从来没想过自己会遭遇这样的酷刑。

也从不知道自己还能这么地无助。

即便是父母失踪，他独自带着幼弟的时候，都不曾有过现在的恐惧。

在这个与世隔绝的钢铁盒子里，张禄只能靠着一己之力，去抗衡这场足以将他活生生撕裂的致命掠夺。

一场极其漫长而惨烈的凌迟。

刺目的冷白炽灯下，张禄死死咬着已经被汗水和血水浸透的被角，喉咙里压抑着野兽般破碎的嘶吼。

“呃啊——！”

又一波凶悍至极的绞痛排山倒海般砸了下来。

He could feel his once rough, battle-hardened body being forcibly reshaped by some savage, unearthly instinct.

His heavy, leaden abdomen pressed downward violently, as if his hips were being roughly wrenched apart by a rusted crowbar.

The deep, throbbing ache inside him, so alien to everything his body had known for over thirty years, made every muscle spasm uncontrollably.

The pain was beyond anything he had ever known—worse than the slashes across his back in years past. It tore at him from within, threatening to shatter every nerve in his body.

His vision blurred and darkened; cold sweat stung his eyes.

张禄 clung tightly to the metal rails on both sides of the narrow bed, his nails nearly splitting, veins bulging fiercely across his knuckles.

“靳渊……you bastard……”

He gasped for breath through the suffocating waves of pain, snarling broken curses through bloodied lips.

It was the only thing keeping him conscious.

“Of all times…” he panted heavily, his vision doubling from the agony. “Damn it!”

Before the words even left his mouth, 小小, as if desperate to escape the cramped confines, pushed downward with sudden, violent force.

张禄’s entire body jolted upward, his lower back arching off the bed, as a cry of agony he could no longer hold back tore from his throat.

He gasped for air thick with the taste of blood, yet even in the grip of blinding pain, his eyes stayed fierce and clear.

He could not pass out.

No one here could help him.

If he lost consciousness, both he and 小小 would surely die here.

His eyes bloodshot, he stared fixedly at the harsh fluorescent light above him, veins bulging on the backs of his hands. Summoning every last scrap of strength left in his body, he pushed with all he had, riding the terrible downward force that threatened to split him in two.

Time lost all meaning inside that cold steel box. He had no idea how long he struggled, his voice already raw and shredded.

Until one final scream, almost tearing his vocal cords apart, burst from his lips. 张禄 snapped his head back, his neck stretched tight as a bowstring about to snap, his hands digging furiously into the metal railings at the edge of the bed—so hard that blood trickled from his fingertips.

At that same instant, the tearing sensation that felt like it was ripping his very life out of him reached its peak.

紧绷到极致的沉重小腹骤然一空，随着液体的大量涌出，一个温热的东西，滑出了他的身体。

“哇——”

一声微弱，却再清楚不过的婴儿啼哭声，突兀地划破了暗室里令人窒息的死寂。

张禄整个人像被抽走了脊梁骨，瘫软在床上。

耳鸣尖锐，但那哭声像救命稻草，将他从黑暗边缘硬生生拽了回来。他偏过头，视线模糊地扫向身侧。

血污里，一团皱巴巴的红肉在动，脐带还连着他的身体。

小小。

还不能倒下。

他紧咬着牙，发抖的手臂撑住了床沿，支起身子，把那团小东西小心翼翼地，捞了起来。

好小，像猫崽子。

“真丑……”透过汗水模糊的视线，张禄看见的是一个皱巴巴、红彤彤，干嚎个没完的小生物。

他干裂出血的嘴唇轻微地翕动了一下，扯出一个比哭还难看的、虚弱的笑。

凭着最后的一丝理智，扯过旁边干净的被角，匆忙地将这团小东西裹住，胡乱地往自己那还带着微弱体温的胸口一塞。

确认小家伙能呼吸，大概是能活下来的。

眼前已经不是发黑了，而是一阵一阵地泛白。

小腹还在收缩，身下的血似乎仍没止住，沿着大腿根往下淌，带走他残存不多的体温。

真他妈会挑时候来。

“小小，你爸爸……尽力了。”

他抬起沉得几乎撑不住的眼皮，朝头顶惨白的灯光看了一眼。那灯光越来越散，越来越远，像被水泡开了一样，边缘模糊成一片。

意识坠下去的前一秒，他本能地把怀里的孩子又往怀里拢了拢。

下一瞬，张禄眼前彻底一黑，整个人无声地昏了过去。

黑暗里似乎有声音。

好像听到有人在喊他……