Chen Fan silently raised his guard.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, he cautiously walked toward the house with its door wide open.
Just as he reached the doorway, he heard muffled voices coming from inside.
Chen Fan cautiously stopped, trying to glean more information from the indistinct conversation.
After listening carefully for several seconds, Chen Fan could not help frowning—the chaotic cries and wails inside completely drowned out the voices, making it difficult for him to make out what was being said.
Just as Chen Fan was about to give up, his gaze swept across his right palm.
His eyes shifted slightly as he asked in a low voice, "One, is there a way?"
One did not respond, but clear human voices with the noise removed automatically surfaced in his mind.
This technology was fucking amazing!
If he had possessed this ability in his previous life, would he have needed to worry about his private detective agency not getting clients?
After marveling inwardly, Chen Fan listened more closely.
"Murderers must pay with their lives, and debtors must repay their debts. That is only right!"
"What did you say when you borrowed the money?"
"You promised to pay off the debt within three months. Now look at you—it has almost been a year, and you still have not paid off the rest!"
The man's voice was rough and loud, giving off the impression that he was not someone to be messed with.
A clear female voice came from the room. "Debt?"
"As far as I know, Aunt Shen paid off the debt months ago!"
The man unhurriedly retorted, "What about the interest?"
"Interest?" The female voice sneered. "Your interest has nearly doubled the principal!"
Hearing that, Chen Fan suddenly understood.
So they had borrowed usurious loans through illegitimate channels!
With his experience from his previous life, Chen Fan naturally knew how terrifying that sort of thing was.
Forget double the principal—even interest ten times the principal was entirely possible.
The man's voice continued. "That is none of my concern. According to our original agreement, we need to collect collateral of corresponding value."
"In my opinion..."
"Her child's arm is quite suitable."
What the fuck?
An arm?
And a child's arm at that?!
Were they really playing this bloody?!!
No wonder the neighbors said the people inside were not to be provoked. These were fucking genuine criminal thugs!!
As Chen Fan stood there in shock, another slightly weary female voice came from the room. "Xu Huai, stop arguing."
"When all is said and done, I was the one who owed the money first. Even if we took this to the church, the church would not support us."
The woman let out a long sigh. "Since they want my son's arm, then... let them take it."
Hearing that, Chen Fan's eyes flew wide open!
"...What the fuck?!"
This time, he was completely and utterly stunned!
A mother actually wanted to use her child's arm to pay off a debt?
Fuck...
Was she even human?!!
As an upstanding young socialist with proper values, Chen Fan naturally could not stand by and watch such a tragedy unfold before his eyes!
He no longer cared about gathering information. He strode forward and kicked the already-rickety door.
Bang!
With a dull crash, the wooden door completely came off its frame and fell to the ground.
In the sunlight, a faint cloud of dust rose from the concrete floor.
The loud noise also drew everyone's attention inside the room.
Chen Fan planted one foot on the wooden door with a large hole kicked through it and shouted:
"Stop..."
His initially booming voice rapidly weakened within the few seconds it took him to see the scene in the room.
"Stop?"
Inside the room, a broad, burly man was kneeling properly on a Prayer Mat.
Directly in front of him, a small round table held a spotless statue of a god.
With his hands pressed together, the burly man gazed devoutly at the statue while muttering something under his breath—if nothing unexpected had happened, this was the criminal thug who had just been spewing vicious words.
Under Chen Fan's gaze, the burly man turned toward him with a puzzled expression. "...And you are?"
On the other side, a middle-aged woman about the same age as his mother sat wearily on a wooden chair in the living room.
Beside the middle-aged woman, a little boy with swollen red eyes stared in terror at Chen Fan, who was standing on his front door.
Judging from the boy's expression, Chen Fan could be certain that he was definitely not seen as a good person in the boy's eyes.
The earlier heart-wrenching cries had already stopped, leaving only the little boy's soft sobs in the room.
To Chen Fan's disbelief, the little boy raised his mechanical right arm, gleaming with metallic luster, and smoothly wiped away the tears at the corner of his eyes.
Beside the little boy, a young woman with a cool expression and a high ponytail stopped comforting him and cast Chen Fan a startled, deeply puzzled look.
Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly.
One, did I misunderstand something?
...This unit believes you look more like the villain right now.
Fuck.
This backward technological civilization ruled by gods, where the only electrical device in the house was an incandescent bulb, actually possessed extremely advanced Mechanical Prosthetic technology!
Listen to that—who the fuck could have guessed it?!
Chen Fan awkwardly scratched his head. "Well..."
"If I said I was just passing by, would you believe me?"
After a brief pause, the middle-aged woman was the first to recover.
She rose from her chair in a fluster, then bowed deeply to Chen Fan from a considerable distance. "Lord God Chosen, why are you here?!"
The silence in the room was instantly shattered.
The burly man, who had been kneeling properly on the Prayer Mat, narrowed his eyes slightly and carefully examined Chen Fan, who was still standing on the door panel.
Then he scoffed and asked, "God Chosen?"
"Just got chosen?"
Hearing the question, which carried a trace of mockery, Chen Fan instinctively frowned.
This burly man was completely different from the neighbors who had been watching the commotion. There was little reverence for the God Chosen in his eyes.
He did not even care about Chen Fan's identity as a God Chosen!
Remembering the neighbors' earlier discussions, Chen Fan's newly relaxed nerves tensed again.
He stared into the burly man's eyes and answered solemnly, "Yes."
At that, the sneer on the burly man's face deepened.
"What?"
"Instead of preparing for the God Chosen Ceremony a month from now, you, a God Chosen, came to meddle in these trivial matters?"
"Debts must be repaid. Let alone a God Chosen like you—even if a god came in person, I would still be in the right."
Just as Chen Fan was considering how to respond, the burly man slowly rose from the Prayer Mat, his face wearing the same sneer as before.
"Shen Jie, I will give you one final month."
"If you still cannot pay off the debt after one month, I will take Xiao Wen's arm."
In response to the burly man's words, the middle-aged woman called Shen Jie merely nodded silently.
Seeing this, the burly man nodded in satisfaction.
Then, under Chen Fan's watchful gaze, the burly man started walking toward him.
Against the backdrop of the morning sun, the faint vicious grin on the burly man's face was especially conspicuous.
Watching the ferocious-looking burly man walk up before him, Chen Fan had only one thought in his mind:
This was bad.
He would not end up being the only victim in this dispute, would he?
Before you continue