Chapter 72 Do Not Miss Me (Part 1)
"good."
Lin Chengye hesitated for a moment, then agreed.
"However, that place is very dangerous, young master, please be sure to protect yourself."
"Don't worry, my martial arts skills are not weak, I just have difficulty walking."
Cai Wenyou nodded. Then, she took out her brush and ink, and while drawing, she spoke to Lin Chengye.
Cai Wenyou said that the insecticide was indeed a secret technique of the Wuma family.
In their family, there is only one mother beetle that has been fed with human flesh for a hundred years, and that mother beetle itself only produces three daughter beetles, which are called parent-child beetles.
“Two of them, as you said, are used to control people. But the third one is not; its purpose is to feed the mother beetle,” Cai Wenyou said.
Feeding? Lin Chengye was somewhat surprised.
"Generally speaking, the female beetle and the daughter beetle need to be implanted separately into the human body to be effective. The daughter beetle will grow together with the human flesh and blood and cannot be removed. However, if the female beetle is implanted into the human body, it must be fed with blood every day, but it can be drawn out and will not cause too much harm."
If the female beetle is not implanted in a human body or lured out, other methods of raising it must be found, otherwise it will starve to death.
Cai Wenyou pondered for a moment, then continued.
“I didn’t initially think it was related to woodworms, but now that you mention it, some of the suspicious points do match up.”
"The parent beetle used to control humans is infertile, but the unique parent beetle is. It can lay eggs continuously and use human flesh and blood as a bed to produce the next generation of offspring beetles, called the flesh beetle."
"The flesh beetle is the food of the mother beetle; it has no other abilities. After hatching into adults, they return to the mother beetle and actively crawl into her mouth to become her food."
"It's... a cannibal?"
Lin Chengye was horrified. These insects were born from the filthy desires of humans, which is why their lives were so bloody and filthy. First they ate people, then they ate their own children.
They kill each other.
"Yes, and if the mother beetle is not implanted in a human body, it will be in a semi-dormant state, only waking up in winter and going back to sleep in spring."
"So this is... precisely its feeding season?"
Lin Chengye asked.
“Yes, so that matches up.” Cai Wenyou nodded and added.
"But its active period is short, and I think our chances are running out."
Lin Chengye suddenly fell silent, tapping his fingers on the armrest of the chair, his brows furrowed tightly.
Cai Wenyou brought crucial information, but also a death sentence. If the mother weevil's feeding season ends this year and the ghost disease disappears, it means they will have no chance at all. They will have to wait until next year, but by then, many more people will die.
"Since I'm taking you there, I'll tell you everything I've seen and heard during this time..."
Under the candlelight, the two boys of similar age spoke earnestly. Lin Chengye recounted everything in great detail, only omitting the parts about Wei Jingchen and the Princess.
When Lin Chengye talked about how he found those who hadn't been completely brainwashed, Cai Wenyou couldn't help but burst into laughter until he choked on his own saliva before finally shutting up.
“I understand. So most likely, the blood streak that Meng Lingyun saw was left by the flesh beetle when it left. If we can follow the blood streak, we can find the mother beetle.”
Cai Wenyou's mind worked quickly. He said "Oh" and snapped his fingers.
“I don’t think it’s that simple. Meng Lingyun can barely spot the beetle with the naked eye, which means that the thing is fast and not very big, making it difficult to track. It can easily disappear into any place and become impossible to find. Actually, it would be best to capture it alive, but I haven’t thought of a good way to do so yet.”
Lin Chengye shook his head.
Cai Wenyou also quieted down. She pondered for a while and found that she didn't know how to solve the problem either, so she scratched the headscarf on her head in frustration.
By the time they finished speaking, it was already past midnight, so Lin Chengye and Cai Wenyou simply lay down in that room and rested for a while.
As the rooster crowed outside the window and the sky began to lighten, the two of them quickly got up. Lin Chengye grabbed Cai Wenyou's shoulder and used his lightness skill to get back to the Thousand Buddha Kingdom in no time.
Lin Chengye hurriedly pushed open Lou Sanbai's door. The man was still fast asleep, muttering something to himself. Lin Chengye leaned down to listen and heard him say something.
"Erbai, Yuefeng, I'm going to join you. Are you still waiting for me? You must wait for me..."
...
Lou Sanbai felt someone pushing her, and she was extremely annoyed. In fact, she knew it must be that girl named Aye, because for more than ten years, no outsider had ever stepped into this house viewing area except for her.
She just didn't want to get up; she felt like she was going to die and needed to get enough sleep. But the hand on her shoulder shook faster and faster, as if it wouldn't stop until it woke her up.
Suddenly, she heard a strange woman's voice, a sly voice with an upward inflection at the end, asking a question.
"Could this old woman still be alive? Or is she dead?"
Lou Sanbai angrily opened her eyes, and the first thing she did was look at the girl who had cursed her to death. The girl was quite pretty, all pink, and always smiling, like a spring peach blossom.
"He's not dead. Ah Ye, you're so annoying. You're such a troublesome peach blossom spirit too," she said.
"Cai Wenyou! My name is Cai Wenyou!" The peach blossom spirit was displeased and glared at her again. Lou Sanbai suddenly laughed, but she was in poor health, and as soon as she laughed, the cold wind rushed into her throat, and her laughter quickly turned into coughing.
"Wait a moment, you two, I'll go cook." Ah Ye sighed and went to cook. She cooked very quickly. Perhaps because there were only some radishes left at home, and she couldn't make anything else, she could only serve each of them a bowl of radish soup.
Lou Sanbai ate a few bites and then stopped. She watched as the peach blossom spirit ate three bowls in a row, as if she herself had eaten and was stuffed.
She wasn't hungry at all these days; her body seemed to no longer need food. It seemed that she just needed to wait, wait until everything in this body was used up, and then she could leave.
Ah Ye seemed very anxious. As soon as the peach blossom spirit put down her chopsticks, she spoke.
"Lou Sanbai, you have to help us. Do you know where people die? We need to find the person who's about to die beforehand, we..."
"It's just a general direction; the gods will tell me. But they're also mischievous; they won't tell me who knows the specifics."
Lou Sanbai shook her head. She saw that A Ye's eyes suddenly dimmed, filled with sorrow, and he muttered to himself, "What should we do? How can we catch the bugs? Is there any other way?"
She actually knows, but she can't say it right now.
Lou Sanbai pursed her lips, watching as the peach blossom spirit grew anxious and began spinning in place. She had actually noticed long ago that the peach blossom spirit's legs, like hers, weren't very good either. But the spirit wasn't as inactive as her; instead, she particularly enjoyed using her crippled legs, which Lou Sanbai found quite amusing.
"Don't worry, really. I have a way."
Lou Sanbai felt the radish soup in his hand starting to cool down, and suddenly looked at A Ye and said.
"Would you like to hear my story? Shall I tell it to you now?"
...
Lin Chengye had no idea where Lou Sanbai got his confidence from.
Even when she and Cai Wenyou were as anxious as ants on a hot plate, she could still leisurely tell stories. Lin Chengye was both angry and amused, but ultimately still puzzled, because Lou Sanbai wasn't really crazy, nor was she unable to distinguish between what was important and what wasn't.
But what could she possibly do? Lin Chengye couldn't figure it out.
"Okay, tell me a story. I love to hear it."
Cai Wenyou suddenly became interested, so she sat back down in her chair and waited to listen.
"That guy!" Lin Chengye gritted his teeth, about to reprimand him, when he heard Lou Sanbai's somewhat hoarse, deep voice ring out.
At this moment, she couldn't bear to interrupt. Because Lou Sanbai was speaking very slowly, as if he were counting, calculating, calculating her long but not very happy life.
...
Lou Sanbai thought that her story should start from a long time ago, from the Thousand Buddha Kingdom before the Ghost Disease, from when she was not yet called Lou Sanbai.
She came here as a wanderer. At first, it was a natural disaster, a drought, when the heavens gave her no food. But if people supported each other, they could still persevere. Later, those powerful figures embezzled disaster relief grain and misappropriated the money allocated by the imperial court, which turned into a man-made disaster.
She was still little then, and cried from hunger every day. Later, her mother took her away, leaving that place, and they walked for a long time, it seemed like many years, until her mother died, and she was still walking.
One day, she came to a very strange place. Suddenly, she was no longer hungry. Many people gave her food, saying that this was an act of kindness and that the gods were watching over the place. Moreover, there was a Buddhist temple every few steps, where people were burning incense and worshipping Buddha, bowing devoutly.
Someone told her to find a shaman, someone who could hear the voices of the gods. They also said that since she had come here, she had a connection with the gods, and the shaman would ask them what she could do.
So she went. She knocked on the door three times before someone answered. The person who opened the door was a thin woman younger than her, but already known as a sorceress. The woman looked her up and down and asked her name.
She didn't speak, only shook her head. The woman narrowed her eyes and asked the air: Where did she come from? Who is she? What about her family?
Finally, the woman called her into the house and said...
"Fine, you can come with me. My name is Lou Erbai. From now on... from now on, you'll be called Lou Sanbai."
Lou Sanbai thought, "She can finally stop. She doesn't have to walk anymore. That's great."
Lou Erbai treated her very well, providing her with food and drink. So Lou Sanbai also worked very hard, toiling away in the fields from morning till night, making the family's land very fertile.
She's a great cook, and she's transformed Lou Erbai from a skinny woman into a strong and healthy one.
In her spare time, she would sit on a stool in front of the door. Many people would come and go, and they all liked to say a few words to her. They would say things like, "His Majesty has come to the Kingdom of Thousand Buddhas again, and he's here to accompany the princess."
What else? Her Highness the Princess took in two girls to be her maids. There were also stories of marriages among the neighbors, and of people passing the imperial examinations—just these kinds of trivial matters, but Lou Sanbai listened with great interest.
Lou Erbai's house gets visited by many people every day, one after another, all asking about "fate." Lou Erbai answers some of them, but not others.
She found it fascinating and asked, "Can you really hear the words of the gods? Can you tell me what my destiny is?"
Lou Erbai said that it didn't work before, but after she came here and lived for a while, she didn't know when she would be able to hear the gods speaking.
Then Lou Erbai paused and said, "Do you really want to know your own fate? Actually, it's not a good thing."
Lou Sanbai was puzzled. She said, "I know, of course I know it's bad. My life before I met you was already bad."
Lou Erbai suddenly fell silent. She shook her head and said, "Never mind, I won't say anything more."
But Lou Sanbai became even more curious after that, and kept pestering Lou Erbai with questions every day. After about half a month, Lou Erbai finally got annoyed by the questions and angrily pointed at her nose.
"You...you're destined to die alone!"
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