Taboo Mage - Chapter 216

That made sense. Now that Xu Benzhang knew how to deal with his mother, given his dark personality, he certainly wouldn’t leave Old Lady Xu in the sanatorium.

He might have imprisoned her somewhere else to continue his torment.

The thought of that beast, who had previously tortured his own dog for over twenty years, now mad enough to torment his own mother made me feel a wave of nausea.

A person like that has no right to live in this world. Perhaps the best resolution would be for Old Lady Xu, possessed by that dog, to deal with Xu Benzhang once and for all.

“Qingshu, call and see if anyone knows Xu Benzhang’s home address.” Ever since we got in the car and left the sanatorium, Jue Chi had been tense, and suddenly he blurted out these words.

I gasped in surprise and fumbled around, only to realize that I didn’t even have my phone with me.

Lin Huan tossed his phone at me, saying, “Boss, use mine!”

I rolled my eyes. All my contacts were in my own phone; it wasn’t the phone itself I needed! I needed those phone numbers!

“Boss, where are we going now?” Lin Huan asked, his intelligence quite lacking at critical moments as he fiddled with both the brake and accelerator, clearly unsure about where we could possibly go.

Holding Lin Huan’s phone, I thought for a moment, then gritted my teeth and said, “Home!”

“Home?” Lin Huan replied incredulously, turning to look at me.

“You little brat! Watch the road! If I say to go home, then we go home! Quit your chatter, or I swear I’ll fire you!”

I shouted, and thankfully, Lin Huan quieted down, speeding towards home.

The thought of going back came from Old Lady Xu’s words during the phone call: “I’m at your home now. Aren’t you going to come see me?”

When I first heard it, I thought she was joking. After all, there were so many people in the sanatorium; there was no way she could have escaped.

But now it seemed possible that she hadn’t escaped at all but was brought out by Xu Benzhang.

Since we were currently like headless flies without a clue about where to find anyone, why not give it a shot? What if what the old lady said was true…?

About an hour later, the car stopped at the entrance of the alley. I opened the door and hurried into the house.

Just as I reached the front door, I sensed something was off. Lin Huan, who had followed closely behind, exclaimed, “Hey! I distinctly remember locking the door when we left, how is it already open now?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, I pushed the door open and walked inside.

Before I even reached the living room, I heard a terrified scream coming from one of the rooms.

“Don’t hit me! Don’t hit me! I didn’t steal anything… I didn’t take anything…”

I froze for a moment, my eyes widening in shock. This bastard actually dared to physically assault someone in my house? Even worse, it was his own mother!

Jue Chi and Zhou Qifang were much quicker than I was; it didn’t take long for them to overtake me. Jue Chi practically flew across the floor, reaching the doorway to the living room in just a few strides.

By the time I arrived, I saw Zhou Qifang’s solid right foot pinning Xu Benzhang to the ground. Jue Chi was taking off his Kasaya and laying it over Old Lady Xu.

I glanced at Xu Benzhang; he didn’t have any visible injuries except for a mark on his face that looked like it had been kicked. That must have come from Zhou Qifang.

However, Old Lady Xu, wrapped in the Kasaya, looked far worse. Her gaunt face was covered in marks from feet, and her body bore cyan-purple bruises, likely from being struck with something.

I took a quick look around the living room. The coffee table and the television lay in shattered pieces, and the sofa was tossed awkwardly aside. In the center of the floor, there lay a whip.

It was a riding crop, resembling a decorative piece, but I knew from experience just how much damage it could inflict. There was a time when a neighbor’s naughty kid threw a flowerpot and ended up on the receiving end of a beating from his father, who had a fondness for riding crops. The marks left on that kid’s body were identical to those on Old Lady Xu.

“You beast!”

I shouted angrily, picked up the whip from the floor, and struck Xu Benzhang across the back.

He yelped in pain, “How can you hit people! Hitting is against the law!”

“How do you even know what ‘the law’ is? Did you think about the law when you were mercilessly beating your own mother?” I was furious, swinging the whip a few more times before finally sitting down breathlessly on the sofa.

Xu Benzhang continued shouting, “What’s wrong with me beating my mom? Besides, she’s not even my mom anymore! You all know that dead dog is possessing her! She’s not my mom; she’s that dead dog! If I don’t beat her, she’ll take my life!”

The more I listened, the angrier I got. I threw the whip down and kicked Xu Benzhang hard in the face a few times, but in the end, it was Lin Huan who held me back.

“Alright, Boss, if you kill him, we’ll all be in legal trouble.”

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes to calm myself down, and then asked Xu Benzhang how he knew that the dog had possessed Old Lady Xu.

Xu Benzhang was gasping in pain, taking a long time before finally managing to say, “I heard it the day you were talking to Boss Zhou at the sanatorium. Then I searched online and found out that animals are afraid of people, especially those who have hurt them. I figured I’d give it a try, and to my surprise, it actually worked.”

I let out a cold laugh. “So, you decided to beat your own mother?”

“I didn’t! I was hitting that dead dog! She’s not my mom! I’m so filial; how could I hit my own mother?”

Xu Benzhang, still stubborn beneath Zhou Qifang’s foot, refused to acknowledge his wrongdoing. I found it somewhat ridiculous that someone who claims to be so dutiful is really just trying to protect their own face and reputation.

Zhou Qifang let out a cold chuckle and pressed down hard on Xu Benzhang’s right foot. I could clearly hear a sickening crack as a bone broke.

Xu Benzhang screamed in agony before going limp.

Once he was certain the person beneath him could no longer struggle, Zhou Qifang finally released his foot and said in a deep voice, “Why don’t we just toss him into the dog cage?”