Chapter 67: Room Thirteen

Yan Yu and his six companions, under the guidance of Instructor Yan, escorted two “misbehaving” students to Room Thirteen.

As he walked down the corridor—at once familiar and strange—Yan Yu silently calculated how he might help these two unfortunate souls.

Adolescents, boys and girls alike, naturally develop feelings for the opposite sex. It is simply human nature, utterly normal. Yet, the present society tells children that this is “puppy love,” a wrongdoing. Many children who have done nothing wrong begin to doubt themselves, falling prey to inferiority complexes that may shape their character and future for years to come.

Parents, unsure of how to guide their children properly, blame psychological problems and send them off to the Internet Addiction Rehabilitation Center, believing that handing them over to Yang Yongsheng will be a cure-all.

But everything Yang Yongsheng does is an assault on human nature.

Stepping into Room Thirteen, Yan Yu saw exactly what he had glimpsed in Feng Liang’s memories: a hospital bed, a desk, and at the head of the bed, an ominous device—the dreaded electrotherapy machine.

By shocking a child’s temples, they inflicted agony so severe that submission would follow instantly.

Such is the favored tactic within this earthly hell.

As soon as Yan Yu set foot in Room Thirteen, Instructor Yan received a phone call. He turned to Yan Yu and said, “You have a call at the reception room. Be there immediately and return within five minutes.”

Yan Yu frowned. Only Su Han knew he was here. How could she be calling already?

He hurried to the reception room and picked up the phone. “What’s going on?”

“There was something important I didn’t get a chance to tell you this morning,” Su Han said.

“Make it quick,” Yan Yu pressed, his mind still on the two students about to face the electric shocks.

Su Han quickly explained, “Didn’t you notice how heavy the aura of death was around Yang Yongsheng? This morning in his office, I saw at least a dozen ghosts with him!”

“What!?” Yan Yu was stunned.

“You heard me right. Those ghosts follow Yang Yongsheng everywhere, and they’re all dressed in camouflage uniforms—it’s clear they were once part of this very center. Even in death, they haven’t escaped Yang Yongsheng’s clutches.”

Su Han’s words sent a chill through Yan Yu’s heart.

What kind of person could be so monstrously evil?

If Yang Yongsheng knew of ghosts and spirits, was he not afraid that, after death, he would be sent to the deepest hell by the judges of the underworld?

“So, all the talismans pasted on both buildings—they’re not to keep vengeful ghosts like Feng Liang out, but to prevent Yang Yongsheng’s own little ghosts from escaping?” Yan Yu mused aloud.

“In short, the Internet Addiction Rehabilitation Center and Yang Yongsheng are far from what they appear. You must be extra careful inside,” Su Han warned.

“I understand. Don’t worry.” Yan Yu hung up and hurried back.

When he returned to Room Thirteen, the boy named Zhang Hongwen had already been placed on the bed. Li Zhixian was attaching conductive pads to his temples. Once the switch was flipped, Zhang Hongwen would feel as if his skull was being pried open alive…

“Boss, what do we do?” Fatty asked anxiously—he simply couldn’t bring himself to go through with it.

Zhang Hongwen lay on the bed, his face deathly pale, trembling uncontrollably, eyes pleading for help from Yan Yu and the others.

“Follow my lead,” Yan Yu murmured, bowing his head and quietly pressing Zhang Hongwen’s hand.

Instructor Yan stood by the boy’s head, smiling. “Zhang Hongwen, I’ll ask you again—did you fall in love early? Was it Chen Miaofu who seduced you?”

Though terrified, Zhang Hongwen bit his lip and refused to speak. Instructor Yan’s expression darkened. “Level three shock!”

Li Zhixian silently flipped the switch and set the shock intensity to level three.

“Aaah—!”

Almost instantly, Zhang Hongwen let out a scream—raw and unrestrained. The sound was utterly hysterical.

Hearing him, Yan Yu could not help but picture Feng Liang before him.

Though the shock lasted only seconds, to those in Room Thirteen, it felt like an eternity. When Li Zhixian switched it off, Zhang Hongwen immediately began to beg, “Instructor Yan, I was wrong, I was wrong! I approached Chen Miaofu, it was all my fault…”

“No…” Chen Miaofu interjected, “Instructor Yan, I just dropped something, and Zhang Hongwen picked it up for me, that’s all!”

“You two have your story straight, but in Room Thirteen—such things don’t work!” Instructor Yan sneered. “Continue!”

Li Zhixian reached for the switch.

But in that instant, Yan Yu tore the electrodes from Zhang Hongwen’s head, Fatty spun and knocked Instructor Yan to the floor, and Hao Zhuang pressed down on his arms. With the wires in hand, Yan Yu slapped the conductors to Instructor Yan’s own temples!

“AAAAAHHHH!”

Instructor Yan could never have imagined that he’d one day taste the torment of the electric shock himself. His limbs convulsed violently—he hadn’t the strength to resist.

The sudden turn left the other students in Room Thirteen dumbstruck.

Only Li Zhixian, watching Instructor Yan’s agony, let slip a twisted smile. He quietly dialed the shock setting to the maximum.

In less than a few seconds, Instructor Yan’s screams ceased and he fell unconscious.

“Damn it, if we weren’t on a mission, I’d sit on him and finish him off myself!” Fatty muttered, thoroughly caught up in the moment, his sense of justice inflamed.

Hao Zhuang asked, “Boss, what now—should we…” He drew his thumb across his throat.

“What are you thinking? Even the authorities can’t just kill and silence people on a whim,” Yan Yu said, exasperated.

He turned to the other students, still paralyzed with terror, and said calmly, “To attack an instructor with an electric shock is a grave offense. Yang Yongsheng will never believe you had no part in this, so I advise you not to think of betraying us.”

Zhang Hongwen nodded frantically, “Never, we’d never turn you in!”

“Do you want to leave the center?” Yan Yu asked.

The answer to that question—a dream that had kept them awake countless nights—now seemed impossible to voice. Their faces were blank with numbness.

Only Li Zhixian replied, “I do.”

“If you want out, you’ll do as I say. Now, all of you leave Room Thirteen as if nothing happened.”

“Alright!”

Li Zhixian slipped silently from the room, and Zhang Hongwen and the others hurried after him.

They dared not linger, terrified of being implicated.

Once they’d cleared everyone out, Yan Yu locked the door. Fatty asked, “Boss, what do we do now? When Instructor Yan wakes up, he’ll remember exactly what we did.”

“Then let’s make sure he doesn’t wake up.”

A faint smile played on Yan Yu’s lips. He walked over to the window, reached out, and tore down the talisman pasted on the wall.