The Double

This was a private prison, and with iron bars everywhere, it looked like the dungeons of the Ministry of Punishment at a glance. Only, even the Ministry’s dungeons might not be as cruel as this place. Blood stains were everywhere on the ground, and there was the stench of decay. Some figures behind the iron bars didn’t move at all, obviously dead for a long time. Yet nobody had cleared them away; they were left to slowly decompose into a mushy mess, to the point where even their closest kin wouldn’t be able to recognize them.

The walls were festooned with bloody hooks, and red-hot branding irons were carelessly strewn on the floor. In the water prison, rats squeaked as they contentedly gnawed on something indistinct and bloody. Whips steeped in saltwater, wooden horses studded with spikes, and silver needles coated in drugs—whatever torture device one could imagine, it was all there. Even Wen Ji and Zhao Ke, the guards who had seen much in their time, couldn’t help but feel a tinge of disgust confronting this scene. They were guards, accustomed to such sights. But Princess Yongning was a princess, who seemed to have no deep-seated hatred with anyone in her day-to-day life, and yet they were torturing her with such methods.

"Look for Jiang Youyao," Jih Heng directed. "If she’s conscious, pull her out and dump her at the Jiang Family’s doorstep. If she’s no longer coherent, give her one of Situ’s Mute Medicines—don’t let her die."

Zhao Ke and Wen Ji accepted the order. Finding Jiang Youyao among so many dead and half-dead wasn’t easy. Everyone here was filthy and horribly foul-smelling; it was hard to distinguish anyone at first glance. Zhao Ke and Wen Ji went off to search, while Jih Heng walked slowly through the prison.

They had somewhat altered their faces and weren’t worried about being recognized at a glance. But among these people behind the iron bars, aside from those who were dead or had fainted, the remaining living ones were either mad from the torment, dancing and singing in their cells, or, still lucid, had no life left in them—they would just stare blankly even when Jih Heng walked past, silent as if they no longer understood how to beg for mercy, like imbeciles who had lost the will to live.

After such a long time in this dire environment, coupled with Princess Yongning’s torments, they had likely long given up hope. The greatest hope they might have was that someone would come along and give them a swift end to their friendless suffering.

Jih Heng strolled dispassionately through the prison. Walking amidst this hellish scene, his composure remained unaffected, as if he were still sauntering through a festive banquet, untouched by the surroundings.