With an angry roar, Zhou Yan’s shoe planted firmly on the butcher’s face with a solid thwack.
The fat on the butcher’s face rippled like waves.
But his body didn’t even sway. With a forceful grip, he lifted Zhou Yan up, grinning as he praised: “So fierce! What fine meat indeed!”
His tone was like a Cantonese at a seafood market encountering a lively, struggling crab. He stared at Zhou Yan and swallowed hard: “Fragrant, truly fragrant. Damn, haven’t seen meat this aromatic in eight lifetimes.”
“Forget eating it—just being kicked by feet like these makes my body feel two taels lighter.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his face filled with intoxication.
Drool was nearly flowing from between his teeth.
Then he swallowed hard again, forcibly suppressing his hunger as he bound Zhou Yan.
“This kind of fine meat can’t be devoured raw or stir-fried over high heat. It must be boiled or steamed. When eating a person, you need that human flavor—the refinement lies in being tender and delicious.”
“What a pity, what a pity—we don’t have that good fortune.”
“In three days, Granny Weaver of South Mountain will celebrate her birthday. We were just worrying about what to present, but meat this fragrant is worthy enough.”
The butcher personally carried him around the meat shop.
At the great locust tree below the crossroads, he circled three times, muttering incantations. Then, facing southeast, he called out “Open!” and kicked at the air. The atmosphere seemed to split open like a doorway, and carrying Zhou Yan, he charged through.
Inside was bone-chillingly cold. An enormous manor stretched before them, lit by greenish lanterns.
In a single step, they had crossed between heaven and earth.
Zhou Yan was stunned, instinctively looking back.
The butcher’s shop at the crossroads was still there, bathed in bright sunlight outside, while inside was filled with freezing, sinister air.
This…
Zhou Yan’s thoughts froze.
Was this right? This wasn’t right, was it?
The butcher carried Zhou Yan to a side courtyard, gave some instructions, then tossed Zhou Yan into a cage.
“Boss, new goods?”
A man approached to examine Zhou Yan, his eyes gleaming green.
The butcher said: “Just acquired today. Watch him carefully. In three days, the Manor Lord will celebrate Granny’s birthday here, and this one must be served as a dish.”
“Don’t lay a finger on him, and don’t pinch off pieces of flesh to sneak a taste.”
“Keep him well-fed.”
After giving detailed instructions, the butcher stared at Zhou Yan, swallowing hard. His teeth seemed to sharpen, clearly wanting to eat. Finally, his stomach rumbled loudly. He lowered his head and bit into his own arm, drawing blood and sucking deeply, only then suppressing that appetite.
“Never seen such fragrant human flesh!”
————
“Damn it, what kind of place is this?”
Magic? Divine powers? Or some mechanism?
Only after the butcher left did Zhou Yan finally relax slightly.
His heart was filled with intense fear, unease at being in a strange environment, and finally, an inexplicable rage at ending up in this hellish situation. His emotions were a chaotic mess.
Zhou Yan exhaled deeply.
He clapped his hands against his cheeks.
Using deep breathing to control his emotions, his mind was filled with surging thoughts, but amid all the confusion, there was only one thing Zhou Yan could be certain of:
These creatures—whether human or not—planned to eat him in three days.
Everything else could wait.
Right now, the most important thing was to escape! Save himself!
“Young master, young master, are you alright?”
A low voice calling out brought Zhou Yan back to his senses. Only then did he notice there was another person in the cage—a woman.
After Zhou Yan collected himself, he reluctantly replied: “I’m fine.”
“You are… were you also sold here?”
The woman was quiet for a moment, then still nodded.
Zhou Yan felt he’d asked a rather stupid question, but since they were in this predicament anyway, he decided to ask this woman about things.
But she didn’t know much either. Going round and round, she only said that suddenly war had broken out. Near Chang’an, everything had seemed fine the day before, then suddenly chaos erupted, and once it started, it wouldn’t stop.
Chang’an… was it the Chang’an I knew?
Hearing the familiar name, Zhou Yan felt momentarily dazed.
The woman said: “Young master, you’re… injured.” Zhou Yan looked at his arm—whether from tumbling down the mountain or struggling just now, there was a wound still bleeding continuously.
“Oh, it’s actually not bad, see.”
“Hiss!!”
Zhou Yan waved his hand, but the wound really did hurt. This movement made him wince and bare his teeth.
The woman searched around, then seemed to remember something. After hesitating, she pulled out a piece of white cloth from her bosom and simply bandaged Zhou Yan’s arm. Keeping her head down, her face showed some embarrassment and complexity as she said quietly:
“This is the white cloth used when keeping vigil for my daughter. It’s still clean.”
“Please don’t mind it, young master.”
Keeping vigil…
Zhou Yan didn’t know how to respond, and could only say: “My condolences.”
“But, isn’t it improper for me to use this?”
He was half genuinely thinking this, half feeling somewhat disturbed by it.
The woman said: “It’s fine. She… young master doesn’t know her.”
“She had a lively personality and liked talking to people passing by our door. When travelers were thirsty, she’d run home, take her own bowl, and bring them a bowl of water. She wouldn’t mind.”
When speaking of her daughter, her face bore a trace of faint smile:
“Young master never met her.”
“She was small in stature, but seemed to have endless energy. When her father came home, she’d run over with a towel, always pestering her brother to play with her, crying loudly when he had to study instead of playing.”
“On rainy days, when roadside snails crawled slowly, she’d worry about them being crushed, so she’d pick them up one by one and carefully place them on leaves.”
“As if she had endless energy.”
When mothers speak of their daughters, they’re always gentle.
Zhou Yan said: “She was a good child.”
Then the woman shrank back and said: “I sold her.”
!!
The enormous contradiction froze Zhou Yan’s softened expression, especially since he’d personally experienced what “selling” meant in this world, knowing what the woman’s “sold” implied.
The woman kept her head down: “When the war broke out, we had to return to our hometown to seek refuge with the grandparents. Then she fell ill—that little one with so much energy gradually lost her strength.”
“We prioritized feeding her, but there was no grain left, no food at all.”
“The whole family was about to starve to death.”
“We had no choice but to sell her.”
“We got some money, bought some rat meat and rotten cabbage, cooked a pot of meat and vegetable porridge. Her brother only recovered after eating the porridge, then cried out asking where his sister was, saying they had to save some for her.”
“I wondered, where was she? Had she too become a bowl of meat porridge?”
“Looking at that meat and vegetable porridge, I felt like vomiting.”
“But I still finished eating it.”
“It was food, it was life, but where was my little daughter?”
Zhou Yan’s eyes showed compassion. Touching the white cloth on his arm, he asked quietly:
“What about your son?”
The woman said: “After that, her brother also fell ill, died, and was sold.”
“Now it’s me.”
“I secretly sold myself. Boss Zhao was kind-hearted. Yesterday I secretly sent the money home before coming back.”
The woman said: “Someone has to go home.”
Zhou Yan looked at her and asked:
“Going back alone like this—is that still a home?”
The woman’s expression froze.
The atmosphere suddenly became oppressive and quiet.
After a long silence, the woman looked like a fallen leaf in autumn rain, her face showing some desolation as she asked: “Moving forward, we can always reach home, can’t we? Young master is a good person, but if we don’t go home, can we still turn back? Young master.”
Neither of them spoke anymore. Zhou Yan felt the atmosphere here was very oppressive. He contemplated the situation, thinking about how to escape, when suddenly the guard watching the cage came over, shouting for the woman to come out.
The woman stumbled to her feet. As she passed Zhou Yan, she lowered her head and said:
“We all ate that bowl of meat and vegetable porridge.”
“So, young master, only this white cloth remains clean.”
She said: “She’s truly still very clean, young master. Please don’t despise this piece of cloth.”
Zhou Yan suddenly felt the white cloth on his arm was somewhat painfully prickly.
The woman was led away by the guard.
Zhou Yan leaned his head against the cage.
When she said those last words, was she crying? Or had she actually been crying all along?
Just without tears anymore.
Zhou Yan didn’t know.
That pot-bellied thin man turned around, muttering: “This world’s strange—you can still see someone selling themselves. If it were up to me, just kill and be done with it after selling. Master Zhao just likes watching the spectacle, giving her money to go home and deliver it first.”
“Talking about fairness and propriety.”
“Bah! Think you’re something special with a bit of cultivation, acting all high and mighty. In the end, you’re just a meat seller! What’s there to be proud of?!”
He grumbled as he brought over a bowl of black soup, staring at Zhou Yan while swallowing hard twice, cursing about the fragrance. He grabbed Zhou Yan’s collar, yanked him over, and force-fed him the bowl of black medicinal soup. Watching Zhou Yan collapse there coughing, he said triumphantly:
“Might as well let you know—for these three days, you can’t eat anything, only drink this laxative soup. Got to clean out all the filth from your intestines.”
“Otherwise, if the Manor Lord and Granny Weaver eat something dirty, we’ll also have to take a dip in the oil cauldron.”
After speaking, he looked at Zhou Yan’s bright, clear eyes and wiped his drool: “Good eyes, really want to thread them on bamboo skewers, dip them in sugar water—tsk tsk tsk, delicious, what flavor!”
Zhou Yan braced himself against the ground, head down coughing, disheveled but with clear eyes.
“Not that much strength…”
Recalling the struggle just now, the force this man used when administering the medicine.
Much greater than ordinary people, but not reaching the butcher’s level.
The man left. Zhou Yan unzipped his jacket and took out anti-diarrheal medicine. Regardless of whether it was the right remedy, he tilted his head back and swallowed it dry.
Taking laxatives until dehydrated could actually be fatal.
He had somehow ended up in this place while assisting with mountain search and rescue. Though he’d lost many things, some remained. Feeling around—no flashlight or phone, but water purification tablets were still there, along with a folding Swiss Army knife, a magnesium rod for fire-starting, and a fire striker.
Magnesium rod…
Afraid of oil cauldrons.
Zhou Yan’s eyes flickered.
He took out the magnesium rod and Swiss Army knife.
————
“Hey, what’s with that person? Never smelled anything so fragrant before, really making me drool. If I could really get a taste of this meat, I’d die happy.” The pot-bellied guard stuffed steamed buns into his mouth, unable to stop salivating.
He remembered the arm meat from a three-year-old child he’d eaten years ago.
Just one piece.
Fragrant, truly fragrant!
He’d wanted to snatch the eyeballs but failed.
In the end, that whole family’s eyeballs were threaded on bamboo skewers like candied hawthorn.
So beautiful!
He knew that small-time demons like himself could only empty chamber pots and watch gates—eating such fine meat was beyond his station. He could only satisfy his cravings here.
It was midnight, and he was dozing when he suddenly heard screaming from inside.
He startled awake, stumbling inside in confusion.
He saw that person clutching something while lying there, screaming in agony. The little demon’s forehead broke out in cold sweat as he cried out “Grandmother!” and frantically opened the cage, pulling at the meat.
But unexpectedly, as soon as he reached out to pull, that person went with his momentum, turning and lunging into his embrace.
Oh my, truly fragrant! Made his head spin with the aroma.
The little demon thought, eating just one bite of such meat would make death worthwhile! Then something burst into his eyes.
The little demon screamed: “Who?!!”
Zhou Yan had cloth wrapped around his hand, covered with a large amount of scraped magnesium powder. He pressed it hard into the just-awakened demon’s eyes, pushing forcefully inward.
Metal magnesium powder meeting water creates a reaction.
His right hand used the fire striker to ignite, jabbing fiercely. Open flame, magnesium powder, water—instantly erupting with tremendous heat.
“Your father!”
