Hello, Welcome to Merit Supermarket (SUPERMARKET)
Regarding the Shahe battle, the Huo family indeed had detailed records.
From the reasons for the resistance, the chosen location, the enemies faced, the numbers and weapons on both sides, everything was recorded. However, by the end, Huo Yunxi realized that the Huo family hadn't actually recovered his remains.
It wasn't that the Huo family didn't want to, but they couldn't.
"Speaking of which, I've heard my grandfather mention this. He said they originally wanted to retrieve your remains, but after the war ended and they went to Shahe, they found that the area seemed to have been through a massive fire, burning everything to ashes."
All the bodies, even the bones, were gone, leaving only ashes.
They did suspect the fire, as no other battlefield had been burned like this, only this one.
But even with their suspicions, there was nothing they could do.
A whole year had passed since the war ended, and they had no idea how to investigate.
With only ashes left on the ground, they naturally couldn't identify which one was Huo Yunxi's.
In the end, the Huo family erected a cenotaph for Huo Yunxi in the martyrs' cemetery.
"That cemetery is in Shahe. If you want to... never mind, it feels weird to visit your own grave." Yuan Aiping forced a bitter smile.
But her words indeed piqued Huo Yunxi's interest. Perhaps... visiting the old battlefield in person would help him remember something!
"As for the Bell you mentioned... I'm sorry, it seems there's no record of it in the family... Oh, wait! Hold on!" Yuan Aiping seemed to remember something and hurried back upstairs.
Meanwhile, Song Miao, who stayed downstairs with the two, felt somewhat awkward. She hadn't felt awkward before because she thought she was dealing with a junior, but now...
She glanced at Huo Yunxi, then glanced again with her eyes filled with disbelief and a hint of awe.
This person might just be the ancestor of the Huo family!
Her husband's great-grandfather's generation... what should she call him? It seems like it's great-great-grandfather...
If it were before, Song Miao might have suspected that these two people had come to pick a fight. But upon learning that Huo Yunxi was not human, she was almost certain of their identities.
As they waited, a figure unexpectedly appeared beside them.
Jiang Chenyi was the first to notice, or rather, he had been keeping an eye on this person ever since they arrived.
"Who exactly are you?" Yu Shun's voice startled Song Miao out of her thoughts.
She quickly stood up and hugged her sister-in-law: "Xiao Shun, we can't kick them out!"
One of them might not be a guest, but the master of the entire Huo family!
Yu Shun patted her sister-in-law's shoulder and said softly, "Don't worry, I'm not angry now."
Indeed, her inner voice had turned into a series of question marks and exclamation marks, and her previous anger seemed to have completely vanished.
After taking a sip of warm water, Jiang Chenyi chuckled and said, "I was just wondering when you would come out."
As soon as he finished speaking, the expressions of the two women turned wary.
Yu Shun's face was cold, and Song Miao, who had been so gentle earlier, now had a fierce look in her eyes, even more intense than Yu Shun's.
Indeed, a military wife is no ordinary person.
Jiang Chenyi revealed a bit of his ability. He pointed to his ear and then to the staircase where Yu Shun had been hiding before explaining, "I can hear the most desired voices in people's hearts, so I knew someone was hiding there as soon as I arrived."
Yu Shun was startled. She hadn't expected to be exposed so quickly!
Jiang Chenyi placed his Supervisor's credentials on the table and looked at Yu Shun with his gaze deepening: "You asked who I am. I will tell you that I am a Supervisor of the Celestial Masters Association, with the authority to oversee and punish any Celestial Master who breaks the rules. If you have anyone you wish to complain about or accuse, you can tell me."
["I want to kill all the Celestial Masters in the Celestial Masters Association!"]
A voice filled with sorrow was the most desired sound Jiang Chenyi heard from Yu Shun after she calmed down.
Yu Shun stared at the young man with red eyes, and he did not avoid her scrutiny.
The two stared at each other for a while, and even after Yuan Aiping returned, Yu Shun still didn't say a word before turning and leaving.
At this moment, Jiang Chenyi's brow twitched. Her inner voice had changed again, but this time, the target of her desire for death had shifted.
["Huang He, one day, I will kill you."]
It seemed that the one who had truly provoked her was this Celestial Master named Huang He.
As for her resentment towards others, it was likely because other Celestial Masters in the Association had shielded Huang He, preventing her from venting her hatred.
Yuan Aiping watched Yu Shun's figure disappear through the door and sighed with worry.
She placed a photo album on the table and flipped to the page from 20 years after the Shahe War. In the photo, a man stood with a soldier from the Huo family.
"Take a look at the bell on his wrist. Is it the same as the one you have?"
Following Yuan Aiping's finger, both of them looked at the man's wrist in the photo. Sure enough, there was a silver bell tied to his wrist, just like the one they had.
After comparing the sizes, Jiang Chenyi was about fifty percent certain that the two bells were the same.
The remaining fifty percent of uncertainty stemmed from two factors: firstly, the photo was taken eighty years ago, and its yellowed state made it difficult to see clearly; secondly, his bell had engraved runes, which made it not entirely identical in appearance to the one in the photo.
"Regardless, this is indeed a lead. May I ask who this person is?" Jiang Chenyi looked at Yuan Aiping, inquiring about the identity of the person in question.
However, Yuan Aiping's response left Jiang Chenyi utterly shocked.
"This person was said to be the nephew of the Celestial Masters Association back then. I wasn’t born yet, but I heard he was very close to my grandfather, Huo Zhen'an. However... later, I heard they had a falling out."
The nephew of the Celestial Masters Association president? That would be the same person...
Jiang Chenyi and Huo Yunxi exchanged a look of astonishment, immediately recalling the old story Gu Sheng had told them when they were at the He family.
Using a Forbidden Art, this nephew had transferred the lifespan, merit, and fate of an entire family to his own. After committing such an act, he was captured by several high-ranking members of the association. However, despite their thorough efforts, it turned out he had left behind an illegitimate child.
Since it was an old story, Jiang Chenyi hadn’t paid much attention to this nephew at the time.
But now, unexpectedly, they were hearing about his past from the Huo family!
If this bell truly belonged to that nephew, what was his intention in sealing Huo Yunxi's soul inside it?
Huo Yunxi, not fully understanding, asked Jiang Chenyi, "Are you really sure the talisman on the bell was meant to preserve my soul?"
Jiang Chenyi shot him an exasperated look. "If it wasn’t meant to preserve your soul, you would have been long gone!"
Under normal circumstances, no matter how much merit one had, unless they coincidentally became a spirit, they would eventually dissipate into the universe.
Huo Yunxi had been nurtured inside the bell for many years before the talisman faded, allowing him to become a spirit.
This meant that without the bell, he would never have become a spirit.
"Moreover, I can guarantee that your soul is completely intact!" Jiang Chenyi could see souls, though it was a bit draining on his spiritual energy.
When Huo Yunxi first awakened, Jiang Chenyi had already checked him once, confirming not only the merit on Huo Yunxi but also that his soul was whole.
"Sigh... this is getting more and more convoluted!" Huo Yunxi suddenly felt a headache coming on.
Not just Huo Yunxi, Jiang Chenyi was also feeling a bit of a headache at this point.
Yuan Aiping picked up the bell from the table and examined it for a while before handing it to Song Miao.
After careful observation, Song Miao declared with absolute certainty, "These two bells are indeed the same."
Huo Yunxi and Jiang Chenyi both looked up, puzzled as to why Song Miao was so certain.
"Hahaha!" Yuan Aiping laughed with pride and her voice filled with satisfaction. "A Miao is a special consultant for the Xiaocheng police and a portrait artist specially invited by the bureau. If she says they’re the same, then it’s almost certainly true.
The eyes and hands of a portrait artist are the stuff of nightmares for all criminals.
The original owner of the Bell had a deep connection with the Huo family, and the Soul protected by the Bell bore a striking resemblance to the Huo family members. Therefore, Huo Yunxi's identity was essentially confirmed.
In fact, upon seeing Huo Yunxi's face and the location of his passing, Yuan Aiping had already concluded that he must be a member of the Huo family, though she couldn't determine exactly which one.
‘Ah, it didn't matter who it was, because they were all their ancestors =_=’
Thus, when the five Huo children returned from school, they were informed that a new ancestor had joined the family.
The children: O_O
The eldest child, currently in her first year of high school, scratched her ear in shock and asked, "What ancestor? Did our family produce one?"
With a slap, her mother, Song Miao, smacked the back of her head.
"What nonsense about zombies? It's from your great-grandfather's generation. You should address him as your great-great-great-grandfather!" Song Miao poked her daughter's little head and explained to the group of youngsters.
"Great-great-great-grandfather... wow!"
They had heard of great-grandfathers and great-great-grandfathers, but a great-great-great-grandfather was a first!
Upon hearing that it was from their grandfather's great-grandfather's generation, the children immediately imagined an elderly man, withered like a thousand-year-old tree trunk (Huo Yunxi: ?).
However, when they entered the dining room and saw the man sitting at the head of the table, their minds went blank.
The children: !!!
Is this their great-great-great-grandfather?
Could their great-great-great-grandfather be a monster that had cultivated into a spirit?
Jiang Chenyi, sitting to the right, burst into laughter.
The children's thoughts were so amusing!
Huo Yunxi gave him a helpless look. Without a word, he knew Jiang Chenyi must have heard something funny.
Not only were there guesses about spirits, but also about enlightened monks, gods, demons, beastmen, and more.
Jiang Chenyi's shoulders shook with laughter.
The Huo family's children were so entertaining, conjuring up all sorts of supernatural beings.
"Ahem!" Yuan Aiping coughed.
Feeling the authority of the family head, the children immediately straightened their expressions, though they became even more convinced that this great-great-great-grandfather was a monster that had cultivated into a spirit!
Or perhaps a zombie?
Maybe even a Drought Demon!
Jiang Chenyi leaned on Huo Yunxi's arm and laughed so hard his whole body trembled.
He felt that if they didn't clarify, by tomorrow—or even tonight—the Huo family would be seen as a clan of monsters hidden among mortals.
It wasn't surprising he thought this way, as some of the children were already muttering to themselves.
Truly the age of adolescence, their minds were filled with all sorts of wild ideas XD
Huo Yunxi went from being helpless to indifferent, and just letting Jiang Chenyi laugh as he pleased.
Once everyone was seated, Jiang Chenyi finally stopped laughing.
He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, took a few deep breaths to calm himself, and then immediately looked at the girl who seemed visibly dazed.
"Your great-great-great-grandfather is neither a monster nor a zombie."
With that one sentence, he drew all the children's attention to himself.
Facing their sparkling eyes filled with curiosity and inquiry, Jiang Chenyi pointed to Huo Yunxi and explained, "He is a Spirit. You can refer to the meaning of the term 'Artifact Spirit', except your great-great-great-grandfather was transformed from a human Soul."
As soon as the term "Artifact Spirit" was mentioned, the children immediately showed expressions of sudden understanding, which made Song Miao quickly cover her face—were these silly children really from the Huo family? How could they all be so naive!
Yuan Aiping, on the other hand, was not surprised at all.
Having grown up with her husband, she knew best that the Huo family members were all a bit foolish in their childhood and only became mature after reaching adulthood.
The Huo family did not have the habit of not speaking during meals, so Jiang Chenyi took the opportunity to explain the origin of their "great-great-great-grandfather" while eating at the dining table.
Upon hearing that he was a soldier who had sacrificed his life on the battlefield, their attitudes suddenly became much more serious.
The family ethos of the Huo family made them deeply respect soldiers, whether they were human, ghost, or demon. As long as they had fought for the country on the battlefield, they would be admired.
This also made Jiang Chenyi's gaze towards them soften considerably.
They were all such good children!
When they learned that their great-grandfather had been adopted into Huo Yunxi's lineage, the children immediately let out a chorus of "Wow."
"So! Great-great-great-grandfather really is our great-great-great-grandfather from this lineage!"
They had thought that the term "great-great-great-grandfather" was just a general term for ancestors, but it turned out he was indeed a relative from the same lineage.
Although it was an adoption, once adopted, he completely belonged to that lineage.
For some reason, the girl looked at Jiang Chenyi and asked, "Then... what about you? What are you to great-great-grandfather?"
Just as Jiang Chenyi was about to say "partner", a little kid shouted, "Great-great-great-grandmother!"
"Cough, cough, cough!" Huo Yunxi and Yuan Aiping were instantly choked, and Song Miao suddenly felt her vision darken—because this little kid was also her child!
She quickly covered her child's mouth to prevent further offending the Supervisor.
Meanwhile, Jiang Chenyi's mind was buzzing.
After a long while, he took a deep breath and was about to speak when Huo Yunxi pressed his hand and gently patted his back, "Don't be angry, don't be angry, don't be angry. A child's words shouldn't be taken seriously."
Honestly, Huo Yunxi was more worried that he might faint from anger, which could worsen his still-healing injuries!
Jiang Chenyi held his forehead and waved his hand at Huo Yunxi, "I'm not petty enough to argue with a child." Moreover, the child looked to be only of elementary school age, the time when they tend to talk nonsense.
"What great–great-great-grandmother? I'm his partner, and I'm the one who awakened your great-great-great-grandfather."
In a sense, he was the savior of the Huo family!
Yes, indeed!
After the meal, the two of them did not stay at the Huo family, which was quite unexpected for Yuan Aiping's plans.
"Why? Are you not used to the house?"
The Huo family's house was actually an old mansion, spacious and practical but not refined.
Huo Yunxi quickly waved his hand, "It's not because of that. I've already booked a hotel for a month."
This was, of course, the surface reason. The actual reason was that he had never considered staying with the Huo family.
Even though he knew that these people were his descendants.
But a hundred years had passed, and apart from a faint blood connection, he was not much different from a stranger to the people here.
Even if there were feelings, they would only develop after years of interaction. Now... there wasn't much.
"Besides, Chenyi's health isn't very good. He needs the hot springs to recuperate.”
Jiang Chenyi glanced at the other person but didn't expose the fact that he was using him as an excuse.
"Well then..." Yuan Aiping sighed deeply.
She could also see that the young man's health didn't seem to be in the best condition. From the moment he entered until now, his lips had been completely devoid of color, as if he had lost too much blood and hadn't fully recovered.
When they were leaving, it happened that Song Miao's eldest daughter was also heading back to school. Seeing that they were leaving as well, she invited the two of them to join her in the car.
"Great-grandfather! Mr. Jiang, let the driver take you back to the hotel!" Song Miao's eldest daughter, who took her mother's surname and was named Song Mianqing, leaned out of the car window and waved at the two of them.
This was a direct order from her mother—how could the Huo family let their great-grandfather walk back on his own?
In fact, Huo Yunxi had just been about to transform back into a Spirit and take Jiang Chenyi back at high speed.
But faced with Song Mianqing's bright and cheerful smile, his heart suddenly softened, as if long ago he had seen a family member smiling and waving at him like that.
He looked at Jiang Chenyi, seeking his opinion, and Jiang Chenyi naturally didn't refuse.
To be honest, being carried by Huo Yunxi was also a bit uncomfortable—it felt like riding a shaky minibus. If it weren't for the speed, he wouldn't have wanted to return this way either :)
After getting into the car, Song Mianqing began chattering away with questions: "Great-grandfather, great-grandfather, what do you and Mr. Jiang do as partners?"
She had no idea that Jiang Chenyi was a Celestial Master. Song Miao had only told her to respect Jiang Chenyi as she would her great-grandfather. All the younger generation addressed him as Mr. Jiang without exception.
Jiang Chenyi sat between the two of them and, upon hearing this, slightly curled the corners of his lips. "Well, I guess you could say we were acting out of a sense of justice."
"Huh?" The girl widened her eyes.
This answer was completely beyond her imagination.
Then, she suddenly became excited. "How did you act out of justice?"
Jiang Chenyi patted her head and, with a smile, began to tell her about how they had helped the police solve the Human Aroma case in the capital.
He glossed over some of the details, but when she heard that they had gone undercover on a ship to catch the Perfumer, her eyes filled with admiration.
"Mr. Jiang, you're really amazing!"
In just ten minutes, she had switched from addressing him casually to using the formal "you".
Then, when she heard from Huo Yunxi that Jiang Chenyi had been injured, her expression immediately turned tense.
"Ah, this... I remember we have some medicinal herbs at home. Maybe..." Her words were cut off as Jiang Chenyi refused.
"Your grandmother already said the same thing, and I refused her too." he said.
All he needed now was some proper rest. Strong tonics were unnecessary.
Besides, if he really needed to replenish his energy, he could just go back to the supermarket.
As they chatted, the car arrived near the school.
Song Mianqing waved at the two of them. "I'm off to school now. Goodbye, Mr. Jiang! Goodbye, Great-grandfather!"
Huo Yunxi gently patted her head with his expression unusually soft. "Go on, study hard."
However, he didn't hear Jiang Chenyi say goodbye. Turning his head, he noticed the young man had closed his eyes.
"Chenyi..." he called softly.
The next second, Jiang Chenyi's eyes snapped open and a cold light flashing within them.
He pushed open the car door and stepped out. Seeing this, Huo Yunxi immediately realized—he must have heard something troubling.
Song Mianqing was bewildered, not understanding why Mr. Jiang had suddenly become so cold.p
Especially his eyes—they had once seemed like a clear lake, but now it felt as if some ferocious beast lurked beneath the surface, deep and chilling.
At this critical moment, Huo Yunxi's warm hand rested on her shoulder. "Don't be afraid. Chenyi isn't angry with you. He's just sensed something wrong here."
With that, Jiang Chenyi had already started walking in a certain direction. Huo Yunxi gently pushed the girl toward the school gate. "You should hurry to class. We'll handle this."
The two men walked briskly and soon disappeared into an alley.
Song Mianqing hesitated for a moment, and ignoring the driver's protests, decisively followed them.
However, she took out a small stick, about the length of a palm and the thickness of two fingers, from her backpack as a self-defense tool.
Meanwhile, Jiang Chenyi was listening intently to the thoughts in his mind while adjusting his direction as he went.
["Stop hitting me... it hurts... please let me go."]
Just from these words, it was clear that the victim was being beaten. What angered Jiang Chenyi the most was that the voice sounded quite young.
This meant the one begging for mercy was a child!
The tender voice sounded about the same age as Song Miao's youngest son, probably around ten years old!
Because he was fully focused on locating the position, Jiang Chenyi didn't have time to explain much to Huo Yunxi. Fortunately, the latter didn't need an explanation to understand the situation.
As the distance grew closer, the thoughts Jiang Chenyi heard became increasingly tragic.
["Stop hitting me! Stop pulling down my pants! I really don't have any money left!"]
At this moment, Jiang Chenyi's heart was filled with a mix of emotions, and when he arrived at the scene, those emotions immediately turned into a storm of anger.
Three boys, around twelve years old, were pinning a slightly younger boy to the ground. Nearby, a backpack lay scattered with various textbooks, clearly having been rummaged through.
The boy's pants had already been pulled down, and two of the bullies were holding his legs to prevent him from escaping.
The most disgusting part was the third boy, who had taken out his phone was obviously intending to record the scene.
Not only Jiang Chenyi, but Huo Yunxi's eyes also instantly turned cold.
Without hesitation, Huo Yunxi rushed forward, snatched the phone from the bully's hand, and with a light squeeze, crushed it into pieces.
Before the boy could react, his head thudded against the ground.
The other two bullies were also thrown aside and landing heavily on the ground with a loud thud.
However, neither the three bullies nor the crying victim saw how the two men had acted.
Only Song Mianqing, who had just run over, witnessed the entire scene.
Jiang Chenyi took off his down jacket and draped it over the victim. Huo Yunxi quickly retrieved the pants and helped the boy put them back on.
After realizing he had been saved, the boy cried even harder while clinging tightly to Jiang Chenyi and refusing to let go.
When the three bullies scrambled to their feet in confusion, they were met with two pairs of eyes filled with sharp, murderous intent.
No matter how despicable these bullies were, they were still only around twelve years old. Against Jiang Chenyi and Huo Yunxi, two adults, they stood no chance.
Especially since Huo Yunxi had walked through literal hell.
The three immediately felt fear, but under Huo Yunxi's imposing presence, they couldn't even muster the courage to run away.
Song Mianqing was also furious, gripping the self-defense stick in her hand, and several times she wanted to take action.
However, Jiang Chenyi stopped her.
He held the sobbing child in his arms and gently patting his back with a faint golden light shimmering on his hand.
Jiang Chenyi was using Merit to calm the child.
If other Celestial Masters saw this, they would undoubtedly lament the waste, considering it a misuse of Merit.
But in reality, under the soothing effect of the Merit, the child in his arms quickly calmed down. Even when he saw the bullies again, he didn't feel much fear.
This was the effect of Merit in calming the mind. For Jiang Chenyi, as long as it was useful, it wasn't a waste.
Once the child had regained his composure, Jiang Chenyi set him down before bending over to look at him with a gentle and steady gaze. "Should we call the police?"
In his opinion, calling the police was the natural course of action.
This was no longer just a case of school bullying—it was intentional harm and extortion!
The boy's eyes were red and brimming with tears, looking utterly pitiful.
Faced with Jiang Chenyi's inquiry, he hesitated: "Those people... they have their parents backing them, and the teacher scolds me too... I don't have any evidence..."
His words made Jiang Chenyi and the others feel deeply saddened.
Clearly, this wasn't the first time he had been bullied. From his words, it seemed he had tried to tell the teacher, but was dismissed.
Thinking of this, Jiang Chenyi couldn't help but sneer inwardly.
If he ever found out which unscrupulous teacher had downplayed the matter, he would make sure they paid.
Meanwhile, Huo Yunxi took action again by tying the hands of the three trembling brats who were on the verge of wetting themselves with a rope and stringing them together.
Now, there was no way they could run away.
Jiang Chenyi patted the boy's head, his eyes filled with comfort: "If you want, I'll back you up. Whether it's the teacher or their parents, I'm not afraid."
The boy's body trembled slightly and his eyes filled with disbelief.
"Why? Why would you help me?"
Why? There really was no particular reason.
The boy was clean, with no Karmic Sin and not much Merit. He was just an ordinary child.
But precisely because he was a child, Jiang Chenyi didn't care how much Merit he had.
Most children need to be nurtured as they grow. If Jiang Chenyi didn't intervene now, the boy might carry this shadow for the rest of his life, severely affecting his future.
"Just think of it as me doing a good deed for the day, okay?" Jiang Chenyi smiled at him, warming the boy's heart.
"Okay..." he whispered in response as his one hand tightly clutching Jiang Chenyi's sleeve, as if afraid he might leave.
With the boy's agreement, Jiang Chenyi decided to take them straight to the police station to report the incident.
Originally, they had planned to send Song Mianqing back to school, but the child had already asked for leave from the teacher while they were discussing it!
"I told the homeroom teacher that I was being a good Samaritan and acting as a witness!" Song Mianqing proudly patted her chest.
Huo Yunxi, seeing this, couldn't help but twitch his mouth.
This silly kid, doesn't it hurt to pat herself like that?
The nearest police station was just over a kilometer away. As the two grown men marched the three kids down the street, they attracted a lot of attention.
At first, some thought they were coercing the children, but upon seeing their direction was the police station, they were all stunned.
If they dared to go to the police station, it probably wasn't what they imagined... right?
Some curious onlookers quietly followed behind, hoping to eavesdrop at the door to find out what was going on.
Jiang Chenyi's group indeed drew a lot of attention. Two adult men with stern faces was pushing three elementary school kids who looked terrified, and with a boy and a girl following behind.
Not only the passersby, but even the police were speechless at the sight.
"We're here to report a crime. These three brats—kids—intentionally beat and extorted this child. When we arrived, they had already pulled down his pants and were planning to take pictures of it."
The police officer, who had just stood up to ask a question, was once again stunned. The people in the hall instantly felt a chilling sensation creeping over their scalps.
Deliberate assault coupled with extortion, and even the despicable act of pulling down someone's pants to take photos—such behavior would merely elicit a sense of disgust if it were committed by adults. But when it came to three elementary school students, an overwhelming sense of fear was hard to suppress.
These children, not even 14 years old, let alone adults—how could they commit such horrifying acts?
Jiang Chenyi swept his gaze over the people present, meticulously noting the Merit on each of the police officers.
If there were any changes in the future, he would be the first to notice.
As he scanned the room, every one of these adversaries felt an inexplicable chill run down their spines, as if a blade were hanging precariously above their heads.
"Do you have evidence?" A middle-aged woman stepped forward. She wasn’t disbelieving the words of these two men, but since they had reported the incident to the police, evidence was necessary.
At the mention of evidence, Song Mianqing noticed the three little brats exchanging glances, their eyes filled with a smug sense of triumph.
Were they gloating over the fact that the phone they used to commit the crime had been destroyed? Or were they proud that there were no surveillance cameras in that alley?
The thought reignited the fury in Song Mianqing's heart.
However, in the next moment, Jiang Chenyi pulled out his own phone, along with the one that had been crushed by Huo Yunxi earlier.
"My phone has a video of them assaulting and pulling down the victim's pants. Their phones should also have photos. These are all physical evidence. If you need witnesses, the three of us are eyewitnesses, and we have no relationship with the victim." Jiang Chenyi pointed to the three of them.
When one of the brats saw his supposedly crushed phone appear intact, he stared at Jiang Chenyi in utter disbelief.
"That's impossible! Wait! That can't be! My phone was clearly crushed by him!" He tried to rush forward but was held firmly in place by Huo Yunxi's single hand.
After feeling the strength of his hand, the boy recalled the image of his phone being crushed into pieces by bare hands.
He shivered as he fear that his bones might also be crushed by this brute.
The female police officer, seeing his agitated state, first checked the child's phone.
However, after her thorough inspection, she found that the phone showed no signs of being dropped or tampered with.
Moreover, just as the young man had said, there was a photo of the victim in the album.
The female police officer's eyes instantly turned cold as she looked at the victim boy hiding behind the young man, his cowering gaze softening her heart.
She then opened Jiang Chenyi's phone, which indeed contained a video—recorded from before they arrived at the alley. The audio clearly captured the sounds of children mocking and tormenting someone, and as they turned the corner, the scene of three elementary students bullying another came into view.
However, the video ended there, and what happened next was not recorded.
The female officer seemed to sense something as her sharp eyes scanned the faces and bodies of the three young bullies, but she found no signs of any beatings.
"There is indeed a video, and the evidence is very solid. However, we still need to follow procedure and take statements from these children."
Huo Yunxi released his grip and handed the three bullies over to the police.
Once the ropes on their hands were removed, the three seemed to regain their courage and kept crying to the police that it was these two adults who had abused them and forced them to do those things.
Anyone could tell this was nonsense, and only a fool would believe such absurd claims.
Since they were minors, the police first contacted the guardians of these children.
Upon hearing that their parents would be notified, the three bullies were momentarily stunned, but then the malice and smugness in their eyes grew increasingly evident.
Clearly, in their eyes, their parents would become their protectors.
At the same time, the police also contacted the homeroom teacher of these children. Upon hearing that her students had caused trouble and ended up at the police station, the teacher nearly fell down the stairs in shock.
When he arrived at the police station, he immediately rushed toward the victim boy without even asking for the full story: "Why did you cause trouble again!"
As he spoke, he raised his hand to slap him.
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