Luocheng Prison was the strictest prison in central Henan for incarcerating criminals.
Those who were locked in the dungeon were all heinous villains.
The descending stone steps were stained with dark brown marks. The air was filled with the smell of mildew and the stench of decaying flesh and blood.
"I don't want to be locked up here!!"
Suddenly stepping from the sunlight into the pitch - black dungeon, my vision went completely dark. I immediately thought that I mustn't be imprisoned here at any cost! Maybe there was still a chance to escape in his mansion, but once locked up in this place, it seemed that I would have no way out but to die!
I started to grab his arm and show weakness. "I'll be your fiancée. I won't give you to others! Okay?"
Si Jiangchen stopped in his tracks, lowered his head and glanced at me. In the dim firelight on both sides of the wall, his eyes were like two glowing red coals, making my heart pound.
"… Yeah."
It was a long while before I heard his faint response, but he continued walking deeper without pausing.
"Ah... Ah..."
The deeper we went, the more we could hear one scream after another, as well as the sound of torture instruments hitting the flesh.
It was not until we entered a cell at the deepest part of the dungeon that I truly saw the person locked inside.
Let's just call him a person... He had been tortured so badly that there was not a single uninjured part on his body. His whole body was covered in bloody wounds. Only his face vaguely showed that he was a man in his thirties or forties.
Si Jiangchen's arrival made the three soldiers who were interrogating immediately stop and come over to salute. "General Si!"
"Still not confessing, huh?"
Si Jiangchen didn't put me down. He just took a look at the man.
"Your subordinate is incompetent. We haven't been able to pry this guy's mouth open for three days and three nights!" One of the soldiers, who seemed to be the leader, angrily whipped the man again.
"It doesn't matter. Go and bring his son here!"
Si Jiangchen turned to look at the stool beside the wall, then sat down with me in his arms.
"You... Don't even think..."
Hearing Si Jiangchen's words, the man actually raised his head and gasped while scolding. "My son is more ruthless than me and has a harder backbone..."
"Slap!" "Slap!"
The interrogating soldier took a bamboo board and slapped the man hard on both sides of his face. Immediately, two swollen and bloody marks appeared on the man's cheeks. He let out a loud scream and spat out a mouthful of blood, along with two big teeth.
"Ugh..."
I had never seen such a scene before. The strong smell of blood made my heart pound. I had to bury my head in Si Jiangchen's arms again to hide my... hunger!!
That's right. When I smelled the fresh blood, my stomach immediately twitched, and the wound on my lower abdomen ached even more painfully.
Si Jiangchen seemed to sense my change. He just sneered and signaled his subordinates.
The soldiers understood his meaning and quickly dragged in a little boy from another cell. He was about thirteen or fourteen years old. He didn't seem to have been tortured much, except that there was a bruise on his eye.
"You all go out!"
Si Jiangchen said to the three soldiers. "Close the door properly."
"General..."
The leading soldier looked at me worriedly. "These two inhuman scoundrels are too fierce. You're with your family. Don't let the madam get frightened."
"Get out."
Si Jiangchen clearly didn't want to waste any more words with them. With just a cold glance, he scared those guys into silence. They didn't dare to say another word and shrank their heads as they backed out.
…
The cell immediately fell into silence. Only the heavy gasping of the badly - beaten man could be heard.
"… Are you determined not to say anything?"
Si Jiangchen suddenly spoke. Although his voice was not loud, it still carried an overwhelming pressure in the empty cell.
"Hehe. If we say it, can we live?"
The man, who looked like a blood - soaked gourd, spat out a mouthful of blood.
"No."
Si Jiangchen said coldly. "You tomb - raiders who can even harm your own fathers are a danger to countless people if I let you go!"
"Then you'll never find out where the 'Supreme Soul - Returning Spell' is!"
The man also sneered and stared at Si Jiangchen. "My father promised to give it to you, but he's already dead in the tomb. If you don't let us go, you might as well go to the tomb and ask him for it... Hahaha..."
It was only then that I roughly understood.
The father and son who were tied up and beaten in front of me were tomb - raiders. During a tomb - raiding, they had killed their own father and grandfather. The dead old man had promised to help Si Jiangchen find something called the "Supreme Soul - Returning Spell". Now that Si Jiangchen had caught them, they refused to say where the thing was hidden!
"What is the 'Supreme Soul - Returning Spell'?"
I couldn't help but ask Si Jiangchen in a low voice. "Why would it make blood relatives turn against each other?"
Si Jiangchen lowered his eyes and glanced at me. "It's a Taoist magic that can turn you and me into ordinary people. It has been lost for hundreds of years..."
"I'm already an ordinary person, aren't I?"
I looked up at him in confusion.
"Yeah!"
Unexpectedly, he just faintly responded with a "Yeah", and then continued. "I wanted to take a chance with those emperors who were obsessed with Taoism. They found it."
He pointed at the father - son pair. "It's a pity that the old man was buried alive in a tomb pit by them."
"What a pity! It's originally a treasure. The highest bidder gets it!"
This time, it wasn't the man who was beaten to a pulp who spoke, but the little boy sitting on the ground, whose hands and feet were locked by iron chains, said sinisterly. "My grandfather was too stupid. In this world, who still cares about integrity? Naturally, the one who offers the highest price gets it!!"
"Little brat, aren't you afraid that you'll get the treasure but won't be able to enjoy it?" I couldn't help but say. "You could even harm your own grandfather. Aren't you afraid of divine retribution?"
"Divine retribution?"
The little boy looked at me as if watching a joke. "Our family has been robbing tombs and killing people all the way. We've dealt with hundreds of living and dead people. Where is the divine retribution?! Where? Little lady, that's all a lie! Only a fool would believe it!"
As he spoke, his bones made a series of soft cracking sounds, and his body seemed to shrink a bit. He actually got out of the rusty shackles.
"Hehehe, didn't you expect this!!"
The little boy reached out and grabbed the red - hot torture instrument from the stove and stabbed at Si Jiangchen and me.
"Du Xinghe, hasn't your wound been healing?"
Si Jiangchen hugged me and barely dodged the little boy's attack. "This father - son pair has done countless bad deeds. You can punish them on behalf of the heavens. Eat one of them. Not only will you avenge those who were killed by them, but your wound will also heal immediately!"