704 Worms


    The stone house on the ind was over 100 years old. ording to legend, this was where the Lake God lived. When the vigers had any problem, they would prepare the sacrifice and throw it into the well in the middle of the house, and the Lake God would solve their problems.


    The viges around theke had this legend. However, no one had seen the real Lake God before. This was probably just a legend. Holding the rotten rungs, Han Fei was exceptionally careful. It was unclear when the woodendder was built. The surface was smooth and covered in green moss. The part closer to the water hadpletely rotted away. The rungs there were covered in small bite marks.


    “Shush. Don’t influence him.” Guan Miao ced his finger on his lips. He didn’t even dare to breathe too loudly. The stone house was extremely quiet. Everyone was concerned about Han Fei. They prayed that he couldplete the ritual. Han Fei reached the second floor easily. The woodendder felt like it was about to crash then. The nails that connected it to the wall loosened, and thedder creaked noisily. It swayed too.


    Han Fei lowered his head to look. Something was surfacing in the bottom of the well. His heart raced. The premonition of death reappeared. “There’s something calling for me inside the water.” People would have the urge to jump down when they were at a high spot. There was a voice in his head telling him to let go and embrace the water.


    Han Fei shook his head to chase away the creepy thoughts. He grabbed the woodendder and continued to climb. As Han Fei approached the altar near the roof, the calm water underneath suddenly bubbled. A few bubbles broke through the surface.


    “Give me the shlight.” Yan Yue’s mother had a very bad feeling. She grabbed the shlight from the lifeguard, retreated, and shone the light at the well.


    “Do you want to kill him?” Guan Miao immediately stopped her. “The light will attract the things underwater. You’ll disturb the Lake God!”


    “I just want to see what’s underwater. If it’s dangerous, we can warn Han Fei.” Yan Yue’s mother argued.


    “He’s carrying the figurine on thedder. The ritual has reached itstter half. If he gives up now, the three of you will end up like us, bing a half-fish, half-human monster!” Guan Miao’s voice was low, but his tone was stern. He didn’t hide it anymore. He removed his shirt to show Yan Yue the severity of stopping the ritual. “Do you want to be like me?” The old man’s thin body was painted with water patterns. Strange scales grew among the patterns. The creepy thing was while the old man breathed, the scales and patterns expanded and constricted with his breathing. “Everyone who has participated in the ritual has turned into this. This is our one chance to rectify it.”


    After Yan Yue’s mother saw Guan Miao’s body, she stopped insisting. The lifeguard was stunned. He pulled Yan Yue’s mother away and switched off the shlight.


    Han Fei on thedder didn’t care about them. He was focused on the altar. In his memory, all the altars were ced onnd or sacrificial table. Stability was the focus. This was the first time he encountered an altar that was situated so precariously. This abnormality grabbed his attention. The closer he got to the altar, the more anxious he felt. There was something very scary inside the altar. Using all of his limbs, Han Fei hung tight to the old and slippery woodendder. When he was climbing to the third floor, a ck worm crawled out of the back of the wooden rung.


    Han Fei didn’t fear this. He hated these strange creatures. “Kill it!”


    The kitten appeared to understand Han Fei. It jumped out of the backpack and swatted the worm into the well. The worm didn’t float on the surface but immediately sank to be part of theke. The moisture in the air thickened.


    “You’re quite useful.” The kitten was quite proud to be praised by Han Fei. But it soon returned to its arrogant self. But it volunteered to lead the way for Han Fei.


    “Be careful. Thedder is quite fragile.”


    As they climbed upwards, more carvings appeared on the wall. Most of them were carved with nails. Han Fei had no idea what these carvings meant. Suddenly, a horrible sound came.


    Creak…


    The sound came from the back and inside of thedder. It sounded like needles were piercing through thedder. Even the kitten stopped. It growled at the top, and its fur bristled.


    “This is not good.”


    A ck worm crawled out of the gap in thedder. It was followed by more ck worms. They dominated the upper half of the stone house. They even built air at the bottom of their. There was no light in the stone house. The ck worms were all hidden in the dark. A normal person would have freaked out and slipped.


    Even though Han Fei didn’t want to admit it, he was a bit anxious. It was not a fear of death, but his body felt revulsion toward these ck worms.


    “These worms look different. They are from different species. They are the ugliness of the world. However, they all built amunalir under the altar. This proves that they are generated by the same thing.” Han Fei didn’t dare to move recklessly. He carefully observed the kitten and the ck worms. Soon, he noticed something interesting.


    The worms would make this strange sound when they faced the kitten. They were not afraid of the kitten but the nine ck patterns on the kitten. Something simr to the worms resided inside the ck patterns. However, the thing was strong, unlike these worms, which were iplete.


    The kitten hesitated for a while before it continued to climb. The ugly worms voluntarily parted for it. The kitten saw this and immediately attacked. The nine ghost tattoos crawled over the sewn-together skin. The worms touched by the kitten would die. Their bodies shriveled, and their darkest presence would be absorbed by the nine ghost tattoos.


    A ‘rain of dead bodies’ fell. This would be a horrible experience for a normal person, but Han Fei was not affected. He followed behind the kitten and nced at Guan Miao by the door.


    With these ck worms around, almost no one would be able to reach the altar. In other words, the people who came to deliver the figurine would die. However, this vige had the culture of sending people to deliver the figurine annually. Han Fei heard from Guan Miao that they would find an orphan to deliver the figurine. Guan Miao didn’t say the orphan would return safely or not. In the vige, no one would care when an orphan went missing.


    ‘No wonder they have the ritual every year. This altar and the animal sacrifices are just a front. The orphan who delivers the figurine is the real sacrifice! They are conducting live sacrifices!’ Han Fei saw the carvings on the wall. He understood that these carvings were left behind by the orphans before they died. It was the sign of their final struggle. Some of the orphans were kind. They wanted to warn the others when they were bitten by thousands of worms. They left the warnings on the wall. However, they were too high up. When their sessors saw the warnings, it would already be toote. Seeing the signs on the wall, Han Fei didn’t find trouble with Guan Miao but continued to climb upwards.


    Han Fei came to the third floor and saw the familiar human cocoons under the altar. The cocoon was carved with human faces. They were made from human souls.


    “These ck cocoons look the ugliest, but they are made from the mutation of human hearts.”


    Han Fei was only two meters away from the altar. The woodendder would disintegrate at any moment. His every step was very careful. Compared to Han Fei, the kitten was very courageous. After it absorbed the presence of the ck worms, it turned its focus to the wormir under the altar. Before Han Fei could stop it, the kitten did something dangerous. It leaped from the woodendder andnded on the wormir. The dangling altar was fixed to the roof with several chains. The doors didn’t appear like they had been opened before.


    Han Fei carefully maintained his body bnce as he moved. However, the woodendder still snapped slightly. From the start, the person who built the woodendder didn’t want anyone to get close to the altar. Thisst stretch was impossible to pass.


    Sensing the copse of thedder, Han Fei jumped towards the altar. He grabbed the chain with one hand and pulled himself up. Han Fei hugged the chain and turned back to look. The woodendder hadpletely crumbled. The wooden pieces fell into the well. The murky water sshed everywhere, shattering the silence.


    The expression of the trio at the door was different. The lifeguard was worried and scared; Yan Yue’s mother looked thoughtful but also thankful; Guan Miao had aplicated expression. He stopped holding his hands together.


    Han Fei leaned on the chain. He wanted to see what was inside the altar. He reached and tried to open the altar door. The dried cocoons fell, and a horrible stench gushed out. Inside the altar was a human head that was so rotten the facial feature was not recognizable anymore. The human head was facing away from the door and faced a mirror inside the altar. The back of the head was cracked to form the pattern of a giant butterfly.


    When Han Fei opened the altar, the mirror reflected Han Fei’s face. The rotten head immediately changed to take on Han Fei’s appearance!


    “Lake God!” Guan Miao suddenly shouted and chanted something. However, he barely got far before he was stopped by Yan Yue’s mother. “Han Fei, be careful of the water!”


    Yan Yue’s mother moved fast, but she was still toote.


    The energy was gathering in the middle of the well. The water rippled, and a giant shadow appeared underwater!


    Han Fei was sitting before the altar. His attention was fully grasped by the head inside the altar. “Mirror, altar, and head. Is this Dream’s fourth resurrection ritual? But who is he trying to resurrect?”


    The kitten could no longer contain the power inside the ghost tattoo once it consumed the wormir. The nine ghost tattoos spiraled out of control. The threads on its body unraveled.


    The ghost tattoos on the kitten seemed to sense something. The kitten’s sharp ws grabbed the underside of the altar and easily tore it open. Then, it smacked the butterfly pattern on the back of the head.


    The head and the mirror shattered at the same time. A blood cocoon about the size of a human heart was hidden inside the head. The blood cocoon wasn’t big, but it was carved with the names of many souls. It was far more imposing than any cocoon Han Fei had met.


    Just as the kitten was about to absorb the blood cocoon, the water cracked open, and a gigantic shadow leaped out of the water!


    Everyone was shocked.


    “Is there really a water monster here?”


    The monster was like fish and snakebined together. Each of its scales was a wailing human face. Endless water ghosts weaved behind it. Its presence was like a tsunami.


    “Dream’s fourth ritual is not to revive itself but this creature inside theke?”


    There were two mutation routes for the cocoons. One was to gather all the beauty in the world and be the perfect humans like the Butterfly; the other was to gather all the death and misfortune to be a monster like Big Sin.


    This fourth ritual should be Dream’s insurance. If it couldn’t be reborn as humans, then a monster was not bad too.


    Han Fei was reminded of the giant cocoon under Ziggurat. Dream did seed in the end. But it was unclear whether it became a perfect human or a monster.


    Han Fei stepped on the chain and pulled out Rest in Peace. He was going to buy time for his precious pet.


    “This thing has consumed so many humans. It can be considered a butcher, right?”