Chapter 28 Waiting for a Person Who Can Never Come Back
Although Wang Buliu and Genius Mahjong Girl claimed that their affectionate gazes in front of the South Suburb Slaughterhouse were merely a friendly exchange between newly made friends after a bitter battle, Zhang Dexian could not believe their nonsense and politely declined their invitation to have dim sum together.
Those two girls obviously were not kind-hearted!
Their smiles were daunting.
Leaving the South Suburb Slaughterhouse, he walked alone on the empty road outside Huacheng, where scattered old residential buildings stood silent under the night sky.
Zhang Dexian rubbed his clever head and once again pulled out his shattered phone, opened the private message sent by Miao Xiaoqi, stared at it for a long time, and sighed deeply.
“Oh—! Indeed, real beasts should roam alone. I shouldn’t hope for any companions on this path!”
He now knew the whereabouts of the first sacred item; he only needed to continue moving toward the set goal, and someday, he would be able to restore the reputation of the Vajra Pagoda Sect.
No matter how dark the night was, dawn would eventually arrive!
Zhang Dexian thought, looking up at the distant starry sky, as a kindly old monk seemed to appear before him, and thus, the strong man shed tears.
“Master—!”
“Creak—!”
“What are you making noise for in the middle of the night!? Are you trying to d*e!”
“Crash—!”
Zhang Dexian, “……”
——————
As Luxianbei left the South Suburb Slaughterhouse, she walked slowly, her attention fixated on the bizarre core of the urban legend in her hand, which looked like high-quality pork but was remarkably hard.
No matter how she looked at it, she liked it more.
She didn’t expect that the big bald man, though peculiar in appearance, was actually quite decent. Although he had eliminated those three urban legends, she shamelessly asked him for the core of the legend, and he truly gave her one.
Perhaps this is what they call “having a thick skin pays off,” Luxianbei thought.
Walking ahead, Jiang Li followed her silently like a ghost, looking down at the encrypted file displayed on her phone and occasionally glancing at Luxianbei’s back.
[July 14. Although the Big King has been eating less and less lately, its weight continues to rise, nearly matching last year’s “Hormone.”
I reported this strange situation to the factory director, who warned me not to meddle again, or I’d be kicked out of the slaughterhouse.
d*mn it! He has truly gone mad!
Someone has died, and I hope the family of the person sent by the pig farm comes to find him. He is only thinking about investments and even sent someone to threaten that person’s grandmother to keep quiet. Truly…
Perhaps I should leave here.
July 21.
The Big King’s weight has long surpassed “Hormone,” its body resembling a small mountain.
The factory director nearly got the investment he desired.
Unfortunately, something went wrong when he took the investors to see the Big King in the afternoon.
To curry favor with the investors, the factory director had the audacity to say in front of the Big King that after the pig king evaluation was over, he would slaughter the best pigs in the entire factory for a whole pig feast for the investors!
Who else could the best pig in the factory be but the Big King?
As soon as he finished speaking, the previously calm Big King in the pigpen let out a horrifying, loud howl, desperately crashing its head against the pen’s fence, frightening the investors to d*ath.
In the end, the fence collapsed.
The seven-millimeter-thick steel plate shattered like it had exploded, flying outward in pieces, and the Big King charged out of the No. 2 factory building.
When everyone’s attention was focused on the terrified investors, only I noticed that before the Big King dashed out of the factory, it glanced back.
From a distance, I saw anger and resentment reflected in its dark eyes.
I have dealt with pigs for over a decade, yet it was the first time I read such emotions in a pig’s eyes.
I felt that it turned back to remember everyone’s faces for future revenge.
I hope I am overthinking it?
In the end, the investors still left, and the factory director killed the best pigs in the slaughterhouse, preparing the most lavish whole pig feast, yet they could not be retained.
In the end, the whole table of dishes went to waste, but before being thrown out, everyone tasted a bit; it was quite delicious.
Indeed, it was the best pig in the factory.]
After finishing a document, Jiang Li was slightly lost in thought when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She restrained the impulse to throw that hand over her shoulder in that instant and turned to see Luxianbei’s expressionless face.
“Is this about something that happened in the South Suburb Slaughterhouse before? Where did you find it?”
Jiang Li replied coldly, “It’s none of your business.”
“Don’t be so indifferent! Aren’t we friends now? We should communicate more and help each other in the future!” Luxianbei said.
“Who is friends with you…”
“Besides, I might know the old grandmother mentioned in here.”
Jiang Li paused mid-sentence, puzzled, “You know her?”
“Yeah!” Luxianbei nodded sincerely, pointing at an old house nearly swallowed by the night, its outline just a blur, “She lives there.”
“When I came earlier, I met her, and she told me her grandson went missing in the South Suburb Slaughterhouse and hasn’t returned.”
“What about you…”
“Me? I found her eerie and frightening, so I told her if he had been missing for years, she should report it as a missing person at the police station.”
“……”
For some reason, Jiang Li wanted to say “good job,” but considering her current delicate relationship with Luxianbei, she chose to remain silent.
She pushed Luxianbei’s hand away, ignoring her, and continued studying the encrypted document.
[August 6. The situation in the factory has been terrible for the past two weeks.
The factory director’s investment plan fell through, yet he still needs to pay for the equipment he ordered in advance, which has clearly caused a cash flow problem.
While everyone is worried about the impending layoffs, I am more concerned about where the Big King has gone.
After the Big King ran out of the factory, it disappeared, and no one knows where it went.
Some say it took the opportunity to run up the mountain outside, but I don’t think it left; it’s hiding somewhere in the slaughterhouse, in some unnoticed corner.
Since that day, I’ve felt that there are strange eyes in the factory.
Those eyes aren’t bright nor murky, floating in the sky, always open night and day, never closing, occasionally blinking slowly without much emotion.
I’ve seen those eyes; they belong to the Big King.
It’s observing everyone, looking for revenge.
Last night while washing up, I saw a lot of pig hair in the public shower; it must have been left by the Big King.
August 13.
I have long been saying that the Big King is still in the factory!
The series of strange incidents occurring in the factory can prove everything!
Many people have heard peculiar, subtle sounds from different places in the factory.
Those sounds are very faint, always lingering on the edge of audibility, sounding like pigs screeching or someone murmuring, but they are too weak to discern any content.
Some have reported seeing a huge black shadow near the dormitory building at midnight, supposedly quietly watching the sleeping people outside the window until they wake up from nightmares, only to see a hairy big face outside.
Like a cloud of darkness, like some sort of writhing beast.
Before long, the pigs in the slaughterhouse began to act violently, with attacks on people becoming frequent, as if guided by some unseen force.
Everyone attributed these strange occurrences to the dry and hot weather, but I believe it must be the Big King causing trouble.
What’s even more unsettling is that I’ve noticed the pigs in the factory have had increasingly strange expressions.
Their eyes are filled with fear, anger, and a hint of pleading, making them seem almost human.
August 15.
The Big King appeared!
It attacked an employee who had been one of its caretakers.
When we found him, bl**d was pouring from his mouth, and his right cheek had several bloody holes; his right ear was missing, and a piece of flesh had been torn from his ear to his cheek.
His right hand had three fingers cleanly broken, the white bones exposed outside.
We struggled to save him, and someone asked him what had happened.
He fell silent for a long time before suddenly screaming, “Pigs, pigs, pigs!”
As he screamed, he sat on the hospital bed, looking as if he had lost his soul, staring at everyone present.
No, perhaps he wasn’t staring at those people.
But at others, unseen to the n*ked eye.
Perhaps it was the Big King?
But later on, he changed his story, saying he might have seen a particularly tall person.
So, was it a pig or a person?
August 20.
In the past few days, several employees have gone missing, and the factory director finally decided to secretly send someone to search for the Big King, hiding in the factory.
Huacheng has many air-raid shelters built during the war, hidden underground, many of which were dug up during subway construction a few years ago.
It is said that the slaughterhouse’s drainage system can lead to one of them.
I suggested we check the drainage system, then they all went missing.
September 13.
The number of people in the factory is decreasing, and it’s becoming lifeless.
Several breeding farms lack management, the pigs are starving, and incidents of cannibalism have occurred, with a stench of bl**d filling the factory.
I suggested to the factory director to quickly hire some new employees.
He consented, so I went to recruit three new ones, all of whom were burly and seemed capable.
September 21.
Only the factory director and I remain in the entire slaughterhouse.
It’s time… ]
After Jiang Li finished reading all the documents, she was about to click on the last audio file when she suddenly heard Luxianbei’s voice drifting beside her.
“I think the person who wrote these things has a problem!”
“He said earlier that the pig called the Big King is the best pig in the factory. Later, he said he slaughtered the best pig to host a whole pig feast to retain the investors, and then said the Big King was hiding in some corner of the factory.”
“Isn’t that contradictory? If they’ve eaten it, what could it possibly hide? Hidden inside them…”
Luxianbei’s words were abruptly cut off as she recalled seeing the urban legend in the slaughterhouse that was covered in human face tumors, half-human half-pig, and fell silent.
“Your guess is very likely, after all, those are pigs raised with alchemical potions, and it’s hard to ensure there won’t be issues with the humans who eat them. If any of those who ate had particularly strong obsessions, it would be even more problematic,” Jiang Li asserted.
After saying that, she only then noticed that Luxianbei, who had promised to leave long ago, had been quietly following her, and after a moment of surprise, she shot her a dark look.
“Didn’t you say you had other things to do and wanted to leave first?”
Luxianbei shrugged, “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not plotting anything. I just happen to be passing by.”
“Passing by?”
“Yeah, passing by.”
“Is it really that convenient? I’m going to Mudan Street, to the Huacheng Folk Culture Research Management Bureau. Do you need a ride?”
“Uh…” Luxianbei scratched the back of her head, “Thanks for the offer, but it’s not that convenient after all.”
Jiang Li rolled her eyes at Luxianbei and silently clicked on the audio file.
“Ding—!”
“Stop going crazy! That d*mn pig has been dead for a long time, it died three months ago, and you ate at the whole pig feast, didn’t you?”
“No, director, the Big King has always been there, hiding in some unknown corner; it’s just that you all can’t see him.”
“Shut the hell up! Don’t think I don’t know, it’s all your doing! There aren’t that many… wait! What are you… Don’t come over, don’t come over!”
Amidst a series of piercing screams and the sound of flesh splattering, the audio file turned into a screeching static noise that lasted around half a minute, followed by a loud howl.
“Argh——!”
————
After listening to the audio file, Jiang Li furrowed her brow, deep in thought, when suddenly she heard Luxianbei exclaim beside her.
“d*mn! I get it now, the ‘I’ in the diary must have eaten toxic pig meat and transformed into an urban legend, right? So, from a certain perspective, these texts and audios are produced by the urban legend!”
“But…” she paused and continued, “Isn’t it said that the birth of urban legends relates to whether humans believe in their existence? A few months’ time, plus the belief of some employees in the slaughterhouse, is that enough?”
Jiang Li glanced sideways at Luxianbei, who seemed to be playing a deduction game, and quietly said, “If there is the catalyst of alchemical potion, both the time and the number of required people will be greatly reduced.”
“Moreover, the urban legends born here at first should not have a high spirit energy level and only developed to this extent as rumors about the South Suburb Slaughterhouse gradually spread in the city.”
“Also, the theory that urban legends are born from belief is a notion of the Siye Society and is not recognized by everyone, so its circulation isn’t particularly wide. You also know that, right?”
Luxianbei, “……”
Ah, this… This woman has problems!
Didn’t we just reach a consensus?
Why do you always jump at the chance to trap me?
Luxianbei thought, and calmly said, “My teacher taught me, is that not okay?”
Jiang Li’s eyes seemed to hold a hint of a smile, her eyes narrowed slightly, and resting her chin on one hand said, “Oh? Interesting! Urban legends have teachers? I’d like to hear what kind of existence an urban legend’s teacher is.”
“This… Anyway, it’s not someone like you.” Luxianbei shot Jiang Li a glare, “My teacher is a piece of chocolate, cute, lovely, and beautiful. She is definitely a masterpiece created by Nuwa during the creation of humanity, showing off her skills, not wearing clothes but donning a sack…”
“Hmm?”
“Uh, not wearing clothes but donning a sack can still set fashion trends, and if you lift your eyes, it’s like amidst the mists of Mount Huashan, with the sword energy brushing past my brow, splashing spring breeze, open-minded, distinguishing right from wrong, and good from evil, acting appropriately, being principled about events not people, sticking to one’s principles while understanding others’ principles…”
“……”
For the next two minutes or so, Luxianbei tirelessly praised her teacher’s attributes, spewing flattery without end.
Just said something bad moments ago, need to balance it out a bit! So that I won’t get shoes put on me later. Luxianbei thought.
However, she was almost blushing from her own words, while Jiang Li showed no reaction at all.
Jiang Li simply gazed quietly at her and waited until she stopped, then nodded slightly, calmly asking, “What else?”
Act, keep acting, I’ll just watch you perform quietly!
Luxianbei, “……”
What else?
If I go on to say it, I can only say my b*tt is big and well-nurtured.
But saying that would probably get me killed, right?
Luxianbei thought, shrugging, “Nothing else.”
“Hmm, sounds like a good teacher. I hope you can study well under her in the future and do less bad stuff,” Jiang Li said with a nod.
Luxianbei, “……”
Do I need to add something myself?
I’ve ™ never seen such a shameless person!
————
After midnight passed, time slowly pushed towards dawn, and the temperature dropped to its lowest point of the day.
This should be when urban legends are most active, but a kilometer away from the South Suburb Slaughterhouse, the cold wind blew across the desolate countryside, and only a few dry leaves whirled in the air.
Wandering through the intricate alleys, with old buildings lining both sides, beneath the nearest streetlight to the South Suburb Slaughterhouse, a pale light fell on an elderly woman with white hair and a gaunt figure.
With one hand resting on the lamp post and the other using a cane, she stood alone in the biting wind, her cloudy eyes gazing at the outline of the South Suburb Slaughterhouse in the distance.
From afar, it looked as if she was waiting for her grandson to return from school.
Luxianbei frowned, and as she walked up to the old woman, she instinctively asked the familiar question, “Have you seen my grandson?”
She raised her hand, pointing toward the South Suburb Slaughterhouse, “He went there. If you see him, please let him come home early.”
For some reason, Luxianbei once again saw this old woman, completely losing the eerie and frightening impression from their first meeting, instead feeling a twinge of pity.
She parted her lips, hesitated for a long time, as if something was stuck in her throat, unable to tell her that her grandson had passed away years ago and she was waiting for a person who could never return.
At that moment, Jiang Li stepped forward, extending her fingertip, glowing with a faint light, and touched the old woman’s forehead, then softly said, “Oh, grandmother, your grandson has been gone for a long time. You don’t need to wait any longer; he will not come back.”
Luxianbei was taken aback, glaring at Jiang Li with fierce eyes, “What are you doing? You’re just…”
Jiang Li cast her a cold glance and calmly said, “Look at her again, will you?”
At her words, Luxianbei turned to look at the old woman.
She heard the woman murmur sadly to herself, “Oh, is that so? Is that so? Thank you! Then I guess I should go back now, go back…” As she spoke, her body weakened and collapsed to the ground like a soaked cloth.
Luxianbei instinctively reached out to help the woman up but found her body to be stiff and cold, and her hands trembled as they withdrew.
The old woman seemed to have died long ago, lacking any trace of life.
Immediately after, purple-brown corpse spots began to appear on her wrinkled, aged face at a visible speed.
“This…”
Jiang Li patted Luxianbei’s shoulder and said lightly, “She should have died a long time ago, merely hanging on to life with the hope of her grandson’s return. This is also a form of an embryo urban legend.”
“If I hadn’t told her, over time, once she turned into an urban legend, the residents in the area would have suffered too.”
“Being kind is good, but foolish kindness can sometimes have the opposite effect. It seems you haven’t learned well from your teacher! You need to continue to keep working hard in the future!”
Luxianbei, “……”
