The bottle of wine toppled as if in sympathy of her pain, the remaining red liquid spilling around her. She lost her focus completely, the world around her crumbling into pieces, then disappearing altogether, leaving only darkness.
Meanwhile...
Jiang Lang could not believe what he was seeing. He remarked that the situation was impossible. He rubbed his eyes, but the scene remained unchanged.
Bai Long slammed a fist into the wall, causing dust to puff into the air and bits of stone to tumble to the floor. He stated that it clearly wasn't Xu Ling he had smelled.
Lin Fan merely laughed.
Feng Yue gasped reverently and declared that the women were coming to him.
In the far corner of Luo Chen's bedroom, four women huddled together, holding hands for strength and support. Each trembled in fear, gazing at the men around them through wide and panicked eyes.
No, Jiang Lang realized. Not all of them trembled. A pretty blonde with freckles regarded them with fury in her green eyes. Her jaw was clenched, as if she were biting her tongue to keep from shouting curses at them.
Jiang Lang demanded to know why they were there.
Yan Lie sharply told him not to use that tone, adding that Jiang Lang had started this with his "pretty piece of bait."
Growling low, Jiang Lang closed the distance between them. One of the women whimpered. He reminded Yan Lie that they had discussed this before and warned him to be careful what he said about Xu Ling, or he would suffer the consequences.
Yan Lie did not back down. He pointed out that Jiang Lang had only known Xu Ling for a few hours and had barely spoken to her. He suggested that they should torture her,bshe should be begging for mercy and that they should know all her secrets and what the Hunters, if there were more, were planning.
Jiang Lang countered that she had tried to save him when he was stabbed and had tried to save him from them just minutes ago.
Yan Lie dismissed it as an act.
Jiang Lang admitted to himself that it probably was an act, but he couldn't make it matter. Frustrated with himself rather than Yan Lie, he backed down this time. He faced Luo Chen and asked why the women were there, his voice composed but still disbelieving.
Luo Chen glanced at Yan Lie, who gestured towards the hall with a tilt of his chin. Understanding, the warriors filed out, each humming with expectation. Luo Chen was the last to exit and quickly closed and locked the door.
Jiang Lang peered at his friends, most of whom showed the same disbelief he felt. Nothing like this had ever happened before. None of them had ever brought a woman here, even Feng Yue (that he knew of as the womanizer), and now there were almost as many females on the premises as warriors. It was surreal.
"Well?" he prompted.
Yan Lie explained that the courtiers had been overthrown by the demons, ancient leaders from thousands of years ago, and that these new sovereigns commanded him to execute these four innocent women.
He further explained that if he resisted, he would be driven mad with bloodlust, and if he asked to be released from the deed, he would be cursed as Jiang Lang was cursed.
Jiang Lang listened, stunned. Shock and dread washed through him, all but swimming laps in his bloodstream.
He started to ask why the new king of gods would tell Yan Lie to do this, then the answer clicked into place, and he pressed his lips together. He realized he was responsible; he had dared and even insulted the gods yesterday evening, and this had to be their way of retaliating.
He flicked Lin Fan a dismayed glance. Lin Fan was staring at him with a hard glint in his green eyes. Then he turned away and flattened his gloved hands on the mirror hanging just above his head. His reflection was bleak. Only yesterday, the two of them had claimed they didn't care if the gods punished them. They'd thought nothing could be worse than their current situation.
They'd been wrong.
Luo Chen interrupted Jiang Lang's dark thoughts, stating that they could not allow Yan Lie to commit this act. He added that Yan Lie was already at his breaking point, and so were they all.
Bai Long once again punched the wall, grunting from the force. Angry red cuts on each of his forearms burst open on impact, splattering flecks of blood onto the silver stone. He angrily noted that these courtiers must have known what would happen if Yan Lie obeyed and what a precarious edge of good and evil they were all balanced on. He questioned why they would do this.
Jiang Lang grimly replied that he knew why.
All eyes flew to him.
Shame weighed heavily on his shoulders as he recounted what he'd done. He finished by lamely saying he never expected this to happen and didn't know the Titans had escaped, much less that they had taken over.
Yan Lie simply said he didn't even know what to say.
Feng Yue, more directly, uttered an expletive.
Jiang Lang's head fell back, and he stared up at the ceiling. He wanted to shout that he had thought he was only goading the Greeks, who would have done nothing and continued to ignore him.
Luo Chen asked if Jiang Lang thought Xu Ling was also a punishment from the Titans.
His jaw clenched. He confirmed that she was a punishment, admitting he had thought so earlier the timing of her arrival, the way she had haunted his mind and fanned his desires but he had assumed the courtiers were responsible. He then asserted that the rival demons must have led the Hunters straight to them, knowing they would use Xu Ling and how she would affect him.
Lin Fan pointed out that Jiang Lang had not cursed the gods until after Yan Lie was summoned and that he hadn't even cursed them when Xu Ling first appeared on his cameras. He reasoned that they could not have known what they would later do and say.
Jiang Lang questioned this, asking if they couldn't have known. He theorized that perhaps they didn't send her, but they must be using her somehow, as nothing else explained the intensity of his feelings for her. He added darkly that he would take care of her, though every muscle in his body stiffened, begging him to snatch the words back. He didn't. He then stated he would take care of all of them.
Feng Yue frowned at him, asking how he would do it.
Grimly, Jiang Lang said he would kill them. He reasoned he had done worse, so why not add this to the list? Then he inwardly challenged himself: "Because I am not a beast." He reflected that if he did it, he would be Violence, no better than the spirit inside him, reduced to only one reason for existence: causing pain.
Yet he had brought this plague upon their house; he needed to fix it. Could he destroy Xu Ling, though? He found he didn't want to know the answer.
Yan Lie, just as grim, stated that Jiang Lang couldn't kill the four women inside Luo Chen's room. He reminded him that the Titans had commanded him to do it, and who knew how they would react if their orders were not followed exactly.
From behind the door, a female voice cried out that she could hear them and called them "sick bastards." She swore to God that if they killed them, she would kill every one of them.
There was another temporary halt to movement and speech.
Bai Long's lips curled in a wry grin. He remarked that it was an impossible feat but that he would almost like to see her try.
Feminine fists beat against the door frame. The voice demanded they be let go.
Bai Long acknowledged that they heard her, adding that he was sure the dead heard her as well.
That Bai Long, the most serious of the bunch, had cracked a joke was disturbing. Only when circumstances were dire did he resort to humor.
This was a nightmare. After centuries of rigid routine, Jiang Lang suddenly had a woman to interrogate, then destroy before she could be further used against him. He had a friend to save from an unthinkable command. And he had gods to appease the gods he wasn't even sure how to approach.
These courtiers were unknown entities. If he asked for mercy and they ordered him to do something vile, something he refused to do, the situation would most assuredly become worse than it now was.
Lin Fan suggested he touch the women, turning back to the group. His eyes were as bright and green as the girl's inside the room. While hers had been filled with anger, his were filled with despair. He reasoned that if they died of disease, no one would have to worry about their conscience—except for him.
Yan Lie said no at the same moment Feng Yue shouted a vehement refusal.
Luo Chen agreed, saying no to disease because once it started, it was impossible to control.
Lin Fan stated his determination to keep the bodies contained.
Luo Chen sighed again, saying that wouldn't work, and Lin Fan knew it, because disease always spread.
The girl cried out about disease, asking if they were going to infect them and if that was why they had been brought there. She then called them disgusting, loathsome, rotten pieces of—