0155 The Gift in the Water

"No, no, no. You do not need to do anything, Mr. Wild Dog. Just stand quietly and watch. I have already prepared a show for you." The moment Wooden Demon finished speaking, the rope holding Xia Xiaoru suddenly went slack. Then, Hou Rui watched with his own eyes as Xia Xiaoru dropped accurately from the height of sixty-seven meters into the transparent glass tank below.

"Splash!"

That glass tank, which was more than two meters deep, had long been filled with water. Xia Xiaoru's sudden fall immediately kicked up a massive spray. Though badly frightened, she suffered no physical harm upon hitting the water.

Hou Rui had just breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a school of fish suddenly dart up from the bottom of the transparent water tank. The fast-swimming fish immediately surged toward Xia Xiaoru in the water.

They merely circled Xia Xiaoru's legs once, and in a split second, a large cloud of blood bloomed in the transparent tank. Hou Rui watched as Xia Xiaoru, who had just been flailing her limbs and trying to float to the surface, began to thrash violently in the water.

"Glug, glug, bang, bang, bang!"

Because the fish swam with such speed, the surface of the water in the tank churned like boiling water at one hundred degrees Celsius. Submerged in the water, where dozens or even hundreds of pieces of flesh were being torn from her body every single second, Xia Xiaoru could not even scream. Instead, she could only use her hands, her feet, and her head to beat fruitlessly against the four walls of the glass tank, producing impacts that Hou Rui would never forget.

Within a mere half-minute, the water in the tank had been dyed a pale red by blood. Then, the movements of Xia Xiaoru's hands and feet gradually ceased, and her body began to slowly sink to the bottom. As the current carried her face close to the outer wall of the glass tank, Hou Rui clearly saw her wide-opened, despairing eyes. Following that, a crimson-bellied, iron-blue little fish no larger than an adult's palm darted forward and instantly tore off Xia Xiaoru's nose.

Shocked to the point of near paralysis, Hou Rui finally reacted belatedly. That pervert Wooden Demon had actually put a school of red-bellied piranhas—man-eating fish native to the Amazon River—into the water tank!

"Mm-mm-mm..." Ma Siyuan, who had also witnessed Xia Xiaoru's tragic death and the gruesome state of her corpse, was scared to the point of pissing himself. This was by no means an exaggeration for dramatic effect; he was genuinely frightened to the point of urinary incontinence. Looking at the identical glass tank beneath his own feet, urine streamed down his trouser legs as he struggled and twisted his body frantically toward Hou Rui, emitting terrified whimpering sounds from his mouth.

Biting his lips until they were almost torn apart, Hou Rui stubbornly stood his ground without moving an inch. He made no attempt to rescue Xia Xiaoru, nor did he raise his gun to grant her a quick release from her agony. He simply forced himself to stand and watch until Xia Xiaoru's corpse was shredded beyond recognition by the piranhas. Hou Rui's body trembled continuously from rage and hatred, yet he could not move a muscle, because Wooden Demon was still lurking in some dark corner, poised to strike.

"Hehehe, Mr. Wild Dog, as far as I know, this young lady is the first person you ever saved. Now that you've watched her become fish food with your own eyes, how do you feel?"

Hiding in a corner of the amphibian pavilion, Wooden Demon was observing Hou Rui's performance through a hidden camera. To be honest, the fact that Hou Rui had endured and made no move whatsoever while Xia Xiaoru was being torn apart by the fish caught Wooden Demon quite by surprise. According to the files provided by the organization, Wooden Demon had assumed Hou Rui was a fellow plagued by an excess of sympathy and a sense of justice.

Perhaps the degree of stimulation was still insufficient. After all, this woman had been separated from him for some time, and their feelings for each other had probably faded! Wooden Demon found a justification of his own devising.

"It is no big deal. I have already eaten human flesh in the camp of the Liberators' Alliance. Now I can watch others die!" Gritting his back teeth and clenching his fists so hard they turned white, his entire body trembling slightly with rage, Hou Rui forced these words out with great effort.

"Speaking of which, I have yet to congratulate you, Mr. Wild Dog. You have already acquired the organization's second Thorny Garland, which is a most rare honor. Then please allow me to celebrate with you by presenting the next performance!"

"Cruinch! Splash!"

Upon hearing Wooden Demon's words, the alert Hou Rui immediately locked his gaze on Ma Siyuan hanging in mid-air.

Sure enough, the rope holding Ma Siyuan snapped instantly with two sounds, and Ma Siyuan plunged straight into the transparent glass tank.

Just when Hou Rui expected the piranhas to appear once more, Ma Siyuan began to paddle furiously in the nearby water tank, quickly reaching the upper exit of the tank. Next, Ma Siyuan ripped off the tape over his mouth, wrapped both hands tightly around the outer wall of the tank, and screamed at Hou Rui:

"Hou Rui! Hou Rui! Hurry up and pull me out! There, there is something in here!"

Yet Hou Rui stood in place with an ashen face, not moving a muscle. Hou Rui knew that if he made a move like that, not only would Ma Siyuan be doomed, but he himself would likely be dragged down, and Jin Shanshan would meet a bad end as well. Therefore, despite feeling an overwhelming reluctance, Hou Rui remained standing right there, watching Ma Siyuan's hopeful face with a heart full of guilt, without moving his feet even a fraction of an inch.

"Hou Rui, what are you doing? Can't you hear me, you bastard? Save me..." Ma Siyuan glanced down toward the bottom of the water tank while struggling desperately to climb out. However, the rim of the tank was far too slippery; he tried several times in succession without success. Then Hou Rui saw a long, dark shadow dart out from the bottom of the tank, coiling toward Ma Siyuan.

"Li—" Hou Rui instinctively uttered a single syllable, but immediately closed his mouth again. With grief and indignation, he watched as a water python, thick as an adult man's arm and three to four meters long, wrapped itself around Ma Siyuan's thighs in the water.

"Ah! Help! There's a snake! Help, Monkey, save me! Glug..." Attacked by the water python, Ma Siyuan immediately began to shriek in terror. However, before he could even finish shouting, the massive python had wound its coils time and time again around his body, continuously dragging Ma Siyuan down into the depths of the water tank.

At that moment, watching Ma Siyuan and the water python thrashing before him, watching Ma Siyuan endlessly spit up streams of bubbles from his lips as he beat his fists futilely against the python's thick body, and then recalling his school days shared with Ma Siyuan, Hou Rui even lifted his foot, preparing to step forward—

Wooden Demon, stationed at the other end of the surveillance camera, could not help but grow excited and tense. He reached back and flipped a switch, so that unbeknownst to Hou Rui, the water spreading across the ground before him was suddenly charged with high voltage. This was the ultimate trap Wooden Demon had laid for Hou Rui.

Therefore, the situation now was this: if Hou Rui could not restrain himself and went to save his friend, he would be electrocuted. But if Hou Rui stood his ground and did not move, while he would avoid Wooden Demon's electrified trap, his friend in the water was bound to die in the jaws of the water python.

"Hehehe, Mr. Wild Dog, what choice will you actually make? I am truly looking forward to it!" Wooden Demon rubbed his hands continuously as he stared fixedly at the camera screen. In his view, only displays of human nature at its darkest constituted truly entertaining programming.

A few seconds later, the foot Hou Rui had lifted ultimately dropped back down. He watched as Ma Siyuan used his final ounce of strength to strike the outer wall of the water tank toward his direction a few times, and then—and then Ma Siyuan was coiled motionless by the water python, his body slowly dragged back to the very bottom of the tank.

Following the exceptionally cruel slaughter, the turtle section of the amphibian pavilion suddenly fell quiet. Now, Xia Xiaoru's mutilated corpse and Ma Siyuan's exceptionally pale face in the water were both laid out before Hou Rui. At this moment, Hou Rui finally experienced firsthand the perversion and terror of the Wooden Demon Knight!

I am sorry! It is my involvement that brought disaster upon you. Today I cannot save you, but I swear to you here and now: sooner or later, I will kill Wooden Demon with my own hands to avenge you!

The muscles on his cheeks twitched a few times, and then Hou Rui's expression gradually returned to numbness. At the same time, he made a silent vow in his heart. Wooden Demon now became the second person, right after Sergeant Kun, whom Hou Rui hated most in the world and swore to execute with his own hands.

"The show is over now. What else do you want to do?" Waiting for a moment and seeing that the loudspeaker did not sound again, Hou Rui took a deep breath and shouted into the empty hall.

Likewise, hidden elsewhere, Wooden Demon felt a trace of surprise when he saw that Hou Rui had not fallen for the trap in the end. According to multiple reports within the organization, Hou Rui should have been a rather impulsive and soft-hearted fellow. Yet at this moment, having watched with his own eyes as the woman he saved and the classmate of over two years died tragically side by side, Hou Rui displayed a coldness and composure entirely at odds with the reports—the very basic qualities an organization member should possess.

Crossing his arms, Wooden Demon pondered for a moment. Suddenly, his eyes narrowed behind his spectacle lenses, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly, revealing a look of delight and appreciation. Then Hou Rui heard crisp applause echoing one after another from the loudspeaker.

"Clap, clap, clap. Congratulations, Mr. Wild Dog. You have passed the test the organization entrusted me to administer to you. You are now a qualified assassin." Wooden Demon's voice did not relax Hou Rui in the slightest; instead, it made him even more tense. For Hou Rui knew this matter could not possibly end so simply. Could it be that Wooden Demon had gone to such monumental lengths just to see whether he could restrain himself from intervening?

"Then am I free to leave?" Hou Rui asked, knowing the answer full well.

"Official business is concluded, so let us settle private matters. Now, as long as you compensate me five million US dollars, I will vanish immediately, and you can recover your freedom to go back to living your student life."