Volume 1 Faith Chapter 14 Some people value loyalty, while others value affection
Suddenly, a scream came from the direction of the big tent. The huge strange face above the head suddenly raised up, and then with its eight arms waving wildly with excitement, it moved towards the direction of the scream.
The scream instantly turned into a shriek, and because it was so shrill and distorted, Ke Xun couldn't tell who made it.
The giant shadow gathered its arms in front of it, and its body blocked Ke Xun's sight. The screams twisted and turned in front of it, and soon there was no sound. Just when Ke Xun was ready to wait for it to turn around, it walked step by step to the side of Zhou Bin and Qin Ci's tent, leaned down, stretched out its arms, and the next moment it had carried a person out of the tent.
The man shouted something, and then was grabbed by a giant hand. The sharp and shrill scream rang out again, piercing the man's bones.
Ke Xun was stunned when he suddenly saw a figure flash outside the tent. Before he could react, the curtain of his tent was opened and a person squeezed in quickly.
To be exact, there were two people, Qin Ci, who carried the unconscious Zhao Dan on his back.
"What--" Ke Xun just opened his mouth when Qin Ci covered his mouth to stop him, and quickly put Zhao Dan next to him and lay down himself.
Ke Xun was completely confused this time. He lay there in bewilderment, listening to Zhou Bin's screams quickly disappear into the air. The huge shadow turned around again and walked towards the tent step by step.
Ke Xun raised his eyes and saw its huge body standing above him, with six arms waving in the air and the other two arms each holding something that was still dripping with sticky blood.
The giant figure bent down and placed his arm holding the things on the top of the tent. The two objects fell on it, reflecting the pale light of the snow, with clear outlines.
They were two complete, fresh skeletons.
The skeleton was still covered with uncoagulated blood and something that was either viscera or minced meat, which was slowly sliding down along the curve of the tent top.
Ke Xun stared at it, clenching the stone in his hand, thinking that he would hit it hard in the eyes before he died.
Before daybreak, the giant shadow left the ground with its sacrifice for the night.
Ke Xun sat up and looked at Qin Ci.
Qin Ci's face was a little haggard. He pinched his brows and said in a low voice: "I don't know what happened. Logically, Zhou Bin prepared the most sacrifices, but last night, that thing still chose our tent... Zhou Bin saw that the thing was going to catch him, so he asked me to bring Zhao Dan to find you... Maybe he also held the last glimmer of hope for Zhao Dan. Seeing that the sacrifices he prepared didn't work, he asked the three of us to get together and hope to avoid being killed by that thing."
Ke Xun looked at Zhao Dan who was still unconscious, then looked up at the deep red bloodstain of a skull left on the top of the tent. On the head of the bloodstain of a skull, two empty eye sockets seemed to be staring at Zhao Dan.
"At least he treats his girlfriend very well." Ke Xun retracted his gaze, stood up and was about to walk out, but saw the tent curtain being lifted from the outside, and Mu Yiran walked in with a gloomy face. Ke Xun raised the corner of his lips and was about to say hello, but was punched in the face. He staggered back two steps and fell on the felt carpet. With two lines of blood from his nose, he looked up at Mu Yiran and smiled.
"There won't be a next time." Mu Yiran stared at him coldly, then turned and walked out of the tent.
Ke Xun wiped his nose with the back of his hand, collapsed on the blanket and took a few breaths, then tilted his head to look at Qin Ci and smiled: "Guess why he beat me."
Qin Ci sat beside him and rubbed his temple: "I think it's because you knocked him out yesterday without his permission."
Ke Xun laughed twice with his chest heaving: "I see, I thought it was a violent expression of the word 'worry'."
Coming out of the tent, Ke Xun saw Mu Yiran using two felt blankets to cover two bodies curled up on the ground not far away.
To say they were curled up wasn't quite accurate. The two bodies looked more like rubber figures that had been deflated, limp and crumpled into a heap.
The curtain of the tent where Mu Yiran and Wei Dong were was half-open, vaguely revealing half of the pale face of a person sitting huddled up with his knees hugged inside. It was Sha Liu.
When Weidong woke up, Zhao Dan also woke up from his coma, and his heart-wrenching cries echoed throughout the tent. Zhao Dan, who was originally very timid, threw himself on Zhou Bin's boneless body and refused to leave no matter who tried to pull him away.
"Why?!" Wei Dong asked Ke Xun and Mu Yiran with red eyes and clenched fists.
"Hasn't all the sacrifices been gathered? Why did he still get killed?" Geng's father asked in a trembling voice.
Qin Ci frowned tightly: "Something must be wrong. We may have made a mistake or left something behind."
"Five Hui Lu, five tribute meats, Dom, libations, offering bowls, lamps, Gala, Dangka," Sha Liu held up his glasses, his lips pale, "We have prepared everything, and even more varieties, why... why..."
No one answered her, and everyone fell into unprecedented confusion, helplessness and fear.
"I remember now," Shaliu's bloodshot eyes suddenly widened, "The book says that these offerings to the angry god should be placed on the skin of the little boy! Because the skin of the little boy can suppress the demons that try to destroy the offering ceremony - is it because of this reason that we failed?"
"What you said is simply a cult!" Geng's mother couldn't bear it any longer and screamed angrily, holding her child tightly with her hands. Sha Liu mentioned the little boy, which made her extremely nervous and alert.
"Which decent sect would use this kind of thing as a sacrifice?!" Geng's father also rebuked angrily.
Sha Liu silently glanced at the Geng couple and said softly, "Devoting oneself to religion is actually an honor for devout believers .
"I have seen such a statement that in Ganxiong, people's piety towards the Suota religion can be so high that even if they treat you as a friend and drink with you in the last second, as long as the elders say a word, they will obey orders and cut off your head without hesitation in the next second.
“The less scientifically educated people are, the greater the influence and control that faith has on them. To them, death is not scary. Life and death are part of reincarnation and a return to nature. So they would not regard this cruel and bloody method of sacrifice as something scary and inhumane.
"In other words, in their view, death and rebirth are both guidance and gifts from God, and life and death are equal. The body is just a stinking skin bag, not worth rejoicing in, nor worth being reluctant to part with. Many sects even regard torturing the body as a way to cultivate the body and mind. The more severe the pain , the deeper the cultivation and the more purified the soul.
"So... sacrificing oneself may be difficult for outsiders to accept and understand, but in places where the Shata religion is prevalent, it may not be surprising at all. What they cultivate is the soul and spirit, not sex."
"Get lost!" Geng's mother pointed at Shaliu's nose and cursed, "I don't care where this is, and I don't care what they believe in or what gods they worship. We don't believe in these things! No one should think of targeting our family! No matter where you heard or saw this, if you dare to mention it again, I will fight you!"
Sha Liu didn't respond, but just lowered his head and adjusted his glasses.
"The most urgent task now," Qin Ci said, "is to find out why Zhou Bin was chosen last night, otherwise the others will not be able to escape death tonight."
As he spoke, he pondered, "Last night, Zhou Bin and I's tent, as well as Brother Geng's family of three's tent, were filled with almost all of the offerings we prepared. Even one of the Five Wisdom Dews that Li Ziling had, Zhou Bin got yesterday, plus the other four Wisdom Dews he got from Sha Liu, and the Five Tribute Meats he got himself, and the ones he got from the Sky Burial Platform yesterday... He processed those things after returning home according to what Sha Liu said. It can be said that our tent had the most complete offerings. I don't understand why we were chosen."
Father Geng also pondered and said, "Maybe he violated some taboo. He killed the people in this painting just to get human flesh. Yesterday he also robbed the corpse on the sky burial platform. This is simply desecrating the corpse. This behavior is likely to arouse the anger of both heaven and man, so that thing chose him!"
"That's not impossible," Qin Ci pondered, and looked at Ke Xun again, "I have another question. Last night, that thing first came to Xiao Ke's tent, which met the first screening criteria. Why didn't it choose Xiao Ke? I don't understand this. When it looked into the tent, did Xiao Ke find anything?"
"I don't understand it either," Ke Xun shrugged. Seeing Mu Yiran's cold eyes sweeping towards him, he winked at him harmlessly. Before Mu Yiran's gloomy face appeared, he quickly retracted his gaze and looked at Qin Ci. "But I think it actually wants to catch me. It stared at me for a long time. It felt like it was observing me. I just don't know why it was observing me for so long."
"It may be picking the appearance of the meat," said Wei Dong.
"Then you shouldn't hesitate. Do I need to be picky about appearance?" Ke Xun said.
"I don't think it will let go of anyone who doesn't meet the conditions," Mu said happily. "Li Ziling is an example. She and Zhou Bin are in the opposite situation. Zhou Bin not only meets the number of people in the tent, but also has the most complete sacrifices. Li Ziling neither meets the number of people in the tent nor has any sacrifices. Both of them were chosen. There is only one explanation for this - the second screening condition that everyone speculated before is wrong. But we can't ignore that Ke Xun is the only one who survived without meeting the first condition."
"So," Qin Ci looked at Ke Xun in surprise, "Xiao Ke might be someone who meets the conditions for self-protection?"
Everyone's eyes immediately turned to Ke Xun's face.
Ke Xun looked down at himself and said, "I didn't seem to have done anything. I didn't even take the Five Wisdom Dew. And I was the only one in the tent last night. Could it be that there are two souls, a man and a woman, in my body, and they took over my body without me knowing it?"
"What were you doing when that thing was next to your tent last night?" Mu Yiran asked him coldly.
"I miss you." Ke Xun said.
Seeing Mu Yiran's face change and he was about to raise his hand, Ke Xun quickly took a step sideways to avoid the sharp edge: "I remembered it wrongly, let me think... Well, I seemed to be scolding it, and I even gave it the middle finger - could it be that because of this gesture, it launched a magical attack on it, so it didn't dare to do anything to me?"
“Fuck, if you say that, then how many monsters have I harmed with my magic power since I was a child?” Wei Dong gave him the middle finger.
"If it weren't for this, I wouldn't know the reason." Ke Xun said.
"I have a guess," Mu Yiran suddenly looked at everyone, "about the setting of the death conditions."
