Chapter 41

40、「Don’t Look Back!」

A mottled, blazing fire stained the pitch-black room.

Zhou Chang stared at the dozen or so charred hides roaring in the flames, then spread the picture scroll before them, holding it upright against the twelve twisted faces of human skin, saying: “Yes, yes!

None of this is my fault—it was your daughter who brought me here, and she forced me to burn your wife’s skin!”

In the painting, Bai Ma had been calm and composed, even when hearing the black bandit Feng Si speak through the human skins, her face showing no sign of alarm.

But now, hearing Zhou Chang’s shameless words, her expression froze, and she gritted her teeth in fury.

The flames of the feast-energy danced before her eyes, and within them, a flickering, alluring light danced too.

Bai Ma lowered her gaze, submissive, and whispered: “How can Father blame me?

It was Mother who repeatedly demanded I bring this jian corpse here quickly, so you could kill the foreign soul dwelling inside it—if I hadn’t brought him, you’d have blamed me anyway…

Now, I’ve used every trick I know to bring him here—I even cast a spell to draw his soul forth.

At that time, he was fish on the cutting board, entirely at the mercy of Second Sister.

But Second Sister failed in her task, letting him make it all the way here—Father should blame Second Sister and lazy First Sister instead!

Are you accusing me now because I’m not your and Mother’s biological child, and you see me as an outsider?”

Her words were logical and well-reasoned, leaving Zhou Chang deeply impressed.

Indeed, Paper Face had followed Li Xiamei’s instructions and brought Zhou Chang here according to procedure.

From the entire process, she had been entirely correct.

Only in the execution of details had she shown a slight “deviation.”

After Bai Ma finished speaking, the flames surging from the dozen human skins in the brazier gradually faded to a normal orange-red, and the mottled feast-energy vanished.

No one knew whether the black bandit Feng Si agreed with Bai Ma’s words.

Zhou Chang watched the human skins burn to ash, tucked away the picture scroll, and turned to leave the room.

The night grew darker.

Everything around was pitch-black, not a finger visible in front of the face.

On his left hand, the ring—long silent—now emitted low growls from ‘Ao Duoji,’ warning Zhou Chang that danger lurked nearby.

Of the seven holes in the ring, only Ao Duoji’s presence now felt lively and alert.

This change likely stemmed from it absorbing the crimson feast-energy spewed from the two women’s necks.

Ao Duoji’s growls were deep and heavy, rising and falling—until, suddenly, they spiked into fierce barking: “Woof! Woof! Woof!”

The barking was filled with urgent alarm!

At the same moment, a strange laugh echoed alongside Ao Duoji’s barks!

“Eh—ah—hahaha—eh—”

This stretched, donkey-like cackle clung to Zhou Chang’s back!

A sudden chill shot down Zhou Chang’s spine!

He tilted his head slightly—and inside the ring, Ao Duoji’s frantic barking didn’t soften; it grew even more violent: “Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!”

Zhou Chang’s neck stiffened slightly—he understood what Ao Duoji was warning him about—

“Don’t look back!”

He suppressed the urge to turn and investigate the laugh clinging to his back, gripped his knife, and strode quickly through the darkness.

The laugh faded after a while, falling silent.

Bai Ma’s light voice drifted into his ears: “Ordinary gods are far more terrifying than thought demons.

Thought demons follow patterns—someone always survives their killings. But ordinary gods differ: they draw a line for the living; cross it, and you inevitably inherit their ‘omen of death.’

Those trapped within the omen of death are almost always doomed—unless the ordinary god needs them alive.”

“You were clever just now—not turning to find the source of that laugh,” Bai Ma’s voice carried a hint of amusement. “Looking back would violate the black bandit’s taboo: ‘Don’t look back.’ You’d have inherited Feng Si’s omen of death.”

“Why didn’t you say that earlier?”

“Are you trying to murder your own husband? How wicked you are…” Zhou Chang frowned, responding to Bai Ma as he navigated the darkness.

He didn’t care what Bai Ma said—what mattered was what she had done.

This “thought” drifting in from the secret realm held ambiguous feelings toward him, entangled with the Wealth God and the Feng family—but Zhou Chang was now certain Bai Ma was still someone he could sway to his side.

If she truly wanted to kill him, she wouldn’t have revealed so many secrets.

But approaching him might also be a crucial step in the scheme of whoever lurked behind her.

Regardless, since she came, she won’t leave alive.

“You should’ve been killed by it…” Bai Ma’s face was stern, but her voice hid a smile.

Zhou Chang and Bai Ma bantered as they walked into a large courtyard.

The chill clinging to his back had vanished—Ao Duoji in the ring was quiet now, breathing evenly.

Everything had calmed.

In this stillness, Zhou Chang saw a gray-white figure hurrying toward him from the dim darkness ahead.

At the same moment, a timid female voice sounded behind him: “Zhou… Zhou Xiao-ge…”

It was Bai Xiue’s voice.

With Bai Xiue’s call, the eerie donkey laugh and Ao Duoji’s frantic barking erupted together!

Behind him, Bai Xiue’s call turned into a cry of agony!

“How… how did she get here?

How is she behind us?” Even Bai Ma hesitated upon hearing Bai Xiue’s voice.

Zhou Chang, however, clamped his mouth shut, gripped his knife, and strode forward to meet the gray-white figure.

In the black night, he could only make out the figure’s face when he was within three steps.

He surged forward, closing the distance, and thrust his knife straight ahead!

—

“My child disappeared after buying braised meat from your shop—

Give me back my child! Please, just give him back!”

Before the shop bearing the sign “Li’s Braised Meat,” the man knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face as he begged the plump woman inside, bowing his head repeatedly: “My wife is mad and won’t recover—I live only for my child…

You stole him—how am I supposed to live? Do you want to destroy my family?!”

The sky swallowed its last streak of sunset; night fell. No pedestrians remained on the street—only the man’s thin, wailing cries echoed through every alley.

The plump woman inside wore a leather apron. She listened, then sighed helplessly: “Brother, I truly don’t know where your child went.

Yesterday at dusk, he bought braised meat here—I saw him head home.

We’re neighbors—you live right next door—I wouldn’t lie to you over something like this…

Besides, he brought braised dog meat home yesterday—didn’t you eat it?

If you ate the meat, how can you say your child vanished because of me?”

The woman’s words were logical and left the man speechless.

He could only mutter “Ah—ah—” and weep helplessly.

Perhaps moved by his plight, the woman chopped off a dog leg, wrapped it in paper, and handed it to him: “Brother, I have some extra braised dog meat—take it home and share it with your wife.

Eat well, then search again tomorrow—maybe you’ll find your child?”

“I don’t want your meat!

This isn’t real meat—it’s human flesh!” After repeated blows, the man’s mind was near collapse. Seeing the dog leg she cut, he suddenly saw it as a red, braised child’s leg!

He nervously slapped her hand away, scrambled to his feet, and lunged at her, trying to shove past into the shop: “My child is definitely here—I heard him crying through the wall last night! I heard him cry!

I must find him! I must find him!”

The man’s emaciated frame was frail compared to the woman’s bulk.

She had already grown three parts angry when he slapped her hand; now, seeing him charge at her, her face darkened, and her other hand snatched up the iron cleaver on the chopping block.