by N. Heller
"Super Mario," the man blurted out without any reason. Even though he had stuffed his mouth full of human flesh, he exclaimed very excitedly, "Ding dong!"
" Most of the time, it is hard to understand the logic behind the thoughts of the mentally ill. Perhaps, the man had inadvertently witnessed a duoluozhong eating someone else and that further exacerbated his condition, so he started eating duoluozhongs? " Ji Shanqing could only think of this explanation. After waiting for a while, Ji Shanqing watched, holding back his disgust, as the fat man gulped down the flesh.
"Those candy people like fat and meaty people. I need to eat more so that those candy-people will look for me," the man suddenly turned serious while he clearly articulated his thoughts.
"What will happen if you eat those candy people?" Lin Sanjiu asked inquisitively.
Remembering that Lin Sanjiu was equally delirious, he immediately wrapped a hand around her wrist. If his owner tried to take a bite of the duoluozhong, he might as well unwrap himself there and then. The fat man did not answer them this time.
The fat man threw a cautious glance at Lin Sanjiu as if he was afraid that they were hungering for the woman's corpse. The fat man grabbed the short-haired woman's limbs and dragged her closer to his body. He flipped the body over and tore her clothes. Then, he buried his head in the corpse, biting through her abdomen.
The fat man suddenly started eating in a hurry, perhaps because he enjoyed the woman's abdominal flesh very much. He chewed through the flesh quickly. Ji Shanqing did not know if humans could tear through raw meat with their b.a.r.e teeth, but the fat man was consuming that woman at a visibly faster speed than he expected. Without looking up once, the fat man stuffed his head into the whole chaotic mess of innards. He looked like a pig gorging at the troughs.
While watching, Ji Shanqing felt that he had more than enough content for the nightmares he would have the following few days. Listening to the short-haired woman describing her cannibalism was very different from witnessing it up front. Resisting the urge to shudder at the sight and holding back his disgust, Ji Shanqing turned to Lin Sanjiu and prompted, "Sis, let's leave here quickly."
Ji Shanqing did not know how the fat man actually identified the 'candy people' he mentioned. If that man figured out that both of them weren't part of his hallucination, there was no telling what that man would do. Thankfully, Lin Sanjiu followed him and did not continue asking absurd questions like "how do the candies taste?"
Amidst the sounds of the man munching on the duoluozhong, the footsteps of both Ji Shanqing and Lin Sanjiu grew further and further away from the man.
"This world is too weird," Ji Shanqing sighed while he started worrying about his outer wrapper again. He turned around and watched the fat man from afar. Like a zombie, the fat man had his head still buried in the corpse and was engrossed in his food. Ji Shanqing quickly turned to Lin Sanjiu and whispered, "Sis, I think we should find a secluded place and stay there for the 14 months, okay?"
"Why 14 months?"
An unfamiliar voice suddenly rang out behind them. Ji Shanqing was stunned for a second. Multiple thoughts flashed through his mind and for a moment he couldn't even decide which of these thoughts were scarier—
Ji Shanqing and Lin Sanjiu stopped. Ji Shanqing's mind went a little numb as he turned to look behind them. He didn't know when that person behind him approached. Neither could he comprehend how the fat man could catch up to them in a few short seconds, but what puzzled him the most was...
"You...you," Ji Shanqing finally understood the full meaning of the word 'tongue-tied' when he stammered, "You are not crazy?"
There was still a large amount of fresh human blood smeared on the side of the fat man's mouth, his face, and his c.h.e.s.t. There was even something like the slippery remnants of a small intestine hanging from the man's collar. However, Ji Shanqing could tell from a single look into the man's eyes that he was not mentally ill.
The fat man, who had now regained his sanity, looked quietly at Ji Shanqing and Lin Sanjiu with a cold gaze. His jaws were still moving as he chewed on the last pieces of human flesh in his mouth. He swallowed them with a straight face. After clearing his throat, he gave them people a faint smile.
"Didn't this lady ask me what would happen after eating the candies?" When the man spoke in his natural voice with a calm attitude, Ji Shanqing almost couldn't find a hint of similarity between his current and his previous sharp and ear-splitting voice.
"Well, this is what it does." When the fat man smiled, deep wrinkles appeared between the lumps of fat around his face. His eyes were immediately buried beneath the layers of fats. "My mental condition is temporarily normal now."
Pulling the corner of his owner's clothes, Ji Shanqing took two steps back, stealthily. He let out a dry cough and asked, "You just ate human flesh."
Even though the short-haired woman was theoretically a duoluozhong. Her appearance and form was still of a normal woman.
"She eats human flesh too, doesn't she? If she didn't eat any human flesh, she wouldn't have lasted. Since she is a cannibal, then she should also know that she could be eaten." The large fat man seemed to find his own statement very humorous. He c.o.c.ked his head and scrutinized Ji Shanqing, "In these two years, after the apocalypse, my mental condition has been erratic even after eating these cannibals, but, this is my first time seeing someone maintain his sanity without eating another human being. How do you do that? Why didn't you starve to death?"
Ji Shanqing bit his lip and hesitated for a moment and repeated the story about him waking from a vegetative state. Surprisingly, the fat man immediately nodded.
"Ah. Although it's hard to imagine, that seems like the most plausible explanation." Through the layers of fats on his face, the man stared at them with his opaque and yellowish pair of eyes. "Well, it's not possible that you people just appear from another world."
He laughed. Noticing the odd change in Ji Shanqing's expression, the fat man immediately pat his tummy and laughed harder. The piece of intestine-like flesh fell through his collar as his body shook as he laughed. He waved his tubby hands, "What's that expression? Don't worry. I won't lay my hands on you two. After all, if both of you have not eaten any human flesh, you are of no use—"
"Of no use?" Ji Shanqing frowned, he was standing sideways as if he was prepared to run any time. "But why?"
"By now, you should more or less understand the situation, right?" the fat man flashed his bloodstained teeth in his bloody mouth, "Once those crypt particles escaped from the ground and proliferated through the atmosphere, almost everyone on Earth consumed some form of contaminated food within the first 24 hours and went crazy… a few billion lunatics. This world was almost destroyed. Atomic bombs were launched. Airplanes fell from the sky. There were traffic accidents on the streets. Even though I didn't lose my mind that day, I couldn't even count the number of accidents that happened that day. Those cannibals were lucky. Due to various reasons, they did not eat anything that day. They quickly realized that they could prevent themselves from going insane if they ate the flesh of the mentally ill humans.
"This isn't the only residential area they use to gather the mentally ill. Is this the work of duoluozhongs? What is a duoluozhong? Oh… So, you people call the cannibals duoluozhong. That name is quite apt," the fat man lowered his eyelids and turned to look at the dead body of the short-haired woman that lay not far from them.
After the woman's neck and c.h.e.s.t cavity had been bitten to bits, she barely looked human. Ji Shanqing did not dare to look in the same direction. His gaze was fixed on the fat man.
The fat man suddenly chuckled and smacked his purple-red lips.
"In the beginning, it was the ca-- duoluozhongs' idea to gather all the contaminated food. This quickly became popular… More and more duoluozhongs stored the food they found here. They brought the mentally ill humans they found but had no appetite to eat. Gradually, this place became their communal canteen.
"Unfortunately…" when the man said this
, he lowered his head slightly. From his parted mouth, Ji Shanqing could see the man's slightly pointy teeth covered in blood. Ji Shanqing did not know if those were just normal canine teeth, "They did not know of the existence of the types of lunatics like us.
"Just as the flesh of the mentally ill could filter the crypt particles. Duoluozhongs' flesh can also stabilize our mental condition. You asked me why. I don't know. All the scientists are dead, hahaha!" the fat man suddenly laughed, "A residential area full of the lunatics, what could be a better place to attract duoluozhongs? They thought they came to harvest what they sowed, but they have no idea that they are our self-delivered food."
When he raised his head and burst out laughing, blood-tainted spittle flew out from his mouth and sweat dripped from his body. Ji Shanqing, who was a clean freak by nature, couldn't help taking a step back.
"You mentioned that duoluozhongs' flesh only works temporarily," Ji Shanqing asked hesitantly, "So, when you are mentally unsound…"
"You've seen me when I am mentally unsound," the fat man opened his arms, his flabby arms started quivering, "To me, this is a perfect system. If I eat enough duoluozhongs, I will fully recover my sanity one day..."
Ji Shanqing did not notice what he did next. A light suddenly appeared in his hand, and a rectangular projected image suddenly appeared. In the projection, there were a group of excitable men and women dressed in red and blue clothes. They were outdoors and were playing some sort of variety show game. It was as if someone had switched on a projector and was showing a television programe.
Of course, there wasn't anyone doing that, and there was also no projector.
"This means that the fat man is using a sort of evolved ability," in a split second, Ji Shanqing was overwhelmed by the various questions in his head. He was shocked and perplexed, "That person can't be a posthuman! But, if he isn't a posthuman, how could he develop an ability? Does this mean that if someone loses their ability temporarily, they will not be transported to another world?"
"Can you see this? It's quite mysterious. It only appears when I am sane. When I first saw it, I thought I went completely insane," the fat man laughed again. This time, he eyed Lin Sanjiu, "Is she your sister? She has psychosis now, right?"
Ji Shanqing couldn't even nod his head. The fat man was unfazed. He stuck his hand into the collar of his shirt and pulled out a slippery intestine after prying away his fats.
"Let her eat this," he held out the small intestine in his hand, "I will only be reassured if she joins our group."
"Your group?"
"We call ourselves, Jaegers," the fat man flashed a wide smile. "Look up."
Lin Sanjiu seemed to understand what the fat man said and looked up with Ji Shanqing. Pale, white faces slowly peered out from the windows of the ten-plus buildings around them. They were like white toadstools which had spouted from a dead black log. There weren't many faces, but each of them stared at Ji Shanqing and Lin Sanjiu.
Chapter 415 - On the Verge Of Getting Unwrapped
Most of the faces that popped from the building expressed a disordered mental state.
When Ji Shanqing and Lin Sanjiu recoiled, a face above them that resembled the toadstool guffawed. As if he had seen the funniest thing in the world, his hysterical and joyous laughter was so loud it echoed through the sky.
"See," the fat man said while remaining standing in his position. He put on a gentle expression as he spoke, "Though we are all Jaegers, I never intended to share the meat with them. The portion I have will only last me for nine days, so consider your sister lucky, for she's fortunate enough to have a taste of this precious deliciousness. Here, take this to your sister."
He sounded like accepting that portion of small intestine was like a gift from a queen.
Ji Shanqing remained silent, tightening his jaw.
"There's no way your sister can recover from her psychosis without eating the human flesh," said the fat man. When he tugged the small intestine forward, it flailed in the air and a pile of flesh dropped from the other end. It was the human flesh the short-haired woman had eaten and hadn't yet digested.
It's not that Ji Shanqing refused to talk. It was just that under the impact of all kinds of intense emotions he was afraid he would suddenly throw up. His face was pale and all he could do right now was closed his mouth tightly and shake his head incessantly.
No matter what, if there was anything clear that he shouldn't do right now, it would be that's he couldn't allow Lin Sanjiu to eat the human flesh. Disgust wasn't his concern. As Ji Shanqing was fighting against his queasy stomach, his brain was working around the clock to solidify his thought. It was all thanks to his bright mind and observant eyes that he had survived for five months in the Mirror Maze without getting unwrapped. Hence, straightaway, his quirky mind took the stage and began to catch hold of the whole situation.
Right now, there were three types of people known to exist in this world. The first one was the normal folks who suffered from various mental illness. In this crowd, there might be more than one posthuman like Lin Sanjiu who had gone crazy after being transferred here. The second type was the duoluozhong . They thrived in this devastated barren land by not consuming regular food but feeding on the flesh of the psychotic. Their physical strength was much higher than that of an ordinary person, and they were naturally tougher. The third type was the fat man in front of them.
The fat man was different from the other two types, and clearly, he was harder and trickier to deal with that the others as well. His physical constitution and fitness were on a different level than duoluozhong. He was much stronger, faster, and, on top of that, he even began to develop an Evolving Ability. However, all of these changes would not appear on his body if he did not consume duoluozhong.
When he came to this point, as if driven by an unknown force, Ji Shanqing subconsciously lifted his head and ran his gaze over the faces that snuck behind the floors of the apartment building. Suddenly, it dawned on Ji Shanqing as he realized he had missed something very vital.
Since all of these so-called Jaeger had a loose screw in their brain, how could they all pop out their heads concurrently? It was impossible for crazies to follow instructions, not to mention that the fat man never shouted a command at them whatsoever.
So there had to be something down here that stimulated their strange uniformity, and Ji Shanqing couldn't think of a better reason than the stinky, mangled body that lay lifelessly not far away from him. Then, could he say that the Jaeger still possessed a physiological instinct to thirst for the dead body of a duoluozhong even in the state of mental illness?
Hence, if his master consumed the flesh of a duoluozhong , would she become like them as well?
He had indulged too deep into his thoughts that he didn't notice the fat man's movement. He was frightened to his core when he heard the fat man's voice, with his mouth full of blood, from above him.
"Anyway, your sister doesn't have to eat it now," the fat man was so close to Ji Shanqing that he could smell the sour and sanguinary odor wafting off his body, and Ji Shanqing's stomach churned. As the fat man hurled the section of small intestine onto the ground, his eyeballs rolled downward, "Come to think of it, are you male or female? Because something interesting has just crossed my mind."
"Quick, [Economy Bubble]—"
It was too late. A strong force hit him in his stomach and sent him flying away.
"Normal nutjob's flesh won't work for me," the fat man giggled, "The flesh of a duoluozhong can only make me sane for a limited amount of time. Speaking of which, there's still one kind of flesh that I haven't tasted before."
While Ji Shanqing was struggling to recompose himself, he darted a glance at his master. Lin Sanjiu was seemingly startled by that attack. She blinked her eyes with a blank expression as if she didn't know what had happened. Her mouth gaped and closed non-stop as if she was chanting something.
The fat man strode past her without sparing her a glance. He seemed to be uninterested of
her.
Standing up, Ji Shanqing checked the safety belts on his body as he stared fixated on the moving flesh mountain. He felt relieved when he noticed that the safety belts were still strapped around his body.
"You have never eaten any human flesh, yet your brain still working perfectly fine," the fat man's voice suddenly turned very amiable. He seemed to have fallen into some dreamy delusion as he continued to speak, "Don't you find it interesting? Don't you want to know what kind of effect your flesh could arouse after I devoured you? Your flesh must taste pristine. Oh boy, my blood boils just by thinking of it!"
"What should I do, what should I do now?" Ji Shanqing commanded his brain.
"Perhaps, your body contains some kind of antidote."
When the fat man was talking, he was still far away Ji Shanqing; however, just when Ji Shanqing wanted to move further away from him, his eyes went black, and his feet had left the ground. While he was airborne, he felt a force jerking behind him. When the grand prize finally realized what that force was, his face went pale.
The fat man was pulling on his safety belts.
"Why do you have to wear this?" asked the fat man as a smile appeared on his jowly face, "Girl's flesh is more tender. Let me see if you are a boy or a girl."
Before Ji Shanqing could say anything, the fat man began to tear his safety belt. His tattered, badly damaged trench coat was exposed in the air, and it started to fall from Ji Shanqing's body.
The fat man loosened his grip, and Ji Shanqing fell to the floor like a boneless pile of human flesh.
Ji Shanqing would lose a sense when part of him was unwrapped. At the moment, he couldn't see nor hear anything. If it weren't for his deep blue color u.n.d.e.r.g.a.r.m.e.n.ts, he might even have lost his hearing.
However, like his other clothes, the u.n.d.e.r.g.a.r.m.e.n.t was in a disastrous state, and it wouldn't last any longer.
"Is this the feeling of an item?" His mind had become foggy.
Before this, the grand prize thought he would feel overwhelmed when he was unwrapped. However, it seemed that as he lost most of his emotions and while his mind had faded away into the nothingness in the wake of the unwrapping process, he felt nothing but only calm as a dark cloud of despair enveloped his soul.