Three days later.
Underground, Little White Tiger grew increasingly restless. He had searched every inch of his tiny, ten-square-meter cell, even the toilet.
Nothing.
That could only mean the box wasn't in this room.
But Little White Tiger couldn't get into any of the other rooms. The entire Underground Level Three was staffed by Awakened, and they certainly weren't going to let the prisoners out for exercise.
That put an end to any hope of searching the other rooms for the box.
What made Little White Tiger even more desperate was that his execution had been moved forward because he had killed over a dozen people in prison.
In three days, he would face a firing squad.
"Buddy, got any more smokes?"
The chatterbox in the next cell had started up again.
Little White Tiger had grown used to his endless prattle. It had annoyed him at first, but when that was the only voice left in your entire world, you realized just how sweet it sounded.
The Awakened outside the door would never acknowledge Little White Tiger, and the prisoners in the other rooms hadn't made a sound since he arrived.
According to the chatterbox next door, they had all been locked up until their minds were gone.
Spending every day in a cramped space would break anyone before long.
"Do you know what kind of box he's looking for?"
Little White Tiger moved closer to the iron door, pushed open the food hatch, and looked toward the young man next door.
"No idea. I reckon even he doesn't know what kind of box he's looking for. But there aren't even any takeout boxes on Underground Level Three. Even if there was a box, someone probably tore it up to wipe their ass." The young man rubbed his nose and stared hungrily at Little White Tiger. "Tiezi, got any more smokes?"
"Even if I did, you wouldn't get any."
Little White Tiger irritably lit a cigarette, smoked half of it, then tossed it to the young man.
"Heh. You're never going to find it."
The Awakened with the badly burned face walked up to Little White Tiger's cell with his hands in his pockets and tapped the iron door. "Got a light?"
Little White Tiger had grown up on the streets. He knew that if he wanted to survive, he had to seize every opportunity.
Taking out his lighter, Little White Tiger half sprawled on the floor and reached out to light the Awakened's cigarette.
"Man, they're taking me away in three days. But even if I have to die, I'd like to know what it was all about. What kind of box are you looking for?" Little White Tiger muttered.
The Awakened took a satisfied drag, then pulled a half-finished pack of cigarettes from his pocket and tossed it onto the floor.
Under the chatty young man's envious gaze, Little White Tiger quietly pulled the cigarettes through the iron door.
"I suppose I can tell you." The Awakened leaned against the iron door and glanced at his captain. "You're not getting out anyway."
The Awakened lowered his voice. "Ever heard of the Demon Ancestors?"
"There are demons in this world?" The chatty young man pursed his lips. "You're kidding, right?"
"When humans are exposed to the blood moon, they become Transformed. What about animals?" The Awakened blew a smoke ring and asked leisurely.
"Transformed beasts."
"Right, but not quite."
Perhaps the Awakened had been guarding Underground Level Three for too long. For once, he struck up a casual conversation with them.
"The first ten people to become Transformed at the start of the Great Cataclysm are called the Ancestors. But what about the first animals to become transformed beasts? They're the Demon Ancestors."
"People only know about the ten Ancestors. Only the Awakened know that the Demon Ancestors are every bit as powerful."
The Awakened looked up, weariness showing in his eyes.
"The Silver-Patterned Tiger, the Two-Headed Flood Dragon, the Sword Crane, the Lazy Turtle. Forget you two-even I will never get to see them in my lifetime."
"What does that have to do with the box?"
Little White Tiger asked curiously.
"The box contains their blood."
"Who could get their blood?" The chatty young man curled his lip, clearly unconvinced.
A single Ancestor could slaughter an entire city of a million people. It wasn't hard to imagine how terrifying the Demon Ancestors, who stood on equal footing with them, must be.
Who had the power to collect the blood of such horrors?
"That's why I said you won't find it. The box is just a legend. Supposedly, before a Nine Awakenings Awakened died, he gave the Demon Ancestor's Blood he'd collected to his son. His son happened to take refuge here in Underground Level Three and died here. That man in your room spent twenty whole years looking for the box. And what did he get?" The Awakened slapped Little White Tiger's iron door hard. "Give it up."
Having said his piece, the Awakened walked straight away, as though he had completed a task.
Little White Tiger lay on the floor and shouted through the food hatch, "Why tell me?"
Without looking back, the Awakened replied, "In three days, they'll take you out to be shot. Tell that Mr. Whatever to stop sending people down here. If there really was a box, we'd have found it ages ago."
Little White Tiger understood what he meant.
Mr. Li's constant stream of people being sent down here had already angered these Awakened.
They wanted Little White Tiger to tell Mr. Li to stop wasting his time and leave them alone.
At the same time, a deep despair welled up inside him.
He still hadn't taken his revenge. He still had brothers on the outside.
The night before his execution.
Little White Tiger had given up.
For the sake of a legend, his life had been cut short by almost a month.
Cigarette butts littered the damp floor. Little White Tiger sat despondently on the bed, his mind filled with memories of his brothers.
Will Old Ninth avenge me after I die?
"Fucking hell, what a pathetic way to die. All I ever wanted was enough food and warm clothes, and in the end, I got nothing."
Little White Tiger silently cursed his rotten luck.
Perhaps it was all the hurt that had built up over the past several days, or perhaps it was his unwillingness to accept that his life was about to end.
Lying on the upper bunk, Little White Tiger kicked the wall hard.
The already rotten bedboards snapped instantly, and the unprepared Little White Tiger crashed straight onto the corpse below.
"Fuck!"
Slime from the corpse splashed all over Little White Tiger, and the stench shot straight through his skull.
Little White Tiger hurriedly tried to push the corpse away. Who knew what viruses it might be carrying?
But the corpse was practically glued to the bedboards. Even after two shoves, Little White Tiger couldn't move it.
"Huh?"
Little White Tiger stopped and stared wide-eyed at his hand.
He squeezed the corpse's abdomen and actually felt something hard inside.
Perhaps because the corpse was so thin, he could feel that there was something in its belly.
"No way."
Disgust written all over his face, Little White Tiger had a wild thought.
Fortunately, he had clawed his way through piles of corpses before. He reached out and closed the dead man's staring eyes, then silently said, Old man, don't tell me you swallowed the box?
The man had been starved to skin and bones before he died, which was the only reason Little White Tiger could feel the faint outline of the hard object.
It definitely wasn't food. A little corner even bulged out of the corpse's abdomen.
Though he wasn't sure whether it was the box, Little White Tiger could no longer afford to worry about much else.
He would soon be taken to the execution ground. There was no time left for Little White Tiger to brace himself.
Looking around, Little White Tiger picked up a relatively sharp piece of bedboard from the floor and laid the corpse flat.
"Sorry, old man. Have a smoke. Just bear with it, and it'll be over soon." Little White Tiger stood up, lit a cigarette, and placed it in the corpse's mouth. "No offense. If you feel wronged, come find me after I die. I'll beat you to death."
Squelch.
Clenching his cigarette between his teeth, Little White Tiger gripped the bedboard with both hands and stabbed it into the corpse's abdomen.
Enduring the stench, he reached inside and felt around.
Hearing the noise, the Awakened outside opened the food hatch and saw Little White Tiger sitting in front of the corpse with his back to the door, fiddling with something.
"What are you doing?" the Awakened shouted.
Little White Tiger turned around, his face smeared with filthy blood.
"I'm hungry. Looking for something to eat. Want some?" Little White Tiger pulled out a blood-soaked chunk and offered it to him.
"Urgh! Fuck your mother, you sick bastard! Fuck!" The Awakened's face turned green. He slammed the food hatch shut, cursing furiously.
People often did outrageous things before death to vent their fear, but what Little White Tiger was doing was more than even the Awakened could stomach.
Before you continue