CHAPTER 66
Blake continued to pester Sheng Qing, but Sheng Qing ignored him and instead went to the chef who had fainted, waking him up and asking him questions.
They couldn't get any answers from her. The cook only said that she had been kidnapped a few days ago and had been forced to cook food for Mengcheng for several days.
Sheng Qing followed the chef's gaze and saw that most of the food had been spilled on the ground.
What a pity! Sheng Qing patiently checked each container one by one. There were still some leftovers in the crooked jars, but she didn't pick and choose. She casually poured the remaining food from the container into her mouth and gave the chef a thumbs up.
The taste was good, though a bit greasy for her delicate stomach. But that wasn't the chef's fault; she hadn't eaten real food in a long time, and surviving solely on that coffin was no easy feat.
By the way, why don't we take it? Maybe it will come in handy later?
Sheng Qingfu turned back and walked towards the coffin. With a flick of his hand, the coffin disappeared into thin air and was absorbed into his sea of consciousness.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a faint white mist rising around Blake, enveloping him completely, making his figure appear and disappear. In a few more days, even his blurry figure would disappear.
Of course, this only temporarily trapped him; Sheng Qing's restriction wasn't powerful enough to make him disappear completely.
"How is Mengcheng now?" Sheng Qing summoned the power of earth element, pulled the chef through walls and finally had a chance to ask, "How long has it been since that incident? Tell me about all the major events that happened."
"Montene is no longer the same Montene. The anomaly a year ago caused a rapid decrease in population, and those with connections fled. I managed to leave early by riding on the coattails of a powerful figure, but unfortunately, I was caught and brought here again. I heard from those who later sought refuge that Her Majesty the Queen and the young master of Snow City made a pact to offer up the person they needed, in exchange for a marriage alliance between the two cities, with Snow City retreating—a happy ending for everyone. At first, things were peaceful for a few days. But," the chef's face turned pale, and his tone suddenly changed.
Sheng Qing wanted to confirm whether the person needed by that Snow City was her, and there seemed to be some images in her memories.
"But something went wrong halfway there. The captain of the special task force responsible for escorting the bride suddenly kidnapped her. The young master of Snow City was furious and allowed those monsters to attack Meng City again." The cook glanced at Sheng Qing, who did not react.
"Why did you stop? Continue, I'm listening," Sheng Qing said.
"Later, I heard that the captain of the cult was killed by the bride, and the bride was taken back to Snow City by the young master of Snow City." The head chef sighed, "Unfortunately, Meng City can never go back to what it used to be."
"Is that so?" Sheng Qing felt a pang of pain in her heart, and her voice trembled as she spoke.
"Are you also from Mengcheng, young lady?" the chef comforted her. "Although you can't go back to Mengcheng, the world is so big, there's always a place to settle down."
“Yes,” Sheng Qing echoed, as the deepest memories in his mind began to loosen, and the blurry figure gradually became clear.
As she neared the exit, Sheng Qing felt a chill creep over her. She glanced down at her overly elaborate long dress, wondering why she hadn't thought to change before leaving. Not only was it inconvenient to move in, but it also offered no warmth whatsoever. Although she could draw upon spiritual energy to ward off the cold, this dress was far too conspicuous.
"Achoo!" The chef next to him couldn't help but sneeze and tightened his clothes.
The light grew brighter and brighter. Sheng Qing poked his head out from the ground. A biting cold wind blew by, and if it weren't for the spiritual energy protecting him, his eyebrows and hair would probably have been covered in ice long ago.
Where am I? As far as the eye can see, there is only white snow, and there is no point of focus. My eyes are a little sore.
"Snow City?" the chef said with a bitter face. "How did we end up in this godforsaken place?"
"Snow City? Is that the place where the Snow City Lord, who was sent for a marriage alliance, resides?" Sheng Qing asked.
“That’s right, it’s hard to find a colder place in the world.” The chef hesitated. “Young lady, who are you? Have you been staying in there all this time?” The chef regretted asking the question as soon as he finished. “Never mind, just pretend I didn’t ask. Everyone has secrets in this world.”
Sheng Qing didn't answer. He pulled the chef back underground, warmed up his body, and released his spiritual energy to search. After waiting for more than ten minutes, his spiritual energy finally reacted.
"We'll start to see signs of human activity a dozen or so miles ahead in this direction. We'll say goodbye there. I hope you won't mention what happened these past few days to anyone else," Sheng Qing said sternly. "Let's pretend we never met."
"Yes, yes, I understand, I will absolutely keep it a secret." The chef made a gesture of sewing his lips shut.
Sheng Qing shook her head, remembering that she had once promised someone that she would keep quiet.
No matter what Mengcheng has become, she has to go back and see for herself.
Sheng Qing had originally intended to visit Ning Xianle, but with no clues in his mind, and considering that Black might break the restriction ahead of time, he simply headed straight for Mengcheng.
Sheng Qing rushed as fast as he could and finally arrived at the place he remembered Mengcheng seven days later. The towering city walls were covered with black, unidentified substances.
At first, Sheng Qing thought it was some kind of plant, but upon closer inspection, he discovered that the black patch was made up of countless tiny centipedes, which almost triggered his trypophobia.
Sheng Qing immediately withdrew his gaze, summoned the power of the wood element, and transformed it into a long vine that rose all the way to the top of the city wall.
On the other side of the city wall, there was a dripping liquid. The liquid seemed to be alive. When a mosquito the size of a fist was hunting for food and flew a little low, the liquid suddenly shot up from the ground, wrapped around the mosquito, chewed it a few times, swallowed it along with its bones, and then returned to a still state to wait for the next prey.
She didn't encounter many normal people along the way, but strange and unusual creatures approached her one after another, all of which Sheng Qing carefully avoided.
What should have been a half-hour journey took Sheng Qing an hour to get back to her cottage.
Sheng Qing had already recalled everything about the person who saved her when her consciousness was suppressed, including the details of her personally removing his heart.
Two days before she arrived in Mengcheng, she encountered a small team heading to explore a nearby secret realm. The leader was a member of Team Thirteen, whom she had met briefly on the night the Qin siblings had their accident.
Sheng Qing learned many things from him. Her Majesty the Queen disappeared without warning shortly after the incident during the marriage alliance. The Institute of Supernatural Research and the Supernatural Investigation Team, having lost their leader, initially tried to maintain order in Meng City, but gradually crumbled with the invasion of the Snow City monsters. Some people attempted to build a new sanctuary outside Meng City, and their team was one of them.
As for the other group, they also chose to live in the secret realm for a long time. For example, Jian Fei, a member of Team Zero, went to the City of Heroines that he had been longing for.
Sheng Qing also learned about the Qin siblings. It was said that Qin Feiyan had found a secret method to awaken Qin Feiyu, and the two had been living in a secret realm for a long time. Apart from occasionally teaming up to explore the secret realm, they would only appear together once a month to exchange information.
With about ten days until the next gathering, Sheng Qing declined the team's invitation to join and embarked on her journey back to Mengcheng once again.
Sheng Qing had been searching in front of Meng Yunxi's door for a full half hour. How wonderful it would be if she could push open the door and see that familiar person standing there unharmed. She had already cried her heart out several times, and she had to hold back today.
Sheng Qing's hand, which was pushing the door open, was still frozen in mid-air when a gust of wind, seemingly out of nowhere, blew the door open first.
The walls inside the room were covered with snails the size of fists, and long, grayish-white slime was left on the floor and ceiling.
Sheng Qing carefully avoided the area and went to the kitchen. The bowls and chopsticks she had brought for dinner that night were still safely placed on the middle shelf of the cupboard. The bottom of the bowls and chopsticks had dark patterns drawn on them, which was a simple protective barrier.
Sheng Qing didn't move anything, retreated back to the living room, and then headed towards the bedroom. This was her first time inside; the bedroom was simply furnished with a bed, a wardrobe, a table, and a chair.
Sheng Qing felt a little short of breath and needed to go to the balcony to breathe some fresh air.
Wait, something's not right. It's been a year, so why is the bedroom still perfectly intact, as if it's been carefully maintained by someone?
Sheng Qing's heart was pounding, as if it were about to leap out of her throat.
Is there any chance of things turning around?
Sheng Qing recalled the words of the 13th team member. At this time, Meng Yunxi was already buried underground. The funeral was personally presided over by Team Ning. In the presence of the members of the Different Tuning Team and the Different Research Team, the coffin was laid on the ground and covered with soil.
What hope is there? Don't even dream about it!
Sheng Qing wept with sorrow.
She tried to escape, burying everything deep in her memory, locking it away, not thinking about it, not listening to it, not seeing it.
What good might it do? Does delaying the discovery of the truth make it less painful?
She's had so many meals freeloaded, but she hasn't cooked a single meal for him herself yet.
Sheng Qing swept those fist-sized snails out of the house, and cleaned Meng Yunxi's house inside and out until it was spotless.
She also wanted to cook a meal for him herself, as a way of getting to know him better, or as a way of making up for what she had lost and comforting him.
Sheng Qing went out to see if he could find any food outside the city. After a few steps, he suddenly turned around and went to the vegetable market.
How could there still be people in the market? Sheng Qing chuckled self-deprecatingly and prepared to leave when he suddenly heard a noise.
Knock knock knock!
It sounded like knocking on a door, but heavier and more muffled, more like the sound of chopping bones.
Sheng Qing became curious and followed the sound.
It was a person! Wearing an apron, carrying Sheng Qingzheng on his back, chopping something on the cutting board with varying degrees of force.
Are they chopping pork? Even a fool could guess that these days, where would you find pork to chop? Given the mutation rates of mosquitoes and snails, who knows what size pigs they'd mutated into?
Sheng Qing couldn't resist and took a few more steps forward, turning to face the figure directly.
It was an acquaintance, the pork vendor who had complained about Sheng Qing's huge appetite. His expression was strange, a mix of crying and laughing, as he chopped bones with a rusty cleaver.
The bones looked quite fresh, still with traces of blood, and fragments were scattered all over the ground, yet a faint, fishy stench emanated from them.
"Want some? They're freshly cut and still warm. Feel them if you don't believe me." The stall owner's lips curled into an exaggerated smile as he grabbed a handful without even looking and handed them to Sheng Qing. "Try some, they're super fresh."
Sheng Qing noticed something amiss; the stall owner was a head shorter than her. Without making a sound, she adjusted her position, trying to get a better look at what was hidden behind the counter.
You won't believe it until you see it, and what you find will shock you. The stall owner's upper body looks like that, but his lower body has mutated into several limbs, making him look like an octopus sitting on a bunch of tentacles.
These tentacles vary in length and thickness. The shorter ones are pink and delicate, resembling the legs of a human baby, wobbling haphazardly. The longer ones are about the same size as an adult male's leg, but lacking the support of bones, they hang limply.
"Don't you like it? How about I cut you some fresh meat?" The stall owner's upturned lips drooped, his expression dejected, as he hesitated, looking at the scraps of meat in his hand. "It's such a waste, we can't let it go to waste. If you don't eat it, I will. Customers these days are so hard to please."
Under Sheng Qing's watchful gaze, the stall owner opened his mouth wide, revealing sharp teeth, and greedily slurped up the bits of meat in his hand. He seemed to be eating too fast, and accidentally bit off one or two fingers without even realizing it.
Sheng Qing felt nauseous and gagged. Unable to bear watching any longer, she decided to leave.
The stall owner, not satisfied with just finishing the scraps of meat in his hand, grabbed more meat from the counter with both hands, throwing it all into his mouth, whether it was a whole piece or just scraps. Seeing Sheng Qing about to leave, he mumbled, "Wait, customer, don't go! Are you in such a hurry? I'll cut you the freshest pieces these days." As he spoke, he picked up a knife and started slashing it at himself, muttering to himself, "This piece is fresh, perfect for stir-frying; this one is chewy, perfect for braising. Trust me, it's incredibly delicious."
Is living like this worse than being dead?
Without turning his head, Sheng Qing summoned the power of fire element, and the smell of roasted meat wafted from behind him.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
