Chapter 16: Captured by the Enemy

Ayame woke up in an unfamiliar place. Her eyes were blurry as they slowly adjusted to the light. The first thing that crossed her mind when she regained her awareness was how tired she felt. Her entire body was sore, and every muscle, bone, and joint ached. She looked around and realized she was in an unknown room. She felt dizzy. Her vision was still slightly blurry, despite her eyes being wide open.

Her feet and hands were bound to a chair.

At that moment, she remembered everything about what had happened the night before. She was ambushed by the group led by the golden-haired man. He'd taken advantage of her sleepiness to capture her without any resistance. After that, she was taken to their camp. She woke up on the way but was immediately knocked out cold.

And now, here she was, tied to a metal chair, unable to move.

She could hear footsteps and voices outside the door. Someone opened the door and entered the room. A second later, two guards came along with the golden-haired man.

The golden-haired man approached the chair where Ayame sat and smiled as he saw her awake.

He seemed pleased.

"You must be wondering why you are here," His voice sounded gentle, "but don't worry, you won't die today or tomorrow. You have no choice but to obey me. If you try anything stupid, then I promise you will regret it. Now, all I want to do is ask a simple question. Who are you working for?"

His face was expressionless, and his tone was pleasant, but Ayame sensed something dark behind the words. She stared intensely at him. "If I answer this question truthfully, will you really spare my life?" Ayame asked calmly.

He smirked at her response. "Yes, I promise," he said. "I'll let you go without any damage or scratches." The golden-haired man replied smoothly. His expression didn't change, but his smile seemed forced.

Ayame exhaled and leaned backward in the chair, trying to stretch her sore muscles out. Then, she responded to his question. "I refuse." Before spitting at his eyes like a cobra.

"What?!" the golden-eyed man exclaimed loudly while looking at her incredulously.

He raised his hand and was about to attack her when his expression changed abruptly. His expression turned into a sinister and cruel smile, and he chuckled lightly. "Alright then, we'll play this game to your liking!"

Ayame's gaze suddenly shifted towards one of the guards and focused on a small black box the guard was holding.

The golden-haired man looked at the guard with a malicious smirk. "Do it," The golden-haired man ordered coldly.

The guard lifted the tiny box and opened the lid. Inside the box was a 100mm black tube. The black tube inside seemed to emanate a menacing aura. A strange aura emanated from the metallic tube. They rushed forward and grabbed Ayame's hand and pried open her fists with brute strength, and inserted the tube into Ayame's index finger.

"I'll be back. Don't worry. By the time I return, you'll be squealing like a pig, begging for mercy." He said menacingly with a smirk and walked towards the door with his underlings.

Ayame was left sitting there helplessly. The tube was starting to cause pain in her finger.

"What the hell is this?"

Ayame yelled out loud with clenched fists. She glared at the men with fury burning in her eyes.

One of the men laughed sinisterly at her response. He turned to his friends and whispered something in their ears before they all left the room.

The pain intensified every quarter of a second. It was nothing compared to the effects of Asura, but it was certainly painful.

Thirty minutes later, the pain was much more intense than it used to be.

She screamed out loud.

Her face contorted from the pain as she gritted her teeth tightly.

Snap. Ayame broke the chains that bound her hands and feet to the chair. Her wrists and lower leg were bruised and possibly broken, but she didn't mind it.

She tried removing the tube from her pointer finger, but it wouldn't budge. It was as if it had fused with her entire finger.

She walked to the door, pulled on the handle, and tried opening the door, but it wouldn't budge. The lock had been installed with multiple bolts and locks. The door itself was made of metal.

Ayame decided to blow it off with a kick, but it was durable. It let out an audible clang, but it barely moved.

Outside, the guards watching heard the noise.

"Hey, did you hear that?" A guard shouted to another guard, "I'll report it to the leader. I'll be right back."

A few moments later, the guard returned and told another guard, "The boss is out to receive the next batches of materials. Should we check it ourselves?"

"No, the boss instructed us to guard outside and call him if something happens." Another guard quickly replied.

"What if she committed suicide? Didn't the boss want her alive? We might get in trouble if we don't check."

"Alright, alright. Let's check."

The other guards opened the door and noticed Ayame had disappeared from the chair.

"Where'd she go?" The first guard asked.

They didn't know, but Ayame was right above the door, waiting for someone to open it.

As soon as the guards entered the room, Ayame jumped down and punched a guard on the chin knocking the man down. She ran straight toward the other guard, who was stunned by what had just happened. Before he knew it, she had already punched him twice in the chin.

He dropped to the floor.

Ayame closed the door and decided to finish both of them with a Falling Meteor Strike.

Falling Meteor Strike was a qi-enhanced version of the illegal elbow, the 12-6 elbow or downward elbow strike. It is a lethal attack perfect for finishing off downed opponents, like a meteor descending on the Earth, killing off the massive reptiles that used to roam the world.

Ayame could cause more damage with a flying knee, but it was not a good finisher for a downed opponent.

A muffled noise rang throughout the room. Their skulls collapsed and burst open as the force of the Falling Meteor Strike cracked their heads open. Blood, bones, and brain matter splattered on Ayame's clothes. The small fragments of bones pierced her skin and caused bleeding. Ayame removed their clothes and rubbed them on her clothes, her elbow, and her body to clean off the blood and brain matter.

The guards' bodies lay lifeless at Ayame's feet.

The pain in her finger was awful, but Ayame decided to push through the pain and walked towards the door, checking to make sure no one was nearby. After confirming that no one was there, Ayame went outside the door and activated Meikyo Shisui to detect the guards roaming the area.

She stealthily walked into the area, exploring and familiarizing the area and formulating an escape route along with a way to kill the golden-haired man. There was no other option, as he had already seen Ayame's face, but she knew there was no chance she could kill him due to the difference in their cultivation. As she stealthily roamed the area, she arrived at a large building which she decided to enter. The inside of the building looked like an empty gymnasium. The only thing inside was a cauldron.

The same cauldron where she heard the screams of the girl earlier.

She walked closer and inspected the cauldron. It had carvings on its outer layer, but she couldn't recognize what they meant or which civilization it came from.

Seeing there was nothing she could learn about the cauldron, she exited the building and chose to look for nearby guards.

She detected a guard within a 15-meter radius and ran in the guard's direction.

When Ayame finally reached the guard's position, she immediately put the guard on a rear naked choke. Her arm was held around his throat.

Once the guard realized what had just happened, he struggled with all his might as he desperately struggled to break free. However, Ayame refused to loosen her grip. Instead, she tightened her arm more and increased the pressure. After several seconds, the guard had stopped moving entirely.

Ayame quickly carried his body into the building. She inserted his clothes into his mouth to prevent him from screaming before throwing the guard's unconscious body into the cauldron.

The cauldron suddenly closed itself and began slightly vibrating. The carvings on the cauldron began glowing red after a few seconds.

The muffled screams of the guard grew louder.

Thirty seconds passed, and the light slowly turned into a faint blue light.

After five minutes, the carvings dimmed as the cauldron's shaking slowly weakened.

The cauldron's cover opened, and the guard was gone. The only thing inside was three small pellets. A red, blue, and green. They all had the same size, around 8mm in diameter.

Ayame decided to swallow the red pellet.

After swallowing it, a feeling of tranquility flowed through her whole body. Her body relaxed. It almost felt like sleeping but with a bit more intensity. She noticed that her wounds had healed.

Her wrist had completely recovered, her ankle wasn't hurting as much, and the pain caused by the torture device on her finger had immensely diminished.

She swallowed the blue pellet this time, and it also gave her a refreshing feeling, the total qi in her body began to increase.

Ayame muttered to herself, "So the red pellet heals you, and the blue pellet increases the qi pool inside the body, but what is the green supposed to be?" She stared at the pill in her hand for a moment before swallowing it.

Her mental exhaustion disappeared. She felt much more comfortable. "So that's why they're taking those women," Ayame thought. "They must be selling these pellets on the black market."