Carnivore (15): Doubts

Qi Si followed Zhu Ling and Zhang Licai back to Granny Su's house. Yang Yundong and the others had not arrived yet.

The pale sun hung low on the distant western horizon, almost swallowed by the fog. Before it vanished completely into the white mist, the vast haze seemed to thin and fade inch by inch, like rice paper being wiped with a damp cloth.

The land in West Village was like a relic from antiquity, suddenly released from its seal. The substance that had kept it confined did not simply vanish. The clouds surged away like wild horses, weaving a fog bank over the roads in East Village as gray-white dust rose slowly into the air.

Qi Si stepped over the threshold, his gaze falling on the corner where Lu Keliang's body had lain.

The recently deceased body was now nothing but a bare skeleton, not a single scrap of flesh left on it. It was clean and polished, as if a pack of carnivores had licked it all over.

The skeleton's surface was a fresh, milky white, gleaming in the faint light of dusk. Even Qi Si, who was used to seeing artistic displays of bones, couldn't help murmuring, "Beautiful."

He watched it for a while, then went closer.

Zhou Yilin sat beside the skeleton, silently wiping away her tears. When she heard footsteps, she began to sob. "I wanted to move Uncle Lu somewhere else... I don't know how it ended up like this..."

"Oh," Qi Si replied, gathering his wandering thoughts. He crossed the dry earth and walked deeper into the house on his own.

Granny Su came out of the main house to greet him, smiling.

Even though he was certain the old woman had been dead for a long time, Qi Si remained perfectly composed and asked politely, "Excuse me, is there somewhere I can wash up?"

Granny Su froze.

Then she heard the young man before her say, word by word, "I want to take a bath."

Ten minutes later, Qi Si stood in the woodshed. At last, he had taken off his shirt and trousers, which were covered in mucus and dust, and sunk into a wooden tub full of hot water.

He scooped up water and poured it over his head. Through the droplets clouding his vision, the world swam in and out of focus.

For a moment, he saw his own eyes, veiled by a film, and the soft outline of his face, its features blurred beyond recognition. A faint sense of unfamiliarity stirred at the bottom of his mind. He instinctively raised a hand to touch his face. It felt cool.

"Chang Xu, you don't have a change of clothes, do you? I found some in the house..." Zhou Yilin's timid voice came from outside the door. "I left them on the windowsill."

His thoughts were interrupted. Qi Si paused for a second, then lowered his eyes and smiled. "Thanks for the effort."

After hearing Zhou Yilin's footsteps fade away, he climbed out of the tub and picked up the seemingly clean white shirt and black pants from the windowsill. He shook them out, then silently put them on.

As he moved, his fingers seemed to touch something. Frowning, Qi Si pulled a slip of paper from between the clothes.

It was made of the same material as the Travel Guide. A deep black streak had been drawn across it in ink, its meaning impossible to discern.

The clamor of voices rose outside. Yang Yundong and the others must have returned.

Qi Si narrowed his eyes, pushed open the woodshed door, and immediately spotted Yang Yundong standing in the middle of the courtyard entrance with the Tattooed Woman on his back. His face was dark.

On the way back to the house, there had been no need for a guard, so Yang Yundong had taken over from Zhao Feng and carried the Tattooed Woman. He had not seemed particularly tired on the way, but a clear trace of worry showed in his eyes.

His voice was low. "We couldn't get in. The Ancestral Hall was locked. Apparently, it only opens in the morning."

Zhao Feng, following behind, nodded to confirm that Yang Yundong was right.

Compared with when she had been at the Village Chief's House, the Tattooed Woman's physical transformation had worsened. Her legs hung limp and powerless at Yang Yundong's sides, dangling like the tentacles of some soft-bodied creature as flesh-colored mucus dripped from them.

She had already lost her senses, mumbling nonsense like "I'm not afraid of you bastards." Who knew what she had encountered in the depths of her Nightmare?

She was clearly beyond saving, but humans always seemed to subject their companions to futile, excessive resuscitation just to ease their own minds.

Yang Yundong dragged a chair from beside the dining table to the corner and propped her body against it.

The bundle of God Meat that Zhang Licai had carried back was placed in the same corner. Yang Yundong used the Pu Saber to cut off a slice and held it to her lips.

She muttered, "I won't eat it," turned her head away, and clenched her teeth.

Qi Si noticed a faint black haze swirling around the woman, identical to what he had seen on the Papyrus in the Rose Manor instance.

He blinked. His vision cleared, and the black smoke was gone without a trace, as if it had been a trick of the eye.

"Dinner's ready! Come and eat!" Granny Su hollered.

She swayed as she carried out some vegetable dishes from the little kitchen beside the woodshed.

The players gathered around the dining table in silence. After all they had gone through that day, and after witnessing a companion's death with their own eyes, no one could remain indifferent.

Once everyone had taken their seats, Qi Si looked at Granny Su and asked casually, "A-Xi seems to really want meat. He even ate a piece of my companion this morning... Does that mean you usually leave your grandson hungry?"

Granny Su's expression darkened.

She looked at the skinny boy beside her, and the two of them seemed to exchange a glance. When she looked up again, her resolve was absolute. "Our A-Xi doesn't eat meat."

Qi Si's lips curled into a mocking smile. "Don't deny it. If he doesn't eat meat, what did he take it for?"

"I don't know, and it's none of your business." Granny Su's tone turned hostile. She pulled A-Xi away from the table.

The players were left exchanging glances.

Qi Si innocently rubbed his chin, a little disappointed.

He had laid the groundwork so carefully, but the NPC hadn't taken the bait. It seemed it wouldn't be easy to get any crucial information out of Granny Su.

Under Yang Yundong's questioning gaze, Qi Si acted as if he didn't see him. He served himself a chopstickful of crown daisy, buried it in fragrant rice, and lowered his head to eat.

Technically, the food had been cooked by a dead person, but her cooking was too good to resist.

The dead and the living made no difference to Qi Si. He was happy to take the chance to eat well while he could in the instance.

After a brief lull, Zhu Ling came to her senses and clearly recounted the clues the three of them had found in the Village History Museum, adding her theory about the world's background.

There was no doubt that most of the backstory and the rules of this world were now clear. Only two questions remained:

First, why had Su Village taken in the travelers the players were pretending to be?

Second, what did the villagers want their flesh for?

Zhou Yilin hesitantly said in a small voice, "After you left, I found something in the main house. I don't know if it'll be any use to you."

She took a ledger-like booklet from inside her clothes and placed it on the table, opening it gently.

The two characters "Atonement" were written on the title page in red, in wild, vicious strokes. The following pages were filled with tightly packed names.

The names on the first few pages all began with "Su," and most had been crossed out in red. Qi Si looked at the last eleven names.

They were the names the eleven players had given during their introductions.

Lu Keliang, Wu Heng, Zhu Dafu, and Allen each had a fresh red mark across their names, clearly added not long ago.

Zhang Licai craned his neck to get a look. When he saw his own name, his expression turned ugly. "That old hag Granny Su really had bad intentions. Is she trying to kill all of us here?"

Qi Si didn't respond.

He thought of the photograph he had found in Room 2 on the third floor of the previous instance.

It had also marked which players were alive and which were dead, and it had been filled with the same malicious intent to kill them all.

In the previous instance, Annie had made a deal with The God. As long as she kept all the guests at the manor, The God would restore her sister Anna's beauty.

What about this instance?

"Only Granny Su knows what's really going on, but she won't tell us." Yang Yundong let out a breath.

He was getting restless. He simply stood up, dragged the bundle of God Meat from the corner to the table, and used the Pu Saber to divide it into roughly equal pieces.

He put four pieces of meat in front of each person, then wrapped up the rest of the God Meat and tossed it back into the corner.

"If you need more, take it yourselves. Remember, don't eat too much God Meat. Something will happen if you do." Yang Yundong looked around at everyone, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Tomorrow morning, we'll go to the Ancestral Hall together."

No one agreed aloud. Every player's eyes were tinged with fatigue.

Zhang Licai muttered under his breath, "Two more died today. Tomorrow, I'll probably be next..."

Hearing this, Yang Yundong sighed. "You've all seen how quickly our numbers are dropping. I suspect the minimum number of survivors this instance allows is one. If we don't figure out the rules of this world, we'll keep dying until only one person is left to clear it."

The worst-case scenario was also the one that made the most sense. Whispers spread around the table.

After a while, players began to speak up one after another.

"We'll do what you say, Brother Yang!"

"The Ancestral Hall's all that's left. We have to check it out!"

"Then it's settled!"

Qi Si had no intention of joining the discussion. He silently gathered the portion of God Meat in front of him, picked out one of the smaller pieces, put it in his mouth, and swallowed.

The other players chattered for a while, then cautiously picked out pieces of God Meat from their own portions and ate them, as if they feared that if they waited too long, they would suffer that terrible hunger from the night before.

Three people had died on the first day. In theory, one or two people had taken more God Meat...

Qi Si scanned the players. They all looked normal; he couldn't spot the slightest hint of anything amiss.

He only smiled as if it didn't matter, said, "I'll head off," and left the table.

He returned to his room and stopped beside the desk.

The four lines of verse on the title page of the Travel Guide had vanished. In their place were new words:

[Two must not stay in the house; enter the Ancestral Hall, never alone]

[Do not mourn the newly dead; once sin is atoned for, why weep?]