Step by step, the originally dim sky grew darker and darker. The wind beside her was like a knife hitting her face, and Ning Que's face seemed to be covered with a layer of ice. For some reason, a voice in her heart told her that the little bastard Dandan should be here.

Although mother and child are connected by heart, they have no relationship at all, and it is very strange that they have such a connection.

The stone steps hung in the air in an eerie yet remarkably stable position, the distance between the two stones growing ever wider. Ning Que bent his back foot slightly, and like a cannonball, he shot forward, landing on the next stone. The Earl put his hands in his pockets and lightly tapped his feet to reach the next stone.

As we went deeper, many tiny grains of sand were suspended in the air, and the stones under our feet became smaller and smaller, becoming uneven due to erosion by the wind.

The last stone was already underfoot, and there was nothing else. About five meters across was a black hole. Ning Que pulled out his flashlight and shone it in that direction. Fine dust particles could be seen in the beam. That place should be accessible.

Ning Que pointed at the Earl and said, "You go in first, I'll be there soon."

"Why should I go first?" He stood aside with his hands inserted, his red pupils glowing slightly in the darkness.

Ning Que touched the red on his hand. The red tied on the earl's hand directly pierced into his skin, and a small earthworm-like bulge appeared on the surface of his snow-white and bluish skin.

"Hey, don't pull it randomly. If half of it breaks off inside, it will follow your veins, arching one by one, and finally settle down in your heart." Ning Que "kindly" reminded him when he saw that he wanted to pinch Hong Hong in half.

"Damn it, you ugly bitch, you're bothering me with these things. Hurry up and get out of here, you disgusting bug." He grabbed Honghong's tail and jumped anxiously. "Ah, I'll go in first, you hurry up."

Ning Que snapped his fingers, and the shiny red light quietly transformed into a hand, wrapping around his wrist. The Earl stomped his foot into the air with an unhappy expression, his wings spread out from behind him, and a three-finger-long red mark appeared under the corner of his eye.

"Lu Shi, do you hear any singing and suona?" Yuan Ye sat in the haystack, looking around at the white fog.

Lu Shi lowered his head, closed his eyes, and tried to catch the singing with his ears, but after listening carefully for a while, he shook his head and said, "No."

Yuan Ye raised his eyebrows and looked at the disheveled man in front of him. He didn't know if he could survive. "Just sit here! It's likely that the woman's son is dead."

After saying that, he took out a mechanical device similar to a tablet and placed it on the ground. A beam of blue light was projected into the air, and the picture on it was where Ning Que and the Earl were.

The joyful sound of suona broke through the sky, a team was playing music in the village, every household in the village began to decorate with lights and lanterns, and every household hung a red persimmon under the eaves.

Aunt Lan also dressed herself up very brightly today, with a red camellia in her hair. She also put on some powder, but the color of the foundation she chose was too different from that of her face, which made a sharp distinction between her face and neck.

Uncle Dongzi was still wearing his tattered leather jacket, pacing back and forth at the door. The wrinkles on his face were carved into his face like stone, and a cigarette was seesawing at the corner of his mouth.

There was also a red and white cloth tied to the tree in the yard, and under the tree was a rooster with the same cloth tied to it, covered in a bamboo cage.

"Lan Zi, come here." He thought of his wife and waved, his expression very solemn.

"That woman should be alright, right? These women from the city have a lot of weird things going on. If she runs away, our daughter might end up having sex with her."

When Aunt Lan heard this, she lit up instantly, like a lioness without claws. "Shut up, are you still his father? I would never let my daughter go to bed with him, I just don't believe in marrying—, woo."

Uncle Dongzi immediately covered Aunt Lan's mouth with his hand, "Don't talk nonsense, if they really find her, you won't have a place to cry!"

Her eyes widened as she struggled to break free. "I see. I've seen it happen once or twice. It's really awful to marry here and have to follow this kind of custom."

Aunt Lan stamped her numb feet and said, "I'm going to go see that girl!"

"By the way, make her another cup of the medicine powder you got from Wu Chang. The time is almost up, and we can't make any mistakes."

"knew!"

"Zi Xi, please be patient for a while. That girl will most likely not get married. We will escape then and the mission will be over soon. Wait a minute, someone is coming!" Yanan disappeared into the shadows like a shadow.

Aunt Lan took out a packet of medicine powder from her bosom. It was black with a hint of gray. She took out a white porcelain bowl from the cabinet, poured the powder into it, poured some hot water from the thermos next to it, stirred it thoroughly, and pushed open the door.

As the door opened, a ray of light shone on Yu Zixi's face. Her face was covered with a thin layer of powder, and her lips were glowing, making her look very delicate and bright. The gold threads on the edge of her wedding dress were shining slightly.

Aunt Lan came forward and lifted her head up. The porcelain bowl made a slight sound against her teeth, and some water slid down the corner of her mouth, wetting a spot.

Her head was slowly lowered and a red silk flower was placed on her head. The palm-sized flower covered most of her face when viewed from the side.

Old Master Wu, leaning on a cane, came to the door carrying a wooden box with a wedding sign on it. "Is the bride's escort ready?"

Uncle Dongzi pointed at the rooster and said, "It's 4 years old. It's ready."

The sun in the sky was already emitting orange light, like a red persimmon lying in the vast sky. There was not a single bird in sight in the sky, and everything was very peaceful.

A large vat stood in the middle, with a huge mirror on it. Through the mirror, you could see a dark area in the vat with strange raised patterns on the edges.

"Is this a pickle jar?" Ning Que looked at the jar, which was as tall as himself. "I don't see any eggs in it?"

"Your son is not in this. It's just a black and moldy piece of meat. There is nothing fresh in it. If your son was made into meat sauce, the bloody smell would not be the same as that of rotten and moldy cheese." The count touched his nose.

"Are you comforting me?" Ning Que walked forward and touched the uneven surface, feeling as if there was a layer of patina on it.

The Count lowered his head and squinted his eyes. "Oh, it's a blood clot formed after the plasma dried, formed by the aggregation of small blood platelets."

Ning Que rubbed his index finger and thumb together, and the black and red blood scab fell off. He replied calmly, "Oh," and turned around to leave.

The Earl suddenly walked to a corner and took out a piece of paper. Ning Que saw the clothing design on the paper at a glance, with various textures drawn on it.

Relying on her professional sensitivity, she said, "Let me see!" Generally, fashion designers will sign their completed works in the corner or on the back, on the one hand for convenience, and on the other hand to protect their rights.

Sure enough, on the right corner at the back, there was a bright red seal with the words "Yuan Wanyu Seal" printed on it.

Wanyu? This name seemed familiar. Ning Que stuffed the paper back into the Earl's hand thoughtfully, "Let's go. There's nothing interesting here."

At this time, bubbles began to appear in the vat, and a pot of mud was boiled. Suddenly, a naked female corpse appeared in it. She had long chestnut hair that reached her shoulders, her lips were very delicate, her whole face was rosy, and a red string was hung around her neck like a necklace. Her skin was delicate and smooth, and there was not a speck of black mud on her body. She was truly untainted by the mud.

Ning Que watched the woman's eyelashes tremble slightly, but suddenly he saw the Earl take a few steps forward, "Isn't this that Ni?"

"Oh." Ning Que took a look and tugged at the Earl's sleeve, "Let's go quickly, shall we?"

The Count was so anxious that he jumped up and down, and the flesh wings on his back trembled slightly. "This thing is alive, kill it quickly!"

"Please, big brother, she's already dead. There's no heat coming out of her body. You're a bloodsucker and you can't even see that. Are you blind? And she's already dead. What else do you want? Revive her, then kill her again?" Ning Que was anxious, seeing his white smoke rising to the sky. "Why are you acting like a little girl, so effeminate?"

Count: ...How am I effeminate? I am such a gentleman, so elegant.

Yuan Ye looked at the familiar face and suddenly thought of something in his mind. He immediately said to the Earl: "Find a way to bring that woman here."

Ning Que watched him take out a pair of leather gloves, put them on, and then reach out to grab the woman.

"Oh my god, how come you even drank this woman's coagulated blood? Tsk tsk tsk, I didn't know you were such a person with such strong tastes." Just as Ning Que finished speaking, the woman raised her legs and arched her body to turn over.

The count dragged the woman out of the vat with disdain, put her in a piece of cloth that had been there for who knows how many years, wrapped it up casually, and put it on his shoulders. His overall demeanor was like that of a down-and-out nobleman stealing corn from the fields.

Ning Que raised an eyebrow, "If you don't think she's a burden, put her in the space!"

The Earl looked at him as if he were a fool, his mouth moved, but he seemed to be hesitant to speak.

Lu Shi heard this and asked, "Can the space be used to store corpses? Didn't you say that the space is only for storing supplies?"

Yuan Ye stared at the screen, "Space is something that can be taken advantage of. It would be a waste of such thoughtful resources just to put a useless corpse there."

"Then, only a brainless person would do such a thing." Lu Shi said hesitantly.

"It's hard to say, but she might be a big shot. However, judging from the way she brought the child, it's absolutely impossible." At this moment, Yuan Ye seemed to hear a shrill voice calling for her mother. He was stunned for a moment, and then the cry became clearer and clearer, as if it was shouting in his ear.

Then he asked Lu Shi, "Did you hear any boy's voice?"

Lu Shi shook his head, indicating that he hadn't heard anything.

A hole appeared in the rotten cloth on the screen, and an arm emerged softly like a snake. The blue veins under the skin were throbbing slightly, looking weird and disgusting.

Yuan Ye made a quick decision and shouted into the microphone, "Throw Ruan Ni back quickly, come back quickly, and tell that woman that her son has been found."

The Count heard a voice mixed with the sound of electricity, "What? Who was thrown back? Oh, the woman's son was found?

Hey, they found your son."

After hearing this, the brainless Ning Que was about to turn around and leave, but suddenly found that an arm stretched out from the rag on the earl's back and pushed her hard, and a huge suction force came from behind her.

Ning Que habitually grabbed the Earl's wings, and saw the wings spread out like chicken wings about to be fried in a pan, and the two of them fell into the vat.

The whole person was soaked in the mud, and his limbs were struggling to stir in it. Suddenly, he felt countless hands touching his body, and then the whole person was pulled out like a carrot.

Then a man in sackcloth and a white feather mask came into view, followed by forty or fifty men and women, their faces sallow and sallow, showing signs of malnutrition. They were ecstatic to see her, their frail bodies immediately kneeling down, constantly thanking the heavens, their dry, tangled hair making them look more like a reed bush bent over with weight.

The man wearing a white feather mask walked up to the earl as if examining a commodity. "Why did you get a birdman this year? Is there something wrong with this year's tribute?"

As soon as the words fell, the men and women not far away trembled even more violently, "No way, Chang Chang, we put all our own piglets in there."

"Impossible, we all eat our own rice!"

"Meifen's family, are the vegetable leaves you gave me rotten?"

"How is that possible! Stop talking nonsense, you little bastard! This is such a big deal for the whole village, how could I do such a thing? You have a big mouth, pouting everywhere."

"Why do you talk like that?"

The people below looked very hungry, but they were still very decisive in their quarrel.

"Quiet!" He shouted loudly and long, and the place below became quiet instantly, as if a basin of cold water was poured into a pot of boiling water.

Chang Chang looked very satisfied, and the white feathers on his head trembled slightly. "Okay, stop talking. Let's send these two people in quickly and our village will be safe."

"Wait a minute, let me ask you something." Ning Que suddenly interrupted, his eyes narrowing even more under his forced smile. "What's going on?"

"take away."

At this moment, Ning Que heard a painful groan from the side. Turning around, he saw the Earl curled up on the ground, with his fleshy wings spread out behind him, but the roots were shrinking into his body. The sound of bones breaking could be heard from his shoulder blades.

Ning Que suddenly looked down at his wrist, where a red line was still obediently staying, and he let out a breath.

Fortunately, fortunately, I haven't degenerated. I haven't degenerated yet. I have to survive until I find a way to go back.

Ning Que rushed out immediately and disappeared from everyone's sight in a few seconds, leaving only the Earl who was still struggling to survive.

A crescent moon was like a curved sickle emitting a cold light. In the cold night, a layer of dilapidated houses appeared, standing like tombstones in the weed-covered field.

"Wow, why is it my daughter?" A disheveled man with red eyes pounded the table hard.

The other dozen or so people saw that the final sacrifice had been chosen, and their tense skin relaxed. They began to persuade, "This is also unexpected. Every family has a child, and it just happened to be yours."

"Yes, we watched this child grow up, and we feel bad for him too!"

"Chang Chang said, this is God's will and it cannot be resisted."

…

Under the illumination of the only candle on the table, the shadows of the chattering people fell on the wall and twisted into various shapes, mixed with various words that were soft on the surface but hard on the heart, like a group of devils having their own tea party.