Chapter 12 - 11

This insignia wasn't new to him. In fact, it was the very same symbol as the pendant his father gave to him which he refused to wear because it was from his mother. He knew that Prince Rui and that enchantress had dealings with each other but didn't think it was anything other than bedroom matters.

He quietly took out the scroll and as he placed it into his fake bosom, he heard the guard breathing heavily while grunting like a gruff beast all of a sudden. When he raised his head, he found the guard with half his pants off while stroking his member right in front of his boss' Kang table.

Ji Yao, "....."

Feeling disturbed, he closed the secret compartment and stood up to leave only to hear the man's groans grow louder. "Oh yes, lift your veil and let me see you... ah, yes... good girl..... ohhh," moaned the man with his body leaning backwards fully enjoying himself.

Ji Yao's steps suddenly paused looking back at the disgusting figure. Okay, he planned on letting the guard be but now he had changed his mind. He didn't want some weirdo venting out his desires while using his image. Just the thought of it made his body break out in goosebumps.

Without much effort, Ji Yao appeared behind the man and placed his hand on the guard's back killing him instantly with a powerful electric force.

The man's body fell to the ground with his hand on his..... well, you can imagine the scene when his companions found him.

In the dungeon, Rui Fei suddenly smiled as he murmured, "Found you." Ji Yao was about to walk away but felt this wasn't enough. He took a calligraphy brush, dipped it into ink and wrote 'pervert' on the corpse's forehead. Satisfied, he jumped over the body and opened the door to leave.

But just as he stepped out he felt something off. The place still looked the same but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. He was about to take a step back and figure out what was going on when he was suddenly pulled into a labyrinth before the entrance vanished completely.

Ji Yao summoned his sabre which appeared in his hand in a split second as he cautiously walked down a dark corridor. From what he could tell he was still in Prince Rui's Pavilion but this place was dark with an air of death lingering in the air the further down he walked.

Security guards were lying on the ground with their bodies still warm which meant they had just been killed by some unknown force.

Ji Yao's brows furrowed as his entire body tensed up. His heart was in his throat as a wave of fear spread across his body. He could sense something much more sinister than himself in this place.

His Nocru bloodline was literally screaming at him to run but he found that he couldn't go back no matter how hard he tried so he could only go forward.

He soon started seeing empty prison cells on either side of the passage. Let's not bother to describe the conditions in which these cells were. It was horrible, to say the least.

Ji Yao continued searching for any prisoners and soon enough he found them. Two prison cells down he found three people with ages ranging from eight to late teens though it was hard to tell because they were malnourished.

He didn't hesitate to cut the lotrian bars using the sapphire dagger-like tool his father gave to him. He cut off their shackles and set them free. Thinking this was the reason he was brought here he tried to communicate with them so they can leave together but all three of them remained unresponsive.

Feeling frustrated from having not found what he came for in the first place, he explained rather impatiently, "We really have to go before they find out that I freed you..... Do. You. Understand?" He even went as far as explaining using hand gestures but it seemed he was talking to aliens.

Just when he thought of the possibility of knocking them out and carrying all three of them out the littlest in the group pointed at the dark staircase at the end of the corridor and said, "Gege (older brother)."

Ji Yao immediately understood and flung his skirt before stomping to the stairs. Just as he approached the creepy stairs he turned around and pointed at them, "Stay right there," before disappearing into the dark passage.

The little girl tugged the older kid's sleeve and asked, "Why does Jiejie (older sister) have a deep voice?" purely out of curiosity. The older kid shrugged his shoulders as he pulled them closer in a protective manner.

Meanwhile, Ji Yao was mumbling to himself as he stomped down the stairs. The overwhelming fear that he felt earlier had suddenly vanished making him wonder if what he felt earlier was just an illusion. What he didn't know was that the turtle had retreated in its shell on purpose.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs he found an isolated prison cell triple the size of the previous ones. One might think well that's a lot of room, right? Wrong! Ninety per cent of the floor was covered with thick black liquid bubbling over like hot tar. The other ten per cent was a cage at the centre of the black pool with a pitiful looking boy chained up inside the cage.

His clothes were tattered and in the places they were torn, there were lacerations like he had been whipped tearing off his clothes and flesh at the same time. His head was hung low with his matted black hair draping down covering his face.

It seemed the other kids had it much better than he did because their condition looked like paradise compared to this boy. Ji Yao wondered why he was kept separate from the rest but he didn't have time to speculate as he looked for a way to walk over there.

He couldn't leap over because of all the latrion on this dungeon so he had to look around for some sort of switch that could bring up a bridge or something.

Thinking he was running out of time he hurriedly looked for a lever on the walls and when he found it he didn't hesitate to pull it. A chain pulled up large rocks from within the pool and Ji Yao dashed over with his heart beating extremely fast.

He sliced the latrion bars with ease and called out to the boy while taking down the chains but there was no response. He was beginning to think the boy was dead already but as he took down the last chain on his left leg, the docile youth suddenly raised his head with eyes as red as blood staring at him.

"Fuck," swore Ji Yao taken by surprise. The boy suddenly vanished and reappeared above him with their faces close together. Ji Yao froze in place with his heart beating in his ears. His face was drained of all colour as he stared deep into those enchanting eyes. Fear, torment and distress, he felt all of it in that second.

The boy suddenly grinned maliciously and said, "Stay," before disappearing into thin air.

It was only when he was certain that the youth was gone that he released a breath and mumbled, "Fuck no, why would I?" He swore that after this he would never help anyone again. If he does then he is a dog.. Not the pitbull kind but a fluffy pomeranian.