Hell’s Handbook

eplied to Su Jin’s question without any reluctance.

Since she seemed so cooperative, Su Jin quickly seized the chance to gather more information.
Even though it seemed useless for them to know more in this situation, it was still better to find out more anyway.

“Why are you telling me so much? Aren’t you afraid that they’ll kill you too?”

“It doesn’t matter.
Both of you are going to die soon, anyway.
Once they’ve killed you, the two of you will be turned into human jerky.
How much you know before you die is inconsequential.” Auntie Li said as she threw him a mocking smile.

Su Jin’s lips twitched as he tried to sort and put the most useful information he had together.
After looking around, he asked, “By the way, when we were tricked into coming here, we heard that you were living here with your family.
Where are the rest of your family?”

“Right next to you.” Auntie Li casually pointed to an area next to Su Jin.

He turned, and his eyes widened.
There were two more similar poles next to him with one large skeleton and one smaller skeleton tied to them.

“They killed the rest of your family?”

She didn’t reply to him and just quietly nodded as she continued sharpening that knife, even though the knife was clearly sharp enough to slice through human flesh already.

“Why don’t you take revenge?”

“Take revenge? Have you ever come across an adult dog taking revenge on its owner for killing its child?”

“You’re a clever one.
So by becoming a loyal dog to them, you've been able to stay alive, and you're both fed and kept safe here.
Compared to the two who are already dead and useless, this is a better choice.” Su Jin’s expression was solemn, as if he really agreed with Auntie Li’s decision.

Auntie Li got up and walked over to Su Jin with the knife.
She held the knife against his neck and glared angrily at him as she said, “I’ve never had to kill one of the hunters’ prey, so don’t force me to break that now.”

“Haha! You’re a person who doesn’t even dare to avenge your dead family members! So how could you dare to break the hunters’ rules? What a joke!” sneered Su Jin with a mocking look on his face.

It seemed like Su Jin’s attitude had really angered Auntie Li.
The blade was about to cut into Su Jin’s skin, so he tried his best to stretch his neck away from the sharp knife.

“Don't get so agitated.
You should know what you can do, what you can't do, and… what we can help you do,” said Su Jin in a low voice.
He had purposely agitated Auntie Li not because he was hoping to get killed, but to try and rile up her anger towards Lin Yue and her family for killing her family members.
That was the only way to make an obedient and loyal dog turn on its owners.

Auntie Li clearly understood what Su Jin was implying.
She kept the knife away and stared straight into his eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“Simple.
Help us to get out of this place, and we'll help you take revenge,” said Su Jin in a serious voice.

She stared at him in surprise for a while before scoffing.
“The two of you? Help me? If you were capable of dealing with the hunters, you wouldn’t end up in this state now.”

“No, you're mistaken.
We ended up like this not because we were incapable of dealing with them, but because we didn’t get a chance to show what we were capable of.
You just need to do us a small favor, and you'll get the chance to take revenge.
That’s a really good deal for you.” Su Jin seemed to have become a wily salesman as he tried to tempt Auntie Li into striking a deal with him.

“It’s a small favor in terms of what I have to do, but it could cost me my life.
And if my life’s at stake, it’s not a good deal anymore.” Auntie Li shook her head and didn’t seem convinced.

Su Jin smiled as he stretched his neck nonchalantly and said, “Looks like you still don’t realize how much you’re worth.
Think about it.
If a hunter had a group of hunting dogs and one of them made a mistake, the hunter would definitely punish that dog.
But if the hunters only had one dog… what does Aunty Li think the hunters would do?”

Auntie Li froze for a moment and seemed to waver, so Su Jin quickly continued, “I know you're not very confident of us, but at least you have got a chance now.
If you miss this chance, who knows how long you'll have to wait for another chance to come by? Would you even get another chance?”

She remained silent for a moment and seemed to be struggling internally.
After some time, she suddenly looked up and said to Su Jin, “They’ve gone hunting around town, so you two don’t have a lot of time to run.
Also… if you two get caught, you must never say that I was the one who let you go.”

Su Jin secretly breathed a sigh of relief as he nodded and said, “Don’t worry, we have no reason to drag you down with us.”

She nodded and used the knife in her hands to cut through the ropes around Su Jin’s limbs.
Then she went over to cut the ones around Chu Yi’s limbs and said with a sneer, “You can stop pretending.
You regained consciousness earlier than he did, didn’t you?”

Chu Yi stopped pretending to be unconscious and opened his eyes to smile sheepishly at Su Jin.
After the two of them were freed, she said to them, “You know what to say if you get caught, right?”

“Don’t worry about that.
You were ambushed by us, and that’s how we got away.” Su Jin nodded and said to Chu Yi, “Knock her out!”

While Chu Yi was hesitating about whether he should knock out an older lady like Auntie Li, Auntie Li said, “They’ll return once the bells start ringing again, so you only have around 20 minutes at best.
I suggest you check their rooms to see if there’s anything that could be of help to you.”

“Thanks for the suggestion.
But do you know what the bells in Fengxi Town represent?” Su Jin was really puzzled about the ringing of these bells and what they signified.

“I’m not sure either.
I just know that every time the bells ring, both the hunters and the town will go through a change of some kind.” She then nodded at Chu Yi to go ahead and knock her out.

After she gave him permission to do so, Chu Yi didn’t hesitate any longer.
He struck her on the back of her neck, and she collapsed onto the floor immediately.

“We’ve got to hurry.
Let’s go to Lin Yue’s room first,” said Su Jin to Chu Yi before running out of Auntie Li’s room.