Chapter 315: The Hidden Prey

Far from the city and in the bitter cold grip of winter, childbirth was a dangerous ordeal.

“Where did she say she was from?”

“She claimed that she was from Wenze Township, but she really did not look like she was from there.”

Just then, Willow came running back. “Come have a look, I found something.”

He Lingchuan strode after her to Old Ding’s house. The man had been a miner, single for nearly thirty years, still living in a mud-brick hut. The inside was a complete mess, wine utensils everywhere, jars and crocks all empty. The worst of it was a feather quilt stuffed with chicken down—it stank to high heaven. Luckily, the door was hanging open, and a lot of the foul air had been blown out.

Willow, however, jumped straight up onto Old Ding’s roof and started pulling away the thatch. “Look here.”

Up here in the northwest, the wind and snow were harsher than in Panlong City, so the roofs were steeper and typically covered with thick layers of bamboo shingles and thatching. The bundles were woven layer by layer, and now snow piled thick on top, like each house was wearing a tall white hat.

Just looking at the weight of snow on those roofs, you would think that they might cave in at any time.

Willow had already opened up a gap in the snow and straw. She tugged away more thatch, and when what lay beneath was exposed, everyone gasped.

There was actually a person hidden inside!

A dead man, frozen stiff.

Skinny grabbed Headman Hu by the collar and hauled him up onto the roof, jabbing a finger at the dead man’s face sticking out of the straw. “Is this Old Ding?”

The corpse’s eyes were still bulging wide. Headman Hu met that stare and yelped, “It is, he... Blegh!”

His gaze had accidentally dropped to the man’s upper body, and he doubled over, dry-heaving.

The body had been split open from chest to belly. Heart, liver, spleen, stomach, kidneys—everything was gone, only a few coils of intestine left. It looked like the killer had thought those tasted bad.

The truth was now apparent. That night, Old Ding must have stepped out only a few paces before his killer hauled him up onto his own roof. It was no wonder that there had been just that one line of footprints in the snow. The man-eating creature must have been lying on the roof the whole time and never touched the ground.

Willow added, “It looks like this Old Ding died a pretty rough death. Look at his throat. He was eaten alive.”

There was a dark ring of bruising around his neck, blood at the corners of his mouth, and all the agony of his last moments was frozen onto his face. While the creature gorged itself, it had pressed down on his throat so he could not scream.

This meant that he had watched, eyes wide open, as the creature devoured him piece by piece.

Headman Hu had just straightened up when he heard that. He promptly started retching again.

The cold had frozen the body quickly, and tucked away in the thatch, it had not attracted notice, which was why he had been “missing” all this time.

He Lingchuan asked Willow, “How’d you even find him?”

“Smell.” Willow twitched her nose. “I’ve got a pretty good nose.”

“...”

“This thing eats and then even bothers to stash the body afterward,” Xu Chun said. He then turned to Headman Hu and asked, “The morning after, nobody saw any strange tracks in the snow around town?”

“Uh... I didn’t, and no one reported any, either.” Headman Hu hesitated. “We do get grouse and deer and such passing through all the time.”

“Did Old Ding die after the pregnant woman left?”

“No. When Old Ding went missing, she became so scared that her face even went white. She immediately packed up and rushed off.” He grimaced. “She was supposed to be five or six months along, but we all thought she had to be at least nine. With how big her belly was, we never imagined she could have anything to do with a murder.”

“Where was she staying?”

Headman Hu led them to the last little house at the end of the street. “She stayed here for several days. I even had people bring her coal and meals.”

There was no one inside now, and the brazier had long since iced over. The thin quilt on the heated brick bed was stiff as iron. He Lingchuan scanned the room. At first glance, nothing seemed out of place. The furnishings were as simple as his own house back in Panlong City. But when he lifted the quilt, he saw a blot of dried blood on the bedding underneath.

“Looks like a claw print,” Willow said, leaning in and pressing her own hand against it for comparison. “Only half my hand in size.”

The claw print was only half the size of a woman’s palm. Everyone exchanged a look. The gossiping old woman from earlier had snuck in to listen; now she blurted, “Could it be... a little ghost?”

Another patrolman nodded and said, “Mm, it should be a ghost fetus[1].”

The words just left his mouth when the old woman with them went cold all over. “Then... A-are you saying that man-eating creature crawled out of her belly?”

All the patrolmen nodded together. Panlong City had posted a bounty on ferry-crossing ghostspawn for quite some time now.

The old woman shuddered and muttered, “I knew there was something off about her. Every time I got close, I felt a chill in my bones.”

Headman Hu opened his mouth, but Willow held a finger to her lips to shush him and gestured for the old woman to go on. “Did she have some grudge against Old Ding?”

“Old Ding was a drunk. When he got enough in him, he liked to act crazy,” the woman said. “On the third night after the woman came to town, Old Ding went pounding on her door, yelling that he wanted to be godfather to the child in her belly. She refused to open up no matter what. He ended up puking all over her doorstep, and the next day, when he sobered up, he didn’t say a word, just got a scolding from the headman.”

“Oh, oh, and let me tell you—” The old woman suddenly remembered something else. “A few days ago, Aunt Zhen’s laying hen went missing. The six-year-old next door swore it was that woman who stole it. We all thought that was nonsense. After all, her belly was so big, how could she even bend down? But now, thinking back... why couldn’t she? She was carrying a ghost fetus!”

Another patrolman ran his fingers along the edge of the table. “There’s some gray ash here... looks like incense ash.”

“She’s burned incense in here. And if she stole a chicken too, that sounds like a rite of divine recompense,” Duan Xinyu said with a chuckle. “It’s getting late. Let’s get up that mountain. If we’re quick, we might still be home in time for supper.”

They took the mine map from Headman Hu and left the town, heading toward the mountain.

The sand leopard guardian spirit was still stretched out on its rock. It rumbled down to them, “The evil thing in the mine attacked the monsters and beasts, too. None of the local monsters will go near it now. I’ve got work to supervise, so I won’t be accompanying you inside.”

The mountain path had already been cleared for about a quarter of a kilometer. Stones still slid down from above now and then. Carts and horses could not pass yet, so the men had to go on foot.

Piles of packed snow and stone could not slow the agile patrolmen, much less a guardian spirit.

They scrambled over the blocked stretch in no time and pushed on toward the mine.

A kilometer and a half later, the mine entrance came into view.

It was narrow, about the width of a double door, tucked under a rock face and shaded by a few old pines.

A row of single-story houses stood nearby. The miners did not sleep in the tunnels; these were their bunkhouses.

Right now, they were all empty, and there were bloodstains on the ground.

He Lingchuan noticed a bloody claw mark on a low wall, sunk more than three centimeters into the stone. From the claw mark, it looked like the creature only had three claws.

“This thing’s claws are nice and sharp,” Duan Xinyu observed. The houses were built from local stone, and this azure rock was particularly tough. He drew his waist saber, scraped a line across it, and sparks flew. “If we can chop them off later, maybe they can be made into a magical artifact. A grappling hook would be best.”

He sounded entirely at ease, and He Lingchuan warned, “Don’t get careless. The later a ferry-crossing ghostspawn is born, the stronger it is.”

Panlong City had already killed six ghostspawn. Only three were still at large, and if Dong Rui was right, these last three were the worst of the lot.

Duan Xinyu gave him a glance, then chuckled and said, “Well, you’re steady enough, I’ll give you that. Don’t worry, I’ll go first and clear the way.” He turned and called to his squad, “Let’s go. Into the tunnel.”

What’s up with this guy?

He Lingchuan could feel the hostility.

Duan Xinyu’s deputy, Wang Xu, hung back a few steps and spoke to He Lingchuan in a low voice. “Sorry. Please don’t take it to heart. Our captain’s been in a bad mood lately. He’s been snappy with everyone.”

The other party’s tone was genuinely friendly, so He Lingchuan smiled back and said, “No offense taken.”

Wang Xu showed a quick apologetic grin, nodded, and jogged to catch up with his own squad.

Xu Chun also smiled and waved to He Lingchuan, then led his team into the mine tunnel.

Doorboard rubbed his chin. “You’ve been shining quite bright lately. It’s not really all that strange that that guy wouldn’t like you.”

He Lingchuan still carried the title of an arena master of Arena Seven in the Martial Review Hall. People turned to look when he walked past, and young women especially liked to sidle closer whenever he was around.

Once some people admired you, others would envy you, and others would resent you on sight.

He Lingchuan had his own squad make a few extra preparations, then followed the others inside.

All three squads entered the tunnel, each person holding a bunch of glowgrass high overhead. The light from the grass was steadier than flame, and just as bright; patrol squads often carried them on missions.

The mine had been dug with huge amounts of labor, and the passages were usually low and narrow. A lanky man like He Lingchuan had to stoop to get through; in some spots, he even had to crouch.

What he was really thinking about, though, was how to fight if they ran into the enemy in such cramped confines.

Along the way, they passed two mine carts, both abandoned. One of the handles was smeared with blood.

They had spotted two blood pools already, confirmed to have come from a human, but not a single corpse.

That only made everyone more alert. Even Duan Xinyu, previously all carefree swagger, now had two poisoned darts hooked between his fingers. On the Panlong Wasteland, careless warriors did not live long.

Fortunately, before long, the tunnel widened out into what seemed to be a natural rock passage. Here, water began to seep from the walls.

Seepage was common underground; sometimes you even ran into subterranean lakes. No one thought much of it. They checked that the droplets were not poisonous and kept going.

Before long, Willow pressed a hand to her nose. “This cave stinks.”

Xu Chun added, “And that fork up ahead isn’t even on the map.”

A three-way split loomed ahead. All three passages were about the same size and width, their depths swallowed in pitch black.

“Do we stick together, or do we each take a different path?”

Skinny spoke up at once, “The enemy would love for us to split up and get picked off one by one. I say we shouldn’t give them what they want.”

He Lingchuan shook his head inwardly.

Normally, Skinny’s good at reading people. Why is he off his game at a time like this?

Sure enough, Duan Xinyu pointed to the leftmost branch. “I’ll take the western tunnel. You guys do as you please.”

Xu Chun’s brow furrowed. “You’re really going to split our forces?”

“If we let them wipe us all out in one go, that’s even worse.” Duan Xinyu’s tone had gone serious. “Look how narrow the tunnels are. If we all crowd into one, how are we supposed to fight when we run into something?”

He’s got a point.

He Lingchuan gave a little nod to his own squad and, without arguing the point with the others, took the center passage.

Xu Chun watched the glow of their glowgrass fade into the distance and shook his head. “Did you cross him somehow?”

Duan Xinyu just let out a short, dry laugh, then led his squad into the left-hand tunnel.

* * *

As they went deeper, the sounds from behind soon faded away.

Skinny muttered under his breath, “Why would Headman Hu give us the wrong map?”

Red Peak Mine had been in operation for some time. The tunnels were a maze, and without a guide, it would be easy to get lost. That was why they had drawn up a map in the first place.

1. This is probably just the same as the ghostspawn. ☜