Chapter 226: A Scene Straight Out of a Horror Movie

“Turn around,” Xiao Yu said calmly, his gaze fixed on the woman.

“…”

Her face was filled with terror. She feared what Xiao Yu might do, but she hesitantly complied, limping as she turned.

Click! Click!

One handcuff was secured around her wrist, the other around her ankle. The awkward position forced her into a bent posture, unable to stand properly, and she fell to the ground. With one leg injured and the other cuffed, running away was out of the question.

After restraining her, Xiao Yu stood up and shifted his attention to the monitors in the room. There were five screens in total, each showing surveillance footage. One displayed the entrance and corridors leading to the underground area. Another showed what appeared to be a bedroom. And then, there was a shot of… a prison cell?

Xiao Yu couldn’t be sure if it was a prison cell, but what he saw inside were the toys — two women and one man.

The lighting in the cell was dim, causing the footage to appear slightly blurry, but Xiao Yu could still make out a horrifying detail: all three of their mouths had been stitched shut with thick thread. The stitches were tightly sewn, resembling the legs of a centipede. It was chilling and grotesque.

It didn’t stop there. Their eyelids and ears had also been sewn shut, leaving only their noses free for breathing.

A cold dread filled Xiao Yu’s heart. His eyes turned icy as his gaze lingered on the screen.

During his interrogation of Peng Junlong, the suspect had mentioned seeing people with their mouths stitched shut. At the time, it hadn’t fazed Xiao Yu much. But now, seeing it for himself — the brutality and cruelty — made it impossible to remain unaffected. It stirred a deep, unsettling feeling.

This kind of psychological torture wasn’t just sadistic. It was something far worse.

Indeed, these people weren’t just treating their victims as targets. They were treating them like toys.

Xiao Yu took a deep breath, suppressing the surge of anger and disgust threatening to take over. He forced himself to calm down, steadying his emotions.

That’s what being a cop was about.

Exposure to the darker side of life could easily lead to psychological issues.

According to an authoritative survey, 13.33% of police officers show mild psychological symptoms, 3.86% of police officers have moderate psychological symptoms. Only 0.98% suffer from more severe symptoms. Injuries and other illnesses resulting from the job affect 33.31% of officers.

This meant that less than 49% of police officers were in good mental and physical health.

Less than half of police officers made it to retirement in good shape? 

When you also consider that the average life expectancy for a police officer was only 48 years, what kind of job was this? It was beyond dangerous.

It was terrifying when you really think about it.

Xiao Yu shifted his focus to the fourth screen. Oddly, it showed an underground corridor. At first glance, it seemed like a regular passage. But why would something so ordinary require surveillance?

After thinking for a moment, Xiao Yu turned his attention to the fifth screen.

The control room.

Yes, this must be the control room the woman had mentioned. He saw someone lying over the control console, apparently asleep.

Asleep?

Xiao Yu frowned.

How could the gunfire from earlier not have woken this person? Or maybe the control room had excellent soundproofing?

Shifting his gaze from the sleeping figure, Xiao Yu examined the control panel, noticing the various buttons in different colors and sizes. His mind flashed back to something the suspect Peng Junlong had said during the interrogation. Peng had witnessed three people trying to escape the underground chambers. One was sliced into pieces, another impaled like a porcupine, and the last was turned into ground meat.

“Traps?” 

Xiao Yu’s mind worked rapidly, piecing together the clues. His expression grew cold, and a faint, chilling smile appeared on his lips.

First, he needed to rescue the people in the cells.

Bang!

Xiao Yu’s foot struck the side of the woman’s face on the ground, knocking her out cold. It was safer this way.

Without hesitation, Xiao Yu stepped out of the surveillance room. He proceeded to open the remaining three doors. Each one revealed a different passage.

Which one should he choose?

Relying on the enhanced senses of Monarch Butterfly’s nose and Wax Moth’s ears, Xiao Yu quickly received feedback.

One passage carried a faint lingering scent of blood.  

The second had no human presence whatsoever.  

The third passage, however, smelled strongly of people, and faint sounds could be heard from it. 

This third passage had also appeared on the surveillance screen, which indicated it might be safer, though not guaranteed. At the very least, this corridor seemed frequently used. If it were overly dangerous, why would people be coming and going often?

Without a second thought, Xiao Yu walked into this seemingly safer passage, cautiously advancing step by step.

Why not wait for backup? Why act alone?

There was no time. The island was definitely being guarded, and one or two guards wouldn’t be enough. Support would take at least an hour to arrive, and in an hour, too many unpredictable things could happen.

Xiao Yu couldn’t afford to take that gamble.

His past experiences had taught him that even just a few minutes—or even seconds—could mean the difference between life and death for innocent people.

The passage stretched on for over 17 meters. As Xiao Yu moved forward, his mind raced, analyzing the situation. 

The underground complex beneath this island was far too vast. By his estimates, the area must cover at least a thousand square meters, possibly more. How had such a large-scale project gone unnoticed all this time?

One thing was clear. The suspects had a lot of money. Constructing underground facilities of this magnitude required enormous resources. The costs for labor and materials would easily be in the tens of millions, possibly even billions.

Suddenly, Xiao Yu halted. A sense of danger crept over him.

He tried to retreat, but it was too late.

Boom!

The ground suddenly split open beneath Xiao Yu, and his body plummeted downward.

In midair, he swung out his arm.  

His palm caught the edge of the ground, halting his fall. With a quick flex of his muscles, Xiao Yu pulled himself back up with the agility of a cat, landing gracefully on solid ground.

His eyes fell on the trap in front of him.

Two metal plates had split open, revealing a five-meter-deep pit. Inside the pit, rows of two-meter-long steel spikes lined the bottom. If someone were to fall in… it was too gruesome to imagine.

He had miscalculated. 

Xiao Yu shook his head. He had been wrong. This passage did see regular foot traffic. But it wasn’t just the criminals walking through. Victims had likely been forced down this path as well.

The scent had misled him.

So, the person in the control room had woken up?

How did they know he was there?

Xiao Yu’s head snapped upward, his eyes scanning the hallway.

With his Eagle’s Eye vision, he spotted two surveillance cameras.

So that’s how. 

He raised his arm, his sidearm appearing in his hand. Two clean shots, and both cameras were shattered.

“Now how will you keep an eye on me?” he muttered with a cold grin, just as he was about to continue forward.

Suddenly, five large objects emerged from the ground not far ahead.  

Huge, circular steel blades.

No, saws! 

Five massive saw blades, each with a radius of at least a meter, their edges lined with sharp teeth. The dark, dried bloodstains on them were still visible.  

Xiao Yu glanced down at the floor. Only then did he notice five grooves running along the ground.  

His mind raced. These saw blades could probably cut through the entire length of the hallway from end to end.

Grinning, Xiao Yu watched as the blades began to rotate and slowly moved toward him.

Why did this feel like something straight out of a horror movie?