Chapter 104: The Human Skin Inn!
"Mark, what's going on?"
The man who had stuffed Meg into the sack asked his companion, who had just hung up the phone.
Mark, a fierce-looking bearded man, looked at his accomplice, then recalled what had been said on the phone, and said dismissively, "Nothing, just a couple of lunatics."
Hearing Mark say this, the man didn't press for details and instead reported their haul, "A total of five young women, but these ones are too ugly to even be made into dolls. They can only be sold as the cheapest merchandise. If it weren't for the Lamborghini they were driving, we would've taken a loss this time."
Mark's eyelids drooped at his companion's complaints, a hint of anger rising in his chest.
This guy had been trying to undermine his leadership for quite some time now—this was just another attempt to stir up trouble and blame him for insufficient profits.
Mark scanned the other accomplices and found they were in tacit agreement, clearly all thinking the same thing.
And indeed, as Mark had suspected, the other four members of their five-person team were extremely dissatisfied with this haul.
Their line of work involved human trafficking and organ sales, occasionally dabbling in robbery and jewelry theft as side jobs, but ultimately, the human trade—often involving torture and murder—was their bread and butter.
So before this operation, their target had been a different group: young, attractive men and women.
Isolated backpackers with no prominent connections or friends and family in the area.
It could be said that compared to the unattractive women before them, those vulnerable people were the most suitable targets.
It was only because Mark, their team leader, had seen Meg and her friends spending lavishly and driving a luxury car worth hundreds of thousands that he'd decided to take a risk and see if they could score some extra cash.
After all, the unwritten rule of their trade was that the victims were handed over to the organization, while all the victims' possessions were distributed among themselves.
So as soon as Mark had proposed his idea, the others, without exception, had voted in favor.
It wasn't until they'd succeeded that they discovered that apart from Meg, who had a few thousand dollars in cash, the other four unattractive women didn't even have more than a few tens of dollars between them.
What broke their hearts even more was that the brand-new Lamborghini, even if resold, wouldn't fetch a high price—at most a few tens of thousands of dollars.
It was a far cry from their original expectations, and it would have been better to stick to their initial plan and hunt the other group of prey.
That way, they could at least get the organization's minimum payout, instead of ending up like this, with little of the expected wealth and merchandise that wouldn't sell for a good price.
After analyzing the thoughts of the other members of his team, Mark took a deep breath and then decisively said, "What are you rushing for! The other group hasn't left yet—we can just take them down tonight!"
"Hmph, easier said than done. Those people are out hiking right now. Who knows if they'll even come back tonight."
Because of Mark's previous greed, cracks had appeared within the team, and other members had developed a strong distrust of his leadership abilities.
So to maintain his authority, what Mark needed to do now was quickly appease his accomplices and then secure enough profit to compensate for his previous mistake.
Therefore, upon hearing Soren's sarcastic jab, Mark immediately roared, "Enough, Soren! I'm the captain!"
Then, without waiting for Soren to speak further, Mark quickly said, "These victims aren't worthless. This one, along with the other three ugly ones, will be sent to the torture division, and the one with the decent body will have her head removed and sent to the doll division. This way, we can recover some losses."
Seeing the plan Mark presented, Soren's eyes flickered, and he said nothing more.
After all, according to Mark's arrangement, even though they wouldn't earn as much as originally planned, they wouldn't lose too much either.
Moreover, Mark was planning another operation, and if it succeeded, they would hit the jackpot this time.
Therefore, upon realizing that the situation didn't favor continued confrontation, Soren wisely shut his mouth.
Noticing that the most restless member, Soren, had quieted down, Mark's gaze swept over the other accomplices. Seeing their silence, he knew he'd overcome this small crisis.
As long as the plan went smoothly, he would remain the leader of this team—but this restless Soren couldn't be kept around much longer.
"Alright, since none of you object, hurry up and haul this fat cow out of here!"
Hearing Mark's order, Soren was the first to lift Meg and then walked toward the door.
The other three followed suit quietly.
Several minutes later, Meg and her friends were brought to the headquarters of this torture organization.
After Mark sold Meg and her friends according to his previous plan, he took his accomplices to the residence of the victims they'd initially been watching.
However, Mark had clearly forgotten Chris's warning—or rather, he hadn't believed it at all, dismissing Chris's words as complete nonsense.
In the warehouse of this hotel that trafficked in people, used torture as entertainment, and provided customized services to wealthy individuals with twisted desires, Meg, who'd been stuffed into a sack, quietly regained consciousness.
Thanks to the carelessness of Mark and his group, they'd completely ignored the abnormality of Meg's physiology, so much so that after knocking her out, they hadn't even tied her hands and feet, but had simply stuffed her directly into the sack.
So when Meg woke up, she easily climbed out of the sack and then carefully searched for her friends.
"Beth! Patty! Are you here?"
In the dim human warehouse, Meg cautiously opened sack after sack, searching for her companions.
But the more she searched, the more alarmed Meg became.
In this small warehouse, besides a dozen sacks casually piled on the ground, there were also so many corpses hanging in mid-air that it made her skin crawl.
Through the faint light coming in from the corridor outside, Meg could see what kind of torment these bodies had suffered before death.
Whip marks and burn scars covered their entire skin, severed hands and feet were common, and many bodies didn't even have complete facial features.
Either their eyes were gouged out, or their noses were cut off, leaving only empty, bloody cavities.
In such a terrifying and horrifying environment, Meg's initial fear and terror gradually dissipated, replaced by an extreme rage.
This anger, after she found three of her friends, not only didn't subside but grew even more intense.
It was because one person was still missing—Patty, for whom she'd once felt guilty, wasn't here.
Upon realizing this, Meg's mind instantly went blank, and then she thought of all sorts of tragic fates that might have befallen Patty.
After imagining the possible scenarios her friend might have encountered, Meg didn't even take time to wake Beth and the other two. She grabbed a meat hook from one of the hanging corpses as a weapon and rushed out.
"Patty, please be okay!"
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