109: Chapter 109: The little one cried: Great-Grandpa is a bad person!

Just as Lin Yu was about to say her name, No. 18 Zhang Meng suddenly lunged forward, slamming into the iron bars with all her might: "Lin Yu! Don't fall for it!"

Lin Yu's hand jerked back, a flicker of clarity returning to her eyes.

Su Han didn't get angry; instead, he smiled. He slowly pulled a syringe from his pocket: "Antibiotics. Your wound is already infected. If it isn't treated, you might face amputation."

Lin Yu's gaze wavered once more.

"Don't listen to him!" Su Qingcheng shouted sharply. "He's playing mind games!"

Su Han raised an eyebrow and turned to Su Qingcheng. "You seem quite lucid. Then do you know what symptoms appear when a person is extremely hungry?"

Without waiting for an answer, he continued casually, "First comes dizziness and fatigue, then hallucinations and delirium, and finally..."

His gaze swept over each female soldier. "You will start gnawing on anything you can sink your teeth into—including your own fingers."

The basement fell into a deathly silence, broken only by the ragged breathing of the female soldiers.

Su Han unhurriedly put away the syringe, his gaze sweeping over every iron cage like a venomous snake.

The female soldiers' eyes were no longer as firm as they had been at the start; hunger, pain, and exhaustion were slowly eating away at their will.

"What do you think you're holding onto?"

Su Han suddenly spoke, his voice low and magnetic. "Honor? Responsibility? Or that pathetic shred of self-respect?"

He walked to No. 7 Li Xue's cage and crouched down to meet her gaze. "Tell me, No. 7, why did you want to become a Special Forces Soldier?"

Li Xue was stunned for a moment, her parched lips trembling. "I... I wanted to protect my home and country..."

"Is that so?" Su Han chuckled softly. "Then why did I see in your file that you only joined the army because you failed the college entrance exams?"

Li Xue's eyes widened suddenly, her face turning deathly pale.

"How... how do you..."

"I also know," Su Han's voice was like a demon's whisper, "that you have a crush on your High school class monitor, and he got into the National University of Defense Technology. You signed up for the army just to be closer to him, didn't you?"

Tears burst from Li Xue's eyes. She curled into a ball as if she could escape Su Han's verbal assault that way.

"Enough!" No. 18 Zhang Meng roared. "What right do you have to pry into other people's privacy!"

Su Han turned to her calmly. "No. 18 Zhang Meng, from a rural background. Your father is an alcoholic, and your mother has been bedridden for years. You joined the army for that generous discharge allowance so you could treat your mother's illness."

"But if that's the case, why did you come to be a Special Forces Soldier?"

"A soldier's salary is so low. If you don't discharge, how will you get that allowance?"

"Do you want to keep watching your mother lie in bed without money for treatment?"

Zhang Meng's expression froze, her fists clenched until her knuckles turned white.

At this moment, her heart began to waver for the first time.

Thinking of her bedridden mother at home, she finally had a slight thought of giving up!

"As for you, No. 12 Lin Yu," Su Han continued, "you're here to escape the family that was forcing you to marry the Village Chief's son."

Lin Yu's body began to tremble violently, tears in her eyes mixing with fear and anger.

Like a precise surgeon, Su Han used words as a scalpel to peel back the psychological defenses the female soldiers had meticulously built, layer by layer.

He walked to Su Qingcheng's cage, a meaningful smile playing on his lips.

His voice suddenly became soft. "Your father was an Anti-drug hero who died on the border. You joined the army to avenge him, right?"

Su Qingcheng's pupils constricted suddenly, her heart feeling as though it were being squeezed hard by an invisible hand.

"I've looked into that case," Su Han leaned down, his voice so low only she could hear. "Your father could have survived if he had chosen to retreat instead of playing the hero."

"You're lying!" Su Qingcheng lunged at the bars, her fingers gripping the iron rods tightly. "My father did it to cover his teammates!"

"Is that so?" Su Han sneered. "Then why was he the only one who 'returned'? Why haven't the bodies of his other comrades been found to this day?"

Su Qingcheng's breathing became shallow and rapid. The scene of her father's burial flashed before her eyes—

There was no tombstone, no burial ceremony, and not even friends or relatives could attend.

Her mother's heart-wrenching cries, and that eternal, unanswerable question: Why was her father the only one who came back?

"Actually, you've always had doubts in your heart, haven't you?" Su Han continued to whisper in her ear. "Maybe your father wasn't a hero at all, but rather..."

"Shut up!" Su Qingcheng let out a beast-like roar, her forehead slamming hard against the iron bars, blood trickling down her cheek.

The basement fell back into a deathly silence, with only the ragged breathing of the female soldiers rising and falling.

Su Han straightened up, looking at his "masterpiece" with satisfaction—the psychological defenses of the seven female soldiers had been completely shattered, and everyone's eyes were filled with pain, confusion, and hesitation.

...

When Su Han walked out, a small figure ran out from the corner of the corridor—

It was Xiao Budian. She was wearing a pink dress and had two small braids, but her face was covered in tear stains.

"Great-grandfather!" Xiao Budian threw herself at Su Han's legs, sobbing uncontrollably.

Su Han was stunned. He crouched down and gently wiped the tears from Xiao Budian's face. "What's wrong? Who bullied you?"

Xiao Budian sobbed, her small hands clutching Su Han's collar tightly. "I... I saw you hitting Sister Qingcheng... Great-grandfather is a bad man!"

Su Han's heart sank.

"Xiao Budian, let Great-grandfather explain..." he said softly.

"I'm not listening, I'm not listening!" Xiao Budian covered her ears, large tears falling. "Sister Qingcheng is so good to me. Every time she comes back to the village, she brings me candy... Why did you hit her?"

Su Han sighed and gently pulled Xiao Budian's hands away. "If one day, bad people capture Sister Qingcheng, they will be a hundred times crueler than Great-grandfather. What Great-grandfather is doing now is so she can protect herself in the future."

Xiao Budian blinked her teary eyes, seemingly understanding but still confused. "Really?"

"Really." Su Han wiped away her tears. "Just like when you fall while learning to walk, the pain is so you can run faster later."

Xiao Budian sniffled, her small hand touching Su Han's face. "Then... then Great-grandfather isn't a bad man?"

"Of course Great-grandfather is a good man." Su Han pinched her little cheek. "When your Sister Qingcheng pulls through, you can ask her then, and you'll know."