Before Shi Luyu could speak, Jia Ye glanced at her contemptuously from behind the mask and casually made a hand gesture.

Zhou Ji immediately walked to the side and pressed the hidden mechanism on the stone pillar.

With a loud rumble, the ground slowly cracked open.

A huge iron cage rose from the ground, its heavy iron bars gleaming with a cold black light. In the front half of the cage, a middle-aged woman with disheveled hair was curled up, hugging her knees, as if she had been terrified into numbness.

Shi Luyu's heart clenched suddenly.

Jia Ye stood on the steps, his tone languid:

"Go in yourself."

"Shall I help you?"

Shi Luyu stood frozen in place.

She knew that Master Jia was unpredictable and had a perverse sense of humor. This man was powerful, capricious, and treated human lives like a game.

Even though she had narrowly escaped from his clutches time and again, it didn't mean she would have the same luck tonight.

She remained motionless for a long time.

Jia Ye was clearly losing patience: "It seems you need help."

Zhou Ji immediately wanted to step forward.

Ke Jia raised his hand.

Zhou understood and immediately stopped where he was.

The man finally stepped down from the high platform.

His black robe swayed slightly with each step, the dark gold patterns shimmering like snake scales under the lamplight. He walked leisurely, as if taking a stroll, yet each step felt overwhelming.

Shi Luyu turned around and tried to run away.

Before I could run two steps, my scalp suddenly tightened.

Jia Ye reached out and grabbed her hair, his movements as casual as if he were holding a disobedient little animal.

Shi Luyu was in so much pain that tears welled up instantly, and she stumbled and fell to the ground. Her knees hit the stone slab, and she bit her lip, unable to even scream.

He strolled leisurely, dragging her all the way to the iron cage, and then tossed her aside.

Shi Luyu was thrown heavily into the cage.

The iron gate slammed shut behind them.

Before she could even get up, the thick black cloth on the other side of the cage slowly rose.

Behind the black cloth, there was an even deeper section of the cage area.

A huge black panther was lurking inside.

Its fur was jet black, and its eyes gleamed a cold gold in the dim light. It had been lying in the shadows, but upon hearing the cage vibrate, it slowly stood up, its paws scraping against the metal plate with a low, scraping sound.

The next moment, the black panther pounced on the iron bars.

"Bang--!"

The entire cage shook violently.

Shi Luyu screamed in fright and scrambled backward, only to find that behind her were only cold iron bars and a disheveled middle-aged woman.

On the high platform, Jia Ye sat back down in the wide chair, his gaze lazily falling on her from behind the Black Hawk mask.

He chuckled softly.

"Don't be afraid."

"It hasn't eaten anyone tonight."

He paused, then his tone became both gentler and more stern.

"If you're lucky, she'll die and you'll live. If you're unlucky, you'll both be eaten."

Shi Luyu was both shocked and frightened, but she had no time to panic.

The heavy beast's body slammed into the bars of the cage, causing the iron mesh to vibrate violently and emit a sickening metallic groan.

The barriers wouldn't last long at all; there was a narrow little door embedded in the center, the lock was rusty, and the iron sheet was ridiculously thin.

Shi Luyu stared at the door, and cold sweat broke out all over her body.

She thought that perhaps that door wasn't meant for people to escape through.

Instead, it's about feeding the living by pushing another person over to feed the wild beasts.

When she realized this, her stomach churned violently.

From childhood to adulthood, she never had the idea that she had to step on someone else's life to survive.

Her parents taught her to be kind and to protect herself, but they never taught her how to send a living person into the jaws of a beast in such a desperate situation.

"Aunt……"

Shi Luyu's voice trembled as she slowly stood up, leaning on the iron railing, and tried to approach the disheveled middle-aged woman.

The woman huddled in a corner, her hair disheveled and covering half her face, her dress torn to shreds, and her bare arms trembling violently.

"Auntie, let's think of a way to get out together." Shi Luyu suppressed her fear and tried to soften her voice as much as possible. "There must be a way. There are people outside, and the cage is locked. Maybe we can—"

Before she could finish speaking, the woman suddenly looked up.

There was no reason in her eyes, only the viciousness born from fear pushed to its limit.

The woman lunged forward, her fingers curled, and grabbed directly at Shi Luyu's face.

Shi Luyu screamed and hastily dodged to the side. A fingernail grazed her neck, leaving a burning pain. Her back slammed against the iron bars, the black panther's low growl reverberating through the mesh, almost making her legs buckle.

"Auntie! Calm down!"

The woman wouldn't listen at all and pounced on him again like a madwoman.

Forced to retreat, Shi Luyu's voice trembled as she said, "You're about the same age as my mother, I don't want to hurt you! Two heads are better than one, let's work together to figure something out..."

"Shut up!" the woman screamed as she lunged at him, her voice terribly hoarse.

"I have to get out of here for my daughter's sake!"

Her eyes were bloodshot, her lips trembled, and fear and maternal instincts twisted into a single, insane madness.

"I'm going to kill you! Don't blame me! Only if you die can I get out of here alive!" Her heart-wrenching screams were filled with despair. "My daughter is waiting for me! She's still waiting for me!"

Shi Luyu felt a chill in her heart.

The woman before him was deaf to any advice. She wasn't unaware of what she was doing; in fact, it was precisely because she knew that she was so ruthless as a mother, all for her daughter's sake.

The black panther crashed into the partition again.

"Bang--!"

The wire mesh was dented from the impact, and a faint cracking sound came from the door lock.

Taking advantage of the loud noise, the woman lunged again. Shi Luyu couldn't dodge in time and was pushed to the ground. The back of her head almost hit the iron bars, and her elbow grazed the ground, causing her to feel dizzy with pain.

The woman straddled her, gripping her neck tightly with both hands.

Shi Luyu's pupils contracted slightly, and her fingers instinctively clawed at the ground. In her panic, she touched something hard and cold in her coat pocket.

A quick-release plate for photography.

The edges are thin and hard; it's a component she casually stuffed in when changing lenses.

Quite inexplicably, in this extremely critical moment, the words Xu Yuanjia had whispered in her ear in the storeroom that day suddenly flashed through her mind.

If you're truly pushed to that point, even a second's hesitation will mean you're the one lying on the ground.

And when he held her wrist, he taught her the angle to exert force.

Don't poke it into your arm.

[Apply to the eyes or abdomen.]

Tears welled up in Shi Luyu's eyes, and her lungs ached as if they were about to explode. She gripped the quick-release plate tightly, then suddenly bent her knee and thrust it into the woman's abdomen. At the same time, she twisted her wrist and used the edge of the quick-release plate to slash at the woman's wrist that was gripping her.

The woman cried out in pain, and her grip loosened slightly.

It was in that very moment.

Shi Luyu suddenly broke free to the side, rolled over and got up. Her legs were still weak, but her hands didn't stop. Following the movements she remembered, she grabbed the woman's arm that was lunging at her again, and with a twist, threw the woman against the cage wall.

The woman crashed into it heavily, making a dull thud.

But she seemed completely oblivious to the pain, staggering back towards the hospital.

"I want to get out! I want to get out!"

The black panther had almost smashed through the partition, the edges of the iron door were twisted from the impact, and black claws reached out from the gaps, scraping the metal with a creaking sound.

The woman was completely determined to kill him.

She grabbed a broken piece of iron from the ground and stabbed it towards Shi Luyu's neck.

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