Chapter 11: The Monster Who Protected Me
1054 Words
It was unclear how much time had passed when Bai Li was awakened by a faint rustling sound.
Someone was dragging something heavy into her tent.
The person seemed to be limping. His footsteps were uneven—one light, one heavy. Whatever he was dragging was struggling restlessly, making muffled “whimpering” sounds.
Eric?
Bai Li instantly became fully awake.
She didn’t dare get up, afraid that she might have guessed wrong. Keeping her eyes slightly closed, she looked outside through the gaps between her eyelashes.
Sure enough, it was Eric.
The heavy object he was dragging was actually the old woman.
The old woman’s mouth was stuffed with a piece of cloth, and both of her hands were tied behind her back with rope. She was not a slender woman. She was a strong, sturdy middle-aged woman—otherwise, she would never have been able to control so many older children in the circus.
Yet Eric grabbed her by the collar with one hand and lifted her effortlessly, dragging her into the tent.
He possessed not only inhuman recovery abilities, but also terrifying strength.
The entire scene looked like something straight out of a horror movie—
and Eric himself was the protagonist of that horror movie.
The air was filled with the sour smell of sweat and the stench of urine. The old woman had been so frightened by him that she was drenched in sweat and had lost control of herself.
But Eric acted as if he had neither a sense of smell nor hearing.
He ignored the foul odor coming from her body and her muffled pleas for mercy.
He threw her onto a chair and tightly bound her with rope.
From Bai Li’s perspective, she could only see his brutal movements and the chair creaking and shaking.
After finishing everything, he turned around and walked toward her.
Bai Li’s mind was a mess.
What was he doing?
Was he taking revenge for her?
Or was he using this opportunity to release the murderous desire that had been suppressed deep inside him?
The footsteps stopped.
Eric stood in front of her, seemingly examining her swollen, purple bruised palm.
Although he was still young and frighteningly thin, his frame was unusually tall and broad, completely blocking the light outside the tent.
His breathing sounded above her.
Heavy.
Deep.
Echoing inside the white mask.
Horror movies always had breathing sounds like this—
slow, powerful, and terrifying.
They represented the beastly instinct inside the killer, gradually approaching the victim like the sound of an approaching death sentence.
But he had no intention of killing her.
He was even trying to protect her.
Why?
Listening to his breathing, Bai Li didn’t dare move.
From head to toe, she was completely frozen, like a stone statue.
His gaze felt even more tangible than his breathing.
It slowly moved across her injured palm, like a precise ruler, measuring the length of the wound and judging how deep it was.
Seconds passed.
One by one.
Bai Li’s heart pounded violently.
Being watched by him made her entire body feel numb.
After several dozen seconds, he seemed to have finished his assessment.
He turned around, grabbed the old woman by her collar, and dragged her—chair and all—to the side of Bai Li’s bed.
Bai Li couldn’t see what was happening.
She could only imagine it through the sounds and smells around her—
his breathing,
his footsteps,
the rustling of fabric,
the vague sounds of pleading,
and the increasingly heavy smell of sweat and urine.
Then she heard a loud bang.
A thick smell of blood suddenly filled the air.
Bai Li was startled.
She could no longer pretend to be asleep.
She opened her eyes and sat up.
The scene before her was even more terrifying than she had imagined.
Eric stood in front of her with his back turned.
Like someone restraining an animal in a slaughterhouse, he held the old woman down with one hand.
In his other hand was a dagger, which he had mercilessly driven into her palm.
When he noticed that Bai Li was awake, he turned his head to look at her.
Behind the white mask, his eyes still carried traces of chilling violence.
The old woman, meanwhile, looked at Bai Li as if she were her only hope.
She desperately shook the chair, begging for help.
For a moment, the only sound inside the tent was the creaking of the chair joints.
At the same time, Eric pulled out the dagger and casually flicked away the blood clinging to the blade.
He seemed ready to leave.
For some reason, he was certain that she would save the old woman.
Not thank him for his act of “an eye for an eye.”
…
And Bai Li truly didn’t want to thank him.
This was not a reasonable way to take revenge.
Yes, it felt satisfying in the moment.
But what about tomorrow?
Who would deal with the aftermath?
He had stabbed such a huge bloody hole into the old woman’s hand.
Tomorrow, Bai Li would have to come up with a hundred lies just to cover for him.
However, she had to admit one thing.
His actions had given her a strange, burning sense of security.
A feeling she had never experienced since coming to this world.
Ever since she arrived here, she had lived in constant anxiety.
She was always forcing herself to calm down, suppressing emotions she believed she shouldn’t have—
fear,
tension,
anger.
Even when the cane struck her, her first reaction had been to stay calm and not fight back.
No one would help her.
She was completely alone in this world.
She couldn’t allow anger to cloud her judgment.
She had to remain clear-headed at all times.
But that didn’t mean she hadn’t been angry at that moment.
It didn’t mean she hadn’t wanted revenge.
Yes, Eric’s method of revenge was completely inappropriate.
Yes, he had caused her a great deal of trouble.
But today, she had already suppressed too many emotions.
There was no need to keep suppressing them any longer.
As for tomorrow…
She would deal with tomorrow when it came.
“...I’m tired. Can you stay with me and sleep for a while?”
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