Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 506 - 2 For the Sake of Fellow Countrymen
A thug approached from behind him, "Sir, I’ve heard from the elders in my hometown that the Demon people from the Fist Rebellion possess mystical powers, and can snatch away a person’s soul from miles away. The immigration officials are coming for an inspection tomorrow; he might be big trouble."
Mystical powers...
Mr. Wu glared at the thug, took off his cowboy hat, and his eyes, the size of green beans, darted back and forth before he suddenly sneered, "Well then, go find the Red Lantern Association right now, and tell them we’ve just received a batch of strong pigs. I’m willing to sell them at fifty dollars apiece. Just as long as they take this troublemaker away!"
The thug’s eyes widened at the mention of going to the Red Lantern Association, and his legs started to cramp up with fear: "Sir, this... this... The Red Lantern Association, they are heretics wanted by the police. It’s said they use living people as sacrifices, and they even eat babies who aren’t a month old yet."
Mr. Wu gave him a glance, "Those Fairy Maidens from the Red Lantern Association wouldn’t even fancy the few pounds of ribs on you, so go without worry."
After hesitating for a long time, the thug in the suit wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and, grinding his teeth, scurried away.
Bang!
The entire cargo on the truck was quickly unloaded. The laborers ranged from as old as forty or fifty to as young as fifteen or sixteen. There were about a dozen of them, and after finishing the work, they lined up to receive a small bowl of hard rice, hardly enough for a few mouthfuls for an adult man.
Afterward, they were herded into a cramped cabin. Li Yan was among them.
Perhaps it was the shocking incident on the boat, or maybe it was the reputation of "Fist Rebellion’s Demon people," but everyone kept a distance from Li Yan, preferring to give up almost half of the cabin space to him.
At this moment, Cha Xiaodao, whose whereabouts were unknown, started a conversation with Li Yan.
"Where are you?"
Cha Xiaodao asked.
"I’ve been sold. What about you?"
Li Yan held a porcelain bowl.
"It seems I’ve become a cook peeling potatoes for the foreigners. I’m not sure where this is, let’s meet somewhere tonight."
"Let’s make it tomorrow, I still have a bit of trouble to deal with tonight."
"You didn’t just kill a few people and then run away, did you?"
"Of course not, am I that fierce? Wait for my news tomorrow."
The two quickly cut off their conversation.
As the night deepened, the "people" who were deceived here with a piece of paper curled up, suffering from gnawing hunger as they tried to sleep, while Li Yan sat quietly in place.
Suddenly, the door opened, and standing in front of Li Yan was a Chinese woman in her thirties, dressed in a long red robe, with thick makeup on her face, and a supple figure. Her flaxen hair was adorned with strange decorations patterned with scales. Her lips were as red as blood.
Her gaze casually swept around, then landed on Li Yan, sizing him up as if he were livestock. Soon she smiled with satisfaction, a smile that was somewhat sinister, "My surname is Zhen, you can call me Sister Zhen. I spent fifty dollars to buy you. Don’t be afraid, I’ll take care of you in the spirit of compatriots."
Li Yan responded casually, looking around the cabin, and motioned with a crook of the finger to a young lad in a dark corner that seemed underage.
The boy approached timidly.
"This is yours now."
Li Yan handed the rice in his hand to the boy, patted his backside, and followed the woman who called herself Sister Zhen out of the cabin.
The two of them walked off the boat one after the other. Mr. Wu and a group of thugs watched from the ship, muttering to each other, not knowing whether they feared Li Yan or this Sister Zhen.
"Sister Zhen, what can I do for you?"
Li Yan asked with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile.
Sister Zhen ignored him.
"Sister Zhen?"
Li Yan repeated, and only then did Sister Zhen move her lips, "I run a theater troupe here and need to hire some hands to trim the shrubs around my residence and chase away the animals that intrude on the estate."
As she spoke, Sister Zhen’s somewhat murky eyes fixed onto Li Yan, her icy gaze and eerie smile making one’s hairs stand on end.
"No problem, I’m very good at doing these things."
Li Yan’s smile was genial.
After walking for about twenty minutes, they left the wharf and entered the vicinity of a desolate church on the outskirts of the town.
"Here we are, we’re staying here for now."
Sister Zhen pushed open the church’s doors, revealing a spacious hall, surrounded by utter darkness. Li Yan lit a candelabrum and its feeble light illuminated a few feet in front of them.
"Zhen, it seems like there’s no one here."
"I have many sisters, and you’ll be able to meet them in a bit."
Zhen answered nonchalantly.
Before Li Yan’s eyes stood a cross with a purported image of a suffering victim. But upon closer inspection, there was no victim to be found on the cross. Instead, a monstrous, horrifying fish coiled there. Nearly two meters long, it sported a crown of iron spikes with its head looking like it had been pounded by a hammer, bloody and hideous. The statue seemed to have been neglected for a long time, strange stains smeared all over it.
As Li Yan moved forward, he realized that there were more than one of these statues, candlelight gradually illuminated the hall, until it shone upon a horrified face whose mouth was stuffed shut.
Thud!
The church doors slammed shut abruptly.
The fish head on the cross Li Yan first saw suddenly moved, its stinking body quickly wrapped around him. Candles dropped to the floor as dozens of red lanterns lit up. Perhaps around thirty women in dark red robes, all around the age of twenty-five or older, walked towards him from every direction, chanting lowly while holding lanterns.
In the hall, stood dozens of bloody crosses, each with a monstrous fish coiled around, and an unfortunate soul struggling ceaselessly.
These people included drunken vagrants, opium addicts, and dock workers; undoubtedly, they were the sort to disappear down an alley without causing any fuss.
The grotesque serpent head firmly secured Li Yan to the cross, baring its fangs and spraying a fishy breath at him.
"Zhen, this seems a bit different from what you described."
To others, Li Yan’s tone undoubtedly seemed falsely calm, Zhen leaned close to Li Yan and said coldly: "I know you dare to rebel against the authorities, braver than most. That’s perfect, the Red Lantern Association has been in need of excellent sacrifices like you—and vessels!"
Li Yan smiled: "But we are compatriots."
Zhen spoke with disdain: "The soldiers you killed are compatriots, Governor Liu who captured and punished you is a compatriot, and Mr. Wu who sold you to me for fifty yuan is also a compatriot. Are compatriots that valuable?"
After speaking, she stepped back.
These women in red robes closed in, their incantations resounding as the red glow cast everyone’s face in a blood-red hue.
Underneath the cross, what had seemed to be stains now formed a pattern resembling a hexagram, the ground cracked open to reveal a massive eye seeping with blood vessels.
"Where is the vessel for the Great Yog?"
All the women in red robes knelt down at once.
The giant eye roared. It cast its gaze upon the first cross.
"A rich soul! But he is not enough to serve as my vessel."
The monstrous fish on the cross spewed a jet of azure mist at the vagrant, whose body quickly withered, petrified, and turned into a mummified corpse.
The giant eye let out a contented sigh.
Then came the second sacrifice.
"A life with a lingering taste! But still too frail!"
Azure mist was expelled, and the dockworker rolled his eyes and died instantly, his body desiccated.
Next was the third, a good-for-nothing thug.
"His soul is utterly rotten. Are you still trying to deceive me?"
Murmuring, one after another, the sacrifices turned into dry corpses under the blue mist of the monstrous serpent, and its complaints grew louder and louder.
The women in red trembled uncontrollably but dared not move. Li Yan on the cross, however, watched coldly from the sidelines.
"Bitter to the extreme!"
"The sweet flavor, such a pity!"
"Youthful and full of life, my favorite. Just needed to be a bit stronger. Hmm, there’s one last one."
Suddenly, the giant eye’s commentary stopped, and after a long while, it rasped: "An...Outer God?"
"Hello there."
Li Yan said with a sneer.
Spurt!
The monstrous fish was torn apart, and Li Yan pulled the cross from behind him, thrusting it towards the giant eye on the ground!
