Chapter 368

368 6.06 – Redemption – The Wheel Of Time

+— Author’s note —-+

Hello, to clear some misunderstanding, Dai An is from Bing Shi’s second lifetime.

If you remember a few scenes from ARC 4, Ru Quan mentioned a woman that visited his place after his death, and Bing Shi mentioned a mysterious leader of a sect, which she joined as a nun since no place wanted to take in an abused victim after she escaped the stalker’s clutches.

Edited by Psycho S.

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Xuan Mu chuckled at this woman’s wild imagination, “Divorced?”

Wan Li lifted her gaze to see a pair of innocently blinking blue eyes, her gaze switching to the ring on his left hand. Her life crumbled before her eyes. Don’t tell her that he took advantage of her drunkenness yesterday to marry her? She suddenly hugged her body in protection, “Taking advantage of a defenceless woman, how dare you? Geez, I don’t even remember what your lips taste like.”

Xuan Mu wasn’t surprised by the shamelessness of this flirtatious woman anymore. Placing Ying Xiong on his shoulders, he looked at the woman who was wearing no makeup one more time.

“Xuan Bing Shi...” getting a confused look as a response, Xuan Mu cleared the misunderstanding to the eavesdropping staff too, “My wife’s name. I’m not divorced.”

.....

Xuan Mu didn’t know what got into him yesterday. Maybe it was Wan Li’s lips or the eyes that looked so similar to his wife’s? He imagined what he would do if Bing Shi appeared with a similar temperament. Would he accept it? With great difficulty, maybe...not. Some behaviour training would have to be incorporated.

Lost in thoughts, Xuan Mu walked across the hall while the little guy on his shoulders sent flying kisses to whoever he saw, copying his mommy’s behaviour towards her fans and his daddy.

Lately, Xuan Mu was too strict on Stinky Bun. It was hard keeping his composure, pretending that he was okay even though he was not. As long as he follows stinky bun’s routine like a braindead puppet, no disasters like yesterday should occur again. Everything would be alright.

The people living and working in the hotel gave him and his son extra care and attention from day one, surrounding them in a bubbly aura, trying to lighten his and Ying Xiong’s mood whenever they could, just because his son shared a piece of snack for free with someone. Every single day.

His wife wasn’t next to them, but her care and protection was.

Seeing the proud smile of the remains of her soul resurfacing inside of his, Xuan Mu felt his eyes water and his heart burn.

· · ———- · ???· ———- · ·

° Somewhere at a certain point in the past...

° Handcuffed and blindfolded, Dai An was yanked from the side the moment she strayed away from her routine path. Her mouth was enclosed with an iron framework -? a bridle-bit, a kind similar for horses, was slid into her mouth and pressed down on top of her tongue with a little spike that threatened to tear into the limp muscle, silencing her.

° Through a convenient peephole in her blindfold that went unnoticed by her kidnappers, she could see her feet contrasting against the tiny black and white tiles. Hundreds of unidentified corpses were being exhumed, most of them exhibiting physical signs of creative torture. She tried not to avoid the bodies and blood on the ground, and tried to act oblivious but also very scared so the kidnappers would not notice that she could see.

° Sometimes when she was very scared, she wished she could pray like a true believer, to the one Christian God; to her family’s God, to anything or anyone that would help her get through this situation.

° It all began with the hunger that triggered her curiosity for the extrasensory world. She was convinced that it was possible to live without eating food like the blooming flowers in the Empress’s garden. She observed numerous cults and religions, studied pseudoscience and anything that could find a crack in already established facts.

° While searching for Ru Quan, Dai An couldn’t entertain the idea of ‘another’. There were times she was angry at the universe. She thought it was unfair for the universe to introduce her to romantic love, only to take that same love away from her.

° She decided to become as close to independent as it was for a soul such as herself to achieve and live a life with no regrets. After she died, she ended up in the underworld’s redemption prisons. At first, she thought it was because she stole Ru Quan’s poison and caused a world pandemic. But that wasn’t exactly the case. Nobody would have found out if she didn’t provoke an entity she shouldn’t have. She had to provoke it though. It was like an itch, an obsessive thought, which she had no way of resisting.

° She wanted to encounter a godsend miracle, similar to the folk legends. People weren’t motivated to do anything until it suddenly concerned them. Maybe it went for the Gods too. Maybe they too didn’t care about anything unless it was made to be their problem.

° The unnoticeable grey mouse, Dai An, became the centre of attention against her will. Being among the few entities that were locked behind a cage, she was made to look more ‘special’ than the majority of the roaming prisoners.

° Her supervisor took off Dai An’s blindfold and hoisted her off the floor by her wrists.

° From her eyes and soul, escaped an intense scream through her mouth, “Ngh- Argh-!” sending her mind into an absolute fear.

° She felt sharpened hooks being inserted in between her lower shoulder ribs, stretching her shoulders from the sides as they crudely used long chains to shackle her to the cold bars of the cage. Her torso was twisted and her shoulders were dislocated from their joints, only her legs were left to be hanging free, but only for so long...

° They let her see a cauldron big enough to fit a whole cow, and hit her toes roughly with a blunt staff several times, “Your sins shall be forgiven when this cauldron fills up with the redeemer’s blood!”

° In spite of the heavy blows and restraints, in spite of the filth and torture, she had only cried but never pleaded for mercy. Just because her environment was very abusive, aggressive, and violent, she kind of expected pain, which made everything just a little more durable. Not a lot, of course, since it hurt so so so much, but still...

° The purpose of torture was to destroy the victims of their personality, so this had to be only the beginning. She glanced at the crying lunatics around, comparing their torture to hers. Strange. Sexual abuse of men and women was almost always part of the experience of torture. She saw none of that here. She summoned all her defences, blocking out any speculation about her fate.

° She managed to forget for an instant the absurdity of the situation and tried to enjoy the feeling of her legs dangling in the air. She imagined how she had to look like a colourful pinata toy from everyone’s point of view.

° The body was not real.

° The pain she felt was all in her head.

° Ignore it.

° The body was not real.

° The pain she felt was all in her head.

° Ignore it.

° The body was not real.

° The pain she felt was all in her head.

° Ignore it.

° Brainwashing herself, Dai An hoped that what really mattered to her was to be whole...meanwhile, she was being destroyed.

° Her joy only lasted ten seconds. While she was shackled to the ceiling of the cage like a trapped bird, her punishment continued with over 100 strikes to her feet, then another 100 strikes to her ankles. When the supervisor reached her calves she ended up so weak she could barely keep that last thread of conscientiousness.

The prison was a conventional method of punishment, a necessary imprisonment structure that benefited everyone. The victims were sinners that got an opportunity to redeem themselves, nourishing Hell with the dark energy while Heaven remained untainted. Oh, the benevolence of the higher realms. When it came to the Head Quarters... As an easily disposable common soul, she could either break or advance very fast. She was a high prized lottery with little to no investments.

+– ANTIPIRACY NOTE–+

Hello, dear reader. If by any chance, you are reading this somewhere else besides W e b n o v e l, it means you’re reading my novel illegally. To support my work, please read QT: Against My Will from an original source, which is w w w dot w e b n o v e l dot com. Thank you.

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