CHAPTER 365: CHAPTER 365: COMB PUNISHMENT

Suspended in mid-air, Big Beard’s body couldn’t help but shiver. Although he felt a strange fear, he refused to be silenced once he opened his mouth.

"What the hell are you looking at? Never seen a manly man like me? Are you asking for a beating? Just wait until I’m free, I’m going to sell you to the red-light district." Big Beard shouted loudly.

"I really hope you still have the strength to curse later." Xu Ke approached Big Beard with a pot of already heated hot water.

Without any warning, the scalding hot water was poured over Big Beard’s legs and feet.

In an instant, everyone could smell the scent of meat.

"Ah!" Big Beard was unprepared when the boiling water poured over him, and the intense pain instantly engulfed him, forcing a scream from his lips.

The deafening scream made Xu Ke frown unpleasantly.

"Shut up!" Xu Ke reprimanded.

"This is just the beginning. Save your strength, got it?" Xu Ke said, placing the kettle on the ground. With everyone watching in shock and confusion, he reached towards Big Beard’s leg with an iron comb in his hand.

Xu Ke exerted pressure, and the iron comb scraped a layer of flesh from Big Beard’s leg, dropping it onto the dark floor.

"Tsk, still not tender enough. Looks like it needs another boil. Your skin really is thick; I’ve never needed more than one boil before." Xu Ke said softly.

Big Beard’s feet struggled, but his feet were shackled tight, unable to struggle, and the searing pain from another layer of hot water almost suffocated him.

On the dark streets, he had endured all sorts of beatings, but this was the first time facing such brutal punishment, the pain and torment nearly made him lose the will to live.

"Spare me, I’ll say whatever you want." Big Beard’s voice was hoarse, the earlier shouting had strained his throat terribly, but that discomfort was nothing compared to the flesh-scraping agony on his legs.

"I’m not interested in your answers anymore; I’ll just ask someone else later." Xu Ke pressed the comb against the man’s leg, gently brushing it downward, a layer of flesh falling to the ground with Xu Ke’s force.

Big Beard couldn’t endure such pain; every time flesh was scraped off, Xu Ke would pour hot water over the original wound, a torture that left Big Beard disoriented. Though he wanted to live, he didn’t want to live a life worse than death.

Big Beard moved his mouth, wanting to bite off his own tongue to achieve self-suicide, but Xu Ke seized his jaw, forcefully dislocating it, depriving him of the ability to end his own life.

"I knew I was forgetting something, thanks for reminding me." Xu Ke looked enlightened, then directed his gaze at the men huddled in the iron cage.

"Don’t any of you think about committing suicide. As long as one of you dies without my permission, I’ll randomly select one of the remaining living people to suffer torture worse than what you’ve seen now. So watch your companions closely, don’t let them die, or else it’ll be you who suffers. As long as you cooperate obediently, I won’t make things difficult for you; I’ll only trouble those who oppose me, understand?"

Though Xu Ke’s tone was calm as he spoke, everyone in the room instinctively breathed more gently, afraid they might incur Xu Ke’s wrath and suffer his cruel punishments.

This wasn’t their first time in China, but it was definitely the most memorable. They always looked down on Chinese people, thinking they were nothing but unevolved yellow-skinned monkeys, but they didn’t expect them to be such frightening people, capable of devising such terrifying punishments.

In the future, if anyone dares to say Chinese people are just yellow-skinned monkeys not worth bothering about, they’d surely beat that person to death, for such Chinese are too terrifying.

But Xu Ke couldn’t hear their inner voices, instead, the sound of their commotion made Xu Ke frown in displeasure once again.

"Shut up, whoever speaks will get to experience the comb punishment." Xu Ke said impatiently.

With Xu Ke’s words, the room instantly fell silent, leaving only the whimpering sound of Big Beard.

Seeing such compliance, Xu Ke’s expression eased a bit, but his hands remained as ruthless as ever. Soon, Big Beard’s right leg was stripped to just a fragment of bare shin bone, stark white against the air, as a mountainous pile of shredded flesh emanated an unpleasant scent.

The previously boastful Big Beard was now pale, eyes closed, head drooping as he hung uncertainly in mid-air.

No matter how Xu Ke tortured him, except for the occasional twitch indicating he was still alive, he couldn’t make a sound anymore.

Looking at Big Beard with a disappointed expression, Xu Ke said, "For all the boasting, I thought you were something, but you couldn’t even handle one leg. What a waste." Xu Ke’s gaze filled with disdain.

He took the comb to the sink, meticulously rinsing it clean, and when Xu Ke hung the clean comb back on the wall, he seemed to hear a collective sigh of relief from inside the iron cage.

With his back to everyone, Xu Ke wore a bemused smile on his face.

Think you got away? How naive!

While thinking this, Xu Ke took a gleaming black whip from the wall, and the people inside the cage held their breath.

"Who should I pick?" Xu Ke said lazily, slowly walking towards the cage, the sound of the whip striking his leg loud and clear.

Xu Ke’s previously constructed perverse image had been so successful that as soon as he approached the cage, everyone inside scrambled into the farthest corner away from him, afraid he might choose them.

Seeing them huddled like quails, Xu Ke’s smile widened, a dark glint flashed in his eyes, and in the next moment, he plucked someone directly out of the cage.

Even though that person was stocky and strong, in Xu Ke’s hands, he seemed weightless, pulled directly from the cage. Despite the man’s attempts to struggle, he was no match for Xu Ke, who strapped him to a cross, posed just like Big Beard.

Just as Xu Ke finished tying the man up, the sound of water trickling echoed in the room, along with the stench of urine. Xu Ke frowned with displeasure, eyeing the man he had just restrained with a look one would give garbage.

Faced with Xu Ke’s cold, disapproving gaze, another surge of urine flooded forth, and despite trying to hold back, the man still trembled and urinated.

"Try getting that disgusting stuff on me, and I guarantee the result will make you wish you were dead." Xu Ke said coldly.

Under Xu Ke’s threat, the man finally managed to control his physiological reaction.

"Spare me, please." The man said, trembling.