Chapter 2: Humiliation

  The next morning, Lei Hao was still asleep when he heard the noise. He mumbled, "Fatty, it's so early, what are you doing? Be quiet and let me sleep a bit." After saying that, he turned over, but the hard stone bed made him feel something was off. His bed wasn't this hard. Suddenly, he woke up. He didn't dare open his eyes, and in the darkness, he felt around with his hand before letting it drop limply. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw the dim cave ceiling instead of the familiar white ceiling.

  It's true, this isn't a dream after all.

  He got up from the hard, cold stone bed with a lost soul. If he had slept like this for one night with his previous fragile university student body, he would probably be sore and stiff all over by now.

  Lei Hao stood at the entrance of the stone room, watching the little monsters outside coming and going busily, he was confused about what to do.

  "Brother, come quickly, the Grand Marshal is about to inspect the troops." Leihao was lost in thought when Bao Ershiwu shouted at him from a distance. Seeing that Bao Ershiwu was calling him, Leihao hurried over, as this leopard demon was now his superior and he couldn't afford to offend him. "Anyway, survive first," Leihao said to himself secretly.

  Leopard Twenty brought Lei Hao, and along the way, called out to his friends, bringing a large group of little demons, rushing towards the cave entrance. When Lei Hao and his group arrived at the cave entrance, there was already a dense crowd of demons gathered there. Yes, it was a dense crowd, Lei Hao remembered that when he watched Journey to the West before, every time Sun Wukong went to visit, those demon kings would bring out dozens of little demons, but now it seemed like this was really exaggerated, as there were at least two or three thousand little demons here.

  "Leopard Twenty, take a look at what time it is! Do you not know as a small leader that this is the hour of the rat?!" A loud shout was heard from afar, especially the word "small" which was enunciated very clearly, with a voice like a tiger's roar. After calming down and taking a look, it turned out to be a tiger demon, two zhang tall, with arms thicker than Leihao's thighs at present. The ferocious expression made Leihao's legs go weak.

  Leopard Twenty looked up at the sky, then with a flattering smile and a bowing waist, he walked towards the Tiger Demon. It was really hard for his ugly face to make such a complex expression. "Tiger Great Commander, it's my fault, just let me off this once." Leopard Twenty said in a flattering tone to the Tiger Demon.

  "Hmph, spare? You've been spared too many times. Last time, you were defeated by the snake demons in the cave and suffered a great defeat. Tiger Seven, Tiger Eight, give them a hundred lashes each, let them remember the rules of our Water Cavern." The tiger demon shouted loudly.

  Leopard Twenty's face changed, but he still quickly lay down on the ground. The Leopard Twenty, who had lived in the Water Cavern for over a hundred years, was very clear that the Tiger Grand Leader in front of him was not easy to mess with. He was one of the only three inner dan realm great demons in the Water Cavern, and even the Great King would give him some of the treasures he obtained each time.

  Lei Hao stared at Bao Er, who was lying on the ground, preparing to be flogged. He couldn't react in time. Didn't they just say they were going to practice? If you're late, do you have to be flogged a hundred times? It's so severe! He obviously still thought this was college.

  Looking at Leopard Twenty lying on the ground, all the little demons under Leopard Twenty's command quickly lay down on the ground, as if they were afraid of being slow. Lei Hao was unwilling, but now there is no better way out, resist? Don't be kidding, look at that Tiger Grand Marshal, not to mention that he is a head taller than Lei Hao, and his mouth full of tiger teeth are not mentioned either. But look at the Tiger Grand Marshal's arm, it's thicker than Lei Hao's thigh by one circle! Although crossing over as a small demon is very embarrassing, he hasn't thought about crossing over again so quickly, who knows if this time he will die and cross over to be the male lead of an X-rated movie or cross over into another animal. This time there is still human form, if you become other birds and beasts it would be even more wonderful.

  Two tiger demons quickly brought a group of little demons, the execution began, and a fat pig demon that was as big as a small mountain whipped Lei Hao's body with one whip after another.

  It hurts, the stupid little demon doesn't understand what it means to show mercy. Although they are all demons, this pig demon looks like it has been doing evil for much longer than Lei Hao. Its face is even more ferocious and powerful. Lei Hao thought it was nothing, even the small leader, Bao Er Shi, got whipped, no big deal. But he forgot, in his heart he is human, while those are demons.

  The whip continued, whipping one by one on Lei Hao's body and also whipping his heart, shattering the hypocritical protective shell he had built up over the past decade of studying.

  This mysterious and magnificent world of Journey to the West welcomed Lei Hao, who was still a bit bewildered, with this whip.

  The humiliation that gnawed at Lei Hao's heart was relentless. He was a nobody, he was ordinary, and he knew it. But he had once been passionate. He couldn't forget the scenes from his middle school days when he fought with others, the scenes where he and his brothers were covered in wounds but laughed wildly, the scenes where they were surrounded by people but tried to support each other so as not to fall down. All of these scenes he couldn't forget. But reality forced him to be hypocritical, forced him to give up his fists and pick up a pen; forced him to retract all his sharp edges inward, which made him cry alone at midnight many times. However, in order not to let his parents apologize for him everywhere, in order not to let his parents be gossiped about by relatives and friends, in order not to let his parents give away the money they earned with hard work to others, he cooled down his blood, swallowed small losses, endured humiliation, and thought that he could lose face, that dignity was no longer important.

  Now Lei Hao, who was being whipped by a pig demon, finally realized that his previous nonchalance was all fake. His blood was still boiling, and he couldn't bear to be whipped and pretend nothing had happened. He gritted his teeth and stared at the tiger demon, who hadn't even looked at him properly, not even noticing that Lei Hao's mouth was full of blood. "It's all because I'm not strong enough, it's all because I'm not strong enough! If I had the power of the Mixed World Demon King, would this tiger demon dare to whip me? If I had the power of Sun Wukong, would this tiger demon dare to whip me? If I had the power of Taishang Laojun, would this tiger demon dare to whip me? If I had the power of Hong Jun, would this tiger demon dare to whip me?" Lei Hao's heart was screaming wildly. He had never felt such a strong desire for power, such a strong desire to have the strength to protect his own dignity.

  Unlike the surrounding little monsters that were wailing and screaming, Lei Hao remained silent from start to finish. It wasn't that he had thick skin or great endurance, but rather he was unwilling to cry out in pain. If he did, it would mean he had admitted defeat. So, with blood flowing from his wounds, he stared at Hu Da Tongling and endured the entire hundred lashes.

  That tiger demon, who would forget even the name of Lei Hao after many years, did not know that this whip had awakened what kind of existence. Until he died in Lei Hao's hands, he still didn't know.

  The 100 lashes finally ended, and those who were flogged were mostly small demons who had just been enlightened yesterday, with low strength and physical intensity. Only the former demon soldiers could be punished, although they were also small demons, but their strength was at least twice as strong as theirs. After this round of lashes, except for Leopard Twenty, who stood up and dusted off his body without a hitch, the others basically couldn't get up. Their flesh and blood were blurred, and you could vaguely see white bones, how could they get up? The weaker ones were already on their last breath, with more air going out than in. It was almost over for them. But the tiger demon leader didn't even change his expression when looking at Leopard Twenty's face. In the demon tribe, the strong were respected, and the weak were disposable, if they died, so be it.

  The leader of the tiger demons turned his head and looked at the group of "injured demons" on the ground, waving his hand impatiently and saying: "A bunch of useless things, all of you get out of here. Today's morning training is cancelled." His expression was like he was shooing away a swarm of annoying flies.

  Lei Hao, who had just let out a sigh of relief and was about to return to his cave to recover from his injuries, was once again hurt by the Tiger Demon King's expression. He took a deep breath, propped himself up with both hands, and slowly got up, although the pain made his veins bulge and his face turned pale and red, but he still didn't make a sound.

  "Hu Tongling, the little cow thirteen requests to join the training of the Dipper." Lei Hao stood up and shouted loudly, as if his voice was a bit louder, the pain on his body would be less, although he was shouting small, but his honest face now was full of determination, without any flattery.

  The tiger demon heard Lei Hao's voice and turned his head to take a look, his gaze stayed on Lei Hao for a few seconds before moving away, he didn't take Lei Hao seriously at all, this little demon, he didn't even know how many he had killed with his own hands.

  "Get in." This time, he didn't even turn his head and just said it lightly.

  Lei Hao walked step by step towards the demon crowd, the blood flowing from his body reflecting a dazzling light under the newly risen sun, like a long neon road, which made the twenty leopards behind him fall silent, staring at Lei Hao's bloody and blurred back, wondering what to think next.

  Divider line

  When the exercise ended, Lei Hao's face was pale and bloodless. After returning to the stone room, it was almost noon. The little monsters were busy cooking and the meat fragrance filled the air, even in the Water Cavern where various small monsters' body odor was also clear. However, Lei Hao had no appetite at all. He had been training with injuries for the entire morning, sweating profusely, and now he looked like he had just recovered from a serious illness. But he didn't regret not returning to the cave to recover; it was to tell himself that he, Lei Hao, could still fight and hadn't been discarded by the hypocritical world. Although the morning's exercise wasn't very useful for his physical body, it was his first step in conquering his own laziness.

  He wants to become a strong person, and a strong person is originally made by being strong.

  Lei Hao lay on the cold stone bed, frowning and gasping for air. His consciousness was blurry and he was about to pass out when a series of footsteps came from afar and stopped in front of his stone bed. "Niu brother, Niu brother wake up." Lei Hao struggled to open his eyes and saw that it was Bao Ershi, holding a large bowl of meat.

  "Leopard leader, how did you come?" Lei Hao struggled to get up. "Brother, brother don't move, look, I brought some blood food for you, you're injured today, eat more to recover faster." Leopard Twenty stopped Lei Hao and put the basin in front of him. Only then did Lei Hao see clearly what was in the basin - it was meat, but surprisingly all raw meat, bloody and steaming hot.

  Lei Hao's stomach churned with a wave of nausea, but Bao Er looked at Lei Hao's calm expression and said: "Our demon clan was originally able to grow stronger by eating bloody food. It's just that those trash wanted to satisfy their gluttony and started eating cooked food. Swallowing these bloody foods and replenishing some blood energy, your injuries will heal tomorrow. I've recovered from severe injuries many times like this."

  Lei Hao raised his head to look at the leopard demon, then lowered it to gaze at the meat in the bowl that still had blood on it. He fell silent, and the leopard demon simply stared at him without urging him to speak. After a moment, he reached out and grabbed the meat from the bowl, tearing into it with small bites. It was salty and gamey, making his throat want to spit it out, but he forced himself to swallow it down. Although he wasn't eating quickly, his pace was steady, one bite following another, as if trying to remember this taste, or perhaps telling himself that he was no longer human, but a demon.

  Leopard Twenty watched as Lei Hao finished eating the blood food in his bowl, and he too fell silent. After a moment, he spoke up: "You, as an Ox Demon, are very good. From now on, you'll be my deputy commander." Leopard Twenty said calmly, making it hard for anyone to recall that just this morning, he had been smiling obsequiously as he begged Tiger Overlord for mercy.

  "Yes, I'm in command." Lei Hao glanced at Bao Er Shi and replied with his head bowed. In his mind, he thought: It seems that this Bao Er Shi is also an ambitious demon, but you have your ambitions and I have my own plans.