236 Rest in Peace

 

The ugly pig-faced monsters were unable to enter the blood pool and the iron hooks were blocked by other souls. The manager’s whole flabby body shook from anger, no one had ever pushed it to such desperation before. The pig’s eyes popped out as it stared at the man who was still climbing. The man was so wounded that he should have fallen a long time ago but he kept testing the manager’s patience by defying gravity. The limit the manager set for Han Fei was broken through again and again. The man’s body which it could have easily crushed appeared to contain a kind of power that eluded its understanding.

It raised more hooks with its power but now more and more souls were coming to Han Fei’s aid. The broken spirits that still possessed humanity all sacrificed themselves to shield Han Fei from the offending hooks. A trail of fresh blood was left on the pole, that was Han Fei’s tracks. Unafraid of death, unafraid of malice, Han Fei finally reached the top of the scale. The bone-paring knife he had was unable to chop off the chains so Han Fei used Soul-Depth Touch to reach towards Weep and tried to get the boy off from the hook.

It was already chaos inside the meat factory as more and more pig-faced monsters hurried over. Time ticked by. Just as Han Fei was about to rescue Weep, the sound of an iron net being rattled entered Han Fei’s ears. A pig-faced monster with a string of human teeth around her waist walked forward with Wang Sheng in her grasp. She had once appeared beside the single-eyed monster. She probably had seen Han Fei battle it out with the single-eyed monster just to save Wang Sheng. Seeing the monster walk over holding Wang Sheng by his neck, a jolt of fear shot through Han Fei. His body was already at its limit. His Life Points was at a mere 13, and most of them came from the buff given to him by the ghost tattoo. Han Fei couldn’t summon any strength any longer. Staring at the pairs of eyes lacking in humanity, he made a crazy choice.

“Leave me and help Weep!” Han Fei had the black anaconda leave his body and told it to share its negative energy with Weep. Under the circumstances, Han Fei still made the most reasonable choice. Weep was more powerful than he was, even if Weep just recovered a little, he could turn this situation around.

The moment the snake left his body, the ghost tattoo faded. The malicious blood around them crawled instead into Han Fei’s body. The bone-piercing pain almost knocked Han Fei out. The dirty blood appeared to seep directly into his soul and was consuming his memory little by little. Without the ghost tattoo’s protection, Han Fei was just a normal human. The pain eroded his mind wave by wave.

He forced his eyes to stay open as he turned to the edge of the blood pool. The pig-faced monster with the human teeth grabbed Wang Sheng by his shoulders and slowly lowered him into the pool. The blood boiling with malice and dirt crawled up the boy’s legs and burned at his soul. Placed under pain that would break a normal adult, the boy never shed a tear. The small face turned to look at Han Fei at the top of the scale. He tried very hard to force a smile but all he could manage was a crooked curl of his lips which he believed to be a smile. Living at Cattle Alley, the boy had not seen a real smile before; to survive, the last thing his mother told him was to hide under her body and do not cry. He had never learned how to smile, he knew never to cry either. That in-between expression was the one Wang Sheng was showing Han Fei. The boy was like a small flower growing at the barrens, he was weak to any wind and was wilting but at least he had once blossomed.

Seeing this, Han Fei’s fingers tightened around the bone-paring knife. Perhaps noticing this, when the monster tried to push Wang Sheng deeper into the pool, he bit at the monster’s hand. He had never bitten anything so hard before. The pig-faced monster was not expecting this. She swung her palm and swatted Wang Sheng right into the blood pool. The small body was immediately overwhelmed by blood. Endless malice gushed into the boy’s body. Wang Sheng was too small. He was too pure to be turned into a pig’s mask but he was too tiny to swim towards the pole. His body was slowly sinking. The boy closed his eyes in preparation. As his consciousness was numbed by hatred, pain was replaced by another emotion. The boy did not quite understand the meaning of life. What was the purpose of him trying so hard to survive? Was it to take a longer glimpse of this place which was filled with animals?

Before Wang Sheng fully submerged, he heard something and he opened his eyes. Han Fei plunged into the blood pool while biting a bone-paring knife between his teeth!

The blood and malice immediately swirled around the man and they seeped crazily into his body. In less than a second, the veins inside Han Fei’s body started to implode. The man’s hands reached towards Wang Sheng and the latter tried to grab at them. When their hands touched, black chains shot out from the bottom of the pool. They wrapped themselves around the duo’s bodies. Wang Sheng wanted to push Han Fei away for him to save himself, but it was already too late. The black chains yanked them downwards, they were too powerful for the two souls to resist.

Han Fei’s arms which had never let go of Wang Sheng reached their limits already. His body sank deeper into the pool. The water started to suffocate. However, at that moment, Han Fei suddenly felt someone grab his shoulders. A force was dragging him back to the surface.

Turning around with difficulty, Han Fei saw that his rescuer was the twin older brother. He was trying his best to swim to the surface. The surface of the bottomless pool bloomed with one after another flowers of blood as more souls dropped into the pool. With the black anaconda’s help, Weep aided the rest of the souls with their rescue. Without any need for communication, the rescued souls all leaped into the pool. Enduring the intense pain, they all swam towards Han Fei and Wang Sheng. When Weep and the last soul dipped into the pool, the giant scale collapsed on its own weight. The pig masks floated on the pool and they glared at each other with hungering desire.

The souls of humanity though swam towards the bottom of the pool. The chains lashed out at them but none of them was scared off. Stomaching the torment and fear, these incomplete souls finally saw the real truth of this world. Deep at the bottom of the pool, there was a half of a rotten heart. All the malice and pain came from that heart. The sin of the entire Cattle Alley originated from not even a full, but a halved, corrupted heart.

‘Could this be a half of Spider’s heart? The half that symbolizes sin? Then there should be the other half, where is the half that symbolizes kindness?’ Chunky chains secured the half heart down at the bottom of the pool. When Han Fei saw that thing, he already made up his mind to destroy it. ‘This rotten half heart should be the source of everything. After destroying it, the whole Cattle Alley will fall!’

Holding the hilt in his right hand, Han Fei allowed the chains to drag him down further. He did not reserve any energy to swim back to the surface, instead he channelled all his energy into his right hand that held the knife. He slashed at the heart!

The sharp hatred barely scratched the surface of the heart’s skin. Endless blood surged towards it and instantly the small wound was healed. No wonder the manager did not set up any defences around the heart. While it was submerged in the blood pool, there was nothing that could harm it. Han Fei’s arm was tired beyond belief but he still swung it stubbornly. He refused to give up.

When Han Fei did not have the energy to hold the knife anymore, a small hand placed itself over Han Fei’s hands. It was Wang Sheng who came to help Han Fei. Before Han Fei could say anything, many other arms reached out to hold the knife with Han Fei. The souls were corroded further when they were underwater and they were slowly dissolving but none of them let go. The blade was raised and a whirlpool swirled inside the pool. All the souls lent their strength to Han Fei as the blade swung downwards!

The layers of scab over the heart were cut off one after another. The bone-paring knife in Han Fei’s grasp screamed relentlessly. The blade splintered further and further. With a final ping, the blade shattered inside the pool. Holding the hilt and looking at the broken blade, Han Fei never felt such despair since he started this game. His only blade was made null, he was unable to save anyone!

He appeared to have experienced something similar when he was young. The memory was hooked to the surface as his mind edged towards despair. Light dissipated from his eyes. All of his struggle amounted to nothing, he was still the helpless person he was. Polluted blood permeated into his body. As Han Fei was going to allow the blood to decompose his heart, he felt a tiny hand grab him.

Just like how Han Fei had sacrificed everything to save him, Wang Sheng was now repaying Han Fei the favor. He was mimicking Han Fei’s kindness. As his final expression for the world, Wang Sheng tried to show a handsome smile but he only managed a split lip. Regardless, after that, the boy voluntarily swam into the broken blade shards. His body was washed away by blood and the glow of his humanity imbued into the blade.

Moreover, Wang Sheng’s sacrifice signalled just the beginning. More and more souls followed in his footsteps. The souls poured their last remaining humanity and pride into Han Fei’s knife!

All the cold steel at Cattle Alley possessed their unique curse. The more souls that it claimed, the more powerful the butcher’s knife would be. However, things were different here.

The ugliest side of humanity could be seen at Cattle Alley, but hidden deep inside this hell shone humanity’s prettiest light as well. The endless spirits flowed into the blade, and forged a very unique butcher’s knife!

Holding the hilt, the robotic voice announcing, “Rest in Peace (Grade F Unique Butcher’s Knife): This is a butcher’s knife that has not been seen in the cryptic world before. It has no blade but it can cut through everything!

“Rest in Peace: You are the reason this blade has been forged! With this butcher’s knife, your profession affinity to Midnight Butcher will be raised to 100 percent!”