The goons dragged them with brutal force. The concrete floor was hard, and they all hit it hard.

Feng Cai patted the shoulder of a man in his thirties beside him. “Brother Yong, are you okay?”

The man named Bai Yong had been thrown down on his broken leg. His wound, already swollen, bruised, and oozing, had started bleeding again. Pain twisted Bai Yong’s face, but he was tough enough not to make a sound.

“It’s fine. I’m okay.” The grime on Bai Yong’s face couldn’t hide how exhausted he looked.

“I don’t know why, but I thought we’d be locked up for three days. Who knew it’d be over in just one?” said the short man beside Brother Bai.

They were all unlucky people who’d suffered the same misfortune, and they were all Chinese.

They’d already gotten to know each other in the water prison, and knew one another’s names.

“Poor Old Liu. He was too fragile and just couldn’t take it. I’d rather be beaten to death than drown.” The long-haired man sighed.

“This is still much better than the water prison. At least we don’t have to suffer in the water anymore,” the short man said.

“Jianye, I don’t think those animals are being nice to us. They’re probably planning to torture us in some new way.” Bai Yong tried to take off his soaking-wet clothes, but with both hands cuffed, he couldn’t get them off. All he could do was pull them down to his wrists and wring out the water.

The others saw him and, uncomfortable in their wet clothes too, followed suit and wrung them out.

Two people lay on the ground, barely breathing. Their skin was pale and cold, and they hadn’t moved at all.

The short man crawled over to them, felt each of their foreheads, then checked their breathing. His brow furrowed. “It’s over. I don’t think they’re going to make it.”

The climate here was generally hot, but it was November, after all. Temperatures could still drop into the teens at night, and staying in the water too long could easily cause hypothermia.

The others fell silent. Since arriving at the compound, they’d seen people die more than once. Maybe they’d be next.

“Brother Wei, is there someone else over there? I lost my glasses, so I can’t see clearly,” a thin man said to the long-haired man.

The room was dim, and the person was sitting with the light behind them. You couldn’t see them clearly without looking closely.

“Looks like a kid? They weren’t brought in with us.” Wang Wei looked over and replied.

“Maybe they’re dead too. They haven’t moved this whole time.”

“I saw her this morning!” Feng Cai recognized Gussy. He’d caught a glimpse of her by chance earlier, and had been utterly dazzled.

Feng Cai crawled over to Gussy. When he saw that she was completely naked, he blushed—but then he noticed something strange.

He was puzzled.

Why did she not really look human? She looked more like a piece of merch you’d see at an anime convention.

“Holy crap, isn’t that—? I’ve played that one in a hentai game!!” The thin man appeared beside Feng Cai at some point and let out a strange cry.

The thin man was so loud that a goon outside came charging in with a whip and struck him twice. Crack! Crack!

The thin man was standing close to Gussy, so the second strike hit her too.

The goon glanced at Gussy, then kicked the thin man. “You want to get locked back up? Then keep your mouth shut! Damn it, now I’ve got to keep an eye on a bunch of corpses.”

“Ow…” After the goon slammed the door behind him and left, the thin man let out a pained groan he’d been holding in. “Damn it all, I’m going to kill them!”

“Let’s worry about staying alive first,” Feng Cai replied.

Gussy had been concentrating on figuring out how to break through the 3% limit when she was suddenly struck. It gave her a strange feeling—had the seal loosened just a little?

It was probably just her imagination. She couldn’t find that feeling again.

Fine. There was no way to break through in the short term, so Gussy could only return to her original plan.

There was no electricity in this room, so there were no surveillance cameras either. The people at the compound had to open the door to see what was happening inside, and that gave Gussy an opportunity.

Could she use that to her advantage?

Gussy stole a glance at the humans around her… Every one of them had a broken leg. Bai Yong and the long-haired man were the most badly injured; their kneecaps were completely shattered. Feng Cai and the thin man were in better shape, with fractures in their lower legs. No wonder the compound hadn’t put shackles on their ankles. In their condition, they couldn’t even make it out the compound’s front gate.

Gussy’s energy was currently around 2%. Based on the capacity of her energy reserves, she needed at least 3.6×10^5 kilojoules to charge up to 3%. That was equivalent to cooling five tons of boiling water to room temperature, or the energy released by burning twelve cubic meters of natural gas. Ordinary heating or sunlight simply wouldn’t be enough. She needed much, much more energy.

Ever since arriving at the compound, Gussy had been observing in secret and mapping out the energy sources in her mind.

“Feng Cai, I can’t take this place anymore. I want to escape.” The thin man’s voice was low and despondent. “That guy just called us ‘corpses.’ I’ve got a bad feeling they’re going to take our kidneys and livers.”

“Escape? Where to? We’re all crippled,” the long-haired man said with a bitter laugh.

“Damn it, if we can’t escape, we’ll take them down with us. Next time someone comes in, we all attack! Worst case, we die!” said a middle-aged man with a receding hairline from the corner, his voice full of hatred.

The short man said, “There are several guards outside. We can’t beat them. The problem is, we might not even be allowed to die. Those animals have all kinds of ways to torture people. If we fight back again, they’ll probably bring out the real torture.”

“…”

The thin man gently stroked the place on Gussy’s shoulder where she’d just been struck and muttered, “What a nice figurine. Why would they leave it here…?”

Gussy suddenly raised a hand and made a ‘hello’ gesture.

Feng Cai and the thin man both jumped. The latter nearly cried out, but Feng Cai reacted quickly and covered his mouth in time.

Bai Yong and the others were farther away, and they’d already considered that Gussy might move, so they weren’t startled. They just found the two men’s over-the-top reactions ridiculous. But when they came closer, they finally noticed something strange too.

“That gesture… Is the kid saying hello to us?” asked the man in the black T-shirt.

“Brother Zhou, can you understand sign language?”

“My mother is deaf and mute, so I’ve learned some sign language over the years.”

Hearing that, Gussy thought, That’s perfect. If these people didn’t understand sign language, she’d have to write on the floor, and communication would be much slower. Sign language was far more efficient.

“Would you like to make a deal with me? Help me with one thing, and I’ll grant you one wish in return.” The man in the T-shirt translated Gussy’s words, looking baffled.

“Who are you? Why are you here?” Feng Cai hadn’t expected the figure in front of him to be alive. He didn’t even know where to look.

“I am… the Flame Sovereign, fallen into the mortal world. I need to replenish my energy so I can move again. I want you to help me.”

They all looked at one another.

What kind of chuuni kid was this? They really wanted to say it… but a doll moving on its own was already pretty abnormal.

“How can we trust you?” Bai Yong couldn’t help asking. “Can you prove what you can do?”

Gussy suddenly pointed at Bai Yong. “You’ve had hemorrhoid surgery, right?”

Bai Yong froze and glanced down at his lower body… He was wearing underwear.

“My eyes can see through things. Humans have no secrets from me.”

“But your eyes aren’t even open.”

“Heh heh heh. Humans cannot gaze directly upon my awe-inspiring eyes!” Gussy narrowed her eyes. She didn’t want to scare these unlucky people. It wouldn’t be good if they mistook her for some evil spirit again.

Gussy pointed at the short man next. “You’ve got atherosclerosis. Find a chance to get surgery!”

The short man instinctively covered his chest. “Th-that… you know about that too? Last year, I even thought about getting bypass surgery, but it was too expensive. I figured I’d work for another couple of years first.”

Gussy pointed out each person’s health problems, hitting the nail on the head every time.

“What? How come I didn’t know I had a liver tumor? You’re making that up!” The thin man looked utterly incredulous.

Feng Cai comforted him. “Don’t be upset, bro. At least the compound won’t be taking your liver now.”

After their initial exchange, everyone believed Gussy had extraordinary abilities. Her knack for diagnosing people at a glance put those old folk doctors to shame.

“Can you help us escape the compound?”

“I’ll do anything you ask! And could you save my younger sister too? She was brought to the compound as well.”

“I want you to kill Bolong.” Bai Yong clenched his fists, forcing the corners of his mouth upward. “Because of him, I’ve lost everything. I don’t care if I escape. I just want him dead!”

“Of course. I accept your requests, as long as you cooperate with my next move,” Gussy replied confidently.

They’d already been ready to fight to the death. Now that the “Flame Sovereign” had joined them, they finally had hope.

It was dinnertime. The goon on guard leaned against the door, waiting for the next shift to arrive. He yawned, bored out of his mind, when a strange noise suddenly came from inside the cell.

“Damn it, you pigs! Do you still want to eat or not?” He grabbed his whip and kicked the door open.

As soon as he stepped inside, he saw Gussy sitting obediently, her deep black eyes fixed on him.

The sight sent a chill through the goon. Before he could recover from his fear, an iron chain shot out of the darkness and cinched tight around his neck.

Using his body weight, Feng Cai dragged him to the ground. The others swarmed him. One pinned his legs, another gripped his wrists, and someone else choked him.

Feng Cai had used nearly every ounce of strength he had. When he came to his senses, the goon had stopped breathing.

The metal cuffs had rubbed his wrists raw. Blood ran down them.

Just as Gussy had said, this was when the guards outside were least alert.

“Feng Cai, you’re the only one who can stand and run. I need you to carry me. Your leg will hurt terribly the whole way. Can you keep going?”

Feng Cai had a closed fracture in his lower leg. He could force himself to run, but it would cause further injury—and the pain would be unbearable.

They’d come this far already, and Feng Cai steeled himself. “Let’s do it! Worst case, I die!”

The key to the handcuffs wasn’t on the goon, so Feng Cai had no choice but to keep moving with the cuffs on.

Following Gussy’s instructions, Feng Cai stripped the goon of his pants and shoes and put them on. He took off his long-sleeved jacket and draped it over Gussy’s head, then picked her up to hide his handcuffs. The others couldn’t move, so they stayed behind in the cell.

Gussy had memorized the compound’s layout. She knew where there were more people, where there were fewer, and where the guards were stationed.

The compound’s infrastructure was underdeveloped. It relied mainly on diesel generators, solar panels, and the local power grid. These were also the places where energy was most concentrated: the power lines supplying the communications base station, the vehicle battery station (fuel depot), the solar panel array, the diesel generator units, and the power nodes in the residential area.

The power lines supplying the communications base station were buried more than 1.5 meters underground. The fuel depot was heavily guarded, and the solar panel array generated power too slowly… Those three locations were out. That left the diesel generator area and the residential power nodes, but the latter was too far away. So the only target left was the diesel generator area.

The diesel generator area was to the southwest. They’d have to pass three guard posts, but the mercenaries needed to eat and rest too. They couldn’t stay at their posts twenty-four hours a day. At this hour, only one post was manned, leaving a gap in the patrols.

Feng Cai forced himself to run toward the generator area despite the pain. He felt like his bones could shift out of place at any moment, but he didn’t dare stop. It wouldn’t be long before they discovered what had happened in the cell. He had only a few minutes of safety left.

Fortunately, the doll was very light, so he didn’t have to use too much energy carrying her.

With Gussy guiding him, Feng Cai covered nearly half a kilometer in ten minutes. They passed three guard posts and even went by several four-wheelers. Luckily, no one noticed them.

The compound had never expected anyone to escape toward the generator area, so they hadn’t stationed many patrols nearby.

They finally reached the generator area, but Gussy spotted a problem: there were surveillance cameras here, and no blind spots.

“Should we go somewhere else?” Feng Cai was drenched in cold sweat. He knelt on the ground, clutching his leg.

Once they rounded this building, they’d reach the generator area—and enter the cameras’ field of view.

“There’s no other way. We’ll have to bet that the people at the compound are slow to react. Get through as fast as you can, toss me into the steam vent, then find somewhere to hide.”

After hearing Gussy’s instructions, Feng Cai gritted his teeth and forced himself back to his feet. He charged forward with an awkward running gait and tossed Gussy into the vent opening.

Gussy crawled into the duct and felt the heat of the escaping steam.

The farther in she crawled, the hotter it got.

Ah, this feeling… That long-missed sense of fullness. So good!

Gussy felt her energy rising. She greedily absorbed the heat from the steam.

…2.1%…2.2%…

Ten minutes… twenty minutes…

Forty minutes passed, and Gussy’s energy reached 2.9%. Just a little more, and it’d be able to move freely!

But the steam gradually cooled. Gussy blinked, then realized in shock that the generator had stopped running.

Hey, hey! Why’d it stop right now?! Is this some kind of edging challenge?!

Before long, several men in camouflage uniforms and windproof sunglasses stormed in. They used a long hook to pull Gussy out of the pipe.

“I can actually move on my own. This is really surprising. I’m sorry. Uh…”

The men babbled among themselves, but Gussy couldn’t understand them. Its vocabulary database didn’t include Burmese.

They realized Gussy might escape, so they put a collar on it and tied it to a vehicle. Then they drove it all the way to a warehouse.

Gussy: ORZ. This is bad.

The sunset looked like a pool of congealed blood, smeared thickly across the concrete.

Several men in camouflage watched Gussy. Their shadows stretched into a crooked centipede as they waited for someone.

The sound of brakes came from outside, followed by car doors opening and closing.

Bolong strolled in from outside, wearing sunglasses. On his left was a heavily made-up man in women’s clothes, his heels clicking crisply against the ground. On his right was his trusted subordinate, Linu’an.

The men in camouflage respectfully said a few words to Brother Long, then left.

“Brother Long~ So this is what you’re into?” Little Butterfly cooed, acting coy.

“Keep your glasses on. Don’t look it in the eye. Little Butterfly, this thing isn’t human.”

“Okay.”

Bolong crouched down. A trace of malice flickered in his eyes as he studied Gussy with interest, as if it were some precious collectible.

Gussy wasn’t afraid in the slightest. It stared right back at Bolong.

Hmph. If this princess could move again, you’d be the one lying on the ground right now!

“So you’re intelligent. And you were trying to escape?”

Gussy gestured with its hands: “I need energy. Give me energy.”

Linu’an said, “When we tortured those piglets, they said this evil spirit called itself the Flame Sovereign. It promised it could help them escape if they did what it asked.”

Bolong sneered. “I was going to sell it to Saint Island, but now I’m curious.”

Linu’an asked, “Should we give it what it wants?”

Little Butterfly said, “Brother Long, this little evil spirit’s up to no good~ What if it gets its fill of energy and suddenly tries to hurt you?”

Gussy glared at the man in women’s clothes. You sure do talk a lot.

“See? It even glared at me! It can understand what I’m saying!”

Bolong slipped his hand into the slit skirt Little Butterfly was wearing and squeezed his butt.

“Little evil spirit, I heard you can heal people. That’s pretty amazing. Tell me all your abilities first, and then I’ll consider giving you a little something in return.”

Gussy raised both hands, holding up one finger on each.

Bolong paused, then looked at Linu’an. “Translate.”

“…It only has four fingers, but I think that means it’s flipping you off.”

Bolong was so angry he laughed. He hadn’t expected to be looked down on by some thing that wasn’t human or ghost.

He grabbed Gussy by the neck and lifted it up. The veins in his right hand bulged as he tightened his grip, squeezing Gussy’s neck until it was as thin as a chopstick.

“Looks like you still don’t understand who your master is.”

Under the intense pressure, Gussy felt its energy draining away. It tried to control the loss and slow it down, but it couldn’t avoid it…

Wait, something seemed off…

Gussy remembered what it had felt like when it was whipped. Its energy had drained then, too, but it hadn’t lost any of its current energy. Instead, it had lost… capacity in its energy pool.

If its energy pool got smaller, wouldn’t that let its current energy go past 3%?

With that in mind, Gussy shifted its losses over to the capacity of its energy pool.

Bolong slammed Gussy onto the ground. “Get me a stick!”

After taking the stick, Bolong grinned and asked, “How about it, little evil spirit? Say something.”

Gussy: 👎

Bolong was seething. Did this evil spirit pick and choose who it’d cooperate with? It was willing to help those piglets escape, but wouldn’t cooperate with him, the warden? It really wasn’t very smart. It needed a beating!

The stick came down, and Gussy’s head instantly caved in. But its body was elastic, and it quickly bounced back into shape.

Little Butterfly watched with great interest. He hated anyone who was cuter than him, and at least now Gussy looked a little grotesque as Bolong beat it.

Another blow, and Gussy’s body twisted into a bizarre knot.

Bolong raised the stick again. But in that instant, a gust of wind swept past him, and Gussy was gone.

“It moved! It moved!! It got out!!” Linu’an cried.

“What?!”

They rushed out of the warehouse and saw Gussy beside the vehicle’s cargo hold, pouring a bucket of gasoline over itself.

Thud!

The empty gasoline bucket hit the ground.

Bolong saw the evil spirit—a little girl—with a predator’s smile so human it was uncanny. Shadows shifted beneath its eyelashes in the evening light. Its hanging strands of hair stirred though there was no wind, and the sunset gilded it rose gold. Everything about it screamed danger!

With a sharp snap of its fingers, flames shot into the sky, turning the surrounding night red as a wave of heat rushed toward them.

“Hahahaha! Hahahahahaha! This princess is free at last!”