Walking the Path of a Workaholic in Cliché Novels (QT) Chapter 58

It was late at night, and all the victims who had been walking for the day had fallen asleep. Only those who were on watch that night were still awake. They huddled together with their hands in their hands, yawning, and approached the fire to warm themselves.

     Their tattered cotton-padded jackets could not block the biting cold, and they wished they could sleep in the fire.

     Many light blue shadows emerged from the ground of the dilapidated fort: men, women, old and young. But the night watchers didn’t see them. They were watching the fire because they were tired and didn’t dare to sleep, fearing that they would not be able to wake up if they fell asleep.

     The phantoms gradually revealed their true appearance. They all looked human, but their skin was pale, their eyes were red, their bodies were blue and translucent, and their faces were expressionless.

     Seeing so many living people, these phantoms had twisted smiles on their faces.

     “This is mine.”

     “This is mine.”

     The shadows looked for their favorite prey, then lowered their heads and inhaled.

     A white thing came out of the sleeping victims’ noses, which looked like their souls. The ghosts became even more excited when they saw the souls and sucked harder. The white souls slowly came out, leaving only a tail hooked on the body.

     A shadow floated in front of An Yinong’s car, and he sniffed intoxicatedly: “The scent of humans in this is so special… Uh!”

     This phantom sensed danger, but it was too late. He instantly exploded on the spot, and then the aura of a powerful creature enveloped the entire area. The other shadows were so frightened that they almost knelt down as they fought.

     “Sir, don’t blame me. It’s because we were blind and offended.”

     Gu Zhengzhong appeared in front of the car. He played with the painted fan in his hand and turned his head to see the people inside the straw curtain. An Yinong almost woke up, his hand still holding the knife under the pillow.

     “It’s really easy to attract ghosts and monsters. It’s strange that he has been able to grow up safely for so many years.”

     The light flowed on the painted fan, and the surrounding shadows made a sharp whistle, and the space was distorted, swallowing them all. Those souls that had floated out slowly retracted themselves.

     The unaware night watchman still yawned: “It seemed like there was a cold wind just now?”

     When they woke up the next day, the world was snow-white, and the victims’ tents were all covered with a layer of snow. There were cries from the crowd, and they thought someone was dead, but later they found out that a horse had died.

     The road was slippery in the snow. The horse slipped yesterday, but it couldn’t work today.

     Those who could drive a carriage to escape famine were all wealthy households. An Yinong took a closer look and found that he was a bricklayer in the village. All three of his sons were good at working. As long as they could settle down, such families can quickly take root.

     “Dad, the horse is dead.” The third son who used to be responsible for driving the cart cried very sadly. He had been taking care of the horse.

     His father narrowed his wrinkled eyes: “If it’s dead, just leave it. Kill and everyone will have a full meal.”

     But the third son couldn’t do it no matter what.

     “I’ll do it.” The boss said. He picked up the knife and chopped the horse’s head. The smell of the meat attracted many people.

     They chopped the horse into pieces, washed it, smoked it slightly, scalded the surface, and put it on the carriage. In this kind of weather, meat could be stored for a long time. Others watched them kill the horses and eat the meat, either openly or covertly, with their mouths swallowing saliva and their eyes like wolves.

     The horse was so big that the family only kept the meaty parts, and divided the horse’s head, bones, tail, hooves and internal organs. Everyone had a share of horse meat, even An Yinong got a meaty bone.

     “Dad, why did you give everything away? You can even eat it.” His eldest son complained a little.

     “If you don’t eat it, you won’t be able to keep any other meat.”

     It was a rare day for everyone to eat meat. Both men and women held the bones and gnawed on them, biting chicken feet in their mouths. Even the youngest child stuck out his tongue and licked the soup bowl.

     As An Yinong drank the horse meat soup he was given, he caught a glimpse of those people who were about to move out of the corner of his eye. Those people’s eyes were staring at the remaining livestock.

     “Uncle, you must take good care of the cattle at home.” He pretended to take a walk and went to give the village chief a heads up.

     The village chief was an old man, and he understood what he meant after hearing this. He told his two sons to take care of the cattle and not allow others to approach. He himself stood next to the old cow, touching the skinny old beast and sighing.

     Food was exhausted along the way, so everyone began to eat what livestock could eat. Where could they feed their own livestock? Therefore, every family’s livestock was so thin that only their skeletons were left. They don’t know when they will fall down like that family’s horse and never get up again.

     Because the horse was lost, the family’s cart had to be pulled by the three young men. The family had a lot of stuff, and the cart often skidded. After a day of pulling, the shoulders of the sons were bloody.

     To do this, they had to throw away some things that were not so necessary. But there were benefits. From then on, that family could eat meat every day. Every time he cooked meat at home, the other people around him were like zombies who smelled human flesh, salivating and eager to come and snatch it.

     That was to say, the final moral bottom line was still there, and the family had a lot of labor and three tall and strong sons, so other people dared not act rashly. If the orphaned ‘Tian Xi’ had so much meat, there would be no more people now.

     “The atmosphere is so scary.” The system shrank its head in fear, “Why do they cook meat every day? How greedy are they?”

     Whenever that family started cooking meat, the expressions on other people’s faces were very special. It can’t be told in detail, but it’s extremely scary. The system even thought that this group of people would kill and rob the family under the cover of night.

     “They want to get food into their stomachs early so that they can build up their physical strength and eliminate hidden dangers early.”

     An Yinong bit into the smoked bacon sandwich. Although it had gone cold, the fried eggs and cheese slices inside could still soothe his body and mind. Whenever that family cooked horse meat, he would take out leftover food. The aroma of horse meat could cover up the taste of most food.

     It had been almost a month since they fled the famine. It was said that they have traveled more than 200 miles and were about to leave the disaster-stricken area and enter the wealthy southern province.

     But there was also a problem. Many people who did not have much food in the first place have begun to eat tree bark. After eating the bark, the food could not be excreted, and the belly becomes bigger and bigger, but the person becomes thinner and thinner. They had to dig with their fingers every day just to survive.

     If one day they run out of tree bark, will they start eating ‘meat’? An Yinong didn’t dare to think deeply. He put down the straw curtain and sat in the car to count his food supplies.

     One and a half bags of fried flour, about thirty kilograms, half a bag of fried black beans, less than five kilograms, one bag of baked grain cakes, ten kilograms, two bags of kudzu root powder, about twenty kilograms, and a bag of persimmons.

     Having a cheating device, he did not suffer much during the escape. At least psychologically, he did not have the sense of urgency that he would starve to death. But along the way, he inevitably became possessive of food – the more food, the more at ease he felt.

     “If there are no other accidents, we should be able to reach our destination smoothly.” An Yinong touched the box full of food and breathed a sigh of relief.

     “You look like a squirrel hiding pine nuts in the winter.”

     What appeared with the voice was the man with the aura of a famous aristocrat. His robes were gorgeous and complicated. He was squeezed into such a small space, which made people feel aggrieved.

     And An Yinong felt that he was the one who should be wronged more. When he designed the size of this unicycle, he never thought about sharing it with another person.

     “Since you have worshiped me, you can make some requests. If I think it is possible, I will do it for you.” Gu Zhengzhong covered half of his face with a fan and seemed to be smiling, “You don’t seem to realize that you can lean on others.”

     An Yinong lay on his side with one hand under the pillow: “That’s good.”

     “Is this okay?”

     “Um.”

     An Yinong closed his eyes and his breathing became smoother. Gu Zhengzhong was not sure if he was asleep. He was the most unpredictable person he had ever seen. He seemed to be able to handle anything very calmly and maturely. Although he appeared cold and distant to the outside world, he was actually very soft-hearted.

     “Why did you choose me?” An Yinong, who was sleeping, opened his eyes.

     Gu Zhengzhong smiled: “Are you still awake?”

     “How can I possibly sleep when you stare at me like this?”

     Gu Zhengzhong lay down on his side, supporting his head with one hand and looking down at An Yinong: “I should have killed you, but you are young and very interesting, so I can’t let go.”

     An Yinong was stunned for a moment.

     “Go to sleep.”

     There was an intoxicating warm fragrance on Gu Zhengzhong’s sleeves, and An Yinong suddenly felt like sleeping. He knew that this was a bit abnormal, so he reached out and grabbed the other person’s sleeves, but he couldn’t help but close his eyes.

     “The way you look at me is as if I’m a human being… I haven’t been looked at like this for a long time.” Gu Zhengzhong also lay down, his long sleeves covering An Yinong’s body, as if he was hugging him. “Because I forgive your sins, you are mine.”

     People who have been lonely in the dark for too long will want to lock it in their hands when they see a little light. An Yinong was very unhappy when he woke up the next day. Although he didn’t say anything or showed an angry expression, he knew he was in a bad mood.

     Gu Zhengzhong sat upright holding his incense box: “Are you angry?”

     “No.”

     “Then you look at me?”

     An Yinong raised his eyelids and glanced at him.

     “I’m really angry.”

     “…”

     The cart An Yinong pushed that day was as light as a toy car, and when he was on the road, the wind and snow flew around his face, and he did not feel the coldness of the winter wind all day long.

     “Actually, this ‘ghost’ brother is not bad. Why don’t you forgive him, host?” The system said sarcastically.

     “Eat grapes.”

     Later, An Yinong asked Gu Zhengzhong to cancel this special benefit. He didn’t want to make himself more special. And what you get must be paid back one day. What should he do if he gets too much and can’t afford it? You are safe on your own.

     Gu Zhengzhong didn’t care. As long as he had a stick of incense every day and the worshiper chatted with him, he would be very talkative.

     Two days later, the snow stopped and the sky cleared. An Yinong squinted and saw only a vast expanse of white. His eyes hurt after a long time. “Snow blindness?” He didn’t quite understand, so he could only lower his head and follow the tracks left by his predecessors.

     After the snow melted, the road became icy, causing the vehicles to slip even more severely. Cars often got stuck in the mud, and it took the group of people a long time to pull them out.

     Another mule cart got stuck in the mud today. The skinny mule stopped in place and roared. Its body was bruised and bloody. An Yinong was very lucky that he had widened and reinforced the wheels so that they would not sink in so easily.

     That night, the injured mule was stoned to death, and the first major fight broke out among the victims. The victims who smashed the house killed the man of that family, robbed his belongings and ran away. The other victims who had cars were in danger.

     There was an implicit antagonistic relationship between the victims who have nothing and those who still have cars and livestock. Even An Yinong was being targeted. He was alone, but he had a very convenient unicycle with two training wheels.

     “Moreover, I heard him eating inside, clicking, clicking, it was real food…” The victims in the dark looked at the car greedily, “There must be something in there.”

     “I have been observing him. Although he is very careful, you can still see the flesh on his arms. It doesn’t look like he is starving.” A teenager licked his mouth, “I know him, I’m here to trick him out.”

     What they thought was a secret move all fell into An Yinong’s eyes.

     “Host.” The system opened its mouth.

     “Shh-” His hand touched the knife under the pillow, and a cruel smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, “If they dare to come, I will welcome them with a knife.”