Future Visions

On a five-foot-square patch of Medicinal Mud, Liu Feng stood with his back to Pockmarked Gu Child. The hand he had extended halfway slowly withdrew.

His gaze fell upon the Gu insects beyond the five-foot range. Their crawling slowed, like diseased bugs struck by a plague.

There's something wrong with this pebble! This was Liu Feng's first thought.

He raised his head slightly and shifted his gaze upward.

He saw straight through the yellow-green poisonous fog at the bottom of the pit, clearly making out the features of the row of Gu Children above.

The longer he looked, the more uncertain his expression became. Not only the Gu insects, but even the movements of those Gu Children above had slowed.

"Is that Liu brat dead yet? Hurry up and send up the Medicinal Mud." Qiao Fei called out at that moment.

Liu Feng came back to himself and realized that Pockmarked Gu Child had already tied the basket to a rope, while three Gu Children above strained to pull it upward.

"Don't worry. Even when you breathe your last, I still won't die." Liu Feng shot back, slipping the Seven-Colored Pebble into his pocket without drawing attention.

The instant the pebble left his palm, his vision returned to normal.

Liu Feng forcibly suppressed the alarm in his heart. His Medicine Shovel dug rapidly, concealing his faintly trembling hands.

A short while later, the two of them sent up four baskets of Medicinal Mud in succession.

The Medicinal Mud here was not very deep. The five-foot-square area had been dug all the way to the bottom, and their cleaning task was considered complete.

Yet when Liu Feng and Pockmarked Gu Child prepared to climb up, the rope ladder was gone.

Pockmarked Gu Child immediately panicked. Though he knew those above had taken the rope ladder away, he still swallowed his anger and said, "Captain Ma, please lower the rope ladder."

"The rope ladder's sitting right there. Are you blind or can't you see it?" Ma Kun's voice was mocking.

The two at the bottom of the pit instantly understood. They were blatantly lying through their teeth, with no intention of leaving them alive.

"We'll climb up those Medicine Vines over there."

Liu Feng headed straight for the steep wall on the right side of the Medicine Pit. Several Medicine Vines were tangled together there, climbing from the bottom of the pit to a point not far below its rim.

The moment he left his original spot, Gu insects crawled across the five-foot area they had previously avoided. Yet wherever he passed, the Gu insects on the Medicinal Mud moved aside.

"Wait for me." Pockmarked Gu Child was terrified out of his wits and failed to notice anything unusual for the moment.

One above and one below, the two quickly seized the Medicine Vines and climbed upward.

"What are you all standing around for? Why haven't you thrown down the prey? The Gu insects in the Medicine Pit are waiting to eat."

Ma Kun's voice rang out again. But they had already thrown down the Mountain Deer, so where was there any more prey to throw?

It turned out that what those bastards threw down was not prey, but huge rocks.

Liu Feng had barely dodged one when a scream rang out beneath him. Pockmarked Gu Child had been struck.

He hurriedly glanced down. Two more rocks fell in succession, hitting Pockmarked Gu Child on the head and chest. A living, breathing man went still in the blink of an eye.

"Ma Kun!" Liu Feng's furious roar rang out from the Medicine Vines.

At the brink of life and death, he suddenly remembered the strange pebble in his pocket. Gritting his teeth, he swiftly shoved it into the flesh of his Gu-Implanting Orifice.

In an instant, every falling rock in his field of vision slowed down.

"Quick, throw down the 'prey'! He's climbing up!"

"Don't let him get up here!"

Cries of alarm and furious curses blended together. Qiao Fei even tried to cut off a section of Medicine Vine, but unfortunately, he could not reach it.

Then, amid the startled cries of the Gu Children, a figure shot to the top of the Medicine Vines, kicked wildly off the stone wall, and landed at the edge of the Medicine Pit.

Before Liu Feng could steady himself, viciousness flashed in Qiao Fei's eyes as he raised a foot and kicked.

Strangely, it was as though Liu Feng had anticipated that kick in advance!

With a strange cry, Qiao Fei's kick missed. Liu Feng grabbed his ankle and, with one yank, hurled him into the Medicine Pit.

"Which of you threw rocks just now? Step forward." Miserable howls rose from the pit below, but Liu Feng did not even turn his head as he coldly glared at the Gu Children present.

Everyone took a step back together. No one admitted to having touched a rock, afraid that Liu Feng would fly into a rage and fight them to the death.

They naturally were not afraid if they joined forces, but most of these Gu Children had once been street beggars—cunning, vicious, and malicious. No one was willing to be the bird that stuck its head out.

Ma Kun's expression changed repeatedly. Pointing at Qiao Fei, now covered in Gu insects at the bottom of the pit, he said heavily, "Liu Feng, let this end here. No matter who was right or wrong, you've already gotten Qiao Fei killed. If this truly gets blown up, it won't end well for anyone."

Just as Liu Feng was about to speak, his slowed vision suddenly blurred.

The next moment, it was as if the scene had been torn away, and a changed vision appeared before his eyes:

The scene still showed all of them, but there was now an eerie young man with a hunched back.

Other than their leader Ma Kun, the remaining Gu Children stood in a row at the edge of the Medicine Pit. Like a mad dog, the eerie young man charged forward, his fists striking the backs of their necks or their backs one after another.

One, two, three...

Some were beaten unconscious on the spot. Others had their necks broken outright. Still others were knocked into the Medicine Pit and died miserably in the jaws of the Gu insects.

And Liu Feng, who took the fourth punch—himself... his neck was broken by a single blow. His head lolled to one side as he fell to the ground!

"Whew..."

Beside the Medicine Pit, Liu Feng gasped violently as his vision returned to normal.

"Let this matter go, then?" Ma Kun asked, looking in confusion at Liu Feng's face covered in cold sweat and finding him utterly baffling.

Liu Feng suppressed the shock in his heart. His expression settled, and he nodded faintly.

"There are still several Mountain Deer outside the valley that haven't been moved. I'll handle them."

Leaving those words behind, Liu Feng turned and hurried to the valley entrance under the puzzled gazes of the Gu Children. He passed through the Poisonous Miasma at the entrance and vanished from sight.

The Gu Children still beside the Medicine Pit exchanged looks. One asked strangely, "Are there still unmoved prey?"

The others all shook their heads, and even Ma Kun could not make heads or tails of it.

"Forget about him. Go see what's happening below."

"Feed them all to the Gu insects, Qiao Fei included. It's not as if the pit lacks a few skeletons."

"Then there's no problem. Let's call it a day."

With a wave of Ma Kun's hand, the Gu Children were about to disperse when a hunched figure approached from across the way!

From afar, the hunched figure looked toward the Gu Children. A cruel smile surfaced on his ugly face.

As he drew closer, they could see that the hunched young man was covered in fleshy tumors. His malformed arms dragged along the ground, and his eyes brimmed with venomous hatred.

The instant Ma Kun recognized the man, his face twitched. Forcing a smile, he said, "Greetings, Steward Liu."

The other Gu Children all lowered their heads at once. Each stood silent as a cicada in winter, frozen in place and at a loss.

This young man was a Gu Servant in Insect Valley. His name was Liu Xing, and he was responsible for managing the Gu Children. Nearly every Gu Child knew that he was a complete and utter madman.

Every so often, Gu Children died at Liu Xing's hands, for reasons stranger than strange!

Gu Servant Liu Xing hunched his back as he came to the edge of the Medicine Pit. After giving it a brief glance, he said blandly, "How many times have I told you? There can only be too much nourishment, never too little. This time, the prey came up short, so we'll do it by the old rules."

The old rules he spoke of meant using Gu Children to make up for the missing prey.

As for how much prey counted as enough, that depended entirely on his mood. If anyone had to be blamed, it was the Gu Children for not making the hunters send more prey.

"There's no need for me to say more, is there?"

"Yes."

While the others shrank back in fear, their leader Ma Kun could not help feeling fortunate. Whenever he received benefits in the past, he had always made sure to offer a good share to Steward Liu.

Very soon, everyone except Ma Kun stood at the edge of the Medicine Pit.

Had Liu Feng been there, he would have discovered that this scene was almost exactly the same as the "vision" he had seen, except one person was missing.

Because Liu Feng had used an excuse to leave, the Gu Children now standing by the Medicine Pit were missing Liu Feng himself.

Miserable screams rang out repeatedly from beside the Medicine Pit. Before long, silence returned.

Almost none of the Gu Children still standing were unhurt. Even those lucky enough to endure it had injuries all over their bodies.

Ma Kun composed himself and said as if nothing had happened, "It's fine now. Everyone, disperse."

His claim that it was fine was pure bullshit. Seven more Gu Children's skeletons had just appeared in the Medicine Pit. Seven people had either been beaten to death or knocked unconscious, then all thrown into the Medicine Pit to feed the swarm of Gu insects.

Gu Servant Liu Xing glanced at Ma Kun and said, "The young lady has summoned every Gu Child in the valley. Go wait for orders beneath the southern cliff wall."

He had only come this time to deliver a message. Killing people had merely been entertainment along the way.

Having failed to implant an Exotic Gu, he had been left with this ugly, malformed shell of a body, and his heart had long since twisted beyond recognition.

Once Liu Xing's retreating figure had gone far away, Ma Kun and the remaining Gu Children felt as though they had been granted a pardon. Like souls stripped from their bodies, they hurried toward the southern cliff wall.

What they did not know was that a figure emerged from the Poisonous Miasma at the valley entrance, watching them from afar.

"One, two, three, four..."

The one who had left through the Poisonous Miasma at the valley entrance was naturally Liu Feng. He stared at the Gu Children behind Ma Kun, counting them one by one. Seven were missing!

Eight people had died in the "vision" he had seen before! Excluding Liu Feng himself, exactly seven were missing!