A Monster That Can Devour Human Hearts (Bonus Chapter)

Han Shitao walked over and asked, "What's wrong with Qiang Ge?"

Li Ke was startled, his expression unnatural as he said, "You'll see when you look."

They circled around to Qiang Ge's front.

There he was, his face pale as paper, covered in grease. He kept shoving food into his mouth, chewing a few times before gulping it down impatiently.

Half the food on the table was already gone.

His stomach bulged to an exaggerated degree, like a woman nine months pregnant.

Han Shitao and Xu Rou were too horrified to speak.

"Qiang Ge?"

"Has he gone mad?"

Li Ke took off his glasses and wiped the dust off them: "It's useless. He can't hear you."

"You see now? This is what happens when you eat that food."

Han Shitao sighed: "Why would Qiang Ge eat those things?"

Qiang Ge kept stuffing food into his mouth, his stomach swelling to a terrifying extent, but he continued as if he felt no pain.

They watched in shock, their fear of the food reaching its peak.

Xu Rou, however, seemed almost pleased with Qiang Ge's fate:

"Serves him right! Can't even control his own appetite—what's the difference between him and a pig? Pah! At least a pig wouldn't push me out to die!"

The moment she finished speaking.

Qiang Ge's stomach suddenly burst with a pop, like a balloon finally stretched too thin, spilling its contents all over the floor.

"Ah!" Xu Rou and Han Shitao screamed in terror.

The visual impact was overwhelming.

Coupled with a foul stench of rot and blood mixed with the aroma of food, the smell was indescribably strange, paired with this disgusting and horrifying scene.

The three of them couldn't hold back and rushed into the bathroom to vomit.

After they had thrown up until their limbs were weak and nothing else came out, they propped themselves up and hurriedly fled.

They feared that staying one more second would turn them into Qiang Ge.

The three walked out, still shaken, and saw Du Jiashi and Bai Zuo leisurely strolling in the hallway.

Han Shitao noticed they had no bandages: "How come you're not injured?"

Han Shitao's finger had ached all night, keeping her from sleeping well, and it still throbbed painfully.

If everyone was hurt, then no matter how much pain she was in, she'd have to endure it and keep searching for the key to the next floor.

But unlike them—pale-faced and listless—

Bai Zuo and Du Jiashi looked much more energetic, their complexions normal, as if they hadn't been injured at all.

Li Ke and Xu Rou also looked at them.

Li Ke: "Didn't you run into that waiter yesterday?"

Du Jiashi, full of admiration, recounted what Bai Zuo had done.

Li Ke's face darkened: "Why didn't you tell us that method?"

Xu Rou and Han Shitao also stared at Bai Zuo and Du Jiashi with accusing eyes.

Li Ke's venomous gaze was almost overflowing.

His finger still twitched in pain, and he began to resent Bai Zuo.

Du Jiashi didn't indulge them: "Brother Bai was only guessing; it might not have worked. If it failed, would you blame him again?"

Li Ke's long-time target of jealousy, Qiang Ge, had gone mad.

So he shifted his animosity to Bai Zuo.

Just as Li Ke was about to put his schemes into motion, Bai Zuo suddenly said, "How boring!"

"I thought I'd see a good show, but you're all such useless trash."

"The only thing remotely useful about you is the malice you exude."

"Du Jiashi, deal with them. I've had enough of this lousy play."

Du Jiashi charged forward, grabbed Li Ke, and slammed him to the ground, then dragged him over to the dining table.

Li Ke realized what was coming and struggled frantically, but Du Jiashi's strength was inhuman, and he pinned Li Ke to the table in an instant.

Du Jiashi grabbed the meat from the table and shoved it into Li Ke's mouth.

Li Ke shook his head violently, clamping his mouth shut, refusing to eat.

Du Jiashi pried his jaws open with savage force and stuffed the meat in: "Eat! Repent for the sins you've committed in the past!"

"Death by overeating is still a merciful way to go."

Li Ke was already ravenous. Once the meat hit his mouth, he couldn't help chewing a few times and swallowing.

Once he started eating, he couldn't stop.

As if he had tasted some divine delicacy, he suddenly broke free from Du Jiashi's grip, lunged at the dining table, and frantically grabbed meat to shove into his mouth.

Xu Rou and Han Shitao were both startled.

"Why are you doing this?" Han Shitao realized Bai Zuo was behind it all and demanded an answer from him.

Bai Zuo said nothing. He only looked at them with eyes that were deep and cold.

Han Shitao felt as if she had been seen through. Guiltily recalling something, she turned to flee, but Du Jiashi grabbed her firmly.

"And you. I hate people like you the most—thinking a bit of dirty money makes you special, bullying and humiliating others however you please, acting like you're above everyone else."

"Now you'll pay for your past arrogance and recklessness!"

Du Jiashi pressed her down onto the dining table.

Han Shitao's face was full of terror. Especially when she saw Li Ke gorging himself and Qiang Ge still eating even as his stomach burst, she wept in fear.

"I'm sorry! Spare me! It's all my fault! I'll never do it again!"

Du Jiashi: "You think you did wrong?"

"I shouldn't have done those things. I really was wrong!"

Han Shitao cried bitterly, putting on a sincere show of repentance. But inside, she was filled with hatred. If she could get out of here, she would have her family find him!

She would torture him mercilessly! She would make him wish he were dead!

Bai Zuo twitched his fingers.

Telepathy activated, linking Han Shitao's mind to Du Jiashi's.

Every thought in Han Shitao's heart poured into Du Jiashi's mind.

Du Jiashi's face twisted with rage. "You lied to me!"

Soon, Han Shitao followed in Li Ke's footsteps.

Xu Rou saw Du Jiashi turn his gaze toward her. She knew she couldn't escape either, so she asked Bai Zuo, trembling, "What do you know?"

Anyone could see that Du Jiashi was just a dog under Bai Zuo's command.

Bai Zuo spread his hands and said in a vile, malicious tone, "I enjoy watching people struggle in the ugliness of human nature. But what really keeps me entertained is seeing you lot, full of malice, pretending to live like normal people."

"Why not just let yourselves go?"

Xu Rou's well-maintained mask finally cracked.

All along, she had been indulging herself, letting herself sink into a bottomless hell. An overwhelming sense of guilt tormented her every moment, giving her no peace.

She screamed hysterically, "What do you know!"

"After all those years of him beating and cursing me, didn't I have the right to get back at him? I just made some dishes with conflicting properties—how was I supposed to know he'd suddenly die of a stroke?"

"He deserved to die anyway!"

"What did I do wrong? I've lost everything!"

Xu Rou broke down, sobbing uncontrollably.

After hearing her story, Du Jiashi said with deep empathy, "You did nothing wrong. The wrong ones are those inhuman pieces of trash."

"But killing someone made you suffer. You've been punishing yourself all along, never escaping the shadow of the past."

"Brother Bai can give us redemption. He can atone for who we used to be. We'll be reborn!"

Xu Rou: "Can I really do it?"

She looked at Bai Zuo.

But behind Bai Zuo stood a giant spider, hidden in the shadows, its red eyes glowing.

Xu Rou calmed down with unexpected composure. "You're really not an ordinary person."

"Can I truly find redemption?"

A smile lingered on Bai Zuo's lips. From start to finish, he was like a cold observer, his deep eyes like a demon's, watching life and death with indifference.

"That depends on your resolve."

Xu Rou understood clearly now—this man was cold-blooded! A monster who took pleasure in others' pain, who devoured people's hearts!

"Ding! Bai Zuo's character completion increased by 10%!"

At this point, Xu Rou no longer cared whether he was a monster or a demon!

She closed her eyes. If she could be saved from that endless hell, from the guilt of having taken a life with her own hands, then even if it meant death, she would have no regrets.

Xu Rou felt a chill on her forehead.

A furry thing landed on her head, and then something burrowed into her brain.

All of Xu Rou's malice was swept clean away with its arrival.

She felt an unprecedented moment of peace, free from guilt, free from remorse.

She watched again, as an observer, the scene that had once trapped her. That day, she had prepared a table full of dishes. Her husband came home after a busy day at work, bossed her around, and after drinking some alcohol, started cursing her out.

He said he had spent so much money to marry her, only to find she was a barren hen who did nothing but spend his money every day.

What had she felt at that time?

Xu Rou watched this scene with a numb expression. Hadn't she become unable to bear children because this man beat her into a miscarriage?

When she wanted a divorce, this man had racked up a huge debt and threatened to destroy her family if she dared to leave.

As the man talked, he ate the food on the table with his drink. Eating and drinking, he suddenly clutched his head, his eyes rolling back as he collapsed backward.

A smile tugged at Xu Rou's lips.

This man had been a heavy drinker and stayed up late all the time. His death wasn't even her fault. Why had she placed his death on herself?

And let it torment her until she was barely human? It wasn't worth it at all!

Xu Rou opened her eyes. The harsh light outside made tears blur her vision.

Du Jiashi reached out his hand to her: "Welcome to our side."

Xu Rou smiled as tears fell, grasping his outstretched hand: "It really feels like being reborn."

All her past troubles vanished into thin air. Looking back now, she found her previous actions laughably foolish.

Why had she wasted her life on that piece of trash?

Even letting guilt drive her to make so many mistakes.

Du Jiashi: "That's right. We must atone for our past!"

Bai Zuo clapped: "What a happy ending for everyone!"