The old pig butcher's slaughterhouse was easy to find, as the pungent smell wafted from several miles away.
"This smell is similar to the one we smelled outside the city," Fang Fei said.
"Right?" Wei Dong shrank his neck, unable to imagine the terrifying scene he was about to witness. "Be prepared, that might be the core of Lion Camel Kingdom's terrifying territory."
Even though Wei Dong hadn't described the horrors of Lion Camel Ridge in *Journey to the West* to Fang Fei, she could guess some of it, and thus fell silent.
"If Chunren is really inside, we have to find a way to rescue him." Wei Dong felt his words lacked conviction; he and Fang Fei didn't know their fate, let alone how to save him.
"Does Chunren really know the whereabouts of the fragments? What were the Bird Immortal's exact words?" Fang Fei asked.
Wei Dong remembered the bird fairy's words clearly: "He said that the woodblock prints for the New Year pictures were made by people, and only people know their whereabouts."
Fang Fei and Wei Dong walked side by side in the slightly dirty alley. A dirty dog-headed child was leading a human child of about two or three years old, with a rope tied around their necks. The human child stumbled and couldn't run fast, so the dog-headed child stuck out its tongue, opened its mouth wide, and barked at him, telling him to keep up.
The human child couldn't even cry anymore; he was so scared that he staggered along, his neck almost suffocating several times from the rope.
Seeing Fang Fei staring coldly at him, the dog-headed child bared his teeth at her: "Dead duck, it's mine! Don't even think about eating it! I haven't had enough fun yet!"
Wei Dong stepped forward and asked, "You little rascal, where did you get this little brat?"
The dog-headed child didn't realize the hostility in Wei Dong's words. He grabbed the child's topknot and dragged him over: "I found it at Old Pig's farm. All the males and females in their family were killed, only this little one was left. I said I wanted to keep it for fun, but Second Pig said even if he killed it, it wouldn't be enough for two bites of meat, so he gave it to me."
Wei Dong stared at the dirty little child on the ground, its small body... His body was already very thin, and it was unknown how long he had been imprisoned in the slaughterhouse. The wounds on his arms and legs had rotted, even infested with maggots…
Wei Dong tried to restrain himself from looking at him, but he couldn't help himself. His gaze followed the eyelashes covered with bird feathers and went to a vast, clear night sky. Some star-like things drifted slowly, and upon closer inspection, they turned out to be a large swarm of fireflies. Four of them were particularly close and bright. Soon, the light of three of them dimmed and disappeared, leaving only a small firefly, swaying aimlessly, its faint light utterly desolate.
Wei Dong felt someone pull him back forcefully: "Don't look, let's go."
Wei Dong stumbled as Fang Fei dragged him towards an even more cruel scene.
After a few steps, Wei Dong managed to stand still and opened his eyes to look at the real world he was in. The ground was stained with blood, and in the corners lay human bones, their flesh removed, being gnawed on by some destitute beggars with animal heads.
Wei Dong then noticed that Fang Fei was carrying the human child that the dog had been treating like a pet on her back.
"I bought him, it cost me a little money," Fang Fei said.
Fang Fei didn't know what was wrong with her; perhaps her compassion was overflowing, or perhaps she couldn't stand Wei Dong's earlier behavior. Although the dog-headed child took the money and said it wanted to buy a large basket of 'roasted human jerky,' she only gave it a hard twist on the ear, then picked up the half-dead human child, saying, "I'm taking him back for my son to play with..."
"Let's go into the slaughterhouse," Wei Dong said, not looking into the child's eyes. "Remember, they're all NPCs, all of them."
Fang Fei remained silent, only wrapping the child's head with a cloth to make it look like she was carrying her own child.
And so, the Oriental Goose family of three swaggered into the old pig slaughterhouse.
They had been prepared, but almost vomited as soon as they entered the courtyard.
On the ground, a huge basin of boiling water contained more than a dozen pale human heads. Steam rose from the pot, and a burly man with a wild boar's head was plucking the hair from a woman's head—or rather, plucking her long hair. The boar was clearly used to this job; his hands moved with practiced ease, and in no time, he had plucked all the hair from the head. The bald head was thrown into another bucket, and the boar sprinkled salt into it while calling to his little pig assistant, "Hurry up! There's so much human hair here, it's disgusting! Quickly clean it all up and take it to your Aunt Sheep. Don't charge her; she'll just give us some thick blankets for winter."
The little pig assistant quickly gathered the long hair on the ground, and when he saw two goose demons, he said, "Uncle, we have guests."
Wei Dong didn't know how he managed to force such a disgusting smile: "Old Pig Master..."
The boar said, "Old Pig is too kind. Just call me Pig Three. We only sell large quantities here; we don't sell you small pieces!"
"Master Pig Three, we're here to buy a large quantity of meat," Fang Fei interjected.
"What kind of business do you do?" Pig Three asked, his hands never stopping their work. In no time, he had plucked the hair from two men's heads and even rubbed off their thick eyebrows. Next up was an old man's head. Pig Three called to his pig helpers, "This one's old! Roast it to make jerky! That way it won't have that dry, chewy texture."
Soon, a young pig helper ran over and carried the old man's head away; blood was still slowly seeping from the severed neck.
"We're a big producer of roasted meat; we need a lot of meat," Fang Fei said to Pig Three, trying to avoid looking at the contents of the basin and bucket beside him.
Pig Three chuckled, "Look at you two cowards. These people have already been slaughtered; they're all dead. Dead men aren't afraid of boiling water. What's there to be afraid of?"
"We're not afraid; we just feel a little disgusted," Fang Fei said coldly.
Pig Three laughed, "What are you pretending for? Before coming to Lion Camel Kingdom, you were just a monster from the mountains. What haven't you eaten and tasted? Now you're putting on airs."
Wei Dong suppressed his urge to vomit, cleared his throat, and said, "We're going to the slaughterhouse to personally select a hundred fresh people."
Pig Three glanced at the piece of gold Wei Dong handed him before nodding and letting Pig Shopkeeper lead them into the slaughterhouse to choose their people.
The two followed Pig Shopkeeper, wading through the water. Wei Dong was still wondering why there was so much water on the ground; logically, the slaughterhouse should be covered in blood.
"You don't need to look over here. This is where they sell raw meat." Pig Shopkeeper led the two past a 'human curtain'—a curtain-like structure filled with half-drawn human figures, white flesh and red skin, some with heads, some without.
Fang Fei held her breath, pushed aside the 'human curtain,' turned her face away from the sight, and held the child behind her tightly with her other hand, patting his back reassuringly.
Further on, Wei Dong unconsciously slowed his pace. He saw a large group of bloated, naked humans gathered in a filthy, waterlogged open space. Each person had a tube made of human intestines inserted into their mouth, and several pig and cow helpers were filling the tubes with water.
Since this wasn't modern times, there weren't many modern tools available. The pigs and cows were using their demonic power to pump water into the tubes. Those forced to have water injected were almost dying, their bodies swollen, their skin stretched to a translucent state by the water.
"Please excuse our poor behavior, gentlemen," one of the cow-headed helpers chuckled sheepishly. "Recently, almost everyone within dozens of miles has been eaten. There's simply not enough meat to eat, so we had no choice but to resort to this."
Another minotaur-like fellow picked up a large hammer and walked towards the group of people filled with water. He raised the hammer and smashed it directly into their faces, killing them instantly.
Wei Dong felt Fang Fei pull him forward forcefully: "Don't look too closely."
Wei Dong understood that Fang Fei meant he shouldn't use the bird fairy feathers to see the mental world of those people, but he had to look anyway; perhaps some of them were truly human.
Wei Dong looked at Fang Fei and noticed her eyes were fixed on the group of still-living, water-filled beings. Whether it was his imagination or not, Wei Dong thought he saw something glistening in Fang Fei's eyes.
Finally, Fang Fei said, "Let's go, none of them are human."
Wei Dong didn't know how Fang Fei had seen through everyone's illusions, only that he no longer had the courage to look.
Wei Dong felt the two of them flee the scene as if their lives depended on it—though "none of them were human," they were all human.
At that moment, Wei Dong seemed to suddenly understand the meaning of "non-human."
"We picked the living, the fresh ones," Wei Dong said expressionlessly to the pig-like fellow.
"Come this way, you two. They've all been just captured!" The pig servant eagerly led the two towards the next courtyard.
The next courtyard was filled with people, some chained, others with their hands and feet cut off. Unlike the other victims, these people were all dressed.
This courtyard was very large, about the size of a small square.
There were probably two or three hundred people captured here.
A dozen or so lesser demons watched them, including pigs, cows, and other demons.
"Go through all of them quickly," Fang Fei whispered.
Wei Dong understood Fang Fei's meaning; "go through" meant using the bird fairy's eyelashes to examine the other side of these people, looking for any pure humans.
"I'll look over here, you go look over there," Fang Fei said, carrying the child on her back, and walked to one side.
Wei Dong then went to the other side.
The pig servant smiled obsequiously beside Wei Dong: "These are all fresh. Don't be fooled by their missing hands and feet; that's to prevent them from escaping. These things are very cunning!"
Wei Dong paid no attention to the pig servant's words, focusing instead on observing each person. The longer he stared at these illusions, the more numb he would become.
Among these people were pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, and even flying insects and ants. Wei Dong observed them expressionlessly, but couldn't see a single person.
"Do you have any other places?" Fang Fei asked.
"This is the only place with living people. The other places are just cut pieces of meat. Do you want to choose?" the pig helper replied.
"No need, we only want fresh meat," Fang Fei said, then asked, "Is it all here?"
The pig helper was confused: "Isn't this enough for you to choose from? There are over three hundred people!"
Wei Dong was probably completely immersed in the illusion, unable to tear his gaze away from the bird fairy's feathers. Staring at the pig helper in front of him, he saw a fat pig in a mud pit.
Wei Dong then looked at the two cow helpers beside him and saw two large water buffalo soaking in a pool of water.
Unable to suppress his gaze, Wei Dong turned to other directions, taking in the true forms of all the demons.
Suddenly, a fierce gust of cold wind carried Wei Dong into a new illusion. On a desolate mound of earth littered with corpses, sat a person.
It's one person.