CHAPTER 87: I’M SO HUNGRY!

Night deepened.

Li Yanchu’s gaze suddenly darkened. Through the shattered window, he had a clear view of the sky. Up above hung a bright, round moon. But the light that spilled down onto the ground... was a chaotic, eerie shade of pale white.

The edges of the moon began to tinge blood-red.

“Hongtu, look outside,” Li Yanchu said.

Bai Hongtu opened his eyes and followed the direction of Li Yanchu’s pointing finger.

“What the hell...?” Bai Hongtu gasped in alarm. “That moon looks really strange!”

Before long, a rich, meaty aroma began wafting into the room where Li Yanchu and Bai Hongtu were staying. It smelled so mouthwateringly good that it made one’s stomach growl.

“Do you smell that? It smells amazing,” Li Yanchu said.

Bai Hongtu frowned in surprise. “What’s going on? It’s been so long... are they just now eating dinner?”

“Come on, let’s go take a look.” Li Yanchu stood up abruptly.

He pushed the door open and stepped out. The courtyard was cloaked in darkness, and only the main hall still had its lights on. Three shadows were visible within.

And from inside came the sounds of chewing meat... and tearing flesh.

Creak...

Hearing the noise from their room, the door to the main hall suddenly opened, and a figure stepped out.

The pale moonlight spilled over the person’s face. It was an old, weathered face, with something glistening at the corner of his mouth.

“It’s our honored guests! Out and about so late?” said Old Man Lin with a wide grin, bits of meat still clinging between his teeth.

“We couldn’t sleep. Just thought we’d walk around a bit. You’re eating dinner this late, sir?” Li Yanchu replied with a smile.

“There was a lot going on in the village today. I only just got back not long ago. My son and daughter-in-law insisted on waiting for me to eat together. Such filial children.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Would you like to try a bit? My daughter-in-law’s stew is excellent.”

“No need, we’ve already had dinner. Still, I must ask, what kind of meat is this, sir? It smells incredible.”

“Oh, it’s water deer[1] from Old Pine Ridge.”

“Is that so? I thought it was human meat. It just smells that good,” Li Yanchu said casually.

The old man’s face still wore that same rustic, good-natured smile. But his eyes... began to turn red, just like the blood-tinged moon hanging in the sky above.

“Haha, I was only joking. Please, enjoy your meal, sir. My friend and I are just going for a stroll,” Li Yanchu said with a light laugh.

The red in Lin the old man’s eyes gradually faded, and his expression returned to that blend of simple honesty and shrewdness.

“It’s dark in the mountains, so please be careful walking at night, honored guests.”

Li Yanchu gave a polite cupped-fist salute, and he and Bai Hongtu quietly left the old man’s house.

As Bai Hongtu stepped outside, he turned back for one last glance. Old Man Lin was still hunched slightly at the doorway, grinning as he watched them walk away. Under the pale, ghostly moonlight, the sight made an involuntary chill run down the spine.

It wasn’t until the two disappeared into the shadows of the night that Old Man Lin turned and went back inside.

“Dad, hurry up and eat. This one’s from the leg, it’s got the best texture.”

“Good son. I didn’t raise you in vain.”

“Dad, I’m so hungry... so hungry...“

“I’m starving too...“

Meanwhile, Li Yanchu and Bai Hongtu wandered through the village, silently taking everything in with unreadable expressions.

After nightfall, Longmen Village was eerily silent. It was dark and silent, and it was so still that not even a dog’s bark or a cat’s meow could be heard.

Overhead, a terrifying black cloud loomed directly above the village, like a great beast with its jaws already parted, waiting to devour everything below.

“This place feels completely different between day and night,” Bai Hongtu said, frowning.

If Longmen Village by day felt peaceful and serene, with a faint trace of ethereal charm, then Longmen Village by night exuded a cold, eerie aura that made one’s skin crawl.

“It all seemed to start when the moon in the sky began turning red,” Li Yanchu said thoughtfully.

The houses in Longmen Village were all quite simple; they were all built from mud and straw. Each household had its own fenced-in yard.

In front of one such home sat a middle-aged woman with a sharp, mean face. She was perched on a small wooden stool just outside her gate. In her hand, she held a sharp knife, which she was aggressively grinding against a large green stone.

Shing... Shing...

The harsh sound rang out unnaturally loud in the silence of the night, and the middle-aged woman cursed under her breath as she sharpened the saber. Her eyes gleamed faint red, and she kept muttering bitterly.

“Damn fool... only been gone three or four days and already came back looking half-dead. Who knows which tramp he’s been busy with. Useless bastard... all you know how to do is piss me off.”

As she sharpened the knife, she swallowed hard, as if extremely hungry. Her eyes were bloodshot, as if she was ready to devour someone whole.

Yet when Li Yanchu and Bai Hongtu passed by her yard, this sharp-tongued woman acted as if she didn’t see them at all.

Splash... Splash...

From another yard up ahead came the sound of water being drawn from a well. A woman was bent over, pulling up bucket after bucket. Though her face wasn’t clearly visible, her figure was unmistakable. She was voluptuous, with full, round curves that gave off a strong, primal allure.

She stood there, in the dead of night, using the ice-cold well water to wash her face. Her appearance was plain, but she carried a seductive air that was hard to ignore, especially when she bent over to draw water.

“Lady Zhou, dressing up all flashy even after your man’s dead? You must be real desperate and hungry, huh?”

Lady Zhou!

Li Yanchu’s heart stirred. So this woman exuding raw, primal allure was Lady Zhou?

Lady Zhou sneered, not backing down. “Guizi’s wife, sure, your man’s still alive... but what use is he, really?”

“Pah! You shameless thing! All you do is think about seducing random men!”

“What’s wrong with random men? The taste of 'em... mm, even when I eat them raw, they’re delicious.”

The moment the word “eat” came up, both women’s eyes lit with a red gleam, faces dripping with hunger and desire.

Guizi’s wife suddenly stood up and, gripping the sharp knife in her hand, walked straight back into the house.

Thud! Thud!

The dull thuds of saber stabbing into flesh and hacking into bone echoed from within.

“Faster, dear! I’m starving, hurry up!”

A chilling air seemed to fall over the entire Longmen Village.

“This village is seriously messed up...“ Bai Hongtu muttered in disbelief.

Li Yanchu took a deep breath. “How in the world did Zhang Hai manage to live here for so long?”

“Right? I can’t even stand one night in this cursed place, but he stayed on and on?”

A thoughtful look appeared in Bai Hongtu’s eyes.

Li Yanchu glanced at the house of Guizi’s wife and shook his head. “Maybe Zhang Hai didn’t notice anything while he was here... or maybe this village has only changed recently.”

The two walked side by side, moving forward slowly. Behind them, Lady Zhou suddenly turned her head, pausing her actions, and stared fixedly in the direction they had gone.

The houses on both sides of the path were seemingly quiet, but if one listened closely, one could hear the sounds of meat being chewed and bones being chopped coming from within.

Nearly every villager could be heard muttering about being hungry, and yet they were clearly eating meat and drinking soup.

The two soon reached the center of Longmen Village, where the ancestral shrine of the Lin family stood.

Although it wasn’t large in scale, it was built with an imposing presence, and its layout followed a feng shui design that concealed wind and gathered water.

1. The water deer (Hydropotes inermis) is a small deer species native to Korea and China. Its prominent tusks, similar to those of musk deer, have led to both subspecies being colloquially named vampire deer in English-speaking areas to which they have been imported. ☜