Chapter 23: Secretary No. 2’s Child
The butler looked over at the dazed children standing in place with satisfaction.
He then walked gracefully to the left wall of the hall.
In front of a row of dusty cabinets, he gently tapped the foremost one.
That cabinet door quietly swung open.
A man with a hunched back, carrying a lantern, slowly stood up from inside.
Before he emerged, it was hard to imagine such a small cabinet could hold someone so large.
But after he came out, it seemed oddly reasonable—and made people all the more curious about what might be inside the other cabinets.
The butler nodded slightly at the hunched man, then led the group of wide-eyed, dazed children to a half‑height door at the end of the room’s left wall.
He pushed it open, revealing a staircase leading deep underground.
It was pitch black and unfathomably deep.
At the butler’s gentle clap, all the children filed through the small door inside.
Han Su obediently followed down.
Although everything in this ancient castle sparked in him many ideas of escape, he only dared to pick the option he could be most sure of.
Adventure was necessary—but he would eliminate as many risks as possible, because he was certain that if he died here, it would be true death, and all the rest of his life would lose meaning.
……
The dungeon was pitch‑black, with only a narrow wooden ladder leading back to the small door they had come through.
There were no windows.
Locked in here, not even a hint of light, Han Su could only silently calculate time in his mind by noting the children’s crying and their speech-start times.
Including Han Su, no one knew how long they would be confined here.
They could only occasionally hear the cawing of crows from outside and the terrified, short cries of children transmitted through some material from higher up in the bunker.
All the children huddled together, enveloped by an invisible fear.
They didn’t dare cry loudly, fearing their sobs might attract something.
“The first night is the Night of Tears.
The second night is the Night of Deathly Silence.
The third night is the Night of Pleasure.
The fourth night will be the Night of Transformation…”
He silently memorized these key points by heart.
In Han Su’s experience, the best opportunity to escape was after the Night of Pleasure on the third night, during the daytime before the fourth night—the Night of Transformation.
Last time, he had also attempted to lead those children willing to trust him out at that time.
But this time, he didn’t plan to wait that long.
He would leave tonight.
There were two reasons besides the fact that the key was on that Pale Giant, making it easier to snatch:
First, the children would be unsettled that night, distracting several monsters.
Second, Han Su knew that after sending him and the children into the dungeon, the butler—whose body was entwined with withered vines—would leave.
Only the lantern‑bearing hunched man would be on guard.
Although he had strength beyond that of the children, he was bound by rules.
He was just a servant, so he didn’t dare harm the children.
This—this was the opportunity!
……
In the darkness, all the children clustered in one corner, only the occasional stifled sob revealing their fear.
They didn’t know how long they’d be locked up, nor what terrifying thing might happen next.
Especially in this pitch‑black dungeon, the children feared the dark, feared monsters lurking within, so they yearned for adults, for escape, for crying—but feared crying aloud in case monsters came—so they only sobbed softly.
Only Han Su remained calm, his gaze slowly scanning his surroundings.
Now that he’d decided to leave tonight, the sooner the better.
In his current body—just nine years old and already weak—every passing moment sapped more strength, reducing his chances of escape.
As he pondered, he lifted his head and looked at a certain spot in the dungeon—a rusty iron pipe about three or four meters high.
At its end, there were scattered burlap sacks and broken floorboards, but now it had been sealed with a fresh wooden plank.
“As expected, this hole has been sealed too.”
Once, he had escaped by climbing up there, sneaking out of the dungeon, finding his way upstairs, and then out.
Now he had to think of another way.
“You’re all scared, but I’m not scared.”
As Han Su thought this, one of the children huddled among the sobbing group wiped tears and said, waving a fist at the others: “My dad will definitely come rescue me. If you all follow what I say, I’ll have my dad rescue you all together.”
“My dad is really powerful.”
“Dad is Secretary No. 2, but his power is even greater than the Mayor’s. As long as he nods, any disobedient gardener gets beaten to death and thrown into the garden to feed the dogs. So Dad will definitely come save me.”
“When he comes, all these monsters—these monsters will be locked in jail, and if you don’t listen to me, you’ll be locked up too.”
“……”
When children were frightened, they also looked for a pillar of support, even if that support bullied or scolded them. So this crew‑cut young master’s words actually sparked a glimmer of hopeful agreement in the small dungeon.
“I’ll be good, I’ll behave…”
“……”
Not far off, Han Su simply watched coldly. He rarely thought a child could be wicked, but this crew‑cut young master was an exception.
At such a young age, he was both stupid and evil and selfish.
That one time Han Su had escaped the dungeon—he had just climbed up the iron pipe—this kid jumped out and ordered him to pull him up first.
Of course Han Su refused, so the boy suddenly screamed and shouted.
Because of his yelling, Han Su panicked and tried to climb faster, cutting his leg deeply on a nail, which slowed him down and nearly got him caught by the Half‑Bodied Woman.
Also, hadn’t he already said many times that he was the child of Secretary No. 2?
Every time he was locked in the dungeon and got scared, he would desperately boast about how powerful his father, Secretary No. 2, was.
From eavesdropping and subtle probing, Han Su had already figured out that—if what he said was true—his secretary father had at least three to five lives on his hands.
Someone who cut the flowers wrong.
Someone who broke a plate.
Someone who angered the wife…
He even bragged once that he tried to touch a nanny, and when the maid wouldn’t let him, he pretended to have a stomachache and claimed the maid gave him spoiled food—then watched her get beaten to death.
That smug and proud face gave even an adult like Han Su the chills.
However, something about the story was strange.
After Han Su escaped, the families of the other children had come looking for him.
Some were rich, some were noble—but among them, there was no mention of any Secretary No. 2.
In theory, Secretary No. 2 would be the most powerful person in Qinggang City besides the Mayor.
If his child had also been kidnapped, the media should have gone wild, but Han Su had never heard a word about it.
‘Could it be because his identity is too special and has been deliberately hidden?’
Han Su couldn’t figure it out: ‘But whatever the case, this escape opportunity now falls on you…’
Amid the boasting and echoing hopes among the children, he tried to stay calm, conjuring up a map of most of the area below the fifth level of the bunker in his mind.
‘Although the principle is to avoid all possible danger, it seems that to get out this time, the very first step will have to be a risky one…’
Thinking this, he lifted his head and looked up the stairs toward the small, half‑height door.
He recalled the creepy man who always came in with a lantern to scare them whenever the kids cried too much.
Having made up his mind, Han Su got right to work.
Listening to that boy keep bragging about his dad, looking all high and mighty and seemingly forgetting fear entirely, Han Su suddenly nodded forcefully in agreement:
“Your dad is Secretary No. 2? The really powerful guy—the one who beats people to death and even the Public Security Bureau doesn’t dare investigate?”
“……”
The crew‑cut boy froze for a second upon hearing Han Su’s agreement.
Then, proudly folding his arms, he looked Han Su up and down, saw the black jacket he wore, and said: “You know my dad’s powerful?”
“Then I order you to take off your jacket and give it to me, because I’m cold.”
He raised his chin arrogantly: “If you obey, I’ll let you wipe my butt when I poop. In my house, everyone fights to wipe my butt.”
As he spoke, he even looked around.
Truth was, he already wanted to poop—but he was scared, and he didn’t know how to wipe, so he’d been holding it.
Han Su said, “Good, found the right one.”
And with that, he swung his hand and slapped him across the face.
The crew‑cut boy was stunned, holding his cheek, staring at Han Su in disbelief.
It was as if this slap shattered his worldview—after all, even his dad had never hit him. To him, violence was like a higher‑dimensional blow.
“My older sister broke your dad’s favorite plate, and he sicced dogs on her until she died. My little sister upset your mom while she was in a bad mood, and she was beaten and tossed out with broken legs. My cousin was framed by you and died. My younger cousin cut one flower too many, and your family buried him in the garden…”
“……”
Han Su shouted, flailing and baring his teeth, slapping again and again like a vengeful ghost.
Though considering his soul’s age, hitting a child was like an adult bullying a kid—but this brat’s entire family was detestable.
He wouldn’t hit too much—one slap for each life.
Not too much to ask, right?
And to be fair, he hadn’t lied.
All the suffering masses were his brothers and sisters!