Une relation tragique

Chapitre 2

Lin Feng hesitated for a moment and then asked, "Do you have classes this afternoon?"

Xiao Jiejie said, "Yes, it's my turn to be on duty at night, and I also have to come and check on evening self-study!"

Lin Feng's expression changed and he said, "I'll come with you tonight. From now on, you must ask the leaders of the college for leave and never step into the school after midnight."

Xiao Jiejie turned pale with fright and said, "You shouldn't stay in that dormitory anymore. It was too late last night, so I made you stay there. Stay at my place tonight!"

Lin Feng patted the dirt off his hands and said, "I couldn't be happier," followed by a mischievous grin.

Volume 1, Path of Vengeful Ghosts, Chapter 4: Path of Vengeful Ghosts (4)

With Lin Feng beside her, Xiao Jie felt much more at ease. To be honest, if Lin Feng hadn't been there, Xiao Jie wouldn't have come at all. Although the campus was brightly lit, Xiao Jie still couldn't help feeling apprehensive. This feeling was especially strong when she entered the dark stairwells.

Lin Feng squeezed Xiao Jie Jie's hand tightly and walked towards the second floor of the teaching building.

The second floor housed the classrooms, and the lights shining from them brought a sigh of relief to Xiao Jie Jie. Lin Feng waited at one end of the corridor for Xiao Jie Jie to check each classroom. Lin Feng opened the window at the end of the corridor, letting in the warm night breeze. But in front of him stood the staff dormitory building, dark and lifeless.

Lin Feng squinted, carefully examining the staff dormitory building, which seemed shrouded in a dark aura. The night breeze, which had been warm just moments before, was now biting cold. Lin Feng shivered; he found himself next to a low, thatched hut. From inside, the faint light of an oil lamp and the sound of a child crying emanated from the house.

Lin Feng was taken aback. A woman's voice came from inside the house: "Honey, if this continues, the whole family will starve to death. You have to think of something!"

A rough voice roared from inside the house: "What kind of solution are you talking about? Within a radius of several miles, even the bark of the trees has been stripped and eaten. Where am I supposed to find a solution?"

Lin Feng looked through the window and saw a woman sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed) inside, constantly coaxing a child in her arms, her brows furrowed in worry. Opposite her sat a bearded man, his open shirt revealing his thin, bony chest.

The woman sighed, looking at the child with pity. The man, his eyes gleaming with a wild light, stared at the child in the woman's arms, muttering, "Damn it, it's been so long since I've had meat."

The woman was startled. Seeing the man staring intently at the child in her arms, her face turned deathly pale. She hugged the child tightly and said, "No matter what, you can't lay a hand on the child. You're a human being, not a wild beast!"

The woman's words ignited the man's hunger, and his bloodshot eyes widened like saucers. Staring intently at the child's exposed arm, he said, "If we're so hungry, even our own parents have no choice but to cook us!"

The woman cried out in terror, "No!" but the man pounced on her like a hungry tiger.

The woman fought frantically with the man, clinging tightly to her child. The man raised his hand and slapped her twice across the face, leaving her dizzy and disoriented. But the woman still held onto the child tightly, and the man growled, "Give it to me!"

The woman cried and pleaded, "Husband, you can't do something that will get you struck by lightning! If you want to eat someone, eat me instead!"

The man raised the wooden stick that was lying across the headboard and brought it down hard on the woman's head. A red flower bloomed on the woman's head, and she fainted. The man snatched the child from the woman's arms, his eyes burning with greed as he looked at the crying child.

The man picked up the child and turned to walk towards the kitchen. Immediately, the child's piercing cries filled the kitchen, the ear-piercing screams echoing through the night. The cries abruptly stopped halfway through, leaving only the clanging of a cleaver against the cutting board.

The woman on the kang slowly woke up, while the man opposite her picked his teeth contentedly.

The man pushed a plate of meat in front of the woman and said, "Eat up." The woman stared blankly at the meat on the plate without saying a word.

The man sighed, turned his head away, and soon began to breathe heavily.

The woman sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) in a daze, her eyes glazed over. The wick of the oil lamp burned to its last bit, and with a soft hiss, it went out, emitting a wisp of smoke.

The woman staggered off the kang (a heated brick bed), went to the kitchen to grope around, and after a while returned, stood by the kang, staring blankly at the sleeping man.

The man, having finished his meal, rolled over contentedly in the sleeping area. The woman then raised the kitchen knife in her hand and slashed down at him fiercely.

The man let out a scream of agony, but before the sound could even escape the room, his throat was severed by a second blow. All his pain was forced to be swallowed. The woman's eyes were like lightning, her hair disheveled, her face covered in blood streaming from her forehead, like a demon from hell.

Gradually, the man stopped breathing, and the woman dropped the knife, whose blade was already rolled up, and collapsed on the kang (a heated brick bed), like a lump of mud.

The man's head was almost severed from his body by the crazed woman, held together only by a thin layer of skin. His terrified eyes stared at the roof of the hut, unable to believe, even in death, that the usually docile woman could be so insane.

Lin Feng shivered in the wind outside, unable to move an inch, as if his blood had frozen. He saw the woman take a red rope from the cupboard, hang it on the beam of the house, and tie a knot.

The woman hung a rope, scooped up the man's blood, and smeared it on her body, stroke by stroke. Soon her entire body was crimson, and she let out meaningless laughter. She walked to a stool under the rafters, climbed up, put her head in the red rope, and muttered, "I want everyone to die. My child is gone, I want everyone to die." With a stomp of her foot, she overturned the stool with a crash.

Lin Feng was terrified. He didn't know how this country woman knew about this most sinister way to die. To smear her entire body with blood, to cast the most vicious curse with her own life.

Lin Feng suddenly realized he could move again. He couldn't let this woman die like this, otherwise the people of this land would never have peace, and they would all eventually die tragically. He gripped the window frame, put one foot on the window, and was about to climb inside.

Suddenly, someone hugged her tightly from behind. Xiao Jie's voice became hoarse with panic, "Lin Feng, what are you doing?"

Suddenly, the thatched hut vanished, the man's corpse disappeared, only the woman's body swaying on the rafters and her malevolent eyes remained before Lin Feng's eyes. Lin Feng found himself clinging to the window of the teaching building, one foot already on it.

Lin Feng hurriedly let go. Everything that had just happened was an illusion, but it was so real that he couldn't help but believe it.

Xiao Jiejie let go of Lin Feng's hand only after he came down. Lin Feng turned around, covered in cold sweat. He saw Xiao Jiejie's eyes brimming with tears, her full breasts heaving rapidly, clearly indicating that she was quite frightened.

Lin Feng breathed a sigh of relief, thinking how close he'd come to disaster. He glanced at his watch; it was already 11 o'clock. Taking Xiao Jie Jie's hand, Lin Feng said, "Let's go, let's get home first!"

Sitting in the living room, Lin Feng took a drink from the refrigerator and drank it in large gulps. Xiao Jie asked, "What were you doing just now? Was something bothering you that made you want to jump off the building?"

Lin Feng recounted the hallucination he had just experienced, still seeming shaken. Xiao Jie asked worriedly, "What should we do?"

Lin Feng gently patted his head and said, "Can you find your school's history? See what this place was used for before!"

Xiao Jie thought for a moment and said, "I'll give it a try!"

Lin Feng stretched and said, "That's settled then. I'm exhausted, I'm going to sleep now!" He then walked into Xiao Jie Jie's bedroom and plopped down on the bed.

Xiao Jiejie immediately rushed in, grabbed Lin Feng by the neck and shook him, roaring like a shrew, "Get out! Your home is the sofa!"

Volume 1, Chapter 5: The Path of Vengeful Ghosts (5)

When Lin Feng woke up, Xiao Jie Jie had already gone to work. A note was left on the table that read, "Breakfast is in the kitchen." After washing his face and brushing his teeth, Lin Feng unceremoniously picked up a fried dough stick and began to eat it heartily. After finishing a carton of breakfast milk, Lin Feng felt refreshed. Thinking that he hadn't even had a chance to explore this place before encountering this damned situation, he decided to take advantage of the day to wander around.

Lin Feng strolled around aimlessly. Although it was a very unfamiliar city, he wasn't worried about getting lost, as he was always very confident in his sense of direction.

The lush flowers and plants lining the sidewalk bloomed vibrantly, vying to greet the sun. Lin Feng greedily admired the colorful blossoms and verdant greenery, unaware that the surrounding scenery seemed somewhat familiar. Suddenly, he looked up and saw Xiao Jie Jie's school right there on the roadside. Lin Feng was stunned; how had he unknowingly wandered here?

Lin Feng sat down on a bench in front of the woods next to the school and looked at the strange school once again.

A cough sounded beside Lin Feng, and an old voice said, "Young man, may I sit down next to you for a moment?"

Lin Feng took a look and saw that it was a tall, thin old man. Although the years had etched vicissitudes on his face, his back was still straight.

Lin Feng quickly moved to sit down next to him and said, "Please sit down!"

The old man nodded approvingly and sat down next to Lin Feng. Seeing Lin Feng intently watching the campus, the old man looked surprised. He asked Lin Feng, "Young man, what are you looking at?"

Lin Feng exclaimed, "Ah!" and said, "Just looking around, nothing special!"

The old man smiled mysteriously and said, "Really? Don't you think there's something strange about this place?"

Lin Feng was startled; could it be that he had encountered a master?

The old man stared intently at the schoolyard, his cloudy eyes revealing a deep-seated hatred. He slowly said, "Young man, do you want to know what happened here?"

Lin Feng nodded, which was exactly what he wanted. He never expected to run into someone who knew the truth by chance.

The old man's facial muscles twitched involuntarily as he said, "That was sixty years ago, when I was just a child! I lived here. Back then, this was a village with only a little over two hundred people. Years of famine and war left the villagers destitute."

The year the disaster struck, Gou'er was nine years old. The long-term hunger had made the adults in the village thin as skin and bones, but strangely, all the children under the age of ten were plump and fair-skinned.

One morning, the village chief went to Erzhuzi's house at the village entrance to see if he could find a way for the villagers to make a living. Erzhuzi was the only person within a fifty-mile radius who had ventured out into the world for a few years, so perhaps he could offer some solutions.

The village chief arrived outside Erzhuzi's thatched hut and called out twice, "Erzhuzi! Erzhuzi?"

There was no response; only intermittent creaking sounds came from inside the house. The village chief frowned. The people were practically starving, and he was still messing around with his wife.

The village chief's mind raced. He tiptoed into the courtyard and approached the window of the thatched hut. Erzhuzi's wife was renowned in the neighborhood for her beauty; her large eyes seemed to overflow with desire, and her ample bosom had long been the village chief's object of lust. However, Erzhuzi's wife never gave the village chief the chance to indulge his lust, leaving him quite frustrated. Now, even if he couldn't have her, at least he could feast his eyes.

The village chief slowly peeked out the window and saw Erzhuzi's wife, her body covered in blood, dangling from the rafters, swaying back and forth. The intermittent creaking sounds were from the rafters supporting her body. Erzhuzi's wife's tongue was sticking out halfway, and her eyes were fixed on him. In a panic, the village chief slammed his head against the window.

The village chief, stunned for a long time, mustered his courage and walked to the front door, pushing it open. Erzhuzi was lying on the bed, his body sprawled on the kang (a heated brick bed), his head drooping, only connected by a thin strip of skin on his neck. On the table was a bowl of some kind of meat, strangely bright red.

The village chief swallowed hard, his hunger completely ignited by the plate of meat. But looking at the miserable state of the house, he dared not take a step.

After hesitating for a moment, the greed of hunger finally overcame his fear. The village chief carefully bypassed the woman's corpse, unable to bear looking at Erzhuzi's slumped head on the kang (a heated brick bed). He grabbed the meat from the bowl on the table and began to eat it in large mouthfuls.

The meat was smooth and flavorful, not greasy at all. After one bite, the village chief couldn't stop himself, grabbing more meat from the bowl and stuffing it into his mouth. He had never eaten such delicious meat before. He ate and praised it, while Erzhuzi, who had no idea where he found such good meat, was now dead, and there was no way to ask him anything.

In a few moments, the village chief finished the last piece of meat in the bowl. He even picked up the bowl and greedily licked the remaining broth. Satisfied, the village chief put down the bowl, turned around, and suddenly saw that the woman hanging from the beam had turned her head at some point and was staring at him maliciously. The village chief's heart tightened, and he was startled, knocking over the table in his shock. The bowl on the table fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

Having filled his stomach, the village chief was suddenly gripped by fear again and hurriedly ran outside. Once inside the courtyard, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, noticing the kitchen door was ajar. A thought struck him: perhaps he could still find some leftover meat to take back for his wife and children to enjoy a hearty meal.

Pushing open the kitchen door, the ashes under the stove still glowed faintly with a bluish tinge, and wisps of steam and the aroma of meat wafted from the pot. The counter was covered in blackened bloodstains, as was the floor.

The village chief was overjoyed and quickly lifted the pot lid. Inside, the head of a child less than a year old had been boiled until a layer of skin had peeled off, and the face was covered in sores, but the child's eyes were staring at the village chief, and there seemed to be a slight smile on the corner of the mouth.

The village chief finally realized what he had just eaten, and his stomach churned, almost making him vomit. He fought off the urge to throw up and put the pot lid back on.

Stepping outside the courtyard, the village chief stood there blankly for a long time, the lingering aroma of the meat still in his mouth. It didn't seem so disgusting anymore. Remembering the taste, the village chief stomped his foot angrily, then turned and went back into Erzhuzi's house.

Before everyone got up, the village chief wrapped Erzhuzi's wife's body in a blanket and ran home as fast as he could.

That evening, watching his wife and son wolf down their food, the village chief finally smiled—a smile he hadn't shown in a long time.

There was a body lying in the cellar, missing a leg; it was the body of Erzhuzi's wife.

"Enough to eat for several days," the village chief thought contentedly. Erzhuzi's house had been burned to the ground; no one would have imagined that Erzhuzi's wife had ended up feeding her entire family.

The next day, the village chief went to the cellar again, only to find that Erzhuzi's wife's body was gone. The village chief stood there, knife in hand, stunned. Could the body have run away on its own? Or had someone, driven by hunger, stolen it? It must have been stolen.

From then on, the village chief began to pay attention to the villagers, seeing everyone as a thief who would steal a corpse. Everyone's eyes gleamed with a sinister fire, making people tremble with fear.

Life seemed unchanged; every day was filled with nothing but hunger. The village chief could never forget the taste of human flesh. Gradually, he noticed that the village children were all fair-skinned and chubby, and his own son was especially robust. Even if he ate less than an ounce of food a day, the child would still jump around and never complain of hunger.

Driven by unbearable hunger, the village chief finally decided to kill his own son first. His son was already 10 years old; killing him would be enough to feed the couple for many days.

Volume 1, Chapter 6: The Path of Vengeful Ghosts (6)

After making his decision, the village chief planned to act on it that very day. If he killed someone else's child and they found out, he would be finished, so he had no choice but to kill his own child to fill his stomach first.

The village chief led his son to the kitchen in the backyard.

"Dad, why did you call me here?"

"Son, Dad has something good for you. Look for it yourself first, and see if you can find it."

"Are we going to have meat again?" The son's face flushed with excitement; he was still savoring the meat he had eaten a few days ago.

"Yes, eat first once you find it."

The son excitedly searched everywhere, first rushing to the pot, lifting the lid but finding nothing, then opening the cupboard, still nothing. Just as he turned to ask where the meat was, a stick, accompanied by a strong gust of wind, struck him hard on the head.

The son fell to the ground, not understanding what he had done wrong that his father was punishing him. "Dad!" the son cried out in despair, and the stick fell on his head again.

Blood splattered from the son's forehead, and tears streamed down the village chief's face as he murmured, "Son, I'm sorry. For your mother's and my sake, go in peace." He closed his eyes and struck his son's head hard with the stick again. White and red welts appeared on the son's head, and his wide-open eyes seemed unable to believe that his father would beat him to death with his own hands.

The village chief pushed a bowl of meat in front of his wife and said, "Eat up!"

The woman swallowed hard and said, "Give it to our son."

The village chief suddenly became agitated: "Just eat what I tell you to eat! Our son has already eaten!"

The woman was taken aback and asked, "Where is he?"

The village chief smacked his lips on his pipe, which was filled with withered yellow leaves. The room was filled with a pungent smell, and thick smoke enveloped him. He said, "He probably went to play at the edge of the village. He'll probably be back later. You eat, I told him to eat first!"

The woman believed the village chief and began to wolf down her food. Halfway through, she suddenly froze.