...
In the days that followed, Ah Luo beca the cleaner of this prison.
During this ti, he witnessed many horrifying scenes.
Prisoners were executed for absurd reasons, their lives handled like trash, ultimately valued only by being thrown into the deep pit of the Demon Cave for refining.
The guards had long gone insane, even taking pleasure in betting how long the next prisoner could last.
Every day in such a life left Ah Luo terrified and anxious.
He endured the inhuman tornt in the cell.
In his silent and taciturn shell, there was still a flicker of fla unextinguished in Ah Luo's heart.
The hope that kept him going, besides fear, was his sister, Ah Rou, alone outside.
He pressed all grievances and suffering deep into his heart, continuing to play the role of a numb puppet tool in the dungeon.
Three months later, Ah Luo heard a piece of news.
After a certain guard got drunk, he mockingly told him that a diligent prisoner like him might have a chance to be "pardoned" to work as a laborer in the mines if he showed better performance.
The guard emphasized:
"The City Lord is rciful and always gives sinners a glimr of hope."
This news seeped into Ah Luo's numb heart like poison, giving him a little expectation for the future.
If he beca a miner, at least there would be a chance to survive and occasionally go ho to visit his sister, better than dying here.
He started working more diligently, hoping for the "rcy" of the City Lord to descend.
One day, half a year later.
Ah Luo was still numbly scrubbing the never-drying bloodstains on the blue bricks of the execution ground.
The stench of decay in the air had long rged with his breath, each inhalation like chewing over death.
The "pardon" hope revealed by the drunk guard flickered like a light of hope in the Darkness.
Though faint, it clutched his dying heart firmly.
He scrubbed hard, the bristle brush screeching in the brick seams, as if scrubbing off his "sins," scrubbing out a path leading to the mines, to a faintly possible life beside Ah Rou.
"Hurry up, there are other execution grounds to clean." The guard's scolding ca with the dull pain of an iron rod poking at his back.
Ah Luo nodded vigorously and quickened his pace.
To survive, for Ah Rou, as long as he could escape this dark, sunless dungeon, even if it ant going to the mine area…this was his only thought at the mont.
At that mont, the heavy iron door of the execution room was once again rudely pushed open.
The familiar dragging of iron chains and the guards' rough shoving sounds began.
Ah Luo habitually lowered his head further, curling his body, just wanting to rge into the shadows.
He didn't want to see, nor dare to see, who was the next being sent into Hell.
Others' suffering brought no joy, only fear.
At this mont.
A faint childish voice, tinged with sobs, like a bolt of lightning ripping through Darkness, instantly shattered all his numbness and disguise:
"Sir… I beg of you."
The familiar voice magnified in Ah Luo's ears, instantly conjuring up a familiar, youthful and beautiful figure in his mind.
All the blood in his body seed to freeze for a mont, then madly rushed back to his head in the next second.
He jerked his head up with such force that it almost snapped his neck.
Under the dim lantern light, a small, thin figure, being held like a Little Chicken by the tall guards, her face was now full of tear stains.
This was precisely the sister he thought of day and night, wanting to give everything to protect: Ah Rou.
"Ah Rou!"
Desperate Roar exploded from the depths of Ah Luo's throat.
He was like a beast that had completely lost its mind, throwing away the blood-stained brush, using all his strength, and regardless of anything, lunging at that small figure.
Fear and hope for pardon were all thrown into the ninth heaven.
Bang!
The heavy iron rod, carrying the wind tearing through the air, precisely and brutally smashed onto his shinbone.
The crisp sound of bone shattering was clearly audible, and the sharp pain instantly made him lose balance, his entire body crashing heavily onto the cold blue stone floor.
He couldn't feel the sharp pain in his leg, only clawed at the bloody ground with his hands.
Nails scratched the hard bricks, dragging his broken body, desperately trying to crawl forward, his face and arms sared with blood and filth.
"Let go of Ah Rou, co at , let her go!" He scread hoarsely, tears mixed with the filth on his face, streaming down, while his eyes remained firmly fixed on that small, frail figure.
She was the only light in this Hell for him and his entire reason for living; he would not allow Ah Rou to be hurt.
Ah Rou saw him too.
Those once clear and warm big eyes now contained only extre terror and helplessness.
"Boo hoo…Ah Luo…I'm so scared." Upon seeing Ah Luo's miserable appearance, his sister's tears flowed like a breached dam, unstoppable.
At this mont, the priest in a pitch-black robe, with unhurried steps, ca to the center of the execution platform.
His gaze was empty and cold, sweeping over Ah Luo, who was struggling and crawling on the ground like a maggot, without the slightest ripple, as if he was looking at a piece of dirty trash.
His voice was not loud, but it overpowered all the noise on the scene:
"Silence!"
The voice echoed over the bloody execution ground:
"This girl showed no reverence in her eyes when the City Lord's carriage passed by; this is a desecration of the City Lord's glory, an unforgivable grave cri, punishable by death…"
The priest paid no attention to Ah Luo's heart-wrenching pleas, his cold gaze falling on the terrified Ah Rou as if assessing a flawed product about to be destroyed.
Then he turned his head slightly, nodding at the expressionless Executioner waiting nearby:
"Proceed."
"No, please, I'll do anything, just don't kill my sister!"
User Comments
0 comments from readers