Chapter 23: Kill Me

"Who are you, and how did I get here?" Huo Yufeng huddled in a corner, her voice trembling as she looked at the man with glasses.

He seemed about forty, scholarly in appearance, and smiled at her. "I saw you were drunk and troubled, so I brought you here. In this place, you needn't worry about anything else—all you have to do is enjoy yourself."

As he spoke, he opened a bag and took out four boxed meals, handing them first to the three women lying on the beds.

The three women seized the food and devoured it ravenously. Then, the man approached Huo Yufeng with the last box, squatted down, and offered it to her. "You must be hungry. Eat."

"I won't, I won't," Huo Yufeng cried, kicking her feet wildly and pressing herself against the wall, instinctively trying to put as much distance as possible between herself and the man.

At that moment, one of the other women spoke up quickly, "Brother Zhao, if she won't eat, can I have it?"

She looked at Brother Zhao with pleading eyes.

Brother Zhao turned to her and laughed. "Aren't you full yet?"

The woman’s face immediately changed. She shrank into the corner of her bed and ate in silence.

Seeing that Huo Yufeng refused to eat, the man set the box down on the floor and left the room.

After a moment, he returned holding a shovel. Without warning, he struck the woman who'd spoken earlier on the head with it.

A scream tore from Huo Yufeng's lips as terror overwhelmed her.

The woman, still eating, seemed utterly unaware of the danger. The blow felled her instantly; she didn't even make a sound as she collapsed onto the bed, blood quickly staining the sheets.

The other two women, though clearly panicked, just bowed their heads and kept eating, as if such violence was a regular occurrence.

Brother Zhao dragged the unconscious woman off the bed by her hair and delivered several more brutal blows to her head with the shovel.

In no time, her skull was shattered, red and white matter pooling on the ground.

At this, Huo Yufeng could no longer restrain her horror and revulsion; she vomited uncontrollably.

Brother Zhao then addressed the two naked women. "Come here and dig a hole to bury her."

They hurried to obey, dragging their chains as they took turns digging in the floor with the shovel.

Brother Zhao brushed off his hands and approached Huo Yufeng, unclipping her chain and dragging her to the bed where the dead woman had lain. He fastened her chain to a ring in the wall.

He adjusted his glasses and looked at her gently. "From now on, this bed is yours. Remember to behave."

He picked up the boxed meal and offered it to her again. "Eat."

With trembling hands, Huo Yufeng obediently accepted the meal. Under Brother Zhao’s watchful gaze, she began to eat, tears streaming down her face.

"That's better. As long as you obey, nothing will happen to you."

To Huo Yufeng, his smile was more terrifying than a demon’s roar. Yet now, she had not a shred of courage left to resist a single word he uttered.

Over an hour later, the two women finished digging, buried the corpse, and returned to their beds to eat their now-cold meals, as though nothing had happened.

Then, Brother Zhao looked at Huo Yufeng and said softly, "Take off your clothes. Here, you don't need them."

Huo Yufeng wept quietly as she slowly removed her top. Under Brother Zhao’s leering gaze, she closed her eyes in despair and undressed completely.

Brother Zhao’s eyes grew wild as he gazed at her youthful body. He quickly stripped off his own clothes, saying, "Come now, let’s enjoy ourselves. I am the king, and you must all obey the king’s will."

With that, he threw himself at Huo Yufeng’s pale, youthful body.

At that moment, a surge of courage came from somewhere within Huo Yufeng. She pushed him away with all her strength, sobbing, "No, please, let me go! My family is rich—I can give you money!"

A slap thundered across her face.

Brother Zhao’s expression twisted with rage. "Money? I don’t need money. What I require is obedience."

He slapped her twice more, leaving her cheeks swollen and red.

Those blows shattered whatever courage Huo Yufeng had managed to muster. Weeping, she slowly lowered her hands, surrendering utterly.

The man lunged at her again, his face contorted. Huo Yufeng closed her eyes in despair.

Just then, there was a crashing sound as the low iron door was kicked open. A figure strode in, seized Brother Zhao by the collar, and slammed him to the ground.

Huo Yufeng, bracing herself for violation, instead opened her eyes to find her elder sister beside her, shielding her body and helping her get dressed. The person she most disliked stood nearby, one foot pressed on Brother Zhao’s face.

"Sister..."

Finally realizing she was safe, Huo Yufeng could no longer hold back and threw herself into her sister’s arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

Tears welled in Huo Yutong’s eyes as she comforted her sister.

After a while, noticing her sister was still undressed, Huo Yutong quickly helped her into her clothes before looking gratefully at Lu Ming.

Earlier, when Huo Yufeng had stormed out, Lu Ming had left a psychic mark on her. He knew her whereabouts and physical condition at all times.

Originally, after settling matters at the bar, Lu Ming had planned to return to the general store. But suddenly, he sensed Huo Yufeng’s emotions spike in terror, as if she had been badly frightened. He and Huo Yutong rushed over in the nick of time to save her.

Huo Yutong looked at the two naked women in the room and asked Lu Ming, "What should we do?"

"Take her home first," Lu Ming replied calmly. "I’ll handle things here."

Realizing she was no longer needed, Huo Yutong nodded, supporting her devastated sister as they left.

Once they were gone, Lu Ming removed his foot from Brother Zhao’s face and stared at him coldly.

The man with glasses sat up, straightening his crooked spectacles, and forced a smile at Lu Ming.

Lighting a cigarette, Lu Ming took two drags before asking, "How should I deal with you?"

Wiping blood from his mouth, the man replied flatly, "Kill me."

"Kill you?" Lu Ming repeated.

"Yes, kill me quickly. There are demons inside me—they tempt me every day. I’m going mad," the man said, his face contorted.

"Everyone has demons inside them, but most resist their temptations. That’s not an excuse," Lu Ming said quietly.

The man lifted his head, meeting Lu Ming’s eyes. After a pause, he said, "You wouldn’t understand."

Lu Ming smiled coldly. "A pervert like you? Of course I don’t understand."

He then unfastened the chains from the two women and from the floor, binding the man’s limbs with them.

Next, he tore off the four steel bed legs with his bare hands, hammered them deep into the ground, and secured the chains to each one, spreading the man out on the floor in the shape of a cross.

Lu Ming picked up the blood- and dirt-stained shovel and approached, smiling.

"I’ll give you a little punishment. As for your life or death, I’ll leave that to someone else."

The man’s face finally showed fear as Lu Ming leveled the shovel at his groin.

"No, please, don’t!"

"I thought you were so depraved, but you disappoint me," Lu Ming said, shaking his head, and brought the shovel down.

A bloodcurdling scream pierced the air as Lu Ming mutilated the man’s groin, blood soaking the floor.

While the man howled in agony, Lu Ming used the shovel to chop the flesh into pieces, then drove the shovel into the ground.

Looking at the two women still huddled at the foot of their beds, Lu Ming said, "You’re free now. Do whatever you wish."

With that, he turned and left.

After Lu Ming’s departure, the two naked women stared numbly at the man writhing and screaming on the floor.

After a long while, they tentatively left their beds, shrinking back into a corner.

The man’s howls continued, pain and blood loss consuming him.

As the women watched him struggle helplessly against the chains, a glint of light appeared in their eyes.

One of them slowly approached, seized the shovel, and pulled it free.

Only then did the man notice them. Seeing their faces twisted with rage, he cried out in terror, "No, please!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The shovel came down again and again, on his body, on his head.

The two women, like madwomen, took turns battering him with the shovel.

It wasn't long before his howls faded into silence, his corpse reduced to a mangled heap.

Only then did the women seem to awaken, blankly surveying their surroundings. After a long pause, they suddenly clung to each other and wept.

...

Returning to the general store, Lu Ming went straight upstairs and threw himself onto his bed.

He muttered to himself as he picked up his phone, "They should have received the goods by now. I wonder if there’s any reaction yet."

He logged onto the Martial Artists’ Home forum. His post hadn’t lost heat; on the contrary, the replies had multiplied.

Curious, Lu Ming clicked in and found a short video. The comments had already exceeded ten thousand.

He played the video. Two men, one tall and one short, were sparring fiercely, trading blows back and forth. The shorter man was clearly losing, barely holding his own.

Just as he seemed about to be defeated, a sudden energy seemed to surge through him. He rallied and launched a counterattack against the taller man.

The tall man was taken aback and fought back with all his strength.

But the short man seemed as if he’d taken some stimulant or suddenly become superhumanly strong. From his losing position, he began an all-out assault, relentlessly suppressing his opponent.