Chapter 17: The Door

Chapter 17: The Door

All the voices blended together. The demon fox’s frenzied thoughts and her last remaining rationality were clashing and tearing at each other. Yu Sheng heard Hu Li’s pained whimpers beside his ears, yet his mind roared with even more mad and distorted voices. There was the demon fox’s appetite on the verge of losing control, a hunger that carved into the heart and pierced the bones, the temptation of chaotic darkness, and... the cries urging him to run.

Yu Sheng suddenly sucked in a breath, lowered his body, and charged toward a gap between the demon fox and the monster. But instead of fleeing as Hu Li had urged, he casually grabbed a broken slab of bluestone from the ground and rushed toward the monster’s flank with it in his arms.

Of course he knew he probably still couldn’t defeat this monster, but he also knew that with human legs alone, there was no possibility of escaping this place. On top of that, the area was filled with collapsed walls and rubble that blocked the way. The only open exit leading out of the ruined temple had been completely sealed off by the monster’s enormous body. Under such circumstances, trying to flee recklessly would probably only lead to a quicker death.

He might as well grit his teeth and charge. He could not win a fight, but since he wasn’t afraid of dying, he still had a chance to exchange his life for some results before death. If he was lucky enough to distract the monster, perhaps Hu Li would have a chance to break free from that terrifying restraint. She was still struggling to maintain her sanity. If she really managed to escape, there might even be a chance to turn the tables...

All these thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. Yu Sheng knew his plan was full of flaws, but he had no time to think further. With no other options left, he steeled himself. Once again, this body erupted with a tremendous strength that even confused him. He hurled the heavy slab of bluestone at the flesh monster like a cannonball.

The next second, he had no time to check the results of the attack. A powerful warning surged up from deep within him. One second before it happened, Yu Sheng “saw” the monster’s counterattack, and his body immediately leapt aside.

A black shadow like a steel whip smashed into the spot where he had just been standing. It was a snake tail that had suddenly split out from the monster’s surface. Instantly, earth and stone exploded outward. Solid bluestone and broken bricks alike were pulverized into dust. While airborne, Yu Sheng felt a tremendous shockwave. Fragments of stone struck his body like bullets, rattling against him in a storm and even producing sounds like metal striking stone.

Yu Sheng paid no attention to the pain. The moment he landed, he rolled rapidly, avoiding the pursuing snake tail. At the same time, the corner of his eye swept toward Hu Li’s position.

The silver-white demon fox was struggling violently amidst countless black spikes and bone fragments. The ghostly blue spiritual flames burning near her tails flickered violently, as though they would explode out of control at any moment.

Yet she remained firmly trapped.

Those restraints seemed almost custom-made for her. Yu Sheng’s interference had accomplished nothing.

In fact, with a single glance, Yu Sheng could tell that this fox girl was stronger than him by an unknown number of times over. Yet before that monster, she had absolutely no ability to fight back. There was clearly a very obvious form of... suppression between them.

And yet at the very beginning, in the clearing outside the ruined temple, she had rushed over without hesitation to “save” him.

Although she had ultimately failed, she had genuinely wanted to help him.

The memory flashed past. Yu Sheng bit down hard and prepared to charge again, to see whether he could use the old method of exchanging his life for damage and tear a few more pieces off the monster.

He did not know where his increased strength and recovery ability had come from.

But he remembered that before those changes had first appeared, he had bitten a piece of flesh off the monster.

He was not sure whether the two things were connected.

But there was no other path available. He was not afraid of death. In that case, he might as well test every bold theory in his mind.

“Stop... worrying... about me!” Hu Li’s voice rang out once more. “It can’t kill... me. You... run!”

“It’s fine. It can’t kill me either.” Yu Sheng spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. It came from an injury he had suffered when flying rubble struck his jaw earlier. He turned and glanced at the silver-white demon fox, a cheerful smile on his face. “I might die in a bit, but don’t worry. I’ll come back to find you.”

Hu Li’s struggling paused.

She seemed momentarily confused.

Yu Sheng offered no explanation. He simply began walking toward the monster.

His steps were light.

The smile on his face became increasingly obvious.

There was a kind of joy in that smile, as though he were heading to a banquet.

“Aren’t you always trying to persuade people to eat?” he muttered to the flesh giant ahead. “Fine then. I’m here to eat!”

He leapt into the air and pounced upon the feast’s dining table like a starving Wolf.

The dozens of eyes covering the flesh monster’s body trembled violently.

For the first time, a trace of hesitation and... fear seemed to appear within those chaotic, frenzied eyes.

Muffled roars emerged from its giant mouths. Then several tentacle-like snake tails covered in black scales split out from the heap of flesh and shot toward Yu Sheng in midair.

Yu Sheng felt his body being pierced through.

Fatal wounds.

Several of them, though he did not know exactly how many.

He could feel his life slipping away. Warm blood was carrying the vitality from his body.

But that indescribable... appetite had already surged up from the depths of his heart.

Ignoring the pain.

Ignoring all resistance and fear toward death.

He wrapped his arms around a snake tail that had pierced through his abdomen, grinned, lowered his head, and bit down.

The monster released a strange and piercing shriek.

It violently whipped the snake tail, as though trying to shake off a deadly poisonous insect clinging to its body.

Yet Yu Sheng held on tightly.

No matter how violently the creature shook him, he refused to let go.

Dragged by the snake tail, he was slammed into the ground, then smashed through a crumbling wall nearby. His resilient body suffered no injury from the deadly impacts. Instead, the pain only made him more alert.

Then the snake tail rose high once more and swung toward a collapsed opening in the ruined temple wall.

A strange golden light suddenly flashed at the edge of his vision.

Amid the howling wind in his ears, Yu Sheng struggled to lift his head. He saw the golden glow rapidly approaching him.

Before he could identify what it was, he instinctively reached out to block it.

His hand grabbed something.

A handle.

Yu Sheng: “...?”

A faint creaking sound mixed with the roaring wind.

The image of a door suddenly appeared in his mind.

An utterly ordinary door.

Leading somewhere.

Leading to...

The moment a familiar location surfaced in his thoughts, the door opened beneath his hand.

In the next second, Yu Sheng and the black-scaled snake tail instantly fell through the doorway.

Then, accompanied by a harsh creak, the door slammed shut.

The flesh monster’s snake tail was severed directly by the door that had appeared and vanished without warning.

A distorted howl capable of driving listeners insane echoed through the Valley.

The wound seemed to send it into a frenzy.

It roared through the ruins of the temple, crashing wildly about and frantically devouring everything within sight, including its own body.

Then, after an unknown length of time, it gradually calmed down.

Its body once more transformed into a shadow of darkness and emptiness, dissolving little by little into the night.

The black spikes and bone fragments vanished silently.

The battered silver-white demon fox fell to the ground.

Motionless.

As though dead.

Several minutes later, Hu Li slowly opened her eyes.

She stared blankly at her surroundings.

Within those golden-red eyes, the spiritual nature seemed to have completely disappeared.

After a long while, her gaze finally focused on a spot among the ruins.

It was the steps where she and her benefactor had sat together earlier.

Dragging her enormous demon fox body, she slowly moved over.

When she saw the scattered plastic bags, leftover food, and rotten vegetable leaves beneath the steps, she lowered her head and swallowed all of them while making soft whimpering sounds.

Yet she was still hungry.

The tempting voice lingered like an inescapable demon, whispering to her from the deepest depths of hunger:

Eat. You know where there is still food that can fill your stomach...

You buried them in the forest...

Bones, flesh, and blood...

Go. Eat. Once you eat, you won’t be hungry anymore...

The demon fox lowered her head and let out a whimper like crying.

Then she curled up beneath the steps.

Slowly stretching out her neck, she gnawed at broken bricks and shattered tiles nearby. She dug up dirt and rotting wood from beneath the ruins and slowly stuffed them into her mouth, chewing again and again.

I’m not hungry... I’m not hungry... Someone already gave me food... He’ll be back soon with even more food for me... I’m not hungry...

She continued chewing like that until, as she had so many times in years past, she gradually lost consciousness.

The sensation of endless falling jolted Yu Sheng awake from his dazed state.

The feeling of gripping a door handle still lingered in his hand.

But in the next second, he realized he had already crossed some kind of boundary.

His eyes widened in astonishment.

He found himself lying beside a road.

In his vision were familiar streetlights, utility poles, and the old low houses lining Wutong Road.

The aged exterior wall and gate of Wutong Road 66 stood not far ahead, quietly bathed in the faint light of dawn.

He struggled to turn around.

Just in time to see the phantom of a door slowly fading away.

Deep within the fading image, he could vaguely make out the Valley shrouded by night, the ruins of the broken temple, and...

The white fox laboriously moving through the rubble.

Yu Sheng tried reaching a hand toward the white fox.

But the last remaining shadow vanished before his fingertips could touch it.