The dry feeling was quickly dissipated as the liquid poured into the throat. Chu Tianhe couldn't detect any fishy smell in his mouth, and could only taste the weird "sweet" taste that was not part of the taste. Even so, he spat, guessing that it must actually taste awful.
At least he's alive again. Anyway, let’s think about what to do next. It's a good thing to have one less burden. If I knew I could take off such a heavy burden, I would have done so long ago. Over the years, in addition to losing my sense of taste, my judgment on many things has also disappeared. I don’t know if it’s really been since that day, or the edges have been slowly smoothed out by the years, it doesn’t matter.
There was blood on his face and on his hands, maybe he didn't pay attention when wiping his mouth. It looked like a lunatic who had just bitten someone, which was in stark contrast to the indifferent expression. Maybe it also has something to do with his inability to smell, otherwise everyone would wipe it clean. Only beasts—predatory animals that do not find raw flesh disgusting but instead consider it a delicacy—would be like him now.
He sat there for a while. It was still some time before dawn, and even a few hundred years old would feel a little inappropriate sleeping next to a dead body. Let's get rid of it first, he thought. Before that, Chu Tianhe groped around on it and in the package, and found out a few bills from his hometown, broken silver, and a woman's jewelry. He didn't know who it was for or who gave it to him. It depends on the workmanship. It's unclear which country it comes from. He wasn't even interested, and even seeing the half piece of cake stained red with blood was boring.
There was nothing worth leaving behind, and the young man actually didn't have much food left. After plundering everything he could eat, Chu Tianhe thought about it and decided to throw it into the swamp, along with the money - greed would cause trouble, he understood this truth. Although this was a nameless and small role in the Nine Heavens Kingdom, if the messenger of the gods killed someone... he would be punished, and he didn't want to cause more trouble.
After dragging the body for a while, he came to an open area. They had passed by the swamp here many times, but they did not dare to act rashly. If you make the wrong step, you will fall into the mud under the meadow, and there will be no chance of survival.
Darkness makes action more difficult. After the body was dragged here, Chu Tianhe felt a little tired, as if the newly replenished water had been consumed again. He shook his head secretly, feeling that the gain was not worth the loss. The flies were hovering around him, but he didn't feel any noise. Maybe they were staring at the dried blood around his mouth. There were one or two dragonflies flying low over the swamp.
He saw a quagmire without turf, picked up a wooden stick, and first poked the stick into it to test the hardness and depth. After feeling almost done, he pushed the young man in. You must press your head down first. If you spread it on a flat surface in the mud, the sinking speed will be much slower; it is not possible to put your legs down first, and the resistance will be great.
Afterwards, Chu Tianhe sat aside and watched the body sink slowly with an expressionless face.
Suddenly it started to rain.
He raised his head and looked at the starless night sky through the sparse tree canopy here. It's funny, if they had been willing to wait patiently for a while, maybe this wouldn't have happened. He stretched out his hand, collected a small handful of the drizzle in his hand, applied it to his face, and rubbed it clean. He was no longer thirsty. He just wanted to rest for a while and then get out of the woods. After he wiped his face clean, he took out the bamboo kettles he and the young man had, placed them under two fern leaves that had been washed clean by the rain, and collected the accumulated water.
After finishing all this, Chu Tianhe sat casually under a tree. Behind him was a dense forest, in front of him was a sparse swamp, and only two legs of the body were left exposed, and all the luggage had disappeared. He secretly thought that after the body sank completely and no trace could be seen, he would leave with the filled water bottle.
"You're really calm."
Chu Tianhe was shocked and jumped up from under the tree. He was really frightened because for so many days there shouldn't have been a third person besides them. At this time, there will never be a second living person. What the hell? But the voice didn't sound like that young man's, but more like the voice of a person's mind reading words silently. In addition to fear, there was more surprise.
He stared intently at the sinking body. Not long after, the voice sounded again.
"I'm not there."
Indeed, the direction has changed now, and it is closer - as if behind. He looked into the dense forest. It was pitch black, and the shadow of each tree looked like a person standing there.
"I'm in your... head."
The sound is close at hand.
"What are you?" Chu Tianhe asked, "You are not a human being."
"I'm not a lonely ghost." The voice seemed to hear what he was thinking, and chuckled at the same time. It continued, "But you really helped me a lot."
"...What did I help you with?" As he said that, Chu Tianhe glanced at the corpse unconsciously.
“Providing a delicious soul!”
Although he couldn't hear the voice or intonation, Chu Tianhe could still feel a sense of joy from such words. It was as if this sentence really came from his mind when he was happy.
"You—trapped us here?"
"You are so smart. But you are not the only ones who are trapped. I am also trapped... buried deep underground, and the weight of the entire earth presses on me, making me breathless. And I am not Not willing to sleep forever..."
The voice spoke to itself.
"you……"
"Ah, I forgot to mention... I am always very hungry. You know, if you are locked in a dungeon without food, you will starve to death sooner or later. I occasionally trap some people here, some who look more- —Fragile person. You have to know, I am not always so picky, but when you have a lamb that can be slaughtered with your bare hands, you will not choose someone who is evenly matched with you, right..."
"...What do you want to say?"
"Sorry, I haven't talked to food for a long time. It's a bit... boring. You have to understand my verbosity now..."
"So I am also one of your trapped targets?" Chu Tianhe raised his eyebrows, "Because I look more... fragile? Then why are you in the mood to chat with the lamb? Who are you?"
"No, no, no, I changed my mind. All I can control is a small area of the forest. Not everyone can fall into the trap, which has caused some rumors. Now... is not the time to be picky. , just like you. However, you have to believe that I have removed you from the hunting target. Because... you gave me something better, which is sweeter than two people."
I don’t know what to say.
"You have to help me."
Before Chu Tianhe responded, the voice said again.
"...How to help? And why?" He was confused.
"You have a long life - your current life must be boring to you. Being an errand boy for the gods may not be what you like... Even you don't know what you really like to do. It can be seen that you are very Boring, no job in the world can make you interested, and everything now is just because you have no choice, so you don’t like it so much. And human nature itself also makes you disappointed. But I want to tell you, no, no In this way. There are still many talents worth exploring in human nature. You have to work hard to get what you want. Just like I am trapped here, my magic power is limited, so I can only watch yourselves and spend your life. Burn bit by bit until the end... Only then can the soul leave the body and belong to me. Single despair and regret can only make the soul emit limited light, but I need more... just like you just did. You gave me A little – inspiration.”
Such endless thoughts made Chu Tianhe's mind cluttered. He even gave up thinking because he couldn't understand what the unknown ghost was talking about. He thought about it again and again, but couldn't think of a reason. The voice continued:
"I can give you everything you want. I know it's not food, wealth, love, or those boring things, because I understand you - I know what you want, and only I can give it to you. Also Only I can understand you—your loneliness.”
It laughed and spoke serious words.
Chu Tianhe felt that a string in his mind was finally broken. It was not something that would be crushed by hunger and hopelessness.
He wants to understand itself.
"What do you want me to do?"
"I want a... permission. A permission that will stay in your mind for a long time. Now my magic power is very weak, and I can't even twist your will and force my way into your spirit - but it doesn't matter, this just shows that I am sincere. "
"Sincerity?" Chu Tianhe felt inexplicably unwilling, "You didn't even tell me what you look like or what you are."
"Okay, if you want to see it. My true body sleeps underground... When you leave here and come back full of energy, I will tell you the way and method to visit me. Before that, I can only give you a Projection. But you have to know that this is not my true appearance, but the way you think you see me - the way you feel in your heart."
After saying that, Chu Tianhe felt that his vision became a little blurry. The hazy white mist surged from the outline of the eyes to the middle. This was not the dawn itself. He knew that something was reflected in the eyes. The surrounding scenery was chaotic and distorted, with only wisps of red lines glowing in the dark night, like seeing bloodshot eyes in person. The shadow in the middle slowly took shape, turning into what he could recognize.
The gray and withered long hair seemed to have been exposed to the sun for a long time on the sand and gravel. It was soft but brittle and spread out completely in sight. The skin was also like that of a dead person, like the sloughed-off shell of the dehydrated shark he had seen before. It - his eyes were as red as blood, and the ulcers on his face were like cut-out red tail scales.
As red as a flower.
Red as fire.
Red as blood.
Like an irreplaceable, unique and true old friend reunited after a long absence.
"I am the nameless python...your 'god' whom you call 'Mahoraka'."
Chu Tianhe nodded in a daze.
The bitterness of being excavated from the depths of his memory caused severe pain in his mind. Under the shock of vision, I couldn't stay awake and rational. I just felt dizzy and wanted to fall down and never wake up.
When he opened his eyes again, what lay before him was the town. Its daybreak. Chu Tianhe stood up and felt no pain on his body. When he looked back, he had no idea when he had escaped from the endless dense forest.
Everything would be like a dream - if there wasn't a huge tooth still bleeding in my hand...
"Find someone." He heard a dry whisper that brought him back to reality instantly, "Write letters with fangs and invite them. We need a lot of people..."
"What...are you going to do?"
"Invite you to taste the most real despair in the world."
