Chapter 54 Eden Lake, Golden Arm

Right at this moment.

Deep within the woods surrounding Eden Lake.

A terrifying battle for survival was unfolding.

Steve and Olivier were shouting, fighting bare-handed against several knife-wielding youths. Olivier’s arm was already bleeding profusely.

The two women, Angela and Jenny, were fleeing frantically backward.

By the campfire, a black dog lay motionless in a pool of blood.

A violent conflict seemed to have just erupted here.

The ringleader of the teenagers, Brett, was howling, "You killed Bonnie! I'll make you pay with your lives!"

The sounds of struggle, curses, and tearing flesh grew increasingly distinct. Angela and Jenny did not dare to look back; they knew that escaping back to the town was their only hope of saving them.

But soon.

The roar of an engine echoed through the wooded path. The two fleeing women saw their own car approaching, driven, to their utter dismay, by none other than Brett himself.

With a look of pure hatred, he slammed his foot down on the accelerator and charged straight at them.

Bang!

The two women failed to dodge in time and tumbled down the slope. Struggling desperately to their feet, they could only stumble deeper into the wilderness.

Behind them, Brett was still giving chase, knife in hand.

Soon.

The two women, who should have been clean, huddled together inside a dumpster. Breathing in the pungent, excrement-like viscous sludge all around them, feeling the sticky filth clinging to their skin, they felt violently nauseous. Yet, they clamped their hands over each other's mouths, not daring to make even the slightest sound.

Outside, it was dead silent, as if nothing had ever happened.

Reflecting on the past day and a half, it felt like an absolute nightmare.

When they had first discovered that their phones and car keys were stolen, they had gone looking for those teenagers to demand their belongings back, only to be nearly run over by the kids driving their own car.

Left with no choice, the four of them had set off on foot, not managing to track down the group of thieves until after nightfall.

The five thieves were busy torturing a beaver by the campfire, with a black dog crouching nearby.

Steve and Olivier had stepped forward to demand the phone and car keys, but the youths flat-out denied taking them and launched into a stream of verbal abuse, instantly infuriating the two grown men.

Right at that moment, a cell phone had rung, and the two men had immediately lunged forward to reclaim it.

During the scuffle, one of the teenagers had pulled out a knife, but ended up accidentally killing Brett's dog. Enraged, Brett had hurled the phone back at them.

By the time they snapped back to reality, Angela and the other three had already started running.

After all, the gang had weapons and were impossible to beat. Even if they could win, they would end up injured or even dead. They only wanted a safe exit, not a death match, so running was their only option.

Once they reached the town, they would be safe.

However, the pursuers had caught up with them in no time at all.

There was no other way; Olivier and Steve had volunteered to stay behind to stall those bastards while the two women rushed to the town for help.

Yet, God knows what had happened behind them, but before long, Brett had come after them in the car, cornering them into the dumpster.

Why?

They had merely come out for a sweet, romantic getaway—why did they have to encounter something like this? Why were these teenage boys and girls so utterly depraved?

Were these really children still receiving an education?

Theft, insults, voyeurism, vehicular assault, brandishing knives...

And now, they were bent on murder. Who knew what had become of Olivier and Steve.

Enveloped in the dark, stinking atmosphere, the two women wept in silence.

Snap.

The sound of a breaking branch.

Both of them instantly stiffened. If they were discovered, they couldn't even begin to imagine what would happen to them.

Accompanying the footsteps came voices.

"Brett, they're not here. Where the hell did those two bitches go?"

"If they actually escape and call the cops, we're going to get arrested! Shouldn't we just head back now?"

"What did you say?! Go back? Go back to get arrested? We have to find them!"

"They only have this one way out, we'll wait right here..."

"..."

The voices gradually faded away.

The two women seemed to have narrowly escaped disaster.

Yet they still dared not come out. Peeking through a tiny crack in the dumpster lid, they watched anxiously.

After a moment, Angela took out the phone Brett had thrown at them earlier and tried dialing 911, but there was no signal.

Refusing to give up, she kept trying different numbers.

Finally, when she dialed David’s number, a faint sliver of a signal appeared.

"Brother, please help call the police, we—"

Before she could finish, the signal cut out once more.

Taking turns, the two women continued to dial, but none of their calls went through.

A moment later.

"This is no good, we have to move. We need to get to the town and call the police, or Olivier and the others will be in danger," Angela said.

Jenny was equally worried about Steve and agreed.

Crawling out of the dumpster covered in filth, the two women cast cautious glances around their surroundings and finally set off in one direction.

Meanwhile.

The delinquent Brett and his five accomplices were busy torturing Olivier and Steve, binding them tightly with layer upon layer of barbed wire.

Ever since he was a child, his father had taught him never to fear anyone and that no one could bully him. Especially in their town, there was no need to be afraid of outsiders because everyone stuck together. And now, these people had actually dared to kill his dog.

So what if they stole your phone and car keys? Was it really worth all this?

A life for a life. Whoever killed Bonnie had to pay with their blood!

As for what came after, even if those two women called the police, he wasn't afraid. He believed in his parents—their town was tight-knit!

"You killed Bonnie, and I'm going to kill you. Not just that, I'm going to find your women and send them down to keep you company." Armed with a small pocketknife, Brett heated it over the flame and pressed it against Olivier’s flesh, instantly slicing off a piece of meat.

"Ahhhhhhh!!!"

The piercing screams startled a flock of birds into the air.

Steve watched the scene unfold with agonizing hatred. He cursed himself for underestimating them just because they were kids; he should have fought them from the very beginning instead of running away.

The black teenager nearby chimed in, "Don't waste it. Let everyone have a go first later on."

"Hahahaha!"

The other teenagers burst into laughter.

The sole girl among them curled her lip, looking at Steve with a flicker of interest, but after glancing at the knife, she ultimately lacked the nerve to do it.

One agonizing scream after another echoed through the skies.

Shreds of flesh were roasted over the fire, emitting a charred stench. Blood flowed from various parts of their bodies, soaking the ground. Both men had pale lips and vacant eyes, with only their heavy, ragged breathing proving they were still alive.

The gruesome spectacle made a few of the other teenagers lose their nerve. "Forget it, why don't we just kill them? We can just toss them into the graveyard nearby later. Stop torturing them like this..."

"No way! I'm going to carve off their meat and then bury them alive!" Brett said viciously.

At the same time, he glared at his squeamish companion and, struck by a sudden thought, demanded that he and the others take a turn with the knife as well.

At this point, they had passed the point of no return. Under Brett’s intimidating stare, they reluctantly picked up the blades.

From this moment on, this group of boys and girls had become utterly and irrevocably accomplices in evil.

Before long, they began digging in the adjacent graveyard.

As they dug, however, they broke into an old, decayed grave, and a flash of gold unexpectedly gleamed through the dirt.

???

Brett froze. Shoving his companion aside, he scraped away the earth with a few rapid movements. To his astonishment, what appeared before his eyes was a golden arm!

It was attached to a half-rotted female corpse. As the mud was cleared away, the golden arm still seemed to reflect a brilliant, dazzling light.