10 Chapter 10: The caged canary

Lin Fan turned and saw a little girl sitting on the bench by the side of the road looking right at him.

The way she looked at him was a gaze filled with expectation, but the way Lin Fan looked at her was with a gaze that was filled with shock.

It wasn't because of the fact that her age was much higher than what her appearance made her look like, which was around five years old. Her actual age was actually even older than Lin Fan.

Rather it was another prompt that appeared that shocked him.

"You have encountered an E Rank target, will you accept this quest?"

No, it wasn't that one as well.

Rather on the status screen that was revealed for this little girl, it showed a very special trait.

Physical trait: Bruises from signs of parental abuse.

He didn't know why the system would include this as well in the status for the girl. Maybe it was trying to make him feel enough pity for her so that he would take her quest…

If that was the case, he had to admit that it did work.

Such an innocent looking and poor girl, she was being abused by her parents like this, he couldn't help feeling sorry for her. There was even a feeling of wanting to save her.

Lin Fan didn't accept the quest right away, but he did move closer to the girl and said, "Alright, what game do you want to play?"

The girl looked up at him with a happy smile when she heard this and she said, "Big brother, stick out your hand."

Lin Fan was a bit confused when he heard this, but he did reach out his right hand towards the girl.

The girl saw this hand and said, "Not that hand, the other hand."

Lin Fan swapped out his hands and asked, "What do you need my hand for?"

The girl suddenly reached into her pocket and took out a ring which she put onto the ring finger on Lin Fan's left hand. She then said with a smile, "We're playing house. You and I are married now."

Right after she did this, the girl jumped off the bench and ran over to a bag that was placed on the ground right beside it. She went right into the bag and picked out several cups and plates that she placed back down on the bench. She also even took out an apron which she immediately put on, even though it was clearly too big for her.

Dragging it as she walked, the little girl came over to Lin Fan and said, "Welcome home dear, would you like to have some food first or would you like a bath? Or would you like something else…"

As she said this, she revealed a smile with a deeper meaning.

Although Lin Fan knew that she was much older than she looked, it was still strange hearing this from her.

But for now, he still decided to play along.

Lin Fan said with a faint smile, "I'll have some food first."

The girl gave a happy nod as she went over to the plates that she had put down, but once she picked them up, she immediately dropped them since she tripped on the apron that was too big for her.

The plate fell right out of her hand and smashed on the ground, but her first reaction wasn't to try and clean up the pieces…

Rather her first reaction was to raise her face towards Lin Fan.

Lin Fan was confused as he asked, "Are you hurt? What are you doing?"

The girl said in a brave voice, "It was my fault for dropping the plate, so I'm waiting for my punishment."

Lin Fan felt his heart twist a bit when he heard this, but he still asked, "What do you mean by punishment?"

The girl came over and took Lin Fan's hand, raising it to her own face before saying, "Mommy said that when mommy makes a mistake, daddy punishes her so that she learns. Daddy also punishes Yue'er when Yue'er makes mistakes, so that way Yue'er learns for next time."

Lin Fan knew exactly what she was talking about since he had seen the note in the status screen.

This was a perfect case of domestic violence…

Lin Fan pulled back his hand and said, "I'm not going to punish you."

When the girl heard this, she suddenly burst out into tears and said, "But daddy has to punish mommy or the daddy will leave. Mommy said that everything she did was her own fault and that daddy's punishments were his way of showing he cared, that's why he stays with mommy. Without them, daddy will leave and Yue'er doesn't want that."

Lin Fan's heart filled with pain when he heard this.

This was a clear case of domestic violence, but the mother had clearly accepted her role in this relationship because she was afraid of what would happen if she tried to change it.

This was a real problem in any part of this world, there were always those that had no option but to accept this kind of treatment…

Lin Fan began to think about his own quest…

If he were to accept this quest and if this girl had indirectly caused his death in the past, it must have been through the violent father.

But if he were to back down now, what kind of a man would he be?

Even if he was a coward, he at least had his pride as a man.

When Lin Fan was about to say something, there was a voice that came from his right that said, "Yue'er, why are you crying?"

Lin Fan turned to see a large man coming over towards them.

This man was dressed in a fine cut suit, but the sleeves were rolled back along his arms to reveal all the tattoos that covered them. Then there was this man's face, it was a face that looked very rough and was covered in scars. They weren't normal scars, but rather scars that came from knife wounds, which clearly showed that he had been in several fights before. Then there was his long red hair that was tied back in a ponytail.

No matter how one looked at this man, he was the exact definition of a gangster.

Lin Fan flinched when he saw this man appear, but this man completely ignored him and picked the girl off the ground as he said, "Yue'er, it's alright, papa is here."

If one looked at this scene just from the perspective of an outsider, you would think that this was a normal scene of a young girl and her caring father. It was too bad that Lin Fan couldn't think this after everything that he had experienced.

The girl suddenly stopped crying and looked up at the red haired man. She trembled as soon as she saw him, but then she said with a smile, "Papa, you're here." After that, she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a hug.

The man revealed a happy smile when he received this hug and he gave her a hug back.

Once they were done, the man put her back down and only then did he turn his attention back to Lin Fan.

He narrowed his eyes and glared at Lin Fan before saying, "Is this kid bothering my sweet Yue'er?"

Lin Fan couldn't help taking a step back at this.

No matter who it was, when there was a gangster staring you down, they would definitely back away.

The girl quickly came forward to grab the hand of the man and said, "Papa, it's not like that. This big brother played with Yue'er while Yue'er was waiting."

The man revealed a smile when he heard this and he came forward towards Lin Fan, reaching his hand out as he said, "Thank you very much young man. My Yue'er is quite weak, so normally there aren't many people who will play with her."

Lin Fan awkwardly revealed a smile and said, "It was nothing.

But as soon as he took the man's hand, the man pulled him in closer and whispered in his ear, "If you think you can take Yue'er away from me, I'll kill you."

Lin Fan was shocked when he heard this and he immediately pulled away, but when he did, he saw that the man had the same smile as before.

The man then ignored Lin Fan and went back to pick up the girl before saying, "Yue'er, your mommy is still waiting for you. Let's go home."

Without sparing a glance for Lin Fan, he walked off while holding the girl.

As they were walking away, the girl mouthed a few words to Lin Fan that he could clearly see.

"Help me."

Lin Fan was frozen in place.

While he wanted to avoid the system's game as much as possible, after seeing all this, it was impossible for him to sit still…

After being conflicted for a while, Lin Fan finally made his decision.

While looking at the girl, he opened the quest notification and chose "accept".

"Congratulations on accepting this E Rank quest. Please capture the target Liu Yue. You have been given five load chances for this E Rank quest. Rewards will be given after the quest is complete."

In the end, Lin Fan was still a man and he couldn't call himself one if he just stood idly by.

It was a pity that Lin Fan had forgotten what kind of a system he had...