Chapter 1228: Death and a Gift

The Pasreto family also has its own "rules," rules for dealing with traitors, which could also be called a kind of "family code."

It is very clear that Christopher knows this; he kneels on the ground begging, and compared to immediate death, accepting punishment makes him feel even more fear!

Just as Lanse said, at this moment in Christopher's heart, there is no remorse for the bastard things he did to himself, only the fear of death.

He clasps his hands together and pleads with Francisco, "For the sake of us being brothers..."

Francisco turns around and unbuttons his coat, "If you really treated me as your brother, you wouldn't have done that."

He pauses as he speaks, "Hang him up."

Two burly men walk over to try and help Christopher up; he knows very well that once he is hung up, it means everything is beyond saving.

He struggles wildly, kicking his legs and cursing, trying to provoke Francisco.

But everything he does is of no use.

It is actually very difficult for someone who has not been tortured to understand the change in the victim's thinking during the process of being tortured.

Before being tortured, they might think of many things: how to fabricate lies, how to resist, how to fight back, and how to survive the ordeal.

The victim will also prepare themselves mentally, telling themselves through various suggestions that it is just... some kind of punishment, and he can endure it.

But when they truly begin to be tortured, that feeling of constantly drawing closer to the Grim Reaper makes them completely unable to control their emotions; they will panic, collapse, and begin to beg for mercy.

Almost no one can hold out; even professionals who have received anti-interrogation training find it very difficult to hold out, often trying to find ways to seek death quickly through some means to avoid this continuous pain.

Christopher thinks he can do some of the things he wants to do, but when two punches land on his stomach, he behaves.

The intense pain and diaphragm spasms directly cause him to lose the ability to resist completely, and he lets those two men hang him on a torture device similar to a cross.

At this time, the room temperature has already risen because of several stoves, and Francisco is only wearing a white shirt, having taken off his coat.

There is a very special sense of ritual in the room, and Lanse has already moved his seat into the corner.

They brought in a crucifix, a very small one, one foot high, with a silver base, pushed in on a small cart.

Francisco kneels directly in front of the crucifix, his eyes closed, muttering to himself.

The Sumuli people are basically all religious and are also devout believers, and there is a very strong family and religious atmosphere on Sumuli Island itself, so in many families, whether they are the ones inflicting punishment or the ones being punished, they will repent to God and ask God to forgive the sins they have committed or are about to commit.

This is a ritual, a tradition; the value of the ritual lies in letting the tradition become a culture that is passed down.

Christopher's body is already shaking, and as the prayer in Francisco's mouth is about to end, he actually wets his pants.

With the conclusion of the final prayer, Francisco opens his eyes.

The butler pushes over another small cart, on which there is a row of shining torture instruments; these instruments were specially brought over from New Jincheng just to inflict capital punishment on Christopher!

"If... I can bring them." The butler looks at Francisco with some worry; he has never actually done these things before, as there were specialized "executioners" in the family, and his uncle used to moonlight in this role.

But with Paul's death and the internal division and reintegration of the family, his uncle has already been finished off by him, and a new executioner has not yet been appointed.

The butler can understand that Francisco intends to execute Christopher himself, but this job is not so easy to do; he worries that Francisco, who has always been in school and has only been in contact with family affairs for a few years, cannot do it.

Francisco shakes his head, "No, I want to execute him with my own hands; only in this way can I comfort Paul's spirit in heaven!"

They believe Paul will go to heaven because he was a good father, a good head of the family, and a leader of a gang.

Perhaps he could not be so merciful to his enemies, and his enemies would not praise him like that.

In any case, from Francisco's perspective, Paul is definitely going to heaven.

He pushes the small cart to Christopher's front and glances at his pants with some disgust, "Strip him naked."

The burly men beside Christopher immediately use knives to cut open his clothes; there are stoves in the room, and the temperature has risen quite a bit, but after being stripped naked, it still makes one feel obviously cold and uncomfortable.

Francisco's hand holding the dagger is trembling a little, not knowing if it is because of excitement or because what he is about to do makes him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

He takes a deep breath and, amidst Christopher's screams, starts from his left shoulder and cuts to the right shoulder.

Fresh blood seeps out all at once.

Christopher is not an old man; his skin has not yet reached the point of sagging, and at thirty-something, he is at the peak of his physical condition.

Coupled with living in luxury for so many years, his skin is very elastic, and this also means that at this moment, his wound is slightly everted.

The pulling force generated by the muscles and skin on both sides causes the wound to split open completely.

Watching so much fresh blood gush out all at once, Francisco cannot help but feel a bit nauseated; although he has killed people and seen dead bodies, he has never done such a thing.

"Leonardo will come to trouble you!"

"Let me go, everything ends here, otherwise he will definitely finish you off, finish you all off!"

Christopher screams hysterically; in fact, pain is not the reason for his loud shouting; what truly makes him lose emotional management is, in the final analysis, the fear of death.

He tries to struggle, but he has been firmly fixed to this torture device by some leather belts; except for small-scale shaking, he can almost do nothing.

Francisco looks back at Lanse, and Lanse shakes his head, "Don't worry about him; if Leonardo dares to come, I dare to send him to see God!"

"Even if he doesn't come, I will arrange for people to go and greet him."

Leonardo sent people to assassinate Lanse, and Lanse has always remembered this debt; he has already sent people to keep an eye on this old guy Leonardo, and once there is a suitable opportunity, they will take action.

Hearing this, Christopher probably knows that he cannot escape this ordeal today; he stops begging for mercy and instead begins to curse.

He curses Francisco, curses Paul, and curses everyone related to him.

His cursing is very vicious, just like the kind that specifically picks at people's scars, making people hurt even more; these curses indeed make Francisco somewhat unable to bear it, and his expression becomes somewhat cruel, "Pry his mouth open."

Before Christopher can react, the two burly men use something to insert into his mouth, and he cannot even close it.

Immediately after, his oral cavity is opened, and Francisco takes a pair of specially made pliers, his face looking fierce as he clamps inside, pulling his tongue out... The entire execution process lasts for maybe thirty or forty minutes, during which Francisco vomits twice.

When, in the end, Christopher dies in despair and pain, he suddenly becomes calm.

It is as if... a kind of sublimation, causing his whole person to tend toward stability.

He stands somewhat dejectedly in front of Christopher's corpse, then slowly holds his head and squats on the ground.

Lanse slowly rises and walks toward the door; clearly, he needs to be quiet for a while now.

Paul's death is not just a simple matter of his father dying to him; Paul's sudden departure left no valuable will or anything else, which caused the Pasreto family to directly develop rifts in the struggle for power and profit.

If it weren't for Alberto's timely help in stabilizing the internal situation of the family for Francisco, and eradicating those dissidents bit by bit, perhaps Francisco would already be buried deep under the soil of some wilderness.

From a student, a high school student, to now the head of a gang family, perhaps some people think this is everything experienced by a "story protagonist" that can make people feel refreshed, but only those who have truly experienced these things know how terrifying, how desperate, and how painful it is!

Fortunately, at this moment, everything is over.

After a long while, Francisco finally comes out of the room, and the smile on his face seems to be much simpler than before, "Thank you, thank you, Uncle Lanse."

Lanse cannot help but laugh twice, and he pats Francisco on the shoulder, "You're welcome, this is what I should do."

He pauses, "Do you need me to help you dispose of the body?"

"Or do you need to take those things back and place them in front of Paul's grave?"

This sentence makes Francisco a bit confused, and he looks at the butler on the side, "Do we have this tradition?"

The butler thinks seriously for a while before shaking his head and saying, "We have never had such a tradition; as for whether others have it, I am not very clear."

Francisco says very politely, "I don't need to take them back, so it would be very troublesome for you to help dispose of them."

Lanse nods, "Where do you plan to go next?"

"Play here for a while longer, or return to New Jincheng?"

Francisco looks toward the east, "I'd better go back early."

"I want to bring this good news to him, and to the people of other families; I need to let them understand that I have already made Christopher pay a heavy price!"

In the final analysis, in a violent organization like a gang, the inheritance of power is not necessarily passed directly from father to son; some successors do not have such strong strength and means, so they are easily controlled and become puppets.

Therefore, in a gang, strength and influence are the most basic symbols.

The Pasreto family has been unable to hold its head up for the past few years, which also has to do with the fact that there has been no result in dealing with Christopher for a long time.

Now that he can go back and tell everyone, Christopher has been finished off by him, his prestige will be greatly enhanced, and some troubles within the family will also be resolved.

Lanse does not try to keep him; after all, completely controlling the entire family is more meaningful than staying here for a few days.

At the same time, Leonardo also learns about Christopher's disappearance, and he vents his anger on his brother-in-law.

Although Leonardo is not good to Christopher, clearly pitting him and using him, this also happens to show that this is Christopher's value.

If he had no value, Leonardo would not be so anxious as he is now.

Christopher's disappearance, coupled with the Lanse family starting to ship goods to the entire state, has caused big problems for the Bianchi family's liquor business in the Federation!

Now, smuggling liquor to the Federation has become Leonardo's most profitable business; ever since he got used to making quick money, he has been unable to return to the slow-paced criminal business of the past to earn "meager" income.

He needs to continuously open up the federal market, and he needs someone who can help him sell liquor in the Federation.

Christopher is the best candidate; the reason is simple: he has successful experience, and he has lived in the Federation for many years, so he knows how to open up the market.

Others don't seem to be very good at it, and he finds it hard to bet that a newcomer he supports will have Christopher's ability.

On the phone, Leonardo greets his brother-in-law's entire family more than once, and only gradually begins to breathe, rather than curse, "Find out as soon as possible where Doffer is, who caught him, and whether he has confessed anything."

"Then let him come back to see me; I want to talk to him personally; for other businesses, continue to maintain your previous decisions; if anyone hopes to get a suitable discount, then give it to them."

"As long as it doesn't make us lose money!"

The brother-in-law can only agree one by one; in fact, he already has a guess, which is that Christopher might have already been caught by Lanse.

But he has no evidence for this kind of thing, and he cannot directly ask Lanse whether they have caught Christopher, let alone directly ask them whether Christopher is dead.

The only thing he can do now is to make himself look like he is really looking for Christopher.

Of course, in reality, he puts more energy into maintaining the business.

A few days later, after cursing a swear word, Leonardo slams the cards in his hand onto the table.

The heating in the room is very sufficient, so much so that he is only wearing a shirt, a dark coffee-colored small vest, and has rolled up his sleeves, revealing the thick hair on his two arms.

Some Sumuli people have particularly lush body hair, and Leonardo is one of them.

"Fuck, always giving me such cards, it's simply unplayable!"

He picks up a cigarette and stands up, "I'm going to smoke a cigarette, you guys continue."

The few people at the card table look at each other, with some communication in their eyes; they have also heard about the problems Leonardo is facing now.

The best salesman has disappeared, the brother-in-law cannot control the situation in this regard like Christopher, and facing the invasion of the Lanse family, he has no way.

The constantly shrinking business coupled with always losing money puts Leonardo's emotions on the verge of running wild; he needs to blow some cold air and calm down.

Just as he is standing on the balcony holding a wine glass thinking about something, the butler pushes a small cart over, "Master, someone sent a box over, saying it needs you to open it personally..." ===== CHAPTER 1229 =====