I slapped Zhou Xiang on the back, interrupting his head-banging action. His forehead was already bleeding. He paused for a while, reached into his collar, and took off a key from his neck.
He took the key, checked it several times, inserted the key into the keyhole of the door, and turned it several times, but it did not open.
Only then did I realize that the design of this door lock is very special. It has a dual-key structure. That is to say, two keys, one yin and one yang, must be inserted and turned at the same time to open the door.
What Zhou Xiang held in his hand was only one of them, so naturally he couldn't open it.
No need to think about where the other key is, it must be with Liu Hao.
I heard Master Zhang say before that this house originally belonged to the Cao family. Later, because of Liu Hao's hard work and merit, the house was given to him.
Now it seems that whether it is Liu Hao or Zhou Xiang, they should be pawns sent by the Cao family to manage this house.
Two people each hold a key, and they must come down at the same time to open the door here.
I studied the door lock. It was a hundred times more precise and stronger than an ordinary lock. I took Zhou Xiang aside and kicked the iron door.
There was a muffled creaking sound, the iron door deformed slightly, and the door lock collapsed.
A chill suddenly seeped out through the gap.
Zhou Xiang staggered over, knocked the door open with his head, and walked in.
I stood silently at the door for a while, then followed him in.
This is a room of about eight square meters. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all made of molten iron. There are only four small holes in the southeast corner, which are probably vents.
A skinny woman huddled in the corner, staring straight ahead. She had been dead for a long time, but the room was very cold, and the body showed no signs of decay.
There was an iron chain locked around the woman's waist, and the other end of the chain was driven into the wall behind.
Zhou Xiang walked up to the woman, knelt down, and began to kowtow to the ground. After a while, blood dripped from her face.
I went over and lifted the woman's hair, revealing her withered face.
Although I had already expected it, I still felt heavy after seeing Yang Xiuyu’s body with my own eyes.
But soon I discovered that there was something strange about Yang Xiuyu’s body!
Her arms exposed outside her clothes were covered with criss-crossing scars, some old and some new, densely packed like spider webs.
I untied her clothes and suddenly discovered that her body was covered with horrific scars, with barely an inch of intact skin visible.
Judging from the wounds, there are knife wounds, whip wounds, stab wounds, scratches... and even bite wounds!
Half of her tongue was cut off, and her eyeballs and eardrums were pierced.
All the bones in Yang Xiuyu's body were broken piece by piece, starting from her fingers. She could only lean against the wall to avoid collapsing on the ground.
On the ground beneath her, there were many scrawled words written in blood. Some were blurred, but some were still legible. There were only five words written over and over.
"Let my brother go."
I looked into Yang Xiuyu's empty eyes and remained silent for a long time. I grabbed Zhou Xiang's hair, pulled him over, and slapped him twice.
Zhou Xiang coughed violently, and a stream of white smoke spurted out from his mouth and nose and dispersed in all directions.
His eyes rolled, pulled away from the ghost state, and returned to black.
The next moment, Zhou Xiang's shrill screams were heard.
He knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Yang Xiuyu in front of him even more crazily than before, with tears streaming down his face.
His head hit the ground again and again, and blood spattered, as if he was going to be beaten to death here.
I kicked him out.
Zhou Xiang rolled around on the ground several times, lay on the ground crying, and kept banging his head on the ground.
"You don't have to die at this moment." I grabbed his neck and lifted him up.
Zhou Xiang's face was covered with blood and he shouted, "I deserve to die, I deserve to die!"
After being slapped twice by me, he became quieter.
"What were you doing earlier? Let me explain things clearly first." I let go and threw him to the ground.
Zhou Xiang stared at Yang Xiuyu's body, suddenly slapped himself hard several times, and cried, "I'm not a human, I'm a beast!"
"Did you do it?" I asked coldly.
"I..." Zhou Xiang suddenly burst out laughing, "I was afraid of death. I didn't dare to rescue Xiuyu. I'm no one!"
Laughing and laughing, he burst into tears.
"You are afraid of death, but when you and Liu Hao abducted Xiuyu's brother in Fentouling, you were really brave." I said lightly.
"You...what did you say?" Zhou Xiang was shocked, choked back his cry, and looked at me with wide eyes.
"Did I make a mistake? Did you kidnap him alone?" I asked.
"No..." After Zhou Xiang said this, he sighed and said with a sad smile, "You are right. It was Liu Hao and I who abducted Xiuyu's younger brother in Funtou Ridge."
Then he stared at me and asked, "You...how did you know?"
"Tell me what happened." I ignored him and said coldly.
Zhou Xiang was stunned, silent for a moment, and said, "That was ten years ago, when Liu Hao and I went to Funtou Ridge... to do some business in Funtou Ridge..."
"What are you doing?" I interrupted him and asked.
Zhou Xiang hesitated and said nothing.
"You are going to die, so why should you hesitate?" I said.
Zhou Xiang was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly and said, "Yes, I'm confused."
After a pause, he said, "Back then, Liu Hao and I went to Fengtou Ridge to dig a coffin and prepare to carry the body of a nine-year-old child back. Who knew that night happened to be July 15th, and Fengtou Ridge was very evil?" , that kid faked his corpse."
At this point, he glanced at me and then continued, "Liu Hao and I were so frightened that we left the body and ran until we ran to the foot of the mountain. We were caught in the rain and sobered up this time. "
"We lost the child and couldn't do business when we went back. The two of us waited for dawn and then went back to search. As a result, we searched for a long time and couldn't find anyone."
"We were both frightened and didn't know what to do. At that time, a brother and sister came over with a basket to pick wild vegetables. Liu Hao pointed at the child and asked if he looked like me."
"I was stunned for a moment and asked him what he meant. Liu Hao said with a stern face that we will definitely not be able to explain it when we go back. We can only find a way to get through."
"It was then that I realized that Liu Hao had actually set his sights on the child. He wanted to take the child back for business!"
"I was frightened and hurriedly said that this would not work. Liu Hao glared at me fiercely and told me to think about my family!"
"I thought about it, but I still didn't dare. As a result, Liu Hao took advantage of the sister not paying attention, went up and covered the child's mouth, and took him back. My mind went blank at the time, so I could only run with him."
