The Daughter in the Shadows

Chapter 100: Crushing Weight

Owen silently counted in his head, trying to see how many seconds Yunice would last before she told them to stop. He couldn’t believe that Yunice didn’t care about him at all—that she truly didn’t care about the Saunders family.

The bald man gave a slight nod, signaling the bodyguards forward. A dozen of them closed in around Owen, piling on with full force. No one could withstand that kind of pressure. Owen was quickly buried under their weight. The bald man stood off to the side, directing, “One on top of another—stack them higher.”

Then he seemed to remember something and turned to ask, “Forgot to check, Ms. Saunders—how long do you want this game to last?”

Yunice didn’t answer. Maybe she hadn’t heard, or maybe she didn’t want to. Her eyes were locked on Owen, who was now pinned under a mountain of bodies. His face turned red, then purple. He couldn’t seem to breathe; his mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

There were too many people stacked on top, some barely able to keep their balance, shifting around constantly just to find space. Owen disappeared entirely under the crushing weight; not even his face was visible anymore—let alone any chance of drawing breath. A 5-foot-11 man, buried so deep he was unrecognizable—only one bloodied hand, veins bulging and fingers trembling, clawed at the floor like it was the last thread keeping him alive.

Yunice stared stiffly at the scene, like her blood had frozen in her veins. She couldn’t move a muscle. Her eyes burned red; she could taste the metallic tang of blood in her throat and wanted to move, to pull away, but her whole body felt like a rusted machine—every twitch grinding painfully. Her mind flashed back to Lauren—the girl who’d died playing this very game. She’d gone through the same thing. When she died, her eyes had never closed. Those lifeless pupils, set in a face bruised and pulped, had stared through the iron bars above her with endless resentment. When Yunice went to see her, those dead eyes still seemed to hold a faint glimmer, like they were bursting with words—but never got the chance to speak them.

Just thinking about that moment made Yunice feel like someone had clamped a hand around her throat. She couldn’t breathe. Right as she slipped back into that paralyzed nightmare, a warm hand wrapped around hers, firm and steady against her skin. Yunice blinked back to the present and looked up, her gaze nervous and uncertain, meeting Wyatt’s. He was watching her curiously, like he didn’t quite understand what she was going through—but the faint smile on his lips carried a quiet steadiness.

Yunice took a deep breath. After a few seconds, she finally found her voice. “That’s enough… Stop.”

Wyatt slid his arm around her shoulders and guided her away, never intending to let her see Owen’s full humiliation. Gill quickly followed after them.

Only then did the bald man bark, “Alright, get off him!” The bodyguards slowly began peeling themselves off the pile. Even though they were the ones doing the damage, the ones at the bottom had still felt their organs being crushed; they were short of breath, dizzy. What kind of person thinks up a game like this—one that kills without spilling a drop of blood?

If they felt like this, then Owen, stuck on the very bottom, must’ve been a hundred times worse. But no one paid him any mind. As soon as they got up, they all followed the bald man and walked out.

Owen, facedown on the floor, didn’t move for a long time. Pain. The word filled his mind. He couldn’t even tell where in his body the pain was coming from anymore—he just hurt. Pain surged through every nerve until it exploded in his brain. He didn’t know how long it had been, but eventually, the darkness clouding his vision began to lift. He tried to pull himself up, but the moment he moved, it felt like every bone in his body shattered.

Cough! He managed to prop himself up just enough to spit out a mouthful of blood. As someone who’d worked in medicine for years, Owen knew what that meant—he was suffering from internal organ trauma. Internal trauma?

Suddenly, it clicked. Yunice had said she’d sustained internal injuries… Back then, he hadn’t believed her. Could it be that she really had been hurt? And that box of Alphasirox pills… was that actually for treating her injury? But… but I actually made her give that box to Elsie…

Owen clutched his chest, staggering to his feet with fury in his eyes. He turned in the direction Yunice had gone. No, I have to find her. He had to ask her—face to face. He had to ask why she hadn’t told him what was really going on. If she’d just told him clearly that she was injured, he never would’ve handed over that medicine to Elsie. He had to ask how she managed to survive without it if she’d gotten any better since then.

Had she felt pain like this too? Owen stumbled forward a few steps, but the world suddenly went dark—and he collapsed.

Meanwhile, Yunice had been brought back to her hospital bed. Gill had drawn a bowl of warm water and was gently wiping Yunice’s hands and face, her eyes filled with worry.