Before the two had run a few steps, they suddenly heard another series of chaotic and heavy footsteps behind them, followed by a tidal wave of shouts that grew louder and clearer to their ears: "Grab her! Grab Miya! Grab her! She's a monster!" More, uneven shouts, filled with fanatical brutality and excitement, followed: "Kill her! Kill her! Kill her!"
Ling Yun and Xiao Rou turned around, puzzled. A panicked girl with two braids was stumbling towards them. Her face was covered in blood, her clothes were torn in several places, and her rather delicate face was filled with extreme terror.
"Meiya?! What happened?" Lingyun and Xiaorou exclaimed at the same time. This girl named Meiya was Meiyun's childhood playmate. Although they had less contact after Meiyun married Xiaoliang, the two sisters had always had a good relationship, and their families usually kept in touch. They never expected to see Meiya in such a disheveled and terrifying state today.
"Meiyun!" Meiya saw Lingyun and Xiaorou and cried out as if she had seen her saviors. She desperately shouted, "Meiyun, save me! They said I'm a monster and they're going to beat me to death! My mom tried her best to stop them and let me run away, but they beat my mom to death too. They said my mom was my accomplice... Waaah!" She cried and sobbed, panting heavily. It was clear that the desperate run had exhausted her.
“Meiya…” Xiaorou looked at her childhood playmate with heartache, not knowing how to comfort her. In less than two hours, the patrol team had found two monsters in human form. Their work efficiency was impressive. But how could Xiaorou believe that her playmate was a monster?
"Husband, let's save Meiya, please save her, she's so pitiful." Two lines of clear tears couldn't help but fall from Xiaorou's beautiful phoenix eyes. She knew it would bring her a lot of trouble, but she still couldn't help but turn to Lingyun and say this.
Before Ling Yun could reply, the footsteps drew closer. From around the corner of the market, a group of townspeople, armed with wooden sticks, iron hooks, and kitchen knives, rushed past. Each of them wore an expression of intense anger, shouting, "Kill her! Kill her! Kill this monster!" Although everyone was filled with rage, Ling Yun sensed that this anger was gradually transforming into excitement, a fanatical excitement!
Meiya screamed, no longer caring about talking to Xiaorou, and stumbled forward again. But she had no strength left, and how could she outrun a group of strong men? Just as she was about to be caught by them, a figure suddenly darted out from the side and blocked Meiya's path. Then, with a thud, the figure knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly and pleading, "Neighbors, please, spare my daughter! How could she be a monster? You must have made a mistake. Last night, I asked her to go to her aunt's house to help with the laundry. It was late, so she stayed at her aunt's house overnight. There were witnesses! Your patrol team needs evidence to find a monster!"
A burly man wielding a cleaver gleamed coldly in his eyes: "Old Ma, don't try to defend your daughter. She's a monster. You're her father, and her second aunt is bound to provide false evidence. Who are you trying to fool? Get up right now, or my brothers and I will chop you up too." With that, he kicked Old Ma hard in the chest.
Caught off guard, Ma Laoliu suddenly slumped to the ground, unable to get up for a moment. Meiya screamed and threw herself on him, crying, "Dad, Dad, how are you? Get up quickly... Waaah!"
Ma Laoliu weakly stood up, his body trembling slightly: "Meiya, run! These people have gone mad! Run! Dad will hold them off here for you. Even if it means death, I'll make sure you..."
"You're asking for death, you monster, you beastly father! I'll send you and your wife to the Western Paradise!" Before he could finish speaking, the burly man wielding the cleaver lost his temper and suddenly swung the cleaver, slashing it hard across Ma Laoliu's neck with a loud thud. He used almost all his strength in that strike, instantly slicing Ma Laoliu's neck open. A stream of scalding blood splattered all over the burly man's face and head, making him look like a terrifying figure from hell, inspiring fear in all who beheld him.
The crowd was initially startled, but then erupted into even more frenzied cheers, clearly celebrating the burly man's victory. Meiya, witnessing her father's sudden and gruesome death before her eyes, was stunned into silence. She stood frozen, her eyes vacant and lifeless, as several townspeople rushed forward and forced her to her knees.
The burly man, covered in blood, stepped forward, grabbed Meiyun by the neck, and a sudden, uncontrollable murderous intent and cruel lewdness flashed in his eyes: "I've heard that when a monster transforms into a human, some parts of its body can't become exactly the same as a human's; there will always be some traces of the monster. Today, we'll verify that and see if this girl is really a monster! How about we strip her clothes off and parade her through the streets? What do you say?"
"Good!" The crowd roared in approval, not feeling that there was anything wrong with what they had done. As long as they believed that the girl in front of them was a monster, then no matter how they humiliated her, it was not too much.
The burly man let out a sinister laugh, lifting the dazed Meiya up as if she were a chick. His left hand gripped her clothes tightly at the chest, tearing at them a few times until large expanses of the girl's snow-white skin and bare breasts were exposed. Under the blinding sunlight, the blood and the girl's white flesh instantly stirred the deepest desires within many men. Several men, panting heavily, approached, their large hands greedily groping Meiya's body. Some even shamelessly unbuckled their belts, exposing their grotesque genitals, and stepped forward, intending to assault the girl in public.
No one cared about any of this; people became quite excited as emotions inexplicably turned somber and violent. When the dark side of humanity is fully revealed, no one can save a fallen soul except through destruction.
Xiao Rou's face was deathly pale, and she buried her head tightly in Ling Yun's arms. No matter how unwilling she was, she knew that if she tried to save this innocent sister now, she would immediately suffer the same tragic fate as Mei Ya's father, Ma Lao Liu. In the huge crowd, any attempt to stop them was meaningless. The two women's hands were clasped tightly together, their knuckles even turning white.
With a deafening roar, a massive explosion suddenly erupted in the distance. Immediately afterward, a fiery red tide surged into the sky, rapidly spreading outwards. A wave of heat swept in from afar, like the hottest wind in the sweltering summer. One house after another burst into flames.
Chapter 318 The Answer
Lingyun and Xiaorou stared in astonishment at the direction from which the flames and explosions came. In their memory, the town had never experienced such a loud noise before. What on earth was going on today? The Xiahe Patrol Team had only been established for a few hours, and two tragic incidents had already occurred, which could be described as either a satisfying act of killing monsters or a forced confession. Judging from Meiya's tragic experience, the latter was clearly more likely.
The townspeople who were preparing to assault Meiya turned around in shock, staring in the direction of the explosion. They were all stunned, exchanging bewildered glances. With a thud, the burly leader released the half-naked Meiya, tossing her to the ground. Turning to the billowing black smoke, he stammered, "That...that looks like Old Jia's fireworks factory..."
Everyone's stunned gazes turned to him again, and then they immediately understood the meaning behind the leader's words. Their faces turned deathly pale. The Jia family was the only family in town that sold firecrackers; every inch of their house, except for the bedroom, was filled with gunpowder and kerosene for making firecrackers. Now, seeing the explosions and flames coming from that direction, everyone understood what had happened. Judging by the speed of the fire, it wouldn't be long before it engulfed the entire town, threatening all the town's property and shared wealth.
While they were still stunned, they heard a series of hurried footsteps in the distance. They could clearly see another group of terrified townspeople running towards them from the direction the fire was coming from. Many of them were shouting angrily as they ran: "Fire! Fire! My God, Old Jia is a madman, he's really gone mad. Does he want to destroy the whole town?"
"As expected, something happened to the Jia family." Ling Yun sighed. Seeing this scene, even without asking, he knew that something had happened to the only family in the town that had gunpowder. It must be that the patrol team formed by Xiao He and his group thought that someone in the Jia family was a monster who ate people. As a result, Jia got angry and, without resisting, directly ignited the gunpowder.
Xiao Rou looked at the flames with worry: "Honey, let's hurry home. The fire is so fierce, our house will probably be destroyed too. We should think of a way to put out the fire first, otherwise the whole town will be finished."
Ling Yun shook his head: "It's no use, wife. There's no way to put out a fire like this. Besides, people's hearts are no longer what they used to be. The town has already begun to degenerate. There might even be people taking advantage of the fire to loot. We might be the next victim."
"Honey, what's wrong? If we can't put out the fire, our family will suffer too." Xiao Rou looked at Ling Yun's indifferent expression and felt both anxious and helpless. Her husband seemed unmoved by everything.
"Alright, alright, honey, let's go home and pack up all the valuables first, so they don't get burned to the ground." Ling Yun was taken aback when he saw Xiao Rou's anxious expression, and then immediately agreed with his wife.
The townspeople had already caught up, most of them looking furious and exasperated. Many were covered in soot, as if they had crawled out of a stove. Some even had flames still clinging to their bodies, patting themselves off as they ran. A thick plume of smoke billowed from the direction they were running, followed by a pungent, acrid smell of burning.
The burly man, ignoring Meiya who was still curled up on the ground, grabbed a young man who was running frantically: "Hey, what's going on at the Jia family's place? Why did an explosion happen? Didn't Xiaohe and Brother Liang go off to Jiajia to catch monsters?"
The young man, still reeling from the shock, was suddenly pulled back by the burly man. Anger flashed across his face, and he was about to unleash a torrent of curses, but upon recognizing the man, his expression immediately shifted to one of mourning: "Second Uncle, it's you! What are you doing here? You don't know, Xiaohe and Brother Liang went to Old Jia's house with a perfectly reasonable air, saying that Old Jia's daughter hadn't returned home last night and was probably a monster. They wanted to drag her out for interrogation, but Old Jia disagreed, and they started arguing. We, relying on our numbers, forcibly dragged his daughter away. Before they even started interrogating her, Dashanzi and the others said that to prevent the monster from escaping, they stripped her naked, and then several of them...raped her, claiming it was to rid the people of a scourge. Who knew that the young girl's body couldn't withstand such torture? Just a few men and she was killed..."
Er Lengzi's face suddenly turned horrified: "They were about to report to the captain that they had killed the monster, but at that moment, Lao Jia suddenly doused himself with gasoline and kerosene and ran out. Without saying a word, he set himself on fire and ran into the explosives warehouse like a burning torch... My god, you didn't see it, the explosion was so bad that Da Shanzi and the others couldn't find a single piece of intact flesh. There were clumps of blood and gore everywhere. Luckily, I was standing far away and wasn't affected, but I was scared half to death. When we saw the fire spreading, the rest of us were terrified and ran here as fast as we could. Lao Jia, he's really gone mad, completely mad!"
He spoke breathlessly, his words disjointed and stuttering, but everyone present understood him. Imagining Old Jia's horrific self-immolation and subsequent ignition of the explosives depot, everyone trembled involuntarily. Looking at the girl's curled-up body on the ground, they felt an overwhelming sense of dread. Old Jia's situation and Mei Ya's situation were essentially the same—both were acts of desperate resistance after being forced into a corner. However, Mei Ya's father, Ma Laoliu, lacked the means to self-immolate, and thus met a tragic end under the burly man's cleaver. Had they encountered someone more reckless, this place would likely be a river of blood now, and countless others might have perished.
The burly man wiped the sweat from his brow. "Er Lengzi, what happened to Captain Xiaohe and Brother Liang? Where did they go? They weren't killed in the explosion, were they?" His legs trembled uncontrollably; he was clearly terrified, his earlier ferocious aura completely gone. People are strange sometimes...
Er Lengzi shook his head and said, "I don't know. Captain Xiaohe and Brother Liang left a long time ago. They just left Dashanzi and the others to deal with Lao Jia and the others. I think I heard from others that Captain Xiaohe went to look for other monsters. He must kill all the monsters disguised as townspeople within a day. I guess he should be in some other part of the town now."
"So what should we do now? Should we deal with Meiya or hurry up and put out the fire?" The big man glanced at Meiya lying on the ground and was at a loss for what to do. He had long lost his mind. Seeing the fire spreading, he was naturally extremely anxious. After all, if the whole town burned down, his family would be affected. However, Xiaohe had given him such a difficult task of investigating the monster. If he just abandoned it, wouldn't he be blamed by the captain?
"My dear second uncle! You're really dedicated! The fire's already raging on the roof, and you still have the mind to deal with the monster? Besides, do you really think she's a monster?" Er Lengzi stamped his foot. "I have to go put out the fire. If it's really too late, I'll have to hurry and salvage all the valuables in the house. Sigh, what kind of misfortune has this happened to me?" With that, Er Lengzi pushed the big man aside and hurried off.
The burly man hesitated for a moment, then suddenly threw down his cleaver and ran home. Clearly, dealing with the monster was more important than the fire that was burning his house. Seeing that their leader had run away, the remaining townspeople lost their will to continue their violence against Meiya and dispersed with a commotion.
Xiao Rou suddenly let go of Ling Yun's hand, ran over and gently helped Mei Ya up. Then she picked up the torn clothes from the ground and draped them over Mei Ya's naked body. She patted Mei Ya's head and whispered, "Mei Ya, don't be afraid. It's all over now. Why don't you come back with me? I'll take care of you, okay?"
Ling Yun shook his head slightly. Xiao Rou was too kind-hearted. Although Mei Ya was pitiful, the two of them were barely able to take care of themselves at this moment. How could they possibly take care of a weak woman who was already terrified? This wasn't about giving alms or showing pity. Even when doing good deeds, one had to consider whether they had the ability to do so. Otherwise, not only would they fail to do good deeds, but they might also get themselves into trouble. Seeing Xiao Rou's distress over Mei Ya, Ling Yun could only sigh helplessly.
Moreover, just one look at Meiya's empty, lifeless eyes and blank expression revealed that the girl had suffered a mental breakdown due to the immense blow. No matter how gently Xiaorou tried to comfort her, it would likely be to no avail. The fire in the distance grew increasingly intense; even standing still, the two could clearly feel waves of heat rushing towards them.
Sure enough, Meiya just stared blankly at Xiaorou, as if she didn't recognize her at all. Having witnessed her father's gruesome death and her usually amicable neighbor suddenly turning into a thug, the little girl had gone mad. She stared blankly at Xiaorou, a deep fear suddenly appearing on her face, then screamed and crawled backward on all fours: "Monster, you're a monster, you're a man-eating monster!"
Xiaorou was startled, her face immediately turning somber and sorrowful. She clearly realized that her former playmate had gone mad. She silently stood up, taking a step closer, wanting to try and comfort Meiya again. But Meiya, as if electrocuted, immediately ripped off her tattered clothes, standing up naked and stumbling away from where they had been, muttering incoherently, "Monster, monster, you're a monster." Unlike the others, she ran directly towards the source of the fire.
"Wife, let's go. You can't save Meiya, and no one can save her. She won't be the first victim, nor will she be the last." Ling Yun walked to her side, gently held Xiao Rou's hand, and comforted her tenderly. Meiya's experience also made him feel bad, but this trend was inevitable, and sooner or later someone would lose their life because of it.
Xiao Rou glanced at him sadly, nodded silently, and the two walked heavily towards their home. No matter what, they had to solve their own problems first, otherwise the young couple would have nowhere to live.
Along the way, townspeople were running back and forth, shouting for help. The entire town was in complete chaos, with people fleeing in panic because their homes had been burned down, some even dragging their children along. To their astonishment, even as the entire town was suffering, some people were taking advantage of the chaos to loot. In just a few hundred meters, Lingyun and Xiaorou had already seen many strong and healthy townspeople breaking into houses and ransacking them under the pretense of searching for monsters. Even worse, some people were openly robbing people in broad daylight, brandishing kitchen knives. If they were not satisfied, they would simply swing the knives and slash at them, leaving scenes of bloodshed almost everywhere.
Some people were purely destructive, even deliberately throwing burning torches into relatively intact houses in the town. Others, in groups of three or five, stormed into homes, committing arson, murder, robbery, rape, and plunder, leaving behind horrifying scenes. Ling Yun watched all this in astonishment. Although he had anticipated this scenario, he hadn't expected the riot to erupt so quickly. It seemed his understanding of the dark side of human nature was still insufficient.
The two dared not delay and hurried through the chaotic area. Just as they reached the door of their bungalow, they were about to go inside when they suddenly froze. The front door was open, and the bedroom and living room were already full of people. Xiaohe and Brother Liang were leisurely smoking, seemingly waiting for something. When they saw Lingyun and Xiaorou enter, their eyes lit up, and they surrounded them. The townspeople who were sitting also stood up, staring at Lingyun and Xiaorou with predatory eyes.
"Xiao Liang, Mei Yun, you two are finally back! We've been waiting for ages. We thought you were really going to abandon this home and throw it into the fire. Looks like our trip today wasn't in vain." Xiao He exhaled a puff of smoke and said leisurely and deliberately.