“Ah…I wish I had brought a different gag.” He disappeared from Xiaokai’s view again. Positioned like this, with both his hands stretched out and restrained, Xiaokai couldn’t even hope to sit up to see what his client was grabbing next. “You know they make ones with holes in the middle, so a man could fit his cock in there with no chance of the other person biting down…ah, next time. Next time. Now, Xiao-Xiao.” His voice was closer and Xiaokai struggled to lift his head. He was standing at the foot of the bed. He had a whip.

Xiaokai whimpered and withdrew his legs.

“Yes, lovely. Just like that.” He was just holding the whip in his hand, the cigarette between his teeth, his cock between his fingers, moving back and forth almost lazily, getting off on merely the sight of Xiaokai helpless before him. Then without warning the whip cracked down, right onto Xiaokai’s legs, and Xiaokai’s eyes shone. He brought the whip down again and tears burst from Xiaokai’s eyes.

“Good boy, just like that—cry all you need to.” He slammed it down again with more force. Xiaokai wept against his gag, curling up his legs as much as possible but not nearly enough to get away from the pain. Hu Yongzhu at last put the whip down, right on the side of the bed, and then he crawled across the bed toward Xiaokai. “Does it hurt?”

Xiaokai, desperately, nodded.

“Spread your legs apart.”

He spread his legs apart even as they throbbed. He couldn’t see them to be sure, but they felt like they were bleeding. He would need to get that treated, would need to—

Searing pain on his chest, so unexpected and painful that Xiaokai screamed again. Hu Yongzhu had taken the cigarette and pressed it against his flesh.

“You’re thinking about something else. Don’t. Nod if you understand me.”

Xiaokai nodded again.

“You look so pretty when you cry, Xiao-Xiao.” Hu Yongzhu stroked Xiaokai’s face with what was almost tenderness, and then he bent forward and dragged his tongue across Xiaokai’s cheeks, gathering up all the salt of his tears, the saliva that had been escaping from his mouth. “If you stay for one more hour,” he said, “I’ll take a billion off the deal. How does that sound?”

Xiaokai could only look at him with wide eyes. Another hour? He didn’t know if he would be able to handle that, not with how this has been going—

“I won’t hurt you anymore. One more hour, and it’s a billion off. You have my word.”

If he broke his word, Xiaokai had the power to take him off the List, and he knew that. As much as he hated it—

Xiaokai nodded again.