Chapter 366: The Devil's New Clothes (1)

"Of course." Number Five's massive hand stayed glued to Number Four as a loud gulp sounded from his throat.

Number Four buried her face in the fat of Number Five's chest. Sticking out her small tongue, she lightly traced it across his skin. "You can't lie to me. It's a promise."

Her display left everyone watching with dry mouths. Number Five, an ugly mountain of meat, had an even stronger reaction. His hand refused to pull away.

The alarm sounded for the third time, but Number Four and Number Five were still reluctant to part, acting like a pair of star-crossed lovers who had braved life and death together.

"Go on. I'll protect you tonight." The fat on Number Five's body jiggled. His small eyes, nearly swallowed by grease, gleamed as he stared fixedly at Number Four's perfect curves.

"Okay," Number Four murmured softly. She walked slowly over to the Electric Chair and, under the urging gazes of the group, slipped on the foul-smelling, still-warm helmet.

The alarm cut off. The helmet was a bit too large, completely covering Number Four's face.

A dozen seconds passed before a sweet, slightly bewildered voice drifted from the helmet.

"Before I came here, it had been so long since I'd gotten a good night's sleep. The moment I closed my eyes, I could see him crawling out from under the bed or emerging from the covers. He would climb onto me, trying to strangle me, trying to eat me bite by bite."

"Even when I forced myself to sleep with medication, he still appeared in my dreams. Like a lingering spirit, he haunted me, refusing to let go."

"I didn't actually want to kill him. But I knew that if I didn't, he would eventually torment me to death. I had to do it. I had no other choice."

"My name is Wang Yuchun. I'm an actress."

My eyes widened at the name. 'Wang Yuchun? Isn't she the first girlfriend of Huang Boyuan's youngest son?! She's an actress, and I heard she was later kept by some mysterious sugar daddy. How did she end up here? Why would she kill someone?'

The reactions of the others around the round table were much the same as mine. Not long ago, Wang Yuchun skyrocketed to fame thanks to a certain movie. She transformed from a third-rate car model into a second-tier star—a true case of a fish leaping over the dragon gate.

But after that movie, she vanished from the public eye.

"She's a celebrity? No wonder she looks so familiar."

"To rise to the top that fast, there's definitely some shady business involved. Just look at how she had that fat guy completely bewitched. This chick is anything but simple."

"You can only believe a third of what a woman says. Anyway, no matter how pitiful her sob story is, she's not getting my vote."

No one bothered to lower their voices. Wang Yuchun could hear every word perfectly clearly, but with the helmet covering her face, her expression remained a mystery.

"I'm an actress, and I freely admit that I've done some filthy things. But is it really my fault?"

"I came from an ordinary background. I had no connections and no money."

"Right after I graduated from film school and joined my first production crew, I watched the producer and director point at photos of actresses, making all sorts of vulgar comments without the slightest bit of shame."

"All I wanted was a role. I poured my heart into my acting, only to tragically realize that no matter how hard I worked, I would only ever get an insignificant bit part that could end up on the cutting room floor."

"Those men kept dropping hints, trying to teach me how a 'smart' person should behave. I held onto my principles and refused to roll in the mud with them. The result? The other girls in my class became massive stars one by one, while I was left wandering in place."

"My stubbornness earned me nothing but bruises. Nobody saw my effort, nobody praised me, and nobody even knew my name."

"When I joined a new crew, I became obedient. I wised up. Like a docile little lamb, I scrubbed myself clean, put on a pure and innocent act, and willingly delivered myself straight to the wolves."

"I made 110,000 for that movie, and I sent 100,000 of it back home to my family."

"Later on, my acting opportunities broadened, and the status of the people around me climbed higher and higher. I thought I had finally broken into the 'entertainment circle' for real. But who could have predicted that a nightmare would quietly creep in."

"A few months ago, Li Changgui—the richest man in Xinhu City and the controlling shareholder of the largest free-trade corporation in the Central-South region—showed up at the box office celebration banquet for my new movie."

"I was just a second-tier actress at the time. Compared to his status, the difference between us was like night and day, but he showed immense appreciation for me."

"He constantly checked in on me and showered me with expensive gifts. He acted like a loving father and an elegant gentleman. It wasn't long before I yielded to his requests, took him as my sugar daddy, and moved into his villa."

"At first, he didn't cross any lines. He just had me accompany him when he went fishing or golfing."

"I respected him deeply, truly treating him like a father in my heart." The helmet hid her face, making it impossible to see her expression, but her voice began to tremble slightly. It was as if a deep-seated fear was bubbling to the surface.

"A few weeks went by like that. Then, one day when I tried to head out, Li Changgui's bodyguards abruptly stopped me and warned me that I was forbidden to leave. That was when I realized something was very wrong."

"I rushed to find Li Changgui. He was half-reclining on a sofa in an expensive bathrobe. He didn't say much when I walked in; he just pointed to three items sitting on the table."

"The first item was my personal dossier—hundreds of pages of it. It contained my family ties, my parents' employment details, and a record of every major event in my life from the moment I enrolled in film school all the way to the present."

"At the very end of the file were rows of hotel booking logs and dozens of candid photos taken of me in secret."

"Li Changgui had been investigating me for a long time. He knew everything about me like the back of his hand. Compared to his vast, heaven-reaching influence, I was nothing but a stumbling newborn infant."

"The second item on the table was a contract and a bank card. The contract essentially dictated that I would accompany Li Changgui for one year, and in return, he would pay me three million."

"The final item on the table was a collar. Just an ordinary, run-of-the-mill dog collar."

"His message was crystal clear. It was a mix of threats and bribes. If I wanted to keep acting, my only choice was to submit."

"From that day onward, I became Li Changgui's personal slave. This man, whom I had once viewed as a kind father, revealed a completely different side of himself."

Wang Yuchun raised her pale arms to her chest, her fingertips slowly undoing her buttons one by one.

Under the watchful gazes of the crowd, she took her time.

Sitting at the table, I watched her bizarre actions. 'Li Changgui is the richest man in Xinhu City. According to the media, he was an imposing, unsmiling, traditional old man. Could his sudden passing from illness a while back be tied to Wang Yuchun?'

I didn't have much of an impression of Li Changgui, but I had seen his second daughter, Li Jingyu, with my own eyes. When Lu Xing destroyed the dam to offer sacrifices to the heavens, the final sacrifice he selected—the one with the mourning gate fate pattern—was Li Jingyu. 'She was ousted from the company by her own brother, and she even left me a letter to open personally.'

Seemingly unrelated figures were starting to tangle together. Was this really just a coincidence?

I couldn't make sense of it. All I could do was wait. After all, this game had only just begun.

Wang Yuchun undid her final button. She wasn't wearing a bra, leaving wide expanses of pale skin exposed to the air. It was a sight that should have set blood boiling, but in this context, it just felt eerie.

"Bite marks?"

All across Wang Yuchun's exposed body—even on her most private areas—there were countless tiny scars. They looked exactly like bite marks, as if a madman had gnawed on her.

"Li Changgui was over sixty. On the outside, he seemed hale and hearty, but in reality, his body had long been hollowed out by alcohol and women. He was virtually impotent. The only way he could achieve any sort of sick, twisted pleasure was through torture." Wang Yuchun sat calmly in the Electric Chair, completely unfazed by her exposed body. "He bit these wounds into me."

Those scars clung to her like a piece of clothing she could never take off—a permanent brand of shame and nightmare.

"In Li Changgui's villa, I wasn't treated like a human being. He treated me like a dog, a mere object for him to vent his frustrations on. He tortured me to the absolute limit."

"At first, I cried, begged for mercy, and fought back. But that only ever bought me even worse torture."

"To survive, I learned to submit. I figured I could just grit my teeth and endure it for a year."

"But what's the point of a toy that doesn't fight back? To get his kicks, Li Changgui started experimenting on me. He forced me to take potent stimulants and watched me degrade myself in front of him. Then, he would humiliate me and beat me within an inch of my life."