Chapter Sixty: Don't Die, My One and Only Child

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“Those few who managed to withstand it questioned me, demanding to know why, yet their eyes were ravenous, fixed upon me as I was overwhelmed by others who succumbed to the drug’s effects. I merely did what they all desired to do—tell me, how can they be so hypocritical?”

“Do you know what’s laughable? They feign righteousness, condemning me, all the while watching as I am violated, until everything they once said is discarded, and what remains is their eagerness to join in.”

“By the way, among them was your father. Did you see his expression? He clearly wanted to throw me out, but now his gaze accuses me, as if all my shame and guilt belong to me alone.”

The woman danced slowly in the darkness, each step light as a feather, indifferent to every scene unfolding on the screen before her.

“I don’t understand, I truly don’t understand. I thought you, you were…” Lin He retreated further into the darkness, his cries choked and tears streaming down his face.

“What was I? Forced? Helpless?” the woman continued, her words light and unhurried.

“He’er, I told you, humans are fragile creatures, so fragile they can be shattered with a single touch.”

“Do you know, at that moment I realized all my family was gone. No one survived except your uncle, who fled and escaped.”

“You knew all along?” Lin He wept bitterly, unbelieving.

“Yes, as I said earlier, the pretense was never just his. He gave me the opportunity, and I degraded myself.”

“From the very beginning, no one forced me. Everything was my own choice, everything was the best arrangement.”

The images faded, and all returned to calm, returned to darkness.

“What am I then? What am I!!!”

Again, another anguished cry.

“I always believed I was an accident! But now you tell me everything was arranged by you! What am I to you? Why did you give birth to me!!!”

“You knew all along, yet you still brought me into this world! You lied to me from the start!”

“How many times—do you know how many times I envied other children? I wanted to laugh, to have a family like theirs, to have relatives!”

“I tried! I fought for it! I tried to make you accept me, to be a real couple! But now, why must you reveal this naked truth to me?”

“Why can’t I find peace even after your death! What did I do wrong!!!”

“Now tell me, tell me! Who am I! Whose child am I!!!”

His small face grew confused, then anguished, then twisted in pain. He began to tremble, to rage, to scream from the depths of his soul.

He clutched his head, crouched down, a child of six or seven, crying alone, so desolate it pierced the heart.

“Do you know why I know? Do you know who told me everything?” The woman crouched before Lin He and spoke softly.

“Who?” Lin He’s body trembled again and again, his voice quivering, even though his heart already held an answer.

“The one who claimed to need you,” she said.

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“He told me my family was destroyed, he told me what to do next, he gave me that medicine.”

“When the time was right, he found you, he deceived you. He orchestrated everything.”

“He’er, you are destined—destined from birth to walk a path unlike any other.”

She crouched fully now, gently speaking, gently stroking his head.

Boom. The world began to collapse, his world trembled, everything started to vanish—including the red blood, including his mother,

Including himself.

“Why do you keep hurting me, again and again! Why must you torment me over and over! I haven’t done anything wrong!!!” Lin He roared into the darkness, head thrown back.

“He’er, this is the last time. From now on, you must become yourself again.” The woman spoke gently, watching the scene as if unsurprised.

“Myself? Do I even have a self?!!! Everything here is false! All of it! I myself am false!!!”

He watched his mother slowly fade, roaring at the surrounding darkness, tirelessly.

“Your destination is far beyond here. The abyss is dark, it is cold. If you are afraid, then trample it beneath your feet, devour it.”

“Don’t die, my only child.” Her words were gentle, as tender as a true mother, but her voice grew fainter, then vanished.

“Ha, haha, ha, hahahaha. Hahahahahaha!!!!”

He laughed softly, then loudly, wildly, recklessly.

Roars upon roars, pain upon pain, losing himself again and again.

“How wonderful! How wonderful!!! Truly wonderful!!!”

The darkness collapsed; he no longer needed it, for now he truly stood atop the darkness.

If the abyss cannot contain me, then I will consume the abyss, devour everything.

Inside the room, a wind seemed to rise—an inexplicable wind. The black book fluttered, pages turning faster and faster, emitting a faint black glow.

“My toys! So fun! So much fun!!” The butcher shouted excitedly in the room, tireless in his amusement.

“Is it really fun?” Like a demon crawling out of hell, the raspy voice sent chills through the air.

The butcher paused for a moment, then laughed wildly: “Indeed! Indeed!!! You are different from other toys! What a delightful sound!!!”

“Tell me, do I look beautiful now?” Lin He asked softly.

“Beautiful! Beautiful! Absolutely flawless!!” he replied loudly.

“Hahahaha! Is that so!!! Is that so!!!”

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He continued to laugh wildly, tears streaming as he laughed, every inch of his bloodied flesh trembling, as if laughing as well!

Then Lin He slowly raised his head, his face raw and bloody, appearing before the butcher, whose laughter abruptly ceased.

What kind of face was that? Savage, cold, twisted. No skin, only veins stained red. Those dark eyes were pure despair.

“So now, who is whose toy?”

A white crane flew from the hem of Lin He’s clothes, flying slowly, its pure feathers stained with blood until entirely red, then blackened, and finally it drifted into the black book.

At last, the book that had flipped page after page returned to its cover. This time, two words were written upon it.

Gluttony.

Everything began here, everything ended here.

“Tell me, I’m so hungry now, so hungry, so very hungry.” He laughed as he spoke, breathless from his laughter.

“Hungry? Never, toys never feel hunger.”

The butcher shook his head, swallowing with difficulty. For some reason, watching this scene filled him with a trace of fear.

Lin He glanced at the butcher, looked at the poisonous insects scattered around, and burst into loud laughter again.

The black book began to float, emitting a black glow that enveloped him. He hovered before Lin He, a beam of darkness shining upon him, and everything about him began to melt.

“Mr. Mo, I understand now. Mr. Mo, I truly understand, hahaha.”

“It’s so simple, isn’t it? Just two words—gluttony, gluttony! Even a three-year-old knows those words. How could I not understand? How could I not learn?”

“Not fun, not fun! Not fun anymore!!! How did my toy become like this!!” The butcher frowned in displeasure.

“Play, go on, play! Have you played enough? Now it’s my turn! My turn!!!” Lin He screamed, then whispered.

Bang. The butcher watched as the child, along with his iron chains and the battered wooden chair, instantly melted into a puddle of black sludge.

The black swamp on the ground writhed, disgusting, hateful, revolting to behold.

It crawled rapidly, filling every inch of the room, creeping up the walls. On the floor, countless poisonous insects perished instantly, devoured and gone.

Then the candlelight vanished, and the room was plunged into darkness.