Before everything goes out

Seeing the two people's surprised and suspicious looks, the little mute realized something and quickly shut his mouth, hiding the small part of his tongue.

"Ah...mmm..."

He couldn't speak; he tried hard, but could only utter unpleasant syllables.

Seeing him pointing at his mouth and waving his hand repeatedly, coupled with his even more exaggerated smile, Li Fei roughly understood what he meant.

"You mean your mouth doesn't hurt and it's not a problem?"

"Ah!"

The little mute boy nodded repeatedly.

After thinking of something, he quickly ran back to the corner, pulled out a mop from the pile of clutter, and began scrubbing the floor vigorously.

With a strain of his thin arms, he dragged the cloth until a large clump of grime was rubbed off the ground...

Excrement, vomit, fresh blood.

Or something else entirely.

Various grime clung together, forming a layer of dark yellow, filthy crystals.

Without a doubt, this is the source of the stench in the basement.

"Ugh..."

The little mute boy scooped up the filth in his hands, took it to a corner, piled it up, and stomped on it to compact it, thus reducing the area.

He ran back and forth repeatedly, gazing at the two puzzled men.

"Is this... cleaning?"

She Qingqing frowned.

The guarded look on their faces was gone, replaced by pity.

"So he wasn't the corruptor, nor an accomplice, but rather one of the victims who wasn't chained or had his hands and feet eaten because he was needed to clean up?"

"That should be it."

Li Fei nodded.

If even this mute boy has his tongue cut out, then these people's situation will probably only get worse...

With that thought in mind, he temporarily put aside the busy little mute and went to the wall.

He parted the hair of those people with his hands and examined them one by one.

really.

It's not just the tongue.

There were also gouged-out eyes and cut-off ears.

Everyone in this basement, except for the little mute, has been rendered blind and deaf...

Stockpiling food?

Recalling Zhang Cheng's expression just now, Li Fei shuddered.

They captured some people and kept them in this basement. Whenever needed, they would slaughter some of them and eat them.

These people, subjected to day after day of torment and fear, had long since suffered mental breakdowns and become living dead, devoid of perception and thought.

That's why these people didn't react at all when they came down, as if they were already rotting corpses.

"This is the corruptor..."

Li Fei muttered to himself, his expression complex.

Now, he has a clearer understanding of the word "corruptor".

He wasn't sure if all corrupted individuals were like these, losing their humanity and turning into cannibalistic monsters, or if this was just an isolated incident...

For example, Liu Yongxiao, or Sheqi.

They look like monsters, but their minds are still those of normal people.

He wasn't sure, but he planned to go out and interrogate Zhang Cheng properly.

"Ah... um..."

The indistinct sound at his feet made Li Fei lower his head.

He wasn't a mute, but a man with only one hand and one leg.

The man lay on the ground in a strange position, his body wriggling from side to side.

This reminded Li Fei of a grasshopper whose legs had been removed.

Seemingly realizing that the person in front of him was not Zhang Cheng, the man boldly stepped forward, his withered fingers trembling as they moved up Li Fei's hiking boots, past his trousers, past his belt, until they reached the pistol tucked into Li Fei's lower back.

"gun".

Upon realizing what the hard object was, a hint of surprise flashed across the man's numb face.

Li Fei's face turned cold, and he immediately gripped his pistol.

next second.

The man's gesture made him realize he had misunderstood, and his fingers trembled as he loosened his grip.

"Ugh... Ah..."

The man knelt on the ground, crookedly, and used the hand on his one arm to make the shape of a gun before pointing it at his own head and pulling the trigger.

Li Fei swallowed hard, feeling a lump in his throat.

"You want me to help you get rid of this..."

He understood what it meant, but he didn't know whether he should do it.

Boom, boom.

The sound of kowtowing rang out.

Seemingly sensing Li Fei's hesitation, the man used his remaining half of his limb to kowtow on the ground with great difficulty.

No.

It was more like a collision than a bump.

Within a few moments, blood appeared on his forehead.

Boom, boom, boom.

The tremor traveled along the ground.

Seemingly inspired by the man, several other people also crawled over with difficulty and knelt down at Li Fei's feet.

In an instant.

The sound of kowtowing echoed throughout the basement, like the heavy, oppressive tolling of bells in a tower.

With each chime of the bell, Li Fei clenched his teeth tighter...

I didn't hesitate for long.

Half a minute later, under She Qingqing's complicated gaze, he raised his pistol, gritted his teeth, and shouted at the group:

"I'll send you on your way."

...

...

Outside the villa, on an open space.

While waiting, Niu San dragged Zhang Cheng and the other man together, tied them up tightly with a rope, and then stepped on Zhang Cheng with one foot to make sure he couldn't move.

"hiss..."

Zhang Cheng was already seriously injured, and now he was in even more pain, grimacing in agony.

"Bald brother, could you be a little gentler? Look at me, I'm already like this, is it really necessary to stomp on me?"

"Heh, I'm being polite to a man-eating beast like you."

As Niu San spoke, he shifted his weight slightly towards that foot.

"Ouch! That hurts!"

Zhang Cheng cried out in pain, but gritted his teeth and said again.

"So what if we eat people? Don't people eat chickens, ducks, cows, and sheep too? Besides, if you saw how those people treated us, you'd think we're nothing at all."

Looking at his matter-of-fact manner, Niu San knew that this guy had definitely gone mad.

Neither spiritually nor physically can they be considered "human".

"By the way, your team leader is also a corruptor. You really couldn't tell?"

"Think about it, we're just a little stronger. That guy can even come back to life after he dies. If he really goes all out and starts eating people, then our little fights won't be worth it."

"Oh, you still don't believe me? Just you wait and see. In a few days, you'll understand what I mean. Don't blame me for not warning you then."

Zhang Cheng talked nonstop, like a machine gun.

Seeing that Niu San didn't respond, he rolled his eyes and changed his perspective.

"I have a treasure at home. Let me go, and I'll tell you where it is. Go get it, okay? When your leader comes out, just say you went to take a piss, and when you came back, Qianmei and I were gone. He definitely won't blame you."

Niu San glanced at him sideways.

Just as he raised his fist, he saw Li Fei walk out of the villa.

"What's going on inside?"

Niu San let Zhang Cheng go and looked at the two of them.

They remained silent, their expressions equally somber.

In addition, a disheveled child followed behind, whose stench made Niu San frown as soon as he got close.

Who is this child?

"The survivor is mute."

Li Fei replied.

"So what's going on inside the villa? I'll go in and take a look."

Niu San looked past the little mute boy and curiously gazed at the villa gate.

Seeing this, Li Fei quickly grabbed him and told him the truth.

"These people really do eat people. They rob people on the road, kidnap them, lock them up in a basement, and feed them slowly. Believe me, you don't want to see that."

"Oh, then I won't watch it..."

Niu San felt a tightness in his chest.

Recalling the plate of stir-fried meat on the table, he no longer felt any curiosity.