The man in the chair had two fingers cut off in just a moment, the pain was so excruciating that he almost passed out.
These natives lived lives of luxury in the sanctuary and in parallel worlds. Even when attacked by monsters, death was instantaneous, never a torment like this.
The man gritted his teeth in hatred, but he was helpless against Katerina. Without an energy core, anyone from the camp could easily defeat him, and escape was pointless.
"I've been out of contact for three days. Headquarters must know something's happened. They'll send the army, but I'm just an external researcher. I don't have clearance to contact the army."
"I can't answer your questions. I'm telling the truth!" the man wailed in terror.
Katerina watched the man silently. After a moment, she nodded and said, "You're telling the truth. Then let me ask another question: Where is your headquarters?"
Upon hearing this, the man instantly became tense. He said excitedly, "I don't know that. The core researchers are at headquarters. We ordinary researchers are only responsible for conducting experimental tasks assigned by headquarters on the periphery."
"To put it bluntly, we're assistants to the headquarters' experimenters. They don't want to do the dirty work themselves, so they make us do it, including capturing people, conducting human experiments, and so on. We did all this under the command of headquarters. In fact, we were also forced!"
Katerina shook her head slightly and said, "That's not a satisfactory answer. If you want to evade questions by knowing nothing, then your fingers won't be safe!"
Hearing Katerina's words, the burly man next to her eagerly walked over to the man with a sly grin, ready to cut off another finger.
"I'm telling the truth. I really don't know. Even if we enter the cycle, our hibernation pods are in our own laboratories!"
"We're not qualified to go to headquarters. We usually communicate via telecommunication. I can't even remember what headquarters looks like!" the man shouted nervously.
The burly man looked at Katerina, who nodded coldly.
*Snap*, another finger was severed!
"Ah~ You wicked woman! I told you the truth, and you're still torturing me! You lunatics! Lunatics!" the man screamed in agony.
"Hang him up first and let him calm down. I'll ask him again tomorrow during the day!" Katerina yawned slightly and stood up. Her son needed to sleep early; adequate sleep was crucial for young children. As a mother, she naturally had to give up her previous habits of all-night drinking and revelry, and become like her child, sleeping and waking early.
Meanwhile, in the living room of the hotel suite.
A three-year-old boy sat on the carpet, playing with a toy car. This was one of the few toys that had remained relatively intact in the apocalypse. Katerina had gone to great lengths for these toys.
Suddenly, the room door opened, and a drunken Bear Country woman, swaying her hips, walked in, followed by a man.
"Is this the bastard Katerina gave birth to?"
"Old Father adopted more than ten of us and trained us. We are like brothers and sisters, except for this Katerina!"
"She repeatedly disobeyed Old Father's wishes and even led a team to run away, trying to escape us and distance herself from us!"
"Most ridiculously, she didn't save her chastity for our allies, but casually gave it to a Dragon Country man and then gave birth to this bastard!"
"But for some reason, Old Father, because of this little boy, not only forgave Katerina's offenses but also let them stay in such nice rooms, with a status even higher than mine?!"
"Why? I've risked my life for Old Father and made great contributions. Why should Katerina ride on my head and gain Old Father's favor? This is unfair!" the woman roared hysterically.
The man beside her quickly whispered, "Keep your voice down. You know Old Father dotes on this grandson the most. If you scare him, you'll be the one to suffer!"
"I don't care!" the woman suddenly threw her hand out, pushing the man aside. She was Peter's most powerful assassin, ranking among the top in the entire camp. The man was no match for her.
"I want to see what's so great about this little bastard, what's so precious!"
"I can also give birth, and I can give birth to many! Then we'll see what capabilities Katerina has!"
The woman, drunk, walked up to the boy and used her high heel to block the toy car's path.
"Hmm?" The little boy looked up with an innocent expression, then smiled at the woman, holding up the toy car. "Want to play together?"
"Okay, let's play together!" The woman took the toy car from the boy with a wicked smile, then exerted force with her right hand. The entire toy car instantly deformed and caved in, scattering its parts onto the floor.
*Crack!* The woman threw the toy car, now unrecognizable, onto the ground. She squatted in front of the boy and said innocently, "Oh dear, I accidentally broke it. Are you going to cry?"
"Cry, you Dragon Country bastard! You and your unknown father are both good-for-nothings!"
"Hahahaha!"
However, contrary to the woman's expectations, the little boy didn't cry. Instead, he looked at her with hatred. He seemed not to understand why, despite his friendly gesture of offering the toy to the woman, she had broken it.
"Oh ho, you've got a bit more spirit than I expected. What? Are you angry? Want to hit me?"
"Come on, hit me with your weak little fists!" The woman held the boy's fist and playfully moved it near her face a few times.
"Valeria, stop messing around. You're already close to the strength of an evolved being. If someone hits you, the recoil will injure you!" the man warned from the side.
"It's fine. How much strength can a three-year-old child have? As long as his strength isn't great, he won't get hurt... *Pfft*!" Before Valeria could finish speaking, she suddenly felt a powerful force hit her face.
*Bang! Boom!* The little boy stood where he was, his tender fist raised in anger. Valeria was sent flying out of the suite, her back hitting the wall with a heavy thud, dislodging a large patch of plaster.
"*Pfft!*" She spat out blood, containing a tooth.
Of course, they didn't know the boy's strength, nor did they know that the boy had defeated the natives. When the attack came, everyone was so overwhelmed by gravity that they couldn't breathe, and no one paid attention to the battle. The truth was known only to Katerina and a very small number of people.
If Valeria and the boy had fought seriously, the boy would certainly not have been a match for her. However, Valeria was overconfident, and she deliberately leaned her face forward to be hit without any defense, which is why she was beaten so badly by the naturally strong little boy.
"Damn it, die early!" As Valeria got to her feet, she suddenly felt a wave of heat, followed by a flash of light, and she was sent flying again. This punch was more than ten times stronger than the previous one!
At the suite door stood Katerina, emanating flames. "Touch my child, and you will die!"