Side Story: Hell on Earth
Chapter 111
Wan
Ordinarily, An slept soundly, but today a double happiness had arrived, heralding a beautiful future… it made her soul float lightly up to the ninth heaven.
She smiled, gazing at her sleeping husband. She closed her legs, embracing this "passionate love" that was warming the deepest part of her "heart."
The heat dissipated, the moisture evaporated. Happily, she went to the bathroom next to the bedroom, took a shower, and changed her clothes. The moment she pushed the door open, she stopped, pulled the door shut, and peeked out through the crack.
Squinting into the distance, she saw Maria hiding behind the door, spying. Maria carefully observed her surroundings, and after confirming no one was there, she breathed a sigh of relief, quietly walked out, and gently closed the door.
Maria sadly glanced towards her son's room. The mother abandoned all thought of controlling her chaotic mind, letting tears wash away all resentment, drowning her sorrow in the deepest recesses of her emotions. She cried one moment, and smiled bitterly the next. Maria's feelings were very similar to the desolate mood An had felt in her most desperate and painful moments.
The difference was, An sensed that Maria was not lost, but rather… it seemed her mother-in-law wanted to pour out all her troubled thoughts, having made up her mind that she had to walk into the darkness, even if she didn't want to.
Maria left the house alone. Her lonely figure caught An's attention. An quickly threw on a thick coat to ward off the cold and curiously followed her. Maria locked the door from the outside.
An was afraid that if she went back to her room for the key, she would lose track of Maria, so she opened a window, sneaked out, carefully closed it, and kept a safe distance.
After a while, her mother-in-law turned right, climbed over a small hill, then turned left into the forest to the south. This mysterious behavior aroused great curiosity. The sight of Wan waiting for Maria at the cave entrance instantly shattered An's curiosity.
When her father embraced Maria and violated the whole body of his daughter's mother-in-law, An was utterly shocked. She was furious at her father for deceiving her mother; this time it was even more vulgar than any time before.
An despised her shameless father as much as she despised Maria—this seemingly virtuous and exemplary mother, who was in reality a lustful harlot.
If Maria had been having an affair with another man, An might have felt deep sympathy. Even if her mother-in-law had relations with one man after another, she might still have endured it and turned a blind eye, just to maintain the family's happiness.
However, her mother-in-law had deceived her family, humiliated motherly love, and trampled An's affection and respect for her under a filthy crime. An could not bear her mother-in-law's excited expression, but Maria pretended to be shy and unwilling in order to raise her price, then poured that blazing volcano of life force… onto his face… which was lewdly laughing with pleasure.
Wan massaged her buttocks and lifted Maria up. She suddenly lost her balance and, at a loss, threw her arms around Wan's neck, her legs wrapping around his waist. Wan chuckled, then carried Maria into the cave.
An was just about to rush forward furiously when someone behind her grabbed her hand. She frowned, her face turning purple, wanting to see who dared stop her.
Her murderous impulse was immediately replaced by confusion, curbing her rashness. She looked in surprise at the person who softly hushed her:
"Calm down, quiet, listen to your mother…"
An didn't understand why her mother was stopping her, so she struggled to push her away. Her mother tightly held An's hand and pulled her daughter back.
"Mother, why are you stopping me! Let me go, I have a score to settle…"
That person opened a smartphone, and the screen showed the scene inside the cave. An silently watched as Maria undressed. Wan chuckled; no force was needed; Maria took off her clothes and began dancing seductively.
He watched smugly as Maria no longer cried from shame; his victim obeyed his every command, indulging his perverse and bizarre tastes.
"Heh heh, you're really becoming more mature, even more skilled and lascivious than May. Look at this hot body; that bitch is really hot, but she can't compare to this masterpiece of humanity. Truly eye-searing and hand-scorching. Heh heh…"
May curled her lips into a sneer as she listened to Wan repeat those insulting words. Twenty years ago, she had struggled to control her inner madness, holding her breath to stop herself from rushing in to catch them in the act of adultery.
Twenty years later, an endless life with the devil had strangled all her feelings for Wan, forging a will of steel and wearing down her soul until she became ice-cold toward the fallen.
An did not possess such an unyielding mindset. Those shocking blows shattered the heart of a father-daughter relationship that already had emotional cracks. A minute ago, An had despised Maria for committing a heinous crime; now, her father had destroyed her mother-in-law's image.
The virtuous mother-in-law she had admired, cared for, and loved all her life... was being tortured and defiled in various humiliating ways by her wicked father.
That agony had destroyed the mother-in-law's soul. The person Wan was having sex with was no longer human. He was merely satisfying his desires with an emotionless, obedient machine.
This new pleasure stimulated his extreme excitement. He laughed out loud at his sworn enemy—the woman who cursed him day and night to die a miserable death, yet... in the end... she had become his toy for entertainment.
Frantic laughter, gloating, and humiliation competed to mock and curse this daughter... who had always remembered to be respectful... yet... abandoned trust and looked down... when... she did not yet clearly understand the reason for pushing the person she loved toward sin.
An dizzily remembered how pained and resentful Maria had been before coming to see Wan and being tortured. She was once again spiritually crushed by remorse.
The daughter psychologically collapsed. May forced An to witness her father's malicious nature—lecherous and sex-addicted, yet always displaying integrity and preaching morality—as well as how the virtuous mother-in-law had become heart-dead and turned into a slave.
May played the role of one deeply sympathizing with Maria, appearing even more pained and indignant than An:
"If you continue to watch, you will offend the one you cherish. But... daughter... - May's voice choked with tears - you must be brave and face the truth!"
May pulled An's hands away from her ears and advised gently:
"Be a good girl, daughter, and listen to your mother. Calm your mind and listen to every word they say, then you will understand the true reason Maria endures such humiliation…"
May embraced her daughter, gripping An's hand to force her to hear Wan speak:
"Hehe... today you are squeezing me tighter than ever before, and the floods are gushing incessantly. Not like the first time—a drought, a searing pain. I used all sorts of tricks and stimulated you for a long time before I could water the spring rain."
Wan grinned wickedly, watching Maria's constant moans and gasps. Her slender waist moved automatically with a stiff rhythm, like a puppet pulled by strings.
"Wow... though you've become wooden and lost your soul, the womb that bore your son is throbbing, dancing a depraved, passionate dance to welcome the enemy who killed his father. That's right, a bit tighter... you slut... squeeze 'me'... hehehe... perfect... it seems 'she' is starting to get 'used' to it and craves intimacy with 'me.' Damn it, you really are a hidden nympho, addicted yet still playing shy..."
He gave a leering smile, reaching out to grab that constantly vibrating "heart-soul":
"Whenever your heart is touched, you will become a succubus even more lustful than May."
An's eyes widened to the point of fiery rage... when... Wan mentioned Liberte:
"Hehe... if your children, especially Liberte, knew how the enemy who murdered their father is feasting upon the sweetness of their birthplace to the point of numbing the taste buds—despite the torture and humiliation you suffer, the excitement and the feeling of being enveloped only increase, never decrease—then I wonder how they would react?"
Wan pursed his lips, clicked his tongue, and smacked his lips:
"Wow, I'm afraid the two siblings would cough up blood and die of anger... Ha... ha... ha..."
Wan noticed that Maria's movements had slowed down and the intensity of her thrusts had diminished. Thus, he angrily opened his smartphone and played a video clip of Liberte and Slin's tryst.
In the video, Liberte was engaging in a "threesome" with a soldier's wife and an evacuee, cruelly humiliating the pair of enemies who had once raped Xiang and Ru.
During those days when he had been afraid to respond to Ange's affection, he had cried very bitterly. That night, Liberte had sneaked into Mao's house. The candles in the room had flickered out, and the screen went black along with them.
Everyone could only hear Mao's stifled sobs of hatred, yet she was unable to stop those groans of extreme excitement.
From then on, whenever Liberte wanted to vent his emotions, he would take out his anger on Mao's body, brutally raping her right in front of her son. Mao hated Liberte to the bone, yet she was forced to endure all that subhuman humiliation.
Watching the enemy toy with his mother like a dog, the son was in agonizing pain. Yet, every time Liberte unleashed his fury, Mao would actually reach an orgasm. Throughout the entire ordeal of abuse, her moans and gasps never ceased.
That humiliation, that hatred… and… the sound of pity for her son, made him detest Liberte for brutally violating that gentle "mother"; the same "mother" who had once reserved all her "tenderness" for that "good child"—whenever the mother and son had been "intimate and caring," inseparable, she had always been so gentle and protective.
The enraged son was jealous to the point of madness, yet he dared not struggle, dared not snap the ropes binding him, and even less dared to scream or curse.
The fear of exposing the "shocking secret" forced him to suffer in silence and swallow all the insults, eventually causing him to faint from sheer rage.
Every time he fainted, Liberte would splash water on his face, forcing him to look directly at how his mother was being trained into a sex slave by the enemy.
Whenever Liberte came to vent his dissatisfaction, Mao feared he would turn her into a prostitute, into a mere pet that only knew how to please and serve its master.
Liberte's plundering of the enemy's wife and the rape of that 'slut' — who had once brought disaster upon his kin — were his cold acts of revenge. But the crime Maria feared most was that her own son had dared to have a private relationship with the old general's wife and child before officially marrying the mother-daughter pair. To stop Wan from revealing the truth, she had no choice but to voluntarily become a doll for his amusement.
May smirked inwardly because Wan loved it when his sexual partners took the initiative. Whenever Maria became distracted, slowed down, or reduced the intensity of her thrusts, Wan would angrily play that video to threaten her.
Therefore, last time, May had moved the camera from its original position and installed it in a new spot, to record everything on Wan's phone screen.
An was stunned. The pain of her lover's betrayal dealt her a fatal blow, completely shattering her already chaotic mind.
"Damn it, you slut! I told you to squeeze me ten thousand times tighter! Faster, slut! Once I reveal that the kid dared to manipulate the old general's wife and child before the polygamy laws were enacted, the 'Hive' will definitely send Liberte to a re-education camp immediately. If you don't want him to die more miserably than that fool Yingming, then hurry up, show your wild nature, and hold me tight like you're going crazy!"
Her husband had betrayed her trust, and the mother-in-law she cherished more than her biological mother had been forced into a sex-crazed slut. Maria used every skill to please Wan.
She embraced him tightly, opening her lips to let Wan greedily devour her, as if he wanted to swallow her tongue and take both their breaths away before he would stop. Then, his twisted face buried itself into the chest that had once nurtured Liberte to adulthood.
The two became entangled and twisted together, rolling in the cave. That humiliation, along with every word Le had said before her death, incessantly lashed at An's chaotic mind:
"Refugees like us are nothing but cattle in this post-apocalyptic hell of human nature. From now on, cast away dignity, integrity, shame, and moral ethics; commit those crimes forced upon us by monsters. Even so, you and the children must trample over everything to stay alive. If you fear the condemnation of conscience, loathe yourself, and suffer for a lifetime, then everyone will perish, and the effort to survive will be meaningless. No matter how filthy the crime, we are still pure—purer than all the innocent people in this era where kinship is more precious than life. You must never lose… you must protect life and kin at all costs…"
An cried out hoarsely, clutching her ears to block out Maria's gasps and Wan's insults and curses used to humiliate a slave. May did not care about any of that; what shocked her was that her physically frail husband was now unnaturally energetic, and he only felt tired after hours on end of tormenting Maria.
The adulteress was consumed by a massive surge of jealousy, furious at Wan's betrayal of his wife, yet she could not understand why he had deliberately disguised himself as a "useless" man. While May was still dazed, Maria suddenly began to vomit uncontrollably. May narrowed her eyes and frowned, watching Wan withdraw his "weapon," and asked in confusion:
"You… could it be…"
Maria lowered her head, holding back her tears:
"Maybe I am pregnant…"
An completely broke down, tightly closing her dark red eyes, not wanting to see the sight of her father in such extreme excitement. He had received the long-awaited good news and had now successfully realized his perfect dream, but for May and her daughter, this was the ultimate insult and irony.
May had always been proud of her innate abilities, but now felt a sense of haze and bewilderment. She wondered suspiciously how this "useless" man, who was almost infertile, had actually managed to get Maria pregnant.
Jealousy and hatred surged in her heart—her bedmate of twenty years was now embracing another woman. Wan was ecstatic, his hands pressing gently against Maria's cheeks as he asked urgently:
"Are you sure?"
Maria answered softly:
"Maybe it has been a week already…"
Hearing Wan ask so gently, May gritted her teeth as if she wanted to gnaw on the bones of this pair of adulterers. Maria shook her head:
"I am different from other women. Every time I get pregnant, the same symptoms appear. To day I crave sour foods, and the next day I vomit."
Wan's happiness was a hundred thousand times greater than merely receiving news of becoming a father. He was frantically relieved, clasping his hands together to thank the blessings of the gods:
"Gods bless me, heaven also helps me, my time has come! Haha…"
Wan gently kissed Maria's lips, rubbed her belly, and pressed his ear against the embryo. He doted on Maria even more than when his wife had been pregnant, causing May's jealousy to boil over.
The woman who had cheated on her husband was enraged, secretly vowing that she would force this pair of 'thieves' to pay the price. Her blood was boiling with rage, but suddenly hearing what Wan said next, she laughed with satisfaction, feeling a rush of ecstatic joy:
"Hehe, let's be intimate one more time. I promise you, this is the last time you will satisfy me, because… starting tomorrow, I will hand you over to the Old Great General…"
Wan gave a cold laugh, and Maria was startled, her whole body trembling. She understood that Wan wanted to play the game of "the dove taking over the magpie's nest." She feared her entire family would die a tragic death, so her survival instinct discarded all dignity and shame; she knelt down and kowtowed to Wan:
"You turned me into a prostitute and a slut, you turned me into livestock—I accept all of it. I am willing to be your sex slave, toyed with until death. Please do not hand me over to the Great General. If this secret is revealed, we will all die…"
Wan pinched Maria's chin, a wicked smile curling the corner of his lips:
"Only heaven knows, earth knows, and you and I know that the fetus in your belly is my child. We will forever keep this secret inside, and take it with us to our graves."
Wan chuckled, praising this perfect scheme:
"The Old Great General's son died young. That old fellow is obsessed with power, but more than high rank and authority, he wants a noble son. If he has no son to continue the family bloodline and inherit his great cause, he must transfer his power to others, and all assets will be confiscated by the 'Hive.' That is the law of the Hive. God gives the child a chance; parents must know how to seize it, accept the risk, and dedicate their lives to consolidating the status of their descendants!"
An did not show any contempt, nor did she have any heart left to hate that cruel and heartless father—he treated his daughter like someone else's child, merely raising her for others until she got married and that was it. He had always considered her a burden blocking his path to fame:
"An is not a son; she cannot inherit from me. If you give birth to a son, I am willing to give him everything I have in the future. He will also inherit the Old Great General's assets and career. I will help him stabilize his power within the 'Hive.'"
He gloated triumphantly:
"Don't you want to change your life? Don't you want to see Liberte and our son rule this Hell on Earth? Liberte realized he needs power to survive in this deadly era, which is why he agreed to become a hound for the 'Hive,' entering the bloody battlefield to find a way for his family to survive… and… to seek revenge against the ones who raped his kin. You must make sacrifices just like your child and work hard to help them reach the pinnacle of power."
Wan clenched his fist:
"Only by grasping power in our hands can we trample over everything and protect those we cherish…"
Maria was still trembling with terror:
"Please don't play with fire. I dare not offend the Great General; we will die without even a grave to call our own…"
He pressed his sinister face against Maria's, growling threateningly:
"If you still refuse… - Wan pressed the screen, playing a video of Liberte and the Old General's wife and child in a tryst - I will denounce Liberte. This boy will be castrated and sent to a re-education camp to perform hard labor until he dies. The Old General will then hand you and Ange over to lecherous soldiers for gang rape, and even the Ji couple will be implicated."
Maria still tried to salvage a final spark of hope:
"If Liberte is punished, An will wish she were dead. How can you have the heart to let your daughter fall into such agony?"
All of An's feelings for Wan had withered because of this heartless father, as Wan spoke coldly:
"I'll just show her this video. An will suffer, of course, but time is a healing medicine for all wounds. I don't believe my daughter will love a man who betrayed her for the rest of her life. She will forget Liberte and find new love. In the end, only your family will be the ones to suffer."
Maria advised and pleaded five or seven times. She even willingly endured humiliation, frantically burying her face in the mud; performing foul acts upon that "weapon" had completely ruined her life. But Wan did not accept it. He even forced her to serve him wholeheartedly one last time, forcing the victim to succumb to her fate:
"I'm giving you one last chance. If you refuse, I will denounce Liberte immediately!"
At first, May worried that Wan might have filmed the scenes of her and Liberte cheating on her husband. But because the timing wasn't right and for the sake of his own pride, Wan had not shown those images to Maria yet.
Now, May had grasped her husband's fatal weakness; this conspiracy was far more terrifying and damnable than her adultery with Liberte. May triumphantly recorded the entire conspiracy on video and audio. She gently supported her daughter. On the way, she revealed:
"Three months ago, I discovered them having sex in secret, so I placed a micro-camera in the cave to film the whole scene. Whenever Wan wanted to play with Maria, he would secretly put sleeping pills in my drink. Perhaps they were already having an affair before I found out. The two must have had a long sexual history, which is why someone like Wan, with a fertility rate of less than ten percent, could actually get Maria pregnant. Isn't this more important than knowing his true face?"
An lamented like someone on the verge of death:
"Mom, stop talking. I don't want to hear it…"
May patted her daughter gently, choosing to comfort her with words and advise her tenderly:
"Wan is the root of all evil; Maria and I are just victims. Don't blame her. If you are unkind to Maria, Wan and Liberte will grow suspicious. Once Wan finds out we know this secret, he will kill his wife and daughter to cover up the filth."
An was bored to death listening to things about Wan, until she heard May mention Liberte:
"Even if he doesn't kill us, you will be discriminated against and shunned by Liberte…"
The fear of losing her husband made An pull herself together, reviving her exhausted spirit. She raised her hand to stop May from continuing. May nodded, satisfied that her daughter understood her meaning. She patted her daughter's back, encouraging and comforting her once more.
The two then bid each other farewell. May ran home quickly, entered the room, pulled up the blanket, and turned her face toward the wall.
She pondered Wan's words carefully. Hearing the sound of the door opening, she closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep. Wan got into bed, pulled the blanket over himself, and embraced his wife as he usually did to sleep.