Crimson Instinct

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*Xin Lei*

We went back, and as soon as we entered the room, Shi Ruiling immediately jumped and hugged Liao Huifang.

"Are you okay, dear?"

Liao Huifang sniffled and nodded.

She patted her head. "Good."

Bro said, "The video is about to end. Let's finish it so that we can analyze it for any clues."

I nodded.

Bro started the video again.

At this time, there was confusion in the base. The men looked startled and said, "Hey, did you hear something?"

"Yes, the sound came from outside."

"I heard a kind of 'thud.'"

"Damn! Did somebody see us!?"

I froze. It instantly made sense to me. 

They were Fu Meili and Fu Jun. It must be them. They had seen these people beating Liao Chuntao. That must be when they fell on the ground.

Then we heard a robotic voice. "Calm down."

It was the boss.

"Go outside and search. They cannot run that far in this forest and the dark."

Some of the men immediately rushed outside while the others were murmuring among themselves. They seemed nervous and anxious.

Then a few minutes later, they returned... carrying Fu Meili with them.

I clenched my fingers into a fist.

Oh no…

They tied her at the same spot where Liao Chuntao was just a few minutes ago. She timidly looked around and started to cry.

"I want to go to mommy and daddy…"

The bastards snickered at her, and I felt my blood boiling in rage.

"Mommy...Daddy…I want Mommy and Daddy…I want to go back home…" 

Fu Meili looked so frightened that her cries could even melt a hard rock. But everybody there...They didn't do anything.

"Sorry, dear, we cannot send you back home." A man said.

"No, I want to go back. Why can't I?"

"Because you have seen something you shouldn't have."

It seemed as if Fu Meili was thinking something, and then she said, "I won't tell anybody, I promise!" 

"We cannot do that, little girl. You have to die." A man laughed.

"Die?"

She tilted her head and seemed quizzical.

"Didn't your Mommy tell you? It is when you go to heaven."

I bit my lip and felt as if I couldn't watch it anymore. My heart was thudding faster and faster. I felt my sweat trickling down past my cheeks because I knew that moment…that fateful moment of her death was coming sooner.

Bai Li and bro had absolutely no expressions on their faces. They were calmly listening to what was happening without much change in their demeanor.

Fu Meili cried even harder.

"Mommy...Daddy…No, I don't want to go there. Take me to Mommy and Daddy!"

Her heart-wrenching cries shook my core. If Fu Ting and Fu Biyu saw this...then they would be scarred for life.

Fu Meili blinked her eyes and looked someone towards the top.

"Uncle, are you the king?"

"Uncle King, I want to go to Mommy and Daddy, please!"

It must be the boss sitting on his bloody throne as if it rules the entire world. I felt the desperate hope in her wet eyes as she pleaded it for help.

"Nobody will help you here." The robotic voice came.

Then a man slowly approached her with a knife in his hand, and Fu Meili trembled in place.

"If you don't send me back to my Mommy and Daddy, then my hero will beat you up!"

Everybody laughed at her, but I felt tears pool in my eyes. She was trying her best to threaten them in her own way.

"It's the truth! One day, my hero will come and beat you all."

I know she was trying to be brave. She looked like she wanted to be courageous in front of them and scare them, but I knew how terrified she felt with the way her shoulders trembled.

That same man laughed loudly. "I will wait for him."

He raised his hand.

"You are a monster. Home... Mommy...Daddy..." She was shaking badly. 

And the moment came...the most dreaded moment that pulled us all in this vicious case. The moment that started it all.

The man swung his hand and slashed her throat in a single strike.

Silence.

I didn't want to watch it. I didn't want to see a young and innocent child killed like that, but I couldn't tear my gaze away. I felt like I needed to know this. I knew the truth, but I felt that I needed to see it with my own eyes - the moment that somebody truly loses his humanity, when one does such irreparable damage that they didn't even deserve to be called beasts.

Even animals, for once, can show mercy to humans and let them go. But these monsters…

My cheeks turned wet and warm as my tears rolled down. 

Didn't his hand tremble even once before slashing her neck? Didn't he feel guilty even for just a moment before he attacked a child for God's sake!

Fu Meili's small lifeless body collapsed on the ground. 

A small child who had to see so much of this world yet, took her last breath just like that. She must have had so many dreams, right? Maybe she wanted to become a doctor, an actress, or an artist or a chef? There were so many endless possibilities. Fu Biyu and Fu Ting, too, would have thought and planned so many things for her future. They would have had so many dreams and aspirations for her.

They would have wanted her to grow into a fine, capable, and independent woman and see that transition happening with their own eyes. They must have wanted to do so much for her. They must have worked hard and saved their money for her education.

So many feelings and desires...

But it all came to nothing in just a moment.

The video then abruptly disturbed, and it ended.

Nobody said anything for a long time. Liao Huifang's condition was just like me, unable to control her sobs.

"Excuse me." Bai Li said, and he got up from his seat. His voice was so cold, hoarse, and detached, but it felt as if he was struggling to keep his anger from exploding. It sounded strained and laced with the urge to take revenge.

I held his hand and got up. I typed. "Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere."

I held his hand, and we stepped out of the room. We said nothing while we kept walking in the empty corridor. Only the sound of our footsteps could be heard.

"You know, Xin Lei?" He said after a long stretch of silence.

I didn't type or sign anything as I simply waited for him to speak.

"For the first time in my life, I feel fortunate that I cannot see."

My eyelashes trembled a bit.

"Just hearing their cries and screams made me feel...I don't know...Anger is a very small word. It doesn't nearly justify my bloodthirst to get my hands on those bastards. If I had seen them taking their last breaths, if I had watched their lives slipping out with my own eyes, I would have broken everything in that room."

I sobbed.

"Don't cry, Xin Lei. Everybody who died...they are not pitiful. Every one of them was fighting their own battles in their life. They had their own weaknesses that hindered them from living a normal life. But they were...dealing with it. They didn't give up. They were strong. Don't shed tears. Right now, all they need is only justice."

I pressed my hand and intertwined my fingers against his.

I glanced up at him and smiled amongst my falling tears. I typed. "You said not to shed tears, but you are crying, Bai Li."

He stopped.

I watched his eyes turn a little red. They glistened with the same tears as mine. I saw the trail of those tears sliding down his cheeks, just like how mine were.

"I am not crying. Something went inside my eyes."

I laughed with a blurry gaze, but then I couldn't anymore.

Bai Li turned to face me. He slowly rested his head on my shoulder. He said nothing, but I felt his warm tears on my neck. He pulled me and wrapped his hands around my waist. I raised my hands and hung around his back.

Then I heard them—his soft sobs. I trembled and hugged him tighter. I burst into tears, and I finally broke down in his embrace. We stood like that for a long time.

"Xin Lei. I want to kill them. I want to kill every one of them with my own hands. I want to feel their blood. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and blood for blood. They will pay back every drop of the blood that all those innocent people shed with their own. I will make them. They like to give a slow and painful death. I will show them what that death actually feels like."

I nodded.

"Fu Meili said that one day her hero would come and beat them all."

I said nothing.

"I will be that hero for her, Xin Lei. Her hero couldn't save her from dying, but her hero will definitely give her justice."