That red string was still dripping blood. The other three were so frightened their legs went weak, screaming and stumbling backward, but Luo Yuan suddenly rushed past them and pounced forward, trying to touch the red string. Unfortunately, her hand passed straight through it; she could not touch it.
Even though she had expected this, she still couldn’t accept it. She turned her head again to look at that empty, deserted shrine. Since the red string was still here, that meant Er-ge should also still be here! She had thought, seeing the old residence like this, that the Qin clan might have already fallen, and Er-ge might have already perished.
“What is going on? Dawei?!”
“Dead, dead, Dawei is dead!”
Amid the three people’s incoherent screaming in terror, inside the empty, gloomy shrine, a shadow appeared. The shadow swayed, its long sleeves dragging along the ground, appearing and disappearing between light and darkness. This time, Luo Yuan and those three all noticed it, and Luo Yuan saw even more clearly than they did.
It was a terrifying form she had never seen before, white clothes wrapping around a twisted mass of black qi and threads; even the hair had become like twisted insects and snakes, tangled and writhing. Black thread-like things seeped out of the white clothes, chaotically wandering across the ground. If not for the white clothes still covering it, this unstable, chaotic mass of a figure would almost not resemble a human form.
Amid the screams, he slowly twisted his “head” around. On that pitch-black, featureless “face,” there were only occasional protruding black thread-like shapes. That intense feeling of being watched came from who knew where, bringing with it a terror that made one’s hair stand on end.
As if noticing the crying and screaming three people in the courtyard, he stepped away from the shrine and walked toward the courtyard. In this process, the gloom inside the shrine followed him, moving out together.
Wherever he was, that dark gloom followed, and very soon, the entire courtyard became like the dark sky of a rainy day.
“Plop.”
Tangled masses of wriggling black threads fell from his body, approaching those three as if alive.
“No… what monster! Don’t come over!” The short-haired girl broke down. She was so terrified by this scene she forgot all about the boy who had inexplicably died at the door. Without thinking, she ran toward the entrance—then in the next second, her entire body was sliced into several pieces, blood spraying erratically around.
At some unknown moment, several more thin threads had appeared on the door.
The remaining pair, man and woman, could no longer even scream. Their faces were covered with extreme terror and despair, watching helplessly as that chaotic humanoid figure drew nearer and nearer, not knowing where else they could flee.
The clan deity lifted a sleeve, extending a “hand”—a writhing mass of threads within the black qi—and placed it upon the head of that male student, Liu Yuandong.
“Have my Qin family’s children returned?” The bizarre voice burrowed out from every gap between the threads.
“No.” He spoke to himself, that flat voice overlapping and echoing. Touched by those black threads and black qi, the terrified boy trembled without stopping, then suddenly let out a dying gasp. Blood streamed from his head, and he no longer moved. His body was cut into pieces, and every fragment of flesh and blood was ravenously devoured by those black threads.
The black threads, having devoured flesh and blood, briefly turned bright red, but very quickly, that red was once again covered by black. Seeing this scene, Luo Yuan inexplicably thought of a word—pollution.
Was Er-ge polluted at this time? What exactly had happened?
“Have my Qin family’s children returned?” Having finished devouring one person, the clan deity asked the remaining girl, Lin Luo.
Lin Luo was so frightened she was nearly losing her mind, yet she still forced herself to speak, probably mistakenly thinking that saying yes would keep her from being killed. Trembling, she said: “Y-yes.”
Those black threads shrank together and were placed on her head. The clan deity’s voice sounded strangely gentle as he said: “No.”
“Don’t kill me—ahhh—”
The surging black threads turned bright red for a brief moment again. So the red strings on the door were the same—they turned red only when they cut people apart and were stained with fresh blood, then returned to black again.
His appearance completely changed, Er-ge devoured the remaining two corpses. Luo Yuan followed behind him, watching him wander and linger as if searching for something, until he slowly returned to the shrine and disappeared into the darkness.
Luo Yuan stood where she was, gazing at the surroundings where sun, rain, and snow rapidly alternated. This silent, deserted ancient residence had long been dead, only briefly revived when the next group of people came here.
“Wow… look at this house, it’s really so beautiful. Why don’t we just stay here tonight? This place is the best preserved.”
“There are ancient trees all around. Let’s put down our things and explore the surroundings first.”
“This place is way too gorgeous, how did no one find it before?”
The presence and voices of the living disturbed the slumbering ghost deity. Luo Yuan saw that within the gloomy shrine, that twisted figure appeared once more. Just like before, he devoured every person who came into this courtyard. It was obvious that he no longer followed the principle of “devouring evil.”
Someone behind her said: “Before this, what exactly happened.”
Startled, Luo Yuan turned around and saw the sinisterly grinning black cat leaping at her. Her vision blurred again, and once more she stood before the old residence’s main gate. This time, the entrance looked much closer to how she remembered, no longer as broken and deserted as before.
Now, the entrance of the old residence was bustling with life, crowded with many people and cars, chaotic like a marketplace.
“Everyone should believe me by now! Our clan deity has been polluted ever since it began devouring clan members more than two hundred years ago. It has already fallen into a monster!” Qin Zhi, looking about twenty-five or twenty-six, stood at the front of the crowd, his tone fervent. “Using the so-called blessing of infants, it polluted the newborn children of the clan, controlling their minds without them realizing, making them fanatically and piously protect it. We can no longer let it control us!”
“Those stubborn elders are all dead. Those controlled by it have already been eliminated. As long as we completely destroy it today, we can break free from its control. We will be free!”
Every face was filled with fanaticism and excitement. They were all Qin clan members, but none of them were familiar to Luo Yuan. Armed with weapons, they rushed into the old residence under Qin Zhi’s lead.
“The place we once had no right to enter, now let us destroy it! Just like destroying that rotten old monster!”
They crazily smashed, looted, and burned. Their surging emotions were like a massive wave, coming fiercely and unstoppable. Just like that, they charged all the way into the shrine. Two old clan maidens with gray hair tried desperately to block them, loudly scolding everyone, especially Qin Zhi: “We raised you like this, Qin Zhi, how can you do something like this!”
Qin Zhi stepped forward, pushing the two aside with a cold smile: “Just the two watchdogs of that old monster, already completely controlled by it.”
Someone tied them to the side. Qin Zhi led people into the inner part of the shrine, revealing the cocooned clan deity. He looked at that cocoon without the hesitation and fear the others showed; instead, his face was full of hatred. He raised the knife in his hand and, without a moment’s pause, stabbed fiercely into it.
“Come on, all of you! Let’s cut this thing open together! It just devoured the Liang clan deity, so this is when it’s the most vulnerable and unable to resist!”
Several younger men behind him immediately responded. They rushed up and in just a few strokes cut through the red cocoon. In the end, they dissected a ceramic divine statue out of the red cocoon. There was a crack on its chest, and black qi continuously seeped out of that crack.
Qin Zhi raised his knife, stabbing it into the opening. “We will smash this thing today!”
“Smash it! Smash it!”
The two elderly clan maidens let out shrill screams, but they could not stop the surging crowd. Everyone, as if possessed by madness, surged forward to hammer and smash the statue.
“Stop! You must stop!”
“You will definitely be cursed!”
The two old clan maidens were kicked to the ground by the agitated younger men. Their breathing turned rapid and spasmodic, and within the chaos, they stopped breathing. Meanwhile, the divine statue that was once unbreakable now split open with crack after crack under the Qin clan’s frenzied destruction.
Seeing this, Qin Zhi looked surprised and overjoyed, becoming even more certain of his belief. “That’s right, it’s exactly like this—only the Qin clan can destroy the Qin clan’s deity!”
“Ka—cha—”
The divine statue shattered completely.
Before Qin Zhi could cheer and declare their victory, overwhelming darkness surged out from the broken statue, engulfing the entire old residence.
“What is this?”
“Th-this can’t be the clan deity, right?”
“Didn’t they say that once the divine statue was smashed, the clan deity would disappear? What is happening?!”
The riled crowd gradually began to calm down, finally realizing fear—unfortunately, it was already too late. Darkness swallowed everyone. Countless red strings stretched out from within the darkness, wrapping around their necks, hands, and feet. Amid screams and cries, they were devoured completely. Even the corpses of the two clan maidens were devoured.
Outside the old residence, more and more people continued to arrive—some instigated by Qin Zhi, wanting to overthrow the clan deity’s control and seize more benefits; some opposed to Qin Zhi, wanting to stop them. But regardless of who they were, once they entered the old residence, none ever came out again.
Everyone was devoured by the clan deity. The red strings slowly turned black, and he became that monstrous, inhuman form.
No Qin clan members ever came to the old residence again—whether because none remained, or the survivors no longer dared. As time passed, curious young adventurers began to appear, backpackers stumbling upon this place while wandering for fun… each and every one of them who disturbed the shrine could not escape death.
“Qin Zhi.” Luo Yuan watched all of this, softly speaking the name as she stood in place.
The afterglow of sunset was breathtaking, pink and orange clouds blending beautifully across the sky. Standing among the flowers, Luo Yuan realized she had returned. Everything around her was unchanged—there were still crystal droplets of water on the leaves she had watered not long ago—and the mysterious black cat was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, she turned and ran toward the shrine, lifted the hanging curtain, and tightly embraced the silent red cocoon inside.
Just moments ago, she had countless times wanted to hug the terrifying, polluted clan deity. She wanted to stop him, to save him, but she was completely powerless—she could only watch from the side. When the divine statue shattered, she felt herself shatter along with it. How much must it have hurt Er-ge, to be smashed apart by the very clan members he protected!
When he was born, his bones were ground and his flesh carved; he absolutely must not break again!
“Er-ge, Er-ge, Er-ge…”
Luo Yuan held the red cocoon tightly, pressing her face against it, gently stroking in lingering fear.
After a while, she calmed down a little, and found that she was already wrapped in red strings. Those vivid red strings were slowly attaching themselves to her body, some even tying butterfly knots around her arms, nearly binding her entire body to the cocoon.
Completely calm now, she pulled away the loosely wrapped red strings on her body and wound them back around the cocoon. She stood up, “Er-ge, I suddenly remembered there’s something I need to do. I’ll come back later to keep you company. You rest well.”
She lowered the curtain and walked out of the shrine.
Aside from the clan maidens, no one typically wandered around the old residence at night. Most would automatically return to their rooms after dark. So the old residence was unusually quiet at this hour. Luo Yuan headed to the kitchen first, then walked toward the living quarters of the residence’s guards, going straight into Qin Zhi’s room.
She was no longer human. If she wished, she could pass right through the door, and she now possessed a power ordinary people could not resist—this was the strength Er-ge gave her.
Qin Zhi had not yet gone to bed. He immediately noticed someone else in the room, and he sat up sharply, his voice alert: “Who’s there?”
After asking, he saw clearly who stood before him. His face instantly filled with confusion. “Madam? Why are you here?”
“I want to confirm something with you.” Luo Yuan stood in the center of the room, looking at him. “Were you planning to destroy the clan deity?”
Qin Zhi’s expression changed, and he denied it immediately: “How could that be! Of course not!”
Luo Yuan: “Really? But actually, your answer isn’t that important.”
Qin Zhi: “What do you mean? Madam, you must be misunderstanding something, I…”
Luo Yuan ignored him and continued on her own: “In the past, you needed him, so you created him through cruel methods, hoping he would protect the family. Now, you no longer need his protection, so he has become worthless, a cage that must be destroyed. You enjoyed the benefits, yet expect to pay nothing—how could such a thing exist in this world? You were all spoiled by him.”
Qin Zhi’s expression changed again and again. Being only nineteen, having his true thoughts exposed completely, he could no longer maintain calm. He retorted: “You speak so nicely about protecting the family—then why did he devour more than four hundred people of my branch in the first place? Do you know why? Just because they wanted to leave the Qin clan! A clan deity like that is not worthy of our worship at all!”
Luo Yuan walked toward him. “Is that so? If you think you are righteous, then sure, you are. Unfortunately, I belong to the wicked.”
She revealed the knife in her hand. “Sorry, I just decided a moment ago that I’m going to kill you.”
───♡───
Minghui and Minghuang were carrying lanterns as they walked through the corridor, and they saw Luo Yuan carrying a large bag toward the shrine. They greeted her.
“Sister An, what are you bringing now, to give to the clan deity again?”
Luo Yuan didn’t answer the question. She simply smiled gently at the two and reminded them: “Go to bed early, don’t stay up too late.”
“Okay, got it.” The two girls smiled and left.
Once the courtyard gate was closed, Luo Yuan lifted the heavy bag without the slightest strain. The bag was very well sealed, not a single drop of blood leaked out. Just like when she planted flowers, she dug a deep hole, poured the dismembered remains from the bag into the pit, and covered it with soil.
