Chapter 250: “Luring” the People

On the chaotic and crisscrossing streets, Liu Feng ran, panting heavily, clutching a massive pig’s head.

Behind him followed a crowd of “hungry” villagers.

These villagers weren’t particularly fast, and some even tripped over one another, falling behind. But they were relentless—so much so that even someone like Liu Feng, a trained martial artist, was drenched in sweat and nearly out of stamina, yet they continued chasing at the same pace as when they first lunged at him.

It was as if they felt no fatigue, only the desperate urge to catch Liu Feng and devour both the pig’s head in his hands—and him.

Liu Feng glanced back at the pursuing mob. Seeing that there was still some distance between them, he hastily stopped to catch his breath. After regulating his breathing, he hugged the pig’s head tighter and resumed sprinting.

Earlier, when Qiao Min and the butcher started fighting, he had tried using his iron shield to knock the villagers down or render them unconscious, hoping to prevent them from eating the pork—or worse, each other.

But what he hadn’t expected was that, even while holding back his strength, one light impact was enough to completely shatter a villager.

Looking closer, Liu Feng discovered the truth—these villagers hardly had any flesh left. Their bodies were almost skeletal, with only some meat remaining on their feet and heads. Their arms, legs, chests, and abdomens were practically stripped down to the bone.

By all logic, anyone in such a state should be dead.

Yet, the villager who had been knocked apart wasn’t ordinary—his head had rolled to the side, but his murky eyes were still turning, staring intently at Liu Feng.

Realizing that a large portion of the villagers were in a similar condition, Liu Feng gritted his teeth and plunged into the crowd. He snatched a half-eaten pig’s head from the frenzied group and took off running.

The moment someone stole the meat, the chaotic mob went berserk, immediately giving chase.

The eeriest part?

Even though these people barely looked human anymore, they could still talk perfectly fine.

As Liu Feng ran in front, he could hear the villagers behind him—elderly men, frail women, children—calling out to him in desperate, pleading voices.

Their words were always the same: “Don’t run! Let’s eat together! So hungry… so hungry…”

Liu Feng had always been a simple, honest man. He had an instinctive urge to protect the elderly, women, and children.

So, hearing their pitiful cries constantly ringing in his ears was pure torment.

But luckily, their appearances were so far from human that his lingering sympathy wasn’t enough to make him stop running.

BOOM! CRASH!

A series of violent collisions erupted from the heart of South Corner Village.

Liu Feng leaped onto a wall and vaulted onto a rooftop, looking toward the village center.

The butcher’s “slaughterhouse” was now in utter ruin—thick dust clouds billowed in the air, and many nearby houses had collapsed.

Through the haze, he could faintly make out two figures—one large, one small—crashing together repeatedly. Every now and then, flashes of red light burst forth, sending the massive figure flying.

Seeing that Qiao Min was still holding her own—possibly even gaining the upper hand—Liu Feng muttered “Damn, she’s fierce.”

Then he glanced down at the villagers forming human ladders, attempting to climb onto the rooftop.

“For fuck’s sake! Can’t you people just take a break?” he cursed, spitting in frustration before leaping down into an area not yet surrounded.

Just as his feet hit the ground—

“Graahhh!”

From the shadows at the street corner, a bony villager suddenly lunged at him!

Even before Liu Feng landed, this villager had already been hiding there, lying in wait.

In a split second, the skeletal man wrapped his arms around Liu Feng’s waist.

“Got the meat! I got the meat!”

“Uncle Qi! Auntie San! Granny Liu! Hurry up, we got meat!”

Don’t be fooled by his frail appearance—now that he was up close, the scent of the pig’s head seemed to trigger an insane burst of strength.

Holding his iron shield in one hand and the pig’s head in the other, Liu Feng instinctively twisted his body to shake the man off—but for a brief moment, he couldn’t.

That split-second delay was fatal.

In an instant, he was completely surrounded.

He had landed in a narrow alleyway between two tiled houses—but now, both exits were blocked, and even above, on the rooftops, dozens of glowing green eyes stared down at him.

At that moment, he realized—

He had two choices:

1. Smash his way through a horde of villagers and escape.

2. Hand over the pig’s head… and pray they wouldn’t eat him instead.

No—more accurately, the second option would very likely cost him his life as well.

After all, these ravenous “people” wouldn’t be satisfied with just a pig’s head!

“I’ll give you one last chance—move aside!”

“Otherwise, you’ll never get to eat meat again!”

Just as Liu Feng roared out and prepared to smash the man clinging to his waist with his iron shield, a sudden creak sounded from behind him.

The house behind him had a window, and at that moment, it was pushed open from the inside. A shirtless old man leaned out, shouting at Liu Feng, “Get in here, jump in quick!”

Liu Feng hesitated, his face filled with doubt. Seeing this, the old man urged again, “For heaven’s sake, hurry up and get in! I ain’t eaten that meat yet!”

“Bring that scrawny guy and that pig’s head in with you—I know how to drive the evil spirits out of them!”

Seeing that the old man’s skin was intact, his speech was clear, and he had even mentioned exorcising spirits, Liu Feng decided to take a gamble. First, he tossed the pig’s head and the emaciated man through the window, then swiftly leaped inside.

With a loud bang, the wooden window was slammed shut by the old man.

Inside the house, Liu Feng immediately stepped on the scrawny man, who was trying to lunge at the pig’s head, and then turned to warily eye the old man.

After securing the window, the shirtless old man pulled out a yellow talisman paper and stuck it onto the window. Then he turned around, grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellowed teeth, and chuckled. “Kid, you sure got guts, running around with haunted meat and luring a bunch of little ghosts after you!”

“You’re saying this pig’s head is haunted meat? And those people outside are all little ghosts?” Liu Feng frowned.

The old man picked up a coarse hemp shirt from the ground, put it on, and replied, “That’s right. This pig’s head is filled with malevolent energy—it attracts ghosts and wandering spirits like nothing else… As for the people outside, they’re still human, I suppose, but each of them has a little ghost living inside their stomachs. Otherwise, how could they eat so much and never be full?”

Liu Feng pressed on, “Elder, you said you have a way to drive out the spirits—can you tell me how?”

The old man picked up a bundle of straw from the floor, grinning. “Just watch!”