Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 59 White Dew Sprouts
—Why are we talking about the season?
Just as Zhou You was about to ask another question, the old Taoist's voice suddenly became urgent.

"Shut up, don't speak or move, just stay here. In this situation, we can only gamble on whether it can eat and drink its fill and then let you go!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou You immediately stopped.

So, all that remained before him was that ordinary scene.

Moonlight streamed down from the sky, the wind howled across the wilderness, mingling with the snores of the caravan members—it all seemed so ordinary.

But Zhou You's gaze slowly turned cold.

Before they knew it, two of the caravan's snores had stopped.

Of course, normally snoring doesn't last forever when a person is sleeping; sometimes turning over or smacking one's lips can interrupt the sound. But the problem is that these two sounds stopped so abruptly, and...
After that, it never sounded again.

Zhou You turned his head very slightly, casting his gaze toward the two people.

Everything is normal, there is no problem.

The two who had stopped speaking were simply lying on the ground, with no monsters on them, and appeared to have simply entered a deeper sleep.

Apart from
Their chests had stopped rising and falling.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind swept by, and the clothes the two were wearing were ripped off as if there was no friction. Then, their bodies floated up in the wind, like a flag fluttering in mid-air.

—Without realizing it.

These two people were nothing but human skin.

Seeing this scene, the old Taoist priest's words grew increasingly anxious.

"My dear disciple, don't move, whatever you do, don't move. Although the White Dew Spits Catkins is not as powerful as the Grand Duke Jupiter, it is still a notoriously ferocious monster in the entire Cangzhou. But contrary to its reputation, it doesn't eat much. As long as you stay still, you might be able to escape this calamity."

Zhou You didn't reply. He remained in that half-asleep position, squinting at the sleeping caravan members.

Finally, he found some clues.

Beside a merchant's head, a new sprout suddenly appeared, its vibrant green color so pleasing to the eye, so out of place with the dry, yellow earth. The sprout grew rapidly, quickly progressing from seedling to bud stage, and then from bud stage to flower bell.
In the blink of an eye, a plump and ripe fruit appeared before my eyes.

Then, the fruit seemed to have finally reached its peak of ripeness, and suddenly burst open with a bang.

—But what appears inside is not the pulp of any fruit bud.

Instead, it was a pale, eerie little hand.

Zhou You probably understood why this thing was called 'White Dew Sprouting Catkins'.

But before the thought could even cross his mind, the hand reached out to the merchant's ear, and then, as if invisible and intangible, it lightly slipped into the ear canal.

The merchant's snoring stopped, and his face instantly changed from peaceful sleep to extreme contortion, while his whole body began to tremble as if he were suffering some kind of extreme pain.

But soon, his body calmed down.

A strange sound was heard, not loud, but like a swarm of ants rustling and gnawing at something.

It was especially chilling.

The old Taoist priest explained in a low voice from the side.

"This is how the White Dew Spits out its seeds when it's eating. First, it silently sneaks into a person's ear, then it eats up part of the medulla oblongata, rendering the person unable to speak or move. Then, it slowly gnaws away at the inside, just like some kind of parasite or termite."

Zhou You's lips parted slightly, and he asked in an extremely soft voice, "You're so cautious even when hunting, you don't seem like some great demon or monster. Master, are you really that afraid?"

The old Taoist priest responded with a similarly slight sneer.

"That's just because they're too lazy to put in the effort. Take you, for example. If I asked you to pick some fruit in an orchard, would you turn around and put on heavy armor, carrying a longbow and steel sword, fully armed to pick it? It's the same with Bai Lu Tu Xu. It's just a meal. Of course, you'll do whatever is easiest."

"This way, we can avoid disturbing the Grand Duke Jupiter and causing a fight between the two sides."

After they finished speaking, neither of them said a word.

Soon, the person's insides were eaten, leaving only a thread hanging from their ear, which swayed in the wind.

Then came the second, the third, and the fourth.
Those who had long since turned into the fruit of the Tai Sui were devoured one by one. Flags fluttered and human skins drifted throughout the camp, and occasionally one could catch a glimpse of faces filled with pain.

But upon seeing this scene, the old Taoist priest suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

"It looks like these people are enough to feed Bai Lu Tu Xu. We can just stay here and watch. The guy who's already full probably won't even look at your few pounds of lean meat."

Zhou You nodded slightly in agreement.
-
How much time passed, until the moon had gradually set in the west, was unknown. Only then did this strange feast come to an end.

The caravan leader was the last to die, and after his skin was blown away by the wind, no new shoots grew on the ground.

The old Taoist priest was finally able to relax. He raised his remaining head, about to say something to Zhou You, when he suddenly realized...

Zhou You remained expressionless and did not move an inch.

“My disciple, this matter is all in the past. What are you still standing there like a wooden stake for? Are you too scared to move?”

Zhou You suddenly glanced at the old Taoist priest with a strange look in his eyes.

"Master, can't you hear the bell?"

What's that ringtone?

Seeing the old Taoist's bewildered expression, Zhou You paused for a moment, but still shook his head.

Then, he tilted his head slightly and looked at his wrist.

The brass bells did not stop; instead, they rang even more rapidly, as if something was frantically approaching. The sound was so intense that it even caused a sharp, piercing pain in the ears.

At this moment, the old Taoist priest seemed to have noticed something was wrong. He closed his eyes, carefully sensed for a while, and then suddenly said in a voice squeezed out from between his teeth.

"Damn, this thing is still here even after it finished eating! It was clearly full. Could it be that...? My goodness, just how bad is your luck that you managed to be noticed by Bai Lu Tu Xu!"

Zhou You didn't reply, but instead took a deep breath and silently activated the item he had obtained earlier.

[The Song of the Ghost's Bait]

The next moment, he felt as if he were soaked in ice water. A chilling aura, seemingly from nowhere, instantly seeped into his bones. At that moment, even the beating of his heart began to slow down.

He was as if he were half-dead.

But then, Zhou You also felt something inside his body disappear along with it. Although no one said anything, he understood it very clearly.

—That is the pain sensation of a part of my own body.

　Thank you Black and White P for the 500-point reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)