Liang Ge subtly gestured, and several strong townspeople immediately surrounded Ling Yun and Xiao Rou in a circle. Each of them held a genuine knife, the gleaming blade reminding them that this was far superior to the kitchen knives or fire pokers carried by the townspeople outside. It was unclear when, but Xiao He and Liang Ge's team had transformed into a highly professional armed force.
Seeing the other party's aggressive demeanor and hostile intentions, Ling Yun immediately understood the situation perfectly. He pulled Xiao Rou behind him and said, "Xiao He, what are you doing bringing so many people to my house? The town is on fire right now. As the captain of the patrol team, instead of organizing everyone to put out the fire, you're leading people to break into my house. What are you trying to do?"
Xiaohe sneered, then with a flick of his wrist, he exhaled the half-smoked cigarette, tossed it to the ground, and stomped it out. "The town can be rebuilt after it burns down, but the monsters eating people can't be delayed. Xiaoliang, since you asked me what I'm doing, I'll tell you formally now: our patrol team suspects you. You and your wife, Meiyun, are both monsters disguised as humans!"
Xiao Rou trembled, abruptly turning away from Ling Yun and glaring angrily at Xiao He: "This is slander! What evidence do you have? You suspect my husband and I are monsters, what's your reasoning? In just a few hours, you've killed several innocent lives under the guise of patrolling for monsters! Why did the Jia family's house explode? Wasn't it because of you? We're all neighbors, what right do you have to do this! There's arson, murder, and looting everywhere outside, and your patrol team doesn't care. Instead, you use this time to slander us as monsters. I think you're the real monster, even more terrifying than a monster!"
Hearing Xiaorou's fierce accusations, Xiaohe's expression changed drastically: "Don't give me that nonsense. What do those mob's actions have to do with us? What makes you think you're monsters? Just because no one can prove you two were home at night? That's enough. Meiyun, Xiaoliang, surrender now, or reveal your true forms. I know you can't turn into monsters during the day. Otherwise, don't say I'll strip you naked and parade you through the streets, especially Xiaoliang. Your wife is so beautiful, I bet a lot of people want to torture her, hahaha..." Xiaohe laughed wildly, as if Lingyun and Xiaorou weren't monsters, but rather he was.
He suddenly stepped forward, leaned close to Ling Yun's ashen ear, and whispered, "Xiao Liang, I've wanted to take your wife for a long time. Why are you so lucky to enjoy such a beautiful woman, while I have to remain a bachelor for life? I want to rape and humiliate her in front of you, making you suffer and helpless. This town has given me a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Prepare to accept your fate. If I kill you, you won't hate me. If there's a next life, remember, never offend me."
Xiao Rou was trembling with anger and fear. She never expected that what had just happened to Mei Ya would happen to her in the blink of an eye. She involuntarily grabbed her husband's arm, not knowing what to do. She had even accepted her death as a certainty, and she would rather commit suicide than let these beasts touch her.
Ling Yun stared intently at Xiao He, his face showing absolutely no anger, as if Xiao He's provocative words had no effect on him whatsoever. A strange smile suddenly appeared on his face. An atmosphere of terror instantly arose. Seeing his uncharacteristic behavior, Xiao He's sinister smile froze. She involuntarily took two steps back.
"Not bad, really not bad." Ling Yun's voice suddenly changed, becoming very low and hoarse, as if carrying the sound of steel rubbing together, making it sound like unbearable noise.
"Since you've discovered me, fine, I'll have to reveal my true colors." Ling Yun said slowly, his expression instantly turning ferocious.
Chapter 319 Husband, are you really a monster?
Everyone stared at Ling Yun in shock, gasping in horror. Although they had come to capture Ling Yun and Xiao Rou with the intention of finding monsters, no one, including Xiao He and Brother Liang, truly believed the couple were monsters disguised as townspeople. Even the other townspeople sitting in the house didn't take them seriously. Monster patrols had become a justification for violence, a legitimate, even reasonable, excuse for the monster patrol team's brutality. With the dark side of everyone's humanity exposed, this violence had even become a source of amusement.
Normally, Xiaohe would never dare to treat Lingyun and Xiaorou like that. But in these extraordinary times, the drastically changing environment amplified the occasional wicked thoughts that flashed through his mind. This made Xiaohe a completely different person before and after his transformation. The adoring attitude of everyone around him caused his confidence to swell rapidly. When he saw that even his own subordinates were committing violence at will without any supervision, the greed in Captain Xiaohe's heart was like a spark on the grassland, which could no longer be contained.
Why can Xiao Liang marry the beautiful Mei Yun, while I, Xiao He, am no less than you? Why can't I find a pretty girl? The more Xiao He thought about it, the more resentful he became. His resentment eventually turned into a wicked act. For Captain Xiao He, who had actual control over the people, all he needed was a fabricated excuse to kill Xiao Liang. As for his beautiful wife, he could, of course, humiliate her under the guise of a monster, and then let her die a humiliating death, to avenge her for not liking him back then. This was Xiao He's true thought.
Of course, the townspeople weren't oblivious to the fact that Captain Xiaohe was just abusing his power for personal gain. But when everyone was in a state of extreme excitement, when they could humiliate others without fear of retaliation, the darkness of human nature would be completely exposed. At this point, even the kindest and most honest people would turn into demons, excitedly and even expecting to see beautiful women crying and begging for help beneath them, only to die tragically without any resistance.
Xiaohe and Brother Liang gave them a chance to go wild, so how could the townspeople object? Conscience and morality had been trampled to nothing by evil. At this moment, depravity and evil were the true masters. The real monster problem had become secondary. The pleasure brought by humiliation and debauchery was the most important thing. This pleasure was like a raging fire that even the coldest air could not extinguish.
However… Ling Yun’s sudden, ferocious transformation was like a bucket of ice water falling from the sky, instantly lowering everyone’s burning passion and pleasure to a freezing point, turning from extreme heat to extreme cold, and even their hearts sank to the bottom. Everyone looked at Ling Yun in panic, completely unaware of why such a strange change had occurred in this young man.
Xiao Rou's eyes widened, her face turning deathly pale. She involuntarily took two steps back, staring in shock at her husband whom she had always loved so deeply. A terrifying thought suddenly popped into her mind: Could it be that Xiao Liang... Xiao Liang really is...? Her mind was in turmoil, and her heart felt as if it had sunk into an ice cave.
Hehehe, hehehe, hehehe...
Ling Yun let out a chilling, shrill laugh. His face was changing at an inexplicably rapid and clearly visible pace. Before everyone's eyes, two sharp teeth, gleaming with a cold, eerie light, slowly grew from his lips. His lips suddenly became long and wide, their color changing from pink to a blood-red hue, stretching almost to his ears. His hair, meanwhile, began to flutter and slowly grew longer, transforming from black hair into a snow-white luster in the blink of an eye.
Under the horrified gazes of the crowd, Ling Yun's head was slowly deforming. His body seemed to more than double in size, becoming incredibly burly. His head was covered with bumps of all sizes, and his skin turned a strange dark green. A large section of his forehead protruded forward, and his chin became as sharp as a mountain peak. A long, bright red tongue flashed past among his serrated teeth.
Two long, powerful arms were waving, reaching up to the back of the knees when stretched out.
A muffled, low voice, indistinct and terrifying, uttered word by word from the terrifying mouth, a voice as if from hell itself, sinking everyone's hearts to their deepest recesses: "Since you're so eager to find the monster, I'll grant your wish and make you show yourself, hehehehe... You want to kill me? Come on, come on!"
The monster that Ling Yun had transformed into roared like thunder. The enormous roar even caused the two people standing closest to him to tremble so badly that their legs buckled and they knelt heavily on the ground with a thud.
Everyone was stunned. The excitement and pleasure they had just felt during their rampage had vanished without a trace. They had considered every possibility, but none of them had imagined that one of the two people patrolling for monsters would actually be a real monster. Although they had displayed boundless passion and heroism while searching for the monster, as if even a hundred monsters would be as vulnerable as chickens and dogs before them, now, facing just one monster transformed by Ling Yun, everyone was terrified. The fierce, lion-like townspeople who had just been wielding blood and committing violence were now like docile lambs. Faced with even more bloody and cruel violence, the mob that had been executioners just moments before had become a completely dumbfounded group.
Ling Yun let out a strange laugh, and his thick arms suddenly shot out like lightning, grabbing a villager who was standing nearby. His two hands, which had completely transformed into three giant claws, dug hard into the villager's still relatively strong chest. The villager screamed in pain, frantically waving his arms and desperately trying to break free from the monster's grasp. But no matter how hard he tried, Ling Yun's giant claws remained unmoved. The sharp, blade-like claw tips continued to carve deep wounds into the villager's chest, and countless streams of blood gushed out, spraying the faces and bodies of several unsuspecting villagers.
The townsman let out a chilling scream. He was filled with fear and excruciating pain. Ling Yun sliced away at his muscles piece by piece with his sharp claws, as if he were being slowly sliced to death. In an instant, he was turned into a blood-soaked figure whose face was unrecognizable. Everyone who saw it was almost horrified, their eyes bulging as if blood was about to burst from their sockets.
With a snap, a dull thud as if severing a human body severed the last nerve that held everyone together. Ling Yun opened his blood-red maw and shoved the town resident, who could no longer make a sound and could only wriggle weakly, into his mouth bit by bit. Then, with two rows of serrated teeth, he forcefully bit off half of the town resident's head. Brain matter and blood gushed out like tap water, instantly turning the once clean and tidy living room into a living hell, with bits of flesh and internal organs of the town splattered everywhere.
Wow! Several townspeople, whose legs had already gone weak with fright, threw down the props they were holding and could no longer hold back. They sat down on the ground and began to vomit profusely. The extremely bloody scene had exceeded their limit of tolerance. Even in their nightmares, they had never seen such a scene, but it was actually unfolding openly before their eyes in reality.
Ling Yun threw down the townspeople's mutilated corpses and let out another chilling laugh: "Didn't you want to kill me? Kill the monster? And assault my wife? Why aren't you coming? Why are you still standing there? If you hadn't come, I would have come looking for you! Haha! Never seen a monster eat people before? Do you know how those mutilated corpses outside came to be? Now, I'll let you see with your own eyes how a monster eats people in broad daylight. None of you deserve to live in this world anymore. I will torture you to death one by one in the most painful way."
Xiaohe and Brother Liang's faces had turned deathly pale, their bodies trembling uncontrollably, and beads of sweat the size of soybeans dripping from their foreheads. Their minds were completely blank. Brother Liang was so terrified that he even used a wet wipe to urinate, and urine dripped through his crotch onto the ground, instantly emitting a foul stench.
Unable to contain their fear any longer, everyone cried out and those who could still walk tried to escape. However, since the others had already been guarding the house when they entered, while Ling Yun and Xiao Rou had entered through the door, they had turned into monsters and were now guarding the doorway as well. Seeing the monsters blocking the doorway, how could the others dare to risk rushing over? They were terrified and frantically searched for an exit. The two of them had already jumped onto the bed in the bedroom, desperately trying to smash through the glass and jump out.
But before the two could get up, they suddenly felt an excruciating pain in their backs. Then, they saw their vision separating, and the scenes they saw seemed to gradually fall apart. As their bodies, neatly cut into four pieces, fell heavily to the ground, their consciousness also fell into darkness.
Ling Yun, moving at a speed disproportionate to his physical abilities, caught all the townspeople who tried to escape, one by one. He did not kill them, but instead chose to inflict excruciating pain on them, either cruelly tearing their limbs apart, cutting off most of their flesh, or ripping open their bellies to let their internal organs spill out, so that they would not die immediately.
Blood had flowed like a river, and the small house had truly become a horrific hell on earth. No amount of cursing, shouting, or begging could stop Ling Yun's pursuit. His emotionless, low voice echoed in the small house: "Weren't you going to commit violence against others? Remember, you chose this path yourself. When you were cruel to others, did you ever think that one day someone would be cruel to you? Unfortunately, that day has come. So, don't feel pain, because you chose this path yourself, and you can't blame anyone else."
Everyone was groaning in agony, enduring excruciating pain, awaiting death in despair. Most were delirious, their eyes rolling back as they groaned. A few wept incessantly, regretting their very existence, lamenting the high price they had paid for a moment of pleasure.
Hatred and remorse, thick as a liquid, seeped into everyone's hearts. At this moment, apart from Xiaohe and Brother Liang, all the other townspeople lay dead in the bloodshed. Most of them were still alive, though still in pain, but a long time was still to come to their release.
Brother Liang took a few steps back, his face as pale as a sheet of paper. He leaned back in a chair, his eyes wide like saucers, but he didn't speak for a long time, his expression unchanged, as if he had seen the most terrifying thing in the world. Ling Yun suddenly sensed something was wrong, walked over and gently touched him. Brother Liang fell off the chair with a thud, his body twitched a few times, and then lay still—he had been scared to death.
Xiaohe knelt down with a thud: "Monster Grandpa, no, Monster Grandfather, no, Monster Ancestor, I beg you, have mercy! I, Xiaohe, was blind and actually tried to harm you and your wife! Please, Monster Ancestor, give me a chance! Please don't kill me! Whatever you need me to do, I will do it! If you want to eat people for fun, I can bring everyone in town for you to eat to your heart's content, just don't eat me! Please, Monster Ancestor!" As he spoke, he kowtowed heavily, kowtowing with extreme force to prevent Lingyun from eating him. After only a few thuds, blood was already streaming down his forehead, clearly showing his extreme fear.
Ling Yun gently opened his mouth, about to speak, when suddenly he sensed something and turned his head slightly, looking at Xiao Rou who had been standing by the corner of the wall. Although the brief scene had become extremely bloody and stimulating, for some reason, the girl's face was pale, but she did not collapse weakly. Instead, she looked at Ling Yun with a firm gaze. Even though Ling Yun had become a monster, Xiao Rou's eyes did not change during the process of eating people. They remained as affectionate as water.
"Husband..." Xiaorou called softly, her voice trembling slightly, "Are you really a monster? Is it really you who eats people every day? Why do you do this?"
Ling Yun turned around, and a monstrous head stared at his wife, its terrifying eyes casting an icy gaze. But Xiao Rou remained fearless, staring directly into Ling Yun's eyes. In her clear, star-like eyes, the image of Ling Yun slowly changed again, transforming from a monster into the boy she loved most.
"Wife." The boy suddenly smiled gently and opened his arms to the girl. "How could I be a monster? I just wanted to punish them. I will always be your husband."
Xiao Rou's eyes suddenly lit up with excitement. She ran over without a care in the world and buried herself in Ling Yun's arms, cupping his face in her hands: "Husband, you scared me to death! You're finally back! You really scared me just now. I was so worried about you. Thank goodness, you're back. My Xiao Liang is back."
Ling Yun smiled slightly and looked at Xiao Rou affectionately, saying, "Wife, my name is not Xiao Liang, my name is Ling Yun."
Chapter 320 Unraveling the Mystery (Part 1)
"Husband, what did you say?" A look of shock flashed across Xiaorou's eyes, and she involuntarily covered Lingyun's mouth. "Husband, don't talk nonsense. You are Xiaoliang, and I am your wife Meiyun. How can you even remember your own name wrong? Are you confused?"
Ling Yun gently took her hand. "Wife, I'm not mistaken. I'm perfectly lucid. I've been living between lucidity and delusion, but you haven't woken up yet. My name isn't Xiao Liang, it's Ling Yun, and your name isn't Mei Yun either."
"Then what's my name?" Xiaorou asked involuntarily, her mind suddenly in turmoil. She had just struggled out of the reality that her husband wasn't a monster, and now she was about to face another fact. This made Xiaorou feel incredibly empty, as if the world she had always lived in had been overturned, and all the knowledge she had been familiar with for many years had been pushed down and rebuilt into her own world.
"Your name is Gu Xiaorou! Wake up!" Ling Yun suddenly shouted in a deep and powerful voice, his eyes flashing with golden light. His dreamlike voice transformed into several powerful syllables, deeply resonating in Xiaorou's bewildered heart.