novelraw Chapter 265 265: 265
Chapter 265 265: 265
Initially, Chen Meili wanted to teach a lesson to the pompous bitch, but after seeing the guards standing at her door, her footsteps came to a sudden halt, and the rage in her eyes faded a bit, bringing a sense of clarity to her.
"What's going on?" She couldn't help but mutter to herself while looking at the guards holding the scroll. Looking around, she finally saw another group of guards alongside the supervisor and her team.
Chen Meili hesitated for a moment, torn between the choices of whether to join the supervisor or teach a lesson to the bitch in front of her, but in the end, reason prevailed. She cast an unwilling glance in the direction of Sun Qiao, turned around and headed towards the group in the distance.
"Huh!?" Yang Ze, who was paying attention to her, couldn't help but exclaim in surprise upon seeing her change direction. He was sure that she was going to rush in to make a fuss.
"Should I make a move?" Looking at the departing backs of the guards and then at the figure of Chen Meili that was moving away, he almost wanted to rush towards her, but in the end, he managed to hold back and head inside the house.
No matter how desperately he wanted to see the merged item, he couldn't thrust himself into messy situations willingly.
"Let's just wait for a while." Yang Ze was sure that Chen Meili would definitely make a move. A person like her… it would be a miracle if she could stay silent.
After making up his mind, Yang Ze walked inside the house, locked the door once again and blocked it using a large block of wood before heading down into the basement.
Stepping into the familiar, yet unfamiliar, basement, he first flicked his finger to dismiss the illusion covering the figure of the middle-aged woman who had regained some of her sanity and was looking at him with a face full of trepidation.
"So…" With a smile, Yang Ze took a step forward, and his figure once again reverted to the figure of a young girl in her teens as he manifested a small table in front of Sun Qiao.
"Are you willing to have a conversation, or do you want to donate some more 'material' for the talisman making?"
The moment Yang Ze finished speaking, the figure of Sun Qiao trembled violently as she lowered her eyes, afraid of even looking at the little devil in front of her.
But even though she didn't speak, the slight nod of her head was more than enough to tell her state of mind.
"Good." Yang Ze finally breathed a sigh of relief. "You know, if you had been this cooperative before, you wouldn't have suffered this much."
With a wave of his hand, he shattered the cloth stuffed in her mouth, and the moment he did, Sun Qiao began to breathe rapidly, taking in one mouthful of air after another, as if afraid that she was going to die due to the lack of air.
It wasn't until a few moments had passed that she finally stopped, raised her head slightly and gazed at the figure of the young girl sitting in front of her, waiting for her to ask.
"What's the deal with Chen Meili?" The very first question Yang Ze asked her this time was about Chen Meili. Since his mission was related to her and this Sun Qiao seemed to have a history with her, he could perhaps use it to his advantage.
"What about her?" Sun Qiao's voice was a bit hoarse, as if not used to talking.
"She seemed to hate you to the bones." Yang Ze leisurely rested his chin on the back of his hand.
"What happened between the two of you?"
As soon as Yang Ze asked this question, Sun Qiao's breathing paused for a moment, and her eyes narrowed into slits. She instinctively didn't want to answer this question, but looking at the smiling face of the girl in front of her, as well as a small knife that had suddenly appeared in her hand out of thin air, her body trembled violently as she hurriedly began to speak, afraid that even the delay of a single second would displease the little devil.
"Jus… just a petty argument when we first came to the imperial city."
Sun Qiao stammered while answering Yang Ze's question. But upon looking at his blank face, hurriedly added further, afraid that he might be displeased.
"The two of us joined the Imperial City almost ten years ago. At that time, the two of us got into an argument over whose topic was better."
"Needless to say, it didn't end well."
"We almost exchanged blows. And if not for the guards and examiner's interference, the two of us might have really killed one another."
"Interesting…" Yang Ze scratched his chin before nodding. "Go on."
*Sigh
Taking a deep breath, Sun Qiao spoke further.
"After that, the two of us had some regular scuffles but nothing too serious."
"Usually, it is she who constantly looks for trouble. Always looking down on me and mocking everything that I do."
"She even tried to sabotage my research, and if that wasn't enough, even tried to steal from me."
Speaking till here, Sun Qiao even forgot her current situation and gritted her teeth in anger as she recalled how that bitch had been nothing but trouble from the very first day they met.
"And you?" Yang Ze was finally starting to have a better understanding of the situation.
"Didn't you ever try to retaliate?" He was beginning to have doubts about the story the woman in front of him was telling him. How could a woman who skinned children alive not do anything against the bullying?
"I tried." Sun Qiao merely nodded in response. "I tried talking to the guards, talking to the supervisors, but to no avail."
"None of them even bothered to take any action."
"In the end, I have to stand up for myself."
Speaking till here, her voice grew a bit hoarse as she whispered weakly.
"Do you know what it feels like?"
"To have the whole world against you… You try your best… You try to avoid messy situations. You just want to live a peaceful life, and yet there are those who wouldn't even let you live in peace."
"Do you know what it feels like?"
"....." Listening to her mournful shouts, Yang Ze instinctively wanted to nod in response. After all, the situation that she was describing was extremely familiar to him. Wasn't she talking about him?
He, too, wanted to live in peace, but couldn't. There would always be someone making it impossible for him to live a peaceful life.
And just when Yang Ze was about to nod in response, feeling a bit of pity for the feeble and weak woman in front of him, his eyes suddenly narrowed into slits, and his breathing paused for a moment as he came back to his senses.
"You…" Without finishing his sentence, Yang Ze stood up, walked directly in front of the naked middle-aged woman, pulled his hand back and with all his might, gave her a tight slap.
*Slap
The sound of the slap was resounding, filling the entire basement.
"You really want to push your luck, don't you?" How could Yang Ze not understand that the woman in front of him was lying to him and trying to manipulate him by acting all miserable and pitiful?
She knew she was no match against him in raw strength, so she was trying to play the role of an unfortunate victim.
"Wha… what do you…?" Spitting a mouthful of blood, Sun Qiao looked at the little girl in front of her with a wronged expression. When was the last time someone slapped her like this? For a moment, her heart was filled with humiliation and rage. If not for the fact that she was tied up and was no match against the girl sitting in front of her, she would have rushed forward and torn her to pieces. Unfortunately for her, the only thing she could do right now was to swallow her anger and try to make herself appear as pitiful as possible.
From the looks of it, the girl looked like a teenager… possibly a prodigy from the sect. Someone like her lacked the experience of the world and could be easily manipulated.
She too thought like that and wanted to try her luck. She almost succeeded in it as well.
Unfortunately, in the end, her plans came to no fruition. The only thing she received in return was a humiliating slap.
"Lie to me one more time, and I will skin you once again." Yang Ze didn't beat around the bush. He had no way of knowing if the woman was telling the truth or not, but he was willing to bet that she was telling a lie. After all, how could someone who skinned children for their skins be bullied and not even retaliate?
"I am going to give you one last chance."
"The truth…"
This time, Sun Qiao didn't dare to lie and began to tell him everything.
She once again repeated the story that she had just told Yang Ze, except this time she was the one who started the conflict and constantly harassed Chen Meili.
Chen Meili, on the other hand, escalated the conflict by taking some extreme measures.
The more Yang Ze listened to her, the more speechless he got. By the time Sun Qiao had finished narrating the events between Chen Meili and herself, he already had a rough understanding of their relationship and how to progress further.
"I see." Once Sun Qiao finished speaking, Yang Ze gave her a nod and asked the question that he had asked her before.
"What else can you tell me about the imperial city?"
"How does the royal family work, and what exactly lies in the Imperial palace?"
After she went through the process of being skinned alive and then healed, Yang Ze was expecting her to be a bit honest. But even if she wasn't, he wanted to extract any kind of information from her. Especially after how cooperative she was while narrating her relationship with Chen Meili.
Initially, Yang Ze was expecting her to give her an answer, but to his surprise, the moment he asked the question, she once again went quiet with her eyes filled with rage and a murderous aura once again.
And before Yang Ze could register the changes, she once again plunged towards him like a rabid animal, wanting to tear a piece of flesh off his body.
"....." Yang Ze merely raised a brow before stuffing her mouth with a piece of cloth.
"Looks like this is going to take some time."
Thinking for a moment, Yang Ze suddenly clapped his hands.
"Oh! I just thought about something interesting."
With this, he walked towards the other door, leading further into the basement… the room where he was keeping the children.
With her unwillingness to cooperate, Yang Ze was going to repeat the process once again, except this time, he wanted to bring the girl out.
This would be a great time to let her understand that she was finally free and didn't have to worry about this monster.
He was going to torture Sun Qiao in front of the girl. He wanted her to see that the monster that inflicted unimaginable agony on her and the other children was nothing more than a pitiful, bitter woman. Even though it couldn't wipe out the pain in her heart and mind, perhaps it can give her some kind of peace.
With this in mind, Yang Ze pushed open the door without any hesitation, ready to catch the girl who was constantly attacking him. This time, with his appearance reverted to that of a young girl, he wanted to see how she was going to react.
But the moment Yang Ze opened the door, what greeted him wasn't the figure of the small girl plunging to attack him, but a bloodied scent.
"What the…"
Yang Ze's eyes narrowed into slits as he looked at the scene in front of him with an expression of disbelief.
"WHAT THE HELL?" The scene in front of him was so outrageous that he couldn't help but shout at the top of his lungs.
In the next instant, Yang Ze's figure flashed as he disappeared from his initial position and stood directly in front of the beds where he was keeping the children.
On the beds, the children who were missing their limbs were lying silently with long bloody gushes across their necks.
Just from a single glance, it was clear that someone had used a sharp object to slash their necks.
The entire bed was dyed red, and their bodies had long since gone cold. Even if Yang Ze were to use his Starlight Healing, it wouldn't be of use.
Yang Ze watched in deafening silence at the scene of carnage around him.
Not a single child that he saved was breathing.
"No wait…" Yang Ze's figure flashed once again as he appeared directly in front of the figure of the only child with all their body parts intact… the small girl who kept on attacking him.
Just like the children, she too was lying on the bed, the only exception being that her neck was fine. It was her wrists that had been slit.
And in one of her hands was a small knife dyed red, a witness and a means to the horror that had just taken place.