Lima syndrome

The basement was cold and damp, and even the air was filled with an unknown smell. Bai Zhiyan didn't dare to think about how many people he had killed here. He was only afraid that he would become one of the dead souls here.

He couldn't tell the difference between day and night, and all he could see was darkness. In the chaos, his senses were infinitely magnified. He could hear the faucet dripping slowly, and the servants walking back and forth upstairs, but no one could hear his cries for help.

As time passed, Bai Zhiyan's voice had long been hoarse and his nerves were extremely weak. He didn't know how long this torture would last. Perhaps he would die in the next second.

Was he going to die in such a meaningless way again in this life? Then what was the point of his rebirth! Was it a joke played by the gods on him?

Bai Zhiyan huddled in a corner, grabbing his disheveled hair. He began to recall everything that happened in this life, whether it was Che Jingcan falling in love with him or Xu Shiyuan wanting to violate him, or even being imprisoned here by Bai Jitae, these were things he had never thought about.

When did things go wrong and he ended up as a prisoner?

"Click——"

It was the sound of the door lock turning. Bai Zhiyan immediately got up and looked in the direction of the door.

The handcuffs on his legs were only enough for him to crawl under the bed. He staggered and fell off the bed. After a muffled groan, he raised his eyes and saw Bai Jitai looking down at him.

Because he had been in darkness for a long time, when the lights in the room were turned on, Bai Zhiyan's eyes were irritated and he couldn't help but shed tears.

He grabbed Bai Jitai's trouser leg, raised his face and looked at him with red eyes, "Let me out! Bai Jitai, let me out!"

Bai Jitai smiled and squatted down to look at the corner of his pants that was wet with his tears, "How can you fall off the bed when you are so big?"

He raised his hand and gently wiped away the tears on his face. Bai Zhiyan dodged his hand angrily, "What good will it do you to lock me up here?"

"Benefits? Bai Zhiyan, not everything you do has to have benefits."

He put his hands under Bai Zhiyan's armpits and lifted him back to the bed as if he was holding a child.

"From the time I was born until now, there is nothing I want but cannot get. If there is something that is not to my liking, I will break it down little by little and reshape it into what I want. The same goes for you."

Bai Zhiyan's legs were scratched, and an indescribable stinging sensation spread. He waved away Bai Jitai's hand and glared at him fiercely, "Bai Jitai, you are dreaming!"

"It's okay, we'll do it step by step." Bai Jita stood up and turned off the light in the basement, picked up the night light on the table and turned it on, which became the only light source in the room.

"First of all, let's start with the name. I don't like hearing you call me by my name. Every time you show weakness to me, you call me brother, right?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? No other brother would treat his younger brother like you do!"

"Why don't you learn your lesson?" Bai Jitai grabbed Bai Zhiyan's wrist and applied a little force, causing Bai Zhiyan to cry out in pain.

"Since you don't want to, I won't force you."

After saying that, Bai Jita picked up the night light and stood up to leave. The only light was taken away by him. Bai Zhiyan propped himself up and looked into the darkness.

"Come back! Bai Jitai, come back!"

But Bai Jitai didn't stop at all. Bai Zhiyan watched him leave and closed the door to the outside world.

He fell into darkness again. Besides the stinging pain from his wound, he was surrounded by an indescribable coldness.

Unable to see the changes of the sun and moon and without any concept of time, Bai Zhiyan didn't know how long he had been here. He didn't even have a sip of water. He didn't expect that after coming out of the basement, he would still feel hungry and cold.

When the basement door was opened again, Bai Zhiyan was so hungry that his eyes were dizzy. When the lights came on, he subconsciously covered his eyes.

It was Bai Jitae who walked in with a lunch box.

"You haven't eaten for so long, are you hungry?"

Bai Zhiyan didn't have the energy to answer him, nor did he want to answer him. Hunger and the pain from his wounds left him no energy to think. He just leaned against the wall dejectedly and glanced at Bai Jitai with his lifeless eyes.

Seeing his silence, Bai Jitai was not annoyed. He sat on the bed and opened the lunch box. Inside was clear porridge without any oil. Even if Bai Zhiyan ate it, it would not save much energy.

Bai Jitai picked up a spoon and scooped a spoonful to his mouth, "Eat something?"

Bai Zhiyan turned his face away and didn't answer. He just asked him in a voice as hoarse as a dead tree or rotten branch: "When will you let me out?"

"You don't like this porridge?" Bai Jitai ignored his question and forcefully fed the porridge into his mouth.

"I don't—cough cough cough—"

Bai Zhiyan was choked to tears but he refused to give up. He pinched his chin again and scooped up some porridge and forced it into his mouth. He stopped only when he saw that he was coughing so violently that his whole body was shaking.

"Ahem, ahem - I want to go out, I want to go out! Bai Jitai, how long are you going to keep me locked up?"

Bai Jitai ignored his anger and gently wiped the rice grains from the corners of his mouth. "As long as you are obedient, I will let you out."

After saying that, he picked up the bowl and continued to feed him porridge. Bai Zhiyan closed his lips and kept shaking his head.

"Why, you want to starve yourself to death?"

But Bai Zhiyan remained indifferent, lying on the bed, looking as if he was ready to be killed or chopped up at will.

"Don't dream, Bai Zhiyan. I won't let you die. If you don't eat, I will force you to eat. If you dare to vomit, I will send someone to give you a nutritional supplement. If you want to commit suicide, I will cuff your hands and deprive you of your last freedom. You can only open your body and face this endless darkness."

He never joked. Bai Zhiyan knew he was capable of such a thing. He turned around and grabbed him tightly, "Bai Jitai, you devil, you are a lunatic!"

"That's right, I'm a madman, so I advise you not to go against a madman." Bai Jitai grabbed Bai Zhiyan's hand, pulled him up, and let him lean on him.

"Open your mouth."

He still kept his mouth shut, stubbornly refusing to give in. Seeing this, Bai Jitai pinched his cheeks again, forcing Bai Zhiyan to open his mouth and be fed.

"Swallow it."

Bai Zhiyan hadn't eaten for a long time, so he swallowed the porridge with difficulty. The pain in his throat made him frown.

Bai Jitai continued to feed him porridge. Bai Zhiyan's heart was filled with resentment. Every mouthful of porridge was like a knife, cutting into his self-esteem and pride.

After finishing the porridge, Bai Jitai put down the bowl and looked at Bai Zhiyan, "I will come again tomorrow. You'd better figure it out as soon as possible so that you can suffer less."

After saying that, he stood up, turned off the lights and left the basement.

This was the second time Bai Zhiyan watched him leave. His body felt a little better after eating, but he still didn't know how long he had been locked up.

Will Ji Seung-hoon and Baek Je-young look for him? Will they worry about him if they find out he hasn't been heard from for so long? What if Baek Je-tae cracks his phone and finds his hidden records?

A series of questions weighed down on him like a mountain. He was more worried about Chi Chengxun's safety than the anxiety of being locked up.

He is an excellent prosecutor with a bright future. His future cannot be ruined by getting involved in the Bai family's affairs.

What should I do? Compromise with Bai Jitai? But even if I compromise, he will not let me go. I will just be put back upstairs from the basement, and I will still be a caged bird.

But what would happen if he continued to resist? Would he keep locking himself up like this until all his will to resist was worn out and he became an obedient puppet that he could manipulate at will?

He felt his brain was in a mess and he couldn't think. He couldn't even see his own hands. If he lost his sense of touch, he might think he was some kind of empty microorganism floating in the air.

Bai Zhiyan was suffering in the basement, and Bai Jitai was not very happy either.

Ever since Li Shanyu came, the first thing he did when he returned home was to look for the two of them. Sometimes they would be laughing and playing with toys in the hall, and sometimes they would cook some strange dishes in the kitchen, and when they saw him come back, they would deliberately give him the food.

Bai Jitai had felt it before that Bai Zhiyan would always inadvertently give him the illusion of family harmony, as if when his mother was still alive, she would always try to create the warm family atmosphere that her teacher talked about for him.

This atmosphere disappeared again during the days when Bai Zhiyan was locked up by him. He still went home every day, but the figure that initially made him extremely annoyed was missing.

He suddenly felt that habit was a very terrible thing. He got used to Bai Zhiyan looking at him with dissatisfied and a little angry eyes when he came home and sat at the dining table eating the food he cooked; he got used to his smug expression when he deliberately provoked him but pulled Li Shanyu out as a shield so that he dared not attack; he even became obsessed with the way he hugged him and called him brother in a soft voice when he was vulnerable and frightened.

But these are just short-lived mirages. When his emotions stabilize, they will turn into disobedient bad kids who will only go against him.

So he had to break his rebellious bones and become a good child who would only listen to him and not disobey him.

When Bai Jitai brought the lunch box to the basement again, Bai Zhiyan felt that his brain could no longer think. Apart from closing his eyes and forcing himself to fall asleep, he kept thinking about what would happen outside. It seemed that all his brain power in this life had been overdrawn and used here.

"Have you figured it out?"

He did not react when he heard Bai Jitai's voice, but just turned his body towards the wall, leaving his thin back exposed.

Looking at his spine which became more and more prominent due to his thinness, Bai Jitai unconsciously raised his hand to touch it, and his touch caused Bai Zhiyan to tremble.

"Don't you understand? As long as you listen to me, I will let you out."

Hearing this, Bai Zhiyan sneered, but still did not turn around, "Let me out and then what? Continue to be under your control, with no privacy, cough cough cough - facing you, even asking for your permission to go out?"

"Are you better off now than you were then?"

Bai Jitai forcibly pulled his shoulders, but looked into a pair of eyes filled with hatred and tears.

"Why are you crying?" He hugged the person and gently wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes.

"Bai Jitai." Bai Zhiyan's voice was trembling. "What do you want? Even if I surrender to you, what can you get?"

What does he want?

He also asked himself why he controlled Bai Zhiyan like this?

But now he understood that there had always been a lack of a family figure in his life. Bai Zhiyan was his younger brother, and they were born to be a family. He wanted Bai Zhiyan to always be like before, guarding him and relying on him every day.

"People don't have to always pursue a reason when doing things, Bai Zhiyan, I told you before, the more you resist me, the more I want to tame you."

There was no point in saying more, Bai Zhiyan closed his eyes and stopped looking at him.

Seeing his attitude, Bai Jitai was not in a hurry. He still had enough patience and time to wait for him to surrender.

So when he entered the basement again, he saw the lifeless Bai Zhiyan.

In the next few days, he would deliberately arrange for someone to make noises above the basement. Bai Zhiyan had been in the dark for too long and would react to any sound. Even the slightest noise would be enough to make him nervous.

"Bai Zhiyan."

After hearing his voice, Bai Zhiyan immediately shrank into the corner and hugged his injured legs like a frightened rabbit.

Bai Jitai suddenly remembered the first time he met him. At that time, he thought Bai Zhiyan was like a white rabbit. Now that his eyes were red, he looked even more like a white rabbit.

He pulled Bai Zhiyan to his side regardless of his current condition and opened the lunch box which still contained the same clear porridge.

Bai Zhiyan's brain was dull at this time, and he came to a funny conclusion, that is, as long as the man in front of him appeared, he would bring food and light.

"Open your mouth."

He held the spoon to his mouth and fed him as he had done several times before.

This was an order given to his body. Bai Zhiyan's eyes were empty, as if he was looking at him but also as if he was looking at something else through him.

After swallowing the first bite, the subsequent feedings went much more smoothly. This was the first time that Bai Zhiyan successfully finished all the food without any resistance.

Bai Jitai wiped the corners of his mouth with satisfaction, then picked up the night light on the table.

"Do you want me to keep this lamp?"

After he asked, Bai Zhiyan just looked at him blankly, as if thinking about the meaning of his words.

"It'll be dark here again after I leave, but I can leave this for you, do you want it?"

As he spoke, he turned on the light. The warm yellow light came on, illuminating the side of his face. Mixed with his gentle tone, it gave people the illusion that time was peaceful and tranquil.

But his words were full of tempting traps, just like the poisonous snake in the Garden of Eden that tempted Eve to pick the apple; one wrong step would lead her into an endless abyss.

The room was silent for a moment, and finally he saw Bai Zhiyan looking at him with slightly flickering eyes and opening his mouth with some difficulty.

"think……"

It was a hoarse and rough voice, and Bai Jitai smiled with satisfaction after hearing it.

"But only good children can keep it." Bai Jitai held his face and gently stroked his cheeks with his fingers, constantly washing Bai Zhiyan's brain with his deep and magnetic voice.

"As long as you say, 'I'm sorry brother, I was wrong', I will leave it to you."

The basement fell into silence again. Bai Zhiyan's eyes moved slightly and a glimmer of light flashed in them. His mouth opening and closing made Bai Jitai nervous. He even exerted force on his hands unconsciously, leaving finger marks on Bai Zhiyan's face.

Finally, he heard Bai Zhiyan say with his cracked mouth: "Bai Jitai, you are dreaming."