Chapter 108 - Nightmare
Chapter 108 – Nightmare
The drive to the Qu residence took longer than what Lin Xiaofei thought.
It felt like they have been traveling for hours that even though Lin Xiaofei told herself to be awake throughout the journey, she couldn't help but feel her eyes drooping, and before she knew it, she drifted off to the world of dreams.
However, instead of going to a beautiful dream, Lin Xiaofei found herself back inside the dungeon where she was tortured for months.
The dim light that came from the single torch on the side of her dirty cell was giving her the eerie feeling she always got when Yu Fangzhu first showed it to her.
And when she was brought to this place, she could remember screaming for help and begging Yu Fangzhu for mercy as she knew what kind of vile things that took place in the dungeon.
Her breathing became irregular as she walked through the dirty corridors that had rats running around indiscriminately.
The walls were made of stone and on each side of the dungeon, there were cages or cells were built to separate the people who were caught and destined to a wretched life inside. The cells were empty and devoid of life, completely different from the time when she was held captive and tortured in there as there were other people who stayed beside her cells, facing the same fate as she did.
Lin Xiaofei held her breath as the fear and anxiety that she felt when she spent her first night here came back to her like a bullet entering her body.
Seeing that she wasn't inside her cell as in her past life, Lin Xiaofei sighed in relief as she realized that she was inside her nightmare and this world was not the reality.
This isn't real. I'm still alright. Thought Lin Xiaofei to herself.
She slowly lifted her feet to walk ahead. She could clearly hear her heart beating inside her chest as she got near the cell where she was locked and put to suffer for months. The hem of her dress became dirty from the wetness of the ground and Lin Xiaofei dared not lift her dress as it was pointless.
The further she walked inside, the more her nerves became erratic and breathing turning into short gasps.
Swallowing the bile in her throat, Lin Xiaofei stopped walking when she could finally see the cell where she stayed for months. The cell was a few meters away from her but it felt so close to her that the moment she caught sight of it, it felt like it would suck her back inside and make her experience the pain and suffering she was forced to feel inside that cell.
"What are you standing there for? Come here." A voice that sounded so familiar and strange echoed inside the dungeon.
When Lin Xiaofei heard that voice, her knees almost buckled as she could tell whose voice it was.
"Don't make me wait. Come." The hoarse voice said once again and Lin Xiaofei bit her lips as she padded towards where the voice was.
Stopping right in front of the cell, Lin Xiaofei stopped breathing as she put her hand to cover her mouth.
When Lin Xiaofei saw the person inside the cell, she staggered one step backward.
The person inside the cell laughed as if the reaction of Lin Xiaofei was extremely funny, "You look shocked."
Shock? Lin Xiaofei didn't know if it was the perfect word to describe what she was feeling right now. The emotions she was feeling right now was a whirlpool that seemed to sweep her feet off the ground.
She can't take her eyes off the person inside the cell as she heard the voice speaking once again.
"That's funny. Why are you surprised to see yourself? Did you forget that this was what you've become after staying here?" The voice laughed, rendering Lin Xiaofei speechless.
The person inside the dirty cell in front of Lin Xiaofei was none other than herself or more specifically, it was her in the past, Xiaofei.
Lin Xiaofei could see her past self's face full of wounds as blood was still dripping off of it, the flesh under her skin was visible to the eyes as the markings from the hot iron that was forced to burn her face was still there as if she had just received that tattoos in her face just a while ago.
The limbs that were supposed to be there were also gone as the blood seeped out of her inner clothes from where her limbs were cut off.
Suddenly, Lin Xiaofei felt something wet coming down her cheeks as she continued to stare. Her tears unconsciously flowed down her cheeks without her permission and Lin Xiaofei started to walk towards the cell.
She touched the rusty metal that kept her from going inside the cell but she wished it would disappear from her sight so she could get nearer the person inside the cage.
Like an animal that was kept inside a cage, Lin Xiaofei couldn't help but feel pity for what she had become in her past life.
She tried so hard to get a fulfilling life with the man she fell in love with but in the end, she was sent to the dungeon where she was treated lower than an animal. She was treated like butchered meat inside the cell, waiting for death to claim her.
However, Yu Fangzhu was meticulous to keep her alive even after what she has gone through.
"Why… why must I suffer like this? Why me? I only wanted to live." The woman inside the cell sobbed as salty tears started to stream down her bloodied face.
Lin Xiaofei's heart started to hurt as her hand tried to reach the woman inside the cell. She wanted to touch her to feel her. To lessen the pain as the woman inside the cell also broke into tears.
Please, don't cry… Was what Lin Xiaofei wanted to say to her past self but her voice was drowned with her own sobbings.