Famine

Chapter 44

"It's not like we don't know each other; meeting is fate," I replied.

There are so many things in the world, it's impossible to manage them all. But if fate allows, then let's help a little. A cup of menstrual blood, a pomegranate—it's not much trouble. And after the due date, there's still pomegranate juice to offer. Such a simple thing, yet it brings him peace and ensures the school's safety. Isn't that good?

The only lingering effect was that when I was chatting with Lao Mo, my second-year junior came to see me with a first-year junior. These two slightly inspired juniors screamed and ran away like the wind, never to be seen again.

He scratched his head. Being my junior is really not a good thing.

***

Not long after the start of the semester, complaints began to surface about problems in the boys' dormitory. People said there was an extremely strong stench that was getting worse every day. Others said it felt like fur was brushing against their calves, and soon the situation was causing widespread panic.

But I went to inspect several times and didn't see anything. When I asked the locals, they all shook their heads like rattles (some even shook their heads off) and said that nothing had happened.

I can only categorize it as "suspicious and paranoid".

But when Tang Chen's bad luck is transferred to a freshman, he doesn't have the ability to turn misfortune into good fortune or turn adversity into blessing. He's hospitalized every few days... although none of them are life-threatening injuries.

I went to visit him, but the freshman was trembling with fear and couldn't even speak clearly. But he looked very familiar…

Isn't that my junior from the first year? His name is... oh, his name is Li Yaosheng.

But he… although I’m not a fortune teller, I could see that he was weak and exhausted. This wasn’t some kind of supernatural occurrence, but rather his fate was sealed.

Oh no. If the old man finds out, he'll yell at me to death. But carrying Tang Chen is tiring enough; I can't possibly carry a junior, can I?

To prevent him from having a heart attack, I left the ward. A very faint smell of decay flashed by, but I didn't see anything.

"This is a hospital," I told myself. But deep down, I felt a little strange.

I brought it up with the old man, my mind heavy with worry, but after he asked for my name, he firmly refused to let me get involved. "His short life is his family's business. Why should you interfere? You're not allowed to!"

I stared at the old man in astonishment, but he angrily kicked me out.

I was puzzled, but as the number of complaints increased, I realized that even working part-time had its responsibilities. So I patrolled more diligently, especially the boys' dormitory. Strangely, the original residents followed me closely.

"Why are you following me?" I asked.

"I'll protect you!" "That's right, that's right!" "It's dark and windy; who knows what those hot-blooded boys might do!" "Yeah, yeah..."

When did you start taking such good care of me again? Besides, what kind of suicidal guy would dare to lay a hand on the supernatural girl Lin Moniang?

“I’m going to call Huang E to interrogate me,” I threatened them.

Despite being trembling with fear, they firmly shook their heads and said that was just how it was.

I was even more puzzled, so I called Huang E back from her wild outing and asked her to investigate. But she had the locals gather around her and go to the old man's place to drink all night. When she came back, burping from the alcohol, she said nothing had happened.

"What are you hiding from me?" I asked suspiciously, but she built the strongest wall in history, leaving me half-dead from the shock.

"Just say it's nothing." Then he ran away.

What are they hiding from me? But if the old man was involved too, it shouldn't be a big deal, right?

Feeling dejected, I gave up. But then the principal called me in, it was extremely urgent.

Our school doctor and a gentleman were looking at the medical record with serious expressions. The principal introduced the gentleman to me, saying that he was the director of the dermatology department at the hospital down the mountain.

The director said that many of the male students in our school went to see a doctor, but the results were quite shocking.

He wiped his sweat. “This is really… strange. It’s a kind of skin disease, but only people who have been in contact with rotting corpses for a long time get it.” He pondered for a moment. “It’s not very scientific… but the older generation says it’s corpse poison.”

Our school doesn't have a medical department! Let alone any corpses.

I looked at the medical records, but I couldn't understand them. However, I recognized all the names of these people. These were the students who came to file a complaint; they all lived in the boys' dormitory.

"Lin Moniang... I mean, Lin Hengzhi," the principal pleaded, "Please think of something! If word gets out..."

"...I'll try my best."

Before things had even settled down here, I bumped into Tang Chen early in the morning carrying back a bag full of bloody, mangled flesh.

"...What is this?" I frowned.

“Raw chicken liver,” he replied calmly.

"...You want to eat?" I was even more puzzled. Although Tang Chen wasn't a vegetarian, he ate lightly, let alone animal offal.

"It's for the cat," he laughed.

"Guan Haifa only eats cat food."

“It wasn’t for Guan Haifa.” He carefully wrapped the bag of chicken livers, started the engine, and said, “A stray cat came to our school. It often comes to play with me when you come home from patrol.”

"How come I've never seen it before?"

“It’s afraid of you.” Tang Chen laughed. “I don’t know why it’s so afraid, maybe it’s afraid of the desolate calamity.”

I suddenly felt very sad. Huang'e is always running wild outside, and lately he's disappeared without a trace. Come to think of it, that cat is afraid of my… demonic aura.

Even wild animals are afraid of me, so what about my position as a human being...?

"Humans have long since lost their sense of right and wrong," Huang E suddenly appeared and laughed loudly. "But monsters have a very firm stance."

I wanted to punch her, but Tang Chen hugged me, laughing and persuading me as we got on the motorcycle.

It wasn't because he was trying to persuade me, but because he hugged me like that, my hives started spreading to my face.

He held back for a moment, saying, "I'm sorry." But he didn't hold back for long before bursting into laughter.

…What's the point of me making this life-or-death friend? Just so I can get hives? My head really hurts terribly.

I still haven't found out the truth.

But my direct junior classmate had a more severe case of cadaveric infection than anyone else; his whole body was damaged. He also had several accidents and was constantly going to the hospital.

I really can't sit idly by anymore. Everyone's keeping it from me, which is making me anxious and frustrated. Seeing how anxious I am, Lao Mo couldn't stand it and asked me to get something from a junior student for him to see.

I borrowed a book from my junior, and the old devil sniffed it. "That kid died a long time ago. He was only nineteen years old and wouldn't live past twenty. It was his fate."

“He’s still perfectly healthy and energetic,” I said irritably. “He just often gets into accidents.”

"An accident? That can't be right." The old demon scratched his head. "Impossible. This kind of fate is one where there are no injuries or illnesses, and one dies peacefully in their sleep. If there were injuries or illnesses..." He looked up, thinking for a moment, then shook his head again. "Impossible, impossible, let me smell it again..."

He stared blankly for a long time, then said, "...Little girl, you've stumped this old man."

“I suspect there’s something dead circling around him,” I said after a moment’s thought. “Mr. Old Demon, I can’t let this child die. I have to find that thing. But everyone’s keeping it from me. Do you have any ideas?”

"I'm locked up here, what can I do?" the old demon muttered. "...There are ways in the human world, you can try them."

His method was strange, yet simple. I won't go into details, though. In short, it was a trap that smelled delicious to inanimate objects. The old demon also gave me a black talisman (I drew it while cursing him, saying what kind of talisman it was...), to conceal my whereabouts and aura.

I told Tang Chen to go home first, then set up the trap in the stairwell, put the black talisman in my pocket, and waited patiently for my "prey".

I saw it at midnight.

It was a terrifying cat. Its flesh was torn and rotting, its ribs exposed. But its heart was still beating. Its face was rotten to the point of being just a little bit of skin and flesh, its gums were exposed, and it was missing one ear.

It cautiously looked around, sniffed the air, and carefully approached the raw chicken liver in the trap. With one bite, it let out a miserable howl, bound by the trap's curse.

The eyes, still rotting in their sockets, turned to me, revealing a ferocious glint. My heart tightened; I tore off the black talisman and drew back the slingshot…

A dark shadow blocked its path, emitting a faint, menacing sound.

...Guan Haifa?

With that hesitation, the stairwell was immediately packed with people. The indigenous people were holding hands, pulling each other's arms, tearing at each other, banging their heads, and fighting, all begging me to spare their lives.

What's going on here?

I was still in a daze when Tang Chen came running over, panting, and blocked my way. "Hengzhi, no! It's a very well-behaved cat, please don't!"

"You..." I stared, speechless, pointing at the zombie cat, "This...this is the stray cat you feed every day?!"

I said, aren't you being a bit too philanthropic?!

“It does look a little scary,” Tang Chen exclaimed anxiously, “but it’s really well-behaved and polite. Although I don’t know why it’s staying here… it must have some wish. I’ve never heard it speak, but it just said goodbye to me in despair…”

This time, I was really angry.

"Someone come and explain this to me!" I yelled. "Huang'e, come back!"

I don't care what banquet she's attending, why does everyone have to hide it from me?!

As a result, these dead guys (they really were dead...) looked at each other, and even Huang E turned his head away, and no one spoke.

As a result, a pretty girl stepped forward from the crowd, wiping away her tears, and said, "Commander-in-Chief, please do not be angry, please listen to my humble report."

I recognized her; she was the landlady of our school, a quiet and reserved person. Her words made me feel awkward, so I quickly returned the greeting and removed the trap.

The zombie cat scrambled to its feet and crouched to the side.

“…Ren-o, I told you before that you should come here with me, but you wouldn’t listen.” The Earth Lord cried.

The zombie cat actually shed tears and said, "Mother, I myself chose this path. Commander-in-Chief, please forgive me and let me appeal."

On the other side of the cemetery, there used to be a prosperous area with a thriving timber industry, a bustling place with tens of thousands of people. The local land was considered very efficacious, and incense offerings were plentiful. At that time, the Benevolent King was the Tiger God under His tutelage.

There has been a long-standing custom of recognizing a Tiger God as a godchild, and at that time, he had many godchildren.

However, the timber industry declined in the future, and the residents gradually moved away. The local earth god was asked to leave, but the tiger god was not moved there.

At that time, there were still five or six households in the village who relied on the mountain for their livelihood. Although the local earth god had passed away, the tiger god remained. During festivals, they still performed rituals with reverence. This tiger god, named Renwang, did his best to keep the area peaceful and prosperous. However, the custom of worshipping godfathers gradually fell out of fashion, and he no longer had godchildren.

But times changed, and those five or six families moved away, leaving only the mountain keeper's family. The mountain keeper had a child, but the child started crying at dusk and stayed up all night. The couple were at their wits' end. An old woman from a neighboring village told them that this was "crying to the dark crow," and suggested that they take the child to the Tiger God to be adopted as a godson.

Many, many years later, King Ni had another adopted son.

“That child has clear eyes and can see clearly; he's bound to be frightened,” King Ren said, weeping. “I’ve taken in thousands upon thousands of adopted children, but this child… is probably my last. It’s inevitable that I’ll show him some favoritism…”

That child could see Him. He couldn't even speak properly yet, but he would call out "Tiger Dad." I originally thought I could watch him grow up... but when outsiders built the road, they saw there was no local earth god, so they destroyed the shrine, and even His golden statue was gone.

“That child…that child…” Renwang cried out, tears streaming down his face. “That child rushed towards the excavator, screaming and yelling, ‘Daddy Tiger, Daddy Tiger…’ He was so naive, so dangerous. How could anyone leave a five or six-year-old child alone…”

His golden body was destroyed, leaving only a wisp of his spirit. But that very day, his foster son developed a high fever, constantly calling out for Him. "Once the road is opened, it belongs to someone else." The old man heard about this and invited them to stay there, and the kind mother also tried to persuade Him, but He just couldn't let go of that childish cry.

"Without your golden body, what can you do?" Ci Niang asked with a worried expression.

But the child was dying of convulsions. He gritted his teeth, "I can't worry about that now, Mother, go. At least you can watch him grow up..."

That very night, He possessed the body of a newborn tiger kitten. No matter how the adults scolded or chased it away, it hid under the bed to ward off evil spirits for the foster child, and almost starved to death. Only then did the adults soften their hearts, and seeing that the child's fever subsided after He came, they took him in.

I felt a chill run down my spine. He actually abandoned his divinity to inhabit the animal realm! All for a sick human child.

"What am I, chosen by myself?" He gave a brief laugh. "Gods, lifespans are not endless. My lifespan is almost up... and I am not some noble deity. This is my last covenant... and I will die sooner rather than later. But a cat's life is too short, and I finally died of illness."

He wept again, tears streaming down his face, “This child has only just entered university, the chief sorcerer. How could he not live past twenty? That’s why I’m clinging to life, crawling out of the grave, appearing in this shameful state. I feel more pain for this child than anyone else, but I have no choice. Calamities are predetermined, and I can only break down the great calamity into smaller ones. Please spare me! Tomorrow he will pass through the last calamity and live on. Please have pity on my suffering!”

He burst into tears, and the natives wept in unison. The calamity had long since flown away, hiding in a corner, its shoulders trembling.