Elder Tang, Madam Xi, Ma Ye, Zhu Ren, Manager Wang and a tester who had been turned into a black donkey. Gao Ming memorised these people’s names. This village was scary. There was probably not a single human remaining.
The black donkey continued to work the mill. Gao Ming found a bag and stuffed the sheepskin inside. Then, he snatched one copper coin from the box under the bed. He came to the front room. The wooden door was shut. Gao Ming saw the sign, Meat Shop.
However, the sign had been broken. The broken board was stored behind the counter. The shop had been cleaned out. Gao Ming ransacked the place but only managed to find a rusted butcher’s knife underneath an overturned table. The blade was smelly. The hilt was carved with the character Zhu.
“The meat shop belongs to Manager Wang, and the message left behind by the tester said that the butcher’s name is Zhu Ren. Does this blade belong to Butcher Zhu?” Gao Ming looked around. “This shop has been destroyed. The black donkey appears to be grinding Manager Wang. Is this the tester’s revenge, or has there been a conflict between Manager Wang and Zhu Ren?
“If this were the former, it meant that the testers in the village were not weak. However, considering the black donkey didn’t have the courage to escape, I am more inclined to believe it is the latter.”
Some of the village houses were still, and others were noisy. The villagers were clearly not on the same level. There were prey and predators. Gao Ming put the knife into the bag. He adjusted the hilt so he could pull out the blade easily.
“The weasel is collecting money outside the village. It clearly doesn’t dare to enter the village. If I run into it again, I have to force it to enter the village and steal my money back.” Gao Ming was cautious. When he heard movement, he instantly went into hiding. The front door was shoved open. Shadow enveloped the overturned tables and chairs. Even the air in the house stilled. Gao Ming didn’t look, but he picked up a horrifying scent of blood.
The table was roughly kicked away. The other party was looking for something. It moved through the front room. Then, it pulled back the curtain and entered the backyard. Without any hesitation, Gao Ming ran out of the meat shop.
“The thing was looking for something. Could that be Butcher Zhu? Was he looking for his knife?”
“The pig sound and human crying come from the same spot. The crying sounds familiar. It is similar to one of the testers!”
Gao Ming looked up. A bright red couplet hung on the door frame. The characters couldn’t be read anymore. The former couplet said ‘Sky-shocking career’, and the latter couplet was ‘ending-Yin and cutting-Yang family’. It felt out of place. Gao Ming tried the door. It opened easily. The owner didn’t appear to be scared of anything. The door wasn’t locked. He wasn’t afraid that people would enter his home.
The stone bricks sunk into the bloody mud. The walls were covered in black cloth. There was no window. Two gullies meant for blood flow were dug out from the corner of the walls. In the middle of the yard were wooden racks to split open one’s chest, tables for chopping and stoves to burn off animal furs. These tools had been used for a long time. They were wrapped in mud.
He looked in further, and a thick rope was used to tie up a white and fluffy pig. Inside the wooden pail next to the pig were razors to skin the pig’s fur as well as link chains. The pig’s limbs were bound. Gao Ming saw that it was shivering.
Behind the pig’s butt, where it couldn’t see, were many different tools. There were knives used for beheading, chopping off the hooves and many small shaving knives. They were meant for paring bones, slicing meat and so on. However, the knife meant to kill the pigs was missing. Killing pig was meant to be done in one cut. Even though pigs were animals, they shouldn’t suffer for long. Butchers had to kill them with one cut. Butchering pigs was a sin, so the knife that was used to kill pigs had the strongest Yin energy.
The pig trembled harder when it sensed that someone was around. Gao Ming was worried about triggering the pig, so he moved slowly.
A pair of human eyes in the pig’s head looked at Gao Ming. Tears and hope appeared in the eyes. The pig wanted to speak, but its mouth was sealed.
“Shush. I’m here to save you.” Gao Ming used the knife to cut off the cloth around the pig’s mouth. He noticed the edges of the pig’s lips were sewn together. He slowly undid the threads. Deep inside the pig’s throat, he saw a man’s face. This strange event caused Gao Ming to stop. The man’s face frowned.
“I remember you. In the room with the altar, you said you saw a moving Tai Sui inside the altar.” Gao Ming whispered, “The butcher will be back soon. How can I save you?”
“Everything in the nightmare is symbolic. You need to solve it symbolically. Everything and everyone in this village corresponds to something. It can be an emotion, a curse or a mutated tester. They can’t be killed normally. You have to identify them before you can destroy them.” The man in the throat spoke quickly, “The 13 modifications are here. I’m helping my friend build a spiritual temple. I was discovered by the butcher when I was out looking for materials. Can you help me notify him?”
The man didn’t trust Gao Ming. Even one’s closest family could betray one in the nightmare, much less a stranger.
“Can you hang on until then?”
“A butchered pig has to be cleaned before it is killed. That means the pig will be starved for a day before its slaughter. I still can survive for one night.” The man was rational. “My friend’s name is Fei Gong. He is behind a temple at West Street. I’ll give you this. When you show it to him, he’ll understand everything.”
The man spat out a wax-sealed ball. Gao Ming had no idea what was inside.
“Do not open it. This thing is useful for temple construction, but it is very harmful to the human body.” The human looked tired, “If you succeed, my friend and I will help you with your modification and escape this nightmare.”