Chapter 2: I'm Right Handed
The dagger cut deep into his palm, piercing it through.
"You-!" Liao Lusheng couldn't believe it for a moment. "You dare!" His red eyes glowed brighter, he leapt at her, she moved to defend, pulling back the blade, kicking away Dashu, but it was useless. Two guards came forward grabbing the both of them.
"You," she spat at him, "What makes you believe we will be your dogs!" At her fierce cry, a cry came up from the children all around.
"Heh." His eyes blazed with wrath, "Why?" Wrapping up his hand. "Do you even know the consequences of what you did.!" He had only been sent down here temporarily as a punishment, but to think such a grievous, permanent injury had been given to him! He hadn't been injured like this since he became a captain! Much less a red member like himself! He gnashed his teeth. "Scum," he grabbed her face with his other hand, "Useless muck of the earth," his nails cutting into it, so it bled, "Bring him so everyone can see him." He finally let go, ordering the guards to move her to face the crowd. "Did you just see that?" He commented genteelly to the crowd of children.
"He disobeyed me, now, let's see what happens to someone that disobeys, yes?"
He had everyone's attention, as he called for a hammer, a dull chisel and small bench.
"You damaged my hand, yes?" He asked her rhetorically, she just glared back. "Hold his hand for me, will you?" His eyes were listless, unseeing, unmoved, a little amusement in his voice. Her hand was pulled out, her right hand. Her dominant hand. Spreading her it over the bench.
He picked up the mallet and chisel. "Alright, shall we begin now?"
She watched as he placed the chisel over her thumb. "This might hurt." He was smiling far too widely.
She screamed. She had always thought that she was good at handling pain. She thought that if she ever broke a bone she would bear it silently. After all, she had already borne so much pain in life. That was until she did. The moment the bone shattered, a small shriek escaped her. no, a much too loud shriek for her own comfort.
She caught herself after, gathering herself, far more prepared for the next tap that came down, closing her eyes for the pain that entered her body, striking up her nerves, following her hand, to her arm all the way to her shoulder than spine and heart. It seemed to reach everywhere, mangling her finger beyond recognition. Only a whimper escaped this time, but in exchange, a tear slid from either eye.
"No," he warned kindly, "Keep your eyes open," she felt the chisel at the top of her cheek, placed against her eyelid, "or I'll gouge them out too, since you so desire to not use them."
She reopened them, to glare at him, bearing her teeth, "Just kill me if you dare."
"Kill you? What would be the point of that?" He asked, mockingly. "Alright, let's continue!" He snapped each of her bones in her hand. every. single. one.
She began full on sobbing at one point, tears streaming down her face, not even attempting to sniff them back, as bone after bone snapped, or split, not only did they break, but some snapped in such a way they pierced out of her skin, her ring finger was also almost severed completely in half by the chisel. However he didn't let go after it.
Instead, he took the mangled bloody thing, bringing her over the pot of broth. "say, since you didn't seem to want that broth earlier, you don't think it's gone cool on us as it?" he asked as the soup was still pouting with boils over its flames, she wanted to fight him, but knew it was useless, as he plunged it into the broth, she felt her mangled flesh getting cut into the. The broth seeming to attempt to consume it with tiny mouths as it burnt into her.
He finally let go, it took her moment, in the midst of such terrible pain, to notice it, pulling it back the moment her mind finally comprehended she was free.
She didn't want to look, didn't think she dared to..and then, perhaps pulled by simply gross curiosity, she finally did.
It was terrifying. A lump of flesh and bones, red, bleeding, her fingers merging with one another.
Back on earth, there might be some chance of making it resemble something of a hand, although it may not flex, but here, with backward technology, what hand did she have left? heal it? the only thing that would happen would be to wrap it in a cloth to slow blood loss, and voere up the areas with missing skin.
She attempted to move it, all she got was spasming pain (spain) in response, nothing even twitched.
She fell to her knees, continuing to sob, humbly, shoulders shaking. Her tormenture delighted in it, before walking away, back to the crowd of kids, as if forgetting about her. "Now, let me ask you, will someone come up and kill him?" He gestured back at Dashu. They were back to round one. She had done nothing, nothing but lose a hand. No, she had done less than nothing. Now the kids would never desire to stand up against him.
What was this? She wasn't born smart like her siblings. She never really had bothered to plan ahead the moves. When she was 12, she only did what she did because she was used to acting on whims. But…now she kind of wished she wasn't such a person. She gazed over the crowd, locking eyes with several of them.
A boy stood up, a malicious grin on his face. "I will." Shushu, much too delighted to gain attention, trotted forward, grabbing the knife from Liao lusheng's hand to pierce into Dashu's stomach. Dashu gazed at him in betrayal. "Laoshu..you…" before fading away in death. Shushu wiped off his hands in self gratification, bowing deeply. "My lord, any other commands?"
Liao Lusheng grinned in triumph. "It seems, you have understood, now, I must ask, have the rest of you?" His eyes swept over the crowd. The other kids instantly bowed low. "Please spare us!"
"Good, here," he pulled Shushu over to the broth beside her, ladling out some soup. "Take a taste, I'm sure your leader only made it more flavorful."
Shushu took it gladly, tasting it, "Very good! Very good indeed!" He ate it up excitedly.
"Heh, well, that is all for me today, the rest, I will pass over to An Guanyu here, who will divide you to your individual training areas, where you shall get your food and numbers." He turned to leave. "Oh, right." He turned back around again, "You," he commanded a guard, "Bring him to my quarters," he gestured towards Tongku, "He will be my…personal project."
No one was jealous of her selection, as she was dragged away.
She was obviously the leader of several of the children, it wouldn't do them any good to keep her around to perhaps riot later, or interfere with brainwashing. And killing her would make her a martyr. And, he also…had yet to fully quell his fury, it would be a shame to let her go too easily, why not play around a little? All the guards, who knew his perverted fetishes, almost felt pity for her. But rather her than them; they didn't hesitate, grabbing her by the shoulder, and taking her to his chambers.
There was a special corner in his room, well, sort of an indented part of the wall, where it fed back like a walk-in closet, but only had a curtain to separate it from the main room. It was in this indention, filled with dried blood that she was dragged, locking her up to the wall in the back. There was another man locked up by her side, a few years older, bleeding helplessly from several areas, and groaning lightly in pain.
She didn't bother trying to talk, instead leaning against the wall, thinking. Time passed. Time passed even if one did nothing, but she was a master of surviving long periods of time doing nothing, doing nothing but being in pain.
She looked over at her gnarled hand, trying to move her fingers again, unsuccessfully. Hopefully he wrapped it up soon, or she might just die from infection or bleeding. At least it had been sterilized in the broth.
—
"I heard you took that kid." Miao Ruyang sat down beside him. Everyone in this district had to get their food from the same place. Until his punishment was over, Liao Lusheng was no exception, to his annoyance. He tore some meat off a rib.
"Eh? What kid? You mean the wild one that likes to play boss?"
"Yes," Miao's silver ring earrings glistening, pushing his curly hair from his face. "I quite liked him, don't kill him, if you can, he could be quite useful."
"Oh? You think they'll use him for more than a one time raid?" Liao Lusheng couldn't be bothered to pay much attention to the conversation, the food a far more interesting subject. He finished sucking and licking his rib clean, grabbing another.
"Well, he has potential, and when I tested his veins before, I saw that he might be able to actually practice martial arts."
"Say what?" Liao Lusheng was suddenly interested, wiping off his mouth with his hand, licking each finger after, "You saying he can practice?" He picked up another rib.
"Yes, however, he isn't very young, and is quite rebellious, so it may be impossible to actually have him join our cult loyally."
"Heh." Liao Lusheng made a sleazy expression, "He was an orphan beggar before, anything is better than living off the streets. Plus," he smirked, licking this rib clean as well, "I am rather good at 'taming' aren't I?"
Miao Ruyang pointed at his hand, "And you are going to ignore that then?"
Liao lusheng just smirked, picking up a third rib, "I'll admit he's clever, but he's also reckless and doesn't plan ahead or hide his intentions overly well, merely reacts in the moment. Someone like that, poses no danger to me."
Miao Ruyang nodded, "The usual brainwashing methods should work, just…let me in on the training portion later." Before finally getting up and scooting away. He could stand most dirty things but, this guy was just…too gross at eating, no wonder he sat alone…It wasn't by choice.
Liao Lusheng ignored him, finishing his meal on his own.
—
When Liao Lusheng visited her finally, perhaps at nightfall, she couldn't tell, she was expecting him to torture her. Instead, he got around messing with the guy next to her, and when he was done, laid down to rest. She didn't brother attempting to keep him awake. The guy next to her was sobbing loudly, and that wasn't disturbing him in the least.
The one next to her had died come morning, and was carried out, at Liao lusheng's distasteful order, a few days later a new one brought in, and thus a similar situation repeated itself, where he slowly killed off another one, right beside her. But he didn't touch her.
Several days passed like that.
***
Straw poked into you when you laid on it, like needles, and when you woke up, if you have any skin touching it, it can often break out in rash or have cuts.
Flat stone, cement and tile was cold when you laid on it, no matter how long you laid there, it would always carry in it a heavy coldness, that would invade your muscles and leave you sore the next morning.
Rocky ground would stab into you when you laid on it, the longer you laid there, the deeper the stab would feel until one could feel bruised the next day as they walked around.
Dirt would feel comfortable when laid upon it, but the next day you would wake up with a sore throat, and your body might feel itchy.
Wood would feel comfortable too when you laid on it, but one wrong move in the night would stab a sprinter up any part of your body, even with clothing protecting it at times.
Grass felt good to lay upon, but the next morning you woke up soaked through from the dew.
These were all things she had learned about since she had come to this world. Things she never thought she would ever know. She had known a lot of suffering on earth, but she had always had running water, toilets, and a warm, cozy bed to lay in at night. Yes, she never thought she would have a day where she thought her cold, thin, hard, plastic-covered hospital bed was cozy, but it came quickly after entering this strange world.
Now, she knew that all those previous ways to sleep were much better than her current one, hands bound at shoulder level, back against the cold rock wall, legs uncomfortable whether she stretched them out or not, unable to stand or lay down. Her back ached, her wrists ached and were swollen, her legs spiked with pain at random intervals, and her stomach was so empty, she began to wish it would groan with hunger again. Yes, how good it was to be so full you could feel hunger. She now just felt tired, empty, helpless.
She got a sponge of wine in the morning and at night, and that was all to get her through. She felt she might actually die here, in a poorly lit room, underground, behind a silk curtain, bound to the wall, even though she knew it wasn't true. But she was good at waiting, waiting in silence for someone to see her, look at her, because she knew no one had time to pay attention to her unless she actually had a problem. Yes, that was her past life, sick in bed, endlessly. Hoping in a way for a spike in her condition so that someone would pay attention to her, so that she wouldn't feel so alone. Everyone had jobs to do and lives to live outside after all, who had time to spend with her? Who could she bother from amidst their busy life?
She had always wished her presence would bring someone joy, so that if she called them to hang out with her, she wouldn't have to feel guilty for selfishly desiring to hang out with them.
She had one friend like that, but even her friend had too much of a life to live outside, to really want to spend it in a smelly hospital room with drab decoration, nor refreshments and no entertainments or toys.
So when Liao Lusheng finally came to her, to grab her bowed head with his long fingers, pulling her up to look at him, she just smiled, a tear falling down one side of her face. "Please, if you finally want to do something with me, then do it, just please don't leave me again, I can't bear it." she begged. Until then, he had ignored her, even when she called out, against her normal habit, but this time, now that he had finally decided to focus on her for his project, she had his full, undivided attention. She soaked it up like a dry sponge, as if she could never get enough.
He tilted his head a little, before reaching up, to undo the chains from her arms. She let them fall, along with another tear, coming closer to him, "Is that a yes?"
He smiled, wrapping her in an embrace, his thin arms tightly fitting around her.
She cried into his robe, holding onto him. "Don't leave me."
"There, there," he coaxed gently, "Just don't betray me, obey all my commands, and I won't leave you, yes? Follow what I have to say, yes?"
She didn't care. Brainwashing? if that's what they wanted, so be it. In this world, she was fine with being brainwashed. Maybe, this was a punishment from the heavens for her, or, maybe it was a relief, that she would no longer have to live this life with a sound mind.
Liao Lusheng was surprised, he hadn't even really started trying to tame her, only neglected her for a few days, and yet the little wild thing had gotten incredibly obedient to him. In fact, it almost seemed they had a small obsession with him, perhaps it was due to being locked up, with no one to see except him or another victim.
But he didn't trust her, he didn't trust anyone. Not even the most brainwashed servants unless they had deadened eyes without desires. The boy's eyes were filled on the other hand, filled with desires….desires for…him.
He began training the boy, using the usual drugs, to drill into her absolute loyalty, but time after time, torture or hallucination, the boy remained unmoved, why? because her loyalty remained to Liao Lusheng, and Liao Lusheng only. In fact, it only got more obsessive.
"You! How many times must I drill into you, treat the superiors out there with respect!" He snarled, dragging her by the hair, throwing her against the wall, she let herself hit it, sliding down, to slouch humbly before him. "Yes, yes, my lord, I will do it, if it makes you happy…"
"Tch," he snarled. This wasn't it, what kind of member of the blood cult was this?!
She came forward, grabbing his feet humbly, peering upward, "You, you'll forgive me? Please, please don't hold it against me!" She wined.
This vicious little beast was quite wild, despite her current demure appearance, outside she had just assaulted another member of the blood cult, directly stabbing him to death, multiple times, after he had happened to snicker at Liao Lusheng's white hair.
Liao Lusheng had already guessed she might be a lunatic, but who knew it was really true? He
sighed, "Stand up," he was a lunatic too after all, he smiled, as she came up, he patted her shoulder, pulling her into an embrace, "Look, this lord will never hold such things against you for long, but," he would mistreat her, grabbing her hair, throwing her around, cutting a new scar on her, or tying her to the wall, but she bore all these like it were nothing but a joy, not fighting back, as if hoping to please him, nothing so far had worked to brainwash her so…his lips slowly formed a wider smile, why should he train her that way anyway? Since she didn't want to be loyal to the cult, but only him, why not let her be that way? Wasn't he just being considerate of his trainee? "Little one," he spoke in her ear, "You must remember, my word is law, from now on, if I tell you to do something, you do it, if I say nothing, you do nothing, yes?"
"Ok, ok." she whined obediently.
"That's my little one." He rubbed the back of her neck. It seems, he could hand her over to Miao Ruyang for further training then? He chuckled, lightly, to himself.
***
Almost ten years had passed since she had entered this world. Life hadn't been particularly easy for her, but perhaps because it differed so much from her previous one, several memories from long ago still haunted her mind. Although, she had finally almost reached adulthood in this world, in her previous world, she would be driving a car, but wouldn't yet even be an adult drinking age, nor could go out and buy a gun or get tattoos. But here, well, it was hard to get a gun, and tattoos and drinking were available since she had joined, so there wasn't going to be much of a loss two years later. And since there were no cars, it didn't matter much that she was turning 16.
As for what she suffered, the hypnotic drugs were hardly a problem, she'd spent most of her past life drugged, she knew how to fight for cognition despite being drugged. The living conditions were also superior to what she had been through, surviving on the dirt, feces filled streets.
The main problem was judging her captor's moods. After all, if she didn't judge them well, she might end up dead like many others. However, she had still found a good way to survive in this new place. She had already accepted the life of a blood cult member, and began to practice their evil martial arts, which fed off the misery of others, and would often cause hallucinations or sporadic pain for herself, threatening to drive her mad. Luckily, she ended up having a bit of talent for these evil martial arts, and had quickly grown to be very strong, to the point that Liao Lusheng automatically registered her as a member of the blood cult.
In fact, her life was actually rather good after that. She mostly worked alongside Liao Lusheng as he was promoted to the head of all the recruits. Although she remained a little jealous. Other blood members would often go out on missions or campaigns or for infiltrating. Even Shushu had at one point gained so much notoriety for his loyalty and ability that he had actually been transferred out of the white units, and into a yellow, before mostly leaving her radar, due to leaving the recruitment district.
The recruitment district was mostly made up of oranges and three reds, Liao Lusheng and Miao Ruyang were two of them. Miao Ruyang's favorite apprentice was the third, as for the one that used to work with Ruyang before Liao Lusheng, he…left their district excitedly the moment he could.
As for the honor levels, they were, black, purple, red, orange, yellow, white, in descending order. Each member was assigned a color depending on how they were promoted.
Red members were like the elders/general managers, orange members were like the supervisors, yellow members like the captains, and white were the untalented grunts. As for purple and black, they were those actually in charge of the blood cult, with unquestionable authority, the few black members weren't even known to the lower members, and they were only taught to memorize their plaques.
She held a white band. This wasn't because her abilities were lacking, but her master didn't want to transfer her elsewhere, preferring to keep her at his side as an assistant, and Miao Ruyang, who had obsessively taught her all his skills had already lost ownership of her over a mahjong game.
She didn't care too much about it. She already lived rather comfortably, with food to eat, work to do, and entertainment in her free time. Even a company that never got boring to be around, as her boss also never neglected his attentions towards her or torturing others. It was rather nice. She even considered asking him for marriage, but wasn't sure how to bring it up, since, until then, they still hadn't discovered her gender, especially after Miao Ruyang taught her disguise arts, by 12, when she began to develop. However, coming onto 16, it was becoming increasingly difficult to hide anymore.
She was considering giving them up, but, it was definitely a choice she was regretful to take part in, especially with her limited skills. Although she had trained under the Skinner, an orange member, for a while, and had learnt his grafting techniques, she was still a little frightened to do so on herself. She also did enjoy Liao Lusheng's company quite a bit.
But, things eventually came to a head, where she had to make a choice, her chest was just in far too much pain.
So it came about, while following Liao Lusheng at work one day, she heard light screams and protests, from the room they were approaching. Liao Lusheng didn't even flinch, they were visiting the orange member in charge of the training of female whites, and opening the door, they witnessed a terrible sight. The man, seeing them enter, finished, and threw her to the ground. She was bleeding from several areas, dirty, dripping with fluids, and looked distraught, sobbing helplessly.
Liao Lusheng didn't even give her a glance, but it took Tongku a long moment to break her eyes away. The girl was never referenced, not even with a glance, their entire talk long, Tongku kept her in her peripheral, but the girl didn't even try to escape, just curling up in a corner. One of the orange's subordinates came during the discussion, took the girl around the corner, where she heard a similar instance to what had recently transpired in this room, transpire right outside it, the girl eventually gave up protesting, when they passed by her again later, Tongku glanced over to see her laying down, legs not fully closed, not even bothering to cover anything, eyes dead.
She didn't want to see what happened to her later.
She had witnessed similar instances multiple times, but this was the closest she'd been to one, so close, doing nothing, and yet, she hated to be called a part of it.
Her master smirked, having seen her attentions. "What? You want some? Heh." She noticed her master hadn't touched a lot of women, seeming to be far more turned on by making others bleed. "How about this, I'll take you to a place tonight."
He took her to where she didn't wish to go. This time, there were some trained, some virgins, she didn't dare to look at any of them. He took a well-used lady, she was allowed to watch. She saw what he did to that woman. The woman was experienced, but not with him. She listened to the screaming silently, watching blood flow out of the woman's body, watched as he climaxed while the woman was on the brink of death, until everything fell silent, he cast the limp, cooling body aside, she walked forward, flicking a cloth over the woman's face.
"Don't look at it, master," she commented, pulling him up. She was now already as tall as him, she wondered if she would surpass his height soon.
He smiled. She knew he hated dead bodies, despite how many he made.
"You don't want to have one too?"
She shook her head. "No need."
"Hmmm…" He considered, gazing at her face, then, down at her body. "You really are quite feminine looking, aren't you," even with good disguise tricks on her face and neck, and several scars, it was hard to hide what she was born with already, and hard to breathe from how heavily she bound them. "And getting fat on the stomach too," he chuckled, walking past. To hide her binding, she had bound her waist too, keeping them all the same width.
They were silent on the way back, but when they finally came to his room, where he sat down to write down some documents, after passing her feet back and forth more times than usual, he finally snapped.
"What is it, Tongku!" She had told him her name eventually and he had quite liked it.
"Master," she finally came forward, kneeling, hands clasped in front, "Could this servant request punishment."
"Oh?" he glanced up curiously, "What for?"
She bit her teeth, bending down. "This servant…" Unable to make eye contact. "Has had…bad thoughts about.." She paused again, "Master." Now that was out, she just shook slightly, before continuing quickly, "Especially just then, the servant is unable to hold back, requests to go to the deep pits for training and punishment."
She paused, waiting for a response. It was the quickest excuse she could come up with, and she did quite like his style and how he looked, also his skinny frame was nice, but…yes, she had definitely improved on acting already. And this was the best reason that hopefully wouldn't get her questioned or directly killed.
But he didn't respond for a long time. Making her sweat before he finally just said, quietly, "...alright, that makes sense, go for punishment." It was too quiet, too demure. She was expecting an explosion, or rage, or for him to at least laugh atrociously, but instead, she just got this? She was confused. She glanced up, to see him making a strange, somewhat unnerved, almost grossed out face, and quickly strode out.