Chapter 760 - Lost

There was a loud noise echoing in Lu Jin's ears. His closed eyes fluttered and opened slowly, showing a pair of misty, ink-black eyes.

Lu Jin groggily woke up from the sound of knocking on the door. He strained to move his sluggish body.

Clink.

The metallic sound of collision sounded as the chains around him moved. His clothes were in tatters. There was no part of his body that was not covered by his blood.

Ming Zhi Yi was standing on one side. He was wiping the knives he had previously used on his own son. The bloody whip was on the floor..

The way he wiped the knife in a calm manner made Lu Jin know that his father was still seething in anger. 

Ming Zhi Yi stopped his actions suddenly. His dark eyes turned towards him. 

Empty, like bottomless holes.

"You woke up."

Lu Jin was silent. Every inch of his body was painful. Just a little movement felt like he was being tortured again.

His father mostly incurred skin deep wounds with the knives, and the deeper ones avoided the arteries but pierced the muscle tissues, so that Lu Jin would not immediately die yet at the same time feel excruciating pain. 

However, the whipping had worsened the wounds, leaving bloody pelts on his body. Some of the internal organs were also damaged due to the beating.

Lu Jin felt like every part of his body was thoroughly damaged.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Master, I have something to report." The sound from the door came again.

Ming Zhi Yi ignored it. He put down the knife and approached Lu Jin. 

"How are you feeling? I made it so that you will not die so quickly. But of course, the pain will make you wish that you would rather die." Ming Zhi Yi pulled the chains.

"Ungh!" The chains on Lu Jin's arms and feet moved violently, making the wounds on his body open up more.

Lu Jin felt all the pain come to him in tumultuous waves. 

"....!!!" He could not help but yelp in pain.

Ming Zhi Yi watched him silently. There was no emotion on his face. 

"Tell me, who are the people you are working with?"

He pulled the chains again.

"Ungh!"

"Just tell me a name."

"Ahhh..."

"Son, are you really willing to risk your life for them? For the people whom you probably don't know well? Those people know what fate awaits you once I find out that you betrayed me. But they still let you. They do not care about you at all."

"Mom--"

Ming Zhi Yi suddenly stopped pulling. "What?"

Lu Jin panted. "Mom… cares about you. But why… why didn't you choose her?"

Ming Zhi Yi's eyes darkened. "...I thought you had something to confess, but you are just spouting nonsense."

"Mom knows… that you see things that aren't there. But she accepted you..." Lu Jin laboriously spoke while panting. 

There was a fierce light in his eyes as he asked the question which nagged him for many years.

Ming Zhi Yi's hand clutched at the chains. His face was cold. 

"She accepted me? No, she never accepted me! The one she cared about was the non-existent Ming Zhi Yi! That fake man I created to fool her!" Ming Zhi Yi roared. 

Whenever that woman was mentioned, all the anger he was restraining just erupted. 

"You are trying to rile me up with your dead mother, huh? What a smart move. But it doesn't change the fact that your life is in my hands now."

He pulled the chain again.

In Ming Zhi Yi's eyes, there were four bloody hands pulling at the chains. 

One pair was his, and the other pair...

'Pull it harder.' A cold man's voice sounded in his ears.

Ming Zhi Yi pulled the chain more violently.

"Aghh!" Lu Jin felt like his limbs would tear.

"Tell me! Who did you help?"

'He is a traitor, son. His blood has the blood of the Lu family. The family of traitors.' A woman's sweet yet crazy voice whispered in his ears.

'Let him die.'

'Die.'

'Kill him.'

'Kill.'

Ming Zhi Yi's eyes turned red. "If you waste more of my patience, even if you are my son, I will kill you."

Lu Jin screamed in pain. His head tilted backwards painfully and the wet black locks plastered on his bloody forehead. The blood flowed more vigorously, making the dark red pool grow larger. 

Lu Jin felt that he was losing consciousness. He could see whites in the corners of his vision, and the sight before him was losing colors.

"Master! It is urgent!" The knocks became louder.

Ming Zhi Yi halted, panting. 

His dark eyes turned towards the door. 

Ming Zhi Yi passed by the table and picked up the knife. He opened the door. 

"Master--"

"If you are reporting nonsense, I will kill you." 

The subordinate swallowed. He looked at his master's knife and his bloodied hands.

"I-I… t-the..."

"Speak clearly."

"T-the cargo. The cargo was lost."

Silence.

Ming Zhi Yi's manic eyes calmed down. 

A long red gash appeared on the man's throat.

"I--..." 

The man covered his neck and gurgled, but in the end, he could not stop the blood. He stumbled down on the doorway.

His dead body laid on the ground with his eyes wide open.

Ming Zhi Yi kicked him away and stepped out of the room. 

His men standing on the side lowered their heads.

Their master was enraged. 

The sight of him covered in blood with cold eyes and brimming with killing intent was terrible. It signified death. Even if they were experts, they could not help but fear for their life.

Ming Zhi Yi stopped. He looked behind him, at the door he had just passed through.

He wanted to go back there and kill the insolent bastard inside countless times. But if he did, then the information he was asking for would just get buried in the snow.

Ming Zhi Yi's eyes shifted to one of the men who was bowing his head. 

"You."

"Y-yes, master."

"Make sure that no one will go near that door. It is a priority."

"Yes, master."

Ming Zhi Yi finally looked at the man who accompanied the person he had just killed. 

The man was kneeling on the ground and trembling.

Ming Zhi Yi. "Tell me the details."

....