Dao Qi Wu Zang Guan Guan: I became a Daoist Master in the 1990s

Chapter 142 Reflections of Purgatory, Human Evil Deeds

"Er Gou? Er Gouzi?" he called out in a low voice, but there was only the crackling of firewood and the bubbling of meat soup in the pot, and no one responded.

A chill instantly ran down Wang Shuanzi's spine.

He stared wide-eyed, searching through the crowd, but he couldn't find Li Ergou's thin figure.

Just then, a tall, burly man who seemed to be the leader by the pot stuck a sharpened twig into the pot, picked up a large piece of stewed meat that was already mushy, grinned, revealing a set of yellow teeth: "That's about right! Come on, divide the meat!"

The surrounding refugees stirred up a commotion, surging forward like hungry wolves, yet seemingly maintaining a strange order as they took pieces of meat, large and small, from the tall, strong man's hands one by one.

Those who got the meat couldn't wait to stuff it into their mouths, scalding it so hot they were practically hissing, but they couldn't bear to spit it out. They swallowed it whole without even chewing it a few times, their faces showing an expression of extreme satisfaction mixed with a twisted one.

The aroma of the meat is even more intense.

Wang Shuanzi's stomach felt like it was being scratched by a hand; reason and fear were gradually defeated by the maddening hunger.

He struggled to his feet and staggered to the tall, burly man, his voice trembling uncontrollably: "This...this brother...please have mercy, give me...give me some food!"

Upon hearing this, the tall, burly man looked down at Wang Shuanzi, his eerie smile deepening. There was something in his eyes that Wang Shuanzi couldn't understand—a mixture of pity, mockery, and above all, a cold numbness.

"Oh? Gone? In the middle of the night, where do you think he could have gone?" the man asked in a rough voice.

Wang Shuanzi's expression froze for a moment, then he said, "Please... have pity on me... just one sip, even just one sip of soup!"

The man stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly chuckled. The laughter echoed in the dilapidated temple, sounding particularly eerie.

Several people nearby who were gnawing on meat chuckled softly, their eyes all fixed on Wang Shuanzi.

"Alright then." The man stirred the pot with a twig, picked out a small piece of meat with skin and bone, and handed it to Wang Shuanzi. "I'm sorry you look so pitiful, here you go."

He mumbled the last few words, and Wang Shuanzi either didn't hear them or didn't care.

All he could see was that steaming, dripping piece of meat!

He practically lunged forward, grabbing the piece of meat. His palms were red from the heat, but he held it tightly, repeatedly saying, "Thank you! Thank you, brother! Thank you!"

He shrank back into the corner and eagerly opened his mouth to bite!
The meat was half-cooked, extremely fishy and pungent, with an indescribable strange taste. It was very chewy and even got stuck in your teeth.

But at this moment, in Wang Shuanzi's mouth, this was undoubtedly the most exquisite delicacy in the world!
He wolfed it down, devouring most of it in just a few bites, oblivious to the fact that his tongue was burning from the heat.

Just as he was gnawing on the joint of the bone in his hand, his movements suddenly froze.

The flickering firelight illuminated the mangled piece of meat in his hand.

On that patch of brown skin, near where the bone connects, there is a dark red, blurry oval birthmark!
Wang Shuanzi's head buzzed, as if a giant bell had struck it hard inside!
This birthmark... he knew this birthmark all too well!

Li Ergou has an identical birthmark on his left calf! When they were kids, they would often tease Ergou about it when they went fishing in the river together!

He then burst into tears.

The crying abruptly tore through the stifling air in the dilapidated temple. It wasn't sadness, but a wailing spurted out from the very core of one's being, laced with blood and foam.

He trembled violently, the piece of meat in his hand felt as hot as a branding iron, and the dark red birthmark on it stared at him like a mocking eye.

He had already guessed it.

The strange smell of meat, Li Ergou's disappearance, and the beast-like green light and eerie order of the people around him...

But the truth was suppressed by the madness of hunger.

However, at this moment, the birthmark was like the last wedge, piercing through his self-deceptive shell and completely exposing the bloody truth.

His cries caused a moment of deathly silence in the temple. Then...

"Ho ho."

"hey-hey!"

"Hahaha!!"

The refugees gathered around the pot suddenly burst into loud laughter. The laughter was dry and hoarse, like the wailing of an owl or the banging of a broken gong. It echoed in layers in the gloomy, dilapidated temple, filled with unspeakable malice.

Their eyes shone eerily in the firelight, not with the joy of sharing food, but with an extremely distorted pleasure.

Look, here comes another one! Another one who's gone through what we've gone through!

Another human has transformed into something like us!

Their laughter was filled with a morbid satisfaction, and they were completely absorbed in watching Wang Shuanzi's suffering.

The tall, burly man laughed the loudest, his yellow teeth bared. He stepped forward, his shadow looming over the huddled Wang Shuanzi, his voice filled with mockery and cruelty.

"What's wrong? Why are you suddenly wailing like a mourner while you're eating?"
Is it because you think the meat your brother gave you isn't tasty enough? Or that it's not good enough?

He deliberately bent down, bringing his face close to Wang Shuanzi's tear-streaked face, his hot, stale breath hitting his face: "Since you don't care, then give it back to me! Give it to me!"

As he spoke, a rough, greasy hand suddenly grabbed at the piece of flesh that Wang Shuanzi was clutching tightly.

"Do not!!!"

Wang Shuanzi let out a non-human roar, like a wild beast whose tail had been stepped on. He unleashed incredible power, suddenly turned to the side and curled up, using his entire body to protect the piece of flesh.

Fear, despair, and an irresistible hunger stemming from the most primal instincts devoured his last shred of reason like lava.

He cried out in anguish as he frantically stuffed the piece of meat bearing his best friend's mark into his mouth, biting, tearing, and swallowing it fiercely!
Tears and snot mixed with bits of meat smeared all over his face, and a suffocating "hoarse" sound came from his throat, like a dying cry or a gluttonous feast.

He ate with such gusto and focus, as if he wanted to chew up and swallow all the pain, fear, and guilt!

The tall, burly man's outstretched hand froze in mid-air. As he watched Wang Shuanzi frantically devour his food while simultaneously breaking down in tears, the mockery on his face gradually transformed into a sneer of extreme satisfaction, almost admiration.

He slowly straightened up and raised his chin at the still laughing refugees around him.

"Hit! Really hit!"

He praised in a rough voice, as if he had approved a work of art, "You're a talent! You're tough! You can survive! You've made it! Stay here!"

Wang Shuanzi seemed not to hear anything. He just kept eating until the last bit of meat and tendon was devoured, and even his finger joints were sucked until they turned white. He still clenched the thin bone tightly, and his body convulsed from violent sobbing.

The laughter gradually subsided, leaving only the crackling of the firewood and the bubbling of the pot.

All gazes, whether numb, lingering with twisted pleasure, or tinged with a newborn greed, involuntarily turned once again to the churning iron cauldron in the center of the hall.

The flickering flames reflected on the thick, oily soup, while the rising steam twisted and distorted, causing the reflections of the blurry chunks of meat and bones floating in the pot to sway, stretch, and deform.

They collided with each other, sometimes coming together, sometimes scattering, and in the rising steam, they seemed to transform into countless twisted, painful, and silently howling ghosts, floating and sinking in that pot of murky, oily soup, suffering eternal torment.

That place is no longer a pot of meat soup.

It was clearly a reflection of purgatory, filled with greed, despair, and all the humanity that had been devoured, bubbling and boiling with the deepest evils in the world.

(End of this chapter)