Ch. 1 - Piglet

Midsummer.

The scorching sun hung high in the sky, mercilessly baking the earth below.

The air was dry and unbearably hot. Every breath felt like swallowing a mouthful of burning wind mixed with sand.

The stench of urine and the sour, rancid smell of sweat filled the surroundings. The foul odor churned Xia Zhiyao’s stomach repeatedly, making her feel as though she was about to vomit.

She was forced to curl up in the corner of a low iron cage. Behind her, the iron bars had been heated red-hot by the blazing sun, pressing painfully against her spine.

The cage was unbearably cramped. Yet seven or eight girls just like her were stuffed inside it, all wearing almost nothing.

They were no different from livestock waiting to be sent to the slaughterhouse.

Their bodies were pressed tightly together. Sticky sweat covered their skin, mixing with the heat and stench around them. Even the simple act of stretching their legs had become an impossible luxury.

Occasionally, one or two suppressed sobs could be heard, but they quickly disappeared into the scorching air.

Here, crying was a luxury.

It only wasted the last bit of strength and moisture left in their bodies.

Two days and two nights.

They had been locked here for two whole days and two whole nights.

Not a single drop of water.

Not a single grain of food.

Even the chance to leave and use the bathroom was nothing more than a distant fantasy.

Every newly arrived “piglet” had to go through this process first.

The women were locked inside cages.

The men were thrown into water prisons.

The purpose was simple, to break their will.

To make them obedient.

To ensure they no longer had the courage to resist, or the strength to do so.

Xia Zhiyao’s lips had already dried and cracked. Several wounds had split open, leaving behind dark red traces of blood.

She was exhausted, thirsty, and in unbearable pain.

But she could not die.

She absolutely could not die here.

She had to survive.

She had to return.

She still had to ask Xia Hongwen personally why.

He was her biological uncle.

Why would he do this to her?

The calls she had made to her parents before coming here had never gone through.

Could it be…

Had her parents also been deceived and brought here?

Dad… Mom…

Her throat felt as though she had swallowed a piece of burning charcoal, the pain searing through her body.

There was no moisture left inside her. She no longer even had the strength to shed tears.

Xia Zhiyao was nineteen years old.

She was a second-year student at a prestigious university in Huaguo.

Her life should have been filled with flowers, brilliance, and endless possibilities.

Three days ago, a single phone call had dragged her from heaven straight into the eighteenth layer of hell.

The person who called her was her biological uncle, Xia Hongwen.

On the other end of the phone, her uncle’s voice had been filled with panic. He told her that her parents had encountered an accident while doing business in Thailand and urged her to come over immediately.

Her heart tightened.

She immediately tried calling her parents, but the only response she received was the automated message informing her that their phones had been switched off.

She did not dare delay.

She applied for an expedited visa at the earliest possible time and boarded a flight to Thailand.

After landing, a man claiming to be her uncle’s friend warmly welcomed her. He told her he would drive her by land to a place called Pakong so she could reunite with her parents.

Then, after taking a single sip of the water he offered her, she completely lost consciousness.

When she woke up again, she was already trapped inside this hellish cage.

Her passport, phone, and all her valuables had disappeared without a trace.

The only thing left on her body was a torn spaghetti-strap dress that barely covered her private areas.

It turned out that hell truly existed in this world.

Her own biological uncle, Xia Hongwen, had personally pushed her into it.

The pain of being betrayed by the person closest to her was, unexpectedly, even more devastating than the physical torture she was enduring now.

“Get out here! All of you! Hurry up!”

“Wake up! A bunch of pigs!”

Clang!

A mud-covered military boot violently kicked open the cage door.

The deafening crash of metal made all the girls instinctively recoil. Terrified cries escaped their throats as they huddled together like frightened quail.

Several men in camouflage uniforms stood outside, their faces filled with cruelty. They carried automatic rifles, the dark muzzles aimed directly at the girls inside.

“What are you dragging your feet for? Do you want to die?” one of the guards shouted in stilted Chinese.

The girls hurriedly crawled out of the cage one after another.

One girl, weakened by exhaustion and fear, was a moment too slow.

The butt of a rifle swung through the air and slammed heavily into her back.

Bang!

The girl did not even have time to scream before her body collapsed onto the ground like a broken doll.

Xia Zhiyao was so terrified that she felt as though her soul were about to leave her body.

She no longer had the strength to think about anything else.

She crawled and stumbled forward with the others, desperately squeezing her way out of the cage.

Sticks and rifle butts rained down on the girls’ bodies and legs without mercy. The sharp pain forced them to move faster and faster.

The pain cleared Xia Zhiyao’s hazy mind slightly.

She could not die.

She absolutely could not die here!

She had to survive.

She had to return.

She had to ask Xia Hongwen personally why!

He was her biological uncle!

Besides…

She had never been able to get through to her parents’ phones before she came here.

Could it be that her parents had also been deceived and brought here?

Dad… Mom…

The girls were driven onto an empty patch of ground, lined up like merchandise waiting to be sold.

Barefoot, they stood helplessly on the scorching sand.

The midday sun was brutally intense. It burned their skin with waves of stabbing pain, causing their vision to darken repeatedly.

A man with a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth slowly walked over.

His murky, calculating eyes narrowed as he inspected the girls one by one, just like a butcher examining a group of pigs.

His gaze did not resemble the way one looked at human beings.

It was the way someone looked at a batch of goods, judging their quality and value.

Xia Zhiyao instinctively lowered her head and wrapped her arms around herself, desperately trying to cover her exposed body.

It was nothing more than a useless attempt.

She could feel that disgusting gaze sweeping back and forth across her body, causing her to tremble uncontrollably.

“These few… aren’t bad.”

The man casually raised the wooden stick in his hand and pointed at four girls, including Xia Zhiyao.

The stick pressed against their skin, a gesture filled with humiliation.

“Grade A.”

“These ones are Grade B.”

He pointed toward several other girls who looked pale and frail.

“The rest are Grade C.”

He exhaled a thick ring of yellow smoke, his voice filled with disdain, as if he were evaluating a pile of worthless garbage.

Xia Zhiyao and the other three selected girls were forced out of the group by two guards aiming their guns at them.

They were about to be taken to the Grade A room.

In a place like this, beauty was not a lucky charm that could save them.

Instead, it was more likely a one-way ticket to an even deeper hell.

No one knew what awaited them inside the Grade A room.

………………

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