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墨書 Inktalez
As they set off, Father said he would accompany them for a while before getting on the ox cart. Instead of taking the usual path, he led them down a different road that wound into the deep mountains. This route was rarely traveled, and even hunters would only pass through in groups, too afraid to venture alone.
"Dr. Li, this isn't the way to the city, is it?" Daniu's Father asked.
Father smiled. "Of course not."
Daniu's Father pressed on, "Then where are we going?"
Dr. Li pointed ahead. "Into the mountains."
Daniu's Father's expression changed dramatically. "What are we going to do in the mountains?"
Father replied, "We'll catch some game to bring back with you. You won't find these things outside very often, and any extras can be sold."
Daniu's Father looked at him with gratitude. "Dr. Li, you truly are a good person. I really don't want to leave you."
Father chuckled and patted his shoulder without saying more.
After traveling most of the day, they finally reached their destination. Father pulled out some meat pies from his pocket along with a large water bag.
"You're hungry, right? Have something to eat. This water has medicine in it; it strengthens your bones and replenishes your energy."
The Daniu family expressed their thanks profusely as they devoured the meat pies and gulped down the water.
Before long, one by one, the Daniu family members began to collapse.
I widened my eyes and held my breath.
Father tied them up and stuffed cloth strips into their mouths to silence them. Once he ensured they wouldn't make a sound, he took out a vial of medicine and held it under their noses one by one.
They gradually woke up.
In front of them, Father pulled Daniu into the center. He brandished a knife and sliced off a piece of flesh from Daniu's body, blood gushing forth.
Bound and helpless, they could only whimper in fear.
I felt their terror and despair wash over me.
I was scared too.
I never expected Father to be so cruel.
He flayed Daniu alive, cutting again and again until Daniu was drenched in blood.
Daniu screamed continuously, begging for mercy.
Father turned a deaf ear, only stopping when he had killed Daniu. Then, he went on to murder Daniu's brother. Next were Daniu's grandparents. Finally, it was Daniu's parents. In just a short span of fifteen minutes, Daniu's entire family was wiped out.
Father stood there, looking at the pile of bodies on the ground, laughing maniacally. "Do you feel it now?" he taunted. "The feeling of watching your child and loved ones suffer? Isn't it painful? Don't you wish you could just die? Too bad you can't close your eyes in death."
He muttered to himself like a madman. My legs went weak, and I collapsed to the ground, unable to get back up. In that moment, I realized something: Father had been lying to me. The families that had moved away—none of them survived. They had all been killed by him.
A chill ran through me, and I was gripped by fear. Everything went dark, and I fainted.
I had a dream. I dreamed that the families who had left the village were all marked with scars. Some were nothing but skeletons. They pointed fingers at me, demanding my life in return.
I dreamed of Xiaolan, the girl who had been sold to a brothel and then to Wang the Lame. Her face was covered in blood as she asked me, "Yuying, why did you have to kill me? Why did you harm me?"
I struggled to defend myself, "It wasn't me! It wasn't me!"
Then I woke up. I was lying in my own bed. Father entered with a bowl of medicine. "Yuying, you're awake?"
"Come on, drink the medicine."
I shrank back in terror. "Don't come any closer."
Father stopped in his tracks. "Yuying, did you see everything?"
"What do you want to know? I'll tell you everything."
I shook my head vigorously. "I don't want to know."
"I don't want to know anything."
Father sighed. "This isn't a solution."
"You'll have to know eventually."
He placed the medicine on the table. "Just drink it."
"Otherwise, I'm going to get angry."
I shivered.
I was very afraid of him getting angry.
When he was angry, he would hit me.
I was scared of being hit.
Slowly, I crawled off the bed, picked up the bowl of medicine, and gulped it down in one go.
The bitter taste spread through my mouth.
I almost threw up.
Father quickly handed me some candied fruit. "Put this in your mouth and don't spit it out."
With the candied fruit in my mouth, tears streamed down my face.
"Father..."
He patted my head gently. "Yuying, don't be afraid."
"Father won't hurt you."
"No matter what you saw, it's not your fault."
"Those people brought it upon themselves."
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