Chapter 851: Chapter 851

The little girl’s cloth bag was bulging, stuffed with thick stacks of crisp hundred-yuan bills. Zheng Meng roughly estimated that there was almost one hundred and fifty thousand yuan.

For the wealthy, one hundred and fifty thousand is not a lot, but for a little girl of about ten years old, dressed in worn coarse clothing, it undoubtedly represented a huge sum of money.

"Little girl, tell uncle your name. Who gave you this money?"

Zheng Meng covetously eyed the wads of cash peeking out from the little girl’s cloth bag. His eyes darted around as he squatted in front of the little girl with a smile and asked.

"My name is Shi Xiaolian, everyone in the village calls me Alian."

The little girl, Shi Xiaolian, was innocent and had no sense of wariness towards Zheng Meng. Tilting her head, she earnestly said, "A big brother gave this money to my grandpa. Not long ago, my grandpa passed away, so I took the money to find the big brother."

Upon hearing that, Zheng Meng was delighted to find out that the little girl named Alian indeed came from the countryside. He asked further, "What’s your big brother’s name? Where does he live?"

Little Alian replied, "The big brother said his name is Fang Bai, and he works at Yanjing Hospital."

A ten-year-old girl carrying more than one hundred thousand yuan all by herself, venturing to Yanjing thousands of miles away, was in danger of being deceived and losing her money along the way. Rather than letting others benefit from it, why not take the money for himself?

Thinking this, Zheng Meng rubbed his hands together and chuckled slyly, "Ah, little friend, Yanjing is a long way from here, and there are many bad people on the road. What would you do if a bad person tried to take your money? How about this, uncle is a good person, you can give the money to uncle for safekeeping, and then uncle will take you to Yanjing to find your big brother, okay?"

To make Alian trust him, Zheng Meng tried to squeeze out what he thought was a benevolent smile, but with his naturally fierce appearance, the smile looked worse than a cry.

Alian shook her head and said, "Alian is not afraid of bad people! If a bad person tries to take my money, I’ll beat them away!"

A flash of viciousness passed through Zheng Meng’s eyes as he sneered internally. He thought to himself that this little girl with her thin arms and legs could be blown away by a mere breeze. How could she talk so big? If I can’t sweet-talk the money from you, I’ll just take it by force. After all, you’re just a kid from out of town; even if your money is stolen, no one will respond to your cries for help.

Zheng Meng persisted, trying to deceive her a few more times, but Alian insisted on finding her big brother by herself and was unwilling to hand over the money. Zheng Meng’s patience finally ran out, and he resorted to his baser instincts, waving his hand and saying, "Alright, go and pick out whatever you’d like to buy!"

Alian wandered around the convenience store, picked up a few pieces of bread and some drinks, paid at the cashier, then politely said goodbye to Zheng Meng, and left.

No sooner had she left than Zheng Meng changed his jacket, locked the convenience store’s door, and followed her from a distance.

Alian walked and ate the bread she had bought, then drank a few sips of her beverage. Feeling somewhat full, a small smile then appeared on her face.

"I’ll rest here for the night and take the bus to Yanjing to find my big brother tomorrow..."

Seeing a large square ahead, Alian walked over and sat down cross-legged on one of the benches, casually placing the old cloth bag beside her.

Zheng Meng tiptoed to a tree not far behind her, quickly donned a hat and a large mask, then dashed towards Alian. He reached out for the old cloth bag beside her.

He thought it would be an easy grab, but when he reached out, he caught nothing but air. Looking closely, he saw the old cloth bag was already in Alian’s hand, and Alian, who had been sitting, was now standing on the ground.

"Uncle, what are you trying to do?"

Alian’s large eyes looked at Zheng Meng, her expression now mixed with a hint of wariness.

Clearly, even though Zheng Meng wore a hat and a mask as a simple disguise, he was still recognized by Alian.

Zheng Meng had intended to snatch the money and run, aiming for a clean escape unnoticed, but, having failed to get the money and having his identity exposed by Alian, he flew into a rage, dropped the act, and took a step closer to Alian. He stretched out his hand and threatened fiercely, "Give me all your money, or I’ll make you wish you were dead!"

He towered over Alian by several heads, looking down at her with a menacing demeanor. Any ordinary little girl would have been scared to tears by now, but Alian showed no fear. Instead, she retorted angrily, "Uncle is trying to steal my money, so you are a bad man!"

"Stop the nonsense and hand over the money!"

Wanting to avoid any complications that could arise from drawing attention, Zheng Meng steeled himself and charged at Alian, determined to take the money by force.

He reached her side, his left hand reaching for Alian’s shoulder and his right hand for the old cloth bag in her hands, believing that she couldn’t escape his grasp now, but in a blur, Alian’s slight figure moved with unbelievable speed to his back.

"If you try to steal my money again, I’m going to hit you!"

Clutching the cloth bag in her left hand, Alian swung her right fist around and warned in a slightly childish voice.

"Little girl, you’ve got some nerve! Believe it or not, I’ll throw you into the lake!"

Seeing Alian now threatened him in return, Zheng Meng let out a laugh instead of getting angry. He pointed to a nearby sparkling lake and said sternly.

Alian snorted, "I’m not afraid at all!"

Zheng Meng was about to charge at her again when suddenly he was enveloped in darkness, as if something had blocked the moonlight.

He looked up and saw a shadow drop from the sky, landing beside him.

Zheng Meng jumped in surprise, turning to look at the shadow.

Alian’s gaze also fell on the shadow, and her vision being much sharper than Zheng Meng’s, she immediately recognized the figure—it was a creature covered in long green hair, with large eyes that popped wide open, betraying a trace of fear.

After landing, the shadow reached out and grabbed the stunned Zheng Meng, then bit into his neck.

Zheng Meng felt a sharp pain in his neck, followed by the sensation of blood rapidly draining from his body. He screamed in terror, a shrill and pitiful cry.

His screaming lasted only a moment before suddenly cutting off. His body twitched a few times, his head lolled, and he fell silent.

Although young, Alian already possessed considerable Martial Arts skills. She wasn’t afraid of a bad man like Zheng Meng, but confronted by an unfamiliar green-haired monster, she was petrified.

Seeing the monster bite Zheng Meng dead and then leap towards her, Alian was panic-stricken. She turned and ran, using all her movement technique to flee, shouting behind her, "Don’t... don’t chase me..."

She was fast, but the monster was several times faster and was about to catch up to her in the blink of an eye.