Northern South America, Suriname.
As night fell, the entire country was shrouded in darkness, and the stifling hot air gradually seeped in a touch of coolness as people began to venture out.
In an abandoned, dilapidated church, moonlight streamed in through holes in the roof, illuminating floating specks of dust.
"Crack!" The loud whip snapping disturbed the tranquility.
In the center of the church, a man was tied to a chair, his white shirt covered in bloody whip marks that were gruesome to behold.
Moonbeams streamed down through the roof, spilling over him.
He was drenched in blood, bound by ropes as he bathed in the moonlight. Looking up, in front of him was the towering crucifix, symbolizing faith and freedom.
Another long whip sliced through the air, leaving another bloody gash on the white shirt, the laceration extending from his neck across his entire chest.
The pain made him frown again.
After a moment, he recovered from the pain and looked up at the woman in front of him wielding the long whip.
He suddenly let out a low chuckle, the laughter coming from his throat was short and light, echoing around the vast, empty church, falling strangely gentle and lingering on the ear.
His scholarly brows and eyes unintentionally revealed a standardized gentleness, yet beneath this harmless facade lurked a dangerous nature.
"What are you laughing at?" Wuma Liya frowned at him.
Cheng Jinyan, weakened to exhaustion by the torture, did not respond immediately. He adjusted his breathing.
"Just a little dissatisfied, that's all."
"Then this young lady will whip you until you submit."
Wuma Liya lashed out with the whip again.
Cheng Jinyan clenched his teeth, the veins in his neck bulging.
"This young lady will give you one chance to repent today."
Wuma Liya's whip pointed at the lofty crucifix.
Cheng Jinyan twisted his mouth, silently cursing. He looked at the giant cross, chuckling, "Repent?"
The more Cheng Jinyan thought about it, the more amused he became. Under Wuma Liya's murderous gaze, his laughter grew louder and louder.
After a good while, his laughter subsided.
"You Wuma Family commit arson, murder and plunder, I act on heaven's behalf, and you, a sinner, judge me, the savior?"
Wuma Liya: "Nonsense! You dare to commit the crime but not admit it, coward! You killed Wuma Lin, this young lady will take your life today to pay for his."
"Wuma Lin?" Cheng Jinyan was puzzled.
After a moment of speechlessness, somewhat exasperated, he said: "Three people, you only chase after me, that's fine, but you pin this false charge on me too. Young Miss Wuma, is your brain working properly? Such a foolish believer, God will be kept up at night from anger."
Wuma Liya: "How dare you ridicule this young lady! This young lady will whip you to death and chop you into pieces to feed the leopards!"
She swung the long whip, preparing to teach this man a good lesson.
Someone rushed anxiously into the church from outside: "Miss, the family patriarch sent a message for you to release the man immediately."
Wuma Liya kicked the underling away: "Get lost!"
Before she could lash out with the whip, another person rushed in and whispered: "Miss, your fourth uncle wants you to hand this man over to him for disposal. He's on his way here and will arrive in an hour."
Wuma Liya frowned unhappily, staring at Cheng Jinyan tied to the chair for a while. She said to her underlings, "You two, bring him with me."
Cheng Jinyan was taken away from the church.
At daybreak, Cheng Jinyan awoke groggily from the chair, his arms numb from being tied up for so long.
The blood on his body had dried, and his wounds and clothes stuck together. Any slight tug would reopen the wounds and blood would seep out, painfully.
Cheng Jinyan surveyed the dilapidated little room where he was held captive. Before he could think of a way to escape, the door was pushed open.
Wuma Liya came in holding a piece of bread. She brought it up to Cheng Jinyan and said nastily, "Want to eat? If you want to eat, beg me. If you can make this young lady happy, I'll reward you."
Cheng Jinyan was too weary to bother with her.
Ignored, Wuma Liya angrily grabbed Cheng Jinyan's face and tried to stuff the bread into his mouth.
Seeing that she couldn't force it in, she pinched his cheeks harder, constantly trying to pry his mouth open.
The bread got smashed up without making it into his mouth.
Furious, Wuma Liya threw the bread forcefully onto the ground and viciously stomped it into crumbs.
"Let's see how many days you can starve!"
She stormed out of the room and told the guards at the door, "Don't give him any food or water to drink!"
After being tied up and held captive for a day, Cheng Jinyan was utterly depleted of strength.
To make matters worse, the sweltering weather caused his wounds to fester and become infected.
That night, Wuma Liya came again. The sound of her kicking the door jolted awake the drowsy Cheng Jinyan.
Seeing the miserable state Cheng Jinyan was in, Wuma Liya smiled satisfactorily.
She held some water and brought it up to Cheng Jinyan's mouth.
Cheng Jinyan glanced at her, then lowered his head, tentatively opening his mouth to drink a sip.
It tasted like a mouthful of salt. Just as he expected, she wouldn't be so kind.
"Don't you dare spit it out or I'll beat you to death."
Cheng Jinyan paid no heed to her threats and spat it all out in one go, frowning deeply.
Enraged, Wuma Liya took out her whip, dipped it in the salt water, and lashed Cheng Jinyan.
The salt water-soaked whip splitting open a gash on his body caused Cheng Jinyan to let out a muffled grunt. He nearly ground his teeth to dust enduring the pain without crying out.
The salt water ate at the wound. Cheng Jinyan sucked in a breath from the stinging pain, his body trembling slightly from the agonizing sensation.
Wuma Liya whipped him two more times, venting her anger. She then said to him, "From today on, this young lady will whip you a few times every day until you die! Then I'll catch those two friends of yours and whip them to death too!"
Wuma Liya left after making her vicious threat.
In the middle of the night, after being tortured for three consecutive days and his body pushed to its limit, Cheng Jinyan passed out.
When Cheng Jinyan awoke again, it was already noon the next day.
Cheng Jinyan found himself lying in bed. His wounds had been cleaned and medicated, he wore a fresh shirt, but his hands and feet were still bound by coarse ropes.
The first thing Cheng Jinyan saw was Wuma Liya sitting at a table eating snacks.
Seeing that he was awake, Wuma Liya called the guard at the door to come in and feed him water.
The guard was very rough, yanking Cheng Jinyan up and pinching his face to pour water down his throat.
This time there was no salt in the water, it was clean.
