Desperate people, accept the seed of my soul!

"That's the kind of child you are."

"They suffer injustice but remain silent, and when bullied, they do not fight back; they just squat in a corner and rub their wounds."

"But you must be in a lot of pain inside."

The old man's voice began to tremble, and he gripped the armrests of his wheelchair tightly, his knuckles turning white.

"If someone had stood up for you back then, said a word for you, and driven those people away, wouldn't you be in this situation today?"

Beside the screen, the middle-aged man's eyes were already red.

His name was Zhou Jianguo, and he was a distant relative of Song Chao's mother. Song Chao called him his maternal uncle.

He was wearing the kind of dark blue work clothes that migrant workers often wear, with oil stains on the cuffs that couldn't be washed off, and his fingers were as rough as sandpaper, with cement dust from the construction site embedded in his fingernails.

"Doggy".

He spoke, calling out Song Chao's childhood nickname.

"I'm your cousin. When you were little, you came to my house for Chinese New Year, and I bought you a string of firecrackers. You were so happy that you ran all over the yard, scaring the chickens so much that they stopped laying eggs. Do you remember?"

He raised his hand and wiped his eyes.

"Your mother passed away early, and your father is gone too. For so many years, you've been working alone in the city, and you've never told me what grievances you've suffered."

Every time I call, they say everything's fine and tell me not to worry.

"The last time you called me was three months ago. You said that Niu Niu had grown taller and would be going to kindergarten soon. You also said that you had saved up money to set up an art studio for her."

Your voice was full of laughter when you said that; I could tell how happy you were even through the phone.

"I'm not going to try to persuade you with anything else right now. I just want to tell you that you still have family."

Niu Niu is still very young, only three and a half years old. She doesn't understand anything; she doesn't know what happened between her parents.

All she knew was that her father loved her and had left her orange-flavored milk candy.

Even if you don't think about yourself, think about Niu Niu.

He paused, his voice growing softer and softer.

"Doggy, come back. Your uncle is begging you."

At the end of the video, the elderly Meng Zhaowen spoke again.

He looked at the camera, a stubborn light shining in his cloudy eyes.

"Song Dynasty, do you still remember the sentence I wrote on the blackboard back then?"

"A person can bend over temporarily, but cannot live on their knees."

"You've been bent over for three years, and now you've finally stood up."

But the cost of getting back up was too high.

One hundred and seventy-three people, no matter how serious their crimes, should not be judged by you.

Vigilante justice cannot replace the law, even if the law sometimes takes too long to act.

"Come back."

"The teacher is waiting for you."

The video ends here.

The final image focuses on the old man's aged face, his eyes filled with a stubborn yet sorrowful light.

Less than ten minutes after the video was released, it had been viewed over five million times.

The comments section exploded.

The most popular comment has only six characters and has over 200,000 likes.

"Why didn't you do this sooner?"

The second most popular comment has 150,000 likes.

Where were you when a migrant worker was driven to the brink of despair?

Where were you when he knelt and kowtowed at the courthouse entrance?

Where were you when he was locked in the interrogation room and beaten for three days and three nights?

Now that he has killed someone, your laws are here.

They came to persuade him to surrender. They came to tell him that vigilante justice cannot replace the law. Where is their shame?

The third most popular comment has 120,000 likes.

"The teacher is right. Every word is well said."

But teacher, could you tell me, what if the Song Dynasty had its legs broken back then?

If the law had given him justice, would he have ended up like this?

The fourth popular comment has received hundreds of thousands of likes.

I cried when my cousin called him Gouwa.

A man who killed nearly two hundred people will always be seen by his family as the child who scared the chickens so much that they wouldn't lay eggs when he set off firecrackers.

He wasn't born a devil; he was gradually forced into becoming one.

The fifth most popular comment has 80,000 likes.

"The video is very well made. But I only have one question: Is it possible to persuade them to surrender?"

Before trying to persuade him to surrender, could you first arrest those who harmed him?

Zhao Dehai is dead, Tang Ming and Zhang Jinshan are dead, but what about the security guard who helped him forge his testimony back then?

The petition office is suppressing his appeal materials.

Why not put these people in front of the camera and make them kowtow to the Song Dynasty and confess their sins?

You made the victims surrender, but where are the perpetrators?

The sixth popular comment has received 60,000 likes.

I disagree with the idea of ​​persuading someone to surrender.

He killed 173 people, some of whom deserved to die, but others were merely protecting the murderers and did not deserve to die.

The law can sentence them to a few years in prison, but the Song Dynasty should not sentence them to death.

If the authorities compromise this time, then all superhumans will be able to trample on the law in the same way from now on.

The seventh popular comment has received 50,000 likes.

"Upstairs, you're right."

The problem is, if the law had judged them sooner, the Song Dynasty wouldn't have taken action.

The most ironic thing about this is that the vast majority of the people killed by the Song Dynasty had criminal records.

Chen Hu, Zhao Gang, and Wang Qiang have murder cases on their hands. Chen Laoshuan has seized the homesteads of several families in the village.

Wang Meng pushed a holdout resident off a building during a demolition at a construction site.

These people have been at large for so many years; where is the police station? Only after the Song Dynasty had executed the people did the authorities begin their investigation.

This isn't upholding the law; it's being forced into a corner.

The people who drove the Song Dynasty to this state are the same people who are now clamoring to arrest the Song Dynasty.

The comments section is still being refreshed.

Hundreds of new comments flood in every second.

People were almost evenly divided between those who supported and opposed the surrender offer, but there was one point that everyone agreed on—the authorities were genuinely desperate this time.

The news of the establishment of the National Center for Response to Abnormal Affairs was only released yesterday, and today it has been forced to the point of persuading people to surrender.

What does this mean?

This shows that the official forces were outmatched by the Song Dynasty.

The elderly man in the video, sitting in a wheelchair with his back ramrod straight, was the last card the authorities played.

It's not about force.

It's about human relationships.

"That's a brilliant move."

Inside the safe house, Xu Suyuan finished watching the video, gently twirling a coin in her fingers, a cold smile playing on her lips.

"First, let the teacher play the emotional card to awaken Song Chao's reason and conscience. Then, let the maternal uncle play the kinship card, using Niu Niu as a weakness. Finally, let the teacher utter that sentence—'Vigilante justice cannot replace the law.'"

"The structure is progressive and very professionally designed. It must have been written by a top-notch negotiation expert."

"Is it useful?"

Liu Zhen leaned against the wall, his brows furrowed tightly.

"He killed so many people, there's no turning back now. Even if the authorities promise not to sentence him to death, he'll still have to spend his whole life in prison. People like Song Chao would rather die than spend their whole lives in jail."

"uncertain."

Meng Zhaowen pushed up her glasses.

His name was exactly the same as the teacher in the video, which made him feel particularly complicated when watching the video.

"If it were me, I wouldn't surrender. But I'm not sure what Song Chao will choose. He has Niu Niu. Although Niu Niu isn't his biological daughter, he raised her for three years, doted on her for three years, and even left her milk candy before he left. Is this affection genuine?"

"It's precisely because Niu Niu isn't his biological daughter that he can't let go of her."