Chapter 21 – Still Want to Eat? (2)
“I can’t just keep carrying her, right?” Grandpa asked.
“Since he’s a legendary man, we won’t be able to hide this from him,” Old Blindman said. “With my understanding of him, if he wants to find us, we won’t be able to hide no matter where we go.”
The more Grandpa heard, the more scared he was, because Old Blindman was already such a powerful man to him. If even he found someone legendary, then how powerful could that man be?
More importantly, this was Old Blindman’s evil idea, but the one who carried it out was Grandpa. Plus, he was carrying the legendary man’s n***d daughter on his back! If the man came here, he’d probably slice Grandpa into thousands of pieces.
“Gengchen, do you know where we’re going?” Old Blindman asked, inhaling smoke deeply.
“No,” Grandpa said. Here, he looked at Old Blindman’s expression and suddenly thought of something. He couldn’t help but ask in shock, “Are we…”
“Yes. The harm has already been done and we can’t escape from it. The only solution is to give ourselves up.”
“Are you crazy?” Grandpa exclaimed.
“This is the only way for us to live,” Old Blindman said.
“I’m so done! I just wanted to learn some skills from you, but instead, I got into this trap and can’t get out,” Grandpa said, feeling depressed. Right now, he felt more scared than his days as a beggar in Shilipu.
“You chose this road. You have to finish it even if you walk on your knees,” Old Blindman said. “Gengchen, everything has a cause and effect in this world. Doing this will endanger your life, but if you can survive, there’ll be a great opportunity waiting for you.”
“I don’t trust you! Old man, you’re evil.” But Grandpa gave in.
Like this, Grandpa carried the female corpse. She held his fingers in his mouth and sucked some blood every now and then. Old Blindman was somewhat caring too. He knew that it was difficult for Grandpa to get his blood sucked away, so he always managed to feed and nourish him. Otherwise, Grandpa probably would’ve died from blood loss early on.
Around half a month later, Old Blindman and Grandpa came to a place called Green Dragon Town.
They arrived at night. The war had just ended, so there weren’t many people and everywhere was barren, but this town was very different. Even at night, the streets were still filled with people. Grandpa had to walk while feeding a female corpse, so he got hungry quickly, especially while looking at all the food.
“I’m hungry,” Grandpa said to Old Blindman.
“Deal with it.”
“No, I can’t walk anymore,” Grandpa said. “You try carrying someone while getting your blood sucked.”
He wasn’t polite to Old Blindman anymore. What a joke! This old man kept tricking him and was probably going to get him killed. So what if he made the man buy him some nice meals?
“Are you sure you want to eat?” Old Blindman asked with a creepy smile.
The smile made Grandpa anxious. “What do you mean? Why’d you ask that? You’re scaring me.”
“Come here.” Old Blindman waved at him. He took a dark green leaf out of his pocket and placed it on Grandpa’s forehead.
“The heavenly ways are green, the earthly ways are clear,” Old Blindman chanted softly. “Yin and yang crystalized, forming the spirits. The spirit refracts through the world. Yin yang mirror, form the truth, show the truth.”
When he finished, Grandpa suddenly felt dizzy. After he steadied himself, he looked around and his soul almost flew out of his body in fright.
The bustling crowd around him were all made out of paper! The type of paper people made to sacrifice to the dead—they had all genders and ages! And they walked around like living people! And all the food on the side of the street was moldy and rotten!
“Do you still want to eat?” Old Blindman asked Grandpa with a smile.
“No, no! Old Blindman, what exactly is this place?” Grandpa couldn’t help but demand furiously. “What kind of people are they? Why did you bring me here?”
“Don’t ask what you shouldn’t ask,” Old Blindman said. “Follow me. Remember, do not look back if someone pats your shoulder. Otherwise, you’ll never return.”