Chapter 13
Suxia
The day Suxia went to the city to find Li Chengyuan, she thought her bitter days were finally over.
All her life, anyone in the village who saw the girl would sigh over her hard lot. Her father had been mad, mentally unwell, and was shot for murder. Her mother cried herself blind, then threw herself into the river to the west.
The village head, a kind man surnamed Li, took Suxia into his home. She helped with the work, and he gave her food to eat.
That was how Suxia fell in love with Li Chengyuan.
Chengyuan was the village head’s son. He wasn’t tall or strong, but neither was he like the good-for-nothing boys at the village entrance, always running wild. Chengyuan was refined. After dinner, he would sit alone at the table, quietly reading.
Candlelight fell on his face, turning his brows and eyes almost golden. Washing clothes nearby, Suxia stole a glance and found herself staring, spellbound.
Li Chengyuan noticed. He thought she was interested in the book. “Would you like to read it?”
Suxia was mortified. Her whole face flushed. “I… I can’t read.”
She’d never been to school. The village was poor, and even the village head’s family wasn’t well off. They’d had to borrow from relatives in the county to send Li Chengyuan to high school. She wasn’t their own daughter. How could she ask them to pay for her schooling, too?
“I’ll teach you.” Li Chengyuan beckoned her over.
Her face grew even redder. Fortunately, the candlelight hid it. She sat beside him, watching him write on the paper.
His hands were so beautiful. His fingers, his palms, even the thin calluses. He was so clever. Everything he knew was something she didn’t.
That night, Suxia had a dream. In it, she married Li Chengyuan.
She knew she wasn’t worthy of him. But it was lovely just to dream.
Sadly, she didn’t get to enjoy that dream for long. Li Chengyuan left for university in the city.
The next few years passed quickly. The village head and his wife weren’t blessed with long lives. One after the other, they died before their son graduated. Before his death, the village head offered to arrange a marriage for Suxia. She bit her lip and said she wouldn’t marry anyone.
The truth was, she only wanted to marry Li Chengyuan. But she would never say so.
He came back to pay respects to his parents. As they left the graves on the hill behind the village, he gave her a box of pastries he’d brought from the city.
They smelled so sweet. Suxia couldn’t bear to eat them. Only after two months did she break one open and take a bite.
It had gone bad. It tasted strangely bitter. A few tears fell. She didn’t know whether she was crying because she’d wasted something so good, or because of something else.
Li Chengyuan didn’t come back again. With both parents gone, he had no reason to return.
Suxia thought that was probably the last time she’d ever see him.
But that summer, she saw him again.
Li Chengyuan came back after drinking who knew how much. Suxia had never seen him so drunk. As she helped him toward the bed, he suddenly put his arms around her.
It was a summer night loud with cicadas. For Suxia, it was the first time.
The next day, he was gone.
On the third day, he returned. “Suxia, pack your things. We’re going to the city to get married.”
The day she went to the city, carrying bags of all sizes, Suxia was happy.
There was a pastry stall in the street. It smelled sweet.
She didn’t buy any, but she wasn’t sad.
She thought the days ahead would surely be sweeter than pastries.
Chengyuan
When Li Chengyuan married Suxia, he felt dazed throughout.
He’d imagined getting married before. But in his imagination, it hadn’t been to Suxia.
Li Chengyuan had had a first love, a girl he’d loved desperately. She was his university mentor’s daughter.
They could talk endlessly when they got along, and fight just as fiercely when they didn’t.
During their last big argument, she insisted they break up. Li Chengyuan had said fine, and meant it.
Heartbreak hurt. He drank heavily every day, bought a ticket home for no clear reason, and by the time he came back, he’d agreed to marry Suxia.
Li Chengyuan knew she liked him.
Liked wasn’t even the word. He was the sun in her world. She would give anything, so long as he would shine for her.
His heart ached for her. Since they were married, he thought, he should make a proper life with her.
Their first few years were ordinary, but happy enough.
Li Chengyuan was among the first university graduates hired by the factory. Suxia joined it as a factory worker, too.
When had things begun to turn strange?
Probably that day.
That day, a classmate called to tell him his mentor had died.
He went to the funeral and saw his first love again.
She looked so pitiful as she cried. She said she’d lost everything. She also said she’d only broken up with him in anger.
Weeping, she asked if he could stay with her for the vigil. Li Chengyuan thought of Suxia waiting at home, but the sight of his first love’s tear-reddened eyes softened his heart.
When he returned home, Suxia was sitting at the table.
The table was full of his favorite dishes, reheated again and again.
Li Chengyuan wanted to say something. Suxia only called him over to eat.
He hurried through some food, wanting to speak. In the end, he said nothing.
On his way to work, he heard Auntie Liu gossiping with several women downstairs.
“Wu Suxia’s man wouldn’t be straying if she could lay an egg.”
“She should be thanking the Buddha she got to marry Li Chengyuan at all. Can’t even give him a son. If I were him, I’d find another woman, too.”
They turned and saw Li Chengyuan. With awkward smiles, Auntie Liu and the others scattered.
When he came home that evening, the smell of Chinese medicine filled the apartment.
Suxia had begun brewing and drinking it frequently.
She told him it was to strengthen her health, but he knew she wanted a child.
“There’s… no hurry about children,” he told her.
Suxia smiled faintly.
Li Chengyuan realized she no longer believed him.
A month later, his first love came to the factory to see him. She was a beautiful, eye-catching city girl, and many workers gathered to watch.
Afraid they’d go running to Suxia with more gossip, Li Chengyuan lost his temper with his first love for the first time and told her to leave.
She ran off crying. He hurried to find Suxia.
He found her in the hospital.
Someone had told her about his meeting with his first love after all. There was no telling how much they’d embellished the story.
Distracted at work, Suxia had had an accident.
She survived, but lost her sight.
After going blind, her mind began to unravel.
She would wake with a start, certain Li Chengyuan had gone to meet another woman.
But she never questioned him. She only grew ever more desperate for a child.
When he went out to buy her medicine, he again heard Auntie Liu holding court with a group of gossips downstairs.
“I reckon Li Chengyuan will be asking for a divorce any day now.”
“Oh, young Li has so much going for him. Such bad luck, marrying a patch of barren land like that. And now he has to wait on her, too.”
“Who knows how long he’ll put up with her? If they had a child, it might keep the family together. As things stand? Not a chance. If I were Wu Suxia, I’d find a hemp rope and hang myself.”
Li Chengyuan exploded. He rushed over, roaring at them to get lost. Auntie Liu shouted back, pouring out abuse as though it cost her nothing.
He yelled himself hoarse and nearly struck her, but someone pulled him away.
He bought Suxia’s medicine and headed home, wondering what to tell her.
There were no secrets in this building. She was bound to have heard about his quarrel with Auntie Liu.
But when he pushed open the door, he froze.
The smell of herbal medicine drifted from the kitchen. Its fierce bitterness masked the smell of blood.
The bathroom was full of blood. Auntie Liu lay on the floor, her eyes wide open. Her arms and legs had been severed from her torso.
Holding a kitchen knife, Suxia was intently hacking at Auntie Liu’s head. At the sound, she looked up and smiled toward Li Chengyuan.
“You’re home.”
He couldn’t remember much of what followed.
He went to work and came home like a machine. But he could see that, little by little, there were fewer people in the building.
Suxia had eaten them.
She tried hard to eat a great deal. Her belly would swell, and when it did, she felt reassured. She would smile tenderly.
“Chengyuan, we’re going to have a baby.”
But a belly swollen from overeating couldn’t stay that way. When it went flat again, Suxia would cry silently, then go into the kitchen to brew more medicine.
Li Chengyuan thought he might have gone as mad as she had.
Their world grew increasingly unreal, as though it had broken away from reality.
In that world, Suxia kept growing taller. She’d once been a tiny woman. But the last time Li Chengyuan saw her standing in the kitchen, her head nearly touched the ceiling.
She was a monster now.
A monster made to kill. Immensely strong, hideous, yet possessed of some intelligence.
She knew to mask the stench of corpses with the smell of herbs, and to play the radio while killing and dismembering people, covering the sound of chopping bone with music.
Apart from that, she was no different from a monster.
After Wang across the hall died, Li Chengyuan found the task force’s number in a newspaper.
He decided to call the police. Whatever the monster was, a bullet through her heart would kill her.
As he held the phone, the monster came up beside him without his noticing.
Thinking he’d been caught, he trembled in fear and instinctively apologized. “Suxia, I’m sorry…”
Suddenly, the monster began to cry.
She didn’t move or stop him from calling the police. She only stood there, tears falling silently.
In that instant, Li Chengyuan froze.
Could a monster cry? Would a monster cry just because he’d apologized?
The person who refused to make a sound, who only wept quietly no matter how much she hurt, was his wife. The Suxia who loved him more than anyone.
“Let’s… just carry on like this,” Li Chengyuan said. “One day at a time. All right?”
—-
Appendix: A Scenario-Clearing Guide for Ordinary Players
As you can see, this is a small scenario, mainly intended as an initial screening of players.
A screening scenario can be as hard or as easy as you choose. It all depends on the reward you hope to receive.
Here are several ways to clear it, with different returns:
1. The Lucky Freeloader
Difficulty: one star
Rewards: three stars
Recommendation: three stars
Introduction: This is the easiest method, but it requires exceptional luck.
As you’ve no doubt realized, the central challenge is getting a call through to the police. But making that call will inevitably alert the cannibal.
If another player calls, you can keep hiding. As long as you stay quiet, the cannibal won’t find you. She’ll only attack the companion making the call.
With a little composure and judgment, you can keep hiding when the fake policeman knocks and hold out until the real police arrive. That clears the scenario.
This is essentially coasting through on wide-eyed cluelessness. Naturally, the item gifted by a key character won’t be yours!
2. The Backstabber
Difficulty: three stars
Rewards: three stars
Recommendation: four stars
Introduction: Rather unethical, but excellent for your survival.
This method requires good judgment, emotional intelligence, and a way with words. Gather your teammates, then use that silver tongue to talk them into going to their deaths.
The cannibal only attacks the person making the most noise at any one time. So do whatever it takes to make your teammates handle the call and the diversion. Don’t worry that it can’t be done. There are always more gullible fools in the world than you think.
Of course, don’t expect a precious item if you take this approach. You can’t have every good thing, can you?
3. The Risk-Taker
Difficulty: five stars
Rewards: five stars
Recommendation: one star
Introduction: Shao Lan’s approach. The highest risk, for the highest reward.
This method takes the most loops, so it leaves the least room for error.
You must correctly decipher every clue in the scenario, then work out what it all means.
After completing all your deductions, you must risk using another loop. The only chance to turn things around lies in those first two minutes.
Miss that window, and your chance of survival slips away in an instant. You and your companions will have to use method one or two above, clearing the scenario at the cost of someone’s life.
Though this is the only method that can save everyone, and the only chance to obtain the precious item, we strongly advise against it.
Your life matters most, after all. It’s hardly worth taking such a risk. Don’t you agree?