Siheyuan: Hang Jia Dongxu, smash Banggeng to death!

"Let the terrier feed the dog?"

Qin Huairu felt as if a thunderbolt had exploded in her mind, and her vision went black instantly. All sounds, light, and pain vanished from her.

Despair triggered her brain's self-protective mechanism, causing her body to go limp and she to faint.

"Tsk, dizzy again?"

Lin Tian frowned, seemingly somewhat dissatisfied. "Didn't we agree on 'a double experience of ice and fire'? This is barely the beginning."

It indicates a ghostly figure.

Ghostly Shadow put down the kitchen knife, then directly transferred a basin of icy cold ordinary ice water from the spiritual spring space, and poured it over the head of the unconscious Qin Huairu.

"Aaaaaah—!!!"

The biting cold felt like countless steel needles piercing her burning wound, and the intense temperature difference jolted Qin Huairu awake.

She felt as if she were being fried in a pan of oil and then suddenly thrown into an ice cave, with extreme heat and cold alternating tormenting her nerves and body.

That feeling of being worse than dead made her wish she could die immediately!

pain!

It hurts so much!

From body to soul, every inch is wailing.

If I had known this would happen... why did I ever provoke the Lin family in the first place?

Why listen to Yi Zhonghai and Jia Zhangshi's instigation?

Why did he poison Lin's mother?

If only I had had a shred of compassion back then, and had persuaded my husband and mother-in-law to stop...

Would things not be like this today?

Endless regret gnawed at Qin Huairu's heart like a poisonous insect, even more so than the physical pain.

She ruined her parents, her brother, her husband, and her children...

She is the source of all tragedy!

She wanted to beg for mercy, her lips trembling, but she couldn't utter a complete sound.

She knew that Lin Tian would never listen.

This child who returned from hell is meant to be tortured and destroyed in the most cruel way, even to the point of death.

The soul will forever live in pain and self-reproach, never finding peace!

That being the case...

Qin Huairu's unfocused gaze returned to his parents and younger brother, who were still tied to the tree and groaning and cursing in pain.

Because of their own actions, they suffered this undeserved calamity and were transformed into this inhuman, ghostly state.

She then looked at her son's cold body on the octagonal table, and the mutilated remains of her daughter and husband on the ground...

A thought ignited in her mind.

Rather than watching helplessly as the hamster is chopped up and fed to the dogs, and watching his parents and younger brother continue to be tortured and die tragically in front of him...

I'd rather die first!

Perhaps... once I die, this demon will get bored and let my parents go?

At least, it would lessen their suffering?

That way, I'll suffer less.

Once the idea took hold, it quickly took root and sprouted.

The will to die actually overcame the fear of pain and the attachment to the world.

With her last bit of strength, Qin Huai took one last deep look at her parents and younger brother.

In a daze, she seemed to see her childhood. Although her family was poor and her parents occasionally favored her younger brother, they were not too bad to her, their daughter, overall.

She could eat meat during the New Year, her mother would mend her clothes, and her father would pat her head...

Those hazy and distant warm memories have now become a knife piercing her heart.

"Dad, Mom..."

Her lips moved, but her voice was so faint that even a ghost couldn't hear it.

"It is your daughter's fault for being unfilial and for failing you. She has not been able to take care of you and has instead dragged you down to this point."

"Your daughter can only atone with her death. You unfilial daughter... I'll go down and pave the way for you... In my next life, I'll be your ox or your horse to repay you..."

She looked at her younger brother again, her eyes filled with complex emotions: "Little brother... I'm your older sister. I'm sorry... goodbye..."

His eyes swept over the corpses of Bang Geng, Xiao Dang, and Jia Dongxu out of the corner of his eye, and his heart was ashen.

The people she felt most sorry for were them.

Even in death, I won't be able to rest in peace... no, I won't even have the chance to rest in peace; my eyeballs will be devoured by wild dogs...

"Banggeng, Xiaodang, it's all my fault. I'm not worthy of being a mother... Dongxu, can you... forgive me?"

In a daze, Qin Huai bit off his own tongue and used the last bit of strength in his body to throw himself into the fire.

Before Lin Tian's ghostly figure could bring down the cleaver, Qin Huairu was already on fire.

"laugh--!"

The aroma of barbecue filled the air.

"Want to die? Not so easy!"

Lin Tian's eyes turned cold.

He would never allow Qin Huairu to end her life so "easily".

What he wanted was for her to be betrayed and utterly destroyed by her closest person amidst extreme pain and despair.

Lin Tian took out several basins of cold water from his spatial storage to extinguish the fire. After the ghost dragged Qin Huairu out of the fire, Qin Huairu was left with only half a breath.

"Qin Huairu, do you think you can be free from this by dying? Let me tell you, not a chance."

He ordered the ghost, "Go, untie the ropes binding her parents and her brother, and then give each of them a kitchen knife."

The ghost did as instructed.

The ropes binding Qin's father, mother, and younger brother were untied. Due to burns and prolonged binding, the three were so weak that they could barely stand and collapsed to the ground.

The ghostly figure placed three cold kitchen knives into their trembling hands.

"Listen, now I'm giving you a chance. All three of you, if you pick up a kitchen knife and kill Qin Huairu, I'll let you leave here alive."

Although Qin Huairu's consciousness was hazy, Lin Tian's words entered her ears as clearly as a thunderclap.

Her last shred of consciousness was instantly overwhelmed by fear.

No...no!

Mom and Dad! Little Brother!

don't want……

She tried desperately to shake her head and stop it, but her body was out of control, and she could only make faint gasps.

Qin's father, mother, and younger brother gripped the cold hilts of their knives, listened to Lin Tian's words, glanced at Qin Huairu, who was dying on the ground, and then at the ghostly figure beside them.

The will to survive grew wildly.

Qin's father swallowed hard, his voice trembling as he asked Lin Tian for confirmation: "You...you're telling the truth? As long as we...make a move, you'll let us go?"

Lin Tian nodded calmly: "That's right, a gentleman's word is as good as his bond."

Upon hearing this, the three men, including Qin's father, exchanged glances. Qin's younger brother's eyes were filled with a longing to live.

Qin's father took a deep breath (which aggravated his scalded chest, causing him to grimace in pain), gripped the kitchen knife, and walked toward the dying Qin Huairu.

Qin's mother hesitated for a moment, then followed.

Qin Xiaodi gritted his teeth, gripped his knife tightly, his eyes hardening, and followed.

The three of them then surrounded Qin Huairu in the center.

Looking at his daughter's unrecognizable state on the ground, Qin's father's eyes flashed with a complex emotion, but it was quickly replaced by a fierce will to survive.

"Huai Ru, don't blame Dad... Dad's knife will be very quick... You won't feel too much pain..."

These words sounded like they were meant to comfort his daughter, but they also seemed more like they were meant to convince himself.

Qin's mother turned her head away, not daring to look her daughter in the eye. "Huai Ru, you have to understand the difficulties we parents face. You know what the situation is like right now..."

Mom and Dad... Mom and Dad are doing this to help you, for your own good... You're just suffering because you're alive...

Qin's younger brother was much more direct, his young face contorted with the pain of the burns and his fierce expression: "Sister... go in peace. Every year during Qingming Festival... I'll secretly give you..."

"If you're burning paper money for your brother-in-law, nephew, or niece, blame yourself for messing with someone you shouldn't have..."

Hearing her loved ones say things like "It's for her own good," "Help her get out of this predicament," and "It's her own fault."

Qin Huairu's heart, already broken, was utterly dead.

Even the last glimmer of hope and the warmth of blood ties were crushed by the cold reality.

……