A faint sound of water droplets rang in his ears. Seventeen did not open his eyes, only relying on his senses to feel the surrounding environment. It was quiet, but there were sounds of breathing and occasional crying. Besides that, there was no other movement. He only remembered he was chasing the man in the small dark forest. There seemed to be a trap laid in the woods, the man in black disappeared after a few glimpses. He carefully searched for a moment, but he didn't know what happened after that.
It seemed like he was hit, with an unknown substance, which was not a common drug. A normal anesthetic, he could hold off for some time, but the kind that was used was unfamiliar. He didn’t even know when he was hit, which meant that this was not from an ordinary person.
Seventeen opened his eyes, he was lying in a dark cave, his hands and feet were chained, a little further away from him were several girls curled up, some of them were sniffling silently.
"You're awake," a soft voice said.
Seventeen looked to the left. Before he could see her face clearly, a faint scent had entered his nose. He knew who this person was. Rethinking the screams in the next room, it seemed that they were indeed the same group, but Seventeen was puzzled, why did the man in black sneak into his room?
Seventeen sat up, the chains on his body rattled and he yanked, only to find that not even a trace of internal force was left.
Seeing that the only man here was silent, Li Wan'er placed her right hand on his abdomen unconsciously, and then asked in a tender tone, "Sir, are you injured here?"
Seventeen recovered, gently pushed her hand away, and said in a deep voice. "I’m okay, what is this place?"
"I heard from the girls that they have been kept here since they were captured. It’s been more than ten days. Probably related to the Flower Thief in the city. These people have no fear, with so many martial artists at the inn, and they still dare to act." Li Wan'er was a little scared after talking.
Li Wan'er was raised in silk since she was a child, never encountered such a thing, and did not realize the seriousness of the matter. She didn’t know she was afraid until now. When she quieted, the girls started to cry more miserably. Fear instinctively welled up, so this was the reason why she was sitting next to Seventeen, after all, he is a man...
"Are all the girls here?" Seventeen remembered that there were many more girls taken from their homes, but there were only a few here.
“Misses, are there any girls who are locked in other places?" Li Wan'er asked the crying girls gently. Seeing that they didn't dare to say, she said, "Don't be afraid, someone will definitely come to save Wan'er. When that time comes, we will leave together."
After a while, a girl in coarse clothes said, "No, originally...There were a lot of girls and a friend of mine, but they never come back after being taken away...definitely, definitely already..." As she said it, she burst into tears.
Seventeen frowned. This Flower Thief was acting strangely. The culprit caught the girls and locked them up. Choosing the right time before acting. Wouldn't it increase the chance of exposure by keeping them?
"How many of them are there and what kind of people are they? Has anyone seen them?" Seventeen's voice was low, but gave all the girls here an inexplicable sense of security. Everyone stopped crying, even Li Wan'er. They all leaned towards him without realizing it.
A woman in red, who seemed to be knowledgeable, tilted her head and thought for a while, "I remember that the man in black who stunned my maid and captured me that night was not the same person who brought us water and food every day. The two men in black who took those girls away a few days ago are different people, so there are four people in this group, and depending on the behavior of these four people, they should be just subordinates. Lackeys! In my opinion, this is not an ordinary flower-picking case, but a premeditated and murderous flower-picking case!"
The woman got the admiration of other girls as she spoke, because when they were tied up, they only knew fear. None had the mind to pay attention to others’ appearances.
Suddenly, a thought rose, Seventeen asked, "Miss, who are you?"
The woman stood up and walked carefully around Seventeen, "My name is Wu Enci, Suoyun City magistrate's daughter."
Seventeen was stunned. It turned out that the county magistrate Wu's own daughter was also kidnapped, but he hit it well. There was no news of the county magistrate's daughter missing in the city.
Seeing that Seventeen was not responding, Wu Enci squatted down to look at him, "Why are you captured when you’re a man? Are you a man disguised as a woman?"
Li Wan'er knew that she shouldn't laugh in this kind of situation, but she couldn't help it. "Miss Wu, listening to his voice, it doesn’t sound like a woman, and look at his figure..."
Wu Enci laughed, "Yes, I just suddenly thought it could be some kind of disguise of Jianghu. I heard that even the voice can be imitated, quite amusing! Then, older brother, how did you get caught?"
So the story of Seventeen was narrated again. This Wu Enci didn’t seem to be simple, ordinary women encountering this situation would be frightened, but she was composed enough to notice that all the masked men in black were different.
"I see, they must have the wrong message. They thought that the room you stayed in was for a woman. They didn't expect you to have good martial arts. They were afraid that things would be revealed, so they ambushed you..." said Wu Enci graciously, while looking up and down the chains on Seventeen's hands and feet.
"When will they come again?" Seventeen asked.
"It's already..." Wu Enci forgot, just as she was about to say that they should be coming soon, the door opened outside the iron fence. Wu Enci immediately hid back in the original place, and whispered before leaving, "Yes. It’s food delivery.”
Obviously, her thoughts were wrong. The person who arrived didn’t even wear a veil, and they looked pretty good in brocade clothes, but their eyes were fierce. At first glance, he appeared to be the leader.
He walked to the place where Seventeen and Li Wan'er were sitting. His eyes only glanced at Li Wan'er's face for a moment, but stayed on Seventeen. A trace of interest flashed in his eyes. The person in front of him radiated hostility, a dark spirit who must have killed many people, even caught, there will be no expression on his face.
"Come here, take him to the torture chamber."
This room was almost never used since it was built, because those captured were all women. This time it finally came in handy. Young Master Jin Yi had a wicked smile on his mouth, while his fingers swept across the torture devices hung on a wall. In a negotiating tone, he spoke to Seventeen who was tied to the shelf, "These things are unfamiliar to me. You tell me which ones you like, and I will entertain you, is that alright?"
Seventeen’s eyes didn't give him a glance.
Jin Yi Gongzi was taken back, "Since you won't choose, then I will choose the one that suits you." The sinister gaze slid from Seventeen’s expressionless face to his covered neck, and he ordered, "Take his clothes off for me."
One of the two subordinates came forward and roughly pulled off the front of Seventeen to make it easier for Jin Yi Gongzi to perform his work. His golden skin lit up by the flickering fire nearby, and Seventeen’s fists tightened.
"Are you nervous?" Young Master Jin Yi asked. He took a long hard-bristled whip from the wall, his fingers carefully traced over the burr, a small streak of blood dripped. The Young Master raised it to his tongue and licked away the blood, he asked kindly, "Why don't you tell me, who are you, what are you doing here? If I am satisfied with the answer, I will let you go, deal?"
Seventeen said without a trace of emotion. "Why I’m at Suoyun City isn’t it already obvious? Needless to say, your intelligence is concerning.”
"Oh?" Jin Yi Gongzi didn't seem to expect the words that came from Shi Qi’s mouth, his expression was surprised, and then he smiled, “I thought you were just a rottenstone. I didn’t expect your teeth to be so sharp. My eyes were amissed, you’re becoming more and more satisfying to my appetite…”
With those words, there was no trace of hesitation, his movements ruthlessly whipped down on Seventeen’s body. The barr slid over, leaving a bloody mark on Seventeen’s chest...
Young Master Jinyi’s coaxing failed. After the first sentence, this person didn’t say a word. And returned to his stubborn state, which made him feel lost. Throwing down the bristled whip in his hand, he looked at the body in front of him. The shirt was in tatters, more like hung on the prisoner. The welt marks were not deep, but countless burrs pierced into the body, the bloodshot was all over the upper body, which looked terrifying. The man tied to the shelf hung his head and couldn't see his expression clearly. Jin Yi Gongzi approached and stretched out a finger to lift Shi Qi’s chin, startled for a moment.
Still the same expressionless face, but there was also steadfastness and fearlessness hidden in his eyes. Young Master Jin Yi smiled. What he likes most is to have this kind of person lower his head and bow beneath him, "It looks like you are trained. Hidden warrior, but shouldn't such a soldier hide in the darkness? It must be the people of Suoyun City. Your master used you as bait to lure us out? Tell me, I'll let you go right away, so why suffer this kind of torture?"
As he said, his hand slid idly over the bloody body in front of him, and traveled down along the welt marks. The burrs were pressed into the skin by his fingers, which caused a deep pain, sliding to the lower abdomen, and Young Master Jin Yi felt the body underneath. It was not easy to detect that the minuscule trembled, and the eyes that had been studying Seventeen unexpectedly found a trace of panic from it. He stopped. This person who is not afraid of death, why was he panicking? What could it be?
