Chapter 17: The Eternal Daylight That Cannot Be Removed
——They stripped her of her dignity, but they couldn't strip her of the ring.
On the afternoon of the auction day, Ruan Xingchen's fever finally broke. She felt cold all over, and her limbs felt heavy as if they were filled with lead, but her consciousness was much clearer than in the previous few days.
There were chaotic footsteps and metal collision sounds coming from outside the cell, and she knew that today was the day of the auction.
"Get up! It's time to get ready!" The cell door was opened roughly.
When Ruan Xingchen was dragged out, his legs could hardly support the weight. He could only let the two guards hold his arms and walk barefoot across the cold concrete floor.
"This batch of goods is of good quality." A man in a white coat came over, pinched her chin and looked her over. "Especially this one. It will definitely fetch a good price if it's cleaned."
Then she was taken into a cold bathroom with dark red stains on the tiles.
"Take it off." The guard ordered coldly.
Ruan Xingchen trembled and clutched his collar, but was slapped to the ground.
"This Chinese girl is quite stubborn," another guard joked in Thai. "I wonder if she'll be able to be so stubborn when we take her away tonight!"
They roughly stripped off her tattered clothes. There was no warm water or shower gel, only cold water sprayed from a high-pressure water gun, mixed with the pungent smell of disinfectant, which poured down on her head.
The icy water jet rushed directly at her, and the biting chill instantly sobered her up. The smell of disinfectant choked her nose, causing her to cough violently.
The rough brush scraped across her skin, leaving red marks, as if she were not a human being but a commodity that needed to be disinfected.
She bit her lips hard to prevent herself from screaming. The ring on her left ring finger was particularly conspicuous under the cold light. Ruan Xingchen subconsciously curled up her finger to protect it.
"What is this?" The guard grabbed her wrist and pried her fingers apart. "You are not allowed to wear any jewelry before the auction!"
He pulled the ring roughly, but the silver ring seemed to be welded to Ruan Xingchen's finger and did not move at all.
"Damn it!" the guard cursed, took out lubricant from his pocket, smeared it on the base of Ruan Xingchen's fingers, and tore it hard again.
Ruan Xingchen groaned in pain, his knuckles were pulled red, but the ring was still stuck in its original position.
"Forget it, forget it, we're running out of time!" another guard said impatiently, "Wearing it on your wrist won't affect the inspection anyway!"
The guard let go of her hand in dismay and impatiently threw her a set of almost transparent lace underwear: "Put it on quickly! Don't waste time!"
Ruan Xingchen put it on tremblingly, and heard a girl crying and a man grinning from next door.
After the "disinfection," she was taken to a dimly lit preparation room. A plastic sheet covered the iron bed, and various injections and medical equipment were piled in the corner.
"Lie down." The man in the white coat put on rubber gloves. This was a routine inspection of the "high-quality goods" to ensure that they were really virgins and had no infectious diseases or unsightly scars.
Ruan Xingchen was pressed down on the plastic sheet, with his wrists and ankles secured with belts.
The cold metal instrument slid across the skin, from the neck to the arms, and then to the waist and abdomen. Every inch of touch felt like an icicle piercing the body.
The machine slowed down its movement at the base of the legs, and the fingers wearing rubber gloves gently separated the skin to confirm that the membrane was intact. This was the most critical inspection for "high-quality goods", as essential as stamping a stamp of authenticity on the product.
She stared at a crack in the ceiling and imagined herself as a human specimen in a laboratory, without consciousness or emotion, just an object at the mercy of others.
After the examination, the man made a check mark on the clipboard without looking up. He then picked up a syringe from the tray and said, "Don't move! If you get it wrong, you'll be in trouble."
"What is this?" Ruan Xingchen's voice trembled.
"Something to make you behave better." The man answered casually, and the alcohol cotton ball rubbed the skin of her elbow, which was icy cold.
The moment the needle entered the vein, Ruan Xingchen suddenly tensed her body, and the medicine flowed into her blood faster than she had imagined.
First her fingertips went numb, then her limbs, and finally her vision began to blur. She pinched her thighs hard, trying to stay awake, but her fingers were no longer under her control.
"Xiaohan...Brother..." She called silently in her heart, "If you are really the king...please come and save me..."
His left hand drooped limply, the ring gleaming faintly in the dim light.
Eternal daylight.
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