Chapter 8

Chapter 8

In this year of great drought, the crops had withered to husks.

With officials and powerful clans hoarding and price-gouging, grain on the market was worth more than human life.

Sworms of flies buzzed over the butcher’s block.

The butcher stood shirtless, his arms and face coated in an unnatural, greasy sheen.

His assistant dragged over a sobbing, half-grown boy.

The assistant had given the child’s father half a bag of wheat husks.

Moving with practiced efficiency, he stripped the boy of his thin tunic and tossed it into a corner of the room.

He pinned the child down, preparing to shave his head.

Once the lice were removed, the shorn hair could be sold to the nobility to make hairpieces.

The butcher watched with a cold gaze, cursing, “This brat is nothing but skin and bones. Why did you buy him? There’s hardly any meat on him.”

Seven days ago, rumors had spread of a Deity appearing in the world, and rain had fallen over Ascending Dragon Valley outside the city.

But what use was that? A single rainstorm couldn’t make grain sprout from the parched earth. Those destined to starve would still starve.

Besides, a Deity appearing?

The butcher let out a mocking sneer.

If there were truly gods in this world, the County Governor, who spent every day feasting in the city, would have been struck dead by lightning long ago.

In the slave markets, the price of women had dropped by ten percent, as had the price of able-bodied men-to say nothing of children and the elderly, who barely possessed two ounces of meat.

In these times, it was more likely that a demon had appeared!

The butcher wiped his hands on an apron that was blackened and foul-smelling.

He grumbled impatiently, “Before, we could at least go to Corpse-Dumping Alley to carve off some rump meat to sell. But a few days ago, that soldier named Han Lie was sent to collect the bodies, and the fool actually did his job.”

“He keeps those corpses under such tight guard that our business is getting harder by the day!”

Hearing the butcher’s complaints, the assistant gave a fawning smile. “This kid is from a distant relative’s family. They were originally going to swap him with another family to eat.”

“But the other family’s child was too scrawny, so they came to me instead.”

He held a rusted razor between two fingers, pressing it against the boy’s cheek. “Since we’re kin, I’m doing a deed of mercy.”

A mercy where one dies so the rest of the family lives.

Lying naked on the butcher’s block, the child felt the sting of the cold razor and began to twitch in terror.

The assistant paused, a small spark of pity flickering as he set the razor down. “Fine. I’ll slaughter you first and then shave your head. I’ll give you a quick end.”

He expertly drew a sharp, pointed knife and grabbed the boy by the neck, dragging him toward a wooden basin swarming with flies.

Just as he was about to strike, someone suddenly burst in. A hand clamped down on the assistant’s wrist, halting the blade.

The assistant felt a searing pain in his wrist and was about to curse.

But when he looked up and saw a face covered in stubble, he choked back his words.

Hissing through the pain, he asked, “Han… what brings you here?”

Han Lie tilted his head to avoid a dead man’s arm dangling from a beam. He placed a hand on the chest of the child, who was stiff and twitching.

The boy, who had been scared out of his wits, coughed up a thick glob of phlegm and let out a wailing cry.

He lunged forward and clung to Han Lie’s leg.

The butcher recognized Han Lie as well. After a moment of stunned silence, he stepped forward. “Officer, when you first entered the city, you were a Squad Leader. Within two days, you lost your rank and were demoted to hauling corpses.”

“Why bother meddling in this sort of business now? Is it worth the trouble?”

“You might save this one, but you can’t save the next. Why do it?”

Despite his words, the butcher signaled to his assistant, and both stepped aside to clear a path.

This man named Han was incredibly skilled. A few others who had tried to steal corpse meat had already learned that the hard way, and the butcher had no desire to clash with him.

Since they couldn’t win a fight anyway, they would just accept the loss of half a bag of wheat husks as bad luck.

It was better than taking a beating or potentially losing their lives.

Han Lie picked up the shivering boy and walked past the butcher without a word.

Watching his retreating back, the butcher sighed with some emotion. “He truly is a man of conscience.”

It was a pity that in this world, the more conscience one had, the harder it was to survive.

The assistant gritted his teeth and rubbed his wrist. He nodded in agreement at first, then muttered a quiet curse, “What kind of brute strength is that? He nearly snapped my bones.”
…

“You lost your position as Squad Leader?”

As Han Lie stepped out of the Human Meat Shop, Qin Ying, who had been listening the entire time, asked.

“Reporting to the Supreme Deity,” Han Lie replied with surprising calm. “Yes.”

This time, their unit of the Jade Balance Army had left Luoyang for the Northwest, traveling thousands of miles to reach this remote region. Their objective was the Strange Beast Danghu.

The Danghu had been lost under his watch, and since he had also offended the Army Supervisor, he had to take the blame himself. Otherwise, the brothers under his command would have been dragged down with him.

Han Lie shifted the child in his arms, hoisting him slightly higher, when he heard Qin Ying say, “Was it because of the Strange Beast Danghu? I’m sorry.”

Never expecting an apology from Qin Ying, Han Lie felt a surge of trepidation. “Why does the Supreme Deity say such things? Your humble servant is unworthy of such words.”

Seeing him look as though he were about to kneel and beg for forgiveness, Qin Ying quickly stopped him. “Alright, just settle the child in your arms first. Look at how scared he is.”

The child Han Lie had rescued from the Cairen Shop was so terrified by Han Lie’s apparent self-muttering that he was nearly wetting himself.

Hearing this, Han Lie looked down and indeed saw the boy in his arms trembling violently.

He opened his mouth but said nothing, instead carrying the child toward a place called Corpse-Dumping Alley.

As they drew closer, the thick stench of rotting flesh in the air was enough to make one’s eyes water.

The child in Han Lie’s arms began to dry heave. However, having not had a drop of water or a bite of food for three days, his stomach was empty; he couldn’t even bring up stomach acid.

Han Lie held him with one hand and pressed the boy’s head into his chest with the other, comforting him: “It’s alright. You’ll get used to it once you’ve smelled it long enough.”

Qin Ying, who had pulled up a chair to sit outside the box and listen, was momentarily stunned by his consolation.

It was gentle in its own way, and it was the truth, but it just sounded incredibly strange.

Qin Ying rested her chin on her hand, watching him walk among the ruined walls.

He arrived at a two-story Ganlan-style building not far from Corpse-Dumping Alley.

Behind a low picket fence, several shirtless men were either sitting or lying down.

These people were all skeletal-the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled, missing arms or legs at a glance.

When they saw Han Lie return with a child, they remained indifferent.

It was only when Han Lie entered the house and fished out a small piece of dry rations for the rescued boy that a withered old man, missing his right arm, spoke up. “Officer, you’re giving your food to someone else again. How can you hold out like this?”

Han Lie gave him a friendly smile. “I can endure it.”

The old man let out a long sigh and said no more.

He had eaten Han Lie’s food before; why bother with hypocritical advice after benefiting from it?

Qin Ying had been looking down from outside the box. Hearing this, she said, “If they are trustworthy, leave the child with them. Then go somewhere where there are no people; I have questions for you.”

Providing water and food wasn’t difficult for Qin Ying.

Given the size of these tiny people, a single bag of rice could probably sustain an entire city for a month.

Qin Ying had plenty of spare cash; she could treat them like pets.

However, for the time being, giving out food haphazardly didn’t seem like the best strategy-especially since her Vicar was clearly being marginalized and bullied by his peers.

Hearing Qin Ying’s words, Han Lie gave an imperceptible nod. After a low acknowledgment, he entrusted the child to the one-armed old man.

“I’m going to work. You all rest.”

With that, he pushed a wooden cart swarming with flies out toward the narrow alley where the bodies were piled.

Corpse-Dumping Alley was overflowing with cadavers, and flies buzzed aggressively, bumping into one’s face.

While Qin Ying was deliberating on how to frame her questions, Han Lie began lifting the corpses one by one and stacking them onto the wooden cart.

Once the cart was full, he would have to push this load of bodies to the mass grave outside the city for burial.

Qin Ying watched him collect the bodies as if she were watching a video of someone trimming cow hooves.

It was disgusting, yet she found herself waiting for him to finish cleaning it up.

Suddenly, there was a knock at her front door.

“Hello, food delivery!”