Chapter 208: Probing
The front end of the wooden stick poked the waiter’s kidney.
Clearly Zhang Qian hadn’t used much force at all, just gently poked a few times, but the reaction from the other side was abnormally intense.
“Hiss—”
Like a prawn that had its nerve cord pulled out, the waiter’s body slumped on the floor suddenly curled up into a ball, gritting his teeth and involuntarily sucking in a breath of cold air.
His mind was still somewhat groggy, as if the anesthetic hadn’t worn off yet, and for a moment he couldn’t figure out what the situation was now.
Fortunately, the pain at his ankle had mostly disappeared, which reassured the waiter quite a bit.
Quietly lifting his eyelid a little, just as the waiter wanted to survey the surroundings, he suddenly heard a familiar voice.
“Don’t look, I’m right here.”
Walking slowly to the waiter, Zhang Qian’s figure blocked the light shining from the ceiling, and the shadow cast down enveloped the half-dead figure on the floor.
This posture would probably scare any normal person a little.
However, the waiter just stared blankly at Zhang Qian, neither speaking nor making any other actions, his eyes dull without a trace of sparkle.
It seemed he had really been stunned by the pain just now, even forgetting where this place was and who the person in front of him was.
“What are you looking at? Get up quickly.” Zhang Qian said without any politeness.
But the waiter turned a deaf ear, maintaining this awkward posture, motionless like a statue.
“Scared silly, or pretending?” Zhang Qian muttered.
Then he half-squatted down, held up one finger and waved it in front of the waiter’s eyes, “Can you see? Tell me how many is this?”
The waiter still had no reaction, his pupils didn’t even follow the finger’s movement, nor did they focus, just staring blankly ahead, not knowing what he was looking at.
Zhang Qian was amused by his appearance; he was pretty good at pretending.
Given the waiter’s performance just now, he didn’t seem like someone who couldn’t withstand a strike.
Not only could he bend and stretch, but he also had extraordinary endurance; in the past, he would have been considered a big shot no matter what.
To say that such a person could be scared silly, Zhang Qian didn’t believe it.
Normally, playing around with him would be fine, but in this situation, he probably couldn’t afford the delay.
Shaking his head, Zhang Qian said casually: “I was originally thinking of sparing your life, but seeing you like this now, living is probably a kind of torture.”
Standing up and brushing off non-existent dust, Zhang Qian lifted his chin, and the two ghost hands that had long been poised pounced immediately.
“In this situation now, I bear some responsibility too, so let me help you find release.”
“Wait…”
Before the waiter could finish speaking, he was seized by the throat by the leaping ghost hand.
His throat deformed somewhat under the immense force of the ghost hand, the creaking of bones grinding against each other ringing incessantly like an alarm clock.
Almost instantly, the suffocation from lack of oxygen made the waiter’s vision go black, and he instinctively reached out with both hands to tear off the thing on his throat.
But how could Zhang Qian let him succeed? With a casual kick, he stepped on the waiter’s outstretched left hand.
Not only that, the other ghost hand also began crawling randomly over the waiter’s face, occasionally probing by sticking fingers into his orifices, as if trying to see if it could burrow inside.
The fear brought by facing death head-on made the waiter flail nonstop, and the strange creature on his face like a giant spider made his whole body numb.
At this moment, the waiter didn’t even dare to open his mouth to beg for mercy; he worried that the thing on his face would take advantage of the gap when he spoke to drill into his body.
His hand was also pinned down firmly, with no hope of breaking free.
At this point, he could probably only pray that Zhang Qian would show some mercy and spare his life.
After all, he was the only existence here capable of communication, and the waiter didn’t believe Zhang Qian would let him die just like that.
However, things did not develop as he had anticipated.
Time passed bit by bit, and the ghost hand’s strength not only didn’t relax at all, but even increased a bit.
The waiter’s consciousness was gradually becoming hazy, but he just wouldn’t die.
Clearly, just a gentle squeeze would snap his neck, but Zhang Qian seemed to deliberately keep him hanging by a thread, walking on the edge of death without allowing that final step.
During this time, the waiter desperately hoped Zhang Qian would say something, even if it was cursing or mocking; he could accept it all.
Because that would at least mean Zhang Qian had a desire to communicate with him.
But there was nothing.
Zhang Qian just silently crushed his left hand on the floor, saying nothing, seemingly disregarding any information or the waiter’s role, just wanting to torment him thoroughly before death.
He didn’t know how much time had passed.
As if tired of playing, the ghost hand on his neck suddenly increased its strength again.
The five fingers dug deeply into the already distorted skin, then squeezed hard—
“Crack.”
His head lost support and drooped downward uncontrollably.
He had thought death would be release from the torment, but when this moment truly arrived, hot tears suddenly welled up in the waiter’s eyes.
It turned out that even clinging to life was a thousand times more precious than a good death.
If he had known he couldn’t fool Zhang Qian, he shouldn’t have played such a petty trick back then.
If given another chance, he absolutely wouldn’t have any thoughts of making those little moves, and would even fully cooperate with Zhang Qian’s actions.
But facing death, where was there any room for turning back?
“Crack.”
Another crisp sound.
A few drops of hot tears fell to the floor; the waiter closed his eyes, yet was surprised to find that he seemed fine?
Suddenly, Zhang Qian’s muttering came to his ears, “Still can’t move? Looks like there’s something wrong with the therapy, or maybe this guy is beyond saving…”
“Wait, the therapy is very effective, I’m good, completely good!” Hearing halfway, the waiter hurriedly tried to support himself to stand, but his hand gave way and he fell to the floor.
Right, his hand had been crushed, how could it support his body weight.
The waiter didn’t dare look at the miserable state of his left hand, but his peripheral vision couldn’t avoid it.
But… his left hand didn’t seem injured?
“Weren’t you good now? If you’re not sick, don’t lie on the floor.” Zhang Qian urged.
Hearing this, the waiter didn’t dare think more, scrambling up from the floor in a panic, “I’m not sick anymore, thank you, sir, for saving me.”
He had stood up, but his expression was still somewhat distorted, his two little eyeballs almost squeezed together.
Every part of his body felt like his muscles and bones were shattered, with a tearing pain, and even moving was a big problem.
But strangely, there was no blood on his body; upon closer inspection, it was the same as his left hand, not even a wound could be found.
The waiter felt puzzled; perhaps that feeling just now was just an illusion?
But whether it was an illusion or not didn’t affect his decision to obediently listen; at least he didn’t want to experience that feeling a second time.
