A dense forest.
Even in broad daylight, with the blazing sun overhead and clear skies stretching for miles, the light seemed to hover halfheartedly above the tree trunks.
The brilliant gold and gentle warmth were like rippling light on the sea, drifting weightlessly, never sinking below the surface.
Beneath the trees, it was as if one had entered the depths of the ocean.
Gloom hung there like a night sky that never lifted, cloaking lonely graves in an eerie, chilling stillness.
"Crunch, crunch..." Clear chewing sounds rose and fell, as if countless people were seated at a table, feasting. In the dim, shadowy woods, a figure dressed like a young servant in a blue robe and brown headscarf dragged a blood-soaked person across the soft, rotting forest floor, striding deeper into the woods.
The servant was of ordinary stature, with no features on his face—only a dense mass of mouths.
At that moment, every one of his mouths...
"Ahhh!!!"
The man being dragged, his face twisted in terror... shouted, "Help! Help!!! Somebody help me!!!"
"Please, let me go! I'll give you anything you want!"
"J-just spare my life, and I..."
"If... my parents are still alive! I have brothers! I have sisters!"
"I can still... Please! Let me go... Let me go... Help! Help!!"
Tan Nu paid him no heed...
"Crunch, crunch, crunch..."
Along with... blood dripped from the corners of his mouth.
Fear and despair in the man's eyes seemed almost tangible. His scream suddenly rose to a higher pitch, shooting straight into the sky.
Before long, a grave shrouded in darkness appeared ahead.
A tombstone stood alone, with more than a dozen horribly mutilated corpses already piled beside it.
Nearly all the bodies were in pieces; not a single one was whole. A good number were missing their