PTYS Chapter 18

Xiao Muyu’s calm yet impactful words made Liu Wei and the others suddenly widen their eyes in realization.

This conclusion left Chen Xi dumbfounded. He stared blankly before dryly admitting, “It seems these pieces of information are indeed crucial. Otherwise, we would still be in the dark.”

“These hints were always there; we just didn’t understand them before. Now, with this new information, our guesses are confirmed, and the truth is revealed,” Shen Qingqiu said as she continued to look around the room.

“But there’s still one question: how did she turn those human skins into what they are?” She looked at Chen Xi, who averted his gaze and focused on the old woman, “We’ll have to ask this old woman about that.”

No one could sleep for the rest of the night. When the first rays of dawn broke, the old woman’s body shuddered unnaturally, her eyes slowly closing as if she had fallen asleep.

Cui Xiaoxuan yawned and whispered, “Is she regaining her senses?”

No one answered. They all waited for daylight, hoping the old woman would finally tell the truth.

Morning light filtered into the room, and they sat in the hall, exhausted from the night’s ordeals, staring out the window.

“You all have a death wish, don’t you?” The raspy, aged voice drew everyone’s attention to the bound old woman on the floor. Six pairs of eyes, filled with varying degrees of urgency, tension, and indifference, focused on her.

“Unfortunately, we’re still alive. Given the situation, will you continue to hide the truth? What happened that made you hate them so much? Killing them, skinning them, and then turning them into those wretched things, condemning them to a life in darkness?” The old woman stared at Shen Qingqiu, still remembering what she had done the night before.

“They deserved it. Turning into human skins is hardly torture—no pain, no awareness, how blissful! Hahaha,” she laughed, but there was hatred and tears in her laugh.

“But haven’t you killed enough people? Why keep them here, harming yourself in the process?” Liu Wei disagreed.

“You feel sorry for them, don’t you? I’m just an old, malicious woman cursing them in this hellish place, tormenting them. I’m the real monster here,” she said, tears in her voice.

“This world never operates on the principle that the weak are right, nor that the miserable are justified. We can’t speak on this matter without knowing the truth. So, tell us, and let’s see if they truly deserved it.”

Xiao Muyu’s expression was calm. Her dark eyes bore no hatred or anger, just a cold indifference like a night sky devoid of stars.

The old woman looked at her for a long time before beginning her story. At fifteen, she was a naive girl, following her only father to seek refuge with distant relatives. Her father fell gravely ill during the journey, and they stayed with this family in this remote area.

Initially, they thought they had found good people. The family helped with doctors and care when her father was sick. When her father passed away, he was buried there.

But the family’s two sons became infatuated with her youth and beauty, not wanting to marry her but still wanting to possess her. One after the other, they forced themselves on her with threats.

Alone and vulnerable, her pleas for help were ignored. The family turned a blind eye to the sons’ actions, and she became their plaything.

The village, bound by kinship, remained silent. All the women married into the village from outside, and no one helped her. She tried to escape several times but was always caught and beaten by the united village.

Things worsened over time. The whole family treated her like a slave, constantly abusing her. Only when she became pregnant did her situation improve. They even started caring for her, and those months of pregnancy were the only peaceful months she had.

The child was born—a girl. Her situation worsened again. The daughter became her sole hope, a gift in her rotten, stagnant life. She did everything to protect this precious flower.

“But I should never have hoped. Beasts remain beasts because they lack humanity. I endured their beatings and curses, but they even hurt my daughter. They beat and cursed her, not knowing whose child she was. Ah…”

Her anguish led to wails and screams. She glared at the group, her voice hoarse with rage, “But she was their family too! Yet they had the same vile intentions toward her, dragging her into hell with me!”

Her hysteria grew, and her eyes rolled back, the demon within her threatening to resurface.

No one spoke. Cui Xiaoxuan and the others’ faces were pale, their brows furrowed.

Shen Qingqiu watched coldly, while Xiao Muyu’s tightly pressed lips and pale face showed her brewing anger. Her dark eyes seemed like a storm about to break, fixed on the five people in the photo.

Shen Qingqiu noticed the storm within her, surprised by her intense emotional reaction. Her fists were clenched tightly.

This was the first time Shen Qingqiu saw such an emotional reaction from her, and curiosity sparked within her.

When the old woman calmed down, her face twisted with past pain, anger, and hatred, almost hysterical.

Outside, the human skins had disappeared. The only sound left was the old woman’s cries, like a lone wolf’s howl.

“I wanted to run away with Xiao Yun, but this village was full of vile people. I couldn’t save her.

“Until they married her off to another wealthy family in the village. This house was bought with the money they got from selling her!” Her eyes gleamed with madness as she looked around the house.

It was hard to imagine how the old woman survived. Indeed, the pitiable often have their share of hateful traits.

“Later, your daughter died, and so did your grandson. That was the breaking point, wasn’t it?” Xiao Muyu looked at her.

The old woman’s face showed a moment of dumbfoundedness, followed by overwhelming grief, quickly replaced by a sense of vengeful satisfaction.

“Yes, Xiao Yun married a beast too. He was a drunkard, did nothing, and beat her when drunk. She was eight months pregnant, and he still beat her, causing a premature birth. The child died.

“They all deserved to die. I couldn’t let them go. One day, I finally found a packet of rat poison and put it in their soup, wine, food—everywhere.”

Then, before they died from the poison, she skinned them alive bit by bit. Their cries and pleas were even more desperate than when I begged them to spare me and Xiao Yun,” she said, her eyes gleaming with a twisted joy that sent chills down everyone’s spines.

“No wonder. I was initially puzzled about how a family of five could be so easily exterminated. With poison from within the family, it makes sense now,” Xiao Muyu commented, looking at the old woman.

The old woman kept her gaze fixed on Xiao Muyu, who met her eyes without flinching.

Her eyes held neither pity nor hatred, but rather a calm understanding and even a hint of approval.

“You think I did the right thing, don’t you?” The old woman’s expression showed a mix of incredulity and delight.

The others were taken aback, staring at Xiao Muyu.

“No, there’s no right or wrong here. Only when the knife cuts into one’s own flesh does one understand the pain. People’s joys and sorrows are never interconnected, so despite knowing their guilt, their sins, they still sacrificed others without hesitation to satisfy their desires and benefits.

“If they ever regretted it, it was merely out of fear of retribution. And clearly, this fear didn’t stop them from continuing their abuse.

“Only when the same despair falls upon them do they truly feel remorse, suffering, and regret. Only then can they comprehend the depth of the sins they inflicted on their victims,” Xiao Muyu spoke calmly. Her voice, clear and steady, resonated with a weight that made her words feel like a judge’s verdict, compelling belief.

In that moment, they found themselves almost agreeing with the old woman’s cruel methods, but a part of them still felt it was wrong.

In their reality, if a person commits a crime, they should be punished by law, not by personal revenge, especially not to the extent of annihilating an entire village.

“Haha, so you support my actions too? Then I wasn’t wrong, I wasn’t wrong!”

Xiao Muyu’s eyes showed a hint of pity. “Yes, you successfully avenged them, condemning them to eternal darkness. But what about yourself? You too became a slave to this hatred.

“Your revenge never ended, so your pain never ended either.

“You thought you trapped those skins, but have you forgotten they trapped you as well? Not just physically, but your soul is also imprisoned here, never to be freed.”

It seemed she was no longer speaking to the old woman but rather to her past self.

The old woman’s laughter abruptly ceased. She stared blankly at her surroundings, her expression beginning to crack.

“You did it for yourself, for your daughter, for your grandson. But after they died, did your memories ever bring them back?

“When you tortured those skins, did you still remember why you did it? If we hadn’t shown up, would you have even remembered? I think not.”

The room fell into a dead silence. The morning sunlight poured through the windows, bathing Xiao Muyu in a bright halo that contrasted starkly with the darkness within her.

The old woman’s expression continued to fracture until she seemed completely broken, collapsing like a soulless shell.

Xiao Muyu knelt beside her, untying her ropes, “You’ve avenged them. Those people, no matter how deserving their fate, have met it. So, free yourself now. We’ll handle the human skins.”

The old woman, helped up by Xiao Muyu, stared at the blinding sunlight, tears streaming from her cloudy eyes. Grasping Xiao Muyu’s hand, she began to sob, first softly, then escalating into wailing cries.

Though they didn’t agree with her actions and found her terrifying, her cries filled them with a deep sadness. Who willingly chooses to remain in hell?

After a long while, the old woman stood and shakily walked to the room. Chen Xi and the others followed, watching her open a cabinet and retrieve a brick. After some effort, she pulled out a cloth bundle.

When Chen Xi reached for it, she shot him a cold glare and handed it to Xiao Muyu instead.

“Consider it a gift from me. Thank you.”

Xiao Muyu nodded, unwrapping the bundle. What she found inside made her pause, her face paling along with the others’.

“It seems to be… human skin.”