New Novel - Read Here
Behind the door was a huge underground space.
Surprisingly, the air inside was rather fresh. There was none of the damp, musty smell that Xia Zhiyao had imagined was common in underground rooms.
The space was enormous and somewhat empty, with only a few simple sofas and tables scattered around.
The ceiling was extremely high. Near the top, a row of narrow skylights had been installed. At that moment, the last traces of the evening’s dim yellow light filtered through them, casting long streaks of brightness across the floor.
Tiny particles of dust drifted lazily through the air.
“Shen… Mr. Shen?”
Xia Zhiyao stood at the entrance, her voice barely louder than a mosquito’s buzz.
No one answered.
She gathered her courage and slowly stepped further inside.
At the end of the hall, directly opposite her, hung a thick velvet curtain that blocked whatever lay behind it.
Xia Zhiyao cautiously approached the curtain. She stood there for a long moment before finally summoning the courage to reach out with her trembling fingers and lift a corner.
“Mr. Shen, are you here?”
Still, there was no response.
Only the faint sound of air moving through the room.
Just as Xia Zhiyao began to wonder if she had come to the wrong place, a deep and lazy voice suddenly came from the side wall.
“Come in.”
Xia Zhiyao was startled.
Following the direction of the voice, she finally noticed that there was actually a half-open hidden door built into the side wall.
Its color was almost identical to the surrounding wall, making it impossible to notice unless someone looked closely.
The door was slightly ajar, and a faint warm yellow light seeped through the narrow gap.
Xia Zhiyao slowly let out a breath.
It felt as though she was walking toward an execution ground.
She clenched her teeth, pushed open the hidden door, and stepped inside.
The space behind the hidden door was not very large. The floor was covered with thick soundproof carpeting.
The entire room was dimly lit. Two rows of faint spotlights on the ceiling cast a soft yellow glow onto the light gray wallpaper, creating an atmosphere that was strangely intimate yet unsettlingly ambiguous.
“Close the door.”
The command came again.
Xia Zhiyao’s body trembled.
She immediately turned around in panic and closed the door behind her.
Click.
The sound of the lock bolt sliding into place echoed softly in the quiet room.
She turned back around, pressed her back tightly against the door, and twisted both hands nervously behind her.
Her head remained lowered so much that she did not dare look around.
Within her field of vision, she could only see a pair of black military boots resting on the dark red carpet, crossed casually in front of her.
Shen Yu was sitting directly opposite her on a single-seat leather sofa against the wall.
“Mr. Shen, you called for me…”
She gathered all her courage and slowly lifted her head.
However, in the next second, her eyes widened uncontrollably, and the rest of her words became trapped in her throat.
The moment she saw the entire room clearly, an unprecedented chill instantly spread through her entire body.
Her blood seemed to run cold.
This was not a study.
Nor was it a reception room.
This place seemed to be…
a torture chamber.
At the very center of the room stood a strangely designed red leather chair.
Several cold, gleaming metal rings hung down from the ceiling.
Against the wall stood a long table, covered with rows upon rows of neatly arranged tools whose names Xia Zhiyao could not identify.
Yet just looking at them was enough to make a bone-deep terror spread through her body.
Hanging all over the walls were various kinds of—
This was hell.
Or perhaps a playground for demons?
How could Xia Zhiyao have ever seen such a scene before?
As a well-behaved girl who had always been protected inside an ivory tower, these things held only one meaning in her mind:
Pain.
Torment.
Nothing else.
Was he going to torture her?
Like the cruel punishments used in ancient times, was he going to use those methods on her?
The overwhelming fear instantly shattered the psychological defenses she had desperately held together for six days.
Tears burst from her eyes, instantly blurring her vision.
“Come here.”
Shen Yu’s voice was calm and faint, without the slightest trace of anger.
He was wearing a black shirt with two buttons undone at the collar. His entire body leaned lazily against the sofa, looking completely relaxed.
He resembled a lion that had just finished its meal, leisurely admiring the trembling rabbit beneath its claws.
Xia Zhiyao’s legs felt as heavy as if they had been filled with lead.
However, under his sharp and intimidating gaze, she could only move toward him step by step, like a walking corpse.
Five meters.
Three meters.
One meter.
She stopped when she was only two steps away from him.
Her entire body trembled like a fallen leaf caught in the wind.
Her tears continued to fall, landing on the carpet with soft plop sounds.
Even so, she did not dare cry out loud.
She could only suppress her sobs, letting out tiny, restrained sounds.
She remembered that he disliked noise.
Shen Yu leaned back slightly, resting against the sofa.
His deep black eyes narrowed as his gaze slowly traveled over her body without restraint.
Today, she was wearing a simple white cotton dress. The hem reached just above her knees, and her hair was left loose instead of tied up.
His gaze moved from her frightened, tear-filled doe-like eyes, to her pale lips that had lost all color, then to her small hands tightly clutching the hem of her dress.
Finally, his eyes fell on her tiny toes digging firmly into the carpet because of fear.
A stupid little puppy who disliked wearing shoes.
She was afraid.
Terrified beyond belief.
The corners of Shen Yu’s lips slowly curved upward into a faint, ambiguous smile.
A dangerous and excited light flickered in his eyes.
“Does it still hurt?”
Shen Yu rested his face against one hand and asked with a smile.
His tone was unexpectedly gentle.
“It has been so long already. It shouldn’t still hurt, right?”
Xia Zhiyao’s mind had completely stopped functioning under the overwhelming fear.
She stared at him blankly as tears continued streaming down her face.
It took several seconds before she finally realized what he was talking about.
However, she had no time to feel embarrassed.
She closed her eyes and shook her head.
Looking at the two trails of tears flowing endlessly down her cheeks, Shen Yu smiled.
“You’re already crying now?”
His deep voice carried a hint of cruel amusement.
“Then later…”
His smile deepened slightly.
“What should we do?”