Starting with the flesh-based stimulant

So the peddler did so much, from stealing the basin, to attracting the attention of Master Taochuan, to throwing himself out as a scapegoat to further provoke the other party, and finally to showing himself and leading the other party to Jincheng.

It's like they've opened their pockets wide, waiting for Grandpa Momokawa to walk right into their trap!

No matter what choice Uncle Taochuan makes, once he enters Jincheng, he will definitely be kept there.

Because this is Yongqiang's home turf, and Yongqiang and the peddler are in cahoots.

They were after Taochuan's land and identity.

Zhou He exhaled slowly.

These things were actually expected, so they didn't surprise him.

What truly unsettled him were the things Grandpa Jincheng said about wild meat.

And, it's been a long time since I've heard the word "Earth".

And then there's the line, "That shouldn't have been the ending," which follows Earth.

He didn't say he wanted to go back to Earth, nor did he say how he planned to escape.

He was saying that the Earth shouldn't have ended up like this.

Zhou He remembered the water in the broken bowl with the red rooster in the wild meat mine outside the city, the tiny bubbles floating on the surface, and the familiar singing coming from beneath the water.

Previously, Zhou had made countless guesses, but...

He spoke with a hint of bitterness:

"Has it gotten to this point?"

Yongqiang nodded:

"There's no way to reverse it now. We can only save the remaining people. We are Earth's hope for self-rescue."

Hope? Zhou He pondered these two words.

He suddenly felt a little lost.

He neither pressed down on the brim of his hat nor pinched the web of his hand.

What's making him tremble now isn't fear; the hypnotic switch he'd set up beforehand can't handle his current emotions.

After a long pause, he slowly managed a bitter smile:

"I thought it would take me a long time to find this information."

"There isn't that much time left, Zhou He. Most of us old folks are already dead. I'll be next."

Yongqiang spoke casually, as if the word "death" he uttered had nothing to do with him.

Before Zhou He could ask any more questions, Yongqiang continued:

"In this world, people eat meat, meat eats people, and after eating people's flesh, they will be eaten by people."

"Everyone is meat, everyone is eaten, I have eaten meat too, I am no exception."

"You must help Chen Erlv. He's clever, and you're smart too, much smarter than us."

"And another thing," he said, pulling a thin board from his hand. It felt like a stone.

There were no words or pictures on it, only a small circle that looked somewhat familiar to Zhou He.

"Does it look familiar? Doesn't it resemble an iPhone 4s?"

Yongqiang chuckled:

"This was invented by an old friend. You can send messages to other people by pressing this button."

"Zhou He, live on."

Yongqiang's eyes were cloudy, but they looked somewhat gentle in the moonlight.

Having said that, he waved his hand:

"Go that way, out of the city, and go to Taochuan to find Chen Erlv tomorrow. You two can discuss things there."

Zhou He was about to ask something else, but Yongqiang was no longer going to answer. He stood up, walked out of the boiler room, his steps unsteady but firm.

Standing in the room, suppressing the pounding in his heart, Zhou He pulled down the brim of his hat and walked into the alley without looking back.

On the other side, Yongqiang walked out of the boiler room and strolled down the street, as if he wanted to measure the city that belonged to him with his footsteps.

From the dead of night until dawn.

When I got to the square, it was crowded with people.

All sorts of novelties were piled up on the stalls on both sides of the road, and the asphalt on the road was drying in the sun, with a faint smell.

Keep moving forward, step by step.

Yongqiang's figure became lighter and lighter, and more and more ethereal.

It was so illusory that even if he bumped into someone, it was like a shadow, and the other person wouldn't notice him at all.

Reaching the end of the street, Yongqiang looked at the bald man standing opposite and chuckled softly.

"Is Monk Hongen here too?"

"Hmph, if it weren't for Venerable Anjie's decree, I wouldn't have known that you, Jia Yongqiang, had been pretending to be the Jincheng Master for so many years."

The monk Hongen's face was full of disgust.

"How can you call it pretense? I've inherited the incense offerings of this golden city and raised its flesh; haven't I been a very good master?"

Yongqiang's old face showed no anger, remaining calm as still water.

The monk Hongen put his hands together and suddenly bowed:

"This bow is a tribute to our twenty-year friendship, but you are a wild beast with open eyes, and I cannot allow you to wreak havoc on the world."

Yongqiang shook his head:

"What about the others? You're the only monk who's passed all five trials. If you want to eat me, you'll probably just choke to death."

As he finished speaking, several figures slowly surrounded him from the four corners.

Blocking the road behind Yongqiang was a woman dressed as a Taoist nun, carrying a cowbell that made a clear, ringing sound as she walked.

On the left is a cook holding a cleaver. He is incredibly tall, over two meters tall, and thin.

On the right is a child who, despite it being summer, is wearing a red cotton coat.

Neither the Taoist nun nor the cook gave Yongqiang a second glance, but the child in the red cotton coat surprised him.

"You're already a spirit holding a lamp, which god are you eating?"

Unlike the monk Hongen, the little girl didn't show disgust on her face; rather, she seemed to have the greed of a child. Without saying much, she opened her arms towards Yongqiang.

"Wild meat opens its eyes, wreaking havoc on the world... Slurp, Anan's time to eat."

As she finished speaking, red water droplets, carrying a fishy smell, began to drip from her open wrists, starting from her red cotton coat.

is blood.

More and more blood dripped, and soon the ground was stained red, like a river.

Everyone was standing in the river.

Yongqiang was surrounded by blood, with several whirlpools swirling around him. Inside the whirlpools, countless tiny mouths opened, eager to bite him.

But Yongqiang ignored the voices and just stared at the little girl, then suddenly seemed to remember something:

"I've seen you before, your name is Anan... Anan, you're still a child who grew up in my Jincheng."

Anan on the other side ignored him, or rather, she had lost the will to pay attention to him.

Only endless greed and hunger drove the mouths on the ground to approach Yongqiang.

Behind her, the Taoist nun frantically shook her bells. Amidst the clanging and banging sounds, one after another, hideous ghosts crawled out from the blood, from mid-air, and from the nun's body.

Each of them was slender and thin, except for their enormous bellies, which were so large that their skin was almost transparent.

The cook on the left straightened his chef's hat, and a fire ignited in the air. The flames, like snakes, coiled and rose, licking a skewer placed on the fire.

The monk Hongen didn't say much. He plopped down on the ground, took out a wooden fish and struck it. The sound, accompanied by the cowbell of the Taoist nun, distorted the surrounding space with each ring.

Golden rays of light, like ropes, coiled towards Yongqiang. Several mouths sprouted from the ends of the ropes, biting at the mouths beside them while simultaneously biting at Yongqiang.

Yongqiang remained silent, then spoke with some confusion:

"The wild meat opens its eyes, but why are we meat?"