Artes antiguas y maravillosas

Capítulo 12

9)

The boy she loved committed suicide after being rejected, and everyone assumed my second sister had gone into hiding—a plausible assumption. But the reality was quite different.

That night, when Shuang Dehui fell from the building, my second sister was terrified and screamed, trying to rush forward to catch him. She never considered that her frail arms were no match for such a heavy weight. But she had only one thought in her mind: she loved Shuang Dehui, it was that simple, so she had to do what she felt she should do, even if it meant dying with him, she would do it willingly.

She cried out loudly, screaming helplessly, and stumbled forward, but suddenly several hands reached out from behind and grabbed her delicate arms: "Little girl, what are you shouting about?"

It was that group of thugs returning home late at night. They had already walked past, but were drawn back by her desperate cries. They hurriedly pulled my second sister's arms away, their lewd gazes moving from her face to her chest: "Hey, little girl, who bullied you? Tell us and we'll take care of him for you."

Muttering obscenities, the thugs swarmed around my second sister. The lone girl walking alone late at night was their long-awaited prey. They approached her with their alcohol-reeking faces, their sticky fingers shamelessly twisting her cheeks: "Such a pretty girl, why are you out alone? Let us men keep you company. Don't hide, if you wanted to hide, you wouldn't be waiting for us here, would you?"

My second sister struggled desperately, watching helplessly as Shuang Dehui's body plummeted to the ground. The dull thud startled the thugs: "Hey, who the hell is throwing trash downstairs in the middle of the night? What if someone gets hit? Hurry up, get out of here! Getting hit by trash is no joke!" They muttered incoherently as they forcibly dragged my second sister into the darkness.

My second sister cried out loudly. Falling into the hands of these thugs was worse than death. But the thugs covered her mouth with their filthy hands. She kicked and struggled, and one of her shoes fell off. One of the thugs took advantage of the situation, bent down, lifted one of my second sister's legs, and mischievously tickled the sole of her foot with his dirty hand: "Hehe, this pretty little girl isn't even wearing socks. Looks like she's been waiting for us men for a long time." The other thugs also gathered around, laughing and carrying my second sister forward.

My second sister's mouth was gagged, preventing her from crying out, leaving her helpless as these thugs did as they pleased. They abducted my second sister to a secret hideout. This was the home of one of the thugs; his parents worked in another city, and he lived alone in the large three-bedroom house. Usually, this was where this small gang would meet, playing cards, drinking, and gambling. When they got tired, they would lie down on the floor, and when they woke up, they would go out to rob or steal.

My second sister was imprisoned by them.

This gang of thugs consisted of seven people. Their leader was the son of the then Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee of Taizhou City. With powerful connections and influence, they committed numerous crimes, yet no one dared to intervene. Initially, they only engaged in theft, robbery, and fighting. However, their evil deeds and mentality gradually spiraled out of control, eventually escalating to kidnapping, abduction, and murder. My second sister was not the first unfortunate girl they kidnapped. Before her, two other girls had been abused by this gang of thugs. One girl suffered a mental breakdown after being abused, and the other fared even worse, being hit and killed by a truck on her way to escape.

What awaits my second sister is an extremely tragic and terrible fate.

To prevent my second sister from escaping, they tied her hands behind her back with hemp rope, not even allowing her to loosen the rope while sleeping. If they went out to do bad things together, they would tie her to a chair with another rope and gag her with a dirty towel to prevent her from calling for help.

And so, my second sister was imprisoned in this terrible den of iniquity for two weeks, suffering torture and abuse. More than once, she even gave up the courage to live, but out of the instinct to survive, she still survived, but in the most humble and humiliating state.

Two weeks later, this gang of thugs went out to commit crimes again under the cover of darkness. They stopped a couple in an alley, stabbed the young man to death with a triangular knife, and then gang-raped the young woman. They then returned home laughing and joking, completely unconcerned. They bought two cases of beer, some cold dishes such as pig's trotters, pickled vegetables, and beef tendons with the stolen money at the convenience store downstairs, and went back to their room to eat and drink.

While they ate and drank, they pondered new ways to abuse my second sister. These beasts could come up with some despicable and evil ways to abuse my second sister almost every day. The evil of those methods was so despicable that even the most vile and perverted criminals would be ashamed of them.

That day, they devised a new and even more vicious method to torture my second sister. They locked the bedroom door, drew the curtains, turned off the lights, and moved all the coffee chairs and sofas from the living room into the bedroom. Then they forced my second sister to stand in the middle of the empty, dark room, her hands tied behind her back, while they themselves stood against the wall. They counted "one, two, three," and together blindfolded themselves with a black cloth. Then they began to reach out and grope for my second sister. Whoever caught her first would then abuse her, and then the game would begin again. The rule of the game was that the blindfold could not be removed during the groping and abuse.

My second sister's hands were tied behind her back, and she could only endure the humiliation and tears as she futilely tried to escape. The group of thugs laughed gleefully, grabbing wildly with their hands in the dark, occasionally bumping into each other. The constant thumping excited them. Finally, one of them reached out and touched an arm, and he immediately screamed:

"Haha, I caught her! You think I can't do anything to you just because you're carrying an iron pot? Let me tell you, I'm not falling for that!"

Several other guys stumbled over at the sound, trying to snatch their prey from his grasp. But this guy wasn't about to give up. He turned around, shoving the guys behind him aside with his rear, and forcefully pulled the arm into his arms. "Eh?" The guy chuckled wickedly. "Why is the little girl squatting down? Isn't it perfect that you're squatting down?" With that, he forcefully pressed the person in his arms to the ground, and then, with a lewd grin, pounced on her.

After the last few strange laughs, the creature suddenly let out a scream, followed by a brief silence, and then a grating, grating chewing sound.

The other guys were confused: "What the hell are you doing? Why are you eating? If you're going to eat, fine, but why are you making such a racket?" They cursed angrily as they reached out, groping around. Suddenly, one of them tripped over something lying on the ground, falling to the ground and muttering, "Who is it? You don't even look where you're supposed to be lying down! Is this a place for you to lie?" His hand reached forward, and he exclaimed in bewilderment:

"Who the hell put this iron pot from the kitchen here? It's hurting my toes."

After the guy's shout, he quickly fell silent, and then the ear-piercing chewing sound rang out again.

One of the men was more cautious. He noticed that two of his accomplices had inexplicably gone silent, and with the strange, grating chewing sounds, a thick, bloody smell had filled the room. He suddenly felt an inexplicable fear, his legs trembled, and he stood there, too afraid to go any further.

Suddenly, a hand reached out from the darkness and pressed it against the blindfold over his eyes. The man touched the hand in surprise and muttered, "Whose paw is this? How can it be so small? And it's sticky and hairy?" Just as he was about to examine it more closely by touch, something suddenly darted up and wrapped two thin arms around his neck, hanging from his body.

The man was terrified beyond measure. He suddenly ripped off his blindfold, looked closely, and let out a horrifying scream.

That scream was the beginning; immediately afterward, screams echoed from the closed door.

An hour later, people who had been alerted rushed to the scene and forced open the door, entering a room littered with blood. They found numerous fragmented body parts, some bearing clear teeth marks.

Apart from that, there was no one in the tightly closed room, neither a living person nor a completely dead one.

10)

My second sister has no recollection of how she escaped that blood-soaked den of iniquity. Undoubtedly, the terrifying experience exceeded her mental capacity, triggering her psychological defense mechanisms, and thus her subconscious chose to forget.

She couldn't remember anything, and didn't even know that she was involved in this mysterious murder case.

However, from then on, she never dared to leave her home again. No matter how cruelly Sister Zhu abused her, she could only silently endure and shed endless tears, finally losing all courage to escape or resist. Although Sister Zhu's abuse was cruel and evil, the outside environment was equally filled with terror and murderous intent. This was the lesson she learned from this incident, and it was certain that this was also Sister Zhu's goal. She wanted my second sister to think this way so that she could do whatever she wanted.

In fact, Sister Zhu had been waiting for my second sister to come back; she needed someone to take care of her.

She is pregnant.

Strangely, neither my mother nor my second sister had ever seen the man who got Zhu Jie pregnant, nor had they ever heard Zhu Jie mention him. There was no indication that such a man actually existed, yet Zhu Jie's belly grew uncontrollably large.

In fact, ever since my father was isolated, none of his former subordinates ever visited our home again. Occasionally, some former fellow villagers would come to visit my mother, and Sister Zhu, with a seemingly honest face, would lead them to my mother's bedside and change the sheets in front of the guests. The filth left on the sheets disgusted the guests, and they never dared to come to our house again. In this way, Sister Zhu used her despicable methods to isolate my second sister and mother from the outside world and put them under her control.

In other words, no guests ever visited our home again. Our family, isolated from the world, was subjected to Sister Zhu's humiliation. If she had a man, there would be no reason not to bring him along, but the truth is, no man ever came to see her. And she, apart from those few times when she went to the school to coerce my second sister, was unwilling to go out at all.

Sister Zhu's belly seemed to have grown out of nowhere, which defied common sense.

As Zhu Jie's belly grew larger, her temper became even more volatile. Every day, she would lie in our sunny bedroom, constantly ordering my second sister around to do things for her—bringing her tea, pouring water, massaging her feet, or rubbing her back. If my second sister was even slightly slow, she would be beaten severely.

The second sister, who had been enslaved and abused by Sister Zhu since childhood, had lost the instinct to resist in her subconscious and had completely become Sister Zhu's slave. She gave up her studies and never went to school again. She abandoned her mother who was paralyzed in bed every day and obeyed Sister Zhu's orders like a robot, cooking and washing for her, massaging her back and feet, without any awareness or desire to resist.

On a sweltering summer night, Sister Zhu had laid out a straw mat to sleep on in the living room. My second sister knelt beside her, fanning her. Although there was an electric fan at home, Sister Zhu complained that the air from it was too harsh and insisted that my second sister fan her. One time, for some reason, Sister Zhu was in a particularly good mood. As my second sister was fanning her, she suddenly asked, "Guess what the baby in your belly is, a boy or a girl?"

My second sister didn't dare to utter a sound, afraid that saying the wrong thing would bring another beating. Sister Zhu, however, didn't want to hear her answer at all. She chuckled to herself and said, "Whether my baby is a boy or a girl, she will definitely come back to find you in thirty years. You He family members better remember this: the feud between my family and your family will last for generations!"

My mother, lying in her hospital bed, heard her say those words clearly. For countless days, she had watched her beloved daughter being humiliated before her very eyes, and as a mother, all she could do was desperately plead; she was powerless to help her daughter escape her misery. Even the slightest hint of displeasure on her face would result in a slap from Sister Zhu, followed by increasingly severe punishment and torment of my second sister. Under the tyranny of this demon, my mother's bleeding heart had long since died. She had only one hope: that one day she could stand up and beat this wicked nanny who had usurped her place, kicking her out of the house.

The only thing she could do for her family now was to listen carefully and remember every word Sister Zhu said. When she heard Sister Zhu say that she had been enemies with the He family for generations, she was shocked.

Could it be that the He family had offended this woman surnamed Zhu in the past, and she had come to seek revenge? If that were the case, judging from the woman's resentful expression, it seemed that things might really be as she said, and that the same calamity would befall the He family again thirty years later.

But how exactly did the He family offend Sister Zhu to the point that this woman would abuse them in such a cruel way? What kind of deep-seated resentment could have stirred up such evil and viciousness?

As the days passed, Sister Zhu's fetal movements grew stronger and stronger. The fetus was a terrifying demon, writhing and tugging at her intestines inside. The intense pain turned her face ashen, her teeth clenched, and when she could no longer bear it, she screamed desperately. Her screams were so horrifying that my second sister cowered in a corner, too afraid to utter a sound, and even my mother felt a chill run down her spine.

Finally, October, her due date, was fast approaching. Suddenly, Sister Zhu shut herself off. She moved into the large, sunny room, locked the door from the inside, and had my second sister use an axe to cut a hole in the bottom of the door. My second sister prepared her food and water daily and brought them in through that hole. Sister Zhu hung a thick curtain on the inside of the doorway. My second sister couldn't see what she was doing inside, nor dared to ask.

When my mother discovered that Sister Zhu had locked herself in her room, she was overjoyed. This was their chance to escape her clutches. She called my second sister over and instructed her to fetch the neighbors. However, my second sister dared not go out, because Sister Zhu had given orders to break her legs if she dared to leave.

My mother got anxious and muttered angrily to my second sister, "You brat, she's just a nanny, what right does she have to bully you? Just call someone to tell everyone what happened, and that woman will be fired immediately. What are you afraid of?"

My second sister retreated step by step. She dared not. Cowardice had been ingrained in her bones. Fear of Sister Zhu had become her instinct. Perhaps she would never have the courage to resist Sister Zhu's cruelty in her entire life.

My mother, exasperated, desperately tried to persuade my second sister. The more she failed, the more anxious she became. Several days passed like this. Suddenly, a strange, infantile laugh came from the room where my sister Zhu was staying. Instantly, my mother turned ashen-faced with horror. Who had ever heard of a newborn baby not crying but instead letting out a sinister laugh? How could such a bizarre thing happen in the world?

But it was indeed the laughter of a baby—insidious, evil, full of cruelty and violence. My second sister, terrified, huddled in my mother's bed, trembling as she listened to the baby's crawling sounds in the room. My mother's fear was even stronger, but out of a loving mother's instinct, she stretched out her malnourished, muscle-atrophied arms and tightly embraced her daughter.

Feeling the long-lost care of her mother's love, my second sister began to sob uncontrollably, desperately trying to burrow into my mother's arms. My mother sat up... and to her utter disbelief, she discovered that she could move again.

Is this merely the power of maternal love?

Slowly setting my second sister aside, my mother tried to lift her leg. The joint, which had been stiff for a year, actually made a cracking sound. Although her muscles and bones ached and she felt weak, she truly found that she had regained her ability to move.

Once my mother was able to walk, the first thing she did was pick up an axe and forcefully chop open the door to the room where the Zhu family had hidden. As she chopped at the door, she could hear the baby's mocking laughter from inside, as if it were maliciously mocking her. My mother stopped, caught her breath, and then continued chopping with gritted teeth.

She wanted to break down this door and kill the woman in the room along with her newborn child, even if it meant going to jail or being executed. My mother was willing to do it all to avenge her daughter, who had been abused, tortured, and left unrecognizable and on the verge of collapse!

It took her a full twenty minutes to break down the door. Then, staring blankly at the empty room, she collapsed to the floor.

The windows were tightly shut, and the walls were covered in filth. Neither Sister Zhu nor the baby who had made the strange laugh were there. The room was empty, except for piles of foul-smelling, filthy excrement.

Sister Zhu and her baby just disappeared mysteriously.

The mother could only accept one thing: that everything that had happened was unreal, a nightmare.

My mother had to think this way, otherwise she would have to admit that she had lost her mind.

Chapter Five: The Horrifying Absorption

1)

There weren't many people in the swimming pool. Besides the two women, the most eye-catching person was an obese middle-aged man with a large belly, a buzz cut, and pale, white skin. Beside him was a woman in a bikini, who remained motionless under a parasol, while the buzz-cut man kept leaning forward, peering in their direction.

Lin Hong, slightly nervous, wrapped her towel tighter around herself and put on her sunglasses. To be honest, her and Qin Fangcheng's presence here at this time was indeed a bit conspicuous; the swimming pool was too deserted at this hour, no wonder the crew-cut man kept glancing in their direction. Under the cover of her sunglasses, Lin Hong casually observed the couple, feeling that the woman beside the crew-cut man looked somewhat familiar, but the distance was too great to discern whether she was someone she knew.

She and Qin Fangcheng had gone swimming alone before, and besides swimming pools, they had also gone for nighttime swims in reservoirs far from the city. But there was a difference between then and now. Back then, she was free and had the right to do whatever she liked. Now, she is He Ming's wife.

It's not that she can't socialize with her old friends now that she's married; that doesn't make sense. The problem is the current situation. He Ming's condition hasn't improved, and he needs constant care, yet she's secretly going swimming with Qin Fangcheng for fun. It's a bit awkward. Wearing sunglasses isn't to avoid being recognized; choosing this afternoon, which isn't a day off, and this swimming pool far from home, already avoids the embarrassment of running into acquaintances.

Therefore, Lin Hong wore sunglasses simply to hide her true feelings; she was unwilling to face herself.

She glanced at her own body with a hint of pity. She had become noticeably fuller after marriage, her skin even whiter and smoother, and a power seemed to be swelling within her. Qin Fangcheng, sitting beside her, remained unchanged. He was still as strong as ever, his thighs covered in dark hair, making him look like a gorilla that hadn't fully evolved. He was currently slurping down a drink through a straw, the liquid making gurgling sounds as it passed down his esophagus. For some reason, Lin Hong thought of the old Mr. Wang, whose brain had been mysteriously drained, a story He Ming had told her about, and this association made her inexplicably uncomfortable.

She knew why she had come here, why she had looked at Qin Fangcheng's body hair, and why she had listened to his strange sucking sounds. Because she was afraid.

The things her husband told her made her uneasy.

Thirty years ago, before He Ming was born, the He family hired a nanny named Sister Zhu. She was said to be a beautiful country girl who arrived with a terrifying, monstrous turtle. Later, this girl used evil methods to control the He family, tormenting, humiliating, and abusing them, plunging the He mother and daughter into a nightmare. Then one day, she mysteriously disappeared into a locked room, leaving behind a vicious curse, claiming she would return in thirty years.

Thirty years later, He Ming has become a young tycoon in the business world, while He Zhenggang has retired and returned to his hometown with a nanny named Little Pig. Little Pig has some kind of blood relationship with Sister Zhu from thirty years ago. Most terrifyingly, like Sister Zhu, she also carries a strange, big-headed turtle with her.

It's easy to imagine the panic that the arrival of the pig caused in the He family.

However, He Zhenggang insisted on making Xiaozhu the He family's nanny. This was not because He Zhenggang did not learn from Sister Zhu's lesson, but because he simply did not acknowledge that such a thing had ever happened. This man with an iron will only accepted memories that were beneficial to him, and dismissed everything else as nonsense.

Later, He Ming told Lin Hong how the He family had worked together to harass, humiliate, and abuse the little pig in order to drive her out of the house. The methods they used were despicable and shameless, almost crossing the line of basic human decency. Such rogue and shameless behavior would offend anyone's ears.

The poor little pig was bullied so badly she was practically a weeping mess, hiding in her room crying every day. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and told He Zhenggang she was quitting and going back to her hometown in the suburbs. When He Zhenggang asked her why, she wouldn't say, just hanging her head and wiping away tears, looking utterly pitiful. But the He family showed her no sympathy; instead, they felt a shameless, gloating pleasure. In their hearts, they all considered her Sister Zhu, which was why they bullied her so unreasonably.

Finally, one night, the little pig could no longer bear the humiliation and ridicule, and left in anger.

After the piglet was kicked out of the house, the He family celebrated wildly. That night, He's mother even opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate. He Ming's second sister, He Jing, also excitedly insisted on opening the champagne herself, so He's mother handed her the bottle. He Jing happily shook the sealed champagne bottle vigorously, screaming as she did so. Then, she slapped the bottom of the bottle with her hand, and the resulting gas pressure caused the cap to pop out with a loud bang. The cork flew through the air like a bullet, tracing an arc.

A scream rang out as the bottle stopper struck He's mother in the left eye. Instantly, blood gushed from her left eye.

After He's mother was admitted to the hospital, the hospital proposed a treatment plan. Due to the severity of her injuries, it was necessary to immediately remove her left eyeball. The He family was stunned by this unexpected outcome. He Ming didn't have the courage to sign the consent form. Unexpectedly, He Zhenggang took this opportunity to bring Xiaozhu back to the hospital to stay with and care for He's mother. After Xiaozhu returned, the hospital proposed a more conservative treatment plan. This time, it didn't require removing the eyeball, and in less than half a month, He's mother's vision returned to normal, and she was discharged and returned home. Xiaozhu, naturally, also came back with her.

And from that day on, the He family never mustered the courage to cause trouble for the little pig again.

Life seeks the sunshine, but Lin Hong sensed a dark and dirty force in He Ming's story, which caused her great physical discomfort. After listening to He Ming's story that day, she ran to the bathroom and vomited for a long time, eventually even vomiting up her stomach acid.

The gloomy power had a malevolent, corrosive effect, like slowly flowing poison, eroding her heart.

Even under the sunlight, in places where crowds gather, Lin Hong could still feel the awe-inspiring power emanating from that black force.

Qin Fangcheng was still loudly slurping his drink. How long had he been doing this? What's the capacity of a can of soda? How come he never seems to finish it? Lin Hong got angry, sat up abruptly, and slapped the can of soda out of Qin Fangcheng's hand, yelling, "Slurp, slurp, slurp! You're like a pig, all you do is slurp and slurp endlessly! What did I call you out here for?"

Lin Hong's domineering and unreasonable behavior was clearly beyond Qin Fangcheng's expectations. The beverage can rolled down his body and splashed onto his dark belly. He stared blankly, his hand still holding the beverage can in an awkward position, looking at Lin Hong helplessly.

Lin Hong was also stunned by her own hysteria. Even in front of He Ming, she would never lose her composure like this. How could she behave so rudely in front of Qin Fangcheng? She covered up her confusion with a cold snort and turned her body away from the recliner.

2)

Although her back was to Qin Fangcheng, Lin Hong could tell from her intuition what he was doing. The guy seemed a bit flustered; he raised a hand and slapped his thigh with a loud crack. The hair on his thigh should have swayed wildly, or maybe not—Lin Hong didn't bother to turn around and confirm. She noticed that the chubby, flat-headed man had abandoned his female companion and was swimming towards them.

The fat man swam right up to them, poked his head out of the water, and yelled, "Damn, I was wondering why you looked so familiar. It really is Little Qin!"

Qin Fangcheng craned his neck in surprise, looking at the bald, fat man in the water, as if desperately trying to remember who he was. The fat man, however, nonchalantly flicked his neck, deliberately splashing water on them, and then handed a greasy hand to Qin Fangcheng, asking him to pull him out of the pool: "Little Qin, you really don't recognize me? Take a good look again."

"Chairman Du?" Qin Fangcheng looked at the other person in disbelief. "My God, it really is you! How come I didn't recognize you after looking at you for so long!" As he spoke, he walked to the edge of the pool, reached out and pulled the fat man up, and briefly introduced Lin Hong: "You don't know Chairman Du? He's Chairman Du from Old Zhao's company." But he deliberately didn't introduce Lin Hong to her.

Lin Hong gasped in surprise and quickly sat up to greet the portly man surnamed Du. She had heard Zhao Zhuo mention their company's Chairman Du before; this Chairman Du was a legendary figure in the business world, and even a project managed by one of his department managers was much larger than He Ming's Minghua Company. He Ming had even considered meeting Chairman Du through Zhao Zhuo to lay the foundation for future cooperation. However, too many strange and chaotic things had happened before and after his marriage, so he had put the matter aside. Today's chance encounter presented an opportunity, so Lin Hong dared not delay.

Fatty Du sat down with a chuckle, absentmindedly wiping the water off his face. His eyes quickly swept over Lin Hong's long, slender legs, and he joked, "Little Qin, your company is so big now, of course you won't recognize me."

"No way, that's not true," Qin Fangcheng said, feeling awkward and uneasy at the unexpected encounter. "I'm just trying to make a little money for food thanks to my friends. How can I compare to you, Chairman Du? You're a big international company. My little business still needs your help, Chairman Du, right?"