The System Forces Me to Be a Scumbag Male Lead [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 12

Shen Siyang spent the next two days thoroughly scouting the layout of the underground gambling den.

Aside from its solitary entrance, the single-story house had two windows on either side. Under normal circumstances, the curtains inside were kept drawn, but because the gamblers pulled them shut carelessly, they hung askew and uneven, leaving plenty of gaps.

Shen Siyang bought a pair of binoculars, allowing him to observe the activity inside the house in real-time right from the comfort of the car.

People who gambled heavily were highly prone to arguments; over the course of just two or three hours each evening, several heated disputes would inevitably break out.

After staking out the place for two days, Shen Siyang finally got his chance when he spotted Luo Qifeng gambling with bloodshot, desperate eyes, clearly on a losing streak.

Peering through his binoculars, he monitored Luo Qifeng’s volatile state while he waited. After about ten minutes, a sizable commotion finally erupted across the room.

Shen Siyang swiftly handed the binoculars back to Yuan Linfei in the rear seat and opened the car door. “Mom, the moment it looks like your son is in danger of getting beaten up, initiate Plan B immediately!”

With that, he shut the door and dashed toward the house.

He braked to a sudden halt right before the entrance, standing in place to take a few deep, stabilizing breaths. To say he wasn’t nervous at all would be a lie. After all, this was his very first time executing such a risky plan (if he excluded the childhood incident where he nearly got swallowed by mud while rescuing a stray kitten in the mudflats).

Running through the entire sequence one last time in his head, Shen Siyang wasted no more time. He lifted the dark, heavy curtain and stepped inside.

The altercation was taking place at a table in the far-right corner near the entrance. This time, four or five men were embroiled in the conflict, sending a wave of aggressive shouting throughout that entire section of the room.

Luo Qifeng was huddled around a poker table on the back-left side, completely unfazed by the shouting match happening in the same space.

Standing by the doorway, Shen Siyang anxiously wrung his hands while staring in Luo Qifeng’s direction. He then scanned the room as if searching for someone. After a moment, he finally locked onto his target and walked straight toward the computer desk at the very back.

Reaching the desk, he swiftly snatched the watch resting on it, shoved it into his pocket, and walked directly over to Luo Qifeng.

“Uncle Luo,” Shen Siyang said, lightly tugging at the hem of Luo Qifeng’s shirt.

Luo Qifeng had run out of money early into the night and was currently sitting on a hair-trigger temper. Feeling someone pull at his clothes, he turned around, irritated and ready to hurl curses while raising a hand to shove the intruder away. But the moment his eyes caught the distinct green edges of several hundred-yuan bills peeking out of the boy’s pocket, his expression instantly transformed.

Sizing the boy up, Luo Qifeng recognized Shen Siyang, and a calculating glint flashed across his eyes.

Wiping away every trace of his previous impatience, he forced a warm, amiable smile. Bending down amidst the surrounding din, he spoke to Shen Siyang, “Well, if it isn’t Xiaoshi’s good friend, Xiao Yang. What brings you to a place like this?”

A flicker of nervousness and fear played across Shen Siyang’s face. Acting as though this only familiar adult was his absolute lifeline, he lowered his voice and said, “My dad said he lost his wallet. He asked me to bring some money from home to give to him, but I can’t find him now. He explicitly said he was somewhere around here.”

Luo Qifeng narrowed his eyes. “Did your dad say why he needed the money?”

Shen Siyang thought about it seriously. “He seemed to say he was taking a bath somewhere.”

Luo Qifeng’s smile grew even more opportunistic. “Ah, that’s the bathhouse next door. You definitely came to the wrong place. Go out the door and turn left. Look for the place where a fat uncle is sitting at the entrance—that’s the one.”

Shen Siyang beamed with relief. “Thank you, Uncle! Then I need to hurry up and find my dad.”

He turned to leave, but Luo Qifeng grabbed his arm tightly. “Xiao Yang, Uncle sees you have quite a bit of cash in your pocket. Your dad won’t need that much money just for a bath. Uncle happens to be in desperate need of money right now. Why don’t you lend Uncle a few hundred yuan first? I’ll make sure Xiaoshi buys you something delicious later.”

Shen Siyang looked conflicted. “But Dad told me to bring this much. Uncle, do you really need money that badly?”

Luo Qifeng put on a pitiful, distressed face. “I really do. Otherwise, how could a grown adult like me bring myself to borrow money from a kid?”

After appearing to agonize over the decision for a moment, Shen Siyang pulled the watch from his pocket. “This is my dad’s watch. I heard him say he spent a lot of money to buy it. When I left the house, I was worried I wouldn’t bring enough cash, so I took this watch out with me too. Uncle, if you’re in a hurry for money, I can lend you this watch first. Once you’re done using it, you can just give it back to me.”

Though Luo Qifeng didn’t recognize the brand, anyone could tell an expensive watch apart from a cheap one at a single glance.

A wave of pleasant surprise washed over him. Suppressing a triumphant laugh, he snatched the watch. “Xiao Yang really is a good boy. Uncle will definitely thank you properly. Hurry along and find your dad now.”

Shen Siyang nodded timidly, turned around, and anxiously ran out of the house.

The moment he successfully cleared the building, he let out a massive sigh of relief and sprinted toward his family’s car. Just as he dove into the vehicle and slammed the door shut, a furious roar echoed from the single-story house in the distance:

“Which audacious bastard stole my watch?”

When the burly manager roared out that interrogation, Luo Qifeng had just reached the entrance with the watch in hand, calculating in his mind how to drive up the price with the shrewd pawnshop owner. Consequently, he paid absolutely no attention to what the manager was shouting. Grinning from ear to ear, he lifted the black curtain, eager to make his exit.

At a time like this, any movement near the door naturally drew the most attention.

The manager crossed the room in a few long strides and grabbed Luo Qifeng just as he was about to step out, his eyes instantly landing on the watch clutched in Luo Qifeng’s hand.

With a cold sneer, the manager violently wrenched the watch back. “Luo Qifeng, do you have any idea what happens to people who are bold enough to steal from me?”

Luo Qifeng was still deeply immersed in his daydream of recouping his gambling losses. Having his capital suddenly snatched away caused a surge of unbridled fury to cloud his judgment. Blind to who he was dealing with, he lunged forward to grab it back. “What do you mean, your watch? That is clearly my watch!”

The manager shot him a disdainful look, grabbed him by the back of his collar, and dragged him back into the room like a sack of garbage.

This kind of drama didn’t happen every day. In a rare turn of events, everyone in the room halted their games, turning their attention entirely toward the two men at the center of the conflict.

With so many eyes on him, the blood rushed straight to Luo Qifeng’s face. A surge of raw humiliation hit his brain, and he struggled violently, attempting to break free and strike the manager.

The manager responded by delivering a brutal punch straight to his stomach.

Luo Qifeng violently dry-heaved from the sheer pain. His face turned deathly pale as he clutched his stomach, curling into a tight ball on the floor, no longer daring to move an inch.

Lifting him by the shirt, the manager hauled him over to the computer desk and tossed him onto the ground like a ragdoll. He opened the surveillance system on the computer, scoffing, “Did losing money completely rot your brain? I have two security cameras right above us. Even if you were cheating at cards, I could capture every single detail perfectly.”

As he pulled up the playback footage, the surrounding crowd quickly swarmed over to watch.

The manager watched the video as Shen Siyang took the watch, then rewound the footage to the exact moment the boy first entered the room.

Although the resolution wasn’t crystal clear, the space was small enough, and the two cameras captured everything from complementary angles, making it more than easy enough to discern facial expressions.

The crowd watched the little boy enter the room, looking incredibly nervous and terrified as he stared fixedly toward Luo Qifeng for a long moment. Then, as if driven by sheer desperation, he looked around the room as if searching for something before finally walking over to the computer desk to take the watch.

Once the watch was in his possession, he went straight to Luo Qifeng.

When Luo Qifeng saw the boy, his face contorted into a predatory, coercive smile as he spoke to the child. The boy then handed the watch over to Luo Qifeng and left in a frantic hurry.

Because Luo Qifeng had leaned down to speak to the child, and because the room was crowded and noisy, the audio couldn’t capture his exact words. However, looking at his expression, it wasn’t hard to surmise that he had threatened the child into stealing the item for him. The smile he flashed before taking the watch was undoubtedly just a few sweet words to secure the stolen goods.

After watching the recording, the manager turned around and kicked Luo Qifeng brutally several times. “You pathetic coward. You don’t even have the guts to steal things yourself, so you force a kid to do it for you.”

The time Luo Qifeng spent sprawling on the floor was just enough for him to recover his senses and piece the situation together. Hearing the manager’s tone and seeing his expression, he immediately shifted to a desperate, pleading attitude. “Brother Gui, I didn’t take it! It really wasn’t me! It was that kid—he lied to me and said it was his dad’s watch!”

This explanation instantly drew bursts of laughter from the onlookers.

“Luo Qifeng, are you seriously trying to tell us that a kid who probably hasn’t even started primary school went out of his way to set you up?”

“Brother Gui is right, you’ve completely lost your mind from gambling. Without an adult pulling the strings, how would a kid know anything about stealing a watch? Hahaha, this is killing me.”

As everyone chimed in with their mockery, Luo Qifeng found himself entirely unable to defend himself. Meanwhile, the manager’s kicks grew heavier and more merciless with every strike.

Driven to helpless rage, Luo Qifeng shrieked, “It wasn’t me! I said it wasn’t fucking me! It was that kid! He said he came to find his dad!”

The manager let out a mocking chuckle, halting his movements to squat down in front of him. “Where is his dad then? Point him out to me.”

Shen Shiwu was a man who never touched cigarettes, alcohol, or gambling; how could Luo Qifeng possibly point him out? Realizing how completely far-fetched his own words sounded, his voice instantly lost its conviction. “His dad is in the bathhouse next door. But I really am telling the truth! That kid is best friends with my nephew! It must be my nephew badmouthing me to him, so he wanted to get revenge for my nephew. Ah!”

The manager delivered a sharp slap across Luo Qifeng’s mouth. “Don’t assume everyone else leaves their brains at home like you do. I think you’re better off keeping this mouth shut. Today, I’m going to make sure you learn exactly what happens when you steal my things.”

With those words, a succession of increasingly brutal slaps rained down upon Luo Qifeng’s mouth.

Luo Qifeng thrashed his legs wildly in sheer agony.

Ignoring his thrashing, the manager simply called out to the room, “Whoever holds him down securely won’t have to pay the admission fee for the next entire month.”

The moment those words left his mouth, the surrounding crowd swarmed forward all at once.

Shen Siyang sat inside the car, waiting for about twenty minutes until he finally saw Luo Qifeng get thrown out of the single-story house.

It was pitch black outside the building. Even with his binoculars, Shen Siyang couldn’t see the exact extent of Luo Qifeng’s injuries. However, he could infer that the man was in terrible shape.

The figure outside lay on the ground like a corpse for a long, grueling moment before sluggishly crawling up and limping out of the alleyway.

Shen Siyang had purposely left the car window cracked open, allowing him to catch the faint, feeble sounds of bitter cursing drifting through the air. Watching Luo Qifeng exit the alley and head down the street toward his home in town, Shen Siyang quickly dropped the binoculars and patted the driver’s seat. “Dad, quick! To the police station!”

Shen Shiwu offered a quick word of agreement, deftly starting the engine and accelerating down the road.

Taking advantage of this brief window of time, Shen Siyang asked for Yuan Linfei’s phone and sent a message to the phone he had left with Sang Xiaoshi.

【Xiaoshi, go home.】

After sending it, he thought it over and added another line.

【Stay safe.】

Shen Siyang had observed over the past few days that during this era, surveillance cameras were not yet a ubiquitous sight in small towns; in fact, they were quite rare. The route from their house to the single-story building, and from the building to the parking spot near the police station, had all been thoroughly scouted to ensure there was absolutely no possibility of being caught on camera.

The moment the car ground to a halt, Shen Siyang quickly pushed the door open and stepped out.

On his very first step, he deliberately brought both of his knees slamming hard onto the ground.

The couple in the car gasped in shock. “Yangyang!”

Shen Siyang quickly scrambled to his feet, waving his hands reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I did it on purpose. You guys go on back.”

With that, he shut the car door and ran swiftly toward the entrance of the police station. He had purposefully worn shorts that exposed his knees today.

The earlier fall had left bloody scrapes across both of his knees. It hurt just to walk, let alone run.

Consequently, by the time he reached the entrance of the police station, tears were streaming down his face.

He burst into the station and immediately grabbed the first uniformed officer he came across, sobbing uncontrollably. “Officer, please save my friend! I beg you, please save my friend right now!”

The person Shen Siyang had grabbed was a young officer. Seeing the boy’s hands and legs covered in blood, he gasped, quickly crouching down to pat his back gently to comfort him. “Hey kiddo, what happened? Don’t panic. Tell me what’s wrong, and I’ll help you catch the bad guy!”

Shen Siyang cried so hard he could barely breathe, explaining with an expression of pitiable, frantic urgency, “My friend’s uncle, he beats my friend all the time. He even told my friend to steal things for him to cash in. My friend refused, so his uncle beat his back until it was covered in blood. Waaah. It looked so, so painful. I didn’t want my friend to get beaten anymore, so I agreed to help his uncle steal instead. But, but I got caught stealing. The people there beat the uncle up. I heard the uncle say he was going back to beat my friend to death! Waaah. What should I do? It’s all my fault. Officer, please save my friend, okay? Don’t let him get beaten to death. It’s all my fault.”

Meanwhile, Sang Xiaoshi sat in the dim living room, looking down at the message on the phone screen. His small fingers gently traced a raised, star-shaped sticker on one of the keys.

The star was affixed to the ‘1’ key—Shen Siyang had placed it there right in front of him.

“The best-case scenario is that I bring the police and arrive just in time. But if Luo Qifeng tries to lay a hand on you before we get there, just keep pressing this button.”

Shen Siyang had placed the phone in his palm, tapping the raised star sticker. “If you keep pressing this button, it will call Ge Jiabao. Ge Jiabao will immediately bring the neighbors to your house. I made two copies of your house key—one is with me, and the other is with him. I’ve already instructed him to make sure everyone stays absolutely quiet before opening the door to ensure we catch Luo Qifeng red-handed.”

Shen Siyang had offered him a reassuring smile. “This sticker is just to make it easy for you to find the right button by feel inside your pocket. Why don’t you put the phone in your pocket and try it now?”

Suddenly, a barrage of hurried footsteps echoed outside the front door.

Sang Xiaoshi instantly sat up straight, his entire body freezing up. He quickly shoved the phone into his pocket, lightly touching the raised little star. Only then did his overwhelming anxiety ease slightly.

After a few loud rattles and shoves against the door, it swung open. A figure stepped into the house, and the door slammed shut immediately after.

“Sang Xiaoshi, it looks like I’ve been way too good to you. If you don’t taste what it’s like to nearly die, you’ll never learn how to spell the word fear!” A dark, raspy voice echoed from the doorway.

Sang Xiaoshi stood up and retreated backward.

Watching Luo Qifeng unbuckle his leather belt as he strode toward him, Sang Xiaoshi suddenly spoke up. “Was the reason you, you always made me e-eat with Da Huang and beat me all so that, that I would give you all of M-Mom and Dad’s money in, in the future?”

Luo Qifeng’s face was fully revealed as he stepped into the light.

His face was a grotesque canvas of various bruises, and his mouth in particular was horribly swollen. Hearing Sang Xiaoshi’s question, he didn’t answer. He merely kept walking toward the boy with a deathly grim expression.

Retreating all the way toward the window, Sang Xiaoshi spoke again. “What if I said I, I won’t give you a, a single, single cent in the future?”

These words acted like a lit fuse to a powder keg; Luo Qifeng exploded instantly.

He violently kicked over an object by his feet, smashing and thrashing everything in his path. “What did you say? You little piece of shit, do you dare say that to my face one more time?”

Losing his patience, he didn’t even bother unbuckling his belt anymore. With bloodshot eyes, he began scanning the floor frantically. “I’ll beat you to death! Today, I’m going to kill you, you ungrateful little stray!”

Looking at Luo Qifeng who was on the verge of total insanity, Sang Xiaoshi did his best to suppress his trembling as he fumbled for the star sticker in his pocket.

Just as he was about to press it down, Sang Wenxuan, awakened by the commotion, came running frantically down the stairs. The moment she reached the bottom, she saw Luo Qifeng grab an empty beer bottle and charge straight toward Sang Xiaoshi.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Sang Wenxuan’s eyes widened in sheer horror.

“Did you hear what he just said? He said he won’t give us a single cent in the future!” Luo Qifeng had clearly lost all semblance of restraint. “Son of a bitch, heartless little bastard! I’m going to send him to hell right now!”

Seeing that Luo Qifeng truly intended to beat Sang Xiaoshi to death, Sang Wenxuan lunged forward, trembling violently as she held him back. “Luo Qifeng, stop it! What did you promise me? Have you forgotten what you promised me?”

Luo Qifeng kicked her fiercely. “Let go! Or I’ll kill you along with him!”

Sang Wenxuan’s face turned stark white from the pain, but she still refused to let go, clinging onto Luo Qifeng with all her might.

Hearing Luo Qifeng’s non-stop stream of curses and seeing the beer bottle waving wildly in his hand, she closed her eyes, tears spilling over. “Xiaoshi, run! Run out of here and don’t come back! I’m sorry. Auntie is so sorry. I failed you, I failed your mom and dad, I failed you.”

Luo Qifeng’s fists rained down upon Sang Wenxuan with increasing brutality. Finally, with a savage kick, he sent her flying backward.

Sang Wenxuan crashed heavily against the wall and slowly slid to the floor, losing consciousness.

Sang Xiaoshi’s eyes went wide. His entire body shook uncontrollably as he stared at Sang Wenxuan slumped unconscious in the corner, his mind going momentarily blank.

Catching sight of Luo Qifeng advancing toward him once more out of the corner of his eye, his sweaty palm tightly gripped the phone in his pocket. He rapidly pressed the raised button.

A few seconds later, he felt the phone give a slight vibration, exactly as they had rehearsed.

Sang Xiaoshi quickly pulled his hand out. However, instead of immediately fleeing upstairs like Shen Siyang had taught him, he stole one last glance at Sang Wenxuan unconscious by the wall. Taking a deep breath, he covered his head with both hands and curled into a tight crouch right where he stood.