Everyone, including me, thought Ace would treat the girl who wet herself the same way he beat up the old man.
Surprisingly, he calmly walked up to the long-haired girl and said, "You did well reporting this. You deserve a reward."
"Thank you, Professor!" The long-haired girl bowed, thrilled, as if she could already see a box of bread waving at her.
"Your reward," Ace said darkly, turning to his lackeys, "is yours to handle, but don't go too far. Can't have her disappearing."
"Thank you, Professor!" The four lackeys gleefully rushed over, dragging the long-haired girl away.
"What are you doing? Let me go! Professor, Professor..." Her cries were useless at this point. She should have kept her mouth shut. Expecting a reward, she ended up being "four-point restrained" by the lackeys.
The girl who wet herself was now trembling even more, her head bowed, too scared to look at the sinister Ace.
"Raise your head!" Ace commanded, adjusting his glasses.
The girl's frail body shook, but she still didn't look up.
"Unteachable," Ace sneered. "Take her down for a stitching operation. She can come back when she stops leaking."
Everyone was stunned, especially the women. Even Bayi and I shivered, instinctively glancing at our own bodies in fear.
"No, no... Professor, I'm sorry, I won't do it again," the girl sobbed, but it was no use. Two lackeys dragged her away to the basement for a painful, unanaesthetized stitching procedure.
Ace then turned to the old man, who was still recovering from the electric shock. "Come over here and lick the urine clean, and I'll forgive you. Otherwise, it's the basement for you too."
"I..." The old man struggled to stand, looking like he was dying. Making someone lick another person's urine was beyond degrading.
"I'm only giving you one chance. Don't test my patience," Ace snapped, signaling his lackeys to get rough.
"I'll do it! Please don't shock me again..." The old man cried, crawling over, weeping bitterly as he began to lick the floor.
Watching this filled me with a burning rage. I wanted to kill Ace, that twisted monster. The thought of killing had never been so consuming. That's why I didn't hesitate to kill three lackeys later, becoming a feared legend in the compound and catching the attention of the management.
This incident also paved the way for my future escape plans.
The old man licked the floor clean in a few minutes, then staggered back to his seat, covering his mouth. I saw the despair in his eyes. That night, he hung himself with his pants.
After class, everyone was heavy-hearted, afraid of becoming Ace's next target. This fear was part of what later fueled our determination to escape, and why Bayi was so set on learning martial arts from me.
But fear didn't help. We still had to attend class the next day. We had to endure seven days of lessons, and if we didn't produce results within a week, we'd face severe punishment.
For the next six days, everyone worked frantically, taking notes and memorizing scripts. The long-haired girl never reappeared, and the girl who was stitched up miraculously survived, only to die from an infection after being abused by the lackeys.
Three lives were snuffed out as if they had never existed. Human life was worth less than livestock here. I truly realized that when the three lackeys I killed were dumped in the river without compensation to their families. Instead, I was fined three million for their funerals. Ridiculous.
Who knew how long this would go on, or if I could ever earn enough to buy my freedom.
Since our team lost two female newcomers, Liu Eleven assigned Bayi and another girl to our group to balance the numbers and avoid complaints about performance affecting end-of-month results.
Our supervisor, Er Pang, was furious. Constantly switching team members hurt performance. How could we achieve anything with all newcomers?
As the end of the month approached, Er Pang kept pushing us to improve.
"Brother, this fat supervisor is even fatter than me, but he's so short," Bayi couldn't help but comment.
"You're not fat, you're fit. He's just flabby. Better keep quiet to avoid getting beaten," I advised him. I didn't want to see the straightforward Bayi get hurt.
"You newcomers must bring in 300,000 this month, or you'll lose a kidney to cover the debt. You can still work after losing one," Er Pang threatened us with a sinister look, especially targeting me.
Compared to other newcomers, I was a "repeat offender," immune to the horrors here and changed from the cheerful boy I once was.
"Sleep with me, and I'll give you food. How about it?" A strange woman approached me when I returned to the dormitory after work.
I nearly choked on my spicy strips. "What the hell!" Bayi almost fell off his bed laughing.
"You need a psychiatrist, not spicy strips," I said, continuing to eat.
"You're an idiot, missing out on a good deal!" She scolded me, frustrated that her charm didn't work.
"Auntie, you're dreaming. Playing with a young guy and getting food? Too bad I'm too stupid to fall for it," I retorted, enjoying my snack.
Three minutes later, she paid dearly for her words.