Demonic Traces

The three of them silently continued patrolling along the established route.

Wang Quan followed behind the captain, stopping himself from speaking several times. What was that corpse just now? His head was full of questions, but remembering the captain's previous strict orders to remain silent, and seeing the captain's tense back and limply hanging left arm ahead, he ultimately swallowed his words back down.

Anping County appeared exceptionally vast and gloomy in the night. The earthen walls reflected a ghastly white light under the moonlight, and the lanterns patrolling the ramparts looked like one dim yellow eye after another. They marched along the dirt path outside the perimeter of the city wall, their footing a ground mixed with gravel and wild grass. Muffled barks occasionally drifted from distant deep alleys, or the sound of something being knocked over, soon returning to silence. The wind passed through the empty streets and eaves, emitting a wailing moan like the city whispering in the dark.

An invisible pressure hung over their heads. Sweat seeped into the palm with which Wang Quan gripped his saber, not entirely due to fear, but even more from the unease brought by knowing nothing of the surrounding environment. He tried hard to keep his eyes open and listen in all directions, pushing the alertness honed by his past career as a bandit to the absolute limit.

Rounding an abandoned brick kiln west of the city, a sparse woodland lay ahead, with the faint outlines of farmland visible further in the distance.

Right at that moment, a dull, hoarse voice suddenly came from behind, resembling sandpaper rubbing against sheet metal.

"Just the few of you on patrol? Not even enough to between-teeth-stuff, why didn't you bring a few more people?"

The three spun around abruptly.

Under the moonlight, a massive figure blocked the retreat.

The thing stood roughly nine feet tall, its body as bloated as a small mountain, yet it bizarrely bore a huge, pitch-black wild boar's head. Two curved, ghastly white tusks protruded from the corners of its mouth, gleaming with cold light under the moonlight. Its entire body was covered in black bristles like steel needles, standing upright with a humanoid posture, and its muscular arms gripped a thick chopping saber resembling a door plank. Most terrifying were those eyes, flashing with a scarlet light upon the pig's face, brimming with undisguised violence and greed.

The Pig Demon.

Wang Quan's heart contracted sharply, and his breathing nearly stalled. The memories of his past life held only vague legends of mountain fiends and monsters, so when had he ever seen such a living demonic beast emanating substantive, fierce might?

The captain's body trembled imperceptibly. He stepped half a step forward, shielding Wang Quan and the pale young man behind his flank, and spoke in a dry voice, "T-tonight... the northern woods produced a Corpse Puppet, and we lost two men. We really... really can't spare any more manpower." He swallowed hard, struggling to say, "That Corpse Puppet... and the bodies of the two brothers we lost earlier, are-are still in the woods. If you need nourishment, yo-you can take them yourself."

Hearing this, the Pig Demon slowly lowered its massive head, its scarlet pupils apathetically sizing up the captain as if looking at a piece of speaking meat.

"Do you take me for a stupid pig?"

Its voice abruptly turned deep and dangerous, carrying a rumbling echo. With that, it suddenly swung the giant saber in its hand, casually lashing out at a melon shed beside the road built of thatch and wooden sticks. The structure shattered instantly, with grass clippings and wood splinters flying in all directions. Two scorching wisps of white Qi puffed from its thick nostrils, exceptionally clear in the cold night, while foul-smelling saliva hung like threads from between its tusks, dripping onto the ground and actually producing a faint sizzling sound.

"You're just a tiny city patrol captain." The Pig Demon stepped forward, the earth seemingly trembling slightly, "Do you really think of yourself as somebody?"

The captain's face was as pale as paper in the moonlight, and he clenched his teeth, seemingly wanting to say something.

The Pig Demon gave him no chance, its voice suddenly turning fierce, "Have you forgotten whose background I come from? Daring to rebel, you damn bastards, do you want our brothers to visit your Captain Chen tonight and ask him if the city walls of Anping County are thick enough?!"

The moment the three words "Captain Chen" came out, the captain shook violently all over, the last trace of struggle extinguishing in the depths of his eyes, leaving only profound fear.

Wang Quan thought this is bad, this demonic beast actually had ties with the upper echelons of the garrison!

Before he had time to make any reaction, a black flash appeared before his eyes.

An unimaginable giant force slammed fiercely into his abdomen.

At that instant, Wang Quan felt as though his internal organs had all shifted and shattered. He could not even emit a scream, feeling as though he had been struck by a siege hammer as his entire body flew backward off the ground, crashing heavily into the paddy field beside the road. The icy mud and water instantly submerged his mouth and nose, while the intense pain and suffocation made his vision turn black and his mind go blank, nearly causing him to faint.

He struggled in the mud for quite a while before barely propping up his upper body, coughing out cold water mixed with muddy water and blood threads. His vision was blurry as he looked toward the roadside.

The captain and the pale young man had also fallen wretchedly beside the ridge of the field. The captain was curled into a ball while clutching his abdomen, whereas the youth seemed to have passed out, completely motionless.

The Pig Demon hoisted that exaggerated chopping saber on its shoulder, pacing over to the edge of the field, looking down condescendingly from above at the three struggling in the muddy water, its scarlet eyes full of mockery and cruelty.

"Shameless wretches." It scoffed, the hot breath expelled from its nose condensing into white mist in the cold night sky. "Humph! You garrison lot were already slacking on this month's Blood Tax delivery! And you still come to fool me today? Go back and tell Old Dog Chen, tomorrow night at the midnight hour, outside the north gate, five living people with vigorous Blood Qi!" It casually pointed the tip of its saber at the limp captain. "You deliver them personally. If you dare play tricks again, or if the number falls short..."

It paused, its voice abruptly turning sinister and terrifying, "For every one missing, I'll bring the brothers into the city to pick our own! We'll start by eating our way through your garrison family quarters!"

Having spoken, it no longer looked at the three in the muddy water, hoisting the giant saber and taking heavy strides as it turned to walk into that sparse woodland, its figure quickly swallowed by darkness. Only the slight tremor of the ground and the heavy footsteps fading away in the distance proved it was no hallucination.

The night wind swept across the open fields, carrying a bone-chilling cold and the fishy stench of muddy water.

Wang Quan lay in the icy mire, in agonizing pain all over, especially his abdomen as though his intestines were twisted together.

Offerings. Living people. Five. Tomorrow night.

So this was the truth of patrolling? This was the truth of paying off crimes with one's life? Were they, these guilty souls, not only cannon fodder to deal with zombie monsters, but also bargaining chips in transactions with demons that could be sacrificed at any moment?

The captain struggled to sit up from the edge of the field ridge, coughing up a few mouthfuls of bloody froth. He looked at the unconscious companion, then looked at Wang Quan in the muddy water, and his face—twisted by pain and fear—revealed a miserable smile uglier than crying.

He said nothing, only using his still-functioning right hand to laboriously prop his body up, then staggered over to the unconscious companion, laboriously dragging the man up and propping him over his shoulder.

Wang Quan also gritted his teeth, enduring the cramping pain in his abdomen, and climbed up from the muddy water bit by bit. Every movement tugged at his injuries, hurting him so badly that cold sweat broke out. He picked up the long saber dropped near the muddy water, leaned on it, and barely managed to stand steady.

"Go back." The captain said in a hoarse voice, heading toward the direction of the county town step by unsteady step while carrying the man without looking back. His back was hunched, his left arm hung unnaturally, and his right hand supported his companion.