Chapter 63: The Hanging

A large mass of white bandages tightly wrapped around Jeff's lower body. Due to the anesthetic and ice, he couldn't feel any pain, but the blood-dripping knife in front of him clearly told him, and everyone watching, that the castration was complete!

Joel Graham, who had been dozing off, now had his eyes wide open, staring at the cute, innocent-looking girl who had discarded her bloody gloves. Unconsciously, he squeezed his legs together, feeling a chill between them as if he had wet himself.

"This is... this is..." he didn't know what to say. After a while, a thought emerged, "If all the girls in the world were like this Hayley, how would men survive?"

Seeing Hayley castrate Jeff, most of the men in the room instinctively did the same thing—squeezed their legs together to check if everything was still there.

But the women had a different reaction.

Jones Butler was already laughing; it felt even more refreshing than eating an ice cream on a hot summer day!

However, she didn't stop writing, adding another note: Violent but interesting and pleasing to female audiences.

Bill Rossis had seen the rough cut before, but it wasn't as polished as this final version, which used detailed shots, fitting music, and precise editing to create the atmosphere. Now, he kept nodding in approval. Just this one scene could attract a lot of viewers.

He also agreed that female audiences would enjoy this film more, summarizing it as: Women find it delightfully satisfying, while men find it painfully distressing!

Tony Guzman felt the distress and unconsciously stood up, relieved that his parts were still there, then moved forward to Murphy's row and found an empty seat.

At this point in the film, it seemed the climax had ended, but Tony Guzman noticed Hayley was exhausted from the castration, visibly tired and letting her guard down. Jeff, not feeling pain yet, scanned the room, his eyes landing on the bloody scalpel, and his ropes seemed to have loosened from his previous struggles.

Despite the castration, Guzman saw that the story wasn't over. With so many girls' photos piled up, even if only a portion were victims, Jeff's one missing organ couldn't cleanse his sins.

Castration could elicit some empathetic sympathy from men, but it wouldn't change the perception of Jeff's character.

Murphy also noticed this, thinking quickly, especially seeing the men's grimaces, realizing he had overlooked the male audience's feelings.

In North America, many adult men have some Lolita complex, making this film unlikely to be popular with them.

Murphy shook his head lightly, not dwelling on it. He was just an ordinary person; even with thorough planning, it was impossible to cover everything.

While Hayley was showering, Jeff broke free from the ropes. He first grabbed his phone but didn't call the police. Instead, he took the bloody scalpel and stumbled in search of Hayley.

Earlier, it had been made clear: when he was tied up, he went through denial, blame-shifting, admitting to pedophilia but denying murder, yet his words held no credibility against the stack of explicit photos.

Not calling the police and opting for the scalpel made the viewers nod in understanding. Calling the police would indicate he had lost his mind, creating problems for the film's logic.

Killing Hayley would solve all his problems; calling the police would present a more severe issue.

If Jeff hadn't been injured, an adult man dealing with a girl like Hayley would have been easy, even with a difference in intelligence. But a recently castrated man, even temporarily numbed to pain, was significantly weakened.

Unsurprisingly, Jeff was subdued by Hayley again and tied back to the initial chair.

At this point, Jeff still denied his crimes. After another psychological attack, Hayley conducted another thorough search, finally finding a hidden compartment under the living room floor filled with videotapes.

Each tape had a corresponding name. Hayley flipped through them, finally finding her target, and played it on the TV. The opening scene of the film appeared on the screen.

She ejected the tape and inserted another one. The content varied but consistently showed Jeff molesting or violently handling the girls.

Seeing this, the audience mentally sentenced Jeff to death, as did Hayley.

The man could no longer deny it. Seeing Hayley pull a rope from her backpack, he began to plead bitterly, hoping to save his life.

But Hayley's last shred of mercy had vanished in the face of his crimes, and any sympathy the audience had for him due to the castration disappeared.

Previously fast-talking, Hayley now fell silent, with Jeff's pleas echoing in the theater. Daisy, watching his snot and tears flow, felt nothing but disgust.

"Kill him!" she shouted internally.

Jones Butler, having watched many films, had never wished for a character's death as she did now, and in the most horrific way possible.

Despite the film not yet concluding, Tony Guzman flipped to the marked page in his notebook and quickly wrote "Hard Candy" under the purchase intentions section, marking it with three stars.

In his five-star rating system, this meant it was worth buying.

Even those who found the film interesting from the start, like Joel Graham, now wide awake, were focused on the screen.

Jeff continued to plead miserably while Hayley made up her mind. She looped one end of the rope around Jeff's neck, threw the other end over a sturdy-looking ceiling lamp, then moved all the photo frames behind the chair, tying them to the rope one by one.

Each frame, representing a girl, had limited weight, but their number was substantial. As more frames were tied, the rope tightened through the lamp, lifting Jeff onto his tiptoes.

"Please..." he kept begging.

But after the entire film, no one sympathized with him anymore.

As more frames were tied, Jeff's face turned red, gasping desperately like a fish out of water.

Hayley said her final words, tying the opening girl's frame to the rope. Jeff kicked desperately but was bound and powerless. His glasses, hiding his true nature, had long fallen off, revealing only white eyeballs.

Hayley packed her things, put on her red coat, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and walked out the door. She looked back one last time, put on her red hood, and walked away without a glance back.