, please, make way!"
As he spoke, he stretched out his arms and forcefully pushed his way through, creating a path.
Then he peered into the courtyard. In an instant, his eyes bulged in disbelief!
He could see his elderly father, Fang Baoguo, collapsed on the floor with a bloody head injury. His body was stained with dust and footprints.
And his strikingly beautiful sister, Fang Tian Ai, was being firmly held by her arm by a man. She was unable to break free!
"Damn you, let go of her!"
Fang Lin immediately sprung into the courtyard, throwing a punch at the man holding Fang Tian Ai's cheek.
"Ah!"
Taken by surprise, the man tumbled backward, his face full of blood.
"Brother!" exclaimed Fang Tian Ai, both terrified and relieved. She threw herself into Fang Lin's arms, sobbing uncontrollably, releasing all her pent-up fear and humiliation.
Fang Lin patted Fang Tian Ai's back gently a couple times to reassure her, then asked, "Tian Ai, why did this Liu dare to create trouble in our house?"
He had recognized the man as Liu Ze, a notorious ruffian in their Phoenix Village. Relying on his father's wealth and power, he was uneducated and idle, causing havoc in the village all day long.
Even though Liu Ze was known as a ruffian in Phoenix Village, it was still too audacious of him to choose a broad daylight to injure Fang Baoguo and attempt to abduct Fang Tianai right at her home.
There must be more to this story, otherwise, he wouldn't dare to act so brazenly, even if he had twice the guts!
Two young men followed Liu Ze, both of them are his usual companions.
Seeing Liu Ze suddenly fell to the ground, the two cried out in anger and tried to attack Fang Lin. But with just a few punches and kicks, Fang Lin had them following Liu Ze's fate.
Liu Ze wiped the fresh blood from his nose, getting up from the ground, pointed at Fang Lin and shouted, "Fang Lin, you little turtle, instigated by your father since young, did joining the army amplify your guts? Dare to hit me, you looking for death?"
When Fang Lin was young, his thin body and timid character led him to end up on the receiving end of Liu Ze's bullying quite often.
Liu Ze couldn't figure out how Fang Lin, who merely served a few years as an infantryman, suddenly became so strong? Managed to take them all down single-handedly?
Fang Lin glanced at Liu Ze, took a step, and kicked him back on the ground, coldly saying, "I did not allow you to rise, you'd better stay flat on the ground!"
This Liu Ze has indeed hit his anger point, after all, as the king of special forces who's seen countless deaths, Fang Lin doesn't have the habits of reasoning peacefully with the enemy.
Fang Baoguo mustered his strength to stand up, advised Fang Lin, saying, "Fang Lin, don't fight anymore. We owe Liu Ze money and couldn't pay it back. We are the ones in the wrong."
On seeing his son returning so assertively, both nostalgia and sorrow welled up within Fang Baoguo, however, being a man of integrity, he still accepted himself as primarily at fault even though Liu Ze was acting indecently.
"Dad! What happened?" Fang Lin knew his father had been honest all his life and was often at a disadvantage.
Fang Baoguo explained, "Your mother broke her leg a while ago, and to collect money for her surgery, I owed Liu Ze twenty thousand yuan, but we didn't meet the agreed repayment deadline..."
"My mother broke her leg?" Fang Lin asked anxiously, "Where is she? How is she doing?"
Fang Tianai replied, "She's in the room, she can't get up yet."
Liu Ze groaned as he climbed up from the ground, bellowing with hatred, "Repaying debts is as natural as the earth and sky. If your father doesn't repay the money he borrowed, then you'll have to use your sister as collateral!"
Fang Lin stated in a low voice, "Isn't it just twenty thousand yuan? I'll pay you back!"
With a derisive laugh, Liu Ze said, "Fine, then give me the money right now. Otherwise, Fang Tian's love belongs to me!"
"Coincidentally," Fang Lin said as he opened his snake skin bag, "I've returned from my military service with exactly twenty thousand yuan as severance pay."
Tossing the twenty thousand yuan at Liu Ze's feet, Liu Ze stubbornly insisted, "Twenty thousand is just the principal. Interest included, it's a total of forty thousand!"
"Interest?" Fang Lin furrowed his brow.
"That's right! A five percent interest rate. Your father personally signed the loan agreement, you can ask him yourself if you don't believe me!"
Fang Lin turned to look at Fang BaoGuo. Fang BaoGuo sighed deeply and nodded.
But Fang Lin didn't care about that any longer. He sneered, "I gave you the principal. Don't even think about the interest. You really dare ask for five percent?"
Very clearly, Liu Ze was not willing to back down and was about to say something when Fang Lin beat him up ruthlessly.
After a while, Liu Ze couldn't hold up any longer, and started begging for mercy, "Stop hitting me, stop hitting me, I don't want the interest anymore, okay?"
Fang Lin extended his hand at him instantly, asking for the debt note.
Liu Ze didn't dare to make any more trouble, so he obediently took out the debt note.
Fang Lin tore up the debt note. Then in a stern voice, he said, "You may leave now. If you dare to harass my family again, don't blame me for not showing mercy!"
In just a short time, Liu Ze had been beaten up by Fang Lin three times. The two punks who hung around with him were also beaten up badly, all trembling with fear. The three of them quickly fled from the scene, dirt-faced and defeated, not even daring to retaliate.
They had felt an intense pressure coming from Fang Lin.
After all, Fang Lin was the king among soldiers, a former Special Forces Dragon Tooth soldier!
