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墨書 Inktalez
“Ugh—”
Even though my stomach was empty, I still covered my mouth and gagged at the sight in the toilet, feeling a wave of discomfort wash over me.
“How could there be these things in my stomach? I didn’t eat anything unclean!”
“There’s human flesh in here.” Jun Chong, unbothered by the filth, pulled out a small piece from the toilet and held it in his hand, then brought it closer to my face. “This should be a human pinky finger. Look.”
“Ah—”
Although it was already decaying, it was clear that it was indeed a small finger. I trembled in fear, clinging to Jun Chong and too scared to move. A chill ran down my spine, and my scalp tingled as I covered my mouth and gagged again.
But the toilet was filled with wriggling maggots. I struggled out of Jun Chong's embrace and, with weak legs, stumbled to the sink to gag again.
Jun Chong flushed the toilet and then came over to me, filling a cup with water. “Rinse your mouth first!”
I followed his advice and then weakly collapsed back into Jun Chong's arms, not wanting to move or daring to move. He held me on the lazy sofa and draped a blanket over me. I clutched his shirt tightly, still trembling in fear.
“Jun Chong, how could I have eaten human flesh?”
I recalled that night when we discussed cannibalism, never expecting that I had actually consumed it without knowing. My mind felt foggy.
Jun Chong lowered his gaze; the dim yellow light cast shadows across his face, obscuring his emotions. I couldn’t tell if he was angry, but I sensed that he might be.
I weakly added, “Are you angry?”
“Do you think I shouldn’t be angry? Did you take my words lightly? Playing around with that Molin kid?” Jun Chong shot back with two rhetorical questions that chilled the atmosphere. Mentioning Molin made him grit his teeth as he grasped my chin and lifted it up. “Eating human flesh is your punishment.”
I pouted, feeling wronged, and said, "I was wrong. But he was just trying to help those two dead people!"
"Helping himself is what he wanted," Jun Chong scoffed. "If I hadn't forced the rotten flesh out of you tonight, you would have been waiting for those maggots to devour your organs."
"Ah." I immediately clutched my stomach and grabbed Jun Chong's hand anxiously. "What will happen to the baby? She's unconscious right now, and I don't know if she's hurt. Can you let me see her?"
Jun Chong shot me a glance and casually replied, "It would be best if she were dead."
"You—" I was about to get angry, but seeing his displeased expression made me hold back. I gently tugged at his hand and pleaded, "I know I was wrong, but I really didn't know I would eat human flesh!"
"What did you eat today?"
"For breakfast, it was the meal and snacks Shizui gave me. For lunch, I went to a newly opened restaurant with Molin and Tian Yuan! The food there was super delicious and fragrant. After that, I came back and went to sleep without eating much!"
"A newly opened restaurant? How good could it be?"
"It's at the far east end of the commercial street, a new place called 'Delicious Enjoyment.' The dishes there, whether vegetarian or meat-based, are incredibly tasty. Just the aroma is enough to make anyone hungry; their business is booming." I paused slightly, biting my finger in thought. "But the food looked very clean! If it really were rotten flesh, Molin and I wouldn't have been able to eat it without noticing, and Tian Yuan shouldn't have missed it either. They all enjoyed their meals."
"Is the owner a short, chubby man?"
I was surprised. "You know him?"
"It’s not hard to figure out." Jun Chong's lips curled slightly as his long lashes cast shadows over his deep eyes. He pulled my finger out of my mouth and wiped off the saliva. "Just ate someone else's fingers and now you want to eat your own?"
His words made the nausea I had barely suppressed surge back up. Just as I was about to retort, he asked, "I've been saying this since earlier; what do you think? Do you feel angry?" After a pause, he added, "Compared to how you felt when I first came back."
"Compared?"
I tilted my head slightly and then shook it. "When you came back, I didn’t know why I felt so irritable; it seemed like we were going to argue over anything. But now that you're scolding me, even though I'm not happy about it, that irritation is gone."
"That means everything inside has been completely cleaned out."
"What do you mean?"
"If I'm guessing correctly, there's something in that rotten flesh that controls people's nerves, causing them to become irritable."
"That's terrifying?" I felt a chill run down my spine, suddenly recalling how Molin and Tian Yuan had acted strangely after leaving the shop today. I exclaimed, "So that's why Tian Yuan and Molin were so irritable?"
Jun Chong frowned. "What happened to them?"
"They got into an argument right after leaving the shop. Later, Tian Yuan ran off, and Molin left in a huff. I have no idea where they went. Could it all be caused by that rotten flesh?"
Jun Chong rubbed his smooth chin with his long fingers, deep in thought. "Rotten flesh is a type of poison; any toxin can stimulate the brain's nerves. Their irritability is definitely related to this. You didn't turn into like them; I guess it's because of the presence of the Demon Fetus."
"So the baby is still very helpful!"
Jun Chong shot me a sideways glance and stood up while holding me. "You should sleep first; I'll go take a look. That shop must have something strange going on."
"I'll go with you." I clutched Jun Chong's hand tightly, unwilling to let go. "I slept too much before, and I'm not tired now. I'll take you there."
After a moment's pause, Jun Chong nodded.
We stepped outside together. At that time, Shizui was not home, and I had no idea where he had gone. Neither Molin nor Tian Yuan had returned, which made me feel a bit anxious. Walking down the deserted street, I saw a bus slowly approaching with no one on board; the driver yawned as he drove at a leisurely pace.
Suddenly, I remembered the midnight bus and tugged at Jun Chong's wide sleeve. "Last night, I went to investigate the Ghost Bus with Molin —"
Before I could finish my sentence, an extremely bright headlight pierced through the darkness, accompanied by three loud honks that made my heart race. "It's the Ghost Bus."
Without saying a word, Jun Chong picked me up and leaped into the darkness, concealing our presence. I watched as the Ghost Bus stopped at the bus station before driving away. Just as it passed in front of me, I caught sight of a familiar figure inside.
"That's Molin!"
I exclaimed, but Jun Chong immediately covered my mouth. I noticed several familiar faces in the car, all residents of the neighborhood, sitting quietly in their seats.
After the car drove away, he stepped out from the side.
"Jun Chong, was that person really Molin? There were quite a few familiar faces in the car."
Jun Chong had better eyesight than I did. In the darkness, I wished I had been mistaken, but as he gazed at the disappearing Ghost Bus, he suddenly turned to me and said, "It really is him, no doubt about it."
With a thunderous sound, it felt like a bolt from the blue. I stared in shock at the Ghost Bus vanishing into the darkness and said word by word, "Is it really him? But how could Molin get on the Ghost Bus? Just yesterday he was planning to use Paper Man to test things out, even though he was interrupted."
"Perhaps it has something to do with his agitation today." Jun Chong placed one hand behind his back, his clothes billowing in the wind. The tied-up Three Thousand Black Strands swayed, and I felt an icy chill in my heart. "He got on the Ghost Bus? Could it be—"
Ever since Grandpa died, and after Ling Feng's death and Lin You's incident, I realized that I could no longer accept losing those around me in such a short span of time. That feeling was like a nightmare, wrapping around me; I wanted to shake it off, but it lingered in my mind.
"It's not certain yet." Jun Chong paused for a moment and called into the darkness, "Tao Wu."
"Here."
"Follow the Ghost Bus and see what you can find out. Report back immediately if you have any news."
"Understood."
Tao Wu vanished into the darkness with a flash. Standing in the night breeze, I suddenly felt a chill run through me, cold sweat forming in my palms. " Molin, you must be safe."
Then I took Jun Chong to the restaurant where we had eaten during the day. However, after searching for a long time in that area, I couldn't find any place called Delicious Enjoyment. There were only a few closed shops; since I had followed the aroma there, I hadn't paid close attention.
"How could it be gone? Even if I don't remember the exact location, it has to be around here."
I searched back and forth for quite a while, and at this late hour, there was no one to ask. Finally, Jun Chong pulled me back, saying, "Alright, I have a rough idea of what's going on. Let's head back for tonight and talk about it tomorrow."
"But I don't know what's happening!" I pouted, gazing at him with longing. When he looked down at me, I smiled slightly and playfully said, "Please tell me! Pretty please?"
Some say that when a woman acts cute towards a man, it's the best way to get what she wants; almost all men fall for it. I occasionally acted this way with Jun Chong. At first, it felt awkward, but now it was completely different. I tugged at his loose clothing, gazing at his enticing collarbone, chuckling softly as I nestled against him and whispered, "Please tell me!"
Jun Chong looked down at me, his eyes slightly narrowed with a hint of amusement. He lifted my chin with one hand and raised an eyebrow. "If you serve me well tonight, I'll tell you everything."
"But Tian Yuan said that his master said we can't—"
Jun Chong's lips brushed close to me as he placed a kiss on my hair. "That's just because his master has nothing joyful in his life; he's simply jealous."
"…"
But by the time morning came, when I finally realized what had happened, my mind was already taken over by sleepiness. I slept straight through until the afternoon and then discovered that Jun Chong had played me; he had no intention of telling me anything.
Fuming, I rushed downstairs. I thought he would be at Shizui's shop, but to my surprise, Shizui was home too. The two were deep in conversation when I heard Jun Chong say, "It can't be wrong; that shop is definitely his. This recent death is probably connected to him. Taotie is lazy and only makes tempting food. It's entirely his fault for getting involved with Anxin; this time, I won't let him off easily."
"Taotie?" I spoke up, and both of them turned to look at me.
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