“Argh…”
“Why are all your family mbers running into my house…”
After the third slap landed, Crew‑Cut Boy finally rembered to cry.
Especially with Han Su’s fierce expression—unlike anything he’d seen in his life—it was more terrifying than the monsters above, since those beasts never singled him out like this.
“You hit , you hit …”
“You got unlucky. When my dad cos to save , I definitely won’t let him save you.
I’ll have him bury you in the garden…”
“…”
“You’ll get another taste of the iron‑slap education of the working class…”
Hearing that, Han Su grew even angrier.
He kicked again, deliberately holding back so it hurt, then chased the crew‑cut brat, making him stagger and spin around in the earth cellar.
Crew‑Cut Boy’s sharp, childish cries suddenly echoed wildly in the night, stirring up the crowded earth cellar.
Children in other spots, squeezed or accidentally stepped on, got kicked too, and their fear finally burst out.
This oppression‑fueled chaos exploded all at once.
Various cries and shouts reverberated through the hollow earth cellar, even grating on Han Su’s nerves.
Thud, thud, thud!
But this chaotic screaming also alerted soone—or rather, so creature—Outside, heavy footsteps approached rapidly.
Bang!
Suddenly, the small gate was pushed open forcefully, and a ball of fire surged in.
Behind the fla stood a tall dark figure, emitting a harsh, hoarse hiss, seemingly threatening the children in the earth cellar to shut up.
So kids were too scared to cry any longer, but Han Su promptly stomped that crew‑cut kid’s foot hard once more, making him howl in pain, and the briefly quiet cellar erupted into chaos again.
The creature outside the gate, seeing the kids inside not only refusing to quiet down but screaming even louder, seed to get furious.
Its chest heaved violently, mingled with the clank of tal instrunts.
The firelight quickly pushed deeper into the earth cellar, and only then could one see—it was a kerosene lamp, held up by a long pole.
It seed the creature wanted to see who was causing the fuss, using it to intimidate the children.
When the lamp’s light couldn’t reach the kids, they dared to cry.
But when the lamp was held in their faces, they all shrank back in fear, worried it would burn their skin.
Just then, Han Su—who had been silently observing in the crowd—suddenly sprinted up the stairs.
His slight figure clambered up the stairs, using both hands and feet, casting a blurred shadow in the firelight.
Outside the door, the hunched creature with the lamp gasped in shock.
He hurriedly pulled back the lamp, trying to see who dared climb up, but he had vastly underestimated Han Su’s speed.
Han Su reached the top of the stairs before the lamp could be pulled back.
He rushed straight past the nacing silhouette outside that small door, without hesitation dove down, rolling on the ground.
He slid beneath the creature guarding the door, erging in the living room.
The hunched creature, guarding the small gate, was visibly startled.
It hastily grabbed the returned lamp and turned to shine it toward Han Su’s position.
Unexpectedly, as it turned, it saw Han Su standing calmly behind it, not fleeing at all.
Smack!
Almost the mont it turned around, to the precise split‑second, Han Su raised his hand and slapped hard.
He was only a nine‑year‑old child, lacking strength—he could never overpower this tall hunched creature.
But at that mont, he simply raised his hand and knocked the kerosene lamp out of the creature’s grasp.
Very simple.
The lamp fell, spilling its fuel.
The fla ignited the thick carpet on the floor.
This bunker was ancient, its forr glory visible; the carpet was thick but had accumulated thick layers of dust over many years, making it particularly flammable.
Han Su had realized this the first ti he was kidnapped and brought here.
Whoosh!
Flas leaped almost instantly, spreading in multiple directions.
Even the hunched creature, which had been about to grab Han Su, was startled.
The rising flas on the carpet separated Han Su from the hunched creature. Through the dancing flas and smoke, the creature saw the small child—under ten—exhibiting strange behavior.
He rely took a few steps back, face chillingly calm, then suddenly opened his mouth and cried out in a childish, tense voice:
“Run quickly, the teacher is coming to pick us up…”
“The main door is open, Teacher, wait for , Teacher, please wait…”
“…”
This bizarre scene even made the Hunch‑Backed Man feel a chill: ‘Is this child crazy?’
But then, realizing sothing, he turned his head toward the cellar in shock.
No, it wasn’t the one kid that had gone crazy—
It was the children below who had.
Among them were a few clever ones who saw Han Su rush out of the earth cellar.
They didn’t imitate him, already guessing that anyone doing this now would likely be beaten to death by the monster.
But unexpectedly, instead of hearing Han Su scream, they heard his excited shout.
The voice sounded so real, as if they had really seen the teacher, as if the teacher was truly closing the door and there was no more chance if they were late.
So they began scrambling up the stairs in a frenzy.
They pushed and shoved, one on top of another, tiny bodies bursting with unlimited energy.
Even if a few among them were smart, the rest were enough to stir up a riot.
Besides, even the smart ones started to lose their calm seeing everyone else believe.
Crew‑Cut Boy, who had been beaten, wailed in panic and shoved around: “Let go first, I order you to let go first…”
But no one paid him any mind anymore.
Instead, he was pushed down over and over, landing on his butt, kicking the floor and crying.
The carpet was on fire, the small door had been opened, and the children were charging upward.
The Hunch‑Backed Man had no idea how this sudden chaos had occurred.
He just felt rushed, as if he didn’t have enough hands.
He tried to rush over and grab Han Su, but more children had already co charging out from the earth cellar, shouting, crying, all rushing toward the main gate, looking like a flock of panicked lambs, one left, one right.5
He couldn’t care about Han Su anymore, urgently trying to catch those children.6
Han Su, on the other hand, glanced at the heavily locked bunker gate, took a deep breath, then turned and headed up the spiral staircase beside it, confronting the monster upstairs.
“Squeak, squeak…”
The spiral staircase was old and worn, and climbing it caused so loose wooden boards to creak, but the chaos downstairs masked the sound.
Neither the Hunch‑Backed Monster nor the children running from the cellar noticed Han Su going upstairs.
In the darkness, Han Su’s tender face was tense, and though his small body moved, it was controlled with overwhelming willpower and technique, agile like a monkey.
In just a few steps, he had darted up to the second floor of the bunker.
Looking up, he saw only dim wall lamps.
The second floor was lined with crimson carpets, already rotten and moldy in many spots, with a stifling, unpleasant sll.2
Several unknown doors were embedded in the walls, so of them leaking warm light from their cracks.
The mont Han Su rushed upstairs, he opened the first door to his left.
He had tried it during an earlier escape and found it was the only door that could be opened.
As he charged into the room, he saw it filled with shelves covered in dust and mud.
On the shelves were glass containers of various shapes.
So were empty and covered in cobwebs.
So held deep brown sticky liquids.
And seemingly, so bizarre organs were floating and sinking in those liquids.
Han Su kept his eyes straight ahead, as if trying to avoid seeing sothing, and walked directly to the window of the room, targeting the one on the left.
But as he passed by a massive shelf, the moaning sounds inside caused him to slightly tilt his head.
On that shelf was a glass vessel connected to various tubes and machinery.
Inside the vessel was a green liquid, and the Pony‑Tailed Girl was naked and subrged in it.
Strange tubes were inserted into her body.
She could not breathe, yet she appeared to be conscious.
As she saw Han Su walk past her, her eyes suddenly widened, bubbles gushed from her mouth, and her struggling intensified.
Han Su could see the pleading, pain, and despair in her eyes, but he did not stop.2
He knew the Pony‑Tailed Girl would be fine.
Two days later, she would still appear unhard on the Night of Pleasure.6
He simply dashed past the iron rack, arrived at the window across from the door, quickly unlocked the rust‑covered window with nimble hands, and climbed out.1
Inside the vessel, the Pony‑Tailed Girl watched Han Su appear, then disappear out the window, and finally, she went silent.
Her eyes remained fixed in the direction where he had vanished, her lips trembling slightly.
As if she were saying: “Then you… run faster…”
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