Metaphysics Live Stream, Going Viral Across the Internet Ch. 36

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Her body had mutated. The thing growing inside her had twisted her biology.

"Why do you want me to kill you?" he asked.

Zhou Meng gave a bitter smile.
"I... I wronged Yiyi... It's my fault she ended up like this. But I don't want... that thing inside me... to keep hurting people!"

Shen Huo looked down at her swollen belly.

Her limbs were skin and bone, but her belly was huge—bloated unnaturally.

The thing inside was devouring her. Every time she ate, it consumed all the nutrients before her body could.

If she hadn't already become something beyond human, she'd probably be dead by now—drained to nothing.

Shen Huo noticed a scar across her stomach—that must've been left when He San had sliced her open to put the thing inside.

There were also black, hairlike strands crawling out from the skin around it—some looked like veins, others like strands of hair.

Suddenly—

A pair of glowing red eyes stared at Shen Huo from beneath the skin.

Just one glance sent a wave of cold sweat down his spine.

Whatever it was—it was dangerous.

"Kill me," Zhou Meng pleaded, "Don't... don't let this thing come out. Its target... is Yang Yiyi. He San has already... already become its slave*. On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month... it'll be born!"

A slave*?

(*伥鬼 chāng guǐ)

According to legend, there was a tiger deep in the mountains that had turned into a demon. It ate people and turned them into its slaves, forcing them to lure in more victims for it to devour.

Then the entire film crew...

They were bait.

No wonder He San had done everything in his power to lure them here. The evil creature was almost ready to be born.

And once it came out—it would feast. Devouring anything and everything to grow stronger.

Shen Huo hesitated. "But..."

Zhou Meng's grip on his pant leg tightened. Her eyes—monstrous, hollow—burned with desperate resolve.

"Do it."

Shen Huo pulled out the pig-slaughtering knife he had picked up earlier. He stepped forward.

Zhou Meng gave a faint smile. "That knife won't work. Mortal weapons can't hurt it. But you... you have that red thread of fate. That line might work."

Shen Huo lowered his gaze to his fingers—there was nothing there.
"You can see the red thread?" he asked. "Just now, you said something about a thread of fate? I've been single since birth. What thread could there possibly be?"

"It really is... a thread of fate," Zhou Meng rasped. "That day, when I attacked... you, it wounded me... and snapped me out of it..."

She wasn't sure who the other end of the thread was tied to, but there was one thing she knew for sure—whoever it was, they had to be someone powerful.

Because that red thread carried the immense power of a Yin deity.

For Zhou Meng, Shen Huo had become the light at the end of the tunnel. Only he could kill her now.

Faced with her desperation, Shen Huo didn't want to shatter that fragile hope.

But the problem was... he hadn't seen that thing since that day.

How was he supposed to summon it again?

"Honestly, you probably won't believe this," he said, "but that thing's real finicky. It shows up when it feels like it, and I can't control it at all."

Zhou Meng's hopeful smile froze. The room fell silent.

Then—suddenly—she burst out laughing.

There was bitterness in her laughter, the kind that mocked her own fate.

"Retribution," she said.

And after those three words, she fell quiet.

Shen Huo could feel her sanity crumbling. Maybe she'd seen a glimmer of hope, and now that hope had died.

She no longer had any reason to hold on.

"Don't give up just yet," he said quickly. "Let me think—what triggered it last time? There's gotta be another way."

Back then, the red thread had shown up when he was being hunted by a fully-mutated Zhou Meng.

She'd lost all her humanity at that point—completely berserk.

Even with all of Shen Huo's strength, he was no match for her. Especially not with the creature in her belly—whatever it was, it amplified her powers. He'd almost been torn apart.

Then—
A flash of insight.

Danger.

It had appeared when he was in danger! That thread of fate had lashed out and driven Zhou Meng away.

Could it be... the thread only appeared when his life was threatened?

He glanced down at Zhou Meng lying weakly on the floor.

She was in no state to even stand, much less pose a threat. That meant... he needed someone—or something—else.

He crouched beside her and whispered, "Stay here. I'll be back soon. Maybe I can trigger the thread again."

Zhou Meng didn't understand, but she was far too weak to ask. She just gave him a look.

Right before she lost consciousness, she collapsed onto the ground, her blurred vision catching the sight of Shen Huo's silhouette disappearing around the corner.

Gurgle—

The thing inside her belly began to stir, writhing so violently it nearly split her stomach open.

But a second later—it went still.

·

Shen Huo wandered the ghost city, circling through alleys and side streets, until finally, he returned to the great hall.

Earlier, the place had been trashed during their fight. But now...

In the time it had taken him to speak to Zhou Meng, the entire hall had been completely restored. Everything looked pristine—almost festive.

The walls and doors were plastered with red double happiness symbols.

Dozens of lanterns hung from the ceiling. Each one had writing on it.

Every lantern bore an apology to Yang Yiyi. Beside the big characters were smaller names:

"Li Hui, Li Dazhu, Li Chui..."

Each one had a different name.

No doubt—they were all He San's doing.

Shen Huo stared at the lanterns, his expression unreadable. The sight was bitterly ironic.

After seeing Zhou Meng's memories, Shen Huo had thought maybe He San had been in love with Yang Yiyi.

But now? No. He San's so-called "love" was pathetic. Cheap. Dirty.

If he really cared, why wait until she was dead to avenge her? Why not take her away from this place from the start? Or do what he was doing now—kill the villagers, then run.

The way he was acting now, you'd think he was madly in love with Yang Yiyi—so moved by his own feelings it was almost laughable.

After leaving the lanterns behind, Shen Huo saw He San, also dressed in wedding robes.

Standing next to He San was Yang Yiyi, though something about her expression looked off.

All credit goes to the original author
Feel free to pinpoint us if there are any grammar error or typos
Please don't use Guazi's translations to re-translate in other languages

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