Chapter 759: Uncle Xu's Story

The girl offered a token struggle before giving up, letting me pull her by the hand toward the door.

'We have to hide before the Red Building Tenants awaken their memories. The hiding spot can't be too far from the Copper Mirror, either. The top floor would be best.' I had a plan, but pulling it off would be incredibly difficult. I wouldn't get a second chance; there was no room for error.

Despite my rough grip on her wrist, she didn't say a word. It wasn't until we were just about to step out the door that she called out softly, "Junsheng, have you thought this through?"

"Thought what through?" The girl was great, but she worried too much.

"Once we leave this room, your only path to survival will be cut off. Don't do this just for me..."

"Remember, I'm not doing this entirely for you." I looked her straight in the eyes and probed, "Do you really remember nothing at all?"

I had no intention of exposing my true identity. I only said that to gauge her reaction, hoping it might stimulate her and awaken her memories.

She clearly didn't catch the hidden meaning in my words. She didn't argue further, though a complex mix of emotions swirled in her eyes.

I tightened my grip, afraid she might suddenly pull away. The temperature radiating against my fingertips wasn't like before—her body seemed to be slowly growing cold.

I glanced down. Her wrist was slender, like a freshly plucked bamboo shoot. Outwardly, nothing had changed.

'Strange. Is that breath of the Yang Realm the Old Granny gave her continuously fading away?' I grew even more anxious, not daring to let my guard down. Without a second thought, I pushed open the wooden door.

Thump! I pushed the door with very little force, but there seemed to be something right outside, and I bumped directly into it.

"Who's out there?!" I was genuinely startled. After entering Junsheng's remnant soul, I had lost my Judging Eye and Breath Listening. I could no longer anticipate an enemy's moves or control the situation from a distance like I used to.

As a live show streamer, I was long accustomed to this sort of thing and quickly calmed down. The girl, however, stiffened and gripped my hand tightly.

A few seconds later, an ugly pig face squeezed through the pitch-black crack of the door.

The face was much larger than a normal domestic pig's. But the most chilling part was that, despite being a pig's face, it wore a distinctly human expression. It looked like it was smiling.

"Where do you two think you're running off to?"

The voice was familiar. I had seen this monster before; it called itself Uncle Xu.

Seeing it was him, I breathed a sigh of relief. The situation was bad, but it hadn't hit rock bottom yet.

I had once eavesdropped on a conversation outside the door between Uncle Xu and another pig. He had been relatively friendly toward Junsheng and the girl, actively trying to protect them.

"Good thing we ran into him. If it had been anyone else, this probably wouldn't end well," I muttered. I raised my head, shedding all trace of Junsheng's original cowardice and timidity, and met Uncle Xu's gaze naturally. "I've already told her what you wanted me to pass on. She's my best friend. I just want to spend the night with her, that's all."

Uncle Xu's gaze drifted back and forth between the girl and me. Gripping the doorframe, he suddenly sighed. "Don't do anything stupid. They told me to keep an eye on you two. Besides, even if I let you go, the other floors of the building and everything outside are crawling with starving wolves. You won't make it out."

"They aren't wolves. At least wolves don't eat their own kind." I had no intention of backing down. Yielding here meant throwing away my hard-won advantage and personally severing my only path to survival.

"We were assigned to the same room, so we have to take responsibility for everyone in it. This girl is right—every single one of us is food. Even an old man like me will be eaten someday. That's the price of staying alive!" Uncle Xu kept his voice low; he clearly disliked talking out in the hallway at night. As he spoke, he squeezed more than half his body into the room.

"What's the point of living just to become someone else's food?"

Uncle Xu blocked the door. He was tall and heavy; with Junsheng's frail frame, I had absolutely no chance of winning a fight against him.

"You're wrong. Right now, no one needs you to live a meaningful life; they only hope you die a valuable death." Seeing me clutching the girl's wrist so tightly, his smile turned stiff, brimming with helplessness. "No one wants it to be this way. Let me tell you a story."

I hardly had the time to listen to a story right then. Just as I was wracking my brain for a way out, Uncle Xu's massive hand reached over and shoved the girl and me back inside. In terms of raw strength, ten Junshengs combined wouldn't stand a chance against him. This body was just too weak.

"Once upon a time, there was a village at the foot of a great snowy mountain. A legend circulated among the villagers: if someone could conquer the mountain, they would receive the Mountain God's blessing and gain a hundred years of life."

"A hero from a distant land heard this legend. He readied his mules and horses, stocked up on food, and set out to climb the peak."

"The higher the altitude, the harsher the environment became. Between the blizzards and sheer cliffs, the mules couldn't make it up, and the amount of food and water a man could carry was severely limited. Even if he successfully reached the top, he would consume all his supplies. If he didn't find the Mountain God, he would likely starve to death on the way back. The hero tried many times without success, and eventually, he returned to the village."

"The villagers were thrilled to hear of the hero's return. Everyone, including the village chief, ran over to ask him if he had reached the summit and seen the Mountain God."

"The hero thought it over for a long time. Then, he told everyone in the village that he had successfully conquered the snow mountain and received the Mountain God's blessing."

"Some were envious, while others didn't believe him. The hero calmly faced their doubts and told them that if they didn't believe him, he was willing to take the entire village up the mountain so they could all receive the blessing."

"A hundred years of life was too tempting to resist. A portion of the villagers agreed to accompany him."

"Everyone carried as much food as they could. They drove their mules to the base of the mountain, shouldered their packs, and began the trek up into the snow."

"The hero truly lived up to his name. He walked at the very front, leading the group, cutting through the blizzard like a sharp blade."

"Everyone believed his words, following him with absolute confidence. No one knew that the hero had never actually reached the top of the mountain either."

"The blizzard raged on. A few of the more timid villagers gave up halfway and turned back. As the remaining group watched their food supplies dwindle, they anxiously asked the hero how much longer it would take to reach the summit."

"The hero's answer was always the same: 'Soon, we're almost there.'"

"His lie remained unexposed. The simple villagers chose to trust him, pressing forward by his side—until the first person died."

"With food growing scarcer, a frail old man was blown into an ice crevasse by the howling winds, entombed forever in the snow mountain. Seeing death so close was a massive shock to the villagers. Only the hero remained unfazed, as if he had expected this all along."

"He continued to spin lies about extended lifespans and his own past experiences, steadying the villagers so they would keep climbing."

"After some time, the food ran out completely. By then, ironically, no one dared to turn back on their own. Without provisions, heading down now meant they would inevitably starve to death on the way."

"They had no choice but to follow the hero in search of the legendary Mountain God. They clung to a sliver of hope, all because the hero had sworn the Mountain God was real and that he had personally received the blessing."

"With their dry rations completely depleted, people began dying every day from various accidents in the brutal blizzard."

"The village chief and the hero gave them simple burials and marked their graves with tombstones, planning to bring their bodies back down after seeing the Mountain God."

"The marching group grew smaller and smaller, but the snow-capped peak piercing the sky grew closer and closer."

"After overcoming unimaginable hardships, only the hero and the village chief survived to the end."

"They stepped onto the summit side by side, accomplishing what no one before them ever had. They had conquered the snow mountain."

Uncle Xu's story seemed to be a metaphor for something. I could already anticipate that this seemingly fairy-tale-like story would take a massive, dark turn.

"And then what? Did they see the Mountain God?" The girl looked up at Uncle Xu. Even faced with such an ugly monster, she didn't show the slightest discomfort, as if this were completely normal.

"The hero and the village chief climbed to the very top of the mountain and looked out. On the other side, shrouded in the blizzard, lay a bottomless abyss." Uncle Xu involuntarily tightened his grip on the door, making the wood creak and groan. "There was no Mountain God in this world; it was nothing but a legend. The despairing village chief collapsed to the ground. Their food had run out long ago. He was so weak he didn't even have the strength to argue with the hero. He merely asked him one question: 'Why did you lie? Do you realize your single lie has buried us all in this snow mountain?'"

"The hero didn't answer right away. Suddenly, he choked the village chief from behind, leaning in to whisper in his ear: 'I had never been to the summit either. I invited you all to come along because it was the only way I could leave myself a way out.'"

I had already guessed the ending, but the girl behind me still didn't understand. "What way out?" she asked.

The smile on Uncle Xu's face vanished. He stared intently at the girl and me. "After the hero killed the village chief, he ate a full meal and headed back the way he came. Every villager who died became his rations. Those tombstones were simply markers the hero had set up in advance. It was entirely thanks to those villagers that the hero made it off the snow mountain alive. In truth, he had been prepared from the very beginning. The moment the last person beside him died, he would immediately turn back, because only then were his supplies truly depleted."

"Someone like that doesn't deserve to be called a hero." A chill crept into my heart. Uncle Xu's story seemed to perfectly describe the current situation in Longchang.

Being trapped here was just like being those villagers trudging up the snow mountain. Everyone was nothing more than rations. Once they died, they became food.

And the Mountain God's blessing was akin to winning the war and lifting the blockade. They had been waiting for it all along, but judging by the ending of Uncle Xu's story, he knew deep down that the Mountain God didn't exist, and their future was nothing but a bottomless abyss...