Searching for Treasures in the Clouds

The basement was filled with many things, mostly organs. Yu Ru found it disgusting and stopped looking after a while, since she already had a general idea of ​​what was inside. After summoning Jiaozi back, she told the bodyguards, "Close that lid back. Leave the things inside to the professionals."

"Yes, boss." The bodyguards didn't ask any more questions. The two bodyguards who had lifted the lid immediately grabbed the handles on either side of the lid and were about to close it when a cry for help suddenly came from the basement.

"Help me..."

The sound was mournful, weak, and ethereal.

Everyone thought they were hallucinating when a bodyguard looked at Yu Ru and said, "Boss, it sounds like someone downstairs is calling for help."

"Wait a minute, listen again," Yu Ru replied, staring at the entrance to the basement.

The crowd remained silent for a while, and the cry for help did not reappear; it seemed as if they had just imagined it.

"You..." Just as Yu Ru was about to ask the bodyguards to close the entrance to the basement, the voice came again.

"Help me..."

This time it was much clearer than the first time; they were certain they hadn't misheard, it sounded like a woman.

"Boss, how about the two of us go down and rescue that guy who's yelling for help? Climbing up these stairs won't be difficult for us," one of the bodyguards suggested.

Yu Ru turned to the bodyguard who had spoken and replied, "It's not a matter of how difficult it is to go up and down. Do you know what's in this basement? Can you guess?"

"Boss, is this an entertainment facility? They've hidden a lot of treasures that can't be shown to the public," one person said.

"Boss, how many people are imprisoned inside? Have they become corpses?" another person asked.

Yu Ru shook her head. "None of that. The four walls are covered with shelves, filled with heads, eyeballs, hands, feet, and other human organs, soaking in some unknown liquid like pickles. One corner is covered with human skins, each skin peeled off completely. In the center of the space is an operating table, piled high with flesh and fat, probably taken from human bodies. This is just a rough look; there should be much more if you look closely. Can you guarantee you won't go crazy seeing such inhumane things when you go down there?"

"This... there's such a thing?"

The bodyguards were shocked, their faces showing disbelief.

"That down there...it's absolutely terrifying, and it must stink like hell."

"Yes, even watching the video makes me nervous. If you were to see it in person, I'm afraid you'd be so scared you'd go insane. So, just to be safe, there's no need for you to go down."

More importantly, it's still unknown whether the person screaming for help below is human or a ghost. Judging from the scene she just saw, Yu Ru felt this basement resembled a biological laboratory; she suspected someone was researching non-human things there. She saw a corpse inside—a human body, but its head had been cut off and replaced with a dog's head; the grotesque and terrifying nature of it was beyond her ability to express in human language.

After thinking for a moment, she pointed to one of the bodyguards and said to him, "Shout into the cave and ask her if she can climb up by herself. We are afraid of heights and dare not go down."

"Oh, okay, boss."

The bodyguard immediately did as Yu Ru instructed, shouting towards the entrance of the passage, but the owner of the voice did not respond.

Seeing this, Sister Shan suggested, "Madam, how about we put a big sleeping bag down and tie it with a rope? We can hold the rope, lower the bag down, let that person climb inside, and then pull her up. What do you think? That person might not have the strength to come up, but they should have the strength to climb into the bag, right? Besides, there's a mat inside the sleeping bag, so she should be fine."

"We can give this a try," Yu Ru nodded.

With their tools ready, they lowered the bag as planned. After a while, the rope connecting the bag moved slightly. The bodyguard pulling the rope saw this and tried to tighten it immediately, but Yu Ru stopped him. After about seven or eight minutes, the rope stopped moving again, and Yu Ru finally instructed them to slowly pull the bag up.

After a while, the bag was pulled up. Yu Ru gripped the gun in her hand and said to the others, "Those of you with guns, prepare to shoot. Those of you with knives, prepare to kill. What comes out might be an unknown creature. If it doesn't show any aggressive behavior, don't touch it. If it seems to have aggressive intentions, kill it immediately."

"Yes."

"Number 46, make the things in the bag crawl out by themselves, and tell her loudly," Yu Ru instructed again.

The bodyguards who came out this time all wore uniforms with numbers printed on them, on the front and back, in very large print. These numbers are their code names. Number 46 is the code name for the bodyguard whose uniform has "46" printed on it.

"Yes, boss." The bodyguard immediately complied.

The thing inside the bag didn't respond, so they waited for it to come out on its own. After a long while, it finally crawled out.

This could be considered a person, but she had been tortured beyond recognition. She was barely clothed, her legs severed, one breast cut off, her hair filthy and matted, and her entire body covered in dried blood. Some of her blood was still clumped together like resin, making her look sticky and as if she had been pulled from mud. Even in this indistinct state, it was clear that she had suffered repeated, brutal blows with a blunt instrument; some areas were swollen and purple…

The horrific injuries left everyone stunned. Coming to their senses, Yu Ru pulled Sister Shan in front of the woman, blocking her way, and sternly ordered the bodyguards, "Men, close your eyes and stand aside. Don't open your eyes without my command."

The video ended there, and the program switched to the next video. As the progress bar loaded, Shanren suddenly stood up, walked to the projector, and stopped it, drawing the attention of everyone else.

"Wait for me, I need to show you something." Shanren pressed the back button on the projector, rewinding the video to the previous one, and then dragged the progress bar to the end. Pointing at the scantily clad woman on the screen, he asked the crowd, "Is that a person on the ground, or something else?"

“She is a woman who has suffered very serious injuries,” the believer replied.

“Yes, she’s an injured woman,” Shan Di said.

"Anything else? Is there anything else?" Shanren asked again.

The crowd shook their heads.

"Shanren, what did you see?" Yun Zhonghe asked.