A Cannibalistic World, the Strange Moon Worshipping Sect

Chu Fan drove the Cleaving Knife into the ground, rubbed his aching right arm, and called out, "Uncle Zhao, it's getting dark. I have to head back."

Inside the house, Zhao Hu, who wore a full beard, was weaving a bamboo basket. Hearing this, he set down his work and strode outside.

Seeing the pile of firewood in the yard stacked as high as a mountain, he couldn't help sucking in a cold breath!

With this much Dry Wood, even if two strong men worked together, they might not be able to chop it all up in half a day...

"Xiao Fan..."

Zhao Hu's eyes went wide, and his voice trembled. "All this... was chopped by you alone?"

Although he knew it had all been chopped by Chu Fan, Zhao Hu still found it hard to believe when he looked at the thin young man before him.

Chu Fan grinned. "Uncle Zhao, you're joking. Who else could have done it besides me?"

As he spoke, he rubbed his hands together with a grin and added, "Could you give me two more Wheat Cakes?"

Zhao Hu burst out laughing, turned, and went inside. Before long, he came back carrying four Wheat Cakes and a boiled egg. "Will this do?"

"Thank you, Uncle Zhao!" Chu Fan accepted them without being coy.

His neighbors had taken good care of him after his parents passed away. Even if they didn't give him any payment, he wouldn't have minded too much.

After bidding Zhao Hu farewell, Chu Fan hurried home and boiled two sweet potatoes.

He took two huge bites of Sweet potato, but the mouthful stuck in his throat and left him pounding his chest. He hurriedly ladled up a dipper of cold water and gulped it down, only then letting out a heavy breath before peeling the egg and swallowing it whole.

Once his stomach was full, he lay down on the bed, wrapped himself tightly in the quilt, and fell into a deep sleep.

The next day.

The first light of dawn was faint.

Chu Fan climbed out of bed, boiled two Wheat Cakes and ate them, then picked up the rust-covered Cleaving Knife, strapped it to his waist, and hurried toward the North City Gate.

He had taken only a few steps.

When he suddenly heard a wail from the alley ahead.

The cries were hoarse and utterly piercing.

A crowd had already gathered, whispering among themselves with complicated expressions.

With his sharp eyes, Chu Fan spotted his neighbor Zhao Hu among the people. He squeezed over and cupped his fists. "Uncle Zhao, what happened?"

Zhao Hu let out a heavy sigh, his voice full of helplessness. "Sigh... Liu Family's Only son caught a Precious Fish yesterday in the middle of Blackwater River. He'd planned to sell it privately to a martial artist from Dragon Ridge Martial Hall, but somehow word got out. The Fishery Bully spotted him and beat him to death right there in the street..."

"The Precious Fish was stolen too... What a poor child!"

Chu Fan felt his chest tighten and couldn't speak for a long while.

Liu Family's only son was three years older than him. He had always been gentle with people and would even share food with beggars by the roadside.

He had only seen him a few days ago at the Blackwater River Ferry crossing.

How had he suddenly met with such a disaster?

He Looked up.

Several constables were going in and out of the Liu Family's courtyard, looking this way and that.

The crying inside the house grew increasingly miserable.

Chu Fan felt a chill shoot up from the soles of his feet.

His chest felt as if it were stuffed with a ball of blazing fire, burning until he nearly drew his knife.

"Blood Saber Sect..."

He forced the three words through the gap between his teeth, each one tempered in ice.

What Fishery Bullies!

Which of the major or minor leaders in Qingyang City's Fishing Dock wasn't a disciple or descendant of the Blood Saber Sect?

These people were Fierce and cruel, controlling the Fishing Dock and bleeding the fishermen dry, squeezing and exploiting them without mercy.

The government turned a blind eye. They might even have colluded long ago, sharing in the profits.

Big Brother Liu had been killed in broad daylight. Who the murderer was should have been obvious at a glance.

Yet instead of arresting the culprit, these Constables and yamen runners were milling around the Liu Family.

That look in their eyes clearly showed that they wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to line their own pockets!

In troubled times, human lives are cheap as grass; in famine years, corpses are cheap as mud...

Unless the dead person was a child of one of the Wealthy Families.

Or had died in the Inner City.

Otherwise, the government couldn't even be bothered to deal with it. They would fob people off with a few perfunctory words, and that would be the end of it.

Even when the gangs clashed in the streets and accidentally injured ordinary citizens, they would brush it aside with words like, "Jianghu matters should be settled by the Jianghu."

As long as the interests of those officials weren't threatened, they simply didn't care about the lives or deaths of ordinary people.

The Great Yan Dynasty had established itself through martial power and had once prospered for over a thousand years.

Yet after a millennium had passed, the once-glorious imperial clan had long since withered away...

Now the world was in chaos, and the people could no longer survive!

A few days ago, Liu Da and the others had cornered him in an alley and brutally beaten him.

If he hadn't been lucky enough to survive.

His likely fate would have been for Uncle Zhao and the other neighbors to collect his corpse.

And then...

There would have been no "then."

This cannibalistic world had truly reached an appalling extreme.

Chu Fan let out a long sigh.

The blazing fire in his chest was gradually suppressed by cold helplessness and sorrow.

He shook his head and stopped looking.

He turned and left.

A muffled rumble of thunder rolled across the sky like war drums.

Pale lightning split the heavens, illuminating the swaying shadows of the trees.

The sky suddenly darkened. Thick black clouds churned across the horizon like ink spilling from an overturned jar, blotting out the daylight.

He had thought it was going to snow, but the snow never came. Instead, a heavy rain seemed ready to fall.

Chu Fan's brows furrowed slightly as he quickened his pace and crossed several streets and alleys.

Just as he was about to reach the North City Gate, strange, inexplicable bells suddenly rang out again and again from the end of the long street.

Chu Fan's heart jolted. Without time to think, he retreated several steps and shrank into the shadows at the Corner of the wall.

He wasn't the only one. Even the passersby on the street reacted the same way...

Some dodged aside, while others hunched their necks and hid their heads.

Their expressions and postures were like those of people who had suddenly run into Tigers and Leopards. Their eyes held fear, as well as an indescribable loathing.

Ahead on the long street, a group of ordinary people, some dressed in rags and others in fine clothes, was approaching under the leadership of a man in white.

The man in white held a small bell in his hand. Each shake produced several crisp jingles.

Yet when the bells reached people's ears, they seemed to carry an invisible magic, as if they could disturb the human soul.

Looking at the people behind the man in white, they appeared utterly ordinary at first glance. But their pairs of Eyes shone with abnormal brightness, staring straight ahead without the slightest trace of life.

Their faces were dull and expressionless, yet their feet never stopped. They advanced step by step like a group of puppets on strings, following closely behind the man in white.

All of them repeatedly chanted the same words. Their voices were wooden and completely flat:

"Break through the maze and walk the path; once destiny is cast aside, freedom follows!"

"Break through the maze and walk the path; once destiny is cast aside, freedom follows!"

"Break through the maze and walk the path; once destiny is cast aside, freedom follows!"

The dull chanting mixed with the eerie bells, resembling a demonic incantation. It burrowed into people's ears, as if it meant to forcibly drag their Three Souls and Seven Spirits out of their bodies!

"Moon Worshipping Sect..."

Thoughts raced through Chu Fan's mind as he searched for information about the Moon Worshipping Sect, and his brows drew tightly together.

The Moon Worshipping Sect had moved into Qingyang County two years ago. At the time, they had used the banner of healing the sick and saving people to beguile many villagers and Vagrants, making them worship the legendary "Moon God."

Before Chu Fan's parents passed away, they had repeatedly warned him that if he ever encountered people from the Moon Worshipping Sect, he must avoid them from a distance and never provoke them.

In the past, members of the Moon Worshipping Sect had mostly appeared at night.

Yet no one knew when it had begun, but they could now even be encountered on the streets in the early morning.

Because the Moon Worshipping Sect had always acted in secret and had never done anything too outrageous, the government merely turned a blind eye, never interfering.

Only after the group of Moon Worshipping Sect believers turned the street corner and disappeared from sight did Chu Fan slowly straighten his back and emerge from the shadows at the Corner of the wall.

He quickened his pace and soon reached the area outside the North City Gate.

At the foot of the city wall stood dozens of low Earthen Houses, scattered about in disorder. Bricks and dirt had been mixed together, making it obvious they had been thrown up in haste.

Most of the houses were occupied by outsiders who had fled famine.

The various gangs, sects, and Lineages of Qingyang County had all set up Congee Sheds here to offer charity.

In front of every Congee Shed, the Disaster Victims had already formed long lines that meandered like centipedes.

Several yamen runners held leather whips and patrolled back and forth. Whenever they saw someone fighting over food, they lashed out without the slightest mercy.

Seeing this scene, Chu Fan sighed inwardly. "There are more and more Disaster Victims. This world..."

He walked toward the Seven Star Gang's Congee Shed.

Not far beside each Congee Shed stood a thatched hut where Wealthy Families and gangs recruited Vagrants.

Many Disaster Victims had pieces of grass stuck in their hair, waiting to be selected. They were no different from livestock.

Suddenly, a broken wooden bowl hit the ground with a sharp crack and shattered in two.

In front of the Blood Saber Sect's Congee Shed, a coarse voice shouted, "I said one bowl per person. You dare come back for more? Do you think what Old man says is nothing but wind?"

Chu Fan turned to look and saw a Little girl of twelve or thirteen being shoved to the ground.

The girl's clothes were thin, and her face was covered in dust. Tears brimmed in her eyes from the pain, but she didn't dare cry out.

A slightly older boy hurried over to help her up and softly comforted her.

"Brother, I'm hungry..." the Little girl whispered, her voice as faint as a mosquito's.

This cannibalistic world... Seeing this, Chu Fan couldn't bear it. He stepped forward, helped the girl up, and pointed southwest. "Go that way. The Fang Family's porridge is very thick. Go there for food from now on. They won't hit you."

The Fang Family was one of the Four Great Clans of Qingyang County and had always been generous and charitable.

When Chu Fan's parents had fallen ill and passed away, there had been times when he had no food either. He had once mixed into the line of Disaster Victims and survived on the Fang Family's Congee Shed.

"Thank you, Brother!" The two children bowed deeply, then turned and left.

As Chu Fan sighed, he suddenly felt a gaze fall upon him.

He Looked up and saw a Young girl standing not far away. She appeared to be fifteen or sixteen, with skin fairer than snow and Eyes like stars, and she was staring intently at him.

"Second Miss..." Chu Fan hurriedly bowed in greeting.

He had often gone to the Fang Family's Congee Shed for food back then, so he naturally recognized the girl. She was the Fang Family's Second Miss.