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The father pointed to the sky. “But soon…”
Just then, the small child in his arms started crying, and the water merchant pointed at him. “Look, look! Your son is scared to tears because you’re forcing him to stab someone!”
Sure enough, the small child started crying even louder and threw the black sword to the ground. He probably didn’t understand what his father was thinking, but he was scared, nonetheless. This killed the father’s plan completely, and he retreated into the crowd holding his son.
There were some among the crowd who had been ready to try, but they didn’t feel as brave anymore when they saw how the first person who stepped up had been sent packing. They could only yell anonymously from the safety of the crowd, “Didn’t you hear what he said? A plague of Human Face Disease is about to descend upon us! He’s a God of Misfortune—he brought this on our heads!”
However, the water merchant countered, “Even if he’s the God of Misfortune, you don’t think he’d willingly ask to be stabbed, do you?”
His arguing had started to piss some people off.
“He said that he’s willing, so what’s the problem?! Do you want us all to die together?!”
“Just focus on selling your water. You shortchange people all the time, so what are you doing sticking your neck out now?”
The water merchant’s wife had kept elbowing him through all this, but when she heard that accusation, her face went red and she exploded. “Fucking bullshit—who shortchanged you?! Come the hell out here and say that to my face!”
The accuser instantly shrank back. The water merchant also flushed, but soon after, he hardened up again.
“I say! Whether he’s willing is his business, but whether we act on it is our business! We’re talking about picking up a blade and stabbing someone! If I had given him water or something over the past few days, maybe I’d be more willing to try this, but…I didn’t! And who among us did?! If I injured him now…I’d feel ashamed!”
Everyone fell silent at this because he’d really had hit the nail on the head. Over the past two days, not a single person had tried to help Xie Lian. The water merchant had at least wanted to help, but he still hadn’t managed it. The rest of them hadn’t even dared to spare a glance Xie Lian’s way!
“Then what should we do? If we can’t do this, why don’t you come up with a better plan?!” someone grumbled.
The crowd was about to get rowdy again, and some even tried to push themselves to the front. Just then, another bellow echoed out.
“Who’s making all this racket?! If anyone wants to get rough, this ancestor’s got a knife!”
It was the chubby chef who had wanted to pull out the sword just after Xie Lian fell from the sky. He’d been provoked into action, and he roared at the crowd, “That fella’s right! Yesterday, a bunch of people were so adamant about stopping me from going up to him—if not for them, I would’ve pulled out that sword! So why are the ones who stopped me the same ones making the most noise now? Pathetic! Think you’re special? Well, you certainly don’t see such shamelessly thick skins every day!”
The chef was a large man with a booming voice at the height of his anger. It seemed he had just emerged from his kitchen, so he still had a butcher knife in one hand. Instantly, the ones who had been complaining the loudest didn’t dare make another sound. Some members of the crowd had been absent from the area for the past few days, and when they asked what had happened, they were all surprised.
“No way… None of you tried to help him?”
“Yeah, you all just left him lying there for two days? You didn’t even help him sit up or anything?”
The more questions they asked, the more shame the others felt. “Don’t act like you would’ve gone over to help! It’s easy to say those pretty things after the fact,” they countered. “Don’t forget, none of us will escape when those hellish things descend!”
“Ha! I assure you, if I were there, I definitely would’ve pulled out the sword!”
“It’s easy to run your mouth after the whole thing is over…”
“Wait! What are you all arguing about? Pulling out a sword isn’t the problem right now!”
The argument was wild and unruly on both sides; it was a brawl waiting to happen. The rain slowly receded and stopped. However, the black clouds were only growing thicker; their pressure was so intense it was suffocating the hundreds of people below. Suddenly, startled screams exploded from within the crowd, and fingers pointed to the sky.
“It’s coming!”
Xie Lian’s head shot up. The human faces churning within the black clouds began to riot, and they plunged to earth like black shooting stars, dragging long tails behind them.
The plague of Human Face Disease was descending!
The crowd was terrified and lost all sense. Some bolted, some retreated inside houses to hide, and there were also a few who went to grab for the black sword that had been knocked to the ground earlier—but they came up empty, as at some point it had gone missing.
Xie Lian had been too shocked by the people’s reactions to notice this until now. “Where’s the sword? Who took it?!”
No one had the time to answer, for they were fleeing in all directions. But how could they possibly be faster than the falling vengeful spirits? The wails and screams of the living and the howls of the vengeful dead erupted from all directions!
Once the vengeful spirits had caught up to the living, they became like roiling, thick, black smoke, unrelenting and clingy as they burrowed into every pore and slowly melded into peoples’ bodies. Xie Lian fought arduously to drive them out, but alas, there were too many and he couldn’t manage it alone. He helplessly watched countless people wail and howl as the ghosts chased them down—the water merchant and his wife, the chubby chef, they all rolled on the ground, wrestling with the tangled, black smoke. The whole while, White No-Face stood close by, watching everything and jeering.
Gripped by anxiety and fury, Xie Lian steeled his mind and roared at the spot that was densest with vengeful spirits. “Hey—!”
He caught the creatures’ attention easily—he was the mastermind behind their awakening, after all. Xie Lian opened his arms wide.
“Come to me !”
The vengeful spirits that had already tangled up living victims hesitated, undecided on whether they should go, but the vengeful spirits still in the air instantly changed course and hurtled straight for Xie Lian.
Success!
Xie Lian’s heart was beating so fast it was going to seize and stop. He didn’t know what would happen…or what would become of him. But fueled by the hot blood rushing to his head, he was going to give this everything he had. Even if he could only hope to prove his point while that vile monster watched him be beaten black and blue, he would still never back down; even if another hundred thousand souls of the dead were to come, he would still be invincible!
You want to see me feel sorry for myself and self-destruct?
Well, I won’t!
I will never!
Wave upon wave of the black tide that drowned the heavens and earth surrounded Xie Lian, and a vengeful spirit wailed as it passed through his body. It felt like Xie Lian’s heart had frozen in an instant, and he shuddered. Soon after, a second one came, then a third…
The creatures sliced through him like sharp blades as they penetrated his body. Each time, they took away a sliver of whatever warmth Xie Lian still had left. His face grew paler and paler. Nevertheless, he remained firm and did not back down.
He had only been touched by a few hundred, and he had only stood his ground for a short time. There would be many more to come—they were the black clouds that blanketed the sky!
Xie Lian closed his eyes, gathering his strength to endure the flaming fury of all the vengeful spirits. Yet unexpectedly, the next attack never came. Confused, he opened his eyes, and to his surprise, the black tide surrounding him had vanished…