Chapter Ch42.1 - Cannibal Town (1/2)

Translator: Yuzu

Hu Bing covered his mouth and nose as his eyes widened.

He heard that cold voice spreading from his mind. It sounded indifferent as if it didn’t care if he lived or died, ‘If you want to live, burn the whole place down.’

Hu Bing was horrified, his pupils contracted sharply, and his fingers clenched. As his body was still in the aftershocks of what he had just experienced, he asked with a trembling heart, ‘Who are you?’ Why should I believe you?’

The man sneered as if he had heard a funny joke of some sort. After a pause, his voice grew colder, and it was chilling, ‘You think you have another choice?’

Hu Bing was instantly silenced.

The answer was obvious.

No.

Hu Bing’s throat was dry as he forced himself to calm down.

He simply couldn’t trust someone who doesn’t know anything about the situation! And he doesn’t believe that there’s such a good thing that would come out of nowhere!

Nothing is ever without a demand!

Hu Bing breathed and calmly asked in his mind, ‘Do you have any conditions? I don’t believe you would help me for no reason!’

The man yawned, the sound seemed to be piercing, and it was very hard to bear.

Hu Bing heard the man say, ‘You’re smart.’

Hu Bing’s heart instantly tensed.

The man continued to speak, ‘I only need you to do one thing, and then you can leave here without any problems.’

Hu Bing’s veins popped, and he was a little stiff as he listened carefully to the man’s demand.

‘Take care of Xiao Chen.’ Five words, simple and straightforward.

The amazing thing was that when he mentioned Xiao Chen, his tone instantly changed. It carried an indescribable taste, like the return of spring after the ice had melted.

Hu Bing was shocked.

What?

Xiao Chen?

—

With sharp eyes, Jin Hong saw Hu Bing’s figure and immediately stood up from the ground.

Hu Bing’s face was pale and looked a bit strange. Once he returned, he couldn’t help but glance at Xiao Chen repeatedly, as if there were some questions he wanted to ask but didn’t dare to.

Jin Hong saw him like this and asked, “What’s wrong? Did you find something?”

Hu Bing stuck out his tongue and licked his lips, which were so dry that they were about to crack. He forced a smile and said with a ghastly face, “Someone there has murdered and is cooking.”

He paused, his expression somewhat weak, “The one that died was the old man who killed Zhang Xiaoxian.”

Ma Chenggong’s eyelids fluttered at the words.

“What should we do next?” When Jin Hong heard this, she became dazed. She was mumbling to himself, and her eyes began to empty as if her entire body had wilted.

Ma Hang was a little scared and grabbed his brother’s arm, and the latter showed a complicated expression.

The atmosphere was frozen.

Just as the situation reached a deadlock, Huang Ke, who was squatting on the side, suddenly stood up. He swept a glance at the crowd and coldly spoke, “In this world, everything is a cycle of cause and effect.”

Hu Bing opened his mouth and looked at him stiffly.

Huang Ke’s expression was bland, as if he was talking about a simple family matter. This expression matched the atmosphere and had an unexplainable sense of violation.

Huang Ke didn’t care much about the crowd’s gaze and said, “Nobody in this village is a good person! We don’t know how many people they’ve killed and how much evil they’ve done to survive, but as long as they keep eating people, there will only be two outcomes for these villagers.”

Saying this, Huang Ke paused slightly, narrowed his eyes, and said, “Either they continue to rely on cannibalism for survival or be eaten by others.”

He paused again, and a sarcastic smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, “Here, no one is clean! Want to live! Want to get out of here! Don’t you get it? Unless they’re all dead, unless this village disappears completely, we can’t get out of here at all! If our previous assumptions are true, these old people aren’t old at all. They’re obviously cursed! It’s all karma! It’s the dead ones who are taking revenge on them!!!”

Ma Chenggong and Hu Bing’s hearts pounded at the same time.

Ma Chenggong was shocked by what Huang Ke said about the curse theory, which corresponded with his thoughts. On the other hand, Hu Bing was already in a bit of a state of shock and then was directly pierced by his theory about the village disappearing.

“So, what do we do now?” Ma Hang looked a little shaken. He looked at Huang Ke in horror and asked with urgency.

This time, both Hu Bing and Ma Chenggong chose to remain silent.

Huang Ke squinted his eyes, seeming like he knew something, and only said one word, “Wait.”

Hu Bing looked at him somewhat strangely. The latter’s expression was indifferent and didn’t look like he wanted to explain.

Jin Hong’s heart was beating very fast; she stared at Huang Ke’s face, feeling like she didn’t know this boy in front of her. Obviously, he was the youngest one out of everyone. Her impression of him was still when he was about to cry after seeing the murder scene. However, this expression, this demeanor he had now, didn’t look like he didn’t know anything.

Jin Hong couldn’t help but mutter in her heart.

Does this Huang Ke know something?

There was another moment of silence, and the atmosphere was a bit stiff.

Huang Ke pursed his lips and glanced at the crowd. His gaze unconsciously lingered on Xiao Chen’s body for a moment longer, and his eyes had a complicated, unexplainable emotion.

Xiao Chen’s gaze met with Huang Ke’s, and the latter quickly avoided his look with a jolt.

Xiao Chen’s eyes narrowed, sensing that something was wrong.

It was a little strange.

Huang Ke’s eyes made him feel uncomfortable, but there was an inexplicably familiar feeling.

‘Do I know him?’ Xiao Chen asked Tan Jun.

Tan Jun was strangely silent for a few seconds, not knowing what to think about. He seemed to be deliberating over the words before saying an ambiguous sentence, ‘You don’t know him, but he knows you.’

Xiao Chen scowled, ‘What?’

‘Do you know who he is?’ Tan Jun asked him back.

Xiao Chen felt a little strange, not understanding why he was asking, ‘I don’t know.’

‘Then, do you know how old he is?’ Tan Jun’s hand rested on Xiao Chen’s shoulder.

Xiao Chen scanned Huang Ke’s entire body as he glanced at him and said, ‘Fifteen or sixteen years old.’

‘Heh,’ Tan Jun laughed, his voice was flat, ‘His surname is Huang, and he’s fifteen or sixteen years old, guess whose son he is.”

As Xiao Chen listened, his expression suddenly turned pale, and his fingers curled. On the other hand, Tan Jun’s fingers gently stroked the top of his head, trying to reassure him.

Surname Huang, fifteen or sixteen years old…

Is he that man’s son? The man who killed Tan Jun!

Xiao Chen’s pupils shook, his hands clenched, and his eyelashes quivered.

Tan Jun circled Xiao Chen gently in his arms, his eyes narrowed, and his gaze darted to Huang Ke. Huang Ke’s eyes glanced at Xiao Chen just in time, and as if he saw something, he stared sharply and lowered his head quickly.

Heh.

‘You like him?’

Huang Ke’s body was shaking a little, and he couldn’t stop the cold sweat from flowing down his forehead as he tried to hold back his panic and cover his chest.

‘I don’t dare.’ Huang Ke argued in his heart.

‘Heh, you don’t dare!’ Tan Jun’s deep voice penetrated straight through Huang Ke’s heart with a sneer, but he couldn’t conceal his possessiveness more than that.

Huang Ke tried to restrain the oppressive feeling, bracing his palms against the wall and sticking his fingers right into it.

‘Heh.’ The man let out a sneer and continued to speak, ‘You have all the memories of my past with him. From the time you were born into this world, your mission was to find him for me! I searched for him for sixteen years, and you loved him for sixteen years!”

Huang Ke’s lips turned white and began to tremble. Finally, he could no longer hold on, his legs weakened, and he knelt to the ground.

He heard the man coldly attached to his ear for a long time, fiercely saying, ‘This is my last warning to you!’

—

Worn and deserted.

The silence revealed something strange.

With only the wind rustling the dead leaves on the ground, there was a sudden rush of footsteps outside the door. The sound was a bit chaotic, and it didn’t sound like there was only one person.