Chaotic Punishment
"Smack!!!"
The crisp sound of the slap echoed in the enclosed elevator car, as if a strange pause button had been pressed.
Time stood still for a moment.
The malice and excitement on the boy's face still lingered, but were instantly replaced by an unbelievable, burning pain.
He staggered from the slap, almost losing his balance. His left cheek swelled up visibly, revealing several clear finger marks. He was stunned, completely stunned.
From childhood to adulthood, he had always been under his grandmother's wing, the one who bullied others. He had never been treated like this before. He covered his face with his hands, his eyes wide open, staring at the tall man (Lü Yi) who had hit him, as if he were looking at a monster that had crawled out of hell.
One second, two seconds...
"Wow--!!!!!"
A heart-wrenching, piercing wail suddenly erupted from the boy's throat, shattering the silence. He was no longer just crying; he collapsed to the ground as if his bones had been removed, kicking wildly at the elevator floor, his body contorted, tears and snot streaming down his face, his cries deafening, as if he had suffered an immense injustice and terror.
The middle-aged woman was also stunned by this sudden scene. The smugness and arrogance on her face froze instantly, as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water on her face. She looked at her beloved grandson rolling on the ground and crying, and then at Lü Yi, who was tilting his head and examining his palm with a "this feels pretty good" expression after slapping him. Her brain seemed to freeze for a few seconds.
Immediately, a fury far more intense and primal than when Lin Feng questioned her surged from the depths of her heart like a volcanic eruption! Her face was distorted and deformed by extreme anger, her features almost squashed together.
"Ah--!!! You dare hit my grandson!! I'll fight you to the death!!!"
She let out a shrill, inhuman scream, like an enraged wild boar. Her obese body burst forth with astonishing speed as she lunged at Lü Yi, baring her fangs and claws! She stretched out her long-fingered hands and indiscriminately scratched at Lü Yi's face and body, spewing out a torrent of foul language:
"You son of a bitch! You beast! You bastard! You dare hit my Xiaobao! I'll scratch you to death! You bastard, born of a man but raised by no one! I'll call the police and have you arrested! I'll put you in jail! I'll make you pay! You couldn't afford to pay even if you sold everything you own!!"
Her fingernails scratched Lü Yi's arm, leaving several bloody marks, and her saliva almost sprayed onto Lü Yi's face.
Lü Yi was jolted by her tackle, but his stance was extremely stable, and he wasn't pushed. Faced with this shrewish attack, he wasn't angry at all; instead, a more intense "interest" appeared on his face, as if he were observing a new type of tantrum.
However, this interest only lasted a short time.
Just as the middle-aged woman's insults reached their climax, and she attempted to headbutt Lü Yi's chest—
"Smack!!"
Another, even heavier and louder slap!
The slap landed squarely on the middle-aged woman's fleshy face. The force was so great that she spun halfway around, her ears ringing, and stars flashing before her eyes. All her shouts and curses stopped abruptly. She covered her face, staring at Lü Yi in disbelief, as if she couldn't understand why this young man dared to strike her repeatedly.
Lü Yi shook his wrist, seemingly feeling a bit numb. He looked down at the dazed middle-aged woman and said in a tone that was both questioning and matter-of-fact:
"I was so busy hitting him that I forgot to hit you, huh? You're so noisy."
These words were like the last straw that broke the camel's back. The middle-aged woman's extreme anger turned into extreme grievance and "indignation." She stopped trying to attack and instead sat down on the ground, pounding her fists on the ground, and began an even more dramatic performance of wailing:
"This is outrageous!! Someone's been beaten to death!! They're bullying us, a widow and her children!! Everyone come quick!! A thug is beating up an old woman and a child!! My life is so miserable!! Pay up! You have to pay up! No, not just 100,000... no, 200,000! This isn't over!! Ouch, my face! My bones must be broken..."
While wailing, she secretly observed Lü Yi and Lin Feng's reactions through her fingers, a standard tantrum.
Just then, with a soft "ding," the elevator finally reached the first floor with difficulty. The doors of the elevator car slowly slid open to both sides, letting in the bright light from the lobby outside and the curious glances of the occasional passerby.
The middle-aged woman, who was sitting on the floor wailing, saw the elevator doors open and, as if seeing a savior and an "audience," wailed even more loudly and shrilly. Lü Yi, however, seemed not to hear her. He picked at his ear, as if trying to dig out earwax contaminated by the noise, then bent his finger and flicked it casually in the direction of the middle-aged woman.
This extremely insulting little gesture completely ignited the middle-aged woman's last desire to perform.
"Ah--!!! He's going to hit me again! Everyone saw it, right?!" she screamed, scrambling forward a few steps, grabbing Lü Yi's leg tightly, practically hanging on it, snot and tears smeared all over Lü Yi pants. "You can't leave! You think you can just run away after hitting someone? No way! Take me and my grandson to the hospital! A full checkup! Not a single thing can be missing! Otherwise, I'll kill myself and you!!"
Her shouting caused a commotion in the hall, and some people stopped to watch from a distance.
From the moment the elevator doors opened, Lin Feng's gaze never lingered on the farce unfolding behind him.
He didn't even glance back at Lü Yi, as if everything that happened behind him had nothing to do with him. He was like a stranger who happened to be riding the elevator with him, walking steadily without looking back, straight out of the elevator, blending into the flow of people in the lobby, and heading towards the law firm without the slightest hesitation.
There was no verbal exchange between him and Lü Yi, not even a glance.
Lü Yi looked down at the middle-aged woman who was clinging to his leg, shouting and cursing, spitting everywhere. Instead of being impatient, a strange and pure smile appeared on his face. In that smile, there was no anger, no disgust, only the excitement of finding an "interesting toy".
"Hehe..." he chuckled softly.
Then, to the middle-aged woman's astonishment, Lü Yi raised his leg that wasn't being held, the movement slow but powerful. He didn't use his toes, but his entire foot, and kicked the middle-aged woman's face, which was contorted with crying and anger!
"Bang!"
A muffled thud!
The kick was incredibly powerful. The middle-aged woman felt an irresistible force, as if her face had been struck by Iron Hammer. The intense pain instantly overwhelmed all her senses.
Her grip on Lü Yi's leg loosened involuntarily, and she was kicked backward, her back slamming heavily against the cold metal wall of the elevator car with a dull thud before she slumped softly to the ground in the corner.
The world fell silent.
She lay there, paralyzed, for a long while before she caught her breath and raised her head. A clear, purplish-red shoe print ran from her forehead to her chin, her nose seemed to have collapsed, and blood gushed from her nose like a burst faucet, instantly staining her brightly colored clothes red. She opened her mouth, wanting to cry out, but due to the pain and shock, she could only gasp and gasp.
Beside him, the boy who had been rolling around and crying was completely terrified by the violent scene. He stopped crying, his mouth agape, staring blankly at his grandmother in the corner, her face covered in blood and her body disheveled. His small body trembled violently with fear, and he couldn't even utter a sound.
Lü Yi looked at his "results" and seemed quite satisfied. But he had no intention of stopping there.
He quickened his pace, stood before the middle-aged woman slumped in the corner, and looked down at her.
The middle-aged woman finally snapped out of her pain and confusion, and realized how terrifying the tall man before her truly was. Looking into Lü Yi's eyes, devoid of any human emotion, a fear from the depths of her soul gripped her.
She no longer dared to throw a tantrum, no longer dared to hurl insults, and didn't even dare to cry out loud. She could only use her still-movable arms to protect her head, curling her body up, and pleading incoherently with a sob in her voice:
"No... stop hitting us... Waaah... I was wrong... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... Please let us go... We'll never do it again... Please..."
However, her pleas for mercy did not earn her forgiveness.
Lü Yi his foot and delivered another merciless kick to her obese body!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The sound of his feet hitting flesh was particularly dull and terrifying in the confined space of the elevator car. He kicked her shoulders, her back, her arms that were protecting her head... without any method, without any specific target, just pure venting and "punishment".
The middle-aged woman could only writhe like a wounded beast, uttering painful cries and intermittent pleas for mercy, futilely rolling and scrambling on the ground to escape.
Lü Yi kicked her about a dozen times, then seemed to get tired and stopped, taking a slight breath. He straightened his slightly disheveled collar, didn't even glance at the middle-aged woman groaning on the ground like a rag doll, and turned to walk towards the open elevator doors.
His steps were light, as if he had just completed a simple warm-up exercise.
However, just as he stepped out of the elevator, he seemed to suddenly remember something and stopped in his tracks.
He turned around and walked back.
Amidst the terrified expression of the middle-aged woman and the blank stare of the boy, Lü Yi walked straight up to the boy who was stunned with fear.
The boy trembled with fear, forgetting even to dodge.
Lü Yi raised her hand and delivered another clean and crisp slap to the boy's other cheek, which was still intact and not yet swollen!
"Smack!"
The sound remained clear and crisp.
"I almost forgot about you," Lü Yi grinned at the boy, who was still dazed from the beating, revealing his white teeth. His tone was as casual as if he were talking about the weather. "Don't mention it, it was just a small favor."
After saying that, he didn't linger. He turned around and strode out of the elevator, disappearing into the crowd in the lobby.
All that remained inside the elevator were an old woman with shoe prints on her face, a bloody nose, and groaning in pain, and a child with swollen cheeks, vacant eyes, and utterly terrified, along with the nauseating stench of blood and fear that permeated the air.