Chapter 17: The Door

All the sounds merged into one. Chaotic thoughts clashed and tore against the fox demon's final shreds of sanity. Yu Sheng heard Hu Li’s pained whimpers in his ear, but his mind was roaring with even more frantic, disordered noises—the fox demon's near-uncontrollable appetite, a hunger that pierced the heart and bone, the temptation of chaotic darkness, and... the cries urging him to run.

Yu Sheng took a sharp breath, ducked low, and charged toward a gap between the fox demon and the monster. However, he did not flee as Hu Li urged; instead, he grabbed a broken bluestone slab from the ground and rushed toward the side of the monster, clutching it tightly.

He knew full well that he likely couldn't defeat this monster, but he knew even more clearly that it was impossible to escape this place relying solely on human leg strength. With ruins and debris blocking the way everywhere, and the only wide exit leading out of the ruined temple completely obstructed by the monster's massive body, a reckless flight would likely only lead to a faster death.

It would be better to charge headlong. He couldn't win a fight, but since he wasn't afraid of death, he had a chance to trade some results before he died—and if he could luckily distract the monster, perhaps Hu Li would have a chance to break free from those terrible restraints. She was still struggling to maintain her sanity; if he truly could free her, there might even be a chance to fight back...

These thoughts flashed by in an instant. Yu Sheng knew his reasoning was flawed, but he couldn't afford to dwell on it. With no other choice, he turned feral. His body erupted once more with a massive strength that even confused him, hurling the heavy bluestone slab toward the fleshy behemoth like a cannonball.

The next second, he had no time to confirm the "results" of his strike. A massive warning surged from the depths of his heart. Sensing the monster's counterattack a second in advance, Yu Sheng lunged violently to the side.

A black shadow, like a steel whip, struck the spot where he had just been standing. It was a snake-like tail that had suddenly split from the monster's surface. In an instant, earth and stone flew everywhere; the solid bluestone and broken bricks were pulverized into dust. Yu Sheng felt a powerful impact in mid-air as fragments of stone pelted him like bullets, making sounds like metal striking stone.

Ignoring the pain, Yu Sheng performed a rapid roll upon landing to evade the tail's pursuit, while his peripheral vision swept toward Hu Li.

The silver-white fox demon was struggling violently amidst countless pitch-black spikes and bone fragments. The ghostly blue spirit fire burning near her tail flickered intensely, looking as if it might spiral out of control and explode at any moment.

Yet she remained trapped—the restraints seemed custom-made for her, and Yu Sheng's interference had failed to have any effect.

In truth, Yu Sheng could tell at a glance that this fox girl was many times stronger than himself, yet she had no way to fight back against the monster. There was clearly a very obvious... "counter" between the monster and her.

But at the very beginning, in the open space outside the ruined temple, she had rushed toward him without hesitation to "save" him—though her attempt had failed, she had truly intended to help.

The memory flashed by. Yu Sheng gritted his teeth, wanting to charge again to see if the old method of trading his life could tear another piece off the monster.

He didn't know where this extra strength and regenerative ability came from, but he remembered that before these changes first appeared, he had bitten a piece of flesh off that monster.

He wasn't sure if there was a connection between the two, but with no other way out and no fear of death, he might as well try every bold hypothesis in his mind.

"Don't... care about me!" Hu Li's voice came again. "It can't kill... me! You, run, quickly!"

"It's fine, it can't kill me either," Yu Sheng spat out a mouthful of blood—an injury from being struck by flying debris earlier. He glanced at the silver-white fox demon with a pleasant smile. "I might die in a moment, but don't worry, I'll come back for you."

Hu Li's struggling paused, as if she had fallen into confusion for a moment.

Yu Sheng offered no explanation. He simply stepped toward the monster, his pace light and his smile growing more pronounced.

It was a smile that carried the joy of someone heading to a feast.

"Don't you like persuading people to eat?" He muttered to himself, looking at the fleshy behemoth ahead. "Fine then, I'm coming to eat!"

He leaped into the air, pouncing toward the banquet table like a hungry wolf.

The dozens of eyes covering the flesh monster trembled violently. For the first time, a hint of hesitation and... recoiling seemed to emerge from those chaotic, frenzied eyes.

Its many mouths let out muffled roars, and then several tentacle-like "snake tails" covered in black scales split from the mass of flesh, lunging toward Yu Sheng in mid-air.

Yu Sheng felt his body being pierced. Fatal wounds—he couldn't tell how many. He felt his life beginning to drain away, his warm blood carrying his vitality with it.

But an indescribable... "appetite" surged from his heart. He ignored the pain, ignored all resistance and unease regarding death. He grabbed a snake tail that had impaled his abdomen, grinned widely, and leaned down to bite—

The monster let out a strange, piercing howl and violently lashed the tail, as if trying to shake off a lethal parasite.

However, Yu Sheng gripped the tail with all his might, refusing to let go no matter how hard it thrashed. He was slammed into the ground by the tail, then knocked into a crumbling wall. His resilient body was not injured by the fatal impact; instead, the pain made him even more lucid.

Just then, the snake tail whipped high again, lashing toward a large, collapsed hole in the temple wall.

A strange flash of golden light suddenly flickered at the edge of his vision.

Struggling through the whistling wind, Yu Sheng looked up and saw the golden light rapidly approaching him. Before he could discern what it was, he instinctively reached out to block it.

His hand caught something—a handle.

Yu Sheng: "...?"

A faint creak mingled with the whistling wind. An image of a door suddenly flashed in Yu Sheng's mind—an ordinary door, leading somewhere, leading to...

Just as a location surfaced in his subconscious, he pulled the door open.

In the next second, Yu Sheng and the black-scaled snake tail were instantly pulled through the doorway. With a piercing creak, the door slammed shut.

The flesh monster's snake tail was severed directly by the door that had appeared and vanished in an instant. A chaotic howl, enough to drive a listener mad, echoed through the valley. The wound seemed to drive it into a frenzy; it roared and rampaged through the ruins of the temple, biting frantically at everything in sight, including its own body. After an unknown amount of time, it finally calmed down, its body dissolving back into a dark, void-like shadow, melting bit by bit into the night.

The pitch-black spikes and bone fragments vanished silently. The battered silver-white fox demon fell to the ground, motionless, as if dead.

After a few minutes, Hu Li finally opened her eyes slowly. She looked around blankly, the golden-red light in her eyes seemingly having lost all "human" spirituality.

After a long while, her gaze finally focused on a spot within the ruins.

It was the steps where she had once sat with her "benefactor."

Dragging her massive fox body, she slowly crawled toward them. Seeing the plastic bags and leftover scraps scattered beneath the steps, she lowered her head and began to swallow them all, making whimpering sounds.

But she was still hungry.

The tempting voices were like undying demons, whispering to her from the depths of her hunger—

"Eat, you know where else there is food to fill your belly..."

"You buried them in the forest..."

"Bones, meat, and blood..."

"Go, eat, and you won't be hungry anymore..."

The fox demon lowered her head, letting out whimpers that sounded like weeping. She curled up beneath the steps, slowly stretching her neck to gnaw on broken bricks and tiles, then digging up the soil and rotten wood beneath the ruins, stuffing them into her mouth, chewing and chewing.

"I'm not hungry... I'm not hungry... Someone will bring me food... He'll be back soon with more... I'm not hungry..."

She continued to gnaw like that, until, just as she had in many years past, she gradually drifted into unconsciousness.

***

The sensation of constant falling jolted Yu Sheng from his stupor. The "feeling" of the door handle still lingered in his hand, but in the next second, he realized he had crossed a boundary.

His eyes widened in shock as he saw himself lying by the roadside. In his vision were familiar streetlights, utility poles, and the low, old houses along Wutong Road.

The weathered exterior wall and gate of No. 66 Wutong Road stood not far ahead in the faint morning light.

He turned his head with difficulty, just in time to see the phantom image of a door gradually dissipating. Deep within the phantom, he could faintly see that valley shrouded in night, the ruins of the temple, and...

The white fox, struggling to move amidst the ruins.

Yu Sheng tried to reach out toward the white fox.

But the last remaining shadow vanished before his fingertips could touch it.