Carnivore (14): Starving Refugees

The God that descended without warning had no past, no kin, and no ties.

To the starving masses, such a being was nothing more than a piece of ownerless meat.

The villagers gathered under the locust tree, chattering away as they debated how to dispose of the fallen God. They were greedy to feast on its flesh and blood, yet they feared the vague specter of sin and divine retribution.

Finally, the old village chief stepped forward, claiming he had a dream the night before. The dream told him the God's arrival was for their salvation, and that every inch of its flesh was a blessing.

The old village chief was the first to carve a piece of meat from the God. The villagers were astonished to see the wound heal at a speed visible to the naked eye, making them even more convinced that the God had come to help them through their plight.

They formed a circle, vividly recounting their own dreams, as if everyone had dreamt of the God and all their actions had received His divine sanction.

Relying on the constantly regenerating God Meat, the villagers survived the famine.

They remained poor, yet every household pooled their money to renovate a new Ancestral Hall to worship the God that had helped them survive the famine.

They embellished the legend of the God-given meat, passing it down by word of mouth until it spread to all the surrounding villages.

The story seemed to be heading toward a happy ending, until one day, a merchant in black clothes with golden eyes came to Su Village, saying he wanted to taste the rumored God Meat.

The villagers instinctively refused, but the merchant brought out a large sum of money and coaxed them: "Didn't you say that even if you cut off a piece of meat, the wound heals quickly? Then what harm could there be in letting me eat a piece?"

The villagers hesitated, but in the end, the old village chief stepped in and gave the final word, agreeing to the merchant's request.

Su Village used the merchant's money to pave the village roads, and as more and more people heard of this, they came from far and wide to seek it out.

The legend of the God was bleached of its initial bloodiness, whitewashed through storytelling, and spread far and wide, much like a common street legend or a gimmick.

Some said the God Meat could cure illnesses, others said it granted immortality, and some were simply driven by curiosity; seeing everyone else rushing in, they followed the trend.

The ignorant people had never seen the God's corpse with their own eyes, and they lacked any real moral awareness or guilt. Holding onto the superstition and pursuit of the God passed down through generations, they gathered at the entrance of Su Village, demanding to purchase God Meat with money just like the merchant who had set the precedent.

Su Village was nothing more than a backwater hamlet, yet many influential people came from near and far. The temptation of money was constant, and the poverty within the village became increasingly glaring.

Finally, one night, the old village chief summoned the village elders who had a say in matters for a secret meeting at his home.

The chief said: "I had a dream last night. The God himself knows our village's situation, pities our poverty, and allows us to trade his meat for money so that our children can live better lives."

The elders echoed his words, adding their own contributions one after another, claiming they had also had the same dream—that the God had personally bestowed a divine decree to help Su Village improve its life...

The new legend was thus fabricated. The next morning, Su Village announced it was open to outsiders; one only needed to pay a certain amount of money to taste the God Meat.

Relying on the money earned from the God Meat, the people of Su Village ate their fill, built new houses, and had extra money for all kinds of indulgences.

But they gradually discovered that the recovery speed of the God's wounds was slowing down. At the same time, a small number of villagers began to undergo strange mutations, and their corpses began to exhibit the characteristics of God Meat after death...

"Oh, give me a break. In the end, these villagers brought it on themselves!" Zhang Licai clapped his hands, expressing his sentiment. "If they had just worshipped that God properly after surviving the famine, or stopped after making one haul from the merchant, none of the rest would have happened."

"But that is human nature." Qi Si smiled coldly. "If I pulled out one of your hairs and gave you five million, would you be willing?"

Zhang Licai answered without hesitation: "Of course I would, why wouldn't I?"

Qi Si asked again: "What if cutting off one of your fingers could get you fifty million?"

Zhang Licai fell silent. He had more or less anticipated the direction of the questions, knowing that answering "yes" would fall right into Qi Si's trap.

But asking himself honestly, if he really encountered such a situation, he knew his choice would never be to refuse.

The smile on Qi Si's lips deepened, and he asked the final question unhurriedly: "Then what if one day you knew that your head could be traded for five hundred million?"

This question had no suspense; Zhang Licai shook his head quickly: "Then I definitely wouldn't do it! If I'm dead, money is useless!"

"But everyone who knows about this trade will find a way to cut off your head for the money." Zhu Ling, who was standing to the side, spoke the conclusion gloomily, her gaze shifting from the pages to the window.

"Desire is endless. Once many things start, they spiral out of control. Even if they know the end of the road is death, most people will harbor a fluke mentality, thinking that if they are just a little greedier, it won't necessarily lead to misfortune—or rather, that disaster won't necessarily befall them."

The sun had already descended to the height of the rooftops, about to set behind them; it was getting late.

Zhu Ling exhaled softly, lowered her head again, and read the last paragraph of the village history book: "There were too many travelers coming for the name, and one divine corpse could not provide enough God Meat, so the villagers had to pass off the corpses of the mutated ones as the real thing."

"Later, everyone mutated."

Zhang Licai couldn't help but gasp, pressing: "And then? Does it say anything about what's going on with Granny Su? Is there any mention of a way to deal with it?"

"No." Zhu Ling placed the village history book on the dust-covered table and continued calmly, "The villagers discovered that as long as they touched sunlight, they would mutate into God Meat, so they changed the direction of their doors, covered the windows with black paper, and huddled in their houses during the day, clinging to life."

Zhang Licai blinked twice: "Not to be rude, but if they're like this, they still accept travelers? Is this choosing money over their lives? Even after turning into ghosts, they're still thinking about money?"

Qi Si rubbed his chin, hinting: "Are you sure they want money? You have to remember, we were all thrown in here by the Eerie Game, and none of us paid Granny Su anything."

These words were like a flash of lightning, illuminating another path of reasoning.

Zhu Ling thought of something and continued with a cold face: "They don't want money; they want our meat. That's why Brother Yang was stopped and asked for meat when he went out to explore last night."

"Why do they want our meat? They're ghosts, and they're still thinking about a bite to eat?" Zhang Licai patted his chubby face in confusion and asked, "Does anyone have any clues about this?"

The answer was no.

The clues had hit a dead end. Part of the mystery had been solved, but the answer had only led to new questions, like a puzzle that kept growing larger, always missing the most critical pieces.

Perhaps they would have to wait until the clues in the Ancestral Hall were complete to know the final answer.

Qi Si took out his Pocket Watch and glanced at it. The hands were at the six o'clock position; there were still three hours until it was completely dark.

It was almost time for dinner, and there were still some scattered matters that needed to be handled, a thousand threads with no way to untangle them.

Qi Si looked at the dust-covered village history book, but in the end, he didn't tuck it away.

He put away his Pocket Watch, retracted his smile, and said faintly: "Let's go back to Granny Su's house."