553 Chapter 553: Rescue Operation (1/2)

”What…what happened to her?” Rossetti was staring at her nervously, unsure of what was happening.

”Her mind and spirit have been broken. She snapped under Xu Wu Cheng's abuse.” I shook my head and sighed.

This was why it baffled me whenever Webnovel authors, mostly female, wrote some CEO or vampire story (or werewolf) with all these…toxic relationships. With the amount of abuse the female leads suffered, you would think they would suffer some sort of psychological trauma or mental breakdown. But no, they always forgave the male leads who abused them and lived happily ever after, no matter what the fuckers did to them. For some reason, the female leads never displayed any ill consequence of having suffered abuse and a toxic relationship, which was completely unrealistic at all.

Apparently, as long as the male lead was rich and handsome, it was okay if he raped and emotionally tortured the female lead. That was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard, but most of these female authors and readers wanted to read these absurd fantasies of ”taming” the toxic and abusive male lead, and then living happily ever after with a rich stud. It never made any sense to me.

Of course, if it was an ugly, old or poor guy who randomly showed up from nowhere and tried to rape the female lead (and inevitably failed to), they would die. Either killed by the male lead or some sort of accident. It seemed that the crime wasn't so much the rape itself but being poor and ugly.

These were the type of ethics that these CEO novels were promoting, not to mention the disgusting glorification of rape and domestic abuse. It's all right to be raped and abused if the other party was your rich and handsome (soon-to-be in some cases) husband!

”We have to help her!”

I nodded in agreement and stepped back to allow Rossetti to offer her assistance. Given Ji Yan's current state, it was best if I didn't touch her. I believed that she would be so traumatized that physical contact with any man would set her off.

”Ji Yan, are you all right?!”

For a moment, Ji Yan didn't say anything. She merely gripped Rossetti's arms tightly, her eyes sort of glassy.

”Don't just stand there, Richard! Help me!”

”How?”

”Help her up…we need to bring her to the medics…” Rossetti looked sheepish. ”Seems like we've hurt her quite a bit in the fight earlier.”

”Uh…I'm not sure I should be touching her…”

”Come on!” Rossetti snapped. I sighed and moved forward.

”!!!”

”AAAAH!”

”Whoa! Wait! It's just me! Don't worry, it's just me!”

”Calm down, Ji Yan! Richard isn't going to hurt you!”

Rossetti struggled to restrain the flailing Ji Yan, who was desperately fighting to break out of her hold and scramble away.

”Ji Yan! Calm down! It's just Richard!”

”AAAAH! NOOOOO! Please, don't! Please forgive me! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please forgive me!”

”Yeah, yeah, I will.”

”R…really?”

I watched Ji Yan, who was whimpering like a child, even as Rossetti tried to cradle her in a comforting embrace.

”Y…you won't rape me?”

”No, I won't.”

That fucker Xu Wu Cheng had really done a lot of damage to Ji Yan's psyche. I shook my head sympathetically and watched Rossetti attempt to soothe her. Almost as if she was unaware of Rossetti's presence, Ji Yan continued staring wide-eyed at me. Then she began begging again.

”P…please don't rape me! I'm sorry! I won't do it again! I'll obey you! So anything but that! Don't rape me again! Please!”

”Do I look like the protagonist of Martial God Asura to you?” I demanded, annoyed. ”I'm not Chu Feng! I don't go around raping heroines just because they wronged me in the past!”

”Richard!” Rossetti reprimanded me sharply. ”This isn't the time for jokes or breaking the fourth wall!”

”Sorry.”

Unfortunately, Ji Yan's mind was broken beyond repair. I could only watch her helplessly until the soldiers from the Federation hurried downstairs, having been drawn by her screams. They took her from Rossetti, and she began screaming and thrashing again. A female medic rushed over with a syringe, trying to sedate her.

”Why don't you just use sedative magic?” One of her male comrades asked. She blinked and put down the syringe.

”You're right. I almost forgot that this is a magic story. It��ll take some time to cast, though.”

”What the heck did they do to her?” one of the other male soldiers whispered as the female medic wrapped a towel over the near-catatonic girl while attempting to comfort and sedate her with a spell.

”Apparently she was raped,” I muttered, earning a glare from Rossetti for my insensitivity. Well, the soldier asked, there was no point hiding the truth. Ji Yan flinched at the word and stared at me.

”I'm sorry, Xu Wu Cheng! I'm very sorry! I didn't mean to disobey you! Please don't…please don't leave me with them! Please…it's so painful! I don't want to be raped again! I don't…!”

I turned away and sighed heavily. As bitchy as she was, even Ji Yan didn't deserve such a fate.

Closing my eyes, I departed the scene. I heard footsteps behind me, and turned around to see Rossetti approach.

”It's not your fault.”

…since when did I ever say it was my fault?

Knowing that Rossetti was also worried about me and expressing her concern in her own way, I decided not to be blunt and argumentative. So I nodded to display some gratitude and then glanced down the corridor.

”I hope the other hostages didn't suffer the same fate.”

”I hope so too.”

”We should help them before…” I swallowed. ”…before it's too late.”

Pushing up my glasses, I scanned the place, the sensors on my lenses picking up readings and visual signatures. Following one of the proposed paths, I navigated the long corridors of the basement and eventually stepped into a room at the end of the huge place. Rossetti followed me without any question, entering the enormous chamber and staying on high alert for any enemies.

Except that there were no longer any enemies in the room. Instead, a single person was held aloft, suspended in midair by manacles.