novelAbuy Chapter 72 Suicide by Biting Off One's Tongue
Chapter 72 Suicide by Biting Off One's Tongue
Deng Meng's current appearance is hardly recognizable as intact.
Almost all ten fingers were gone, with only two or three remaining, still attached to the skin, hanging on the palm.
His foot injury was even more horrific; his heel was covered in blood, and it looked like his Achilles tendon had been severed.
Even now, people are still slashing his body with daggers, the wounds aren't deep, but each slash causes him to convulse in pain.
Several women kept pressing on his wounds, and Deng Meng would be quickly woken up even if he fainted. The cold sweat on his forehead soaked the ground.
"M-Master," Wu Dalang cautiously stood in front of Li Chong, "Isn't this already considered death by a thousand cuts?"
Hearing the voices of those around them, the group, who were still immersed in the pleasure of revenge, finally came to their senses.
Zhong Mei raised her hand to reassure the women before standing up: "You're here. How's the situation outside?"
Li Chong stepped forward: "Everything is under control. The thieves are running away in panic, completely demoralized. I sent Erlang out to help; they'll be completely subdued soon. But, what's this place...?"
Looking at Deng Meng on the ground, Li Chong couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.
In recent days, he has asked himself if his experiences have been complicated enough, having even personally burned more than a dozen corpses.
Seeing Deng Meng's unrecognizable state, Li Chong still felt somewhat physically uncomfortable.
Zhong Mei, however, didn't care at all: "That scoundrel deserved it! If you hadn't said you would spare his life, I would have killed him right now."
Li Chong's lips tightened. It turned out that Zhong Mei really dared to kill; she hadn't just been saying it casually.
Indeed, the old society could turn people into ghosts.
Pointing to his cheek, Li Chong reminded him, "There's blood on your face."
"Um?"
Zhong Mei didn't care at all, and casually wiped it off: "It's nothing, it's not mine, it's that guy's on the ground."
With this wipe, the bloodstains spread across her face, adding to her charm.
"You, sigh..."
Li Chong sighed helplessly and took out a cloth from his pocket: "Wipe it clean."
Zhong Mei grinned and said, "As expected, you scholars are all very meticulous."
At this moment, the group of women also approached and cautiously asked Zhong Mei who Li Chong was.
Upon hearing Zhongmei say that Li Chong was the county magistrate, the group immediately knelt down before him.
"We are very grateful to you, sir, for saving us!"
"Thank you, Your Honor! Thank you, Your Honor!"
Li Chong was caught off guard. While helping the women up, he looked at Zhong Mei and asked, "Who are they?"
Zhong Mei revealed the identities of those people, and Li Chong couldn't help but frown deeply.
These bandits deserved to die.
"Wu Dalang!" Li Chong turned around and ordered, "Go and find some decent clothes for these ladies. We officials arrived late and have caused them suffering. We must not neglect these victims any further."
"Understood!" Wu Dalang quickly went to do it.
Upon hearing Li Chong's instructions, the women thanked him profusely once again.
Li Chong comes from the modern era and feels that the government is responsible to ordinary people, especially women like these who have been forcibly taken from them, and that he has an even greater responsibility to help them.
But this is ancient times, and the government is not the people's nanny.
A county magistrate is only responsible to his superiors; how could he possibly be responsible to ordinary people?
Li Chong said these words casually, but they moved these people even more.
Zhong Mei couldn't help but glance at him, and felt even more that Li Chong was an official who was different from others.
When Wu Dalang brought the clothes, Li Chong told them to change quickly. At this time, it didn't matter whether they were men or women; having clothes to cover their bodies was good enough.
Arrange for a few constables to look after the women, and then instruct someone to stop Deng Meng's bleeding so he doesn't bleed to death.
Li Chong pulled Zhong Mei aside and walked to the large seat covered with a tiger skin: "You've tortured him all you want, but have you asked about the situation down the mountain? Where's that Du Heng? Where did he take his men?"
Zhong Mei was taken aback by what he heard and lowered her head awkwardly.
"I said I forgot, you..."
"You!" Li Chong raised his hands.
Seeing Zhong Mei shrinking her neck, he angrily put it down again.
"It's a good thing you had some sense of propriety and knew not to kill him, otherwise Du Heng would have gotten away, and all the suffering we've endured these past few days would have been for nothing."
After Zhongmei avenged herself, the knot in her heart loosened considerably, and she returned to her girlish nature.
She muttered with her hands behind her back, "That guy is very tight-lipped. He just lied to me about killing him. Even if I ask him, I won't get anything out of him."
"He tricked you into killing him?" Li Chong frowned.
Zhong Mei nodded and said, "That's right. If I hadn't been quick-witted and seen through that guy's intentions, I would have really killed him with one blow. That would have been the end of it."
"Hmm~~~"
Li Chong nodded slightly, raised his hand to wipe the blood off Zhong Mei's face, and pondered thoughtfully.
"Oh, I can do it myself."
Zhong Mei took a step back, embarrassed, and tidied her appearance.
Before she could finish tidying up, Li Chong turned around and said, "I'm going to talk to him. I don't believe I can't get him to talk!"
"Hey, wait for me."
Zhong Mei quickly followed, saying, "Be careful, don't let him commit suicide."
Upon hearing this, Li Chong paused, and after a moment said, "Go find a piece of wood, but not too thick."
Zhong Mei was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled and readily agreed.
Before long, Li Chong and Zhong Mei squatted down in front of Deng Meng.
"Let me introduce myself," Li Chong said calmly. "I am the newly appointed magistrate of Yanggu County, and I also gave the order to wipe you out. Now, I'll remove the gag from your mouth, and let's talk."
After saying that, Li Chong stretched out his hand.
As soon as the cloth was pulled off, Deng Meng's expression changed instantly. He mumbled a few words, then gritted his teeth and bit down hard.
As for what he bites, it's his own tongue, of course.
Rather than being tortured to death like this, it's better to give yourself a quick death.
Putting aside everything else, those guys who've been around for a while are truly ruthless.
But Zhong Mei, who was already poised to strike, saw that he was not behaving himself and shoved the bench leg she had just taken off into Deng Meng's mouth.
He used too much force and even broke one of his teeth.
"Ugh!"
Deng Meng wanted to scream but couldn't, and cold sweat streamed down his forehead.
"Want to die? Not so easy!" Zhong Mei looked at him smugly.
Having made Deng Meng this way, Zhong Mei was already furious. She was now planning to do the same to Du Heng once she caught him.
Li Chong grabbed Deng Meng's hair and forced him to look at him.
"Bite your tongue to commit suicide? Trying to end your life? You, surnamed Deng, may be a ruthless bandit, but you don't know how to commit suicide. I can tell you definitively that biting your tongue won't kill you."
Deng Meng's mouth was gagged, so he couldn't speak, but he struggled desperately.
Li Chong smiled slightly and said seriously, "Let me tell you about a person who bit off his tongue and committed suicide, and how he died."