Zhuge Pang positions himself at the front. His grip on his shield tightens, ready for any danger that may come at us and push open the steel gate.
*eeeeeekkk*
The steel gate has not been oiled well and the sound of the gate opening echoes throughout the building. Zhuge Pang bravely walks into the dim hallway.
The first room we see is the torture room and there is a putrid smell coming out from the room. It was easy to tell that it was a room meant for torture because of the tools that are lying messily all over the room. Some of the tools still have flesh stuck on them, depicting recent use.
The bloodstains on the floor and on the walls have not been cleaned. I guess our “bandits” did not bother to clean up after themselves. There are no living people here, nor is there a complete corpse.
After looking around for a bit, we move on. The clanging has not stopped ever since we came down, instead it got louder the deeper we walked into the prison. It was clear that they were aware of our arrival. After the first room that was built for torture, the rest of the rooms should be prison cells.
The second and third room was empty but the fourth cell was not.
There were people in the cell! Ding Sha who was holding a torch, moved it closer to illuminate the cell but the people in that cell had already died. Not sure what they died from but we could not be bothered to investigate at this point in time.
We moved on towards the fifth cell which was further away as the prison was in the shape of a box and did not exceed the mayor land. Inside this cell was a man who was alive. His eyes were blank and he was just staring at us when we came into his field of vision.
Ding Sha waved the torch around to brighten up his cell and there were other bodies in there, but they had bite wounds all over their body. It was clear what had happened.
The guards looked at me who was at the back. Judge Cui and Judge Tang were behind me too, probably in position to guard the rear.
“He ate them. He’s not human anymore, we should kill him.” Judge Cui said mercilessly. The guards looked at me for some sort of confirmation or disagreement but…I did not know what to do…
“He was starving. There was no alternative.” I said slowly as I was unsure of my decision. I was just probably saying the obvious and it was obvious that I did not come to clear decision.
“Shi er, look at his eyes. He’s already gone. Do it quickly and painlessly!” Judge Tang said clearly.
“Yes!” The guards answer loudly together.
*CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG*
The clanging got a lot louder and faster suddenly. It was clear that he was nearby and near the guards.
Ding Sha passed the torch to Zhao Keng, who was standing next to him and smashed open the lock on the prison cell’s door. He walked into the cell with his sabre drawn and gave the villager a clean cut at the base of his head, separating the man’s head and his body.
Once he leaves the cell, we continue going deeper into the prison. In the sixth cell, there is a group of people who are banging their metal chains against the floor, causing the clanging sounds. Once they see us, they stop and look at us with pleading eyes, all of them start making gestures at the same time.
Their eyes are all red and their lips are cracked. There are some who have blood stains on their lips. Their skin is shrivelled and dry.
Upon seeing them, it is clear that they are all dehydrated.
“Water bag, give me the water bag!” I ask for the water bags from Liu Kang anxiously.
He quickly passes me the 3 water bags he had on him and watched me open it hurried and take some salt out from my bag and pour it into the water bag and shake it.
“Why are you adding that white powder into the water? Does it make it easier to drink?” Liu Kang asks what everyone around me wanted to ask.
“They are dehydrated. Adding this will be better than letting drink plain water.” I explain as I close the cap on the water bags and throw it to the people in the cell. They quickly grab the water bags and drink it carefully, not letting a drop spill, and after drinking a mouthful or two, they pass the water bags around so everyone can get a drink.
“Oh! So the white magic powder is better when you are thirsty!” Liu Kang says out loud as he claps his hands, similar to a person when he has a ‘eureka’ moment.
After everyone has had their share of water, they collect the water bags and return them to us. One of the older men comes up to us and tries to talk, but his throat is already cracked from the severe dehydration and he cannot speak properly.
“We….v…villager,band…,women,…away…help…” he struggles to talk but only manages to say so much before giving up.
Ding Sha then performs a stop gesture and points downwards, telling them to sit and wait.
“Lord, we should finish looking into the rest of the prison and come back to decide what to do regarding these people.” Ding Sha suggests to us.
I look at Judge Cui and Judge Tang they don’t seem to have any opinions so I say “Go, lead the way.”
We get back into formation and Zhuge Pang starts leading the way again. The next cell seems to be the last and is the biggest cell. As we go nearer, we see a person chained up and there are two braziers that we can light up for illumination.
Zhao Keng who is now holding the torch heads towards the two braziers at the front of the cell and lights them up. Once the cell is much brighter, we can see a skinny man chained up at the back of the cell. As it seems to be safe, Zhao Keng walks towards the other two braziers at the back of the cell and lights them up.
The man’s body is horribly tortured. His muscles have all atrophied and his tendons have been sliced numerous times. There are also some metal pipes sticking out from his body.
Zhao Keng uses his spear to try and lift the man’s head so we can determine if he is dead or alive, but when the spear goes near the man, his eyes open and he bites the spear’s tip with a growl!
*Ting*
The man does not let go but Zhao Keng forcefully yanks the spear back.
“Hahahahaha you damned humans! You will all die! Ahahahahahahah” he starts laughing crazily.
Suddenly a large amount of qi starts revolving behind me and…
*Pzzzt*
*BOOM!*
Judge Cui forms a finger gun with his right hand, and immediately blinks to the front of the man! He stabs his finger into the man’s body, which caused the man’s body to explode!
All that happened in a blink of an eye and all I witnessed was the man’s body exploding into pieces and Judge Cui appearing in front of him when the mist of blood cleared up.
