【Undead Street No. 42】
The entire area looked as if it had been ravaged by fire. The sky was oppressively dim and colorless, with fine ash continuously drifting down and settling on the scorched, hardened ground.
The bare branches of pitch-black withered trees twisted grotesquely, like monsters baring their claws and fangs.
Caw—!
The hoarse cries of crows added an even greater sense of death to the scene. An old courtyard gate swayed precariously in the breeze, occasionally letting out creaking sounds…
It was like a scene straight out of a horror movie. Just looking at it sent chills running down one’s spine.
Gurgle gurgle~ Gurgle gurgle~
The milky-white broth in the iron pot boiled and churned nonstop, bringing various stewed ingredients to the surface. The sound of someone swallowing saliva suddenly rang out in the kitchen.
Blowing away the white steam that obscured his vision, one could faintly see half of a thoroughly stewed, soft human hand floating up amid the bubbles.
A bizarre figure dressed in tattered rags, with disheveled hair and eyes full of dense, bloodshot veins, stood in front of the counter. While stirring the meat soup with a large spoon to prevent it from burning, he inhaled the aroma with an intoxicated expression.
“Mmm~ It smells so good~”
The red-eyed ghost twisted his head 180 degrees and stared fixedly at the pale, one-armed human boy huddled in the corner of the kitchen. The corners of his mouth slowly stretched all the way to his ears.
“Hehehe, it really smells delicious. Want to try some later? It’s your own meat~”
His own meat… Blech… The instinctive revulsion made him want to vomit, but he didn’t even have the strength to retch.
The memory of his arm being torn off alive two hours ago had already begun to blur, as if his brain had deleted it to stop him from going completely insane. The tissue at the stump had necrotized completely. He had only just woken up from the pain.
The human boy’s cracked lips moved slightly, but his throat felt blocked. No matter how hard he tried, he could only produce a few meaningless syllables in a voice as weak as a mosquito’s buzz.
“Not eating?” The red-eyed ghost grinned ferociously. “You have to eat even if you don’t want to. I won’t let you die so easily. After all, human flesh tastes best when it’s fresh~”
Being kept alive just to have pieces of himself cut off and fed to the monster, even dying had become a luxury.
There was no longer any light in the human boy’s eyes—only deep silence and despair.
Along with deep regret for the decision he had made that afternoon a few days ago.
They were dead… Jiang Yu was dead, Si Yuan was dead, Meng Meng was dead, and even Ye Tong had been sold off by the bizarre creature before him. He didn’t know if she was still alive. It was all his fault! All because of him!
If he hadn’t dragged everyone to that abandoned building that day, if they had all just stayed home safely… they wouldn’t have fallen into this world full of bizarre creatures. He was the one who got them killed!
Humans had no chance of surviving in this world.
This was true hell!
Please, anyone… just come and kill him already.
“Crying?” Seeing the human boy silently shedding tears, the red-eyed ghost mocked, “Cry all you want, hehehe. The more you cry, the better it’ll be seasoned. Next time I cook you, I won’t even need to add salt.”
Ignoring the dying boy curled up in the corner, the red-eyed ghost turned his attention back to the meat soup boiling in the pot.
He scooped a spoonful and tasted it. It was a bit bland.
“Why hasn’t the salt I ordered been delivered yet? Hmph, looks like I really need to leave a bad review!”
Just as he was complaining, thump thump knocking suddenly sounded from the front door. The red-eyed ghost paused.
“What a coincidence?”
He headed out of the kitchen to open the door.
As he walked, the red-eyed ghost suddenly felt instinctively that something was off. Normally, if it was a delivery, the person should have announced themselves from outside, right?
Maybe they forgot.
What terrible service!
“Hey, delivery from the general store? Why are you so sl—”
The moment he opened the door, he didn’t see the expected figure. From the corner of his eye, he spotted a silhouette standing in the blind spot that people subconsciously overlook when opening a door. The person was holding up a black-barreled flintlock gun with one hand, the cold, dark muzzle pressed directly against his skull.
The red-eyed ghost’s pupils shrank violently.
“D-Demon Hunter?!”
Why would a Demon Hunter come after him?!
“If you don’t want to die, take me inside. I have questions for you,” the Demon Hunter girl said coldly, her voice threatening.
“Please, let’s talk nicely! Let’s talk nicely!”
Held at gunpoint, the red-eyed ghost led Theresa inside. He twitched his nose slightly, and Theresa quickly noticed the abnormality in the kitchen.
“Take me to the kitchen!”
With the flintlock pressed against his head, the red-eyed ghost didn’t dare hesitate. He hurriedly led Theresa into the kitchen.
Theresa immediately spotted the dying human boy huddled beside the firewood pile. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t just his left arm that was missing—the entire lower part of his right leg from the thigh down was also gone.
The humans who had suddenly appeared on Undead Street a few days ago and were eaten… They had indeed come from here.
“D-Demon Hunter miss, I don’t understand why you want to kill me. I’m just an ordinary, law-abiding resident of Undead Street. There shouldn’t be any bounty on me!”
Noticing the human boy looking over, the red-eyed ghost quickly added.
“I was just craving the taste of human flesh. That’s perfectly normal on Undead Street!”
The human boy in the corner of the kitchen also noticed Theresa’s arrival. A brief spark of hope ignited in his eyes, but it was completely extinguished when he heard the red-eyed ghost call the girl “Demon Hunter.”
Yeah… what was he even hoping for?
Weren’t their group the best example? How could powerless humans possibly survive in this hellish world? What unrealistic fantasies was he still holding onto?
Heroes who fought bizarre creatures and saved people in the nick of time were just lies from movies and TV shows. Moreover, someone like him—who had gotten his companions killed—didn’t deserve saving…
The air was thick with despair.
Theresa frowned and glanced at the human boy in the corner from the corner of her eye.
Indeed, the red-eyed ghost wasn’t wrong. In the hell world, bizarre creatures were the norm, and humans who accidentally fell into this world were simply considered free food from the heavens.
In this world, bizarre creatures eating humans was the most normal thing in the world.
Demon Hunters made their living by hunting bounties for rewards. They had no obligation to protect humans.
In other words, if Theresa hadn’t met that human girl named Bai Tang, she would never have bothered with this kind of trouble in the past.
“You’re asking me?”
“No, no, no. Demon Hunter miss, you ask, you ask.” Sensing Theresa’s displeasure, the red-eyed ghost quickly corrected himself.
“No need. Someone else is more suitable to answer my questions now. Right now, I just don’t like looking at you.”
With that, Theresa’s index finger pulled the trigger of the flintlock gun.
Bang—!
The large-caliber iron bullet carried terrifying kinetic energy as it shot out instantly, blowing the red-eyed ghost’s head apart. Red and white matter splattered across the wall covered in brownish-yellow mold. Before the red-eyed ghost could even scream, his body lost control and collapsed unsteadily onto the floor.
Theresa slowly lowered the smoking muzzle and looked at the human boy, who had witnessed everything with wide eyes.
After a moment of thought, she took out a bottle of bright red recovery potion from her pocket and tossed it to him.
“Drink it. It’s for healing your wounds. I have some questions for you later.”
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