In those life-or-death moments, Hu Ya’s gruesome death drew not a single person’s attention.

They were barely managing to save themselves—all they wanted was to escape the thing in pursuit.

But the Duke was too fast. He quickly caught up with them. His powerful claw lunged straight at Bai Youwei’s back—

Yu Yaqing flung herself on top of Bai Youwei and took the blow! An entire layer of flesh was scraped from her own back!

Su Man spun around and hurled beads at the Duke’s face!

In the dollhouse she had been allotted ten beads. She threw five of them now—and by extraordinary luck, two of them exploded on the Duke. Flesh and blood scattered in an instant!

The Duke let out a howl of agony and lurched backward, barely catching the stair railing before he toppled over the edge!

The four women ahead had already charged up to the third floor and were sprinting down the corridor.

The Duke bellowed with unbridled fury!

He charged up the staircase again—faster than before, stronger than before—giving the women not a single moment to breathe, roaring as he lunged after them!

The next second, Su Man threw her remaining five beads!

But this time, not a single one exploded. The Duke’s momentum barely faltered before he was closing in on Su Man and Zhu Shu again—

If there was one person he hated above all others, it was Bai Youwei and Zhu Shu.

One had burned him to a charred ruin with her lightning.

One had summoned a snow monster that gnawed him to pieces.

Bai Youwei’s lightning he had to fear—she could release it repeatedly. But the snow monster-type item shouldn’t be appearing again, so he went without hesitation for Zhu Shu.

*Crack!*

The horsewhip lashed out through the air with a sharp snap, coiling viciously around his wrist!

“RUN!!!” Su Man gripped the other end of the whip and bellowed.

Zhu Shu immediately rolled sideways and scrambled to her feet, sprinting forward!

The Duke roared in fury. His wrist jerked upward, and using the whip as a rope, he yanked Su Man directly into his grip!

“SU MAN!”

Bai Youwei lunged forward!

Yu Yaqing lunged forward too!

One grabbed Su Man’s hands, the other wrapped her arms around Su Man’s legs.

Zhu Shu’s eyes burned red—she had already run ahead, but now she came charging back, throwing herself to the floor and locking her arms tightly around Su Man’s waist!

Three women poured every last drop of their strength into holding on—but they still could not stop the Duke from dragging Su Man toward the torture chamber.

Every usable item was already spent. They were entirely without recourse.

Utterly without recourse.

The torture chamber drew closer with each passing second—

Yu Yaqing freed one hand and snatched up a fragment of broken sword from the floor, jamming it into the floorboards. As they were dragged forward, blood flowed from her palm, the blade carving a long gash through the floor, drawing a line of blood.

Bai Youwei’s arms scraped across the floor until the skin broke open. Her face bone-white, she gripped Su Man’s hand in an iron hold, repeating over and over: “Su Man, hold on… you have to hold on…”

Zhu Shu clutched Su Man’s waist and wept without a sound, pushing and pushing with all her strength, the tips of her shoes pressed hard against the floor, trying to create resistance against the Duke’s pull. But it was all in vain.

“Take me instead! —” she cried out. “I’ll be your bride tonight! Take me, you bastard!!!”

The wall outside the torture chamber swung open.

Zhu Shu screamed in wild desperation: “NO!!!”

“Let go.” Su Man’s lips curved into a bleak, hollow smile. “And don’t waste any more items. Hu Ya is dead. There are four of us left. No matter what, one of us has to go into the torture chamber tonight…”

—

*The Duke killed one bride every night—that was an iron law that could not be changed.*

*Even if he didn’t take her, he would take someone else.*

Su Man’s body was already halfway into the torture chamber.

Yu Yaqing could hold on no longer. She released the blood-soaked broken sword. Bai Youwei was blocked on the other side of the stone wall.

The stone wall pivoted shut. Zhu Shu pushed, pounded on it with all the force she had—none of it made any difference.

In the last moment before the wall closed, she heard Su Man’s voice from inside:

“Zhu Shu… before… I’m sorry…”

—