Chapter 315: Justice Defeated

"Hello, is this Yaoyao Ling? I want to report a situation. I am a teacher at Langlang Mountain Hope Elementary School, my name is......"

"During daytime class I heard a crackling sound, like fireworks; just now I found a few brass‑colored shells by the roadside and wanted to ask if a unit was firing nearby?"

"What kind of shells? I can't say, they're brass‑colored, what are the specifications? Hold on, I have a ruler, I'll measure them......"

She hung up, the female teacher looked at Lu Yang with puzzlement: "Is that enough?"

Lu Yang: "Whenever guns are involved, the nature of the matter changes. I expect officials will soon come to you; just tell them everything you know."

"But the things I just taught you are best left unsaid, or I'll be in trouble."

The female teacher quickly nodded: "I understand, I understand, thank you, thank you!"

LiMin was curious: "May I ask, were you the ones who helped her escape?"

"Yes."

"And before, the multiple anonymous emergency calls, were those also you?"

"Correct."

"So you stayed here to help rescue trafficked, trapped women?"

"Yes, and also no."

The female teacher held her husband's hand and said frankly: "Our ability is limited, and the help we can give is also limited."

"Actually, over these years we've rescued few women; you probably learned the specific reasons from the town police station."

"Later, I realized something: this mountain never traps bodies, but hearts."

Lu Yang looked at her: "So you want to use teaching to help children establish correct values, fundamentally freeing them from ignorance?"

The two teachers stared at him in surprise, clearly not expecting him to see the essence through the phenomenon at once.

As long as the older generation's ignorance and backward thoughts are buried, and a new force with correct values rises, those tragedies won't repeat.

LiMin and Liu Ziqiang felt a solemn respect at that moment, not expecting the two teachers to be greater than they imagined.

Lu Yang asked: "You aren't a volunteer teacher, are you?"

The female teacher sighed and nodded: "I grew up in the mountains; my mother was trafficked. When I was eight, she left, rescued by her family."

"I don't hate her, nor resent her; she is a poor soul, and my birth was a mistake."

"At school, there are several children with similar experiences; they, like me, are unfortunate and pitiful, but they're not at fault—the blame lies with this man‑eating mountain."

Lu Yang frowned slightly but said nothing.

Yet Liu Ziqiang and LiMin felt deeply uneasy.

Looking at the rows of desks, patched roofs, and windows in the classroom that they had repaired overnight.

Recalling the children's innocent, bright smiles; and how they were reluctant to eat meat, bringing it home for their families.

At that moment, they felt a forced tearing, their worldview collapsing; even some physical discomfort arose.

"Platoon Leader Lu, what exactly is good, what is bad, what is right, what is wrong?"

Stepping out of Hope Elementary School's gate, LiMin's gaze became somewhat blank.

The framework he used to judge right and wrong was shattered in less than a day.

Liu Ziqiang's heart also wavered at this moment: "If—if, if in the end we use this momentum to rescue all the trapped women, what then about these children?"

"If they learn that their fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers are traffickers; that their mother was trafficked to the mountain and forced to bear them, what will the children think?"

"When justice is served but reality becomes a mess, everyone is defeated—does such justice still count as justice?"

Lu Yang squatted on a stone; the rarely smoking him took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.

He pulled out one, placed it between his lips, lit it with a lighter, and took a quiet drag.

He only began speaking slowly after smoking it halfway.

"Some matters, once you decide to act, don't overthink; right and wrong lie in the heart."

"Teacher Zhang is the best example; she is both victim and firsthand witness; the mountain children aren't as fragile as you think."

"You traveled so far to come here—aren't you planting a seed of hope in the children's hearts?"

LiMin and Liu Ziqiang exchanged looks; the tangled knot in their minds seemed somewhat untangled.

Lu Yang stubbed out the cigarette: "Trafficking women against their will must be struck down severely; this is indisputable."

"When police fire at a criminal, must they also consider whether the perpetrator's family has an eighty‑year‑old mother and a crying infant?"

"When border guards kill a drug dealer, they don't wonder if he's just married, if his wife is pregnant, waiting for him to bring dirty money home for formula?"

"Finally, don't sympathize with the perpetrators just because the children are innocent; the trafficked women are the most desperate and innocent."

"When everything settles, the Women's Federation, Civil Affairs, and Education Department aren't just ornaments; they will intervene actively and set things on the right track."

"We understand."

After Lu Yang's guidance, their heavy hearts lightened considerably.

People always harbor some inexplicable guilt.

Even if the other party bullies you, you retaliate normally.

It may cause mental drain, making you wonder if you overstepped.

Then you find excuses to justify the other's actions, torturing yourself, sinking into internal conflict.

But once you understand that every cause has an effect; a mistake is a mistake, it cannot be easily forgiven just because it drags others along.

"Alright, let's go back."

Lu Yang stood up, patting his leg.

"Ah, that's it, we're leaving?"

"Otherwise what?"

"Aren't we supposed to do something?"

"Do what? You didn't hear Teacher Zhang; after this morning's incident, the trafficked women were quietly moved one after another, and she doesn't know exactly where they were hidden."

"Brother Yang is right; even those who have lived in these mountains since childhood can't find a place, only the three of us, it's like looking for a needle in the sea."

"But you two are veterans; you can scout, right?"

LiMin looked at the two veterans before her as if it were obvious.

She felt that if they wanted, they could certainly beat Lao Wu's men to the punch and uncover the locations where the temporarily relocated hidden women were kept.

Then, when that happens, won't that merit be ours?

With so many women trapped and the matter's impact so great, can it really be only a second‑class merit?

Lu Yang put both hands on his shoulder, looking at him earnestly: "Do you know how many abducted women are in the mountains?"

"I don't know."

"Then do you know where they are each being moved and hidden?"

"I don't know."

"Then if some refuse to cooperate, don't want to come with us, or even shout loudly to alert the villagers, what should we do?"

"Umm..."

LiMin then realized that he seemed to have thought the situation too simply.

These mountains are so huge that even sending an entire legion into them could hide without anyone noticing.

Relying solely on their few numbers, making this happen is utterly impossible.

Otherwise, Lu Yang wouldn't have taken this step, making it cheap for others.

Lu Yang: "Let's go. Later we can follow behind to lend a hand, just watch how the situation unfolds."

"Mm."

The three returned the same way, taking a difficult downhill path.

Suddenly, Lu Yang pressed the two's heads and led them to hide in the thicket of weeds.

"What's wrong?"

"Shh!"

Lu Yang's expression was solemn as he pointed over there.

The two looked in the direction of his finger and instantly held their breath......