Chapter 325: Impaled, Imprisoned

A few seconds later, Lee Shen remembered the account of memories D and Hudson had extracted from the Tubian.

"So this is the underground chamber, huh?"

Leaning his head on the wall behind his back, Lee Shen mumbled to himself. At the very moment, the being hung on the nearest chain twitched its head. With struggle, the person lifted the head and saw the living remnants of a human. The eyelids slowly opening and closing jolted its consciousness.

The elf's eyes went wide after seeing Lee Shen alive and in a peculiar condition. The woman's eyes displayed wonder and fright with horror smeared on her face.

She tried to cry, but her throat was dry. She wanted to move, but her body was numb.

Hearing the rustling of the chains highlighted in the silence, Lee opened his eyes and saw the woman hanging on the nearest chain staring at him with open wide eyes. He saw fear and horror shadowing over her face.

"Hi."

Lee Shen initiated the conversation with a word and the female elf was thunderstruck. She scanned the partial torso eagerly through her hair blocking the view.

Then, Lee saw the woman's lips moving. But no voice came. This made him frown and he concentrated on her lips.

"Who...are...you. Who am I? I-"

Before Lee could finish his sentence, a sting originated in his neck and his mouth was filled with the taste of blood. With pain and discomfort crawling over him, Lee struggled to swallow down his saliva coupled with blood.

Soon, the pain of swallowing became unbearable and he coughed while spitting the blood in the process.

*coughs*

Blood and saliva excited his mouth as a single solution. When the overflowing mixture subsided, Lee sighed and chuckled upon remembering something. He leaned his head on the walls and his eyes were about to close when he heard the rustling of the chain again.

The elf woman turned her head to her right lifelessly. The resident who woke up after hearing Lee Shen's coughs was a demon. The man with small deep red coloured horns on his forehead was in a much pathetic state than the elf woman.

Apparently, one of the Tubian chopped his legs for an escape attempt.

The demon turned his head and saw the figure of Lee Shen. His reaction was identical to the woman, tainted with fright and confusion.

But he did not panic. That was an innate ability of the demon race.

"Fresh meat, eh?"

The humour sense of the demon even at the doorstep of death made Lee Shen laugh, but the resultant pain was overwhelming. The wound in the inside of his neck was opened and the circle of sufferings was initiated.

"That tattoo..."

The demon's hoarse voice could be heard and Lee Shen raised his head to see the demon staring at him. This time, it had a tinge of curiosity in it.

"That tattoo..."

The demon uttered again and Lee was confused. He could swear that he did not have a tattoo on his body.

"I dont have...a tattoo."

Lee spoke hushedly but was loud enough to transmit the voice in the silent room. Hearing this the demon shook his head.

"That tattoo...on your throat."

*cough cough*

The demon conveyed his message and then began to cough. His uneasiness was due to exertion and he quickly went silent.

The demon's words confused Lee and he glanced at the elf. She, who understood that Lee was unaware of the presence of the tattoo, moved her lips and transmitted the message.

'What?'

Upon decoding the lip movements, Lee was disclosed the fact that he has a peculiar tattoo in the front of his throat.

When Lee Shen asked her to describe the tattoo, he consistently failed to decode her reply.

A few seconds later, the elf fell unconscious. Taking this moment, he remembered the magic word.

'System.'

Lee summoned the panel but there was no reaction. He was left with a rude reply of silence. Nothing appeared. Yet the seeds of despair had a long way to root deep into Lee Shen's soul.

Without attempting a second try, the reason came popping up in his mind.

'D and Hudson have rescued Aero, I can tell. But how are they doing?'

With no means of communication, let alone escape, Lee began to compile meaningful data from the limited amount of information.

But what surprised him most was he himself!

Lee Shen had lost an awful lot of blood after the battle had concluded. He is still bleeding internally and the pain was rolling over him without rest.

He lost both of his arms. He did not have his lower torso. He does not know how many of his bones are broken. He had no idea what the Tubians had done to him to keep him alive.

When he was compiling information, the faces of An, Mia, Tera and Gauthama flashed in front of his eyes. His eyes attained a bright sparkle as he whistled hushedly.

After a dozen attempts, his actions bore no fruit. The elf and the demon were not awake. Even if they were awake, responding to his calls would only quicken their loss.

"Hey there."

A fairly deep voice came out of a green figure smeared in red colour. When Lee squinted his eyes, he saw that that was an orc.

Lee took a second to scan the orc from head to toe. He seemed alright and healthy. When comparing with others, he was stout and his eyes glowed a leashed wild beast.

With no injury or wound, the orc was standing on the ground with his feet firmly planted on the floor. Unlike other prisoners, this man was tall and big and that enabled him not to hang lifelessly and endure pain.

"Oh hi."

"New here?"

Lee nodded as a reply and the orc nodded in acknowledgement. The orc then decided to turn around and mind his own business.

"Excuse me."

(A.N. Like I said, the story is taking quite a turn.)