751: 270.
Even if it is not human, he would not withhold his compassion.
751: 270.
Even if it is not human, he would not withhold his compassion.
“Covered in mud, the outline of a pig, feeding it will make it grow.” Village chief Abdel described it like this.
Compared to a sculpture, calling it a mud sculpture is more fitting, or rather: a pig covered in mud.
It is a dead thing, but lives in another way.
The villager who brought it back told the village chief on the third day, claiming it could protect the village and grant those who believed in it strange powers: alleviate pain.
Or make them numb.
The village chief believed after the villager calmly cut his arm with a dagger.
Despite a hint of dread towards the strangeness, the statue’s requirents seed minimal — just need to feed it.
“How does it eat?” Lu Li asked.
“When no one’s watching, it sounds like a pig eating…
then the food disappears.” Village chief Abdel replied.
Perhaps it’s psychological; maybe it’s protected the village, but the appearance of the statue indeed makes the villagers feel at ease.
But as ti passes, problems start to erge.
“It eats more and more, we can’t afford to feed it at, so we started feeding yam.
It accepted yam too but soon we couldn’t afford yam either…”
The united villagers started to divide at this point.
A group led by village chief Abdel wanted to send away the sculpture.
Otherwise, without its protection, people would die of hunger.
The remaining villagers, mainly believers, refused, wanting to gain more abilities.
Because their faith made them not fear pain and not feel hunger.
But rather than believers gaining power from devotion, it seems they were infected by the strangeness from being around the statue for long periods.
For village chief Abdel said the statue does nothing but eat.
What is called “revelation” and “visions” are fabricated by believers or done by themselves.
Village chief Abdel was left powerless, and those villagers were forbidden to approach the statue, preventing them from becoming numb due to it.
Until even believers going out hunting couldn’t satisfy the statue’s appetite.
The believers started eyeing passing rchants and travelers.
They carried food.
They carried money that could be exchanged for food.
They were food themselves.
Despite the endless disasters and The Ti of Silence making people reluctant to leave gathering places, there were always migrating people and rchants passing by the village less than 70 miles from Spinning City.
The forr would pass by regularly, not many but consistently.
The latter would occasionally pass by, but both themselves and the goods they carried could support for long — provided the villagers wouldn’t feed endlessly.
Those believers clearly wouldn’t do that.
Thus, the statue grew increasingly bloated, and it had to be moved into a barn nad “church” by believers.
Under endless feeding, hunting and robbing passersby couldn’t satisfy the statue’s appetite, so tonight, the already controlled village chief Abdel and other villagers, along with travelers captured yesterday, were being sent to the pigsty, ready to be sacrificed to the statue after the bonfire ritual.
Then Lu Li and Elena arrived and saved everyone from becoming food.
The statue event was like the believer event, but not the sa, and there was no mark of Anna here.
Lu Li looked around the bonfire; villagers gathered clothes and water to distribute to everyone.
Five or six believer villagers were bound by ropes, led to the bonfire’s edge, their mouths stuffed with cloth to mute their venomous curses.
A villager brought a lion fur blanket to village chief Abdel, who gestured for it to be given to Elena.
“I don’t need it.” Elena ignored the blanket, her hair swaying in the firelight.
“So hyenas will co to attack the village, you hunted all nearby food, they can only co to attack you.”
“Maybe out of hatred…
they killed many nearby wild animals, including hyenas, without feeling pain.”
“Exorcist sir, can we beg you to eliminate that monster?” Village chief Abdel pleaded to Lu Li.
As his words fell, the rescued people around the bonfire looked over expectantly.
“Staying on the village outskirts for a night, migrating to Spinning City at dawn is the best choice.” Lu Li said.
In any case, it’s rely an oddity.
Fighting against an oddity at night isn’t wise, and there’s no need to anger a creature that doesn’t actively attack people.
Village chief Abdel sighed with disappointnt.
He understood, but his heart couldn’t bear the expensive price: the village would be abandoned, and the population would be halved.
“The mist is coming!”
Night echoes with a shout, a villager runs with a torch.
People turn their heads, but see nothing but darkness outside the bonfire.
“Sorry, Exorcist sir, I need to try…”
Village chief Abdel resolved himself, bowed to Lu Li, and approached the bonfire.
The heat curled his hair, he pulled out a torch and turned towards the barn’s vague outline.
So villagers guessed what, drew torches, and left a trail of sparks chasing village chief Abdel.
They paused a dozen ters from the barn, and with village chief Abdel’s loud shout, they threw the torches together against the barn, bouncing off.
The straw decorating the “church” ignited and burned rapidly.
The village’s only wooden building began to burn.
A larger “bonfire” gradually dispelled the darkness, revealing the Mist of Strangeness that had already engulfed the village’s outermost houses.
At this mont, a pain-filled helpless screech erged from the barn.
It wasn’t a human cry…
instead like a pig being slaughtered, but thicker, more muffled, seeming to convey the pain within the cry.
Many showed sympathy, including the villagers who threw torches.
“That’s the scream of the monster, it’s the price it must pay!” Village chief Abdel shouted.
Using words to affirm everyone’s thoughts…
including his own.
The dried barn fully burned, walls collapsed, sparks scattered, revealing the scene: a giant pig over three ters tall, covered in mud and like a bloated human slumped there.
Screams wafted around it, the statue eerily unmoved.
Mu Su silently felt the emotions within the screams, suddenly drew the Spirit-Calling Gun, aid at the statue, and pulled the trigger.
Boom!
…
Lu Li stood on a quiet plain at dusk.
Oink oink…
Nearby, pig grunts sounded, Lu Li turned his head, seeing a several-month-old pig wandering a few ters away, sniffing, as if danger lurked around.
A line of children’s footprints extended from beside it into the distance.
Lu Li contemplatively lowered his gaze and gently tapped the “ground” with his left foot.
The tip of his shoe sank into gray, sticky mud.
This was a swamp, evening made the dangerous swamp appear like a plain.
The dostic pig raised its head, sniffed, bright eyes looking at Lu Li.
Lu Li raised his arm, pointing towards the direction the footprints stretched.
The piglet grunted softly in response, followed the children’s trail, and gradually vanished into the gloom.
Reviews
All reviews (0)