Chapter 432: Fear
Su Qing naturally caught the cold glint flashing between Scarface’s fingers. She gave a cold smile and easily dodged his fist.
Scarface threw several punches in a row but didn’t even manage to touch the corner of Su Qing’s clothes. He was already getting winded, and he couldn’t help but be shocked. ’This damn girl seems much stronger than I thought!’
After a dozen moves, Scarface still hadn’t landed a single blow on Su Qing. An idea came to him, and he quickly pulled back his fists, retreating a few steps. He smiled at Su Qing and said, "Little miss, we don’t have any real grudge. Let’s just call this a friendly spar and leave it at that. We can both walk away. How about it?"
Su Qing sneered. "With those clumsy moves of yours? What makes you think you’re in any position to ’let me off’? Have you even won?"
Scarface’s expression changed. "I was just going easy on you because you’re a woman. I don’t want to get serious. It’s not right for a grown man to bully women."
Scarface’s shameless words left his men stunned. ’Boss, who was the one just now throwing punch after punch, aiming for the girl’s face? Just because you missed doesn’t mean you weren’t trying to bully her!’
The tomb robbers all cursed Scarface in their hearts. ’Pah! Shameless! How can he say he doesn’t bully women? Does he think we’re blind?’
Scarface had no time to worry about what his men were thinking. His lower eyelid twitched uncontrollably as he subconsciously took a few steps back. Then, he spun around and bolted for the deep forest. ’It’s obvious this damn girl isn’t going to let me go,’ he thought. ’I can’t beat her, so if I don’t run now, when can I?’
’I refuse to believe that a grown man like me can be caught by a mere slip of a girl. Once I’m in the forest, I’m confident I can lose her.’
"Boss!" His men’s eyes widened in shock. ’Is he abandoning us?’
Scarface ignored the shocked cries of his men behind him. He had only one thought in his mind: ’Run! Get as far away from here as possible.’
’No footsteps behind me,’ Scarface thought, overjoyed. ’Just as I thought! That damn girl knows she can’t catch me, so she gave up. As for my men... heh, at a critical moment, aren’t subordinates meant to be sacrificed?’
’As for loyalty!’
’Loyalty, my ass. Nothing is more important than my own life.’
But then, something unexpected happened!
Seeing the vines suddenly writhe toward him, Scarface’s expression changed drastically. He could hardly believe his eyes. ’Are these things alive? Why are they all coming for me?’ He stumbled back two steps, a chill running through him. The way they snaked and drifted... it was like... seaweed in the water...
Then, Scarface suddenly remembered how he’d woken up to find himself bound by these very vines. His heart jolted as an unbelievable thought took hold of his mind.
’No way, it can’t be. I can’t be this unlucky, can I? Could there really be spirits in this world?’
’Of course!’
’From the moment I woke up, that damn girl has been completely alone. I thought she must have companions, but no one else has shown up. It’s been just her this whole time.’
’And for someone in this deep, ancient forest, her clothes are way too clean.’
’Could it be...?’
"AAAAAAAAH!" At the thought of this possibility, Scarface let out an uncontrollable scream, his face turning deathly pale. He immediately spun around, trying to break out in a different direction.
However, the overwhelming tide of vines wasn’t about to let him go. In a flash, Scarface was bound tightly once more. Then, like a shot put, he was bundled into a ball and hurled back into the clearing. This time, however, one end of the vines binding him was attached to a thick, ancient tree.
When he saw Su Qing again, there was nothing but terror in Scarface’s eyes.
Humans are, after all, terrified of the unknown, especially in a desolate, ancient forest like this. Right now, Scarface looked at Su Qing as if he were looking at a man-eating monster.
"CHATTER CHATTER CHATTER..."
The corner of Su Qing’s mouth lifted slightly. ’Well now, I think I’ve really scared him,’ she thought. ’Listening to his teeth chatter, I’m almost worried he’ll break them.’
However, it wasn’t just Scarface who was trembling. His men were all shaking too, having completely forgotten about their boss’s disloyalty.
To Scarface, Su Qing’s smile was now even more terrifying. "Gr-Great Mistress... Ancestor... Mountain Queen... I was blind and failed to see your greatness... It’s my fault I’m so ugly... I’ve offended your eyes with my ugliness, I’m sorry... Please... just... just let me go like a... like a bad fart."
"But you haven’t made me happy yet!" Su Qing put on an innocent expression, looking at Scarface with wide, deceptively sweet eyes. "You haven’t forgotten, have you?"
"Huh?" Scarface didn’t understand for a moment.
A cold glint flashed in the depths of Su Qing’s eyes. "You said you never cry in front of women. I don’t believe you."
The moment the words left her mouth, the vine whip in her hand lashed out viciously at Scarface.
Scarface felt a sharp pain as he was sent spinning uncontrollably. He crashed into a large tree before collapsing to the ground.
Before Scarface could beg for mercy, the next lash followed swiftly.
And so, the tomb robbers lying on the ground watched as Su Qing whipped their boss like a spinning top, sending him staggering around the clearing. The sound of him crashing into trees sent a chill down their spines.
Scarface was whipped into a daze, his entire body screaming in pain. Tears streamed down his face uncontrollably as he stammered out a plea, "I... I was wrong... Spare me, Great Mistress... P-please... I beg you... I’ll never do it again... WAAAAH..."
A grown man, crying his eyes out with tears and snot everywhere, was a truly unbearable sight, especially with his brutish, fleshy face.
Su Qing curled her lip in disgust. ’Truly hideous,’ she thought.
"Owowow, it hurts so much! Great Mistress, I really know I was wrong! Stop hitting me, please stop! Any more and I’ll die!" Scarface’s wails grew louder, all traces of the arrogant brute who claimed he never cried in front of women completely gone.
Having given Scarface a thorough whipping, Su Qing felt refreshed and invigorated. Remembering she still had questions for him, she stopped. Her final lash, however, landed heavily across his face, intersecting with his old red scar to form a large "X."
Then, with a flick of her wrist, the vine whip in Su Qing’s hand unraveled, falling to the ground and slithering back toward the surrounding trees.
This sight scared the rest of the tomb robbers witless.
The CHATTER-CHATTER-CHATTER of their teeth was incessant.
"You... you... you’re... really... a..." Scarface was oblivious to his pain, the terror in his heart nearly bursting out of him.
Su Qing looked coldly at the tomb robbers. "If you don’t want to die right now, get on your knees."