Human? Or pig?

This is the edge of the Land of Rivers, a small fishing village by the sea.

Although it was evening, the village was deathly quiet; one could not even see the smoke of cooking fires.

In a dilapidated courtyard, a little girl who looked only four or five years old raised her head, her dark, round eyes misting over.

"Big brother, when will Mommy and Daddy be back?"

Standing beside the little girl was a scrawny boy with short, neat hair and skin tanned dark by the sun.

Hearing his sister's words, a flash of anger crossed the boy's eyes, followed immediately by a deep sense of desolation.

However, he quickly hid his inner emotions in front of his sister, reached out to ruffle her hair, and said with a smile:

"Don't worry, Mommy and Daddy just went out fishing; they'll be back very soon."

"Really?"

The little girl suddenly perked up, looking at her brother with eyes full of anticipation.

The boy could only force a smile and reply: "Of course."

"Cough, cough, cough."

A raspy coughing fit interrupted the siblings' conversation.

It was their grandfather.

Wearing tattered cloth clothes, the hunched old man walked out of the low earthen hut.

His body looked as if it had rusted; his stooped frame supported skin that was dark, rough, and covered in wrinkles.

Leaning on a cane, the old man said hoarsely: "Shiraishi Mori, Shiraishi Rin, you two come inside and eat."

The boy's name was Shiraishi Mori.

Hearing his grandfather's words, Shiraishi Mori stood up and took his sister's hand, preparing to go inside.

"Caw! Caw!"

Suddenly, a dense, unpleasant sound of bird calls rang out.

Immediately after, a dark swarm of crows flew across the sky, then quickly scattered and descended upon the small fishing village.

One of the crows landed right on the dead tree in the Shiraishi family's courtyard.

The light of the setting sun, like fresh blood, slanted across the yard.

"Caw! Caw!"

"There seem to be so many more crows in the village today."

Shiraishi Mori looked at the crow preening its feathers on the dead tree and remarked.

Grandfather glanced at the crow, then shifted his gaze away, muttering vaguely: "Too many crows is never a good omen."

With that, he prepared to turn and head into the earthen hut.

Just at that moment, two black figures emerged from the sunset.

The sunset by the sea was as crimson as blood.

Shiraishi Mori looked at those two figures, his expression somewhat dazed, as if he were seeing two people walking out of a sea of blood.

"You two, get inside quickly!"

Grandfather's expression suddenly turned serious.

Shiraishi Mori and Shiraishi Rin dared not disobey their grandfather and hurried to hide inside the house.

As the two figures drew closer, their voices became clear along with their silhouettes.

"Damn it, Simu, I'm really starving!"

Hidan clutched his stomach, which was growling incessantly, and complained non-stop.

"I feel like I could eat an entire cow right now!"

Simu glanced at him and said indifferently: "Shut up, or I'll cut your head off so you won't be able to eat anything at all."

Hearing this, Hidan instinctively touched his own neck.

Although he quite enjoyed the feeling of having his head cut off by Simu, he decided to save that for after he had eaten.

Simu was unaware of Hidan's twisted thoughts and walked straight toward the courtyard.

"May we have a meal here?"

Simu looked at the old man standing at the courtyard gate and asked quite politely.

Leaning on his cane, the old man said tremblingly: "Of course, please come in, please come in."

His frail body struggled to clear a path, inviting Simu and Hidan into the courtyard.

Hidan raised his eyebrows in surprise and said: "I didn't expect an old man like you to be so accommodating."

Simu glanced at Hidan; this guy really didn't know the meaning of being polite.

Hidan acted like he owned the place, striding into the Shiraishi family's courtyard and walking straight into the house.

The house was very small, and after returning home, Shiraishi Rin had been hidden under the bed by her older brother.

Therefore, standing before Hidan now was only the scrawny Shiraishi Mori.

Our Lord Hidan had never been interested in children; he sat directly on the wooden bench and shouted boisterously, "Hey old man, I want to eat tonkatsu, hurry up and prepare it for me."

Shiraishi Mori was just about to say something when he saw his grandfather wink at him, then rub his hands together and say respectfully, "Right away, my two honored guests, I will prepare it immediately."

Then he turned his head and said to Shiraishi Mori, "Mori, come with me and help me get things ready!"

"Yes, Grandfather."

Shiraishi Mori's gaze remained fixed on Hidan, lingering for quite a while before he ran toward the kitchen.

At this moment, Simu also slowly stepped into the house.

The furnishings inside the room were very simple: just a bed, a table, and some tattered fishing nets and rusted fishing gear hanging on the gray, dusty walls; there was nothing else.

Very. Clean.

Over in the kitchen, Shiraishi Mori watched his grandfather slaughtering a pig and asked in confusion, "Grandfather, why do we have to kill this little pig for those two guys?"

This was the last pig the Shiraishi family had, and it was still just a piglet, right at the stage where it should be putting on weight; killing it now was a terrible waste.

His grandfather held the butcher knife, killed the piglet without hesitation, and said to Shiraishi Mori earnestly, "Those two people, you must never provoke them."

"If I'm not mistaken, they must be from the Jashin Cult."

"The Jashin Cult?"

Shiraishi Mori's face was filled with confusion.

His grandfather nodded with a grave expression: "That is a cult that worships a wicked god and is very fond of blood sacrifices. Five or six years ago, the neighboring Baiyu Village was slaughtered by people from the Jashin Cult."

His grandfather's hands paused for a moment, as if recalling the massacre from five or six years ago.

Shiraishi Mori's face turned pale, and his thin fists clenched tightly.

Before he knew it, his voice had become somewhat hoarse.

"What are they doing here?"

Facing his grandson's question, his elderly grandfather could only shake his head.

"What people like them want to do is not something we could ever know."

"However, I suspect it has something to do with the Sakamoto Trading Company."

At the mention of the Sakamoto Trading Company, Shiraishi Mori immediately gritted his teeth, a ferocious look appearing on his face.

Seeing this, his grandfather sighed.

"Mori, I know you have always held onto what happened to your parents, but a behemoth like the Sakamoto Trading Company is definitely not something we can oppose."

"So we just let them take Mom and Dad away?"

Shiraishi Mori's fists were clenched tight, and he could barely control his emotions.

"Sigh."

His grandfather didn't say anything more, simply cleaning and cutting up the piglet that had gradually stopped breathing.

Because there wasn't enough oil in the house, his grandfather had to negotiate with Hidan to change the tonkatsu into roasted pork.

Shiraishi Mori looked at the suckling pig tied to the rack being roasted, and he felt a bitter taste in his heart.

What difference was there between himself and this pig being roasted on a rack?