[Warning: Extreme Graphic content ahead]
"I want to raise the original price from 300,000 S$ to... 30,000,000 KWD."
(A/N: S$ = Singaporean dollars. 300,000 S$ = 227,331 USD. KWD = Kuwaiti Dinar. 30,000,000 KWD = 97,777,198 USD)
Mr. Gracia's eyes widened like saucers in horror to a horrifying degree. Leaning over the table, his heart rate for a moment dropped below 20 BPM, almost killing him instantly.
"... Huuuh... wheez..." Mr. Gracia's breathing turned heavy, as he tightly held his chest, cold sweat accumulating and dripping from his face, his chest heaving in pained gasps.
If he had not taken his Atropine properly this morning as prescribed by his personal doctor, who knew if he would've been six feet under by now.
With everyone's eyes on him, Mr. Gracia slowly regained his breath and dropped into his chair exhausted, his breathing finally slowing down.
He didn't even have the energy to swear at Xin anymore, and only looked at him with absolute disgust and anger, as if Xin had killed off his whole family by burning them at the stake — similar to what knights and the hierarchical system would do to witches.
Xin merely tilted his head in interest, as if observing an intriguing phenomenon that presented itself to him.
"Ah. So she does matter to you. You've made me really happy, you know? I was almost worried you wouldn't care about her, but here you are, almost having a heart attack for her. How fatherly of you~"
The girl trembled in response, her semi-moist, terrified eyes darting between the men at the table as if silently pleading for help.
Mr. Gracia's hands clenched around his crystal whisky glass in anger, a vein bulged on his head, barely holding himself from turning the degenerative abomination in front of him into ground beef.
His hand that held the whisky glass reddened, showing the immense pressure he subconsciously exerted.
CRACK.
A spiderweb of cracks formed on the empty goldenish-clear glass before Mr. Gracia's muscles bulged for a fraction of a second and the glass shattered at last.
Crkshh!
'I will fucking kill you myself! I will kill all those you hold dear—your sister, brother, mother, father, whoever the fuck they are, and I will fucking crush them alive using a fucking train in front of your eyes!'
His bloodshot eyes scanned the room, his bleeding hand—cut by the stabbed glass—clenched, ignoring his screaming pain sensors. As hands are on of the most sensitive parts of the body responsible for the sense of touch, any pain in general inflicted upon the hand—whether fingers, the palm, or the nails, are clearly felt, which amplifies the sense of pain.
With his unsettling and mad gaze settling on Xin, he managed a low growl through gritted teeth, biting his lips until they bled to hold himself from snapping Xin's pale, fragile-looking little neck.
"Do you think I have that amount? What makes you think so? Or are you so dumb you don't know how much your 'contractor' has?" he sneered in contempt.
Xin exhaled in exasperation, almost disappointed.
"How can you still not understand?." He motioned lazily to the girl.
"This isn't a negotiation. It's merely the natural conclusion of our previous discussion."
The contractor trembled with suppressed fury through gritted teeth. "I will kill you for this."
Xin took a bite of his steak with his fork in his right hand, carefully avoiding the pork, of course, and smirked.
"Be my guest."
He gestured at Vladimir.
"But for now, let us conclude our business deal properly. Shall we?"
The contractor's gaze flickered to Vladimir, whose grip tightened on the girl's collar, cold sweat dripping down his face. Xin noticed the slight shift in Vladimir's posture and smirked even wider.
Vladimir had a silent pleading look as he glanced at Mr. Gracia, begging him to take it up—he personally knew how cruel Xin could be. He couldn't bear to see in his daughter in this state, and, as human nature shows—, inflicting what he fears upon others creates an immense sense of guilt, pity, and anxiety.
The other audience watched the scene with great interest, and even Ekidna was recording the whole scenario with her phone raised, like a film.
"Your daughter," Xin said with a gleam in his eyes, "You're going to pay a very steep price for her freedom. So, how much will you offer?"
The contractor's chest heaved with anger.
"I already told you 300,000 is the maximum. That's my offer. Take it or fuck off."
Xin's expression turned expressionless, his amusement slowly fading. He set his fork down and leaned forward, locking eyes with the man.
"You misunderstand," he said, voice suddenly sharp.
"The price isn't negotiable. But.. "
Xin paused, letting the silence stretch for a moment before his lips curled into something sinister.
"Actually, I've changed my mind. The price is now 1B KWD."
Mr. Gracia blinked, taken aback by the sudden shift, before bursting into unsettling laughter.
"Hahaha! So you really are dumb! I couldn't pay more than 300,000 S$, and here you are asking 1B KWD? Hahaha, you really know how to crack me up, young man." He cackled.
"Do I take that as a no?"
Mr. Gracia narrowed his eyes and smirked in contempt.
"Yeah, that's a no. So what are you gonna do about it? Huh?"
Xin slowly pushed the table he was eating at before he stood up, his gaze never leaving the man's, with an unsettling smile, and laughed, his hands behind his back.
"Haha! You're right, what can I do?"
He kept laughing in response.
Not only was Mr. Gracia shocked, but the audience was stunned.
The retaliation they had expected never came.
Dietrich furrowed his brows, trying to come up with a reason for Xin's behavior. Although it was normal for Xin to speak nonsense at times, now wasn't the time.
'What is he up to?'
He pondered for a while before his eyes unknowingly widened.
No way.
He wouldn't do that, right?
Would he?
His knowing eyes looked back to Xin in astonishment before he started cackling for no particular reason, slapping his thigh in amusement.
Ekidna, who was recording the whole film, recoiled in disgust at the creep laughing beside her and instead focused intently on the current situation.
'Entertain me more!' she thought, finally with something interesting to tell her older sister when she returned.
This seemed like a paradoxical situation.
One moment, Xin was threatening Mr. Gracia with his daughter, and the next, he was laughing alongside him? What bullshittery was this?
Slowly walking away from his chair, Xin approached the trembling girl on the floor, who looked at him in horror. With not an ounce of mercy, he kicked her in the ribs, shattering one or two.
"AAAAGH!" she screamed in pain, clutching her stomach tightly, spitting saliva from her mouth.
"YOU—"
"Hush." Placing his index finger on his lips, Xin smiled.
"We're just getting started." Pulling her by the hair as she screamed and begged for mercy, he dragged her to where his chair was before bashing her beautiful face to the floor, creating a vivid canvas of red on the intricately polished marble.
"STOP!" Like a madman, Mr. Gracia sat up from his chair and pulled out his handgun, pointing it at Xin with madness creeping into his eyes.
"REMOVE YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF OF HER!"
Without replying, Xin slowly stood from his crouch and raised his hands in the air with a grin.
"Ay, aye, captain."
Mr. Gracia sighed in relief with his handgun still pointed at Xin, before hearing a scream and the tearing of clothing.
Opening his eyes, he saw that Xin had flipped the girl on the floor into a missionary pose.
CLICK...
Tearing the dress of his daughter including her panties, he saw Xin still smiling.
"STOPPPP!!"
Just as he was about to put a bullet through Xin's skull, he felt two cold objects touching his body in union.
Looking down, he saw Ekidna holding a phone in one hand and pressing a Golden Eagle—her sister had granted her on her 8th birthday—on his chest with the other, giving him an irritated cold gaze paired with a frown.
Dietrich, on the other hand, pointed a golden NIB Korth NXS revolver towards his chin, with another twin golden Korth in his other hand. He didn't spare Mr. Gracia a glance as he looked at the situation with an impassive face but eyes that said otherwise.
"Just watch."
She was breathing fast, tied down, shirt torn, wrists purple from the struggle. The smell of sweat, fear, piss.
Xin didn't even look at her face.
He decided to do something creative and took out his hidden Liber Primus scalpel from his military-styled boots.
"~Ooooh."
"Why not be my painting?" he said flatly.
Xin was always fascinated with art, often drawing paintings in his base of hundreds of things using red paint as his favorite color.
Using the blood of his victims.
He started with her thigh. No deep cuts, just enough to open skin—around 0.2 mm under the skin—as he used the blunt edge to irritate the nerves underneath.
"AAAAAAGGH!"
She screamed blood-curdling screams. Once, maybe twice.
Then it turned into shaking gasps like a broken engine. He watched her like a dying animal. Not with pleasure. Not even curiosity. Just silence.
"You feel that?" he asked.
"You will. For the rest of your life, if you keep one."
He tortured her for 25 minutes straight.
Blood welled up slowly. She thrashed. He choked her. Pushed his hand down hard on her chest with bones popping under pressure and carved again.
Suffocated on her own blood.
Thin lines. Like he was sketching something only he could see. Well, it was suitable for him as an artist.
No one was going to stop him.
He whispered in her ear as she sobbed:
"I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to paint you."
Her eyes didn't blink anymore.
They just stared at the ceiling. At nothing.
She wasn't here now. Her body was, but her mind had vanished.
He sat back, wiped the scalpel clean, and stared at the lines he'd drawn.
"Now you're worth something." He remarked with a clap and a grin, observing his piece of art.
She wasn't even worth violating. Who would want to play with a broken toy?
To Xin, she was too ugly to even reach the threshold of 'ugliness.'
He wanted to destroy her beautiful face and see her in deep pain.
Pain she would never recover from.
Mr. Gracia, hearing Dietrich's impassive voice, collapsed weakly to his knees in despair.
"How much are you willing to pay?"
The light that had faded in Mr. Gracia remained as he struggled to crawl up to Xin's legs.
"P-please spare her fo—"
Ignoring him, Xin kicked him in the face and sent him tumbling.
Looking back at the tear- and snot-stricken face of the girl, Xin felt disgust as he kicked her in the abdomen again, shattering a few more ribs.
"Seems like I didn't beat you enough. I wonder how many kicks it will take before a rib pierces your heart."
Kicking her again and again, Mr. Gracia, heartbroken, screamed momentarily in fear, offering a price.
"600,000 KWD!"
"Not enough."
The young man, bored from kicking her, smiled as an interesting idea popped up.
"Heh."
Both Dietrich and Ekidna were quite interested in the scene that was going to follow the ending credits.
"Achoo!"
Maria, still crying for the bodyguard who raised her, looked up from her depressing state.
'Did someone speak about me?'
Quickly dismissing the thought, she continued crying.
"Let us play a game, shall we, Mr. Gracia?"
"1B KWD!"
Xin raised his eyebrows in evident surprise.
"I thought you said you wouldn't be able to pay that much?"
"I—I'll take loans! But just please leave my daughter!"
"Not interested. The price is now 2B."
"I—I'll pay it!"
Crawling back to his chair, Mr. Gracia took his phone and with a stiff voice, took a few phone calls under the surveillance of everyone in the room before he hung up.
"T-here, I just deposited the money."
"In gold bars and coins? I don't take crypto."
"Y-yes."
Xin clicked his tongue inwardly. He wanted to play more with them but guessed this was the end. He had to honor his words as a man, after all. What kind of person would he be if he didn't leave them alone after this?
Scratching his head in frustration, he sent Vladimir to go to Violeta to confirm the payment. A few moments later, Vladimir returned and confirmed.
"Tsk, take your daughter and leave quickly before I change my mind."
The contractor's eyes were locked on his daughter's trembling and convulsing figure, crying as they neared the door. But then, just as they reached the threshold, Xin's voice broke through the tension.
"NOW!"
Mr. Gracia, almost in panic, didn't say another word. He rushed out of the room, dragging his daughter behind him, disappearing through the door.
"Vladimir, the button please."
Ekidna, excited by the show, cutely pouted as the ending credits appeared.
"Xin! Are you really going to leave the—"
Vladimir gave a red button connected to an RF module and a circuit board.
In an exaggerated manner, Xin giggled as he opened his palms to Dietrich and Ekidna and said:
"Boom!"
The button was clicked.
A heartbeat of silence.
Then—
BOOM.
The explosion was sudden, violent.
A shockwave rocked the room, knocking items off tables and leaving oppressive silence in its wake.
The sound of the blast echoed down the hallway, followed by the unmistakable smell of burnt flesh and destruction.
The contractor, still holding his daughter, was caught in the explosion, his body torn apart in a gruesome display.
Xin didn't flinch, didn't even bat an eye as the debris settled around him.
The rest of the crew could hear the blast in the distance, and one by one, they began to shuffle in, looking confused but oddly unfazed.
The others entered the room, their faces flickering with astonishment, before they started applauding at the interesting show.
It was quite funny with the other two members sleeping, not waking up despite everything that happened in the last hour.
Dietrich spoke up first.
"Was that…?"
Xin raised a finger to his lips, signaling for silence. "That's what happens when people fail to understand the value of what they're paying for" he said, his voice soft and eerily calm.
With smiles, and excitement, the applauding slowly ceased.
Zzzzzz....
The two men were still sleeping. How odd.
Xin leaned back in his chair, his gaze sweeping over them.
"Forget the noise. Let us just enjoy the night."
He was never a man of honor.
He never honored his words.
He was simply...
A young man with no honor!
However, just as he was about to sit back to his chair, the red alarm went off, calling for immediate evacuation, bleeping as if a nuclear warhead was going to fall any moment.
A breach.