From the man's furious shouts and lashings, Gu Lili discerned one crucial truth—her husband, Long Yubei, had already discovered she was in the hands of this deranged lunatic, all within such a short time.
He would come for her.
He had to come.
Though her body and soul were ravaged by pain, that single realization became her strongest pillar of hope.
At first, she clenched her teeth in silence, determined not to utter a sound. But when the whip tore into her legs and he began affixing blades to it, the pain intensified tenfold—far beyond what the body could endure. Eventually, she couldn't help but cry out.
The basement echoed with nothing but her tortured screams, piercing and unending.
Before long, her legs were soaked in blood, yet her mind remained agonizingly conscious.
Gu Lili's face turned ghostly pale, cold sweat beading across her brow as her limp body dangled in the air, moments from collapse.
At last, the man tired. His rage spent, he paused.
He raised his eyes, lips curling into a sneer. "Slut."
Gu Lili held her tongue. She had no wish to provoke him further. There was no virtue in defiance if it only brought more suffering. She knew the wisdom in restraint—revenge, after all, was a dish best served cold.
"Throw her back in the cage."
The guards obeyed without hesitation. As her broken body hit the cage floor, a searing jolt of pain wracked through her.
The man and his lackeys left.
Gu Lili shut her eyes. If sleep could numb the agony, she welcomed it.
And, mercifully, sleep came.
She had no sense of how much time had passed when a deafening crash from above jolted her awake.
Gunfire erupted overhead.
Her pulse quickened. Was it him? Had Long Yubei finally arrived?
"Bang!" The basement door burst open. A group of men rushed down in perfect formation—they were Masked Man's own.
He followed closely behind, clearly fleeing to this lower refuge.
Gu Lili remained motionless, feigning unconsciousness.
"Master, what if Long Yubei finds this place?" one of them asked.
"Have you forgotten our most beloved little treasures?" he replied darkly. "If he dares step inside, we'll let him meet them. I didn't want to hurt him—but since this wretched woman matters so much to him, I won't show mercy. In fact, perhaps we should properly entertain her first..."
Their most beloved treasures?
Could it really be... snakes?
It was.
When the Masked Man whistled, a flood of serpents burst through a hidden gate in the wall.
Gu Lili heard the hissing, and her scalp went numb. She dared not open her eyes but could feel the slithering horde drawing closer.
Just then, the basement door crashed open again.
This time, the number of people entering was clearly no match for the firepower of the Masked Man's group.
"Open fire."
"Anyone who does not shoot—will be executed," Tang Qingli's voice commanded.
Faced with the grim authority in that voice, none of the Masked Man's subordinates dared lift their guns. They understood—if they fired, they would never leave alive.
One by one, they dropped to their knees, frozen like statues, begging silently for mercy.
The Masked Man was the first to pull the trigger—yet just before he fired, a bullet shattered the gun from his hand.
Blood spurted from his palm, and in the next instant, he was restrained.
He lifted his head in stunned disbelief—only to see Long Yubei descending the stairs in black, calm and composed, his presence like a blade through smoke.
Just as the Masked Man opened his mouth to summon the serpents, a hand clamped over it—stifling the command before it left his lips, as if someone had foreseen his move.