Chapter 101: The Human Skin Drum (5)

So the player simply and innocently followed the villagers’ instructions and helped them gather snails.

Lu Zhengqing raised his camera and clicked, capturing Tang Mu against the backdrop of the village.

The moment Lu Zhengqing snapped the photo, Tang Mu’s sharp gaze immediately locked onto him with a fierce glare. Her beautiful face was filled with displeasure.

“Did I agree to have my photo taken?”

“Sorry,” Lu Zhengqing apologized quickly. “You were standing there, frowning as you looked at the scenery—it was just a little too beautiful to resist...”

Tang Mu’s eyes grew colder.

After a moment of silence, she finally said, “Don’t let it happen again.”

Lu Zhengqing looked delighted, his face beaming with joy. “Alright.”

Lu Zhengqing took two shots of every attraction listed on the tourist brochure. He had plenty of film, so soon his hands were full of developed photographs.

“Ah!” Suddenly, someone in the river let out a harrowing scream!

Everyone turned to look at him, following the sound.

They saw that his legs were covered in bean-sized lumps that had appeared out of nowhere. As the lumps grew, they burst one by one.

From the torn flesh and blood within each burst lump, snails from the river emerged!

This man had inexplicably become a living factory continuously producing snails!

“It hurts so much!” he wailed, crying uncontrollably. “I feel like these snails are rapidly hollowing out my body. Can someone please save me?”

Wherever the lumps burst snails, pus and blood oozed out. In less than ten minutes, over a hundred snails had emerged from his body, all falling back into the river.

Originally a strong young man, he rapidly wasted away in minutes. His skin tightened against his bones, and countless tiny holes wept fresh blood, enough to make anyone with trypophobia shudder.

Yet he was still alive.

He was still breathing.

Tourists gathered by the river couldn’t help but ask the female villager who had encouraged the player to enter the water, “What is going on here? Is your village really this strange?”

“Can this man be saved? Won’t he be ruined?”

“Don’t panic.” A stout woman, tightly wrapped in clothes, shot a glare at the flustered tourists. “This is normal. The village needs a lot of snail meat to feed pigs and ducks. But if the snails just grew naturally in the river, it would never be enough for the chickens, ducks, fish, and geese in the village. So we borrow your bodies to reproduce and raise them.”

The woman spoke as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“The total number of snails in the river is fixed. When he harvested over a hundred snails, the river was short by that many. Of course, it needs replenishing!”

The surrounding tourists were speechless.

If this was how they were supposed to earn currency from now on...

They would rather die.

Besides, using human flesh to raise snails, and then feeding those snails to chickens, ducks, fish, geese, and pigs... could the food in this village still be eaten?

Lu Zhengqing was starting to lose patience.

He suffered from trypophobia.

So he kept trying to change the subject.

“Looks like someone is praying for children over there,” Lu Zhengqing said, pointing to a simple temple not far from the riverbank. The temple was very rustic and old, its walls unevenly stacked from mud bricks, only about waist-high. This allowed a clear view of the temple’s interior.

Many people were devoutly gazing at the stone statue of a woman in the center of the temple.

No one knew what this woman’s statue could bring them to inspire such fervent devotion.

“Shall we go take a look?”

“Aren’t we going to keep observing and photographing by the river?” Tang Mu’s gaze toward Lu Zhengqing remained cold.

“No.” Lu Zhengqing shrank his neck, unable to bear it. “Though the players in the river haven’t been eliminated, it’s just too distressing to watch. Let’s check something else out.”

Tang Mu didn’t reply but started walking toward the temple.

After all, this village had many strange things.

She wanted to investigate the village’s secrets one by one and find the clues she sought.

The temple was not far from the river.

But the temple was exceedingly simple and unadorned. Besides the mud bricks stacked outside, the interior was sparse, as if a temporary shelter had been hastily erected. There was no cover to shield from wind or rain. The stone statue didn’t even have a canopy to protect it from the rain. The villagers let it be battered by wind and weather.

The statue was of a woman.

But unlike typical fertility statues, this woman’s figure reflected the attire of the local village women.

She had a large belly, her expression cold and indifferent.

This was starkly at odds with the frenzied devotion radiating from the villagers gathered around her.

“What exactly are you worshipping?” Lu Zhengqing couldn’t help but ask. “Does this actually work?”

“Of course it works.” The villagers gestured for Lu Zhengqing to show respect. “Don’t speak loudly inside the temple. You must hold a sincere heart, or you might bring misfortune upon yourself.”

“But we haven’t seen any pregnant women along the way.”

There were plenty of children, though.

But those children seemed to disdain men, clustering only around the women.

And all the men had distended bellies.

Not a single man’s stomach wasn’t swollen.

Mention pregnancy and the villagers’ eyes grew cold.

“Don’t mention that inside the temple,” the women snapped coldly, looking at Lu Zhengqing with contempt. “Once you’ve finished your worship, leave quickly. Don’t appear where you shouldn’t, or speak words you shouldn’t, or you’ll bring misfortune.”

With that, the women dismissed Lu Zhengqing entirely.

Tang Mu, however, received unanimous support from the women.

“Take this,” a woman pressed a talisman into Tang Mu’s palm. “Only those with fate can receive it. Keep it well to protect your safety.”

But as the woman handed over the talisman, she warned, “It only works when worn by women. If a man takes it, it will lose its power.”

“Remember that.”

Tang Mu said nothing.

The woman didn’t press the matter and returned to her place, resuming her fervent prayers before the statue.

“Have you finished taking photos?” Zhu Ya’an and Qi Yangbo stood outside the half-human-high mud brick wall, watching Tang Mu and Lu Zhengqing chatting with the villagers inside the temple enclosure. They couldn’t help but pause and ask about their progress in the game. “Old Wang’s inn is serving food. Let’s hurry back.”

Now?

Lu Zhengqing glanced at his wristwatch.

“It’s only a little past 11 o’clock.”

“We don’t know either. Just as we passed an attraction, someone told us the inn was serving food. If we don’t return on time and miss the meal, we’ll have to pay extra for a special meal.”