"The same few curses over and over. If you don't know any others, stop trying," Su Jin said, picking his nose with a look of contempt.
Lu Mingxuan kept swearing, spittle flying.
He fell silent only when Su Jin picked up a melon.
Su Jin went to the bedroom door. The sisters were lying in bed, whispering to each other.
"Get some sleep. Don't come out for now." He closed the door.
Returning to the living area, he sat opposite Lu Mingxuan and lit another cigarette.
He looked out the window as he smoked. "Brother Lu, we don't have to be enemies. I'm a good man. In a way, everything I've done has been for your sake... even after you kicked me twice."
"You mother—"
Lu Mingxuan began to curse, then shut his mouth when Su Jin reached for the melon.
Su Jin set it down. "I know you don't believe me, but someday you will. Right now I need answers. I imagine you don't want to eat any more of those Mother-and-Child River melons."
"I've nothing to say. Kill me... just kill me." Lu Mingxuan raised his head bleakly.
Su Jin blew smoke in his face. "You only had to pass some melons. Is it really that bad?"
Lu Mingxuan gave a bitter laugh. "I'm a man. You trampled on my dignity. Now that I'm in your hands, what good can come of it? After humiliating me, do you think I'll join a rebel?"
"You're making too much of it. It's not as if you're a woman."
"That's all the more reason you shouldn't have done that to me!"
"If I hadn't, you'd have killed me. Do you think you're in the right?" Su Jin said with a laugh. "You weren't this defiant when you were begging for mercy."
"All rebels deserve to die!" Lu Mingxuan stared at him. "Even if I don't kill you, everyone else will. You three are Suyuan's most wanted criminals. You're doomed either way."
"So that's why we've seen so many Xuanjia Army soldiers out in the wild..."
"Enough! I lost, but I won't help you or make things easier for you. If you want my life, here it is!"
"You want to die that badly? Is your dignity worth more than your life?" Su Jin asked.
"Yes. If I've lost all face, why should I live?"
Su Jin said nothing, looking into the darkness beyond the window.
After a while, he put out his cigarette. "Let me ask you something. Suppose the Demon Spring was about to destroy the world. A man could save it, but only if you gave him your chastity. Would you do it?"
"What kind of question is that?" Lu Mingxuan shouted. "Then let the world end! We can all die together!"
"That's where we differ." Su Jin turned to him calmly. "If it would truly save the world, I'd give mine to a whole group of men."
"If my family, my country, or the world needed protecting, I'd pay any price. My dignity would mean little."
"You're not the one who gave birth to melons!" Lu Mingxuan snapped. "What's the point of all this?"
"One thing: I really am trying to save the world. I'll do whatever it takes. If you want to die now that I've caught you, fine. But first I'll get every bit of value I can from you."
"I'm going to ask you questions. Answer honestly. My temper's been bad lately, and you don't want me to bring out the serious torture."
"Save the world? You're mad," Lu Mingxuan scoffed. "Torture me if you want. If I feared pain, I wouldn't call myself a man."
"Don't be too sure. You don't know me." Su Jin switched on the television with the remote. "Watch the menu before you talk tough. I've got a hundred ways to deal with you."
He cast a video from his phone: clips from The Ten Great Tortures of the Qing Dynasty, Saw, and other bloody films, mixed together. Screams filled the RV.
Lu Mingxuan was too busy watching the scenes to wonder about the television.
As the brutal images went by, his anger gradually faded, then sank into dread.
When the video ended, his face was white.
What was that device? Were all those people inside it, imprisoned by Su Jin?
Confused but still trying to sound brave, he shook his head. "Trying to frighten me? Demons, monsters, whatever they are—I don't fear them. Come on!"
"No, no, no." Su Jin wagged a finger. "A fighter like you won't fear a few wounds. I don't even like that sort of brutality. This is only the appetizer. Let me show you something more interesting."
He opened a strange video he'd recorded on Earth and showed it to Lu Mingxuan.
In a dark alley, eight young thugs knelt in a line, crying miserably.
At the front lay the plump President Wang Yuntong.
Someone's foot rested against his hip.
A gloved hand pulled at a thug's dyed blond hair, forcing the men in line to work their tongues and lips around what Su Jin called a 'horse-dung sea urchin,' scraping it between their teeth.
Of course, it involved neither a horse nor a sea urchin.
Lu Mingxuan's mouth hung open. His heart pounded, and he felt as if something were crushing his chest.
He looked at Su Jin in terror. Su Jin smiled. "Think I'd do that to you? No. That would be too easy for you, and far too unoriginal."
"Since you've already delivered melons once, I'll use the same method. I have plenty more seeds from the Mother-and-Child River. I'll keep making you give birth until you die. I've even chosen a name for the fruit: Mingxuan Melons."
"You're strong, but I doubt you'd last more than ten or fifteen days. That doesn't matter. A corpse can give birth too. I'll hang you on the gates of the royal capital at night for everyone to see. All Suyuan will know the King of Childbirth!"
"Your body will eventually rot. When it can no longer bear melons, I'll take it down and plant another seed in you. This time it will grow into a tree. You can be its crown, bearing fruit year after year!"
"Perhaps one day people will worship you as a sacred tree that grants children."
As Su Jin spoke, Lu Mingxuan's gaze lost focus and his mind went blank.
At some point Su Jin had put on rubber gloves. He released the edge of one, letting it snap against his wrist.
Lu Mingxuan jerked awake and stared at the gloves in horror.
Su Jin picked up a melon. "You may be starting to get an idea of who I am."
"You can see how I dress. You know what I can do..."
"Ask! Ask me anything! I'll answer!"