Chapter 31: Flesh Eating |
After everyone passed the stone monument at the village entrance, the one inscribed with the words “Su Clan Village,” the crisp, clear voice of a child rang through the air, singing a nursery rhyme:
[A hungry year, a barren year,]
[With neither rice nor flour here.]
[Outside the hall, beneath the bough,]
[A great pot bubbles, simmering now.]
Qi Si looked in the direction of the voice and saw a boy perched on the branches of a stark, withered tree. He was skeletal, yet his belly was round and distended.
The boy’s skeleton-like frame was topped by a swollen, edematous head. A web of bulging veins and blood vessels was visible just beneath his thin, stretched skin. His entire body was as dark as if he’d been rolling in mud, save for his eyes, which were a startling, unnerving white.
He hummed the nursery rhyme, swinging his bare feet back and forth, a small bell tied to his ankle tinkling softly.
Seeing the players approach, the boy hopped down from the tree. He tilted his head, sizing them up with a wide grin. “You must be the guests Grandma was talking about, right? I’ve been waiting for you for so long.”
The boy’s gaze drifted from one player to the next, filled with a greedy, slavering hunger, as if he might lunge forward and start chewing on them at any moment.
Qi Si had never been fond of children, especially not one that was so clearly oozing malice. He rubbed the custom-made bracelet on his right wrist, a darkness gathering in the depths of his eyes.
Then he quickly realized that his reaction felt unnatural, as if... as if his hostility was being deliberately triggered by some game mechanic.
The slovenly man standing nearby clearly wasn’t thinking that deeply. He strode forward and slapped the boy hard across the face.
Qi Si noticed that the man had a small cross tied to the palm of his hand with black string. The moment it made contact with the boy’s skin, it erupted in a blinding white light.
It was likely an item he’d acquired in his first instance, something effective against ghosts. His sudden attack wasn’t entirely without reason.
“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!” the man yelled, striking the boy again and again, his voice a mix of curses meant to bolster his own courage and perhaps to put on a show for the others.
The two newcomers watched him with looks of awe, while the other veteran players made no move to intervene.
Attacking a ghostly NPC without provocation could be a death sentence, but it could also be an opportunity—a chance to increase one’s evaluation score or unlock an achievement.
Having a daredevil willing to test the waters was more than welcome. The players knew well enough to shed any heroic notions and instead mock the misfortunes of others.
The boy didn’t fight back. He didn’t react at all. With each slap from the man, his head tilted further and further to the side, until, with a sickening *thud*, it fell clean off his shoulders and landed on the ground.
The man staggered back in shock. The severed head rolled across the dirt and clamped its teeth onto his pant leg.
The boy’s emaciated body remained standing nearby, and a hollow voice rumbled from its abdominal cavity, “Are you willing to give me some meat to eat?”
Just then, a system notification chimed.
[Rules have been updated.]
[1. The ghosts of Su Clan Village cannot be killed by any power from outside the village. They hold grudges, but are sometimes forgetful. As long as you are willing to give them meat, they are willing to be your friends.]
The slovenly man’s name was Zhao Feng. The moment he saw the new rule flash across the system interface, the ferocity on his face vanished, replaced by a fearful pallor.
The others began to whisper phrases like “can’t be killed” and “he’s done for,” their eyes now looking at him as if he were already a dead man.
Qi Si squinted at the new rule, a brow arching slightly.
So this was another rules-based horror instance. But compared to the last one, this instance’s rules were buried much deeper. They weren’t given to the players directly but had to be uncovered by someone willing to risk their life.
Cannot be killed by any power from outside the village... so does that mean you have to use a power from *inside* the village? What could that be?
“I’m so hungry, so hungry, give me meat...” The head’s eyes were now bloodshot as its mouth stretched into a grin, revealing rows upon rows of densely packed teeth.
The teeth were coated in a nauseating film of mucus and shredded flesh. Its incessant, whispered chanting grated on the players’ nerves, filling them with an inexplicable irritation. A few of them even felt the urge to follow Zhao Feng’s lead and put a knife through the ghostly child.
“Agree to it,” Yang Yundong suddenly said, his voice low and firm.
Zhao Feng, still kicking his leg trying to shake the head loose, shrieked, “How am I supposed to agree? Where am I going to get meat for him?”
Yang Yundong raised his voice. “If you don’t want to die right now, agree to it!”
His tone was so commanding that Zhao Feng froze, his body stiffening.
Seeing the head’s expression grow more and more malevolent, he had no choice but to glare down at it and yell, “I agree! I’ll give you meat to eat!”
The head loosened its jaw, its face turning upward to stare directly into Zhao Feng’s eyes.
“Tell him you don’t have any meat for him right now,” Yang Yundong instructed, “but you will in a few days.”
Zhao Feng stared down at the head on the ground. “I don’t have any meat for you right now, but I will in a few days.”
After he spoke, he held his breath, waiting for a response. An eternity seemed to pass before the boy’s body bent down, picked up the head, and skillfully placed it back onto its bare neck.
“It’s a deal. Tomorrow. I want my meat tomorrow.”
He twisted his neck, and then, as if nothing had happened, smiled at the players. “You must be the guests Grandma was talking about, right? My name is A’Xi. Follow me to my house. We love having guests.”
The boy who called himself A’Xi turned away, no longer looking at the players, and skipped ahead to lead the way.
At that, everyone let out a silent sigh of relief. It seemed they had stumbled their way through the first potential death trap.
With Yang Yundong still taking the lead, the players gradually fell in line behind the boy.
Zhao Feng muttered a few curses under his breath, then sidled up next to Yang Yundong. “Brother Yang, what am I going to do tomorrow? Where am I supposed to find meat for him?”
“Figure it out yourself,” Yang Yundong said without turning his head. “You’re the one who had to go and provoke these things. You deserve it.”
Rebuffed, Zhao Feng’s facial muscles twitched in frustration. “If it weren’t for these damn rules, I’d have scattered its soul in a second! Now look, I can’t kill it, and it’s got me under its thumb...”
Zhu Ling, who was walking nearby, quickly offered some comforting words. “Don’t be afraid. There’s a way to deal with every kind of ghost. And worse comes to worst, you have a whole day to find some meat.”
Zhao Feng shot her a look and fell silent.
The paths within Su Clan Village were narrow and rugged, flanked by dilapidated houses crammed so tightly together that the space felt claustrophobic and oppressive.
Faded, tattered couplets clung to the front of every home, spreading across the doors like festering scars, the characters on them blurred beyond recognition.
Moss and ferns grew wild on the eaves, their tendrils hanging down and swaying gently in the breeze.
As they walked, they saw that every window was a pitch-black void. Not a single person was in sight.
Where had everyone gone? For a village advertised to tourists, even if it wasn’t bustling with shops, it shouldn’t be this deserted...
Qi Si waited for a long while, but when none of the other players spoke up, he decided to ask himself in a casual tone, “A’Xi, why are there so few people in your village? Did they all move away?”
“Nope,” the boy leading the way answered with a smile. “Just wait until tonight. Everyone will come out then.”
Qi Si raised his eyebrows, feigning curiosity. “Why don’t they come out during the day? I heard your tourism industry is doing quite well. It seems like setting up some stalls during the day would be more profitable, wouldn’t it?”
This was, of course, a blatant lie. Su Clan Village looked utterly derelict, showing no signs of a thriving tourism industry.
But a lie often provokes the desire to correct it, and in doing so, reveal more information.
The boy took the bait, shaking his head vigorously. “You’re lying! Grandma said that ever since ‘that incident,’ no one has come to our village to visit for a long, long time.”
Qi Si pressed further. “What was ‘that incident’?”
The boy just kept shaking his head. “You’ll have to ask Grandma. She won’t let me talk about it.”
“Alright. But if no one comes to visit, why do you all still live here?” Qi Si said, pretending to be skeptical. “I don’t see anyone farming, either. There’s no money to be made staying in the village. Wouldn’t it be better to find work in the city?”
The boy’s voice became exaggerated. “Grandma told me that someone has to stay in the village! Otherwise, there’d be no one to take care of the ancestral hall, and something terrible would happen!”
Qi Si was about to ask what terrible thing might happen, but the boy pointed to a courtyard up ahead. “Look, that’s my house!”
The courtyard was built in a traditional style, with flying eaves and upturned corners. Two faded red lanterns hung beneath the roof, making it look no different from an ordinary rural home.
Two paper squares with the character for “Fortune” were pasted on the doors, and the doorposts were adorned with a couplet. The right side read: “Year after year, let incense clear all sin.” The left side read: “Year after year, let meatless meals begin.”
The couplet had faded, but the characters were still legible, suggesting it hadn’t been there for very long—less than a year, at least.
Qi Si’s gaze lingered on the words “meatless meals.” If he remembered correctly, the name of this instance was “Flesh Eating”...
Into the silence, a long, drawn-out *creak* echoed. The door opened from the inside, and an old woman in a floral dress of intermingling red and yellow stepped out.
Her hair was completely white, coiled in a tight bun at the back of her head. Her wrinkled face was like a crumpled napkin, as dark as if it had been smeared with charcoal. She wore small, black cloth shoes and stood unsteadily, looking as if a gust of wind might knock her over.
Compared to the obviously strange boy, her expression was kind and gentle. Her face and figure showed no signs of abnormality; she looked perfectly, vividly human.
Upon seeing the old woman, the boy ran to her gleefully and hugged her leg, then turned his head to look back at the players.
The old woman leaned against the doorframe, her toothless mouth stretching into a grin as she chuckled. “So the guests have arrived. Come, let’s get you to your rooms. Once the rooms are assigned, we can share the meat...”