51: Chapter 51 A Life for a Life

*Click.*

The sound of a lock turning echoed.

Hearing this sound, Zhou Jianhua could hardly suppress the wild joy in his heart.

It worked!

This kid really was fooled by him!

So foolish and naive!

He could already imagine the two people downstairs rushing up, raising their blades and hacking this guy into mincemeat.

In the apocalypse, human life was cheaper than grass; one more or one less didn't matter, and they could take over this fortress-like safe house.

Zhou Jianhua's gaze was fixed on the widening crack of the door.

His muscles were tensed; as soon as the gap was wide enough for him to slip through, he would act immediately, giving the other party no chance to react and close the door!

However, the sight revealed through the gap left Zhou Jianhua somewhat dazed.

A person stood in the brightly lit room, wrapped up tightly.

What was going on?

Zhou Jianhua's mind blanked; this wasn't in the script!

How could that scrawny student from his memory be dressed like this?

Before he could call for backup, Song Yang's hand reached through the person-wide gap and grabbed his clothes.

Zhou Jianhua felt a massive force coming from the hand, dragging him into the room...

He didn't even have time to send any signal to those downstairs.

*Bang!*

The security door slammed shut behind him.

Zhou Jianhua stumbled a few steps, finally steadying himself, and looked up, still shaken.

Song Yang stood before him, his thick outer clothing already removed, revealing clean and tidy casual clothes underneath.

"Hello, Teacher," Song Yang said. His voice was flat, devoid of emotion, yet it felt like a cold awl piercing into the depths of Zhou Jianhua's heart.

"Uh..."

Zhou Jianhua's Adam's apple bobbed as he subconsciously responded.

His gaze uncontrollably swept across the surroundings.

What he saw shook him to the core, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head.

This was actually just like the rumors!

The spacious living room was neat and orderly, and the soft sofa looked incredibly expensive.

The coffee table was piled with various well-packaged snacks and biscuits, and there were even several plates of enticingly colorful fresh fruit!

A thick aroma of meat wafted through the air, aggressively invading his nostrils and tempting his stomach, which had been empty for days, into frantic churning.

Was this kid living a goddamn immortal's life?!

Zhou Jianhua had been starving for days, surviving solely on willpower; smelling the aroma of food now, he could barely control the urge to pounce on it.

Abundance, comfort, warmth.

The scene here formed such a stark contrast with the bleak, cold world of survival outside.

After the shock, Zhou Jianhua became ecstatic!

As long as he killed this kid in front of him, everything would be his!

It was as if God himself were helping him!

Those two idiots downstairs?

Who cared about them! Let them freeze out there!

Why should he share this impregnable safe house and these supplies that could let him live comfortably with anyone else?

Monopolizing it all—that was true human nature!

He suppressed his excitement and stared at Song Yang again.

Yes, this kid had pulled him in, and he was quite strong.

His attire was also completely different from the scrawny image in his memory.

But so what?

He was only one person!

He had spent ten years in prison, being jumped by groups of people every day; he had long since become toughened.

After all, even those prisoners couldn't stomach the crimes he had committed.

"Um, Song Yang, I haven't eaten for days. Could you get me something to eat?"

Song Yang didn't speak; he just picked something up and tossed it over.

*Clatter.*

Catching it, Zhou Jianhua's pupils suddenly constricted.

It was a silver-gray steel wool ball, the kind used for scrubbing pots.

He snapped his head up to look at Song Yang. "What is the meaning of this?!"

"Eat it. Eat it, and I'll spare your life."

"Fuck!"

Zhou Jianhua's eyes gleamed with malice as his hand moved toward his lower back, preparing to pull out a weapon.

"You think you've got me just because you pulled me in? You're a bit too green to try and play me! Believe it or not, I'll—"

His threat came to a screeching halt.

A piercing pain suddenly shot up from his calf. The force was so great that he instantly lost his balance, falling to one knee with a *thud*!

"Ahhh—!"

Zhou Jianhua looked down at his calf in horror.

A black concrete nail, nearly ten centimeters long, was driven deep into his calf muscle. The head of the nail was almost entirely buried in his flesh, and blood was gushing out along the nail and his pant leg, staining the floor red.

The intense pain made him nearly faint.

He struggled to lift his head, looking at Song Yang in disbelief.

Now, a black nail gun had appeared in Song Yang's hand.

The kind used for driving nails on construction sites.

Zhou Jianhua stared at the nail gun that had appeared in Song Yang's hand at some point, his mind going blank.

When did he get his hands on that thing?

Why didn't he see it at all?!

Before the thought could finish, there was a soft *psht!*

Agony!

An indescribable agony exploded from his right thigh, instantly spreading through his entire body!

Zhou Jianhua screamed. Looking down, he saw a steel nail driven deep into his thigh muscle, blood quickly soaking his pants.

Before he could react, there were two more *psht! psht!* sounds.

Left thigh, right calf—the pain followed in quick succession.

The piercing pain forced him to collapse onto both knees before Song Yang.

"Are you fucking crazy?!"

Zhou Jianhua gritted his teeth and looked up:

"Song Yang! I'm your teacher! I taught you! How can you do this to me..."

Song Yang approached expressionlessly and stomped his foot heavily onto the right hand that Zhou Jianhua was using to support himself!

*Crack!*

The sound of bones fracturing rang out, accompanied by Zhou Jianhua's heart-wrenching scream!

"Ahhh—! My hand! My hand!"

Piercing pain radiated from his palm; he felt as if his finger bones were being crushed to powder.

Song Yang ground his foot down without mercy.

"Teacher Zhou, do you remember a girl named Li Xiaoyu?"

"What Li Xiaoyu? I don't know... Argh!"

Zhou Jianhua screamed while vaguely denying it, the agony leaving his brain in a state of chaos.

Song Yang increased the pressure under his foot.

"Back then, she was twelve years old, a great student who always ranked first. She said she wanted to get into the best university and see the world."

Zhou Jianhua's screams weakened, his pupils dilating uncontrollably as the color drained from his face, leaving only a deathly pallor.

"She had a bright future, until the day of her birthday after school, when a man took her away on her way home."

"That girl simply disappeared."

"When she was finally found, it was in an abandoned shack on the outskirts of the city. She had been strangled to death."

"The girl's mother couldn't take the shock and jumped into a river not long after.

Her grandparents also passed away a few days later from excessive grief."

Song Yang bent down, grabbed Zhou Jianhua by the hair, and yanked his head up, asking word by word:

"Teacher Zhou, can you tell me... who was that man?"

Zhou Jianhua trembled violently; he hadn't expected anyone to still remember this after ten years.

"I've already served ten years in prison!"

Zhou Jianhua panted heavily. "Ten years! The law has already punished me! My sins have been redeemed!"

"Besides, she was just your deskmate! She wasn't even family! You don't need to kill me for someone irrelevant."

Before he could finish, there was a *squelch*, followed by Zhou Jianhua's shrill scream.

A dagger pinned his hand to the floor.

"Redeemed? Does ten years in prison equal a life? Does it equal the destruction of a family?"

Song Yang raised his foot and kicked Zhou Jianhua hard in the chest!

*Thump!*

Zhou Jianhua's body flew back like a ragdoll, slamming heavily into the wall before sliding down, a mouthful of blood spraying from his lips.

Song Yang pulled out a roll of hemp rope and approached again.

"Legal punishment?"

He crouched down, bringing his face close to Zhou Jianhua's. "The law let you sit comfortably inside for ten years without breaking a single bone or losing a single piece of flesh."

"Now, let me show you what real punishment looks like."