Sacrifice

Zheng Wuyou took a deep breath. The watch on Sun Wu's wrist was forever stopped at the moment of the incident that morning.

This man in the tracksuit, he never would have imagined he'd become a sacrifice after death.

Zheng Wuyou closed her eyes and nodded, signaling Wen Dian to do as the old man said.

They would inherit the will of the dead.

But the living... still needed to live.

Wen Dian suppressed the turmoil within his heart, a mix of emotions swirling as he and the middle-aged man lifted Sun Wu from the cart.

Sun Wu's body had already begun to stiffen, conforming to the shape of the cart.

He remained in that posture when lifted out.

Wen Dian gently placed Sun Wu's body onto the round plate, muttering, "What a bunch of beasts."

The middle-aged man took a curved saber from the cart and, holding it, brought it down swiftly before Wen Dian.

As his movements rose and fell.

Sun Wu's head let out a splat, scattering fragments onto the ground.

His beloved Toothless pajamas were splattered with some soft, indistinct matter, but Wen Dian stood frozen, unable to react.

Not until Zheng Wuyou quickly pulled him back to her side.

The middle-aged man placed Sun Wu's head facing the crowd, on the south side of the round plate.

Then he arranged the limbs in the east and west positions respectively.

With only the torso remaining, the middle-aged man looked at Wen Dian, signaling that he needed his help here.

The old man coughed, his cane striking Wen Dian's back as he spaced out.

Zheng Wuyou took another deep breath. The air carried a faint, metallic scent of blood.

She steeled herself and approached the middle-aged man.

Together with the middle-aged man, she lifted Sun Wu's torso to the center of the round plate.

Leaning against the pillar.

Returning to their side, Zheng Wuyou looked down to find her hands covered in thick, crimson liquid. She wanted to wipe it on herself but didn't know where to start.

For the first time, the old man nodded in satisfaction.

His face, etched with the marks of time, was now painted with colorful pigments. He held a colorful banner in his right hand and leaned on his cane with his left.

He wildly waved his limbs.

Chanting scriptures they couldn't understand.

As he danced, the round plate began to slowly rotate.

Like a blender, it slowly devoured the remains.

The pillar inside rotated, its inscriptions turning downwards along with it.

Only the sound of hard objects grinding and shattering could be heard.

Liquid sprayed from the sunken center onto the pillar, deepening the color of the inscribed characters.

Hu Yu turned her face away, unable to bear watching.

The sounds in her ears were like punishment, striking her heart one by one.

"Useless thing," the old woman said, unable to stand such pretense. Her gaze was fixed on the round plate, but her words were sharp.

"What are you standing around for! Your job is to smear the offerings on every tombstone on the mountainside," the old man said, disregarding the dried, wrinkled paint on his face.

His trembling hands held out a basin of bloody, viscous paste to them.

The smell of blood instantly overwhelmed Hu Yu's nostrils. She couldn't help but turn her head and vomit her lunch from earlier.

"You...!" Wen Dian angrily wanted to overturn the basin of blood and mud before him, but Zheng Wuyou stopped him in time.

This was not the time to play the hero.

Under someone else's roof, unless you tore the roof off.

You'd only be crushed.

Zheng Wuyou, unable to bear it, took the blood paste. Her right hand plunged into the strangely textured mud, grabbing a handful and smearing it onto the nearest tombstone.

Seeing them start to act, and with the sky growing late.

Leaving behind a burning brand, the old man grumbled and left the graveyard with the old woman.

The middle-aged man pushed the wooden cart and ambled back towards the village.

As dusk deepened, the entire world seemed to be covered in a grayish-blue filter.

Only the orange glow of the burning brand illuminated a patch on the mountainside.

Zheng Wuyou looked towards the mountainside, where candlelight was gradually appearing, hoping the others could successfully rescue the eldest daughter-in-law before they returned.

"I'm done for, what kind of hell village is this!" Wen Dian had no choice but to plunge his hand into the blood mud, smearing it on the tombstone in front of him.

This was already the nth tombstone he'd smeared.

And the thought of it being Sun Wu's flesh...

He couldn't accept it even more.

"Ahhh! Don't talk about that woman, I'm going crazy!" Hu Yu anxiously wanted to pull at her hair, but her hands were covered in liquid.

She could only stomp her feet in frustration.

If she had known they would encounter this at the cemetery, she would have rather gone to Old Zhu's family to save the eldest daughter-in-law and see strange-shaped ghosts!

"These two tasks are related." Zheng Wuyou straightened up, her peripheral vision noticing several sheets of yellow paper that had appeared in the pitted, muddy ground at some point.

The wind on the mountainside in the evening was unusually strong.

It rolled the yellow paper, making a rustling sound.

Zheng Wuyou suddenly froze...

This was the sound of leaves from last night...

She didn't remember scattering any ancestral yellow paper during the sacrifice.

So where did this yellow paper come from?

"Don't stray too far, we'll leave after we finish smearing!" Zheng Wuyou unconsciously sped up her pace.

She didn't care if the blood and mud splattered on her clothes.

The three of them quickened their pace. Wen Dian was the fastest, smearing the last bit of blood and mud onto the tombstone at the edge.

He let go and threw the basin onto the ground in disgust.

He felt utterly repulsed.

The basin hit the muddy ground with a dull thud.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew past, and the only light source behind him extinguished.

He swallowed hard, standing frozen. Trembling, he turned his head, searching for the other two figures in the gray-blue darkness.

"...Hey, are you still there?" Wen Dian tried to raise his voice, but it was useless against the howling wind.

Suddenly, a hand patted his shoulder, scaring him so badly his legs gave out.

"Let's go!" Zheng Wuyou brushed past him, not understanding why Hu Yu would still think of scaring people in this situation.

Hu Yu's smug face popped out from behind him, and she followed Zheng Wuyou towards the village.

"Wait for me!" Wen Dian breathed a sigh of relief and fumbled to catch up with the two of them.

"Ah! Save me!" Hu Yu's scream suddenly echoed across the mountainside.

Wen Dian stood about two meters away from Hu Yu, watching her suddenly fall to the ground and then struggle to get up.

He rolled his eyes, deciding he wouldn't fall for it again!

"Stop tricking me, only a fool would fall for it twice." Wen Dian walked straight past her, following Zheng Wuyou.

"Don't go! Don't go! I've been caught! Ah..."

This time it wasn't fake!

Sensing something was wrong, Zheng Wuyou whipped her head around. That desperate voice was definitely not an act!

But behind her, besides Wen Dian and the dense rows of black tombstones, there was no sign of anyone.

"Hu Yu!" Wen Dian also realized he might have made the wrong choice!

He quickly roared towards the mountainside.

"Save..."

A very faint sound was carried by the howling wind, but Zheng Wuyou's sharp ears still caught its direction.

"This way!"

Before the two of them could return to the tombstone cluster, a strange noise came from behind the tombstones.

A series of sounds like something breaking through the earth erupted around them.

It's over!

Turn back and have a chance to save her.

Or give up on her... and save myself?