9: Chapter 9 The First Appearance of the Demon's Den and Undercurrents

After two hours of bumping along, the van finally drove into a brightly lit valley.

A massive iron gate slowly creaked open, wrapped in barbed wire, with heavy machine guns mounted on guard towers on both sides. Searchlights swept over the vehicle like an interrogation.

"Extraordinary Technology Industrial Park".

A glittering gold sign hung at the entrance, but in the eyes of Zhang Cheng, it wasn't dripping with gold paint, but human blood.

The vehicle stopped in front of a gray concrete building.

"Get out! Everyone get the hell out!"

Armed guards smashed the doors with the butts of their rifles, herding the people out like cattle.

Zhang Cheng blended into the crowd, squinting as he surveyed his surroundings.

This was a closed, independent kingdom. It was surrounded by four-to-five-meter-high walls topped with high-voltage electric wires, with armed sentries stationed every few dozen meters.

The courtyard was filled with luxury cars and pickup trucks used for transporting corpses. The air was thick with a nauseating, musty stench, and one could faintly hear screams and the crackle of electricity coming from the distant building.

"This is where you'll be working from now on!" Zhao Lei appeared out of nowhere, pointing at the building with a smug look on his face. "Work hard, and as long as you're obedient, this place is heaven. If you don't listen..."

He pointed to a large tree not far away. A blood-soaked person was hanging from it, swaying slightly in the night breeze, their condition—alive or dead—uncertain.

The few new "piglets" were so terrified their legs went weak, and one girl collapsed to the ground, sobbing.

"What are you crying for! Cry again and I'll cut your tongue out!"

A middle-aged man with a fleshy face and a long, jagged scar across his left cheek walked over. He wore a floral shirt, carried a blood-stained rubber baton, and was followed by seven or eight thugs.

This man was the park's security chief, nicknamed "Scarface," a ruthless devil who killed without blinking.

"Brother Scarface! I've brought the people for you!" Zhao Lei immediately bowed, his servile demeanor nauseating. "Especially this one, Zhang Cheng, a university student! He's sharp!"

Scarface walked up to Zhang Cheng, sizing him up with eyes full of malice.

"A university student? Hmph, I hate intellectuals the most—they're all too crafty and hard to control."

"Once you're here, if you're a dragon, you coil up; if you're a tiger, you lie down!" Scarface said viciously. "Don't try any tricks with me! See over there?"

He pointed to the first floor of the building, where a row of iron cages held several half-naked people, scrambling like dogs on the floor for rotten food in a feeding basin.

"That's what happens when you don't listen! Water Dungeon, electric batons, dog cages—we have plenty of torture devices here, enough for every one of you to get a taste!"

A pungent smell of smoke and foul breath washed over him.

Zhang Cheng frowned slightly and turned his head away, remaining silent. But in his eyes, there was not a hint of fear; instead, it was as if he were watching a clumsy performance.

This look thoroughly enraged Scarface and Zhao Lei.

"Damn it! You don't know what's good for you!" Zhao Lei stepped forward and kicked the back of Zhang Cheng's knees, trying to force him to kneel.

Zhang Cheng swayed, but he didn't kneel. Instead, he used a deft movement to deflect most of the force and stood straight.

"Heh! A tough nut to crack, are you?" Scarface laughed instead of getting angry, though his smile was even colder. "Very good! I like cracking tough nuts! Zhao Lei, take him to visit the 'Water Dungeon' and let him see what happens when you don't listen! Then throw him into the 'pigpen'; training starts tomorrow!"

"Yes! Brother Scarface!" Zhao Lei grinned viciously, and together with two thugs, forcibly dragged Zhang Cheng out of the office.

The so-called "Water Dungeon" was actually a small, modified concrete tank in the basement filled with sewage. Inside, two people were soaking, on the verge of death, their skin white and wrinkled from the water. An indescribable stench filled the air, and blood-stained torture devices lay nearby.

"See that? That's what happens when you don't listen and fail to meet your quotas!" Zhao Lei roared viciously in Zhang Cheng's ear. "If you don't want to end up like them, then be a good boy and make those scam calls for me!"

Zhang Cheng glanced at the Water Dungeon, his expression remaining completely unmoved.

Zhao Lei was grinding his teeth in anger, but since he hadn't received orders from his superiors to kill him, he could only grumble and curse as he dragged Zhang Cheng to the so-called "pigpen"—a dormitory housing over twenty people, cramped, foul-smelling, and furnished only with a large communal bed.

"You'll live here from now on! Someone will teach you how to 'work' tomorrow! If you try any tricks, I'll kill you!" Zhao Lei spat out a final threat and locked the heavy iron door.

In the dormitory, most of the other "piglets" had dull, vacant eyes; they lay there listlessly or curled up in corners, showing no reaction to the arrival of the newcomer, Zhang Cheng. Only a few cast him a glance of sympathy or indifference.

Zhang Cheng found a corner against the wall, sat down, and closed his eyes.

To the outside world, it seemed he had accepted his fate, or perhaps he was gathering his strength.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked through the small window on the iron door at the dim lights and the figures of the patrolling guards outside.

Fear? It didn't exist.

He was simply waiting.

Waiting for the right moment.

Waiting to turn this devil's den completely upside down!

Scarface? Zhao Lei? Lin Weiwei?

And this man-eating compound...