Chapter 44: Consuming Flesh (Part 16) - The La Festival

【Thus the bright spirits descend, known as the wizard in men and the witch in women.】
【Through this the people attain loyalty and trust, and the deities attain brilliant virtue.】
【Humans and spirits do not disturb one another, each maintaining its proper order.】
【——Guoyu】

Human belief in deities originally stemmed from the fear of the unknown.
Unable to explain famines, disasters, death, and a series of other events, they attributed everything to the mighty power of the gods.
They went to great lengths to appease the gods, hoping to exchange devout faith for divine blessings.
Later on, people no longer blindly prayed for the alms of the gods, but instead regarded the gods as a form of deterrence.
With deities three feet above one's head, and heaven watching men's every action, people were expected to uphold virtue and perform good deeds.
Gradually, however, some people ceased to believe in gods, losing their faith entirely.
Using the name of the gods as a pretext, they justified their own atrocities and committed evil at will.

"Though we are in a new era, I must quietly tell you all today that our Su Clan Village has always been protected by a deity."
The old village chief stood beneath the locust tree and said to the villagers, "Granny Su of our village was originally a goddess. Whenever she presided over the La sacrifice year after year, our village enjoyed favorable weather, and we never suffered from famine."

The villagers spoke all at once: "Come to think of it, we haven't held the La sacrifice for over a decade. No wonder we are plagued by a great disaster this year; it must be that the divine beings have sent down divine punishment."
"Let us hold a La sacrifice as soon as possible. Once the divine beings are pleased, we might just have food to eat. We must do this quietly and make sure those people don't find out and report us."

The sacrificial rite to the deities, praying for a bountiful harvest, began to be prepared in secret.
Granny Su was advanced in age and unsuitable to preside over the rituals, so the villagers sought out her granddaughter.
The young girl prayed beneath the locust tree for three days and three nights, yet failed to invoke any divine grace.
The enraged villagers claimed they had been deceived, and amidst the pushing and shoving, the maiden accidentally slipped and fell into the bronze cauldron.
That day, the villagers conceived a new way to survive the famine, claiming it was directed by the deities, and carried it out relying on violence.
After that day, every household tasted meat; new legends were fabricated, verified once more by the divine corpse at the bottom of the well...

...

The phantom of the ritual faded away, and the night grew pitch black. Flecks of eerie green light hovered around the players, flickering on and off like will-o'-the-wisps.
Shuffling footsteps echoed one after another in the stillness. Gaunt and slender figures emerged from the depths of the dense fog, swaying and trembling.
Some carried hoes, others shouldered carrying poles. At first glance, they were indistinguishable from farmers working during the busy farming season, yet without exception, they wore black cloaks that nearly blended with the night.
They were villagers—villagers who only haunted the night.

The sounds of swallowing saliva and spit splashing onto the ground rose in succession, making one feel as though surrounded by fierce beasts, with oneself as the delicacy on the platter.
Carrying farm tools in one hand and lanterns in the other, the villagers wore covetous and greedy smiles, appearing utterly bizarre in the current setting.
"Ah! Which bastard is pulling my hair?" the tattooed woman cursed angrily, bending her elbow to strike backward.
The withered, mummy-like shadow was shaken off by her—it was a villager who had slipped behind her at some unknown moment.
Her voice acted like a signal. The moment one villager was kicked away, even more shadows swarmed around them.

"The rules say the night is dangerous, and we must return to Granny Su's courtyard before dark. Never mind the ancestral hall, let's hurry back!" Zhu Ling shouted aloud, tightly gripping a dagger in her right hand and slashing backward.
A head was sent flying into the air, and its pitch-black body stretched out like a noodle before snapping back together on its own after catching up to the head.
More villagers lunged toward her.
"Meat, give us meat..."
"We want meat... meat with a soul..."

Clusters of human figures closed in from all directions like walking corpses, chanting repetitive phrases in their mouths.
Qi Si stood quietly between Yang Yundong and Zhao Feng, failing to attract too much attention for the time being, while lines of clues sorted themselves out in his mind.
These ghosts shared the same demand for meat as Ah Xi: they only wanted fresh, living human flesh, rejecting dead flesh and divine meat.
Moreover, in the eyes of these ghosts, divine meat was most likely foul-smelling and inedible.
Feigning death was somewhat troublesome, but making oneself unappealing to eat was easy to achieve.

Qi Si's gaze fell upon Zhang Licai, who was carrying a bag of divine meat.
He released Yang Yundong's hand, pulled Zhao Feng along, and walked over. "Let's go get some divine meat."
Zhao Feng did not understand the reasoning, but in his view, trusting the judgment of an intelligence-type player was always the right choice.
He swung his left palm, wrapped with a crucifix, and slapped two obstructing villagers across the face. Blinding white light burst from his palm accompanied by a charred smell, causing the villagers to instinctively clear a path.

Zhang Licai's legs had turned to jelly the moment he was surrounded by the villagers, causing him to collapse onto the ground. The military coat on his back, wrapping the divine meat, trembled along with his shivers.
Closing his eyes tightly and hearing approaching footsteps, he screamed, "Don't eat me! My meat is full of fat, unhealthy, and doesn't taste good..."
Zhao Feng batted away the villager blocking the space between him and Qi Si with a single slap. Qi Si stepped sideways, reaching out to yank the sleeve of the military coat.
The slipknot came undone, and large chunks of divine meat tumbled onto the ground, exuding a rich fragrance.

In an instant, the villagers recoiled collectively, as if they had just laid eyes on repulsive vomit or rotting, pus-filled garbage.
Qi Si drew a blade from his specialized wristband, sliced a thin shaving of divine meat from the lump, and covered his nose and mouth. The air he exhaled instantly absorbed the scent of the divine meat.
Smiling, he walked toward a skin-and-bones villager and kindly asked, "My friend, are you hungry? Do you still need meat right now?"
The villager: "..."

Watching Qi Si force the villager to retreat step by step, Zhao Feng briefly suspected for a moment that the villager was the player and Qi Si was the most terrifying ghost in the dungeon.
He quickly figured out the underlying reason: to the villagers, divine meat was probably no different from feces. If one encountered a person covered in feces on the road, wouldn't one flee as far as possible?
He could not help but look at Qi Si with newfound respect: Is this what it means to be a full member of the Sheol Guild? He found the key to breaking the deadlock so quickly!
Following suit, Zhao Feng used a blade to shave off a piece of divine meat and pressed it against his nose and mouth.

With Qi Si, Zhao Feng, and Zhang Licai forming the center, the villagers receded like a tide in all directions, turning instead to swarm the other players who lacked the protection of divine meat.
The moment Zhang Licai opened his eyes and saw the crisis averted, he muttered, "So you can even do that," then turned back to flash a ingratiating smile at Qi Si. "Little brother, can you lend me your blade? I'll return it in a moment..."

Yang Yundong noticed the situation over here and called out loudly, "Everyone, close in toward the divine meat! The villagers are afraid of the divine meat!"
Flipping his wrist, the back of his broadsword smashed into a villager's chest. The moment before the villager was knocked back, he still reached out to grab him, leaving a long bloody gash on Yang Yundong's arm.
Enduring the pain, Yang Yundong cleared the path with his broadsword in one hand while grabbing a physically drained, gaunt man who had collapsed to the ground with the other, rushing toward Zhang Licai's direction.

Although the tattooed woman and Zhou Yilin lacked means of self-preservation, fortunately they were close by and lunged into the protective perimeter of the divine meat within a few steps.
Zhu Ling, being a veteran player, possessed good martial skills and knew techniques for dealing with anomalous entities, managing to reach Zhang Licai's side without mishap.
Yang Yundong and the gaunt man arrived last, their bodies battered and gouged with several chunks of flesh torn away, though thankfully still alive.
Armed with the blade Qi Si lent him, Zhang Licai shaved off pieces of divine meat and handed them to each person in turn.
Five minutes later, every player wore a mask made of divine meat.

Perhaps realizing they could no longer do anything to the players, or simply disgusted by the pungent aroma of the divine meat, the villagers retreated entirely into the shadows, leaving no further trace.
Whether due to the arrival of night or not, the mutated patch on the tattooed woman's face ceased to spread further, and her entire demeanor became much more spirited.
While the other players panted heavily and celebrated their narrow escape from death, she deftly rewrapped the divine meat, hoisted it onto her back, and laughed heartily, "Let's not dawdle. Let's head back to Granny Su's place for dinner early; I'm practically starved to death!"

The players had no objections. Carrying the bloody scent of wounds and the fragrance of divine meat, the group wearily walked toward Granny Su's residence.
The return journey appeared much shorter than the trip over. After walking for just a short while, the two red lanterns in front of Granny Su's courtyard came into view, hanging high like eyes to guide the path.
When they first arrived at Su Clan Village yesterday evening and saw this dilapidated courtyard, the players felt only tension and fear; seeing it again now, however, it inexplicably brought a sense of peace, as if returning home.
The courtyard gate was unlocked, and the group filed in one after another. The tattooed woman tossed the bundle on her back into a corner.
Dinner was already prepared, laid out lavishly on the dining table in the center of the courtyard.

Perhaps because they had missed mealtime, neither Granny Su nor Ah Xi was in the courtyard. A dim, yellowish light filtered through the window of the main house, casting two silhouettes—one large and one small.
Having rushed about all day long, the players were ravenously hungry. They took their seats one after another, heads bowed as they shoveled food into their mouths with bowls and chopsticks.
After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Yang Yundong stood up, dragged the bundle of divine meat from the corner to the edge of the table, and split it evenly into eight portions with his broadsword.

Placing a portion of meat in front of every person, he reminded them, "After eating the divine meat, you will fall into a deep sleep until the next morning, unable to wake up even if you encounter danger halfway. Everyone should wait until you have no other choice before eating it.
"Since we have all consumed the divine meat, according to the rules of this dungeon, we are all tainted with sin. Tomorrow morning, let's go together to check out the ancestral hall."

Zhou Yilin asked softly, "What if we still can't find the ancestral hall? What if we run into today's situation again..."
"We have to go even if we can't find it. If we set off earlier, we will eventually find it."
Yang Yundong sighed. "You've all seen our attrition rate. I suspect the minimum guaranteed survival number for this dungeon is one. Without solving the worldview, we will die until only the very last person remains to clear the level."

Such an assessment was not without reason. The atmosphere froze, and none of the players wore pleasant expressions.
Unwilling to participate in the discussion, Qi Si said, "I'm heading off," and carried his portion of divine meat back to his room.
The broken door bolt had been replaced, and the knife-scarred bed boards and bedding had also been renewed.
On the title page of the travel booklet resting upon the desk, the original four lines of poetry had vanished, replaced by new verses:

【In the same room they slaughter one another; coming and going without kin or friend】
【Every household cooks its sons and daughters; what fault did gods and Buddhas ever bear】