Chapter 018: The Crucifixion of Ancient Rome

"Zheng Yan... why are there only snakes in the fish tank... and why are all these snakes green? Green cobras?"

Xu Meijing was so terrified by the fish tank full of snakes that she could barely speak. But this was exactly what I had expected; it was Du Jiang’s typical design style. Since he had already sentenced Xu Jiaojiao to the punishment of ancient Rome’s strangling cross, there was no way he would let her off so easily. The execution device, which seemed simple to operate, was actually a seamless trap.

I had seen this kind of green viper in National Geographic. Its full name is the Green Mamba, currently recognized as the fastest-reacting snake species in the world, with an average reaction time of just half a second. Its whole body is as green as a piece of jade bamboo, slender, with a flat head and teeth shaped like sharp, inverted triangles.

The Green Mamba’s venom and aggression are both formidable. Anyone bitten by those sharp teeth will have their sensitive nerves paralyzed within moments, their body stiffening and losing consciousness in less than a minute. Death follows in the blink of an eye. In ancient Rome, this snake was called the “Kiss of Death,” because anyone kissed by a Green Mamba was considered to have received a summons from the Grim Reaper.

In front of us, this two-meter-square fish tank contained at least dozens of Green Mambas. Each snake’s eyes glowed a vivid green, mouths gaping to reveal sharp fangs. I remembered a passage from National Geographic about the mamba.

It said that the Green Mamba typically does not attack other animals unless provoked. When it bares its fangs, you must be careful—this usually means the snake is hungry, and the hungrier it gets, the more aggressive it becomes. The magazine’s photojournalists once captured a shocking scene of a Green Mamba killing a cow, warning the world never to provoke a mamba with bared fangs; run if you can, or you’ll become its meal.

Clearly, Du Jiang had prepared a group of starving mambas—they prowled about, flickering their tongues, their green eyes shining, looking ready to devour anything in sight.

“Cough... cough...”

Xu Jiaojiao, bound on the cross, could not hold back a fit of coughing. The fan above had twisted the hemp rope nearly to its limit; her neck was visibly constricted and uncomfortable.

I knew all too well the consequences of this strangling device. It looked simple, but the damage and torture it inflicted on the human body were extreme. The force exerted by the twisting rope would increase exponentially, slowly wringing Xu Jiaojiao’s head off her shoulders. It’s no exaggeration to say she could witness her own head being twisted away, suffering for several minutes more before finally dying—a chilling thought.

“Zheng Yan! We have to find something to fish out that bunch of keys at the bottom! We have to hurry, or it will be too late!” Xu Meijing was stamping her feet in distress; it was clear she was genuinely determined to save Xu Jiaojiao.

I shook my head and said it was useless. These snakes weren’t ordinary snakes; they were in a state of extreme hunger. If she tried to fish out the keys with the axe, it would only backfire. These were Roman Green Mambas—one bite, and venom would quickly paralyze the nerves. Without immediate treatment, death would be swift and certain.

Xu Meijing, desperate to save her friend, snatched the axe from me. As soon as the blade touched the water, a Green Mamba darted out, slithering up the handle and hissing: “Sss... sss...”

Startled, Xu Meijing immediately threw the axe away. It sank into the tank, and instantly a swarm of mambas wrapped around it, stripping the wooden handle clean in the blink of an eye.

“Xu Meijing...” Xu Jiaojiao, leaning weakly against the cross, struggled to speak: “Thank you! Thank you for everything you’ve done for me... You don’t need to do anything more. To be honest, I’ve been thinking of giving up lately. I feel like a walking corpse—there’s no point in living in this world anymore!”

“Jiaojiao, you can’t give up on yourself! When I was cheated out of all my savings that year, you were the one who comforted me! I won’t give up on you! Zheng Yan! Don’t just stand there like a block of wood! If you let her die while doing nothing, how are you any different from that madman Du Jiang? Teacher Zheng wouldn’t want to see you like this, either!”

Her words jolted me awake. Yes, if I stood by and did nothing, wouldn’t I be no different from the crazed Du Jiang?

Though I hadn’t moved, I hadn’t been idle either—I’d been thinking hard about how to break the Roman strangling device. Logically, one would simply cut the hemp rope; an axe or a kitchen knife could easily sever it and end the torment. But would Du Jiang really have overlooked such an obvious flaw?

I turned to move the coffee table from the middle of the sofa, asking Xu Meijing to fetch the fruit knife and scissors from the wine cabinet in the living room. I’d noticed them as soon as I entered, placed in a conspicuously visible spot.

Seeing me take charge, Xu Jiaojiao shook her head faintly: “Zheng Yan, I advise you not to waste your time. Even if you save me, I won’t tell you who the culprit is. I’ll never say it, not even if I die... I’m sorry, I just can’t...”

I replied that it didn’t matter if she wouldn’t tell me; I’d find that person myself, even if I had to chase him into the underworld!

“Well said, Zheng Yan! That’s the Zheng Yan I know!” Xu Meijing handed me the fruit knife and scissors. I inspected them—both were brand new and razor-sharp.

Climbing onto the coffee table, I steadied the cross with one hand and tried the fruit knife on the rope above Xu Jiaojiao’s head. It cut through a strand with ease.

Xu Meijing cheered from below: “Yes, yes! That’s it, Zheng Yan! I told you the rope could be cut! Hurry up—Jiaojiao’s face is turning red, and the knot is tightening around her neck!”

“No. Something’s not right!” I brought the sharp fruit knife up for inspection.

“If the fruit knife and scissors can so easily cut this rope, then anyone could have rescued Xu Jiaojiao. Even a child could have done it. Why would Du Jiang leave such an obvious flaw after going to the trouble of constructing a Roman strangling device?”

“Maybe Du Jiang never intended to kill her?” Xu Meijing ventured.

“Not a chance,” I replied firmly. “The fire that year, Liu Jia’s tragedy, and the crimes of Gao Xiaolong, Yang Zhihong, and the others are all connected to Xu Jiaojiao. If I were Du Jiang, I’d torment her even more. There’d be no mercy—your fate and Gu Meijuan’s prove that!”

“Look at these tools—both placed in the most conspicuous spot on the wine rack. That’s not a coincidence. Du Jiang left them for us on purpose!”

Xu Meijing covered her mouth in shock. “You mean Du Jiang set a trap for us, waiting for us to walk right in?”

“One hundred percent—it’s a trap!” I said with certainty.

After a few seconds’ careful observation, I saw something yellowish hidden inside the cut rope, resembling copper wire. Suddenly, a possibility occurred to me.

I picked up the fruit knife again, keeping my other hand behind my back, and sliced off another section. The cut widened, revealing a bundle of bright copper wires. Just as I suspected—a deadly trap!

The so-called hemp rope wasn’t just rope; it was wrapped around copper wire!

A normal person would do exactly as I had—find something to stand on and use a knife or scissors to cut the knot. But that was a dead end, because one hand would be cutting the cable, while the other would inevitably touch the iron cross.

With both hands touching the copper wire and the cross, you become a conductor—the result: electrocution!

The first to be shocked would be me, and then Xu Jiaojiao, bound to the iron cross, would be electrocuted too.

“If it’s just the usual 220 volts, we might survive, but if it’s the 360 volts used in mechanical equipment, we’d both be killed instantly by the high voltage!”

Xu Meijing wiped the cold sweat from her brow. “My god! That’s utterly inhuman! Du Jiang wants to kill even you!”

I quickly jumped down from the coffee table. “This method is no good—we have to find another way, fast...”

“If all else fails, we could try to break the ceiling fan by force, and think of another way to deal with the locks,” Xu Meijing suggested, pointing to the slowly revolving fan.

Without hesitation, I shook my head. Now that we knew the two hemp ropes contained copper wire, it was clear they were integrated with the ceiling fan. No one could guess how the wiring inside was rigged—trying to break it by force would be like dismantling a live bomb. Who knows what might happen? We might fail to save Xu Jiaojiao and lose our own lives in the process.

“Cough... cough... cough...”

Xu Jiaojiao’s coughing grew more frequent. I noticed both her hands had clenched into fists, her face was flushed, and the veins on her neck stood out. She was struggling to breathe.

“Just go... leave me... you don’t have to save me...”

I turned away to avoid seeing her agony, searching my mind for a way to break the device. If attacking the upper rope was impossible, I’d have to start with the cross itself.

I crouched to examine the construction of the cross. It was welded solidly to a steel plate buried in the floor, made of super-hardened wrought iron. Even a bomb wouldn’t break it—another dead end!

Cutting the rope was useless, dismantling the cross was impossible—could the real solution lie in the fish tank?

I went back to the tank and stared into the depths...