The buzz of the crowd below the stage grew louder, mixed with uneasy shifts and suppressed sobs. Everyone felt insecure, yet they craned their necks to see clearly what was about to take place on the stage.
"Bring it up!" Scorpion swung his arm violently and spoke sharply.
Two black-clad guards dragged a bloody man and threw him on the platform. The cloth on the man's body had long lost its original color and was soaked in blood and dirt. His cheeks were swollen, and a deep scar that could see the bone extended from the corner of his forehead to his chin. With his weak breathing, blood foam overflowed from the corner of his mouth.
His legs were obviously broken, and he dragged weakly on the rough table surface, making a teeth-grinding rustling sound.
"Brother," Scorpion walked up to the man and kicked him with the tip of his boot. His voice suddenly became unusually gentle. "Did you steal my things?" The end of his tone rose slightly with a creepy mockery.
The man shook his head desperately, making unclear sounds for mercy, and his whole body was trembling.
Scorpion smiled, but the smile did not reach his eyes: "In my base, the rules are simple - thieves, die."
Before he finished speaking, he turned his wrist, and the scorpion-tail-shaped dagger flashed a cold light in the air, accurately cutting the man's throat.
Blood spurted out with a "puff" sound, and a few drops splashed on the scorpion's raised chin.
He didn't even blink. Instead, he stuck out his tongue and slowly licked the blood at the corner of his mouth with an expression of enjoyment.
"Oh my god..." Su Wan gasped, her stomach churning. Everything happened so fast that the crowd below the stage gasped in fear, but no one dared to protest.
"Get rid of it." Scorpion looked at the corpse at his feet with disgust, as if it was something filthy. Two guards immediately stepped forward and dragged the corpse away like a dead dog.
"Next!" Scorpion's voice echoed in the air.
Another person was dragged onto the stage, this time it was a young girl, probably in her early twenties, with a childish face but lifeless eyes, as if she was controlled by drugs.
"I heard that this beautiful lady used to be a medical staff at the base?"
The scorpion stretched out his fingers and gently stroked the girl's cheek, but the girl did not react at all, like a delicate puppet.
"What a pity! They secretly treated those who shouldn't be alive without telling me, and they didn't even collect the 'tax' I set. This is a serious violation of my rules."
"She...she is saving people..." someone in the audience muttered softly.
Scorpion's gaze was like a poisoned arrow, instantly piercing through the crowd and locking onto the place where the voice came from: "Oh? Bring it up!"
A middle-aged man in a shabby grey coat was roughly pulled out of the crowd by two guards and pushed onto the platform. His face was ashen, his legs were shaking so much that he could hardly stand, and his eyes were filled with fear.
"It seems that we have a hero with a strong sense of justice." Scorpion grinned, revealing his white teeth.
“Since you sympathize with her so much, why not…” He stuffed the bloody scorpion-tail dagger into the middle-aged man’s trembling hands.
"You come and put an end to her. Kill her, and you and your family will get a month's extra food ration; let her go, and both of you will go to hell together. Make your choice, I'll give you three seconds."
The middle-aged man held the dagger, his hands shaking like leaves in the wind, and the cold metal almost slipped from his sweaty hands.
He looked at the expressionless girl, then at the dark crowd below the stage, despair and struggle flashing alternately in his eyes.
The middle-aged man's hands were shaking like a sieve, and his eyes were full of despair and struggle.
"Three!" The scorpion's voice lashed everyone's heart like a whip.
The crowd below the stage was in deathly silence, as if even their breathing was being strangled.
"Two!" The smile on his face widened with bloodthirsty excitement.
The middle-aged man's hand holding the dagger was shaking so badly that sweat rolled down his forehead and hit the dusty table.
Su Wan felt her heart tighten along with the countdown, almost jumping out of her throat.
Some people in the crowd had closed their eyes in pain, but many more had their eyes wide open, with an expression of fear and reluctance intertwined.
"The word is almost out, hero!" Scorpion drawled out the tone, like the last expectation before tasting a delicious dish.
"No——!" A shrill and out-of-tune roar burst out from the middle-aged man's throat.
He suddenly closed his eyes, as if using up all his strength, and stabbed the dagger in his hand forward randomly!
“Puff!”
That was the sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh, dull and clear.
The girl didn't even let out a proper scream, just a short groan came out of her throat.
Her body seemed to have all the bones pulled out, and she fell forward limply.
“Boom.”
She fell to the ground, her forehead hitting the rough wooden board, and she was silent.
The bright red blood, like an ominous flower, quickly bloomed beneath her, staining the dirty wood red.
The middle-aged man loosened his hand as if he was scalded, and the dagger fell to the ground with a clang. The bloodstains were particularly glaring in the dim light.
His knees went weak and he slumped to the ground, staring blankly at his hands, as if they were stained with some filth that could never be washed away.
There was a sound of people gasping in shock from the audience.
Someone let out a suppressed whimper, but was suddenly silenced by the scorpion's sweeping gaze.
At this moment, a sharp and piercing laugh broke the frozen silence.
Scorpion laughed so hard that he fell backwards and even clapped his hands exaggeratedly!
"Hahaha! Okay! Okay!"
His eyes swept across every terrified face in the audience, and his voice was filled with morbid excitement.
"I can see it clearly!"
“This is the brain that allows you to survive in the apocalypse!”
He kicked the bloody dagger at his feet away, and saliva splattered as he roared.
"The strong prey on the weak! Survival of the fittest!"
"You bunch of rubbish, learn from me!"
"Haha, well acted, well acted!"
The smile on Scorpion's face became more and more weird. He walked towards the middle-aged man who was lying on the ground step by step. He deliberately kicked the fallen dagger with his toes, making a crisp collision sound.
"Look at you, your hands are shaking like this, you can't even kill someone properly."
He bent down, and his voice was not loud, but it was clearly heard by everyone.
"Just now, were you thinking, 'As long as I kill her, I can live'?"
The middle-aged man suddenly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes full of fear.
"Do you still think that you are quite smart and chose a way to survive?"
The scorpion clicked its tongue twice and shook its head, as if looking at an ignorant child.
Among the crowd below the stage, some people subconsciously took a step back, as if they wanted to stay away from this devil.
"What a shame, hero."
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