Chapter Seventeen: Inhuman and Depraved

Cheng Qing lay on the cold hospital bed, the wound on her back burning painfully and itchy from Sato's "regeneration medicine." She stared at the flickering light on the ceiling, her eyes still swirling with lingering bloodlust.

The image of Wang Yuxian dying at her hands flashed repeatedly in her mind, while Lin Tang and Qiao Yuan's faces, filled with "justice," were like poisoned needles, making her temples throb.

Now that Cheng Qing has woken up, he is far more ruthless and insane than before!

Suddenly, as if she remembered something, a sinister smile curled at the corner of her lips.

She struggled to sit up, ignoring the nurse's attempts to stop her, and staggered to the table, grabbing the telephone receiver.

Her fingers trembled as she pressed a number on the dial pad; it was the last card she had hidden in Beiping.

The moment the call connected, she said in a hoarse but ruthless voice, "It's me. Go to the Chen family's old house and bring me that child named Chen Nian. Remember, alive."

The person on the other end of the phone hesitated for a moment, "But that's the Chen family..."

Cheng Qing sneered, "The Chen family, so what? All the Chen family members have run away! I don't care what methods you use, I want to see her in Jiangcheng within three days." She paused, then added, "If you encounter any obstacles... kill them without mercy."

After saying that, she slammed down the phone, her chest heaving violently, her eyes flashing with a crazed light.

She knew that in this world, nothing could drive parents more crazy than their children!

As long as they have Chen Nian under their control, they will be like dogs whose bones have been removed, completely at her mercy.

Sunlight streamed through the iron bars of the window, casting dappled shadows on the ground, yet Cheng Qing felt a chill run through her. She walked to the window, gazing at the gray sky over Jiangcheng, and murmured to herself, "Lin Tang, Qiao Yuan, didn't you want to be heroes? Then use your daughter's life to atone for my 'failure'..."

Her voice was light and airy, yet it carried a chilling, sinister edge, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, enveloping the air in the entire ward.

...

Beiping.

The Chen family's old house.

The entire Chen family went to the United States, leaving Uncle Zhong alone.

At this moment, Uncle Zhong stood in front of the moon gate leading to the inner courtyard. His blue cloth jacket fluttered in the wind, making it look like a tattered flag.

"The person you're looking for isn't here." His Beijing accent trembled, but he enunciated each word clearly. "There's only this old man here now. Where would any young girl come from?"

The leading Japanese officer, General Sato, slowly drew his sword a fraction of an inch, the scraping sound of the scabbard particularly jarring in the quiet, rainy alley. His boot toes scraped across the puddles on the flagstones, splashing water that soaked Uncle Zhong's cloth shoes. "You, lying work," he said. Suddenly, the sword shot forward, the cold blade pressed against Uncle Zhong's neck. "One last question, where is Chen Nian?"

Uncle Zhong swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing as he made a gurgling sound. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Ah Xiu's blue cloth shirt through the window of the west wing; that touch of indigo pierced his heart like a needle.

"I have no idea!"

"I'll just kill you!"

"Kill me if you want." He suddenly straightened his hunched back, a startling light flashing in his cloudy eyes. "I am a Chinese man; how dare you Japanese pirates act so presumptuously!"

As the gunshots rang out in the rain, Ah Chen was tightly covering Chen Nian's mouth.

The five-year-old girl struggled desperately in his arms. The damp, musty smell of the basement mingled with Ah Xiu's increasingly rapid breathing. The three of them huddled in the shadow of the piled-up clutter, listening to the heavy thud of leather boots coming from the ground.

The beam of the flashlight swayed wildly in the darkness, finally settling on Ah Xiu's protruding belly. Her body, which was hidden behind the pillar, suddenly trembled, knocking over the Jingdezhen porcelain vases piled in the corner.

The sound of the porcelain shattering startled everyone.

As the cold muzzle of the gun pressed against Ah Chen's temple, he saw Chen Nian peek out from behind his arm, her little hand still clutching half a half-eaten Poria cocos cake. The girl's clear eyes reflected the Japanese soldier's狰狞 (zhengning - ferocious/hideous) face, and she suddenly giggled: "Uncle, why does your hat have a visor flap?"

Ah Chen was terrified and hurriedly held Chen Nian tightly in his arms, but it was too late.

The Japanese soldier's sinister smile froze instantly, then turned into even more brutal rage, and he slammed the butt of his rifle hard into the back of Ah Chen's head.

His vision went black, and the arm holding Chen Nian went limp. All he could hear was Ah Xiu's heart-wrenching cries and the sound of chaotic footsteps.

When he woke up again, he was already crammed into a cold, stuffy freight train along with Ah Xiu and Chen Nian.

The white mist spewed from the steam locomotive quickly dissipated in the cold autumn wind, leaving two purplish-red welts on Ah Chen's wrists, which were tied behind his back.

The thick hemp rope was deeply embedded in his flesh, and the swaying of each train carriage aggravated his old shoulder injury.

He glanced sideways and saw Ah Xiu huddled in the corner of the carriage. Chen Nian in her arms had cried until her voice was hoarse, her little face buried in her mother's clothes, which were soaked with milk and tears.

Ah Xiu suddenly let out a suppressed cry of pain, pressing her hands tightly against her abdomen. Amniotic fluid mixed with blood seeped down her navy blue cotton pants, forming a small, dark puddle on the dirty floor.

Chen Nian was startled awake by her mother's trembling. She reached out her small hand, bewildered, to wipe the cold sweat from Ah Xiu's forehead: "Mom, why are you crying?"

Seven days later.

An abandoned yarn factory in Jiangcheng.

The rusty textile machine creaked and groaned in the draft, and the sound of Cheng Qing's high heels came from the far end of the warehouse.

Today she wore a moon-white Suzhou-embroidered cheongsam, with a pigeon-blood ruby ​​brooch pinned to the collar, which shimmered eerily in the setting sun streaming in through the broken window.

Ah Chen was tied to the vertical carding machine with his hands behind his back. The hemp rope was so tight that his ribs ached, and his nostrils were filled with the pungent smell of machine oil and mold.

"Ah Chen, how have you been?" Cheng Qing walked up to him, her nail polished with henna tracing the scar on his cheek. "Back when you were with Qiao Yuan smashing up my place, you never imagined this day would come, did you?"

Ah Chen spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, which splashed onto the tip of her ivory-white high heels: "You vicious woman! Master Qiao treated you well, yet you dared to collude with the Japanese!"

Cheng Qing suddenly burst into laughter, the sound echoing eerily in the empty warehouse. She turned and walked towards Ah Xiu, who was huddled in a pile of cotton wadding. Chen Nian was too frightened to cry, her large, dark eyes staring at the strange woman. "Give me the child," Cheng Qing's voice suddenly softened, like a venomous snake luring its prey.

Ah Chen struggled frantically, shaking the cast iron frame of the carding machine until it hummed loudly: "Don't touch her! I'll give you the child! Let Ah Xiu go! She's about to give birth!"

As Ah Chen trembled as he handed Chen Nian over, he noticed that Ah Xiu's petticoat was completely soaked with blood. The woman suddenly screamed, "No! Nian'er! That's Miss's life!" She pounced on Cheng Qing like a lioness, but was kicked hard in the abdomen by the agent next to her, and curled up on the ground convulsing in pain.

Cheng Qing turned and left with Chen Nian in his arms, the scarlet gemstone brooch flashing coldly in the twilight.

"Clean it up." Her light voice had barely faded when the agent's Type 14 Nambu was already loaded.

He suddenly broke the hemp rope binding his wrist, the barbs digging deep into his flesh.

As he lunged at the spy, a sudden, sharp pain shot through his lower back, and a military bayonet pierced through his left shoulder blade, spraying a cloud of blood.

A flame suddenly shot up from the corner of the warehouse; an overturned kerosene lamp had ignited the cotton wadding. The flames quickly licked at the pile of yarn spindles, and the thick smoke made Ah Chen cough violently.

With his last bit of strength, he positioned Ah Xiu's body in a side-lying position, making her curled up in a shape that resembled the way she used to sit under the locust tree in the courtyard house in Beiping.

As the scorching heatwave swept in, Ah Chen finally grasped Ah Xiu's gradually stiffening fingers.

He recalled their first meeting ten years ago, in the Qiao family's old house, looking at him timidly and calling him "Brother Achen." The firelight illuminated the frozen smile on her lips, like a red-hot branding iron, forever burning into his gradually cooling pupils.

The thick smoke nearly suffocated him, and his lungs felt like they were being pierced by countless needles at once, but he held her hand tighter and tighter, as if he wanted to melt their bones and blood together.

The warehouse beams groaned under the weight of the flames, sparks rained down on their clasped hands, and the burning sensation spread from their skin to their hearts, yet he didn't even flinch.

As long as he could be with her, he would gladly face the raging flames. He lowered his head and gently kissed her cold forehead, murmuring, "Ah Xiu, don't be afraid, I'm here with you..." Before he finished speaking, a burning wooden beam crashed down, completely engulfing the two of them in the raging fire.

...

Cheng Qing held Chen Nian in her arms at the busiest intersection in Jiangcheng. Her gaze swept over the terrified or numb faces in the crowd. The child's cries pierced through the noisy street.

"Lin Tang, Qiao Yuan!" Her voice, amplified by loudspeakers, echoed in every corner, carrying the hiss of a viper. "You want to be heroes? Look at whose daughter this is! If she doesn't show up before sunset, I'll make her a sacrifice for the Japanese Imperial Army in Jiangcheng!"

A commotion broke out in the crowd. Some tried to rush forward but were forced back by the secret agents with the butts of their guns. She carried the child and slowly walked toward the gallows in the center of the street. The scarlet gemstone brooch pulsed like blood in the twilight, as if celebrating the upcoming bloody sacrifice in advance.