Rise of The Demon General

But after a while, no pain came. Rather than pain, his bandaged right hand felt slightly comfortable. The man moved to his left and started doing the same to his left hand.

After finishing, the man stood up and took out a water bag.

”Drink,” he said and put the opening of the water bag to Lei Pang’s mouth.

Lei Pang was unwilling to at first. But he was indeed thirsty. They didn’t let him drink much. Whatever, if it was poison to hurt him, he would just endure it as well. So, he drank the liquid greedily. It tasted like water, but he was having trouble believing it was water.

When the water bag was emptied, Lei Pang still try sucking it. Hoping that he could suck the remaining droplets inside. The man had to tear the bag out of his mouth forcefully.

The man then stored his things back into the bag and walked out.

Lei Pang only watched the man with a questioning mind.

*

Not long after, the door opened again. The same person who had bandaged his hands entered. Lei Pang looked at his bandaged hands. It had been quite a while and no pain was felt. He had a problem believing that what was applied to his hands was healing ointment, but it was also difficult to refute the comfort the ointment had induced.

He looked back at the approaching man. The man was now carrying a closed tray. He was still expecting to see torturing tools inside the tray. When the man opened the lid. It was a cooked chicken. The man tore one of the chicken legs and offered it to his mouth.

As before when he offered a drink, he hesitated for a bit. Thinking that it was poisoned food. But then he thought, if they wanted him dead, he would be dead already. He was not afraid of death. If they wanted to kill him, so be it. When their clan found out about his sacrifice, he would become a martyr to his clan. Everyone would remember his name, and they would pursue revenge in his name.

He bit on the chicken leg and ate it without ceremony. Only after the meat entered his stomach that he realized how hungry he was. After there was no more meat on the chicken leg, the man took the other one and offered it again. Lei Pang continued to wolf down the food ferociously. The man continued to feed him until the whole chicken became bones. The man then left.

*

This condition continued every day. Lei Pang kept on thinking it was a trick, that when the door next opened, it would be a torture session again. But it never did.

Until the third day since this strange peaceful treatment began. The door opened. This time, that weird teenage boy was back.

The door was closed. The boy was alone in this room with him. The boy just stared at him with a weird stare. Lei Pang was unsure what to make of the boy. Was the boy fascinated by a bound person? Was the Lin clan trying to groom this boy to have him get used to torturing prisoners?

”Why don’t you come closer, boy? I won’t bite,” Lei Pang said. His words indicate friendliness, but his tone and expression were not. He was trying to scare the boy. But contrary to expectation, the boy grinned instead.

”Oh? You think you are so tough, eh?” Lei Pang uttered. His anger rose because he felt mocked by that grin. How could he stay calm when a small boy who probably just hit puberty looked down on him? ”You Lin youths think your clan is the best because of your sheltered and privileged lives. Come into the open, our Lei youths will wipe the floor with your heads.”

”Funny you should mention that,” Amon finally opened his mouth. ”I bring a head as well.”

Huh? Lei Pang finally noticed that the boy didn’t come empty-handed. He was carrying a large sack with him. A round thing seemed to be inside that sack. A round thing the size of a person’s head. Could it truly be a head inside that sack? Lei Pang dismissed that notion. The kid must be messing with him.

Amon walked closer.

As the boy approached, Lei Pang made a show as if he wanted to lunge at the boy. He was trying to scare the boy. But the boy continued walking as if nothing happened, the boy’s eyes didn’t even blink.

The boy stopped right in front of him. The boy was still grinning with eyes staring directly into his eyes. He rattled his chains, trying to act like the aggressor despite being restrained, but something primal inside him told him that his acts only made him a buffoon before this boy.

He stopped. He finally gave the boy a serious expression and said, ”What do you want?”

”I’m going to give you an option. But first, I want you to understand the option that you have and do not have,” Amon replied.

”What do you mean?” Lei Pang asked.

”I’m going to show you the head inside this shack,” Amon opened the sack and took out the thing inside.

’By the Gods, it truly is a head,’ Lei Pang uttered within. What was this little boy doing with a man’s head? He even treated it as if it was nothing. Like it was any other object.

Amon was holding the head by its hair. He lifted the head high so that it was closed to Lei Pang’s face.

”What do you want showing me this head?” Lei Pang uttered. ”If you think you can scare me with it. You are seriously just a stupid kid. How many dead heads do you think I have seen? I have even cut off aplenty. If you want to threaten me with death, then just go ahead and kill me! There is no need to waste anyone’s time here! Go ahead and kill me if you dare! My Lei clan will surely avenge me!”

”Are you done rambling?” Amon asked after Lei Pang stopped talking. ”Take a good look at this head.”

Lei Pang was bewildered by the request. Did the head belong to someone he knew? Was the Lin clan trying to intimidate him by going after someone important to him? But there was no such person. He looked closely at the head in front of him. After a while, his eyes turned wide.

”This…,” He couldn’t complete his sentence.

”It took us some time to find someone with a face similar to yours,” Amon said. ”But with the Lin people’s resources, we managed to find a candidate. Of course, we do it discreetly so the Lei clan is unaware of this. This is just a nobody who will cause no alarm when he disappeared. After we found this person and took his head. All we need to do is just work him up a bit. The parts that differed the most from you are covered with wounds.”

The head did have several wounds that make some features unidentifiable.

”But it should be enough for anyone to mistake it for you,” Amon said. He turned the head to the side to let Lei Pang see the scar below the head’s left ear. It was one identical to his.

”I caused this scar and then used medicine to make it seem as if it has healed for some time. Those who truly know you will be certain that this head is yours,” Amon said.

”What are you going to do with that head?!” Lei Pang yelled.

”I’m going to have someone place it in front of Lei’s estate. Together with a letter that said this is the consequence for daring to hunt the Wolsh Brothers.”

The Wolsh Brothers were the name of the bandit gang that both the Lei and Lin clans targeted during the mission, the one where Lei Pang had been captured.

”We have removed their bodies. No one knows if they are still alive,” Amon said. ”After this head is delivered to the Lei estate, your Lei clan will think that they still are. But most important thing is, do you know what this means for you?”

Lei Pang was silent, but Amon could see from his pale expression that he did.

Amon put the head back into the sack and knocked on the door. Lin Guo appeared and took the sack from Amon’s hand. He then closed the door again.

”The head will be en route to the Lei estate now,” amon said as he walked back to Lei Pang. ”After this, no one from the Lei clan will be looking for you. They will be instead looking for the non-existent bandit outside of this city. The save that you are hoping to come your way. It will never come. You are stuck in this hole forever.”

Lei Pang didn’t say anything. His expression was hollow. He didn’t want to believe the kid’s words.

”And this,” Amon took out a dark red pill from his space ring and held it close to Lei Pang’s face. ”Do you know what this is?”

Lei Pang’s gaze was unfocused at first. It took him a few breaths before he could give the pill in Amon’s hands a good look. Aside from its unique dark red color, there was also faint red smoke that seemed to constantly swirl around the pill.

”This… It’s… It’s a core destruction pill…!” Lei Pang uttered in horror.