I had just returned home from the hospital when a message popped up on my phone.

Valerie had sent me a video.

I frowned and opened it.

What I saw was chaotic and vile.

I could recognize the person lying in the filth with just one glance.

It was my mother, who was in a persistent vegetative state after a car accident.

My mother had always been meticulous about cleanliness. Yet in the video, she was covered in feces.

Her jaw had been dislocated, and someone was forcibly pouring urine into her mouth.

I blacked out for a second. Rage hit me like a freight train, and my blood ran boiling hot.

My hands trembled uncontrollably as I dialed Valerie’s number.

“Valerie, where’s my mother?! What did you do with her?”

When she picked up, she responded in a contemptuous tone, saying, “What? You’re unhappy that I’m taking good care of your mother?”

I nearly crushed my phone as I roared, “Where’s my mother?”

Valerie sneered and said, “It’s such a shame that I didn’t get to see that terrified look on your face in person. It must’ve been quite a sight.”

“Valerie, if you dare touch my mother again, I swear I will ruin your life!”

She started laughing maniacally as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world.

“Get off your high horse. Do you think I’m scared of you?

“Let me tell you something, Claude. This is what happens when you use Cy to humiliate me.”

I ended the call and sent people to discern my mother’s whereabouts.

I was about to rush out the door when something slammed into the back of my head.

I heard the iron rod fall and felt blood begin to pour down my face.

My vision blurred. Just as I was about to pass out, I saw Cyrus slowly approaching, pushing a wheelchair.

I instantly recognized the sobbing figure. It was my mother.

“This old hag can really take a beating. After all that torment, she’s still breathing.”

“Mom!”

I struggled to get up, but the dizziness in my head grew more intense. My limbs became extremely weak.

“Let her go...”

“Let her go?”

He took out a hammer and struck it fiercely against my shin.

“You had Val for six years. Why didn’t you let us go?”

He shoved my mother to the floor.

Tears welled up in my mother’s eyes, but she could not move at all.

“Cyrus!” My gaze filled with rage. “That’s my mother!”

“If she weren’t your mother, I wouldn’t even bother.”

He ground his heel into the wound on my leg.

“You think Val loves you? You’re just a stepping stone for her to climb. The one she’s always loved is me.”

The more he spoke, the more unhinged he became. “You’re nothing but a tool. You’re a tool that will get thrown away once it’s served its purpose.”

With that, he excitedly pulled out a syringe and plunged it into the side of my neck.

When I opened my eyes again, the only thing I felt was bone-chilling cold. The pungent, sharp smell of formalin filled my nose.

Cyrus looked down at me and gave me a mocking smile.

“Claude, what good is your money and power now? Look at you, right here beneath me. You’re like a dog waiting to be put down.”

I gritted my teeth and warned him, “If you lay a hand on me, my family will make sure you die a miserable death. You won’t even be left with a grave.”

He took out a steel nail and lightly patted my face with it.

“You’re still so arrogant, even at a time like this.”

He aimed the steel nail at my knee and hammered it in with one strike.

The excruciating pain surged through my body in an instant. I was drenched in cold sweat. The pain was so intense that I could barely breathe.

He picked up another nail and aimed it at my other knee.

He hammered it into my knee.

My face twisted in pain. I curled up and trembled.

Cyrus looked at me like a madman. “What a perfect body. I can’t wait to soak you in formaldehyde. It’s going to be magnificent.”

With that, he continued to grab more steel nails and hammer them into my fingers.

The pain shot straight from my fingertips to my core. Waves of pain consumed my consciousness bit by bit.

The world gradually dimmed before my eyes.

Just as I was about to lose consciousness, I heard faint footsteps from a distance.

Then, I heard Valerie’s anxious voice.

I thought she had come to save me.

Then, she rushed forward and urgently asked, “Cy, are you alright?”

When she noticed the red marks on his hand, she asked sharply, “What happened here?”

The cruel look on Cyrus’ face faded. It was replaced with a look of bewilderment.

He said aggrievedly, “I was just trying to run some tests on him.”

Valerie turned to look at me. It was as if she could not see the blood pouring out of me or the steel nails.

She said viciously, “Claude, how can you be so cruel? He’s just trying to do some human research. What’s the big deal if you make a little sacrifice?”

I did not want to dwell on this with her. My mind was focused on my mother.

“Save my mom. Save her.”

In my current state, I could barely save myself. There was no way I could get my mother out.

Her gaze landed on the elderly woman lying nearby, covered in dirt. She paused briefly.

Then, she let out a cold laugh. “This old hag hurt Cy. So she deserves to die.”

I looked at her in disbelief. My lips trembled as I said, “My mom ended up like this because of you!”

Back then, Valerie insisted that my mother go shopping with her. On the way, they encountered a car accident. When a speeding truck came hurtling toward them, my mother pushed Valerie out of the way.

Due to that incident, my mother fell into a vegetative state.

Valerie could be ruthless to anyone. But she had no right to be ruthless to my mother.

She looked me up and down with a mocking expression.

“How about this? Apologize to Cy a hundred times, and I’ll put some clothes on the old lady. Deal?”

Hearing her casual words made me laugh out loud. Tears blurred my vision.

My mother had risked her life to save Valerie. Yet that could not compare to a single fake wound on Cyrus.

She knew very well that my mother was my only family left. Yet she still did this.

Cyrus stood behind her. He silently taunted me by mouthing, “Idiot.”

Valerie’s smile grew as she became greedier. “Here’s another option. Transfer every asset you own to Cyrus. Then, I’ll be generous and let your mother breathe for ten more minutes.”

I stared hard into her eyes and said deliberately, “In your dreams.”

In the next moment, a dagger pierced through my palm.

“Then, get on your knees and apologize until Cy’s happy.”

Seeing that I did not react, Valerie’s expression turned fierce.

She walked straight toward my mother and yanked off her oxygen tube.

My mother let out a weak, strangled sound. Her eyes went wide, then quickly glazed over.

I was frantic with rage and screamed at Valerie, “Leave my mother’s oxygen tube alone. If you’ve got any guts, come at me.”

She turned a deaf ear to my despair. She toyed with my mother’s life-saving oxygen tube.

The surrounding bodyguards burst into jeers and laughter.

“Hurry up and apologize! If you don’t do it soon, your mother will stop breathing for good.”

My hands clenched into fists. My fingernails dug into my palms until they bled.

I looked at her with a vicious gaze filled with murderous intent.

Just as I was about to give in, the monitor beside me let out a sharp alarm.

My eyes widened. I was so overcome with grief that I could not speak. Tears and blood from my wound streamed down my face together.

“Oops. My bad. Don’t blame me for this. If you’d apologized sooner, your mother wouldn’t have died. You’re the one who killed her.”

Valerie laughed wildly.

“But don’t worry. You’ll be Cy’s lab rat soon enough.”

I lay on the operating table. Rage filled my body, even as my consciousness began to fade.

Just then, the laboratory door was smashed open. Carl and the doctors had finally arrived.

I said coldly, “Throw these two in the dungeon. I’ll make them wish they were dead.”