53 Chapter 52: Torture (2/2)

”Yo. Feeling better already?”

Glancing up, I glared at Ba Yun. He was pushing the double doors open as he entered the room. Following behind was a gleeful Qi Fu Ren, who was savoring my misery. Ba Yun chuckled as he held my vengeful gaze.

”Oh, good. You're still lucid. You can still feel rage. You still have the intention to defy me.”

”Heh. I look forward to see you break him down, Senior.”

Chuckling, Qi Fu Ren maintained his distance and watched as Ba Yun strolled up to me. I tried to stand up, but my legs refused to obey me.

”The effects of the Hellfire toxin remain, huh? Good.” Sniggering, Ba Yun stopped and browsed through the assortment of tools on the table next to him. ”I can't have you getting up and walking around just yet. I need to teach you a lesson.”

”…”

I gritted my teeth and glared at him hatefully, but he only seemed to bask in it even more. After some more rummaging, he finally produced a wicked-looking tool.

”Ah…finally.”

It looked like a cross between a nail clipper and a wrench. I immediately felt a chill when I saw it. Even as I squirmed, Ba Yun suddenly lashed out and seized my right arm.

”Oh no, no, no. don't spoil the fun.”

Fun? What fun?

”You know what this is, right?”

Giggling ominously, he gripped my struggling hand. With the effects of the suppressant still lingering in my system, and my complete lack of strength and qi, I couldn't break free. I watched in horror as he placed my thumb into the machine and gently slotted the thin piece of metal under my short thumbnail.

”Relax,” he told me soothingly. ”The fun hasn't started yet.”

Perspiration began to bead on my face as I realized what this tool was for.

”And away we go!”

With a flick of his finger, Ba Yun flipped the metal.

”AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

I howled in agony as the tool ripped my thumbnail off my thumb in a single go, wrenching the keratin from soft, raw tissue in a spray of blood. Pain pounded my skull, radiating from my thumb and drowning me in a blood-red sea. Tears welled up in my eyes and I sobbed uncontrollably as my wounded thumb twitched, the tender skin exposed to air for the first time.

”Ah…ah…ah…”

”Ha ha ha ha! How pathetic! I should have photographed that expression!”

Qi Fu Ren was guffawing in the background, enjoying the show. Under normal circumstances, I would have glared at him, but right now I was in too much pain to display any sign of defiance. I could only writhe and moan in my chair.

”Huff…huff…”

”How pathetic.”

Ba Yun shook his head as he slipped the device out of my thumb. He gave me a sympathetic look, which was immediately replaced by a smile.

”But don't relax just yet. We have nine more nails to go.”

”No…please…no…”

I trembled violently as Ba Yun placed my right index finger into the device and slotted the metal under my nail.

”Please…”

Ba Yun merely widened his smile, and then flicked the lever.

”AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

*

By the time all my fingernails were ripped out, I was half-catatonic. Ba Yun merely shook his head, disgusted at my frailty, and then left the room with a grinning Qi Fu Ren in tow. They returned the next day, but this time Ba Yun turned his attention toward my toenails.

With all my nails gone, the next day, he broke each of my fingers, one by one. The following day, it would be my toes. Then the day after next, he broke my arms and dislocated my shoulders. The next day, he smashed my legs, crippling me.

As each day went on and on, I just numbly sat there, breathing heavily and trying to blank out the pain as best as I could. Despite my qi mostly suppressed by the Hellfire toxin, I could draw on the remaining percentage of my qi to heal my broken body as much as possible. I didn't know if it was the Heaven and Earth Formula, but just like the wound Tuo Ta La left me, I was slowly healing up and piecing my limbs back together.

But it was pointless. Whenever I healed them just a bit, Ba Yun would arrive the next day and break my body all over again. But gradually, I grew acclimatized to the pain, and learned to somehow shut off my emotions and responses, my senses and pain. I just sat there dully, mentally withdrawing to some dark corner of my mind and vaguely registering the physical violence that was meted out on body on a daily basis.

…at least until today.

”Don't worry. We won't be doing the usual abuse today.”

Ba Yun sounded awfully cheerful when he entered the room today. I barely looked up at him and continued to hang my head, already mentally withdrawing into the darkest and deepest crevice of my mind as I steeled myself for the hellish torment that loomed ahead.

Unfortunately, all the excruciating experiences I had suffered so far weren't hell. No, not yet.

”I brought you some new friends today!” Ba Yun announced gleefully and raised a massive, transparent tank. Within the clear, plastic walls, huge wasps buzzed and flittered about, banging against the screen with wicked stingers and scrabbly legs. Despite my mind supposedly being dulled, I seemed to awake from a sea of sluggishness and surfaced into a reality of horror.

”I wonder, do you know what these are?”

I knew, of course, having read about them in the monster encyclopedias in Wu Ling Library, but I was in no condition to answer. It didn't matter, anyhow. Ba Yun was in the mood to show off and would give his explanation in that same gleeful manner as always.

”These are Parasitic Wasps. A type of demonic beast. Nasty, creepy things, aren't they?” he broadened his smile. ”But don't worry. You'll have plenty of chances to get all intimate and friendly with them.”

I instinctively stiffened and leaned back against my chair, as if I was trying to widen the distance between us as much as possible.

It was useless.

”But let me introduce you to your new best friends first. You see, Parasitic Wasps have a very special characteristic.”

Ba Yun's voice was coy now, soothing even, as he stroked the side of the plastic tank. The Parasitic Wasps banged angrily against the plastic screen, but even with the incessant clacking of their stingers, they failed to break out of their transparent prison.

”They lay their eggs inside their hosts. Right under the skin, you see, where the larvae draws nutrients and stuff from the host's body. They germinate, grow larger and slowly transform into infant wasps. Once their transformation is complete, they break free of their host's body, tearing the flesh apart in their bid for freedom.”

My mind was awash in horror, especially since I fully realized what he was about to do.

”Most hosts do not survive the process. I can't blame them. It's one of the most painful things ever especially since some of the larvae germinate within the internal organs.”

I swallowed and squirmed in my chair, but to no avail.

”In other words, you'll be housing their children. What greater honor can there be, for a best friend? They will be your children as well.”

…I knew it. I knew it. I didn't want that to happen. I didn't want that to happen. I didn't want that to happen.

My eyes bulged as I struggled feebly on my seat, but my broken and still-healing limbs flopped weakly, deprived of strength and qi. The suppressant continued to ravage my body from within, and my eye throbbed from the repeated injection.

As Ba Yun drew closer, the plastic container rattling from his hands and the Parasitic Wasps' buzzing grew into a crescendo, my sanity snapped. Hanging my head pitifully, I closed my eyes and wept pathetically.

”Please…”

My voice came out hoarsely, the first words I had uttered in days. Ba Yun widened his eyes in mock surprise.

”Oh? You've finally regained the ability to speak? I'm relieved! You haven't said anything in days, after all. But I can't hear you…what did you say?”

”P…please don't…”

If I were to look back at myself, I would hate myself for being so pathetic. I would hate myself for being so weak. Yet, at that very moment, there was absolutely nothing I could do. I had no means to fight back, my qi and strength had been sapped entirely. I was just a hollow husk, my mind and sanity scraped away, layer by layer, with each brutal act of violence that this psycho meted out on me. I was at the mercy of this lunatic.

The only thing I could do was…beg.

”I…beg you…”

”Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

Ba Yun laughed and laughed and laughed, his voice echoing thunderously throughout the cavernous room.

”And here I thought your mind had gone, that you had finally lost your sanity! But you're still in there somewhere, aren't you?”

I didn't understand what he meant, and I didn't care. I just continued to hang my head weakly, quietly pleading for mercy.

”This is interesting! Amusing! Even after so much pain and suffering, you still somehow clung to your sanity. Or perhaps you're so afraid of bugs that your sanity returned! This is amusing!”

Ba Yun continued to chuckle.

”Oh, I should reward you for showing me something so funny.”

My heart skipped a beat, and I almost sighed in relief.

”Here, you can have some company with your new friends.”

With a bark of cruel laughter, Ba Yun hurled the tank to the floor, smashing it with tremendous force. The Parasitic Wasps swarmed out of the broken cage, but Ba Yun managed to exude an aura of qi that protected him from them.

Realizing the futility of their attacks, the Parasitic Wasps turned and buzzed toward me. With most of my qi suppressed by the Hellfire Toxin, and my weakened condition, it was only natural that they vent their rage on me.

”I'll leave you guys to catch up and get all intimate then.”

Guffawing, Ba Yun spun the wheels on the double doors and let himself out. Seconds later, the unmistakable click of the doors indicated that I was locked inside the room with the wrathful, gigantic insects.

With a furious buzz, they all swarmed toward me.

I screamed.