Strange Fruit

Shi Zhu left the garrison with a heavy heart and headed straight for Wei Dayong's home. Pushing open the half-shut courtyard gate, he saw Sister Xu sitting alone in the yard, staring blankly at the empty chicken coop. Her eyes were swollen and red, and her face was haggard.

"Sister-in-law!" Shi Zhu hurried over. "Brother Wei went out last night and still hasn't come back? Captain Wang is missing too. Commander Chen sent me to look for them. Have you heard anything?"

At the sound of his voice, Sister Xu looked up as though she had seized a lifeline and hurriedly stood. "Brother Shi Zhu! Dayong... he followed some strange smoke rising from a stick of incense at midnight last night. He said he was going to find a way to save Lingling, but he hasn't sent any word since! My heart..." Her voice choked, and she could not continue.

Shi Zhu knitted his brows, the ominous feeling in his heart growing heavier. He instinctively glanced into the house, wanting to check on Lingling and offer Sister Xu a few words of comfort. But the moment he looked, he froze.

Lingling was peeking halfway out from beside the inner-room door, timidly looking outside. What shocked Shi Zhu was not her appearance, but her condition! The little girl who had been barely clinging to life and deathly pale just last night now had an extremely abnormal, strangely rosy glow on her face. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes shone with an unsettling brightness, as though... as though she were a fruit ripened unnaturally fast, radiating an eerie, demonic health.

"Lingling, she..." Shi Zhu began hesitantly.

Sister Xu followed his gaze, and the worry on her face deepened. She said in a low voice, "Exactly. That's what's strange. Just before dawn, she suddenly stopped convulsing. Her fever broke too, and she climbed up on her own and said she wanted water. Her complexion has improved, but my heart... I'm even more frightened! This recovery is too sinister!"

Shi Zhu's heart jolted violently. This was absolutely no ordinary recovery! "Sister-in-law, don't panic yet. Keep an eye on Lingling. I'll search elsewhere and tell you immediately if I hear anything!" Suppressing the storm raging in his heart, Shi Zhu hurriedly offered a few words of reassurance before turning to leave.

Shi Zhu no longer hesitated. He sprinted toward the desolate area in the western part of the city, charging into that barren region filled with strange odors before making straight for Madman Xu's dilapidated little courtyard, whose gate hung crookedly. He had no time for etiquette and shoved open the half-shut wooden door.

Inside the courtyard, Madman Xu was crouching on the ground, staring blankly at a clay pot bubbling with thick green foam. He held an iron poker in his hand and stirred it from time to time as a pungent odor rushed toward them. Hearing the commotion, he did not even raise his head. In a hoarse voice, he said, "What are you panicking about? Has the sky fallen?"

"Old Xu!" Shi Zhu hurried over, panting heavily. "Something terrible has happened! Big Brother Wei followed some kind of Soul Guiding Incense last night to find a way to save Lingling, and he still hasn't returned! Captain Wang has disappeared too! And Lingling... she, she suddenly recovered. Recovered in a sinister way! Her face is flushed with color, like, like a fully ripened fruit! What in the world is going on?"

Madman Xu's stirring hand abruptly stopped. He slowly raised his head, a sharp glint flashing through his murky eyes as he fixed his gaze on Shi Zhu. "Soul Guiding Incense? Like a fully ripened fruit? Are you sure?"

"Absolutely! I saw it with my own eyes!" Shi Zhu said anxiously. "Old Xu, what exactly is going on? Could Big Brother Wei have..."

Madman Xu set down the iron poker and slowly rose. Hunched over, he paced two steps across the courtyard. The crazed look on his face faded, replaced by a rare gravity and... a trace of imperceptible chill.

"Heh... the Soul Guiding Incense showed the way, the evil illness suddenly healed, the face became like a strange fruit..." he muttered. Suddenly, he turned toward Shi Zhu, his voice hoarse and urgent. "Boy, listen carefully. That girl hasn't recovered. She's been fed until she's full!"

"Fed until she's full?" Shi Zhu stared blankly, unable to understand.

"Those who cast nightmare curses steal the essence, energy, and spirit of living beings through evil arts, with young children being the best targets. Those whose essence is stolen gradually wither away until their vital force is exhausted." Madman Xu spoke rapidly. "But there is one exception. When a close relative of the victim—especially someone connected by blood and burdened by deep obsession—willingly enters the caster's territory, that person's flesh, blood, soul, and spirit become even more nourishing bait, and the thing behind the evil art devours it in an instant!"

He paused, and a complicated look flashed through his eyes. "After devouring such a great tonic, the evil art temporarily becomes satiated and feeds a wisp of Ash back to the original victim, making her appear healthy, like a person experiencing a final burst of vitality. But that health won't last long. Once the evil art finishes digesting it, or needs more nourishment..."

Madman Xu did not continue, but Shi Zhu was already icy all over, his face deathly pale. "You mean... Big Brother Wei... he's already..." He did not dare think any further.

"In all likelihood, he's been caught and ended up as meat on someone else's chopping block." Madman Xu sighed and shook his head. "As for that boy Wang Quan, I have no idea."

Shi Zhu felt as though he had fallen into an ice cellar, his hands and feet freezing cold. He forced himself to calm down and cupped his fists. "Old Xu, what should I do now? Commander Chen is still waiting for news."

"Report it truthfully." Madman Xu crouched down again, picked up the iron poker, and stirred the pot of green broth, returning to his wild and addled appearance, as though the gravity from moments ago had merely been an illusion. "As for Scarface Chen... he knows better than anyone." He let out two strange chuckles and ignored Shi Zhu.

Shi Zhu did not dare delay. He gave Madman Xu a deep look, then turned and rushed out of the little courtyard, returning to the garrison at top speed.

Inside the duty room beside the drill ground, the oil lamp burned dimly. Commander Chen remained hunched over behind the battered wooden table, slowly and intently wiping his narrow saber.

Shi Zhu pushed open the door and entered. Before his breathing had even steadied, he reported everything from Wei Dayong's disappearance to Lingling's eerie recovery and Madman Xu's words, including Madman Xu's final, pointed remark.

Commander Chen's hand did not pause in the slightest as he wiped the blade. He did not even lift his eyelids. Only after Shi Zhu finished did the duty room fall into a dead silence, broken solely by the soft rasp of coarse cloth against steel.

A long while passed—so long that Shi Zhu nearly thought Commander Chen had fallen asleep—before he heard a sigh so faint it was almost inaudible.

Commander Chen slowly raised his head. Beneath the flickering lamplight, his murky eyes turned toward Shi Zhu. There was no surprise in them, only a weariness as deep as an unfathomable abyss and a kind of resolve Shi Zhu could not understand.

"Understood." Commander Chen's voice was hoarse and flat, as though he had merely heard about some insignificant matter. "You may go. Tonight... stay alert."

Shi Zhu opened his mouth, wanting to ask something else, but when he saw Commander Chen's unmistakable gesture of dismissal and the cold hardness in his eyes, he swallowed the words back down. He cupped his fists in salute and silently withdrew from the duty room.

Inside the duty room, Commander Chen stopped wiping the saber. He extended his rough fingers and gently ran them over the blade's cold edge. The lamplight cast his shadow onto the wall, stretching it thin and twisting it out of shape.

He remained in that position, motionless as a clay statue or wooden carving. Only when the oil lamp suddenly popped and a flare blossomed did the light waver violently.

Commander Chen lightly pressed his fingertip against the blade. A bead of bright red blood welled up. He watched it, and deep within his murky eyes, something finally turned completely cold.