Warning: This chapter contains scenes of violence that may be disturbing to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.
As they reached the village entrance, everyone finally saw the person who had been screaming in the middle of the night.
The disheveled woman was covered in blood, her eyes filled with fear and despair. As soon as she saw the crowd, tears streamed down her face, and she collapsed in distress.
The village chief asked in a solemn tone, “What happened?”
Trembling and unable to speak coherently, she sobbed hoarsely, “Village chief, there’s a monster at the village entrance. I heard noises in the middle of the night and thought it was a rat, so I went out to see. But in the darkness, I saw a pair of wolf eyes, red, like it wanted to eat me… It’s a monster, a man-eating monster. It lunged at me, trying to bite me. I managed to escape… sob…” She was so frightened that her mental state seemed unstable, and she trembled uncontrollably.
After a moment of silence, the village chief leaned on his cane and instructed someone to take her away. Then he said, “Let’s go and see what it really is.”
The group of people continued forward, holding torches with serious expressions.
Xia Qing lingered at the end of the crowd, where he saw Lingxi.
Lingxi was wearing patched-up old clothes, with his hair tied in a small braid. Clearly woken up, his eyes were struggling to stay open.
Children are always sleepy
Lingxi yawned continuously, rubbing his eyes with his hands.
Xia Qing waved a dog tail grass he had picked up by the roadside in front of him.
Lingxi startled, then recognized him and mumbled with sleepy eyes, “You came out too, huh.”
Xia Qing: “Well, with all that commotion, I’m not deaf.”
Lingxi blinked, looking around, and asked, “Are you alone? What about your wife? Is she still ill?”
Xia Qing smirked, “Her? She’s beyond hope, never getting better.”
Lingxi rolled his eyes, “You’re cursing people! You shouldn’t say such ominous things!”
Xia Qing didn’t want to explain anything to a brat, so he changed the subject, “Are you also alone from your home?”
As the words came out, Xia Qing suddenly remembered the first time he saw Lingxi. It was evening, and all the children were called home by the adults for dinner, leaving Lingxi alone sitting on the field bank, blowing on leaves.
Xia Qing asked in confusion, “Are you the only one in your family? Aren’t there any adults in the village willing to take you in?”
Lingxi’s face instantly turned pale and then red, gritting his teeth angrily, “No! It’s just that my grandfather went to town for some business!”
Xia Qing nodded, “Oh.”
Lingxi’s fingers clutched the sleeve, trying to hide the patches.
Children of his age have strong pride; how could he admit that no one wanted him?
He repeated indignantly, “My grandfather will be back soon! I’m not unwanted!”
Xia Qing chuckled, shaking the dog tail grass in his hand, and said slowly, “Being unwanted isn’t something to be ashamed of. Why are you so worked up?”
Lingxi glared at him, sulking in silence.
Xia Qing looked at Lingxi’s frustrated expression and suddenly remembered Xiao Pang, unable to hold back a laugh.
Xiao Pang was one of his better friends at the orphanage.
Xia Qing was a daydreamer when he was young, with a passive personality, uninteresting and solitary. This friendship was all thanks to Xiao Pang’s initiative. The reason Xiao Pang was so proactive was that he saw Xia Qing as a fellow sufferer. Because they had one thing in common: being taken in by many families, only to be returned.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Qtlif Wljb Ujcu rffwfv ecjoofmafv ys fjmt jyjcvbcwfca, rfmgfais, tf kbeiv mbwf bnfg fnfgs vjs ilxf j agerafv bivfg ygbatfg ab “mbcrbif” Wlj Hlcu.
Qtfatfg Wlj Hlcu tjv alwf bg cba, Wljb Ujcu kbeiv rflhf atf bqqbgaeclas ab mtja klat tlw, rjslcu atlcur ilxf:
“Ktlr qijmf vbfrc’a xffq sbe; atfgf jgf batfg qijmfr obg sbe ab ub.”
“It’s not that they don’t want you, it’s that you don’t want them.”
“Don’t be sad, you can live just fine on your own.”
Xia Qing listened quietly, munching on his popsicle. When Xiao Pang finished talking, his eyes were red, and Xia Qing had to take responsibility for wiping away his tears and mucus, even though he had to awkwardly climb down from the bed with his short legs to get tissue for him. It was hard to tell who was comforting whom.
“It’s just ahead!”
“Everyone, pick up your torches!”
The villagers’ shouts echoed.
A group of people had already approached the house near the village entrance.
Under the cold and desolate moonlight, winding bloodstains trailed across the ground. The flickering shadows of trees cast an even more sinister and terrifying atmosphere.
Xia Qing stood at the back of the crowd and noticed Lingxi trying to push forward. He grabbed his braid and pulled him back, saying, “Are you out of your mind? Daring to move forward like this, you’ll be the first one bitten by the monster.”
Lingxi retorted, “There’s no fear in the blood of the merfolk!”
Xia Qing chuckled, “You actually have that kind of awareness?”
“My two grandfathers both said so.”
Xia Qing let go of him and ignored him.
Lingxi was indeed different from many others, perhaps because both his parents were merfolk. This young boy retained the most primal traits of the merfolk and yearned for the sea.
“The children and women stay outside and don’t move.”
The village chief stared at the blood on the ground, his expression growing more serious.
No one knew if the monster inside would suddenly go berserk and rush out. The village chief instructed someone to throw several torches into the dark courtyard.
Soon, weak and hoarse sounds emanated from inside, like the dying gasps of a beast, accompanied by a strong smell of blood, urgent and restless.
“Grab your weapons!” The village chief’s pupils constricted as he tightly gripped a long hunting spear.
Everyone held their breath, ready to strike the monster down as soon as it emerged.
The torches thrown into the courtyard were quickly extinguished by the cold wind.
A shadow slowly made its way out in the darkness.
The faces of the crowd turned pale, sweat beading on their foreheads.
Finally, a thin, bloodied foot stepped out.
“Now’s the time!” the village chief shouted.
He swung his spear directly at the monster’s head.
Others around him followed suit, hurling torches, axes, and stones at the creature.
The monster clearly feared fire. When touched by the torches, it let out a piercing scream.
The village chief, gasping for breath, hoarsely commanded, “Quick! Get the nets and ropes!”
The villagers hurriedly handed over the nets and ropes.
Several young men in the village used nets to trap the monster’s head, just in case it went berserk. They also stabbed the creature viciously with knives. Squelch, squelch, the knives pierced through skin and flesh, blood gushing out.
Writhing in pain, the monster curled up on the ground, emitting sobbing sounds from its mouth.
Once it was confirmed that the monster was powerless to resist, the group wiped their sweat and prepared to get a clear look at its appearance.
The scene was bloody and brutal, causing many to turn their heads away unable to bear looking any longer.
Even Lingxi’s face was deathly pale.
Xia Qing stood at a distance, but his mind kept replaying the monster’s piercing scream from earlier… It was incredibly loud, sharp, and piercing, definitely not a sound a human could make.
The village chief, elderly and weary, after completing a series of actions, stepped aside and started coughing violently, waving his hand, “Let’s see what this thing really is.”
“Alright.”
A young man held a torch and grabbed the monster’s hair, lifting it up.
The creature was covered in blood, its hair messy and dirty with leaves. It already had various injuries before reaching the village, and its feet were covered in numerous pus-filled blisters from the long journey.
Gasping for breath, the creature whimpered as its hair was pulled, revealing a face covered in scales.
Half of its face was covered in light blue scales, and its ears were pointed like fish fins.
It was not a youthful face; its cloudy pupils had turned blood red. It opened its mouth and looked ahead, showing neither anger nor aggression on its face, only pain and confusion.
The moment the creature’s face was revealed, everyone, including the village chief, froze in shock.
While Xia Qing was still trying to figure out who it was, Lingxi beside him suddenly froze like a statue. His face turned ghostly white, his lips trembling, and his voice so soft it seemed like he was dreaming.
He cried out, “Grandpa…”
Xia Qing was stunned.
Lingxi seemed to awaken from a nightmare, trembling violently, his eyes bloodshot as he lunged forward, “Grandpa!”
“Stop him!” The village chief snapped out of his daze and quickly ordered someone nearby to restrain Lingxi.
Lingxi’s arms were held by someone, but he kept staring at the bloodied old man trapped in the net, tears streaming down his face, “Village chief! That’s my grandpa! Please let him go, please let him go, he’s not a monster, he’s not a monster!”
The old man on the ground showed no reaction to Lingxi’s voice, as if he were unaware of the outside world, only responding instinctively to the pain.
The village chief gritted his teeth, “Right now, he’s not your grandpa. He’s a monster inhabiting your grandpa’s body.”
Lingxi bit and kicked with all his might, but he couldn’t break free. Tears continued to flow down his pale face, his voice hoarse as he cried, “No, I can recognize him, he’s my grandpa. Village chief, he’s not a monster.”
The village chief didn’t want to argue with a child. “Take him away.”
Lingxi’s voice grew desperate, tears flowing uncontrollably, “He’s not a monster, how can I make you believe me?”
Xia Qing had been watching the old man from start to finish, observing his body covered in wounds, his spirit seemingly absent, clearly on the brink of death.
In the blink of an eye, something occurred to Xia Qing.
He spoke up.
“He’s not a monster.”
His voice caught everyone’s attention.
The village chief looked up and saw him, momentarily stunned. After all, Xia Qing was brought to the village by Xue Fuguang and had a different status from the others.
Xia Qing discarded the dog tail grass in his hand and took a step forward. He bent down, searching in the pool of blood until he found the old man’s hand. Indeed, the old man’s nails had also grown unusually long, sharp as steel blades, easily capable of gutting someone.
The village chief’s expression was no better than those around him. “Xia Qing, if he’s not a monster, then what is he?”
Xia Qing withdrew his hand and said with lowered eyes, “He’s just dying.”
The village chief frowned, his voice heavy, “Then he’s a monster! No one looks like this when they’re dying.”
Xia Qing remained silent, bending down on his own initiative to untangle the net from the old man.
“Stop!”
“What are you doing, Xia Qing!”
The villagers were shocked, expressing their anxiety.
Xia Qing pressed his lips together, soothingly saying, “Don’t worry, he won’t harm you. If he really wanted to harm people, no one in the village would be alive right now.”
His words stunned the crowd momentarily.
After untangling the net, the old man didn’t launch an attack on them. Struggling, he managed to climb up from the ground, his bloodshot eyes cloudy, his body covered in wounds. Wherever the knives had pierced him, blood still flowed profusely. Yet, as if there was an inner strength buried within him, he pushed himself forward, unable to stand but crawling on the ground.
The old man’s feet were already blistered. After crossing mountains and rivers to return to this familiar village, the restlessness and pain in his heart hadn’t diminished in the slightest.
After crawling only a few steps, his vision blurred, unable to see the path ahead clearly. He then prostrated himself on the ground, crying like a child.
But it wasn’t the cry of a human.
Each cry seemed sadder and more desperate than the last.
Everyone present felt a sour and perplexed feeling in their hearts as they listened.
Xia Qing spoke quietly, “A hundred years ago, this is how merfolk looked before they died.”
“He’s not a monster, he’s just…”
He didn’t know how to finish the sentence. Is it simply the awakening of the gods that stirs this distant bloodline?
Lingxi broke free and ran over, wanting to support the old man, crying, “Grandpa, it’s me, I’m Lingxi! Grandpa, I’ll take you home.”
As Xia Qing searched for that leaf, the veins on it were intricate and complex. He thought to himself, there’s no going back.
The gentle and soothing voice of the woman with long hair resounded once more.
In the desolate cold palace, amidst the overgrown grass, a candle illuminated a page of poetry.
— Every year on the fifth day of the third lunar month, during the Jingzhe, the Lingwei flowers emit night light on the sea. Those merfolk who get lost in the storms can find their way home by following this light. And the dying old men, in their desperation, can also find solace by following the light. That’s why the Lingwei flower has another name among the merfolk, called the ‘Guiding Light for Departed Souls’.”
But this time, the journey back home was separated by mountains and seas, and there were no more guiding lights for the departed.
The events of this night were far from over.
Suddenly, flames burst forth at the village entrance, accompanied by a triumphant voice.
“I knew following this demon would pay off! Look at what we’ve found! The county magistrate has ordered that all merfolk in the city must be captured and detained together! This entire village is full of escapees!”
Alright, who’s asking for their death sentence? ( `_ゝ´) The more I read the more saddening the backstory of the merfolk is TwT And poor baby Lingxi
Thank you for the chapters!!
No!!!! XQ protect them. Bad ppl are everywhere.. i wanna cry. This is so sad….. And thank u for the wonderful chapter. I wana crawl under my blanket n cry.
😭😭 I hope xia qing gets to protect the village from those merfolk hunters. Time to unsheath your Ananda Sword! 🔥