Chapter 93
The boiling water was bubbling.
The middle-aged man looked at the red shop across the street and asked, "How about we go there to eat?"
The park pointed to the hotel next door and asked, "Why can't we go there?"
The middle-aged man took a look. It was a large hotel building. The exterior was blue and white. The windows had railings and the curtains inside were white, fluttering in the wind. However, the windows were tightly closed, without any gaps or balconies. It looked very closed. The blue and white would make people dizzy if they looked at it for a while, as if -
Saw the blue and white striped mental hospital gowns.
The middle-aged man frowned and asked, "Do you like this?"
Paradise said, “No.”
The middle-aged man asked, "You pay?"
Paradise said: "Of course not!"
The middle-aged man opened his mouth to refuse, but Leyuan paused and suddenly changed his tone and said, "It's not impossible for me to pay."
He asked: "If I pay, can a group of people follow me in to eat?"
The middle-aged man choked and felt like he had swallowed a stone bun. He frowned and said, "It's not impossible, but you have to pay first. We can't just wait here for you to make money, right? Who knows when you can come up with that sum of money! This kind of place is obviously very expensive. Do you think we have that much money? Anyway, I don't."
By this point, he had calmed down and looked at the amusement park as if he was looking at a child making trouble. "If you want to go, I won't stop you. If you don't want to go, I can accept you going with us. I don't have extra money to give you to go to a place like that. Who knows if you can't control yourself once you go in and spend money recklessly? You might end up in debt."
He became nervous. "I'm warning you in advance. If you owe me money, I won't pay you back. If you lose something, I won't find it for you. It will just be a waste of my time."
Leyuan nodded: "I know."
He looked at the middle-aged man and said, "Actually, I didn't intend to ask you to pay me. I mean, if I owe you money, it won't have much to do with you. You can rest assured. Anyway, you won't meddle in other people's business. So, why not settle the bill? That's great."
Paradise sneered.
The middle-aged man didn't mind his emotions. He still used the old-fashioned attitude of an elder to treat a troublesome child. He said in a gentle tone, "Okay, go ahead. I'll wait for you here."
He said, "If you don't come back after a while, I'll leave and we'll have dinner there. If you can't find us when you come back, just go over there and take a look. We should be able to see each other. Unless it's too late when you come back and we've finished eating and are planning to go somewhere else, we can't go to He Meizi's house right after dinner. That's too much."
Paradise asked: "Where is the excess?"
The middle-aged man laughed and said, "Going to someone else's house right after dinner is like going to gossip, which is not good. It can easily bring bad reputation to the other family. It is also possible that because the time interval between the two meetings is too short, the host may feel that a group of freeloaders have come to his house, which makes him feel uncomfortable. It is not polite, so I say it is excessive."
He seems to have not adjusted and is still in that state, but this state is profitable for the park.
Le Yuan didn't correct him and nodded.
Number Five covered her throat and squatted down a little bit, lowering her head. Her hair was messy and scattered like a bird's nest. Everyone else remembered that before she entered He Meizi's house, that is, this morning, her hair was still neat and tidy. Under the bright light, it looked shiny and beautiful. It could be said that her hair was like clouds. Just looking at her hair, she was very elegant and well-maintained.
But now it was not like before. Number Five's body began to tremble. After a burst of uncontrollable limb shaking, Number Five fell to his knees on the ground, head down, with his face touching the ground. His body seemed to still have some self-awareness and was not completely stuck to the ground. It looked like a triangle, but not quite standard.
Number Six approached her cautiously and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
Number Five shook her head slowly, looking very exhausted. Number Six thought she was feeling very uncomfortable, so she lowered her head, bent her waist, and moved closer to Number Five, and asked cautiously, "Do you want to say something?"
Or, do you have anything to say to me?
Number Six thought this was the other party's last words.
But No. 5 said in a hoarse and weak voice: "I can't survive..."
Before she finished speaking, she screamed: "Ah——"
There was a crackling sound from Number Five's spine, as if a string of firecrackers exploded inside. Number Five's head tilted, and she looked completely unconscious. Number Six was very close to her, and the others thought that Number Five was dead, but Number Six knew that was not the case. Number Five was not dead, she was still alive, and more vibrant than before.
A terrifying gesture.
Number Six involuntarily took a step back, feeling scared.
At this moment, No. 5's body straightened up, and there was another crackling sound, this time like frying beans. No. 5's head suddenly fell below his neck, swaying on his chest and back, and then firmly solidified on his back, forming a symmetrical and sharp contrast with the bulging chest in front.
The broken neck part turned from blood red to green, and green buds grew inside. Number Five's body became thick and swollen, as if it was hollow inside. His skin was bumpy and turned from green to brown-red, like a newly grown but very thick layer of bark. A brown root grew under his feet and penetrated into the ground.
The roots can move on their own, and when they move, they are like a worm, moving at a very fast speed, like a flying arrow in the air, terrifying and weird, with an inexplicable and majestic beauty.
The ground was pierced by this thing and cracked. The bottom was black, as if there was an abyss with no bottom, and it was filled with thick grayish-white fog.
Some colorful and crystal clear things grew out of the tree, one by one, like a handful of huge peppercorns. However, if you look closely, you can see that they are actually a pile of candies.
Just like the candies in the candy box that He Meizi found at home, just like the candies that He Meizi bought himself to give away.
Number Six screamed, took out the candy from his pocket and threw it aside. The candy rolled on the ground, stopped, and turned into a human head. It turned towards Number Six with a gentle smile, but Number Six knew at a glance that it was clearly full of malice.
Black flames burned, the human head disappeared, and the ground was covered with broken, crystal clear candies, colorful candy fragments and candy wrappers that wrapped the candies, lying quietly on the ground and flying up when the wind blew. The candy wrappers could fly, which was not weird, but the candy fragments flying up was very strange, like a pile of black snowflakes and strangely shaped bullets.
Number Six murmured, "This shouldn't be the case. This shouldn't be the case..."
Number Six, muttering to himself, could not stand the turn of events. He turned around and was about to run away, but in an instant, he was trapped by the roots of the tree that Number Five had into transformed. His feet went soft and he stumbled to the ground, hitting his chin on the ground, breaking the skin and bleeding. It looked like he needed to go to the hospital to see a doctor for stitches. It wasn't serious, but it wasn't very minor either.
Number Six suffered a double blow both mentally and physically. His vision went dark and he fell limply to the ground, unconscious.
Number Five smiled and reached out to Number Six, holding him in his arms. Number Six's skin changed from normal color to cyan, and then from cyan to brown-red. Small bumps grew on the smooth surface. They were black at first, and gradually faded under the sunlight and turned light white. Finally, the surface layer of skin became transparent, revealing the shape and color of the candy inside.
Under the skin are countless small colorful candy particles, not fragments, but it makes no difference now.
Number Six opened his mouth, and a handful of candies fell out of his mouth. They were all colorful, very beautiful, and very small and exquisite. If you saw this kind of thing in a shopping mall, some people might like it and want to buy it home, but it was obviously not appropriate at this time.
The others all thought of the same thing. Did Mei Zi buy this candy because she knew that some of them would become like this after eating it in front of them, so she wanted them to respect her or fear her or never go there again? Or did she buy this candy because she was attracted by its beauty and it happened to be neither expensive nor heavy at that time?
They shuddered.
The ground was covered with candies. When No. 7 touched the candies, he was shocked and his body became stiff. He watched the skin on his ankles turn brown, and the lower part grew thin roots like broken spider webs. As soon as these roots grew out, they quickly drilled into the ground, as if a lost child found his way home.
An indescribable pain came over him, and No. 7 couldn't help but make a sound. At this moment, he found that he could not hear anything, not even his own voice. He felt despair, his eyes widened, and everything in front of him was gradually blurring, just like a person with normal vision experiencing the changes before and after severe myopia in an instant.
He didn't know if he still had any voice. Just as he was thinking about this, he found that he couldn't think. His brain seemed like solidified lard, very dull and greasy. He opened his mouth and spit out a lot of candies. He had become a new candy tree.
He looked the most beautiful one, with dense roots, straight branches, and crystal clear dark green leaves. The leaves grew later, growing on the surface of his criss-crossing branches. These branches grew from the surface of his skin, as if they were drilling out from the pores, but it didn't matter, he could no longer feel pain anyway, so it didn't matter where they came out from.
Under these leaves are colorful fruits. It’s hard to tell what they look like, but when you close your eyes, they feel like the bustle of a lantern at night.
"Are they dead?"
Number 8 asked cautiously.
"Probably."
Paradise looked at them.
Number 7 completely turned into a candy tree. Even though it had bumps on the surface, it did not affect the overall beauty. Number 8 took a step back and felt a chill. He thought, I will not turn into a candy tree, and I don’t want to turn into that!
He only dared to shout this in his heart, because he knew that if he said it out loud, he would not know what would happen.
He didn't want to be beaten or scolded, so it was enough to say whatever he wanted to say in his heart, and there was no need to mention anything else.
The middle-aged man asked Paradise: "Do you still want to find that hotel?"
Paradise said, “Yes.”
The middle-aged man nodded: "Then you should go now. It may be too late to eat after a while, and it is not appropriate to go to someone else's house too late."
Leyuan turned around and left, and Jongin followed. The middle-aged man wanted to stop them, but then he thought it was useless to stop them. The two of them had always walked together, and even if they were not together for a while, it would not have any impact. It would be better to forget it. Saying one more word would be like being the plague god for one more day, so it would be better not to mention it.
He didn't want to be put in a sack while walking on the street.
"If only everyone died."
The middle-aged man said something with emotion.
The others were far away and did not hear him, but when they saw him turn around, they asked, "Aren't we going to have dinner? Where are we going to eat?"
It was the middle-aged man's turn to be surprised. He looked at the crowd and asked, "Can you still eat now?"
Number 8 said, "What should we do? We can't just not eat! Who wants to walk around hungry and even continue to work with others?
Not to mention that we didn't know each other, had no tacit understanding, had no experience working together, and were not familiar with other people's thinking and behavior. A series of problems could lead to our work not going smoothly.
As a result, we don't even have food to eat. Aren't we going to starve to death on the way? Even if I'm going to die, I have to eat a full stomach before I go on the road. Don't you know? Before death, there is a beheading meal. You can't ask us to work with you without even giving us that little food. That's unfair. We are all normal people, not ancient slaves. We won't listen to you!"
The middle-aged man smiled and said, “No?”
He nodded and said, "You are indeed not slaves, but if you don't listen to me, I can make you experience a fate worse than that of slaves. I don't think you will like it."
Number 8 shouted, “That’s not necessarily true!”
The middle-aged man stared at him and asked with a smile: "Oh, so, do you know something? Or do you want to give it a try?"
Number 8 was a little scared by being looked at, so he retreated and muttered, "I'm not a coward, what should I be afraid of? There are so many people here. If I die, there will still be people who remember me and can collect my body. What on earth should I be afraid of? Anyway, I'm fine now, and I didn't eat any candy, so what should I be afraid of? What should I be afraid of!"
He shouted, "I'm not afraid of you! Just use whatever you can do to us! I tell you, no matter what you do to us, it won't work. You can kill one, but not a group. Even if you kill us, there are still those two people who can get away. Even if you have the ability to kill us, it won't matter. They can still be the fish that slip through the net. Do you dare to kill them?"
Number Nine was so frightened that his face turned pale. He quickly grabbed Number Eight's clothes and shouted, "You can't do this!"
Everyone looked over. Number Nine knew that what he was doing was wrong, so he lowered his voice and said, "Don't talk about death or life so casually. It's unlucky. Don't you know you should avoid it? Even if no one told you this before, okay. I'm telling you now. I warn you, if you cause us all to die, I won't let you go even if I become a ghost."
Number 8 sneered, "Become a ghost? It would be better if we could become ghosts in a place like this. Look at them. We have lost so many people along the way! Have you ever seen anyone turn into a ghost and come back? Have you ever seen anyone turn into a ghost and come back to seek revenge on us?"
Number Nine was anxious and angry, and angrily said, "Why don't you listen to my advice? Fine. It's up to you. You can say whatever you want, but it's limited to yourself. Don't think of taking us all with you. I won't die with you. If you want to die, die by yourself, die now, and it's best to commit suicide. I won't care. Do you think we care about you? Not at all! If you dare to curse us like that again--"
He paused, and suddenly remembered what happened before he came in. He said to No. 8 grimly, "We will kill you. It's not like we haven't killed before. Do you think we are afraid of killing people? Not necessarily."
Number 8 was a little scared, his face turned green: "What you are doing is illegal."
Number Nine laughed and said, "Illegal? Have you heard of emergency evacuation? If I'm starving to death, it wouldn't be illegal even if I broke into a store and ate all the food, because it's emergency evacuation, because if I don't eat those things I will die, and in the face of death, the living should give in! You too. You are nothing, you are nothing, you are not special at all. Did you hear me?"
Number 8 was irritated: "What nonsense are you talking about?"
Number Nine immediately realized that Number Eight’s pain point was attention.
Number 8 wanted the crowd's attention, so he stood out, wanting everyone's eyes to fall on him like a spotlight on the stage. He already regarded himself as an actor, but he didn't even have the identity of an idol, let alone anything else. As Number 9 said, he was a man with nothing.
Number 8 grabbed Number 9 by the collar and punched him: "Stop talking nonsense!"
Number Nine was caught off guard. He was secretly happy that he had discovered something. After being beaten like that, he got angry and said, "You think you're great just because you beat me? No way! I'm not a boxing champion, I haven't learned Taekwondo, and I don't exercise often. The fact that you beat me only proves that you're bullying the weak. You're a piece of trash!"
He became even more excited and shouted: "You are garbage, you are wrong, you are the damn one!"
Number Nine shouted to the crowd, "Kill him! He will bring us death and disaster! We want to go home, we want to live, we can't die here because of him! Kill him!"
The crowd was a little agitated, but soon calmed down. Number 10 came out and said, "Don't drag us into the conflict between the two of you. We are not your shields or your guns!"
Number Nine felt that he was being reprimanded. His face felt hot and turned red all over. Soon, even his neck turned red.
He and number eight fought hard.
They both rolled on the ground, grabbing each other's clothes, pulling each other's shoes, pulling each other's hair and socks, biting with their teeth and scratching with their nails. Their hair was a mess, their shoes were half off, their clothes were open, and the buttons seemed to have been lost on the way. There was also a candy that rolled out of his pocket and gurgled into the gap in the sewer cover not far away, and broke through it.
Maybe it was the sound of splashing water.
No one cares about that.
The middle-aged man asked: "Are you going to fight here?"
He murmured, "I thought you all enjoyed eating."
Number 10 shouted, "We really want to eat. We are hungry. Now take us to eat! We promise that no one will be like this again. They are just special cases."
When No. 8 heard the word "Special", he paused. No. 9 punched No. 8 in the eye. No. 8 covered his face and wailed, "Ah - it hurts, my eyes, my eyes seem to have fallen out, are my eyes broken, I can't see, I'm going to become blind! Am I going to die?"
He shouted, "I can't stand with you! Ahhhh——"
No. 9 felt that he had won the battle. He got up from the ground, patted his clothes, adjusted his sleeves and collar, slowly buttoned up his clothes, pulled up his crooked socks, put on his shoes, and said with his head held high, "I won't bother with you."
He said this in a low voice, but with a sense of pride and complacency that could not be ignored by No. 8. No. 8 became even more angry, thinking, you wait for me, losing today does not mean you will lose in the future, and what's more, I didn't lose! I was just ambushed, do you think you won? No, you just ambushed and got a little sweet, don't think you are so great, I will not admit defeat.
He sneered, clenched his fists, stood up, and without any fancy moves, he touched his messy gray hair and followed the crowd.
Judging from his attitude, it has been proved that he is willing to stop.
Number 10 looked at the middle-aged man more urgently, meaning, we already have someone here who has proven that nothing will go wrong, so why don’t you lead the way to dinner?
Aren’t you going to lead the way to dinner?
The middle-aged man said, "Okay, follow me."
He paused and asked, "Are you not waiting for those two?"
There is something of a saccharine quality to this statement.
Number 10 said, "We don't care. If they knew we were here to eat, they wouldn't mind. We're not asking them not to eat, we're just eating in different places. It's no big deal. If they cared about that, they wouldn't have walked with us a long time ago. Don't they understand us as well as you after being with us for so long? Don't worry."
The middle-aged man asked: "If they come back and can't find us, who will they get angry at?"
Number 10 said impatiently, "Who is responsible? We are starving, are you responsible? If you are not responsible, then you will be responsible whenever they lose their temper. If you are responsible, we will help you once if we can. What do you think that will happen? We can't beat them. Everyone knows that they are the two strongest among us. It's not bad that they are still alive today. I advise you not to say anything more."
The middle-aged man nodded: "Okay, let's go eat a bowl of noodles next door."
Number 10 was a little disappointed to hear that they were just having noodles, but when he thought about the fact that the middle-aged man had not agreed to eat at the hotel before, he knew that he didn't have much money and that he didn't want to spend money here. It was understandable that if he had money, he wouldn't want to feed a group of people. His expression improved a little and he said, "Then lead the way quickly."
The middle-aged man nodded.
A group of people went to the noodle stall.
This noodle stall is unexpectedly simple, but compared to other small stalls, it looks pretty good because there is at least a huge umbrella to protect against wind, rain and sun. Other stalls do not have such a big umbrella and are not so quiet. Although it would not be right for a noodle stall to be too quiet, everyone is hungry and cannot care about much else.
Ten thought, if I wasn't hungry at all, I wouldn't eat, but I was so hungry, I couldn't bear it anymore! I'm not a ninja turtle, nor an ascetic monk, why should I put myself in a difficult position? I won't do that! To hell with all those rules! Let them all disappear! Let everyone leave me alone! I'm going to eat here until the end of time, until I'm about to vomit.
He was delighted.
The middle-aged man discussed with the boss and paid the money. The boss happily asked them to sit down and quickly made noodles for them.
Number 10 heaved a sigh of relief after sitting down, thinking, nothing will go wrong here, right?
He didn't want to think about anything anymore.
It was really tiring after all this journey, but fortunately there were still moments to rest and be happy occasionally.
Number 10 kept looking at the boss with a smile, and the boss handed him the first bowl of noodles.
"I hope you like it."
The boss said this in a somewhat awkward tone.
Number 10 nodded, without even looking at the boss, and started eating noodles.
The noodle soup is bright red, and the noodles are round and white. A long noodle is like a soft worm, cute and delicious, and perhaps rich in protein. A layer of crushed chili peppers floats on the surface, and a complex aroma rushes out from it and goes straight into the nose. The boss looks at No. 10 wolfing down the food, and a gentler look appears on his face, as if he is looking at his own child who has just come home from school.
Number 10 was sweating profusely while eating.
He finished the bowl of noodles quickly.
He felt that he was not full yet, so he handed the bowl to the boss and said, "Excuse me, can I continue eating here?"
The boss took his bowl and said with a smile, "Okay, let's eat here. There's nothing wrong with it. I'm glad to have another customer here."
Number 10 nodded, not thinking there was anything wrong with this. However, when he was eating his second bowl of noodles, the seats around him that were originally empty were filled one after another.
Those people were sitting at the stalls, with their heads down, eating noodles in big mouthfuls. They refused to stop even when they were sweating all over. They kept gasping for air because of the spiciness, and their eyes were a little choked by the smoke, but they still kept crying but refused to stop eating.
Number 10 was so focused on eating that he didn't notice the problem and didn't even look elsewhere.
He didn't even look up, as if all he wanted in life was to have enough food to eat.
He really has no idea now.
As long as I can eat enough, that's fine.
This is what No. 10 thought before he came, this is what he thought when he sat down, and this is what he thought when he ate his noodles. So, this is the only thought in his mind, and it will never change.
The others were frightened when they saw No. 10's look and didn't want to eat anymore. The middle-aged man glared at them and said, "If you dare to waste food in front of me, you'll die!"
Number 9 felt very proud of his victory. He held his head high like a victorious fighting chicken and sneered at the middle-aged man, "Don't think you are so great! We are not afraid of you. By the way, I'm not that hungry now."
The middle-aged man sneered, "If you have the guts, don't eat it anymore. Do you think I care? I'm still paying for a bowl of noodles! What can't I do with the money? Why am I wasting my time here?"
After he said that, he ignored number nine.
Number Nine is a bit depressed.
No. 8 glanced at him sideways, feeling a little proud because he hadn't been told that.
Especially the middle-aged man was a very special existence among them. He was neither particularly dangerous nor particularly safe. He was not one of them who came together, nor was he someone who originally lived in this village. And he walked in front, as if he was the leader. For No. 8, being scolded by such a person was something that was not worth being happy about. He did not want that.
Therefore, he thought that No. 9 should behave himself after being scolded by the middle-aged man.
Number Nine, however, was annoyed with him and thought, I told everyone not to eat, but you are eating here and snorting. You are not Number Ten, so hungry and want to eat so much, and you are the first to eat. What are you pretending to be? You are still sitting next to me, are you trying to annoy me? You object to everything I say, and you go against me in everything I do? I can't let you have an easy time.
As he thought about it, his eyes rolled as he looked around for something suitable to throw out. He saw a piece of black coal, picked it up, squeezed it, and found that it was neither very soft nor very hard. It was something that would not only bring humiliation to someone, but also not something that would tear someone's skin apart. Number Nine was very happy and secretly threw it at Number Eight.
Number 8 screamed, and his eyes fell out of their sockets and landed in the bowl of noodles. Everyone around him was stunned.
Number 8 immediately knew who was causing trouble, and stood up and shouted angrily, "Fuck you! Are you shameless? I'll fuck you!"
As he spoke, he rushed over, grabbed No. 9, pinned him to the ground, and started beating him.
The people around didn't know whether to watch, stop or eat, they were all stunned.
As number eight and number nine fought to a standstill, the noodles on the table gradually lost their heat and turned into something green.
Looks like poisoned mushrooms.
No one noticed because their attention was focused on the fight. It was not too much to like watching the excitement; their lives were not in danger and they just wanted to have some fun.
"good!"
"He was beaten to pieces!"
"Kill him! Now!"
The crowd started to boo and some people even clapped.
Number 8 and Number 9 were particularly excited about this and hit even harder.
When both of them had bruises on their faces, the noodle bowl on the table had turned black and gray and collapsed all of a sudden. There was only a pile of black ashes on the table. A gust of wind blew and the ashes were blown onto the two of them. They each sneezed and stopped trembling, but it was too late.
Their hands and feet were intertwined, as if they had been two people grown together from the beginning.
Their surface began to turn black, looking like a large mass of black, twisted, dead vines.
No one dared to go up and pull them apart.
So, everyone watched as number eight and number nine hugged each other and turned into a pile of ashes.
The boss came out with a shovel in his hand, smiling, and shoveled the two men up from the ground. It was a pile of smelly stuff.
However, No. 11 clearly saw that the thing gradually turned white when it entered the store. He couldn't help but think, oh no, could that thing be the flour used to make noodles here?
He shuddered, his eyes fell on the bowl in front of him, and then moved to the red chili in the bowl of noodles. He thought, it doesn't matter, even if it is something like that, I didn't kill it, nor did I do it, why can't I eat it? I came here to eat, it's my duty to eat! Who can not eat? I can't control who doesn't eat, but whoever makes me not eat is sick!
He thought it through and started eating as soon as he closed his eyes.
The middle-aged man smiled and said to him, "You don't know, the noodles here are famous and delicious in the surrounding area! You happened to be here this time, and I brought enough money with me, so I can have this good fortune. If it wasn't such a coincidence, I think everyone would have gone hungry."
Number Eleven tried to strike up a conversation: "What if I'm hungry?"
The middle-aged man seemed to know what he meant. He picked up a ball of noodles and slurped them into his mouth with a smile. It looked like the noodles almost went into his throat, but it did not affect the sound of his voice. It did not sound very vague. Number Eleven clearly saw that the corners of the middle-aged man's mouth and cheeks were stained with red oil like blood, which smelled particularly fragrant and attractive.
Number 11's stomach growled. He covered his stomach, trying to hide the sound and his condition, but was not very successful, because the boss looked at him, and the middle-aged man also smiled meaningfully, as if they had heard it all, they all knew it all. Number 11 suddenly felt a little scared, and his arms trembled involuntarily, but he quickly controlled himself.
He forced a smile at the boss and said in a weak voice, "I'll eat it quickly. I'll eat it right now."
He thought, it's just noodles, what's wrong with eating it? I don't know what it's made of, who knows if it's real? Maybe my guess is wrong, this is just an ordinary bowl of noodles that looks very beautiful and delicious. I can't waste food, I can't let the boss down, I can't let myself die here.
He ate it with a fearless attitude.
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