The malicious provocation hurled by Pak Darma spread like a spark hitting a pile of dry straw. Across the courtyard of the Suka Makmur Village Hall, the common sense of villagers long blinded by panic and frustration over their crop failure completely collapsed. They no longer looked at Danu as a young man trying to save them, but rather as the perfect scapegoat for all the misery that had just struck the community.

The tense courtyard atmosphere abruptly shifted into an uncontrollable wave of mob fury.

"Drive him out! Seize the traitor!" Kasim screamed with a shrill, hate-filled voice, pointing directly toward the veranda where Danu stood.

"That's right! This insolent farmhand's brat thinks he can play games with us! Throw him out of the village!" shouted Mardani, the farm foreman, inciting the laborers standing nearby.

Pak Darma’s two massive enforcers exchanged cynical grins. Without wasting a second, they bounded up the veranda steps, pushing forward with fierce expressions to execute the dirty work their master desired.

Danu stood his ground, locking a sharp gaze onto the mob spinning out of control. Not an ounce of fear registered in his eyes, even though he knew precisely what physical danger threatened him at that moment.

"Where do you think you're running off to, you little bastard?" snapped one of the stocky enforcers as he lunged forward.

Thump!

The enforcer deliberately shoved Danu's chest with both hands using all his might. Unprepared for the sudden physical blow, Danu stumbled backward, lost his balance, and crashed hard onto the dusty dirt floor of the village hall courtyard. His knees and elbows scraped against sharp gravel, drawing a thin line of fresh blood.

"Hahaha! How do you like that, you wannabe-hero beggar?!" mocked the second enforcer with a loud, condescending laugh.

Seeing Danu sprawled helplessly in the dirt, the mob's fury escalated. Village youths incited by the enforcers and Pak Darma surged forward, boxing in the area where Danu had fallen.

"Get up, you cursed thief!" a broad-shouldered village youth snapped, spitting near Danu's boots. "Your family has always been a bunch of ungrateful freeloaders! Living off charity on village land, yet you've got the nerve to envy our success!"

"That's right! Your old man has been nothing more than a dirt-poor farmhand your whole life, and now you want to play king with your cheap parlor tricks, huh?" another resident chimed in, dripping with mockery and deep-seated hatred.

Abuse, insults, and curses flew blindly from every direction. Not a single voice rose to defend Danu. Even Mbok Min and little Pak RT, watching secretly from a distance, could only cover their mouths with trembling hands, too terrified to step forward lest they become targets of the savage mob.

Danu slowly pushed himself up from the dusty ground. He brushed off his bleeding elbow, then pulled himself to his full height before the dozens of people hemming him in tight.

"You've all genuinely lost your minds..." Danu said in a deep, calm yet razor-sharp voice, locking eyes with each person around him without a trace of fear. "You reject the truth, worship lies, and pin the blame on the person trying to open your eyes!"

"Shut your filthy mouth, traitor!" Kasim roared in fury, snatching up a sharp pebble from the roadside.

Without a second thought, Kasim hurled the stone with all his might straight at Danu's face.

Thwack!

The sharp pebble struck Danu squarely on the right temple. His skin tore instantly, spilling a bead of fresh blood that trickled down his cheek.

Seeing blood draw from Danu's temple, far from feeling a shred of pity, the village youths broke into cheers.

"Nice! Hit the bastard again!" yelled a youth, immediately dropping to scoop up a handful of stones from the dirt.

Slap! Thwack! Swish!

A barrage of gravel stones instantly rained down on Danu from all angles. He was forced to raise both arms to shield his head and face from the hail of rocks hurled by the crazed townspeople. He was driven backward step by step away from the village hall courtyard, dodging the increasingly vicious barrage.

Up on the veranda, Pak Darma stood with his arms crossed over his chest. He watched the eviction play out with a wide, supremely satisfied demonic grin. For the massive loan shark, casting Danu out by publicly humiliating him before the masses was the ultimate way to stamp out any threat to his authority.

"Get out of here! Crawl out of our village, you cursed beggar!" Pak Darma bellowed, egging the mob on to keep pelting Danu.

Danu continued backing out past the boundary of the hall grounds, treading through the street dust with blood still leaking from his temple and dust coating his clothes. Yet his stride showed not a flicker of panic.

He paused briefly at the edge of the village road. Lowering his hands from his head, he swept his gaze across the faces of the villagers laughing triumphantly in the courtyard, celebrating his banishment as though they had just won a grand war.

The surrounding world suddenly fell quiet for Danu. In the corner of his field of vision, the translucent screen of the Sacred Farming System flickered softly to display territory status: (Emergency Evacuation Zone: Suka Makmur Territory Declared High Risk.)

Danu drew a long breath. He wiped the blood from his temple with the back of his hand, then fixed Pak Darma and the mob with a stare so glacial that anyone catching his eye felt a shiver run down their spine.

With a deep, quiet, yet commanding voice that seized the quiet of the afternoon, Danu delivered his final words before turning his back:

"You can laugh and drive me out today... but mark my words, you are the ones who have bolted shut your very last door of safety. Don't ever expect me to look back when absolute ruin flattens this village to ash!"

With those bone-chilling words delivered, Danu turned completely around. He walked away from the village hall complex with a straight, unyielding back, refusing to glance behind him even once.

Leaving behind a crowd of villagers abruptly struck dumb by Danu's parting stare—the gaze of a man who knew with absolute certainty that the true apocalypse had only just begun for Suka Makmur Village.