Starting with the flesh-based stimulant

Zhou He leaned against the temple wall, listening to his own heartbeat.

money for the journey.

These two words were suddenly pushed into Zhou He's mind from the wave of hunger.

He remembered the old hunchback saying, "Young Master Zhou is a wealthy man, he doesn't lack this little bit of travel money."

At that time, he did not understand what travel expenses meant.

His instincts now told him that money was the rule of this world.

His body was more honest than he was; his fingers knew where to go.

He wants to eat!

Zhou He clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his palms.

No!

You can't eat it!

"boom!"

A wave of hunger swept across the land once again.

If the people in this world survive by "eating" others.

His situation in this world is not as simple as "waking up in a strange place".

There are no resources available.

They have no identity.

They knew nothing about the rules.

He needs an opportunity.

The goal is to acquire the power to survive in the shortest possible time.

And this opportunity lies on the offering table!

The old hunchback was the one who had the travel expenses.

He needs this money for his journey!

Zhou He stared at the ugly body on the ground, motionless.

No light shone through the roof of the dilapidated temple; it was pitch black.

He finally sighed.

My hands and feet were a bit stiff from the activity, which had lasted for so long.

He straightened up and walked over.

Place the blade against the old hunchback's chest wound.

Let's start by cutting here.

Zhou He closed his eyes.

next second!

A sudden warmth traveled up the blade.

The old hunchback was already dead, so naturally he had no body temperature.

It was something alive, pulsating, with color, smell, and emotion.

Following the knife, it entered Zhou He's body.

Zhou He couldn't describe that feeling.

Contentment, happiness, and a feeling of elation.

All words seem empty and pale at this moment.

If I had to describe it, it would be something like... he seemed to feel a little safer.

The next instant, Zhou's mind exploded with a "boom".

He saw it!

When I saw the old hunchback, he was still a young hunchback. He was taken away from his home, where he had seven brothers and sisters and they were starving, by a thin old butcher.

I saw a thin old man carrying a hunchback, carrying meat back and forth.

The old man carried meat on his back, and the hunchback held a lamp.

When the meat was delivered to the host's house, the old man placed it next to the person eating it and told the hunchback to light the oil lamp.

The hunchback was flustered and kept losing his balance on the oil lamp wick, so the old man slapped him on the back of the head.

When the host invites the young hunchback to stay for dinner, the old man will give him the oiliest dishes.

The hunchback saw others wearing brand-new clothes, so he stole the old man's money and ran to the tailor shop. When he returned wearing the new clothes, the old man beat him up badly.

The old man told him, "We meat merchants will always only be able to wear tattered clothes."

Zhou He also saw that before the old man died, he handed the knife to the hunchback and told him that when he died, the travel permit would be released, and the hunchback should take the travel permit and eat himself.

He ate up all the money he had saved up his whole life to inherit his trade as a butcher and become the new butcher.

When Zhou He saw that the hunchback was unwilling, he knelt on the ground and cried, begging the old man not to die.

The old man simply told the hunchback that all the money he had saved in his life wasn't enough to buy a new piece of meat.

If the hunchback wants to "go out" and become a true meat carrier, this is the only way.

The old man's last words were to advise the hunchback to save up for his journey and buy new travel permits.

"Going out" to be a meat carrier is just the beginning. To "get on the right track" and become a butcher, you need to earn more money and save more travel expenses.

The hunchback asked the old man why he had to become a butcher.

The old man didn't speak; he was already dead.

The little hunchback ate the old man, just as Zhou He ate the old hunchback.

Then it was just day after day, year after year, carrying and delivering meat to earn money for travel expenses.

until--

He died at the hands of Zhou He.

Fragments of fragmented memories flowed before Zhou He's eyes like a third-person film.

Then it disappeared.

There was no brain-damaging pain as Zhou He had imagined; he felt as if he had just watched a movie.

He seemed to suddenly realize something.

So, eating people doesn't actually mean swallowing them whole and chewing them up.

Instead, it absorbs the important fragments of another person's memories, knowledge, and emotions—the things that prove a person's existence—into its own body.

Zhou He sensed something extra in his body, as if a few loose coins had fallen into an invisible pocket with a "clang".

So this is cannibalism, so this is travel money...

Thankfully, this is how they eat people.

The old hunchback on the ground began to dim, like a clump of dust scattered by the wind, and quickly disappeared from the spot.

Nothing was left behind, not even the few bits of flesh on Zhou's knife or the bloodstains on his clothes.

Zhou He silently put away the knife and the scattered items from the iron box on the ground, leaned against the altar, untied the yellow cloth ribbon wrapped around his hands, and placed the knife beside him.

Suddenly, she raised her hands and rubbed her cold face vigorously.

He now needs to sort out several issues, several very critical issues:

First on the list is that Zhou He now knows that this body does not belong to him, but to the young master of the Zhou family who shares the same name as him.

The real, wild meat that the old hunchback carried from the butcher had completely vanished after the Zhou family completed the ritual, just like the old hunchback before.

For some unknown reason, Young Master Zhou did not actually absorb or devour himself.

But the body that belonged to Zhou and himself was no longer there.

He is now a usurper, a fleshy soul inhabiting the body of a local.

Zhou He already knew this from the old hunchback's memories.

As agreed, Old Han will come to the temple to pick up Young Master Zhou at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning.

Will it be discovered that I don't have Young Master Zhou's memories?

What will happen if they are discovered?

In the darkness, Zhou He groped around, struck a match, and continued to organize his thoughts.

The previous question has led to a new one: how do we explain the old hunchback's death?

How can "Young Master Zhou" explain why he doesn't eat the expensive "wild meat" he bought, but instead killed the old hunchback and inherited his identity as a meat carrier?

Speaking of this "carrying meat" identity, there is a new question.

In the old hunchback's memory, meat carriers had to carry meat at least three times a month, which was a requirement of the travel permit holder.

Zhou He didn't know why there was such a rule, or what would happen if he didn't complete it.

The old hunchback didn't know either.

However, Zhou He's rationality did not allow him to harbor any illusions or risk violating this rule.

Upon further reflection, new questions arise.

Why doesn't Young Master Zhou eat meat?

According to the normal ritual requirements, the butcher would carry the meat he bought to the Zhou family, drink the medicine prepared by the doctor, and then the young master of Zhou should instinctively "eat the meat".

That is, to absorb one's own existence.

During this process, neither Young Master Zhou nor himself should have a clear will.

The question is, how did Young Master Zhou manage to fight against this instinct?

And why fight against it?

Where is he now?

Is it hidden inside your body, or has it been unconsciously consumed by you?

Was my previous resistance and escape from the travel permit really just my instinct?

Zhou He's brows furrowed more and more as he closed his eyes to feel, but in his perception, this body belonged entirely to him.

There was no indication that another person's will resided in the brain.

As a psychiatrist, he has too many ways to distinguish between different conditions.

But there may be some forms of existence in this world that we cannot understand.

Zhou He couldn't be sure.

The problems are increasing.

He simply found the iron box in the dark and clumsily tried to make an oil lamp by following the old man's memory.

Smelling the sweet, oily aroma, my eyes focused on the lamplight. I took a breath and began to delve into my thoughts.

Whether it's the memories I just absorbed or everything I heard after waking up, opening my eyes is something that shouldn't happen in this world.

Is it possible for someone else to discover that they are just a piece of meat with their eyes open?

How would they treat this flesh that has opened its eyes?

Thinking about this, Zhou He murmured to himself, asking himself one last question:

"Why did I turn into flesh?"