Killer Queen (GL) - Chapter 2

“You at least have self-awareness. I really don’t know how I could have given birth to a piece of trash like you!” Luo Yu’s marksmanship was terrible; she almost never hit the target. Her swordsmanship was also terrible, with random swings and dances, completely missing the point. Her close combat skills were even worse; she was often taken down by the opponent in one move. Even more fatal was that she dared not kill people, fainting at the sight of bl00d. In this assassin family where strength was king, she was indeed a complete and utter waste.

Luo Yu seemed to have been struck where it hurt and immediately retorted, “I’m really sorry for ruining your reputation as the queen of the assassin world.” At this moment, Luo Yu had long forgotten Luo Shisi’s previous words.

The cane instantly rained down on her body, and the crackling sound of it hitting flesh and skin was particularly chilling in the quiet night. That sound alone made one feel pain all over.

Luo Yu naturally felt intense pain, but for the sake of appearances, she stubbornly refused to let out a single groan. Her hands fiercely dug into the ground, cold sweat rolled down her face and shattered on the floor, and her whole body trembled and shivered uncontrollably.

It was a joke that in this world, there was such a thing as being beaten for refusing to kill, but in this home, Luo Yu had to accept such a fact, a fact completely different from the outside world—mercy was a sin, and weakness was an unforgivable towering crime. Killing was not a crime, but not killing was the reason for a brutal beating.

Luo Yu felt that all of this was so absurd and ridiculous, but at this moment, she was in too much pain to laugh.

Luo Yu did not inherit other excellent qualities, but this stubborn temper was exactly like Luo Han’s. Sometimes even Luo Han could do nothing about her. After all, she was her own flesh and bl00d; she couldn’t possibly beat her to death.

Luo Han swung the cane twenty-some times before finally stopping. She pointed at Luo Sishiqi and ordered Luo Yi, “Take him down. Pour boiling hot water over him, and then use an iron brush to scrape his flesh off raw.”

Luo Sishiqi, who had just been calm, immediately let out a miserable shriek, despairing and terrified, his face the color of death. Sometimes death was not a terrible thing; how one died was the key. The Luo family’s tortures could always make a person wish they were dead, living in agony.

“Young Master, please, Young Master…” The sorrowful and desolate pleas were in her ears. Luo Yu bit her lip, her expression somewhat wavering. Was she finally going to break her oath today? Were these hands finally going to be stained with bl00d and never be washed clean?

“Do you think this is kindness? No, this is a heart of stone, it is cruel and merciless.” Luo Han played with the exquisite pistol, her face icy cold. “Because of your cowardice, he will die a very miserable and ugly death.”

“Don’t talk anymore!” Luo Yu roared out in anger. Immediately following, a gunshot rang out, and bl00d gushed from Luo Sishiqi’s temple.

Luo Yu closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see the bl00d everywhere, but the white carpet soaked in bl00d still appeared before her eyes. Her fingertips were cold as water, and her mind was blank.

This was the first time she had killed someone. There was no fear or panic like most people’s, only a sky-high rage and fury. An unprovoked rage spread like wildfire throughout her entire body.

Luo Yu violently threw the pistol away. The pistol hit an antique vase, which instantly shattered, pieces scattering all over the floor. The rage made her lose her mind. Luo Yu didn’t know where she got the guts, but she swept everything on the desk onto the floor. Teacups shattered on the marble, making crisp sounds, and the confidential documents on the table scattered around the study like flowers from heaven. The room was a mess, as if it had just been robbed.

“What in the world are you going crazy about!” Luo Han was also enraged. Luo Han rarely got angry, so the consequences of her anger were often very serious.

“All of you get out and close the door! No one is allowed to plead for her!” Luo Han pointed the cane at the doorway, and Luo Yi and the others immediately retreated discreetly. Luo Shisan glanced worriedly in Luo Yu’s direction but was also helpless.

“Take off your clothes!” Luo Han commanded.

These words meant that the real punishment was only just beginning; the previous beating was merely a scratch. It wasn’t the first time Luo Yu had been punished; she certainly knew the implication of these words. After her unrestrained outburst, she slowly regained her clarity. She regretted her impulsiveness on one hand, and on the other, she was terrified of the impending punishment.

Luo Yu gritted her teeth and stripped off all her clothes. No matter how bold she was, she dared not defy her mother’s orders. In this family, her mother’s words were the ultimate authority. She was merely a piece of fish on a cutting board, to be slaughtered at will.

Luo Yu knelt prone on the floor. A sound of the cane cutting through the air came from behind, and the cane mercilessly struck her buttocks, leaving a bloody welt.

Luo Yu’s breathing instantly became heavy. Before she could catch her breath, another volley of lashes fell, heavily whipping her buttocks. Luo Yu felt her scalp tingle; the pain was excruciating, piercing. She wanted to cry from the pain but had to hold back. In Luo Han’s eyes, tears were a sign of weakness and uselessness. If Luo Yu dared to wail and cry hysterically during the punishment, Luo Han would probably beat her until her skin was split open and she couldn’t get out of bed for a month.

“Tell me yourself, what mistake did you commit tonight.” Luo Han’s voice was still cold and devoid of any warmth.

“Anyway, whatever I do is wrong in your eyes!” Luo Yu was not a good-tempered person either. At this moment, she simply decided to throw caution to the wind, knowing that this beating was unavoidable.

If Luo Han had only used two-tenths of her strength just now, these dozen or so lashes were at least six-tenths, fully three times heavier than before, and twice as fast. They landed densely on Luo Yu’s buttocks. Every lash drew bl00d. Bl00d broke through the skin and ran down Luo Yu’s fair thighs.

Luo Yu’s teeth chattered, and her thighs trembled severely. If she hadn’t bitten her arm tightly, she would have screamed. Every cell in her body screamed in pain, and every nerve in her mind cried out to escape. Luo Yu wanted to run; it hurt too much; she couldn’t stand it anymore; she wanted to flee far away. But she didn’t dare to run, and she couldn’t escape. Escaping would only lead to more severe consequences. She had tried to run away when she was little, but what was the result? She would never forget that searing pain, that heart-wrenching agony.

“I say one thing, and you have to talk back. I really don’t understand what benefit there is for you in provoking me.”

Luo Yu, of course, knew that provoking her mother brought no benefits, only more physical suffering, but understanding it rationally was one thing, and acting on it was another.

“Do you know what happened to the last person who talked back to me?”

“You cut out his tongue.” Luo Si, in a moment of impulse years ago, offended Luo Han with a single remark and had his tongue cut out on the spot, dying from excessive bl00d loss.

“Since you know that, then restrain yourself.” Luo Han pinched Luo Yu’s chin, the force so great it felt like her chin would be crushed.

I’m not one of those dogs you keep! Luo Yu wanted to talk back like that, but finally managed to hold her tongue. Luo Yu was certainly not afraid of her mother cutting out her tongue; she simply wanted to suffer less physical pain, as there was still serious business to attend to tonight.

“Kneel here for me. You are not allowed to get up without my permission.” Luo Han left a sentence, turned, and walked away, leaving Luo Yu alone kneeling on the cold marble floor as punishment.

After Luo Han left, Luo Yu knelt on the floor and strained her ears to listen to the movements outside, confirming that Luo Han had gone far and would not return in a short time.

The night was quiet. The hour hand had already pointed to four in the morning. It was pitch black outside the window, with only scattered tree shadows swaying occasionally with the wind, making rustling sounds.

Luo Yu flipped through the confidential documents scattered on the floor, seemingly tidying up, yet also seemingly searching for something. From time to time, she would take out her phone to photograph the contents of the documents. No one knew what she was doing. She never concerned herself with the Luo family’s killing business, but her current behavior seemed somewhat peculiar. After gathering all the scattered confidential documents, Luo Yu did not put them neatly back on the desk but tossed them up towards the ceiling, scattering them around the room again, restoring the room to its initial state. Luo Yu returned to her original spot, knelt down, acting as if her previous strange actions had never occurred.

The sky was dimly lit; it was already eight o’clock. Luo Yu had been kneeling for four full hours. Her knees went from the initial soreness to later unbearable pain, and now to numbness, completely without feeling. The marble floor was cold and hard; kneeling on it was extremely uncomfortable. The pain in her knees overshadowed the pain in the rest of her body, and the cane wounds on her back and buttocks did not hurt as much as before. Luo Yu thought to herself, next time during renovation, wooden floors would be better, preferably with thick Persian carpets in every room.

The door opened, and Luo Han finally walked in.

“Get up.”

It was finally over. Luo Yu secretly let out a long sigh of relief. She held onto the wall to get up. Her numb knees immediately felt as if thousands of needles were stabbing into them, causing her to be unable to stand straight from the pain.

“Does it hurt?”

“Yes, it hurts.” Isn’t that obvious! Why don’t you try it! Of course, Luo Yu only dared to grumble these words in her heart.

“Then remember this pain for me. As an assassin, being merciful to others will definitely hurt a thousand times, ten thousand times more than this.”

Luo Yu returned to school that noon. Her public identity was just an ordinary freshman student, no different from other ordinary girls full of hope walking into the university campus. No one knew her prominent family background and dark history.

She hadn’t slept all night, having been punished and forced to kill, leaving her physically and mentally exhausted. So as soon as Luo Yu returned to the dorm room and touched the bed, she fell into a deep sleep. When she woke up, the sky outside had already darkened.

“You’re back,” Luo Yu said to the girl across the room.

The girl across from her had shoulder-length black straight hair and straight bangs. She was tall, with slender, long legs. At this moment, her thin lips were tightly pursed, and she exuded a cold and stunning aura all over.

This girl was Luo Yu’s roommate, Xi Qi. Only the two of them lived in this dorm room. Half a year ago, Luo Yu found Xi Qi unconscious on the beach, suffering from a persistent high fever. At that time, Xi Qi had seven or eight knife wounds on her body and a bullet in her chest, her life hanging by a thread. Luo Yu couldn’t stand to see someone die, especially not in front of her. So, even though she knew the other person’s identity was unknown and might bring trouble, she still rescued Xi Qi.

After half a year of living together, Xi Qi had never revealed a word about her identity or background. Since Xi Qi didn’t speak, Luo Yu didn’t pry, after all, who doesn’t have secrets? Wasn’t she also hiding her own identity?

“You’re injured?” Xi Qi had a very keen nose. As soon as she entered the room, she smelled a strong bloody scent. “It’s just a small injury; it’s nothing serious,” Luo Yu said lightly. This small amount of pain was indeed nothing to her; she had never been raised in a pampered way.