Chapter 174: Humiliation

Song Xizheng: "Then everything just descended into complete chaos out of nowhere. Those black vests looked absolutely dumbfounded at first. Once they finally snapped out of it, they scrambled to try and stop the tourists, but it honestly didn’t seem to do much good at all."

Song Xizheng: "After that, they had no choice but to cut the parade short and drive the floats back. Every single green and red vest who’d been out working that day came rushing over to try and pull the tourists apart."

Song Xizheng: "Some of the tourists genuinely lost it — biting at the staff and everything. It was honestly unbelievable. I still can’t quite wrap my head around what I just saw."

Lin Yun blinked, genuinely stunned by what Song Xizheng was describing.

Good grief, what on earth is going on out there? They’re actually eating each other? Since when is that even remotely allowed?

These tourists surely aren’t zombies or something, are they? Eating each other like that? It’s just bizarre.

Lin Yun pressed further. "Good heavens. Was there anything else unusual you noticed?"

Song Xizheng: "The float’s on its way back right now, but I can hear the black vests on my ride cursing up a storm. Let me listen in for a bit and I’ll fill you in shortly."

Lin Yun replied, "Sounds good."

Meanwhile, Song Xizheng kept his eyes glued to the window, eagerly taking in every detail of the unfolding chaos outside.

Sigh — honestly, he hadn’t set out looking to be this nosy about it, but since the gossip was practically being handed to him on a platter, he wasn’t about to turn it down.

Sure, riding back and forth on these floats every day carried its fair share of risk, but there were still perks to be had along the way.

"I have no idea what’s gotten into those tourists tonight. This whole event was supposed to celebrate the park reopening, and then they just suddenly snap like that. You think it’s because we were closed for so long?"

"Who knows, honestly? Those tourists aren’t like us — there’s no telling what actually goes on in their heads."

"Sigh, what a shame. Such a wonderful parade, completely ruined just like that."

"You think Lord Nalan’s going to chew us out for this once we’re back?"

"Probably not, right? Lord Nalan barely ever leaves the castle these days anyway. It’s mostly Lady Linglan who handles matters like this. She’s a kind soul — she probably won’t hold it against us too harshly."

"I wouldn’t count on that so easily. Even if Lady Nalan rarely steps outside herself, word of what happens out here in the park always finds its way back to her eventually."

"All right, enough chatter — we’ve arrived."

The floats rolled back into their designated parking spots, and the women in black vests began climbing down.

As it happened, the float carrying Tong Yin ended up stopping directly in front of Song Xizheng’s own float.

He had a clear, unobstructed view of her from where he stood.

Several black-vested attendants climbed aboard and yanked at Tong Yin’s skirt without the slightest hesitation, entirely unconcerned about whether her body ended up exposed in the process.

Song Xizheng’s eyes went wide, and he quickly forced himself to look away.

Wait, seriously — these black vests have absolutely no respect at all, do they?

He already knew by now that this woman was Tong Yin, and that she, like him, had originally come from China — but he’d never once imagined she might end up humiliated so openly like this.

They yanked away the support brace holding up Tong Yin’s legs, and without it, she immediately collapsed forward onto the float’s floor.

Tong Yin let out a sharp hiss and glared up at the black vests standing over her.

She’d grown long accustomed to this particular kind of humiliation by now — it happened often enough, ever since she’d first been thrown into that dungeon time after time.

At first, she genuinely couldn’t stomach it at all. But gradually, after enduring it so many times over, the sting of it had simply worn away into numbness.

Still, the man in the black vest paid her glare no mind whatsoever, entirely indifferent to her obvious displeasure.

"All right. You can head off now."

He tossed the words at her casually before hopping down off the float without a second glance.

In their eyes, Tong Yin was simply someone who ended up in the dungeon often enough to be unremarkable by now. Sure, she happened to be a friend of Lady Linglan’s — but the person she’d actually offended was their master himself, and even Lady Linglan couldn’t offer her protection from that.

Tong Yin lowered her head and let a faint, private smile cross her lips where no one else could see it.

When she’d first arrived here, it had been Linglan who’d brought her in personally. But now that Linglan was nowhere in sight, these same people had no problem humiliating her openly, ordering her to simply crawl her own way back.

Still, she’d grown thoroughly used to all of it by now regardless.

Bracing herself on her arms, Tong Yin began dragging herself forward, inch by inch.

The float sat quite high off the ground, and with her leg broken, there was simply no graceful way down for her — in her current state, falling was really her only real option.

Tong Yin took a steadying breath, rolled herself forward, and tumbled straight off the edge of the float.

Her body struck something hard on the way down, and the impact hurt plenty, but she gritted her teeth and endured it silently. She knew full well that the black vests still lingering nearby were only waiting around to watch her make a fool of herself.

Once she’d recovered from the fall, Tong Yin propped herself back up on her arms and continued crawling forward once more.

Her once-beautiful dress had long since turned filthy from the ordeal, torn in several places from dragging herself across the ground.

Still, Tong Yin couldn’t bring herself to care in the slightest. What did it matter if the dress tore further?

Linglan, rushing over in a hurry, nearly collided directly with Tong Yin crawling along the ground.

The black-clad men who’d been quietly enjoying the spectacle from a distance froze in visible shock, clearly not expecting Linglan to show up so suddenly.

Just as she moved to rush toward her, the black-vested woman standing beside Linglan quickly cautioned her. "Lady Linglan, we’re here on important business tonight. You mustn’t let personal feelings get in the way."

Linglan pressed her lips together tightly. "Understood. Go and bring Tong Yin to me."

"Yes, my lady."

Several black vests stepped forward at once, hauled Tong Yin up off the ground, and dragged her directly in front of Linglan.

Tong Yin showed no real surprise that they’d come looking for her — she’d fully anticipated this outcome the moment she’d chosen to tamper with the song in the first place.

"Yinyin, you..."

Linglan found herself utterly at a loss for words. She hesitated for a long moment before finally just letting out a heavy sigh.

Tong Yin scoffed, offering no defense whatsoever, and simply allowed the black-vested man to drag her off, back toward the castle’s dungeon below.

By the time Linglan managed to follow behind them, the man in the black robe was already waiting there inside the dungeon.

"Lily of the Valley. This Tong Yin of yours has been quite the troublemaker lately."

"Master, she..."

"Tell me honestly — haven’t we treated her more than fairly here at this park? So why does she keep insisting on causing trouble for us?"

"Sigh. It’s not that I take any pleasure in punishing her, understand. It’s simply that she’s proven so disappointing. Using her own singing to control the tourists like that? That’s a serious offense, plain and simple."

The man in the black robe gave Linglan no room whatsoever to speak up in Tong Yin’s defense.

"Tong Yin will continue singing for us regardless, so we won’t be touching her voice, at least. Go on in and watch closely while the others cut off her legs."

"Even with one leg already broken, she still refuses to behave herself. Truly, quite disobedient of her."

The man spoke as though addressing some willfully misbehaving child who simply didn’t know any better.

Linglan didn’t dare plead on Tong Yin’s behalf and could only nod along in quiet agreement.

"Well then. Once you’ve wrapped up your business here, go on home and get some proper rest. It’s been a long day for you — you must be exhausted..."

With that, the man in black turned and left.

Lily of the Valley couldn’t bring herself to go inside — she simply couldn’t bear to watch her closest friend endure something so brutal.

Once Tong Yin had been carried back to her own room afterward, Linglan quietly slipped in behind her and took a seat beside the bed.

"What are you even doing here? Come to laugh at me too, same as the rest of them?"

Lily of the Valley said nothing at all in response.

"If you’re not going to say anything, then just leave."

"Tong Yin, please — just stop fighting them, okay? I don’t want to see you get hurt any further than this."

"It’s none of your concern." Tong Yin’s tone came out cold and biting; her patience with Linglan had been wearing thinner and thinner by the day.

"Yinyin, please, just try to keep living, all right? We still have a chance at this. We do."