"Uncle Hu, Uncle Hu!"
"Aunt Zhang, Brother Liu, what are you doing?"
"Stop eating, stop eating!"
In the small courtyard.
Little Bug collapsed onto the ground, tears streaming from his eyes.
Everyone in the courtyard was frantically picking up dirt or stones from the ground and stuffing them into their mouths. As they ate, they laughed uproariously.
"These chicken legs are so delicious!"
"How long has it been since I last ate chicken?"
"This fish tastes pretty good. So fresh."
"If you ask me, the giant lobster is the best."
The people in the camp had their eyes closed. Like sleepwalkers, they blindly grabbed things from the ground and stuffed them into their mouths, yet believed they were eating delicacies and fine dishes.
One sleepwalker would have been strange enough, but how could the entire group be sleepwalking?
Little Bug had no idea what was happening.
He looked toward Zheng Jie.
Zheng Jie frowned, his face filled with unbearable reluctance. Just then, a light voice drifted out from inside the house.
"There is no such thing as a free lunch."
"You must give in order to gain."
"My Beast-Repelling Drum can protect you for a time, but not for a lifetime."
"That is why a living sacrifice is necessary."
"You wouldn't want me to use the people in this town for this, would you?"
Zheng Jie closed his eyes as if he had made up his mind. Then he opened them again. "Niang Niang is right."
The woman in the house gave a soft laugh. "Besides, they are currently in a beautiful dream, a dream so real that it is impossible to distinguish it from reality."
"For them, this is the real world. They are living in paradise."
"In this day and age, being able to die in a beautiful