Famine

Chapter 2

Confined to my side, her true nature was completely unfulfilled. She longed for freedom, ideally for me to be defiled by bloodshed and madness, and then to give birth to our first child.

Just kidding, how could I possibly let her have her way?

She wanted to use prophecy to isolate me, then make me angry, then drive me mad. But it's enough for me that someone in this world knows the truth, even if they're dead.

But this realization came amidst broken relationships, countless folly, and isolation. My junior high school years were terrible; it was difficult to study well amidst the chaos and interference of outsiders. Not to mention the foolish rejection and isolation from my peers.

But I made it through. Although I only got into a vocational college and will probably only be able to become a junior accountant in the future... I survived that period of immaturity and matured early.

Frankly, neither other beings nor even the Desolate could actually kill me. It's a pity there are no precise statistics, but as far as I know, the number of people killed by other beings is far less than the number killed by humans.

I'm afraid that out of a million dead people, there are probably less than ten who are actually capable of fighting.

Such cannibalistic beings as the Desolate are rare, extremely rare. Other beings at most affect your mind, attempting to drive you to your death when you are vulnerable.

But if you don't acknowledge their existence, don't believe their temptations, bask in the sun, and lift your head, nothing can really hurt you.

My high school years were therefore much more peaceful. Of course, Huang E was very dissatisfied, so he often made a lot of noise, and became even more vicious and sarcastic.

But that's all she can do at most.

After I figured it out, the world was a little different because of it. I was more tolerant and forgiving of my classmates' fondness for horror and the supernatural.

A yearning for difference, a desire to see another wondrous world. This is another kind of adventurous desire, and there's nothing wrong with that.

If I hadn't had this fate, I might have ended up like them.

But when I look at myself in the mirror, all I can do is give a bitter, gloomy smile.

In the mirror, I saw a pale, thin girl, short in stature, with acne scars on her face. She wore thick glasses, and on her left shoulder was a strange, black, misty bird the size of an eagle. She had a bewitching face and a full chest, her sharp claws gripping my shoulder, and her long, jet-black tail feathers reaching the ground.

Those who can see the extraordinary can see her. But those who can truly see the extraordinary... or those who have a karmic connection with the other world, are extremely rare.

It's definitely not Xue Zi, or those people who gather together to tell ghost stories.

Instead, they would avoid my left shoulder, try not to talk to people about these strange things, and bury their heads in books to escape the world.

We don't need to talk about ghost stories, because we live in them.

Even we, the people here, try to avoid each other. I guess it was the outsiders who educated us all thoroughly and exceptionally well.

Just once, only once. A graduating senior hesitantly handed me a talisman. We had hardly ever spoken.

“I can’t take it,” I nodded my thanks, “but thank you anyway.”

“…Maybe…or you’d like to find someone…” Her gaze avoided my left shoulder.

“It’s no use,” I said gently, “but I really thank you.”

"...Don't look, it will disappear soon." She said with a determined look, "I can't see it anymore."

"congratulations."

She wanted to laugh, but instead, the corners of her mouth turned down. I understand.

“You will soon be completely blind,” I said gently.

She gave me a deep look, her eyes filled with a gentle despair. "Perhaps."

I know she will sever this connection. I believe in repaying even the smallest kindness tenfold; this is my principle.

She was extremely angry when she was ordered to sever her "karmic ties." But she had no choice but to obey.

Just as I didn't want this kind of fate, she couldn't resist it either.

Later, I heard that the senior student, who used to be gloomy and introverted, was like a completely different person after entering university. She was radiant and was even described as a sunny beauty. To be honest, I felt really comforted.

Even though I was seriously ill for two months because of it, I felt it was all worth it.

The world is still a beautiful place.

(The karmic connection is complete)

Fu Yang

I sat in the entryway taking off my shoes.

If I could, I wouldn't want to come back. Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned. So, when that woman coldly glared at me and asked with hostility, "What are you doing back here?" I could only look up at her irritably.

"I heard my dad lives here."

Her expression turned even more disgusted, so distorted that even the baby in her arms cried out in fright. Only then did she put aside her anger and turn to lovingly coax her own child.

This woman is my second stepmother. After my stepmother passed away, my father, who inherited all her assets, suddenly became rich. He not only opened a large tutoring center but also married a very young and beautiful woman.

She's truly enjoying both happiness and success. Unfortunately, her beauty is only on the outside; her inner qualities are... well...

But that's my dad's business, not mine.

"What are you coming back for?" she asked coldly as the child stopped crying.

"You haven't sent me my living expenses for this month yet," I replied. "And there's a notice that Dad needs to sign."

“I don’t have time to make the transfer,” she said dismissively. “It won’t kill you to be a few days late.”

“I wouldn’t normally,” I tried to answer politely, “but I need to pay the registration fee. I’m going to take the college entrance exam, Aunt Huang. And you’re already twenty-nine days late. I wouldn’t have gone home to ask for the money if I hadn’t been desperate.”

If you don't want me to come home, then send me money every month. This woman hates me. She married into the family when I was in the third year of junior high school and tried every means to make my father hate me even more. In the end, she simply made me move out and send me money every month.

After having children, she became even more demanding. But I was also surprised that a woman with a heart of stone could love her own child; it turns out that "even a tiger wouldn't eat its cubs" isn't just an idiom.

Of course, that "son" doesn't include my ex-wife. She and my stepmother are different. My stepmother is a truly good person, while she... I can only say that individual differences among people are extremely vast; the most wicked and the best are worlds apart.

Huang E let out a wild, high-pitched laugh on my shoulder; she really liked this woman.

"If I had been able to live inside her womb back then, I would have become an invincible and great demon!" She looked at Aunt Huang with fervent longing.

"What a pity, isn't it?" I scoffed inwardly. "But the invincible great demon can only be bound by me and has to obey the orders of a useless coward... What a tragic fate."

The ravages of the desolate creature gripped even tighter, almost digging into my flesh. Only when I let out a soft groan did she relax her grip with a sinister grin.

The older I get, the less I can control the desolation. I think, as I grow, she's like a tumor, growing stronger and spreading. When I was young, she would desperately try to protect me from harm from other creatures. Back then, she wasn't fully recovered and needed a host to protect her.

But now, I am seventeen. After seventeen years of recuperation, she has grown stronger and stronger, and is now my equal. She has begun to rebel, to disobey my will, and to seize upon the loopholes in our oath.

After all, her initial vow was only to let me live, but I can live even without limbs, and I can live even as a vegetable. The strange beings gathered by her dark demonic aura are becoming increasingly covetous, but she is becoming more and more indifferent.

So I'm getting closer and closer to the other world, but there's nothing I can do about it.

Without a word, I went into my room. Even with the doors and windows closed, it was still covered in dust. I began to clean; the air was filled with the smell of dust and a slight stench of decay. But in my room, the smell of rotting corpses was the least noticeable.

It was a kind of greedy corruption, a mixture of jealousy, resentment, and lust. It emanated endlessly from Aunt Huang, making it hard to breathe.

After cleaning, I opened the window. I sat on the sheets and looked around the room. This was arranged by my stepmother; her strong love remained in this room to protect me, so I still had a place to stand in this ugly place called "home."

But she has been gone for too long. The scent of maternal love has gradually faded with each passing day.

“I hate this room.” Huang E shrank back in disgust.

“I know,” she replied coldly. “Admit it, you’re afraid of this room… In fact, you’re afraid of my stepmother.”

She was furious, wishing she could bruise my shoulder again... but she only weakly tightened her grip, not daring to pinch me recklessly, and showed a fearful expression.

Huang'e is afraid of my stepmother. My plump, plain-looking stepmother. She has to live with me, but whenever my stepmother reaches out to touch my head, she panics and tries to get away.

Of course, Huang'e wouldn't explain it to me. But from what I've observed, Huang'e is very afraid of certain people. For example, the doctor who did my health check. That doctor patiently checked my hearing and told me, puzzled, that I could barely hear anything in my left ear.

As soon as the doctor approached me, Huang E shrank to the size of a fist in fear and tried to stay as far away from the doctor as possible.

"This won't do." The doctor looked at the test results. "You need to talk to your parents and get treatment. Can you hear me?" He carefully observed my expression.

“I heard every word clearly,” I assured him. Of course, I knew that my left ear was likely useless. After being bombarded and chattered on by Huang E for decades, I knew long ago that my left ear might be damaged, so it wasn’t surprising.

But the desolation damaged my hearing in one ear, but it also replaced that ear.

"Is there a bubbling sound? Or a rumbling sound?" he asked carefully, a warm compassion appearing in his eyes.

Ah. Now I finally understand why Huang'e was so afraid of him. He's just like my stepmother—a truly "good person." Not the kind who's timid and subservient, only acting "good" out of fear. But a good person with a deep-seated belief in and faith in goodness.

So a doctor with no talent could terrify Huang E so much, and a stepmother who knows nothing could protect me for so many years, from before I was born until after I died.

So Evil tried to make me a villain, doing everything it could to taint me with bloodshed.

But I won't let her have her way. Even if I can't be that noble "good person".

My dad came home very late that day, and he frowned when he saw me. To be honest, I didn't want to stay overnight, but it started pouring rain almost as soon as he stepped into the house.

He reluctantly signed my name and even more reluctantly asked me to stay the night. His beautiful wife stood behind him, her expression even more horrifying, a suffocating stench of decay emanating from her.

"I'll leave tomorrow morning." I managed to speak normally while holding my breath. "But Dad, I have to pay the registration fee tomorrow, I can't delay."

"Didn't your aunt send you any money?" His brows furrowed even more as he turned to look at his beautiful wife.

“I forgot.” She shrugged. “It was only a few days late.”

"I have a bankbook on me, updated up to yesterday," I said politely.

Her face turned ashen with anger. "...Is money all you care about?"

I quickly backed down; before I turned 18, it was best not to really escalate things. "I'm going to sleep now, goodnight."

We both really dislike each other. The only reason my dad hasn't cut off my financial support to this day is because I haven't done anything wrong, and he's afraid of what people will say.

My dad and I had an unspoken understanding from a young age. He didn't want me as his daughter, and I didn't want anything to do with him. He had to raise me, and I had to depend on him. As long as I didn't cause any trouble and stayed out of his sight, he was happy to give me a small amount of money.

The condition is that I don't anger his wife.

This kind of family, this kind of family. I scoff. But there's nothing I can do, that's just how fate is. I should be grateful it won't get any worse, at least he's still willing to support me.

That's the reality, and on the other hand, I get even less help.

At that time, I was really envious of my classmates who came from complete families. No matter what trouble they got into or what mistakes they made, their families could support them. If they foolishly offended someone, their uncles or aunts would happen to know some master or sage who could help them out of their predicament.

I was entangled in this desolation, yet I could only stand alone and try to find a solution on my own.

The only person who could protect me was my stepmother. But she has passed away.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, blinking, I frantically and roughly searched for tissues, rummaging through the drawer haphazardly, and found an old slingshot.

Seeing that slingshot, I couldn't stop the tears from streaming down my face.

This was the first gift my stepmother gave me. When she gave it to me, I had absolutely no idea how to use it. But the two brothers next door all had them, and they were happily hitting the tin cans, yelling and shouting when they hit something.

I asked them to borrow it, but they flatly refused. They said they wouldn't talk to liars.

My stepmother brought me back home, still crying uncontrollably, and gave me this beautiful slingshot the next day.

I took a few deep breaths and wiped away my tears with my sleeve. Tomorrow I'll take this with me as a keepsake. I need to remind myself that I'm not an unwanted child, that my stepmother has always loved me, and that I promised to put her mind at ease.