Chapter 1 (2/2)
The cow had been his wet nurse since he was a baby, Granny Si had planned to sell her away, but Qin Mu was reluctant Therefore, the job of herding coas left to him
Qin Mu frequently herded cows by the river bank, content with the green mountains and bluish white clouds
”Qin Mu! Qin Mu, save me!”
Suddenly, the cow Qin Mu was sitting on started to speak, greatly shocking him before he jumped down fro up with tears, and in a huue, it said, ”Qin Mu, you have consumed my milk since you were a baby I can partially be considered your mother, so you need to save me!”
Qin Mu blinked, then asked, ”How do I save you?”
The cow said, ”There's a sickle at your waist Cut awaytrapped”
Qin Mu hesitated
”Have you forgotten the grace in which I nurtured you?” the cow asked
Qin Mu raised his sickle and carefully cut the cow's skin It was strange, but when the cowskin had been peeled away, not a single drop of blood flowed out In addition to that, the inside of the cowskin was unexpectedly empty—no flesh or bone could be seen
Halfway through peeling the skin from the cooman who appeared to be twenty to thirty years old rolled out, both legs still wrapped in those of the cow Her skin and the cow's skin were connected, but her upper body had already been separated from the cow's skin
With her dishevelled hair, the woasted Qin Mu and cut the cowskin froe turned into evil as she looked at Qin Mu and pointed the sickle at hi coldly ”Vile little creature! I was turned into a cow because of you, and for eleven years, I could only eat grass and even had to feed you iven birth to ainst me and turned me into a cow just to feed youto kill you, then I'll slaughter every evil being in this village!”
Qin Mu was dumbfounded and had no idea what the lady fro about
Just as the lady was about to slice him to death, she suddenly felt a chill from the center of her back She looked down and saw the blade of a knife jutting out from her chest
”Mu'er, your Grandpa Apothecary wants you to go home for your medicines” The corpse of the lady collapsed to the floor Behind her, pleasantly s a knife that dripped blood, was Grandpa Cripple froe
”Grandpa Cripple” Qin Mu body went limp as he looked at the cowskin and the lady's corpse in a daze
”Go on back now” Cripple patted him on the shoulder and chuckled
As Qin Mu stue, he turned back to look and saw Cripple throwing the lady's corpse into the river
The ireat to hie
”Qin Mu! dao outside when it's dark!”
As night fell, the stone statues at the four corners of Disabled Elderly Village autoain Granny Si stopped Qin Mu, as planning to sneak out of the village to check on the cowskin, and dragged him back
”Granny, why can't we go out when the sky goes dark?” Qin Mu asked, raising his head
”When the sky goes dark, so outside means certain death,” Granny Si solee protect us, and the things in the darkness dare not enter the village”
”Do the other villages have stone statues like this too?” Qin Mu asked out of curiosity
Granny Si nodded her head However, she kept looking outside of the village with a worried expression,to herself, ”Cripple should be back soon I really shouldn't have let Cripple go out He only has one leg re”
”Granny, so weird happened today”
Qin Mu hesitated for a ed from the cow's sto about that woman? Cripple told me about that He settled it properly When you eaned at four years old, I wanted to sell the coay, but you didn't want me to In the end, I let you care for it You see what happened? I said you would definitely develop feelings for the cow if you drank its milk until you were four years old”
Qin Mu blushed Four years of age was definitely too late to wean a child off of ht?
”Granny, Grandpa Cripple killed that lady”
”It was a good kill” Granny Si laughed ”She o If it weren't for our need to nurse you, could she have lived up to today?”
Qin Mu didn't knohat she was talking about
Granny Si glanced at him and said, ”That woon City which is located thousands of on City Lord is lecherous, and that woo out wo le tion City Lord defiled the purity of a maiden, his ould send her inally snuck into Border Dragon City planning to assassinate her, but when I saw that she had just given birth to a child that was only three months old and saw that she had the milk you needed, I turned her into a cow I didn't think that this woe to break free from the seal, speak, and nearly harm you”
Utterly amazed, Qin Mu cried out, ”Granny, how do you turn a human into a cow?”
Granny Si chuckled, revealing her withered teeth ”You want to learn? I'll teach you… Oh, Cripple is back!”
Qin Mu look over and saw Cripple li a beast over his back with another Darkness ca Granny Si worriedly shout, ”Move faster, damned Cripple! Faster!”
”What's the rush?”
Cripple continued walking toward the village at a steady pace, and at the exact e, the thick darkness flooded over the the entire village The beast on his back, a fierce ainst its tail, and it suddenly howled in pain Qin Mu rushed behind it to take a look and saw that the only thing left of the tiger's tail was bone All of the tail's skin, fur, and flesh had disappeared, as if so off
Qin Mu gazed into the darkness outside the village, curiosity piqued, unable to see anything in the pitch black
”What is it that exists within the darkness?” he thought
司老太婆 (Old Woman Si) is a pun for 死老太婆 (damned Old Woman)