If it weren’t for him dodging at the last moment, he would be dead by now.
Feng Si broke out in a cold sweat, but he quickly recovered and immediately closed in, slashing his long knife down along the barrel of Chen Jie’s spear.
Chen Jie immediately let go of the spear, for if he hadn’t, the knife would have severed all of his fingers.
As Chen Jie released his grip, he followed up with a fierce flick of the spear shaft, causing it to swing wildly up and down, forcing Feng Si to step back.
Grabbing the spear again, Chen Jie twisted with force, loosening it from the stone, and pulled it out with the momentum.
At that moment, Zhou Chu kicked open the rear courtyard gate, leading his men inside in single file. There were five or six beggars left to guard the place, and as they saw Zhou Chu and his men charge in, they were ready to fight back but were quickly subdued by Zhou Chu’s group.
"Keep them all watched."
Zhou Chu rushed into the building with two men. As they entered, Zhou Chu and the two Fishing Guild underlings stopped dead in their tracks, shocked by the scene before them.
"These... these animals!"
At that moment, Zhou Chu’s eyes were filled with an unending murderous intent.
For the first time, he couldn’t restrain his desire to kill.
Inside the room, there was no bed, no furniture, no belongings related to people.
What they found were rows of dog cages, each containing children of various sizes, and the room was filled with the strong smell of feces and blood.
In the corner, there were even several unprocessed corpses.
These bodies appeared to be children around seven or eight years old, but their bodies were mutilated, missing arms or legs, or lacking eyes and ears.
Some had burn wounds, their features completely unrecognizable, while others had knife wounds, horrifying and gruesome. And these children all died due to tetanus, infection of their wounds, pus formation, and not receiving medical treatment.
This was the Beggar Sect’s mutilation practice, and not everyone survived it. Tetanus was common in such an environment, and some children made it through while others died.
If they died, they were just buried.
No one cared about them.
Most of the children in the cages were terrified or numb, raised like dogs in cramped cages.
They had no clothes, as all had been stripped off. In front of them was a dog food bowl with a mound of something black and indistinguishable inside.
Next to each dog cage was a bucket for excrement, where the captives could relieve themselves.
Of course, if you preferred, you could also do so on the floor.
Indeed, they did not treat people like humans here, but like dogs.
Seeing this trampling of human dignity, Zhou Chu’s eyes turned bloodshot and his heart sank. He couldn’t imagine what Chen Jiu would do if Ruirui were locked up in such conditions.
Zhou Chu’s body trembled slightly as he shouted loudly, "Ruirui, Ruirui..."
He called out, but no one responded. The boys and girls in the cages curled up in corners, frightened, not knowing who had come bursting in.
What was even more terrifying was that some people didn’t know fear at all; they numbly ate the food in the dog bowls like animals.
Some had lost limbs, missing legs and arms.
The sight was unbearably tragic.
Zhou Chu shouted for a long time without anyone answering; checking each dog cage, he did not find Ruirui.
After realizing this, Zhou Chu panicked. Where were they?
With a sinking heart, Zhou Chu began searching through the pile of dead bodies.
He was terrified of finding the corpse of a young girl among them.
Fortunately, he did not.
"What are you looking for?"
Just as Zhou Chu didn’t know what to do, a young girl’s voice rose. Hearing this voice, Zhou Chu turned to look.
He saw the young girl with dark skin and a face full of freckles, with dull yellow hair, looking more like a frail dog than a human.
But her eyes were bright.
Zhou Chu asked, "Have you seen a little girl about this tall?" making a gesture. "Taken here today."
The girl responded, "The new captives are over there, aren’t they?"
Upon hearing this, the girl said, "Then there are only two possibilities, she might have been killed or sold."
Zhou Chu exclaimed, to which the girl responded, "Yes, sometimes the Old Masters like to kill some disobedient children to intimidate the others. And some children might be killed if an Old Master wants to play with something different... If they resist, they can also be killed!"
Hearing this, Zhou Chu was enraged, "She was only five years old!"
The girl uttered words that shattered all norms, and Zhou Chu’s eyes widened in shock, "Animals, they are all animals!"
"But usually, they won’t do that. Is the girl you’re looking for pretty?"
Zhou Chu said, "Pretty."
"Then she was probably not killed. If she’s not here, she was likely sold off. After all, the Old Masters won’t easily spoil goods that can be sold."
Relieved, Zhou Chu responded.
"How do you know all this?"
The girl said, "I’ve been locked up here for half a year."
Zhou Chu was astonished; to survive half a year in such an environment without being maimed or killed?
He had seen several horribly maimed youths not far away.
The girl said, "Yes, because I’m ugly, no one will buy me. And because I’m a girl, there’s still a chance I could be sold, so they didn’t maim me!"
Zhou Chu nodded slightly in understanding, "Got it, thank you."