I am the Ruler of the Kingdom of Mysterious-Chapter 363 - 327: Flesh

Sang Que looked over the city regulations again and suddenly discovered there was small text at the bottom of the notice.

[Nine]

There’s a ninth rule?

But the area behind it was blank; nothing was written.

This made Sang Que’s pressure suddenly increase. If regulations here were written at will, and someone from the city wrote a rule that outsiders must die, all the power of the Death Domain would crush down on her and Xia Chan.

Sang Que stood in front of the notice board, not daring to act recklessly. She glanced at Du Enfu, who was still mechanically reciting the rules, and whispered a few words into Xia Chan’s ear.

Upon understanding, Xia Chan nodded and walked over to Du Enfu, a hair strand quietly piercing into Du Enfu’s neck.

Du Enfu couldn’t see the two. He only felt some discomfort in his throat as he recited, but fortunately, he was finished, and the people in front of the notice board had left.

"Village elder, do you remember Little Chan?"

Xia Chan’s voice suddenly entered Du Enfu’s ear, causing him to shake all over. His eyes widened, and his mouth opened instinctively but no sound came out.

"Village elder, don’t be afraid. Little Chan isn’t a bad person. Could you take Little Chan somewhere safe? Little Chan wants to ask you some questions."

Who was Little Chan? Of course, Du Enfu remembered. Black Mountain Village had only one Little Chan.

Du Enfu nodded.

Xia Chan winked at Sang Que, "Village elder, we’ll follow you. We have to hurry."

The time left from the Xun Trigram wasn’t much.

Du Enfu surveyed the area. His job in the city was to stand here daily, reciting notices for those who couldn’t read. But today, those Qianshou Army guards weren’t around. Even if he left early, no one would notice, especially since the city regulations didn’t state absenteeism would lead to death.

Upon realizing this, Du Enfu immediately walked into a nearby alley, away from the bustling streets.

Du Enfu staggered when walking, and others on the street seemed the same.

Sang Que and Xia Chan followed behind Du Enfu, and after walking for about two minutes, the Xun Trigram’s effect vanished.

Du Enfu looked back at the two, stared at Sang Que seriously for a moment, full of confusion, seemingly recognizing her yet failing to recall. But he didn’t ask anything and continued leading them through deserted alleys.

At the alley’s exit ahead, Du Enfu stepped out and immediately retreated, nearly bumping into Little Chan.

Du Enfu turned back and gave the two a hush hand gesture, shrunk into the shadow cast by the alley wall. His face turned pale, eyes full of fear; his arms occasionally twitched, seeming abnormal.

Sang Que carefully peeked out, seeing shadows of passersby illuminated by red lanterns from roadside shops. Among them was a man walking with his head down, wearing rough clothes, lacking a shadow underfoot.

At first glance, this man seemed no different from others; if not carefully noticing, he would certainly be overlooked.

Once the man passed, Du Enfu led the two forward again, eventually arriving at a remote, sparsely populated alley. He pushed open a dilapidated courtyard door, inviting them inside and closing it securely from within.

Inside the house, Du Enfu shut all doors and windows tightly, checked several times, then nervously sat down. Reaching for the flint on the table, he repeatedly missed.

Du Enfu shook his head and rubbed his eyes, finally accurately grasping the flint this time, lighting the lamp.

The dim light only illuminated a small area around the table. Du Enfu attempted to speak, "Li...Little Chan, why are you here? Where’s Yushan? And Uncle Baosheng’s family, and Skinny?"

Du Enfu didn’t remember Sang Que, only Little Chan leaving with Kou Yushan and the others.

Referencing Kou Yushan, Little Chan’s expression gradually grew sad. Kou Yushan was dead; she found his ink-corroded corpse in Wangshan City, crumbling at a touch. Eventually, she could only, together with Yun Niang, erect a cenotaph for Kou Yushan.

Little Chan lowered her head, at a loss for words. Sang Que answered on her behalf, "Uncle Yushan died in the ghost disaster of Wangshan City; Uncle Baosheng’s family and Skinny are in Dongyang County. They’re all alive."

Du Enfu gazed at Sang Que again, feeling familiar yet unable to recall if they’d met.

"You came from Dongyang County? You wouldn’t have joined the Evil Suppression Bureau and come here to attack the city, would you?"

Though old, having passed the scholar exams, Du Enfu’s mind was still keen.

Sang Que didn’t directly answer, "Why is the city like this? I noticed the city gates were open, no guards now, even the city regulations don’t limit departure. Why hasn’t anyone left?"

Du Enfu sighed heavily, "Leave? To where? Isn’t it the same everywhere? At least here, so long as we worship at Xishen Temple once every three days, we can receive food; if managed well, three days’ worth. Sometimes lucky, there’s even meat."

Sang Que furrowed her brows, "Recently, is it still like this? Grain and meat are obtainable?"

Du Enfu nodded, "Yes. I had good luck yesterday, received a bag of rice and two taels of meat."

"Mind showing me?"

Du Enfu puzzled, but he didn’t understand why. He had an inexplicable trust toward Sang Que, and her presence in the house even made him feel the environment was safer.

"Wait a moment, I’ll go fetch it."

After Du Enfu left, Sang Que asked Xia Chan, "Little Chan, if you could eat your fill here every day without doing anything, would you want to stay forever?"

Xia Chan shook her head emphatically, "No, I don’t want to. This place feels unpleasant!"

"What if other places are comfortable but you can’t eat enough there? What would you do?" Sang Que continued asking.

Xia Chan tilted her head in thought, sighed, "Little Chan doesn’t know either..."

Shortly after, Du Enfu returned, carrying a small cloth bag and a piece of meat, which he had already smoked with firewood, black on the outside for longer storage.

Upon entering, Du Enfu bumped into the door frame, nearly falling. Fortunately, Sang Que timely extended the long knife to support him.

"All here."

Sang Que opened the rice bag, indeed seeing glistening grains of rice, and the meat appeared fine too, but...

Employing Ghost Eye, Sang Que reexamined the rice and meat, with the scene transforming dramatically before her eyes.

The rice turned into writhing maggots squirming constantly, while the smoked black meat revealed a small arm, stripped of bone and bearing fingernails on its five fingers underneath.

Sang Que restrained nausea and turned away, while Xia Chan sniffed, "So stinky, this isn’t rice and pork, it’s from a corpse."

"Ah?!"

Du Enfu, stunned, glanced at Little Chan, then at the rice and meat on the table. No matter how he saw or smelled, it was regular rice and pork. He’d been eating rice and meat from Xishen Temple for months without issues.

Sang Que pondered and asked, "Since consuming such things, have city folks including yourself been unsteady walking, experiencing limb twitching, and blurred vision?"

As she spoke, Du Enfu’s arm involuntarily twitched.

Xia Chan immediately said, "Little Chan knows. Aunt Qiao told Little Chan, eating corpse meat causes such sickness, incurable, you’ll die!"

Du Enfu’s eyes widened in shock, instantly paling with fear.