171: Welcome!

"Second Brother, stay here with me. The rest of you, sweep this place quickly." Chu Changqi's eyes flickered with a faint light, like an old beast crouching back into its lair, trying to sense hidden dangers from all directions.

As he had said before, Liu Li couldn't have kept his mouth shut entirely.

The search was quick; they went over everything several times but found nothing.

The Leader of the personal Bodyguards returned to Chu Changqi's side and said respectfully, "Boss, it's safe."

Chu Changqi was extremely paranoid. He paused and said, "Check again."

The Leader nodded to comply. As he turned, he heard Chu Changqi ask, "Have you checked that room?"

The Leader paused. "That room" referred to Chu Changqi's favorite "Torture Chamber."

"Right away, Boss."

The sky was pitch black, thunder roared, and a fine drizzle began to fall instantly.

"Boss, let's head back first."

"Mhm." Chu Changqi said with a grim face, "If it's safe, carry that drunken bastard into the room."

The Leader's heart sank upon hearing this, understanding Chu Changqi's meaning.

Shen Lian had escaped—what did that even mean? His all-or-nothing scheme, the huge risk taken to escape from Chu Yilan's hands, and the loss of his own men... it had all become a joke.

The Leader didn't dare imagine how tyrannical Chu Changqi was feeling; the boss desperately needed a punching bag. Although they felt sympathy, when facing Chu Changqi, even these veterans who had followed him for years only thought about ensuring the misfortune didn't fall on their own heads.

The Leader met up with his brothers at the door of the "Torture Chamber." In truth, they were terrified of this place and usually preferred to take the long way around to avoid it.

When they were fighting for land in Country C, they would just flip the table and get to work; when using knives and guns, they focused on a quick resolution. They had only encountered such torturous methods after following Chu Changqi.

The Leader entered the code. After a "beep," he pushed the door open.

What met his eyes were walls made grim by the lighting. Tools were arranged in a circle, and perhaps due to the lighting effect, a patch of pitch black gathered in the center, looking like blood that would never wash away.

Though there were many things in this room, they were all low-profile with constant gaps, making it impossible for anyone to hide.

The Leader only scanned the room, with no intention of entering.

He had not only carried enemies out of here but his own people as well.

"Safe," said one of his men.

The Leader nodded and was about to leave when he suddenly felt something. He grabbed his brother's arm. "Wait."

"What's wrong?"

The Leader didn't speak and walked toward a window.

The window area was empty, except for a narrow slit. Outside, heavy rain fell, and the waves began to churn and boil with the increasingly fierce wind. The smell of the sea mixed with the rain hit the Leader's face as he suddenly pulled the window open.

He could hardly open his eyes.

The Leader instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes. Looking out, the world was a chaotic mess of darkness, with something even darker roaring in the shadows. The sea on a rainy day was always terrifying.

"What are you looking at?" His subordinate was curious, but the cold air rushing in made him feel chilly. For some reason, he thought of the two people he had personally carried away; their eyes hadn't been closed, they were covered in blood, and they were barely in one piece.

"Almost done," the Leader thought. Braving the pelting rain, he leaned out. Visibility was very low. He scanned the area and saw nothing. There was a railing outside the window. The Leader looked up and saw a section of the recessed decorative wood at the top of the window had snapped. The wind sounded violent and miserable. Looking down, the waves were wild, as if ready to swallow everything.

The Leader finally dismissed his doubts. He retreated into the room, immediately closed the window, and locked it.

At that time, Chu Changqi sat in his bedroom, eyes closed and silent.

The Private Doctor stepped forward tremblingly, worried that Chu Changqi might have gotten wet and his wound would become inflamed. After an examination, he found everything was fine. "It's all good."

The next second, Chu Changqi suddenly erupted, aiming his cane at the Private Doctor and giving him a relentless beating. This man had a gentle and refined appearance, but when he went mad, he didn't seem human at all.

The Private Doctor was knocked to the floor, trying his best to protect his head. He screamed at first, then stopped, as if this wasn't the first time he had encountered this. Sure enough, a few minutes later, Chu Changqi lost interest when he could no longer hear the wails.

The Leader stood outside the door. Once things quieted down in the bedroom, he knocked and entered. He glanced at the Private Doctor and spoke, "Boss, all is well. The drunken one has been taken to the room."

Chu Changqi tugged at his collar and limped out. "Understood."

The Leader and Second Brother exchanged a look and stopped simultaneously when they reached the next floor. Every time Chu Changqi approached that room, he became exceptionally excited. It was bad enough for one drunken scapegoat; they didn't want to be caught and dragged in as well.

Chu Changqi sneered inwardly. He had truly underestimated Shen Lian, but there was still a chance. In about fifty minutes, they would arrive at the next port. People were there to meet them, and everything was prepared. Whether he chose to counterattack or take the opportunity to leave, he still had options. He just wouldn't bother with these complicated steps anymore; he would kill Shen Lian directly, simple and clean.

Pushing open the door, Chu Changqi first saw the dripping water stains on the floor. He instinctively frowned and said, "So filthy."

His "test subject" lay not far away. Chu Changqi was thinking about which tool to use first; a mere ant didn't deserve those precision instruments, so he would pick one or two inferior ones.

Then, he keenly noticed that the water stains were spreading in from the window furthest to the side.

Rumble—

Thunder rolled outside. Chu Changqi's eyes suddenly widened. The sea surface was like a giant mirror, reflecting the partial footprint on the windowsill with extreme clarity.

Who came in?! The thought popped into Chu Changqi's head.

With near-instant reaction speed, Chu Changqi backed away using his cane, turning to call for his men.

But an ice-cold hand reached out from behind. It seemed gentle and silent, but was actually incomparably overbearing. All of Chu Changqi's words were forced back into his throat, and his jawbone even ached under the intense pressure.

A chilling aura approached from behind. In all his years of plotting against others, Chu Changqi rarely felt this kind of skin-crawling sensation of being plotted against in return.

Chu Changqi couldn't turn his head. In just a brief moment, the other person kicked his crippled leg.

Chu Changqi's body was truly fragile. The sound of bone snapping was dull yet clear in the air.

His eyes flew open. No matter how many times he tortured others, his own pain tolerance seemed poor; bloodshot veins burst across his entire pupils in the next second.

Chu Changqi's body slumped and trembled. He quickly grasped a sliver of reason and tried to throw his cane, but as soon as his wrist moved, the cane was snatched away from behind.

"Mmph, mmph..." Chu Changqi tried his hardest to make some noise, but the other person remained as steady as a mountain, dragging him bit by bit into the room.

This was Chu Changqi's "holy land," but at this moment, a rare sense of fear welled up in his heart.

Shen Lian was soaked to the bone. The water dripping from his hair onto Chu Changqi's neck felt like ice picks.

"Welcome," Shen Lian said, his voice carrying a smile and full of sincerity, mirroring the "gentle and refined" manner Chu Changqi had shown when they first met.

Chu Changqi struggled to raise his hand, watching as the light from outside narrowed into a vertical slit as the door gradually closed, until it vanished.

Shen Lian took him along as they both plunged into the darkness.