Chapter 82: The Terrifying Guo Er

The courtyard was in complete disorder. In a typical rural household, people usually built chicken coops and dog kennels, and liked to plant flowers and vegetables in the yard to make it look nice.

But what kind of place was this courtyard now? The flowers and vegetables had been trampled into ruins. There had originally been a tree in the yard, but several branches had been snapped off, and only a few strips of bark were still hanging on, making it look even more desolate.

If it were only this, it would not have shocked me and Su Rou so much. What was even more horrifying was the bloodstains in the yard, large dark patches that were extremely disturbing. Not far from those stains were the corpses of two chickens and one duck!

It was obvious that the blood came from those chickens and the duck. Su Rou and I could tell at a glance, because their deaths were extremely brutal, as if chunks of flesh had been bitten off by force.

One of the chickens had half its body bitten away. The remaining half still had a layer of skin barely connected to it, and even a piece of flesh was missing.

There was no need to think too much. That missing piece of meat had been swallowed by Guo Er. Unlike the other pieces of chicken flesh that were torn off and still hanging there, this one had simply disappeared.

Seeing all this, my expression changed slightly. Su Rou was already on the verge of vomiting. The situation was too obvious. Even a fool could imagine what had happened.

Guo Er had an episode. His family no longer dared to let him eat anything. If he kept eating like that, he would eat someone to death. So Guo Er went into a frenzy, ran into the courtyard, and stuffed anything edible into his mouth. These live chickens and ducks were naturally food in his eyes. Then his family tried to stop him, and the courtyard ended up like this.

From the dead chickens, it was clear that Guo Er had ultimately succeeded in biting off a piece of flesh. One could imagine him swallowing raw meat, skin and feathers included, gulping it down despite all attempts to stop him.

“I can’t take it anymore. I really can’t take it.” I could think of it, and Su Rou could too. Just imagining that piece of raw flesh with feathers and blood being swallowed whole made it impossible for anyone to stay calm.

On top of that, we had just finished lunch not long ago. Su Rou finally ran to a corner of the courtyard and vomited. After coming back, his face was extremely ugly as he said, “I swear I will not eat chicken for a year.”

The little girl lowered her head sadly when she saw Su Rou’s reaction. I felt a bit sorry for her, and Su Rou also felt embarrassed, scratching his head as he said, “No other meaning, I just ate too much at lunch.”

“It’s fine. I am used to it. All my classmates say my dad is a monster. At noon, he even chewed on tree bark. Several uncles from the neighborhood had to pull him off,” the little girl said. Her words were painful to hear.

I stepped forward and said, “It’s okay. This is just illness. Everyone gets sick. Once he is cured, everything will be fine.” I said this out loud, but inwardly I sighed. Guo Er was truly committing sins, making his child bear such suffering. If things continued like this, no one knew what it would become.

Thinking of this, a sense of exorcising evil and upholding justice suddenly rose in my heart. For the first time, I felt like I was truly a Daoist. I felt proud, even more proud than being part of the Red Army.

My comfort clearly worked. The little girl asked hopefully, “Big brother, can my dad really be cured?”

“Yes, he can. Let’s go see your father,” I said, stepping over the messy courtyard.

As we passed through the yard, I noticed something. In the dog kennel, there was a large black dog curled up inside. Strangely, it was trembling in its nest, a kind of trembling anyone could clearly see.

Before I could ask, Su Rou asked, “What happened to your dog? Why is it like this?”

“Da Hei used to be very well-behaved. But a little over a week ago, it suddenly started barking at my dad, very fiercely. It even tried to bite him. Then my dad also became very violent. That look…” The little girl seemed unwilling to recall it and paused for a long time before continuing, “Anyway, my dad suddenly kicked Da Hei. He kicked it flying, very far. It even coughed up blood. After that, Da Hei never came out of its kennel. Even though it has recovered from its injuries, it still refuses to come out. Whenever it sees my dad, it hides even more.”

“A dog that big, what kind of strength does it take to kick it flying? Guo Er might have trained some kind of Great Vajra Leg!” Su Rou exclaimed.

“Great Vajra Leg? I only know Great Vajra Palm,” I said, already speechless, then turned to the girl. “And then your dad became very capable of eating that same night?”

“Yes,” the little girl nodded heavily.

Su Rou and I exchanged a look. We both knew there was definitely something wrong. Anyone with basic knowledge would know that dogs are extremely sensitive animals, especially to anything unclean or strange. Guo Er had most likely run into something.

While speaking, we had already gone upstairs. The Guo family was well off and had long built a two story house. Guo Er’s room was on the second floor.

As soon as we entered the room, I felt a heavy, oppressive atmosphere. Guo Er’s father sat at the door sighing. His mother and wife were sitting by the bedside silently crying. His son, Guo Dongliang, who was in the second year of junior high at the market town school, also looked extremely grim.

Guo Er himself was bound tightly to the bed. His clothes were messy, his hair disheveled, his face covered in stubble and faint traces of dried blood. He was asleep at the moment.

Strangely, his stomach was swollen, like that of a pregnant woman, about five or six months along.

Guo Er was not fat to begin with, so the contrast made his belly even more shocking. Moreover, as a well known wealthy figure in the market town, he usually cared a lot about his appearance. Seeing him reduced to this state was truly distressing.

Even in sleep, his brows were tightly furrowed, and he occasionally let out low groans, clearly not resting peacefully.

Su Rou was relatively familiar with Guo Dongliang. Both of them were from the same kind of crowd, the kind that liked to hang around socially. As soon as he saw him, Su Rou asked loudly, “Dongliang, is your dad any better?”

Guo Dongliang frowned. “Looking at him, how could he be better?”

The rest of the Guo family looked at us in confusion. The little girl immediately said, “These two big brothers came to see dad.”

The family said nothing. They probably had no mind to entertain guests in this situation, so they just nodded.

Guo Dongliang also seemed emotionally strained and said to Su Rou, “With my dad like this, we don’t even dare cook at home. I am hungry too. Hunger is nothing, but I just hope my dad does not go mad again.”

Su Rou quickly took out two candies from his pocket and handed them over. “Have some candy. It will help a bit.”

Guo Dongliang was probably very hungry. He took them, unwrapped them, and was about to eat. His sister also could not hold back and took out the candy we had given her earlier, preparing to eat it too.

The fruit candy my mother had packed had a strong fragrance, especially in that era when sweets were very rich in flavor. Before they even put it in their mouths, a sudden roar rang out.

The sound was like a ferocious beast roaring.

Su Rou, who had been watching Guo Er the whole time, shouted, “He’s awake!” and jumped back a step, hiding behind me.

Who could handle that? A person who was supposedly asleep suddenly opened his eyes without any warning.

“So fragrant, so fragrant, I want to eat, I want to eat!”

Guo Er did not even look at anyone. He struggled violently on the bed, his target clearly the candy in Guo Dongliang’s hand.

Even in that state, he still had incredible strength. The wooden bed creaked loudly under his movements.

Guo Dongliang was terrified and threw the candy away while jumping back. At the same time, Guo Er’s wife, mother, and father rushed in to try to hold him down.

But Guo Er was too strong. He broke free in a few movements and fell to the ground with a heavy Thud.

Yet he did not care at all. Twisting his body, he crawled to the candy that had been thrown on the ground. Without caring that it was dirty, he licked and sucked it directly off the floor, showing an expression of pure satisfaction.

Cold sweat broke out on my forehead. I immediately gathered all my strength, focused my energy in my dantian, and shouted loudly, “Guo Jianshe!”