Xu Muchan opened the notes He Jiaqi had sent and looked through them before asking Wei Xilou, “When are we going back? School is about to start.”
Wei Xilou said, “It should be about time when school starts. You just woke up, so it would be best to stay in the Mountain God Cave for a few more days and observe your condition.”
Xu Muchan didn’t understand what there was left to observe. Holding his phone, he replied to his friends one by one, telling them that he would return to school when the new semester started.
After replying to the messages and putting down his phone, he saw that Wei Xilou had already returned to his body. He was lifting the water bucket from the kitchen, apparently preparing to go to the river to fetch water.
Before suddenly passing out, he had still been angry with his brother.
Xu Muchan unhappily gave a little hum. He had originally wanted to pretend he hadn’t seen him and let him go fetch water in the rain by himself.
But then he remembered that he had been unconscious for more than two months and that his brother had been taking care of him all this time. His hardened heart softened again.
Xu Muchan jumped off the bed, put on his slippers, grabbed an umbrella, and chased after him.
“I’ll go with you.”
He opened the umbrella and held it over Wei Xilou’s head. The umbrella wasn’t large enough, so Xu Muchan had no choice but to move closer to Wei Xilou. The two of them awkwardly squeezed together beneath the small umbrella.
Wei Xilou carried two water buckets and glanced sideways at Xu Muchan.
“Ah Chan isn’t angry with me anymore?”
Xu Muchan instinctively launched into the smooth little routine of “I’m not angry. Why would I be angry?” but Wei Xilou interrupted him before he could finish.
“After we came back, I carefully thought about what Wei Yao said. I think you must have been angry.”
Wei Xilou frowned as he looked at Xu Muchan.
“Why were you angry? Because Ah Chan doesn’t want to marry me?”
Xu Muchan opened his mouth, but before he could organize his words, he heard him continue.
“But when the villagers of Leigong Village gave you to me back then, they were giving you to me to become my bride. Why did you only become angry now?”
Xu Muchan: “…”
For a moment, Xu Muchan genuinely didn’t know how to refute him. He could only bring up another matter.
“When we were consummating the marriage, I was already almost awake, but you lit the lamp again.”
And he had even taken advantage of the fact that Xu Muchan wasn’t fully conscious to coax and deceive him…
Whenever Xu Muchan thought about those things now, his face still felt hot with embarrassment.
But the culprit clearly had no remorse whatsoever. After thinking about it, he said, “That was because Ah Chan was too cute.”
Seeing Xu Muchan’s eyes widen and his cheeks begin to flush, as though he was about to get angry again, Wei Xilou added, “But it really was Brother’s fault.”
The apology wasn’t particularly sincere, but Xu Muchan had always been broad-minded. Like a deflated pufferfish, he gave a flat little hum and reluctantly accepted the apology.
“Forget it. I’ll forgive you this time.”
Wei Xilou smiled.
“Then thank you for being so magnanimous, Lord Ah Chan.”
As they spoke, the two had already reached the little river. Coincidentally, the rain had stopped as well. Xu Muchan closed the umbrella, took one of the buckets, and went to the river to fetch water.
Because it had been raining intermittently for nearly two months, the water level of the mountain stream had risen dramatically, and the river had widened as well.
Xu Muchan carefully lifted the bucket filled with water. His gaze inadvertently swept across the woods on the opposite bank, and he suddenly froze—
There was a person standing in the woods across the river.
That person stood beneath an old tree. He was tall and slender, with very pale skin, wearing clothes that were neither new nor old. His slightly long hair fell neatly to his shoulders.
The two stared at each other across the rushing water.
The more Xu Muchan looked, the more familiar the person seemed. It wasn’t until something suddenly clicked in his mind that he realized—
The person in the woods looked like him.
No.
It couldn’t be said that he merely looked like him.
He was almost exactly identical.
Xu Muchan normally didn’t deliberately observe his own appearance, so when he suddenly saw a face identical to his own somewhere other than in a mirror, he didn’t immediately realize it.
Xu Muchan instinctively took a step forward with the water bucket in hand, wanting to get closer and see more clearly.
But the figure beneath the tree suddenly disappeared.
As if everything just now had been an illusion.
Xu Muchan frowned and pointed toward the opposite bank before turning to ask Wei Xilou, “Brother, did you see it?”
Wei Xilou was puzzled.
“See what?”
“A person who looks exactly like me. He was just standing under that tree, watching us,” Xu Muchan said.
But Wei Xilou shook his head.
“No. I didn’t see anything.”
The confusion on Xu Muchan’s face deepened.
“You didn’t see him?”
If it were some kind of ghostly entity, it shouldn’t be possible for only him to see it while Brother couldn’t.
And why would that ghostly thing imitate his appearance?
Seeing how much Xu Muchan cared about it, Wei Xilou put down his water bucket.
“I’ll go take a look on the other side.”
There was an old, dilapidated single-plank bridge not far from the river. However, because of the rising water, half of the bridge had been submerged.
Wei Xilou crossed to the opposite bank using the bridge and arrived beneath the tree Xu Muchan had mentioned.
“Is this the place?”
Xu Muchan nodded.
Wei Xilou carefully investigated the area before returning.
“I didn’t detect any trace of a ghostly entity.”
Xu Muchan still felt that he hadn’t simply imagined it.
“If it’s not a ghostly entity, then what could it be?”
Wei Xilou picked up both water buckets.
“However, there really have been some unusual things happening in Leigong Village recently. The figure you saw beneath the tree might be related to the abnormalities in the village. For the next few days, Ah Chan should stay at home as much as possible. Don’t wander around.”
Xu Muchan asked in surprise, “What happened in the village?”
“In the two months since we came back, another four people in the village have died one after another. The police came several times and only said that they were attacked by wild animals, but the animal responsible was never found.”
“I did notice some unusual traces of energy, but I had to stay here and watch over you at the time, so I didn’t waste any effort investigating.”
Xu Muchan was even more shocked.
“Is it related to what happened during the Dragon Boat Festival? It still hasn’t been resolved?”
He remembered that when he returned to Leigong Village during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday before, someone in the village had already died. The police had also said that the person had been attacked by a wild animal. Apparently, there were other victims who had been attacked by wild animals around Guiyi Mountain as well.
But some of the villagers believed this explanation, while others did not.
The older generation was superstitious. They had even believed that leaving Guiyi Mountain had angered the Mountain God, and had wanted him to remain in the village.
Xu Muchan had originally thought it was simply a case of an ordinary wild beast attacking people, but he hadn’t expected that even after so much time had passed, it still hadn’t ended.
Wei Xilou said, “It definitely wasn’t the work of an ordinary wild beast. But it has never come near the Mountain God Cave.”
After carrying the water into the house, he reminded him again, “Ah Chan, don’t wander around these next few days.”
Xu Muchan said, “Oh,” then took out the immersion heater and prepared to boil some hot water for a bath.
Watching his busy figure, Wei Xilou walked outside again.
“I’ll go take a look around. When you finish using the water, wait for me to come back before fetching more.”
Wei Xilou returned to the woods on the opposite bank.
This time, he wasn’t merely walking around and taking a casual look.
Instead, dense black shadows spread from beneath his feet, expanding outward with the old tree at the center as they searched for the faint traces that remained.
But those faint traces seemed to have been severed. When he tracked them to a certain location, they completely disappeared.
The tendrils that had extended outward retracted.
Wei Xilou stared deeply at the dense woods where the sky could no longer be seen. After pausing briefly, he returned the way he had come.
After he left, a faint shadow appeared beneath the tree, gazing from afar in the direction of the Mountain God Cave.
The moment Wei Xilou entered the house, he heard an exaggerated, “Can’t beat that.”
Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang had shamelessly dragged Xu Muchan into playing Dou Dizhu. Xu Muchan couldn’t resist them and could only play along.
But his luck was terrible this round, and his hand was unbelievably bad. He played very absentmindedly.
When he heard Wei Xilou returning, he poked his head up and asked, “Did you find anything?”
Wei Xilou shook his head.
He frowned as he washed the mud and rainwater from his body and changed into clean clothes. Then he turned his head toward Xu Muchan, who was playing Dou Dizhu with a smile on his face, and suddenly asked,
“Ah Chan, do you want to go back and take a look at your adoptive parents’ house?”
The question came out of nowhere.
Xu Muchan froze and instinctively shook his head. There was an aversion on his face that he himself hadn’t even noticed.
“Why go back there? No one has lived in that house for ages. After all these years, it might have collapsed already.”
Thinking about it, Xu Muchan felt that Brother would not bring this up for no reason. He set the game to auto-play and asked again, “Why did you suddenly mention going there?”
Wei Xilou said vaguely, “Maybe we can find something.”
Xu Muchan frowned. He still did not want to go, so he casually said, “Then you go yourself. I don’t want to go.”
Seeing the resistance all over Xu Muchan’s face, Wei Xilou did not force him and let the subject drop.
After the rain stopped, the sun soon came out.
The harsh summer sunlight shone on the muddy ground that had soaked up the rainwater, quickly evaporating the moisture and leaving behind only the damp scent of grass after the rain.
After losing three games of Dou Dizhu in a row, Xu Muchan refused to play again no matter how much Wei Yao begged him. He coldly rejected Wei Yao’s voice-call request, tossed his phone aside, and went outside with Wei Xilou to set up a rack, hanging out all the damp bedding and clothes in the house to dry.
From far away in the village came lively sounds as well. Obviously, the rain had stopped and the sky had finally cleared, so everyone had come outside to get busy.
However, this liveliness was clearly different from what Xu Muchan had imagined.
After several people had mysteriously died one after another, the village chief had used his connections to look everywhere for a master, wanting to solemnly hold another ritual and pray for the Mountain God to protect the village from disasters and misfortune.
But Leigong Village was remote and poor, and the little bit of money the villagers had pooled together was nowhere near enough to hire any reliable master to perform a ritual.
Just when the villagers were discussing whether they should simply do it themselves as they had in the past, two masters actually came to their door on their own.
The village chief recognized one of them at a glance. “You came to our village before, right? You were originally a Taoist priest?”
Cui Tong knew that these villagers were superstitious, so this time, when he entered the mountains, he had deliberately put on a Taoist robe and adopted the bearing of a highly accomplished master.
He nodded with a smile. “That’s right. The reason I came here before was because I felt that there was something unusual in the mountains. It was just that there was too little information, and after making one trip, I didn’t discover anything wrong. Then I heard recently that people in the village had died again. It just so happened that your village wanted to find someone to perform a ritual, so after hearing about it, I came here with my junior brother.”
The villagers were immediately overjoyed and welcomed the two men into the house, looking at them eagerly as they all started talking at once.
“Master, our village worships the Mountain God, and nothing has ever happened here all these years. Now six people have died one after another. Could it be that the Mountain God is angry?”
“That’s right. I said before that the Mountain Lord had left, and the Mountain God became angry, which was why the villagers were harmed. Before, you insisted on believing what the police said. What do they know? All they can say is that wild beasts attacked people.”
“Exactly. We’ve lived in the mountains for so many years. Where have there ever been any wild beasts? The police have investigated for so long and still haven’t found a damn thing.”
“I think maybe something is deliberately targeting our village.”
These villagers were all quite old. Even the youngest was around fifty, while the older ones had gray hair and looked to be in their seventies or eighties. They surrounded Cui Tong and Yang Zhao, their eyes full of hope, as though they regarded the two of them as gods who had come to save their lives.
Simple yet ignorant old people like these were always the easiest to fool. As long as their trust was gained, they would believe anything they were told without question.
Cui Tong swept his gaze around the room and had a general idea of the situation. “Whether the Mountain God is angry or not, I’ll have to take a look before I can say. First, tell me which families the dead belonged to, how they died, and whether anything strange has happened in the village recently.”
“A total of six people have died. Two from Yanping’s family, two from Yaoping’s family, one from Hongping’s family, and one from Jinping’s family.”
Leigong Village was a small village. The largest surname in the village was Zhou, and every household was related to one another. When naming children, they all followed the family generation.
Yanping, Yaoping, Hongping, and Jinping were all cousins of the same generation.
But nothing had happened to the men themselves or their wives. The ones who had died were the sons or grandsons of the families. Every one of them had been disemboweled, their internal organs removed, and their deaths had been extremely horrific.
The people involved were already quite old. Losing a child before oneself was an especially unbearable blow. Some had become ill and could no longer get out of bed, while others were still preparing the funerals, so none of them had come this time.
After listening, Cui Tong asked, “Did they have any enemies or anything like that?”
The villagers all shook their heads.
“They’re all honest farmers. What kind of enemies could they have? At most, the neighbors might have an argument or a fight, or there might be some disagreement among relatives. Could anyone really hold a grudge overnight?”
“Then have there been any strange things happening in the village recently? Or you can tell me about anything strange happening in the mountains, too.”
Cui Tong could not get anything out of them through their interpersonal relationships, so he could only change his approach.
“Strange things? Well, there is one thing.”
A villager recalled, “There’s been some activity in the Mountain God Cave these past two months. There are even very frightening sounds in the middle of the night. We went to take a look during the day, but we couldn’t get anywhere near the Mountain God Cave at all. It was like being trapped in a ghost wall. After that, we didn’t dare go anymore.”
There was activity in the Mountain God Cave?
Cui Tong had previously learned from the villagers that Xu Muchan had been living in the Mountain God Cave ever since.
After exchanging a glance with his companion, Cui Tong said, “That is indeed a little strange. Let’s go to the Mountain God Cave and take a look first.”
With two masters leading the way, the villagers who had nothing else to do followed in a large group, all heading toward the Mountain God Cave.
Xu Muchan, who was hanging out the bedding, turned around and found himself facing a large group of people. His gaze paused imperceptibly on Cui Tong before he looked toward the village chief.
“Chief, is something wrong?”
The village chief obviously had not expected to see Xu Muchan and looked quite surprised.
“Mountain Lord, when did you come back?”
There was only one road in the village, so Xu Muchan would definitely have had to pass through the village to return to the Mountain God Cave.
But this time, no one in the village had known that the Mountain Lord had returned.
Xu Muchan did not change his expression. “I came back in the middle of last night.”
It had still been raining heavily in the middle of last night, so it made sense that everyone had not known. After understanding this, the village chief began introducing the situation to Xu Muchan.
“You just came back, so you probably don’t know. Something rather serious has happened in the village recently. Several people have died one after another. We were frightened, so we invited two masters over and are preparing to hold a grand ritual. Since you’re back, that’s perfect. You’re the Mountain Lord. How about you lead the ritual when the time comes?”
Xu Muchan glanced at Cui Tong and smiled. “So you two are the masters. May I ask what your names are?”
Cui Tong took the initiative to say, “My name is Cui Tong, and this is my junior brother, Yang Zhao. Have we met somewhere before?”
Xu Muchan asked doubtfully, “Have we? I don’t have much of an impression of either of you Taoist priests.”
Just then, Wei Xilou came out of the house. When he saw Cui Tong and Yang Zhao, he immediately smiled.
“We meet again, Taoist Priest Cui.”
“Mr. Wei?”
Cui Tong’s brows furrowed. His gaze swept back and forth between Wei Xilou and Xu Muchan.
“You two are…?”
Back at the Xu family’s house, he remembered that the other man did not seem very familiar with Xu Muchan. Later, he had even said that he was going to look for his missing younger brother and left alone.
Wei Xilou walked over to Xu Muchan’s side, reached out, and half-embraced him. He smiled at Cui Tong and said, “Xu Muchan is my younger brother.”
Cui Tong’s expression changed slightly as he looked at him in surprise and suspicion.
Wei Xilou merely smiled before shifting his gaze away and looking at the village chief.
“School is about to start. We won’t be able to stay for more than a few days before we have to leave. Ah Chan won’t participate in the ritual.”
The village chief still wanted to say something, but Cui Tong interrupted him.
“Let’s go look somewhere else first. The ritual preparations haven’t even begun yet, so there’s no need to rush.”
Hearing him say that, the village chief could only hold back for the moment. The group then followed Cui Tong and Yang Zhao back toward the village.
The villagers walking behind them quietly discussed Xu Muchan, who had suddenly returned.
“Who is that young man beside the Mountain Lord? He came last time too. The Mountain Lord is married to the Mountain God, after all. It isn’t very appropriate to always have an outsider living there, is it?”
“I think he looks like someone important. Look at his appearance, and the clothes he’s wearing. You can tell at a glance that he’s rich. Weren’t the Mountain Lord’s biological parents supposedly very wealthy? Maybe he met him in the city.”
“The Mountain God Cave has been making noises all this time. One night, I heard it clearly. Something was making such a frightening sound. Just hearing it a few more times made my ears hurt. How come the Mountain Lord and that man have been living inside and nothing has happened to them?”
“It must be the Mountain God protecting them. After all, he’s the Mountain Lord, the one who made the contract back then.”
Listening to the villagers’ whispers, Cui Tong said to the village chief, “I’ll make you a list first. Prepare everything needed for the ritual. My junior brother and I will go to the homes of the families who had people die and look around to see if we can discover anything.”
The village chief nodded in agreement, then hesitated before asking, “Taoist Priest, when you went to look at the Mountain God Cave just now, did you discover anything wrong?”
Cui Tong shook his head. “On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong. I’ll go take another look when I have time.”
Hearing this, the village chief immediately relaxed and called for people to prepare the things needed for the ritual.
After all the villagers had dispersed, Yang Zhao finally asked in a low voice, “Brother Cui, did you notice anything wrong?”
Cui Tong shook his head solemnly. “I didn’t notice a problem, but that young man just now is that child from back then. And the man standing beside him is someone I met at the Xu family’s house.”
Cui Tong carefully recalled the brief conversation he had had at the Xu family’s house. The furrows between his brows grew deeper and deeper.
“I always feel that there’s something off about that man. He looks like an ordinary person, and when we met him back then, I didn’t notice anything unusual either. But do you remember that I was seriously injured that time? I still haven’t fully recovered even now.”
That incident at the Xu family’s house had been an enormous loss for Cui Tong.
Yang Zhao naturally remembered and asked in confusion, “But Brother Cui, weren’t you taken down by the Auspicious God? What does that man have to do with it?”
Cui Tong said, “When we encountered him back then, he was with the Auspicious God. At the time, the Auspicious God had transformed into Xu Muchan’s appearance. I didn’t notice anything unusual, and I recognized Xu Muchan, so I suggested that we travel together. At the time, he said he was in a hurry to find his younger brother and wouldn’t travel with us. And since I happened to want to take the opportunity to test Xu Muchan, I didn’t think too much about it.”
As it turned out, that Xu Muchan was fake. He had confronted the Auspicious God, and with old and new grudges piling up together, the Auspicious God had practically wanted to swallow him alive.
If he had not cut off part of himself to escape, he might really have been finished.
Before, he had not thought too much about it. But today, in front of the Mountain God Cave, after learning that the younger brother Wei Xilou had been talking about was Xu Muchan, Cui Tong broke out in a cold sweat.
Wei Xilou had clearly known at the time that Xu Muchan was fake.
He had deliberately let him travel together with the Auspicious God.
Thinking even further, it was possible that he had even known that he was specifically after Xu Muchan.
“Anyway, he definitely isn’t simple. We need to be careful,” Cui Tong said in the end.
Yang Zhao nodded. “Then should we go take a look at the victims’ homes first?”
Cui Tong shook his head. “We’re not actually here to do good deeds. We just need to put on an act later. The village chief said there had been unusual activity at the Mountain God Cave before, and we also discovered that a Ghost King had been born in Guiyi Mountain. And by coincidence, Xu Muchan has returned as well… I always feel like there’s something fishy about this. Let’s secretly go back and take another look.”
After walking around the village once, the two found a place where no one could see them, used an Obscuring-Eyes Talisman, and quietly returned to the Mountain God Cave.
In front of the Mountain God Cave, Xu Muchan was still fussing with the two quilts, using a rolling pin to beat them until they became fluffy. Wei Xilou was helping him beside him. The two occasionally exchanged a few words, and there seemed to be nothing unusual.
The two secretly observed them for a while. After finding nothing useful in their conversation, they entered the house.
The Mountain God Cave was even more dilapidated than they had imagined. There was merely a crude house built against the cave, and standing at the doorway, they could see almost everything inside.
Yang Zhao clicked his tongue. “Wasn’t the Xu family pretty rich? Why does Xu Muchan still have to come back and suffer in a place like this?”
Cui Tong said, “You haven’t been keeping up with the news, have you? Xu Qingming died, and the Xu Corporation almost went bankrupt. His wife sold all the shares and took her adopted son back to her hometown. Xu Muchan probably came back because no one was looking after him anymore.”
Yang Zhao was incredulous. “Even a starving camel is bigger than a horse. Even if the Xu Corporation really went bankrupt, he should still be able to get a share of it, right?”
Cui Tong shook his head. Not finding anything useful, he said, “Let’s go. We’ll look in the back.”
The two left the house and followed the path Xu Muchan usually took to fetch water toward the back of the mountain.
They did not notice that Wei Xilou glanced at their backs from the side, his gaze cold and sinister.
Yang Zhao rubbed his hands together and looked at the desolate woods, sighing. “The yin energy in Guiyi Mountain really is heavy.”
Cui Tong smiled. “A naturally formed gathering place for yin energy. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have chosen to send someone here back then. Places like this are hard to find. A Ghost King raised in a place like this would be powerful too.”
As he spoke, he casually swept his eyes over the woods, but his gaze suddenly stopped.
“Xu Muchan?”
“How could he be here?”
The young man standing beneath a tree looked toward them, his crimson lips seeming to curl slightly upward.
Yang Zhao inexplicably followed his gaze. “Brother Cui, what did you see?”
Cui Tong turned his head strangely. “You didn’t see him? Right beneath that tree, Xu Muchan was standing there watching—”
His words abruptly stopped.
There was nothing beneath the tree he was pointing at.
Cui Tong refused to believe it and stepped forward, but he found nothing.
“This forest is a little strange,” Cui Tong said with a frown.
Yang Zhao really could not see anything strange, but looking at the sky that had darkened again, he said, “It’s getting late. It’ll be troublesome if it rains later. How about we go back to the village first?”
Cui Tong looked at the gloomy, eerie forest. After hesitating for a moment, he nodded.
The two returned to the village. The village chief came over and said that the village already had some of the things they needed, and everyone could pool them together and have enough. However, there were still some things that had to be bought in the city. It was too late today, and traveling at night would probably be unsafe, so they would have someone go to the city to buy them first thing tomorrow morning.
Naturally, Cui Tong and Yang Zhao had no objections. Under the village chief’s arrangements, they stayed temporarily at the home of a family that had an empty room.
The conditions in Leigong Village were generally poor. The family they were staying with was one of the few in the village that had built a two-story house. However, the house was also very old, and quite a lot of the white ceramic tiles on the outside had fallen off.
The two stayed in a room on the first floor, with the rolling mountains of Guiyi Mountain stretching outside the window.
The two had traveled all day, so they went to sleep early that night.
In the middle of the night, Yang Zhao vaguely heard a rustling sound, as though something was crawling past outside. He jolted awake, pushed Cui Tong, and whispered, “Brother Cui, there’s something going on outside.”
Their bed was right beside the window. Yang Zhao pulled the curtain open a little and looked outside, only to discover that it was abnormally dark. There was not a trace of light. Only in the lower-left corner did there seem to be a little patch of white.
“What time is it? Why is it so dark?”
Cui Tong leaned over and took a look. “It’s only three o’clock. The sky hasn’t brightened yet.”
“It’s way too dark. Didn’t they say the moon and stars are brighter in the mountains? There isn’t even a bit of light.”
Yang Zhao had never stayed in the mountains before, but thinking about how the forests had been pitch-black during the day, it seemed reasonable that they would be even darker at night.
“You said you heard something just now?”
Cui Tong pulled the curtain farther open and glanced outside again. He discovered that the patch of white in the lower-left corner of the window seemed to have grown slightly larger.
“It was a rustling sound, like something crawling along the ground. It shouldn’t be a snake, insect, mouse, or anything like that. The sound was very loud, so whatever crawled past was probably quite large. But now it’s gone.”
As Yang Zhao spoke, he also noticed the patch of white in the lower-left corner of the window. He strangely pushed the window open and muttered, “What is this white thing? Is the window… brok… en…?”
His speech grew slower and slower, and his voice gradually trembled.
The white patch in the lower-left corner of the window had grown larger.
The dense, unmoving blackness shifted slightly, revealing traces of red blood vessels.
A hazy light shone through the gap between the blackness and the window frame.
Yang Zhao realized what was happening and his eyes widened in terror—
The darkness outside the window was not because the sky was too dark.
It was because a gigantic eye was pressed against the window, staring at them.
A terrified sound escaped Yang Zhao’s throat, but his body was unable to move because of his overwhelming fear.
That gigantic eye also noticed them. It suddenly turned, and then the enormous body behind it rotated as well, its deformed face turning toward Yang Zhao.
Before Yang Zhao could see it clearly, it opened its enormous, blood-filled mouth and lunged down to bite him—