The night was stunning and magical, but its darkness could also stir up the deepest desires in people's hearts, including crime and evil.
At eleven o'clock at night, the pregnant Ella Garcia had just stepped out of a secluded public restroom when she found herself surrounded by four teenagers, all under 18.
Leading the pack were twin brothers, Tony and Kurt Lowe. Their girlfriends, Lyra Cole and Wren Kelly, were right there with them.
The four of them eyed Ella with malicious intent. Their cold smiles sent a shiver down her spine, filling her with dread.
Ella, trembling, asked, "What do you want?"
"Why don't you hang out with us tonight?" Tony said with a wicked grin.
Ella's face went pale with fear, but she tried to stay calm. "My house is nearby, and my husband will be here soon!"
Tony slapped her hard across the face, making her cheek instantly red and swollen.
"You bitch, how dare you threaten us! Where's your husband? If he shows up, I'll break his legs!" Tony sneered.
Ella's heart sank. Her husband wasn't even back yet; he was still out negotiating business for the company. She had hoped to scare them off, but it didn't work at all.
Then Tony and Kurt started hitting her together, slapping her face over and over until it was swollen beyond recognition, with blood streaming from her mouth and nose. They weren't satisfied and began punching and kicking her.
Ella lay on the ground, trying her best to protect her belly, crying and begging them. "Please let me go. I'm pregnant. If you keep hitting me, my baby will be in danger."
But her pleas only made them laugh louder. Instead of stopping, they started hitting her with an iron rod as thick as an arm.
These teenagers, barely in their teens, acted like demons.
"I heard that sticking needles into someone's ten fingers is the most painful. Hold her down, I want to try it out," Kurt said.
Hearing Kurt's words, the others stopped. Kurt took out a long, thin needle, eager to try it.
The others held down her hands and feet while Kurt approached her with the needle.
"No, please," Ella struggled desperately, her eyes wide with terror.
Kurt tightly covered her mouth and forcefully stuck the needle into her finger. She writhed in pain, her veins bulging, and blood oozed out.
Kurt said, "This is so much fun."
Then Kurt stuck the needle into each of her fingers one by one. Her fingers swelled up, covered in blood.
From her initial screams and struggles, Ella became weak and powerless, only able to moan feebly. Her clothes were soaked with sweat.
But they didn't let her go easily. Wren and Lyra took off her shoes and socks, pressing lit cigarettes against the skin of her feet until they were covered in scars.
Ella's face was covered in tears and snot from the pain, her feet twitching uncontrollably from the burns.
"Doesn't she look like a dying fish?" Tony laughed maniacally.
"I want to see if a pregnant woman's breasts are bigger than my girlfriend's." Kurt stripped off Ella's clothes, leaving her completely naked.
"They're really big. I can't even hold them with one hand." Kurt grabbed her breasts, kneading them, then pulled out his penis and shoved it into her mouth.
"Then I'll taste this woman's vagina," Tony said with a lewd smile, lifting her legs onto his shoulders.
He licked her vagina a few times, then bit down hard. The intense pain made Ella want to scream, but her mouth was blocked by Kurt's penis. As she opened her mouth wide, Kurt thrust his penis deep into her throat.
Her genitals were being bitten by Kurt, while her throat was being penetrated by Tony. She convulsed in pain, but it wasn't the worst yet.
When Tony and Kurt exchanged positions, Wren and Lyra took out a small knife and cut off a small piece of her scalp. Blood dripped from her head onto the ground.
The originally weak Ella thrashed and convulsed from the intense pain.
"Her vagina is gripping me harder. I'm about to come." Kurt thrust forcefully inside her, completely ignoring the baby inside her.
She could feel the baby slowly slipping away from her. She cried helplessly, never imagining that teenagers could do something so cruel.
Kurt watched as blood poured from where they were joined, running down her thighs. He laughed and said, "Let it go. I'll make you pregnant again."
Tony pulled out a lighter and aimed it at her vagina. "Kurt, since you want to be a dad, let me help you out."
Kurt quickly pulled out, and Tony used the lighter to burn Ella's vagina.
"No! It hurts too much! Just kill me!" The intense pain made Ella writhe in agony, almost breaking free from their grip.
"Now let's see if a burned vagina can make you come faster," Tony taunted.
Kurt thrust back into her.
Due to the pain, Ella's vaginal walls convulsed, squeezing his penis, making him feel a tingling sensation in his scalp. Kurt ejaculated inside her after just a few thrusts.
As Ella convulsed on the ground, Kurt and Tony kicked her furiously, laughing maniacally.
Lyra and Wren also stomped on Ella's body with their high heels, cursing her. "You bitch! Slut!"
At that moment, Ella was nothing more than a beast to them, one they could torture and kill at will.
After tormenting Ella, they left satisfied, leaving Ella battered and barely alive in the dark night.
The night was terrifyingly dark, like a giant abyss swallowing the weakened Ella. Her life was quickly slipping away.
After an unknown amount of time, a little girl's scream broke the silence of the night. "Mom! Mom!"
A little girl found Ella and ran towards her frantically. She was Ella's eight-year-old daughter, Sophia Wilson.
Sophia came out to look for Ella, who hadn't returned, only to find her lying in the dark, covered in wounds.
Seeing Ella's condition, Sophia was heartbroken and cried out. "Mom, who did this to you?"
Ella used her last bit of strength to force a smile. She reached out, wanting to touch Sophia one last time.
But the moment she raised her hand, it dropped heavily to the ground. Ella lay lifeless in the chilly night, right before her adored daughter.
"Mom!" Sophia's hoarse scream pierced the night sky.
16 years later.
In the police interrogation room, an officer placed a photo in front of a long-haired girl in gray clothes and questioned her. "Is this the man you killed?"
The man in the photo lay naked in a pool of dark red blood, his face pale. His ten fingers were cut off, and his penis and testicles were severed.
Sophia's eyes scanned the photo repeatedly. She was calm, with a faint glimmer in her eyes, as if she were admiring the man's death.
And the corpse in the photo was Tony, one of the culprits responsible for Ella's death. Because of this, Sophia was a suspect in a revenge killing.
Sophia looked up at the officer interrogating her and said calmly, "I didn't kill him. If I did, I wouldn't use such a clumsy, laughable method full of flaws."
Outside the glass wall of the interrogation room stood Ethan Williams and the hastily returned Chief Robert Davis.
Ethan introduced. "Robert, the reason we urgently called you back from the crime scene is because of this woman. We can't get anything out of her."
Ethan pointed to his eyes with two fingers, a look of wisdom on his face. "Both of my eyes tell me there's something off about this woman, but she's got nerves of steel. We've taken turns questioning her, but haven't managed to squeeze out any valuable information."
Robert took out Sophia's file and flipped through it. Sophia Wilson, 24 years old. PhD from a top medical school in the country, no criminal record.
"What's the motive for the murder?" Robert asked while reading.
"Possibly revenge." Ethan handed over another file. "Sixteen years ago, her mother was tortured and killed by a pair of underage twins, and our victim is one of those twins."
Robert's fingers paused as he flipped through the file.
The twins who committed the brutal murder back then were released from prison unscathed not long after. Now, one of them was now a corpse.
Ethan continued, "Sophia's mother was tortured and killed by Tony and others back then. Now, Tony's tendons were severed with a scalpel, his ten fingers were cut off, and his testicles were removed. This method of torture looks a lot like revenge!"
"This is just a theory, we don't have any solid proof yet. Let's not jump to conclusions, especially while we're still investigating," Robert reminded.
In the interrogation room, Sophia sat quietly, looking frail and thin. Sixteen years ago, she was the victim's family member. Now, one of the culprits was murdered, and she was a suspect.
"If we can't come up with any evidence in two hours, we won't have the right to hold her," Ethan said, clearly anxious.
Robert didn't say anything and walked straight into the interrogation room.
The officers were still questioning Sophia. "Sophia, why were you at Riverside Apartments at 4:50 AM on December 10th?"
They pressed on, "If there's any injustice, just tell us, and we'll look into it for you. If you don't say anything, how can we help you?"
No matter what the officers said, Sophia stayed silent, her expression unchanged. Robert watched her closely.
He seemed to realize something, his eyes narrowing slightly. "You came to the police station to find out what happened to the twins who were brought in 16 years ago, right?"
Sophia lifted her head to look at him.
"Are you disappointed? Turns out, back then, they weren't abused or humiliated at the police station," Robert continued.
He went on, "Even murderers can get decent treatment at the police station, just losing some unimportant freedom."
Sophia finally spoke, "Why can murderers be treated well in juvenile detention?"
She asked, "Why don't murderers get punished? Is this the justice the police uphold?" Sophia said coldly, "You're just maintaining the order society requires, as stipulated by the law, not justice."
"So, you killed Kurt to uphold the justice in your heart?" Robert immediately asked.
"Officer, you're asking leading questions," Sophia retorted. "Isn't that against the rules?"
She was sharp, seeing through his intentions instantly.
Robert had to change his strategy. He smiled. "Sophia, there's no need to be wary of us. We just want to help you."
"No need," Sophia said. "In two hours, I'll be able to leave."
He asked, "What will you do after you leave?"
She replied, "Go to my mom's grave and tell her the good news."
Robert softened his tone and continued, "Tony is dead. Won't his brother be scared and hide, worrying every day about being brutally killed?"
"But in reality, he won't be scared. He'll just laugh in his heart," Robert said, deliberately pausing, waiting for Sophia to ask a question.
But she still didn't speak. So Robert had to keep going. "Sophia, you said Tony's death was clumsy and ridiculous. How should Tony have died to be considered smart and without any doubts?"
After a few seconds of silence, Sophia spoke, "I once injected a large amount of air into a rabbit with a syringe, and it died painfully. I also tried inserting a dissecting needle into a bullfrog's occipital bone, crushing the brain tissue, then turning to the spinal canal. It soon went limp and died instantly."
Then she smiled. "Less blood, easy to clean, and quick death."
This smile made Ethan shiver. He instinctively covered the back of his head with his hand. "Medical students are not to be messed with."
After giving Sophia a deep look, Robert walked out of the interrogation room.
Ethan asked eagerly, "How was it? Is she the culprit?"
Robert shook his head. "I'm not sure yet. She's tougher than any suspect we've encountered before. If she really did it, we need to be prepared to convict without a confession."
"What do we do next? There's not much time left for detention. What if she destroys evidence after going home?" Ethan asked urgently.