Chapter 101 An Exchange
She didn't care about the noise as she swung her body again. This time, the chair connected with something else. Instead of another body, a hand had grabbed the leg of the chair, forcing her to remain in place.
Because she was slightly hunched over, she couldn't see anything else other than the long legs of her captors.
"You've put up quite a good fight." Someone spoke to her, his voice different from the leader. It was gruff and deep, highly similar to the men she knew who had been smoking two packs of cigarette a day.
"Huh?" She feigned confusion, pretending to relax her body and finally surrender. Right when she felt the grip on the chair loosen the slightest bit, she attempted to jump back and launch a surprise attack against him.
Did the plan work? No.
The man's grip instantly tightened on the chair again, so much that she barely budged an inch. At lightning speed, a punch landed right into her abdomen. She choked at the pain that spread throughout her entire body.
"Is that...the best you can do?" She heaved. She wanted to taunt him to rile him up so that he would be so blinded by anger that he would do something to her.
In her mind, the best case scenario would be that he would toss her onto the ground and the impact would be able to break the chair. The worst case scenario is that he would pummel her into submission.
It was the latter because right after she said that, he had roughly shoved her face into the floor, her forehead crashing against the hard surface.
A pounding headache kicked in, and her vision became hazy. Black dots tainted her vision as everything spun before her eyes.
She was surprised she was still conscious after having been hit in the head so hard just now. Just then, a plan came to mind.
'Fake it till you make it', She thought to herself.
She decided to taunt him more. "Pathetic, that didn't even hurt— "
He slammed her head onto the ground again. This time, she could barely think straight from the pain and forced every inch of her to concentrate on her plan.
She needed to anger him further.
"I guess you guys did not cost that much because that was weak—"
Enraged, he let out a roar and flung her body to the side, the chair slamming into one of the crates, causing a loud bang that echoed within the warehouse. The sound of wood shattering into bits and pieces followed as the chair had now completely broken. Zhao Lifei ended up lying in the midst of various sizes of wooden shards, some of them sticking onto her skin.
She forced her body to go limp as her eyes slammed shut. She pretended the force had knocked her unconscious. Her heart was pounding so erratically, the only thing she could hear was the loud thumping of her heartbeat. She could barely hear the conversation going on.
"You overdid it again. Now she's knocked out." The leader sighed, his mood was completely ruined by the outcome of events.
At first, he was really impressed that she could switch between different facades. She started off confident, then meek when she received the first blow, but suddenly attempted to put up a good fight with his men. It was really amusing to see her attempt to fight off thirty men — she barely harmed any of them. The sight was hilarious until his right-hand man ruined the fun.
"She wouldn't shut up." His burly friend replied, his voice as rough as ever. He disdainfully eyed the woman whose face had become ghostly white.
Even if parts of her face are covered with the blood that had dripped from the wound on her forehead, her lips were busted, and a bruise had formed on one of her cheeks, her alluring face still shone. She's still a beauty even after being beaten up that he couldn't help but internally chide her for being in this circumstance.
If only she had been smart and kept her mouth shut, she wouldn't have brought this upon herself.
"Boss said not to damage her face. Look at her. It's her best asset. He needed it for an exchange." The leader frowned, shaking his head in disappointment. He knew he shouldn't have brought Ma Hong while dealing with her. He was simply too rough when it came to women.
"An exchange? What for?"
The leader shrugged. "It's a woman, what else could it be for?" He walked over to her, his ominous footsteps getting louder and louder as he approached Zhao Lifei.
'An exchange?' Zhao Lifei became worried.
It seems she's the bargaining chip for something, but for what? She thought about possible scenarios but the only thing that she could think of was human-trafficking. But they would definitely not go to this extent in beating her up if it was for that purpose.
She pushed this thought aside and listened to his footsteps. Her anxiety level was rapidly increasing as he approached her. She could already tell what he was planning to do. She clenched her stomach, and just as she thought, he kicked her. He was checking to see if she was truly unconscious.
It was extremely hard to ignore the pain that was pulsating through the entirety of her body. Every inch of her brimmed with agonizing pain, so much that she could barely think properly. Breathing had already been hard for her and his fierce kick had made it even harder.
"Hm, no reaction. She's knocked out for good." The leader tilted his head to his friend. "How do you want to wake her up? Cold water to the face or torturing her to the point where her own pain wakes her up?" With how casual and bored he sounded, one would think he was simply discussing the weather.
"What do you think about the limb-cutter?" A voice answered, followed by another pair of footsteps.
"Boss forbade anything that would permanently disfigure her. He just wanted her to be brutally beaten up to be taught a lesson. We have three days to make sure that stubborn brain of hers won't work again." The leader replied, turning his head to his people.
"Bring the electric chair and crank it up to full intensity." He added, clapping his hands in glee at the idea of using his latest toy.
The man who paid for her to be kidnapped and tortured had sent him the gift that he always wanted but never got around to buying because of how expensive it was. Now that he had finally got what he wanted, he couldn't wait to test it out on her!
Terrified at the idea of being tortured to the point of no return, Zhao Lifei knew she needed to leave this as soon as possible.