Chapter 501: Chapter 501 The Punishment of the Deceiver
But everything he said was utterly unconvincing to Xu Longzhen, and it even made Xu Longzhen find this person even more annoying.
"You don’t dare? You’re too daring, I’ve never seen someone as bold as you. You absolutely don’t need to borrow courage from anyone else, I think even ambition and leopard’s guts are no match for your bravery." Xu Longzhen said with a glint of icy coldness in her eyes.
"I don’t want to hear any more of your excuses. Since you don’t know where you went wrong, I’ll help you remember it, help you slowly recall it." Just as Xu Longzhen finished speaking, her assistant, who had been standing behind her like a transparent shadow, finally stepped past Xu Longzhen and into the center of the living room, kicking the coffee table aside, under the man’s shocked gaze, lifted a dark carpet and pulled up a wooden board.
From the man’s perspective, all he could see was a pitch-black passage, like a beast ready to devour him.
"Will you go in yourself, or should I drag you in?" The assistant adjusted the frame of his glasses and spoke leisurely to the man.
"No, I won’t go in, I don’t want to go in, no." The man shook his head, shaking it like a rattle, clearly unable to accept this outcome, but now, he had no choice in the matter.
The assistant, as if not noticing his resistance, answered to himself: "Oh, you wanted me to invite you in, should’ve said so earlier, really can’t do anything about you." The assistant’s expression was filled with helplessness and doting, making the veins on Xu Longzhen’s forehead bulge uncontrollably.
"Enough, if you keep saying such disgusting words, I’ll make sure you can’t speak for the rest of your life." Xu Longzhen said through gritted teeth.
Seeing Xu Longzhen was not joking, the assistant’s face showed a hint of regret as he closed his mouth.
In the man’s eyes filled with extreme resistance, the assistant approached him. The man shaking his head while crawling with his limbs towards the door, trying to escape from this place.
But after all, he had injured a leg and an arm, his limbs were not agile, and all his efforts looked to the two present like the insignificant resistance of an ant, almost negligible.
"I was wrong, I know I was wrong, I won’t dare again, don’t do this to me, considering I was once your teacher, spare me, I promise I’ll never commit again. No! I promise I’ll never appear in front of you again, I beg you, don’t do this to me, my body can’t handle this." In the vast space, only the man’s pleas echoed, but no trace of the word "soft-hearted" appeared in the eyes of the other two present.
The man was still dragged down by the assistant, the long, dim stairway engendering fear, its sharp angles bruising the man’s body, causing him to howl incessantly, his previously broken limbs constantly getting knocked, as if breaking anew.
The assistant, gripping one of the man’s arms as if dragging a sack, moved without pause, his ears automatically blocking out the sounds the man made, successfully pulling him down into this undisclosed basement.
It was a small secret room, although it looked not large, it was well-equipped, the walls had been carved into storage frames, covering three sides, one side filled with various knives whose purposes were unclear, another side piled with medical books of various painful disciplines, and the last side held innumerable jars and bottles filled with unknown chemicals, while the center of the room was occupied by a surgical iron bed, with restraints around and in the middle, ensuring the target lay obediently on the operating table, unable to move.
On the other side of the room stood a crucifix, also equipped with instruments for body restraint.
Seeing this setup, the man’s eyes widened, his body turning limp like a puddle of sludge, collapsing onto the ground with no strength left to move.
"Welcome to my secret base, what do you think? It’s quite suitable for some clandestine activities. Don’t worry, if you can’t hold back, you can shout as loudly as you want, I guarantee no one outside will hear a thing." Xu Longzhen, looking at the man’s cowardly appearance, only felt more disdain for him, while also growing angrier about his trickery.
"You can’t kill me. If something happens to me and people find out, you won’t escape the consequences either. Keeping me alive is the best deal for you." A sudden spark in the man’s mind made him say this.
"You know, the family values respecting teachers and tradition. If they find out what you’ve done to me, you won’t have a good ending. Sacrificing myself isn’t worth it; regard me as a pest, let me go, and as soon as you release me, I swear I’ll pretend none of this ever happened, I’ll immediately leave this place and this country and you’ll never see me again. How does that sound?" The man spoke in a hopeful tone.
"You know, what I hate the most since I was a child is being threatened. Apparently, you don’t know that, or perhaps you’re betting on a risky move to gain a lifeline; if that’s your gamble, I’m sorry to tell you, you bet wrong."
Xu Longzhen walked to the wall filled with tools, her calloused hand slowly brushing across it, listening to the clash of metal.
"I originally just wanted to teach you a lesson; after all, I’m not interested in your worthless life. But what you just said successfully changed my mind. You’re so disobedient, it seems only by taking your life will you learn how to become obedient." Xu Longzhen said, looking at a surgical scalpel thin as a cicada’s wing, its sharp edge glinting in the light.
Hearing Xu Longzhen’s words, the man, who seemed weak just moments ago, suddenly leapt up from the floor, bursting with the greatest potential of his life. The only aim in his mind was to escape from this basement.
His sudden action caught the two off guard, but didn’t throw them into panic. Xu Longzhen looked regretfully at the scalpel in her hand, and in the next second, the sharp blade flew down in an arc like a falling star, slicing into the man’s ankle effortlessly, severing the tendon, leaving him sprawled helplessly on the cold floor.
All his courage seemed to vanish with that simple blow. The man’s face was now drenched with tears; he cried like a child, but no one came to console him.