Chapter 6: The Villainess with Missing Limbs
Xie Qiang ran toward the water prison in a hurry.
She had actually forgotten such an important thing.
In the Star-Sea Empire, there were three great hereditary families, the most famous being the Vermilion Bird family. Every generation of family heads would produce a pair of twins with a “synesthesia” ability.
The twins of this generation were Hong Que, the Inspector of the Third War Zone, and Mo Yin, the Sentinel guard the Emperor had assigned to the villainess.
Because Mo Yin had been thrown into the water prison by the villainess, Hong Que, who shared the synesthesia, would feel the same pain. That was why he had taken sick leave in the novel and couldn’t personally interrogate Wu Zao.
“The villainess took out her anger over losing her forearm on Mo Yin, making his injuries even worse. Following that, she was recalled to the palace. On the way, she and Mo Yin fell into a wormhole. Because Mo Yin was heavily injured and couldn’t protect her well, the villainess had a foot bitten off by the Zerg!”
Muttering the plot, Xie Qiang couldn’t help but shudder.
She silently looked at her own soft right foot and comforted it. “Don’t worry, little foot. I’m going to save your bodyguard right now!”
Xie Qiang quickened her pace. Just as she was about to turn into the depths of the corridor toward the water prison, a strong sense of foreboding suddenly welled up in her heart.
Her fluffy, soft white hair stood on end. She instinctively took a step back. Immediately after, a masked man suddenly appeared in front of her, clutching a dagger and stabbing directly at her face!
“Ah—!”
Xie Qiang’s footsteps faltered in fright, and she fell directly onto the ground. Seeing that sharp dagger stabbing down fiercely, she resignedly raised her left arm to block her eyes.
She had been too careless. She thought Wu Zao would definitely try to assassinate her in the bedroom and hadn’t considered that he might change the location!
Was she really going to follow the same plot as the original book?
Was it her destiny, having become the villainess, to lose this forearm?
Xie Qiang wanted to cry from the grievance, but fearing it would only excite the killer’s bloodlust, she could only bite her lip hard and stay silent.
But the expected pain did not come.
She looked up in surprise, only to see a large amount of red wavy hair swaying slightly in front of her.
In the Third War Zone, there was only one person with such eye-catching red hair—”Hong Que?”
Hong Que finished off the assassin with a single shot. He turned back to look at Xie Qiang and immediately knitted his brows, his bright golden eyes filled with disgust. “Bad luck.”
His face clearly wrote: If I had known it was you, I wouldn’t have come out to save anyone.
Xie Qiang felt slightly embarrassed as she climbed up. “Thank you for saving me.”
Hearing her thank him, Hong Que looked as if he had seen a ghost. He looked down and kicked the assassin, saying in an uncertain tone, “I must have fried my brain from the fever and am having hallucinations.”
Only then did Xie Qiang notice that Hong Que’s condition was very poor.
His waterfall-like red curly hair was unkempt, messily spread over his back. His thick red eyebrows were pressed down impatiently, and his handsome, rebellious face was full of exhausted weariness.
His body, which was quite a bit broader and sturdier than an average person’s, was wrapped in loose black pajamas. A large patch of wheat-colored skin exposed at his chest showed a sickly flush. A layer of thin sweat glistened on his muscles, condensing into pea-sized droplets that rolled down into the depths of his clothes.
It was obvious he had heard the cry for help while recovering and had forced himself out to save someone.
Xie Qiang immediately labeled Hong Que as a “good person.”
Hong Que seemed somewhat incoherent, convinced that everything happening before him was a hallucination. He turned and walked toward the water prison.
Xie Qiang hurriedly followed him. When she passed the assassin’s body and saw the blood spreading on the ground, her heart trembled slightly, and she quickly looked away.
It’s fine, it’s fine. This is the world of a novel; none of this is real.
After successfully convincing herself, Xie Qiang quickened her pace to keep up with Hong Que.
Hong Que noticed Xie Qiang was following him and also quickened his pace, constantly muttering, “Bad luck, so much bad luck. What is she following me for? It’s bad enough she’s a psycho in reality; is she going to be this annoying in my dreams too?”
Xie Qiang: “…”
She followed silently behind Hong Que, watching him enter the water prison, and followed him inside.
The interior of the water prison was vast. In the center was a giant circular pool filled with cold water. It was unclear how much blood and body fluids from various people had merged into it, but it emitted a faint, fishy stench. The area around the pool was filled with torture tools, comparable to a scene from the “Ten Great Tortures.”
As soon as Hong Que entered, he knitted his brows. Sentinels had sharp senses, and this smell was clearly difficult to stomach, let alone for him since he shared synesthesia with Mo Yin—the smell was essentially doubled for him.
And the reason he was suffering so much now was all thanks to Xie Qiang.
“Damn that Xie Qiang!”
Hong Que grabbed his fluffy red hair irritably and cursed, “When is she going to accidentally slip and drown herself in this water prison?”
Xie Qiang: “…”
Xie Qiang helplessly massaged her forehead, telling herself not to get angry with a sick person. Only then did she look toward Mo Yin, who was suspended by iron chains at the edge of the water prison.
His dark gray hair was tied into a high ponytail. Two long strands of bangs and some stray hair at his forehead obscured the young man’s face, making it hard to see what he looked like. However, from the sharp contours of his face, one could tell he was definitely a very handsome man.
His arms were suspended by the iron chains, his wrists rubbed raw and red. His black sleeveless tight-fitting shirt had long since been shredded during the lashings, clinging to his split and bleeding flesh. He hung his head motionless; if it weren’t for his chest moving slightly from his breathing, one would easily suspect he was already dead.
“To be tortured like this by a Guide who is useless for anything but purification… you really are something.”
Hong Que sat at the edge of the water prison, one leg bent, with one hand resting on his knee as he looked at Mo Yin. It was unclear if he was chatting or complaining. “Why are you still so spineless? If you’re going to be punished anyway, why can’t you be tougher? Why didn’t you give her two slaps to vent before the punishment started?”
Xie Qiang, who had just sat down nearby: “?”
Slap who? Me?
In the water prison, the gray-haired young man looked up slightly. Beneath his wet, sticky bangs, a pair of dark golden wolf eyes were faintly revealed.
He looked at the grumbling Hong Que with a flat gaze. Whether it was because of the punishment or because he was naturally taciturn, he didn’t say a single word. He only paused slightly when he spotted Xie Qiang, before his gaze returned to Hong Que.
A trace of undetectable confusion flashed through his dark golden wolf eyes, as if he didn’t understand why Hong Que dared to say such rebellious things right in front of Xie Qiang.
Having finished his venting, Hong Que stood up. “I’m going back to rest. I’ll bring you food tomorrow morning.”
He turned and walked a few steps before remembering something and turning back.
Xie Qiang was wondering why he had come back when she saw Hong Que standing tall in front of her. Then, a malicious, wicked smile appeared on his handsome, unrestrained face.
In the next second, Hong Que raised his right foot and kicked Xie Qiang directly in the chest.
Splash— Xie Qiang was kicked into the murky pool.
“Ha! That felt great!”
Hong Que laughed loudly and swaggered away.
“Mmph… cough, cough, cough—” Suddenly kicked into the water, Xie Qiang choked on several mouthfuls of water. She frantically tried to grab the floor tiles at the edge of the pool, but the pool was deeper than she imagined, quickly swallowing her body like a giant abyss.
Fear finally surfaced in Xie Qiang’s eyes. “Help… Help—”
Hong Que was so delirious with fever that he didn’t hear Xie Qiang’s cry for help at all. He left the water prison without looking back.
The water level had already reached Xie Qiang’s nose. She tried hard to look back at Mo Yin, reaching out a hand to him, hoping he would save her.
But when her gaze met his flat, emotionless eyes, Xie Qiang realized: How could she place her hopes on a Sentinel who had been tortured by ‘her’ for over a month?
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