‘So there are no cattle at Cattle Alley after all.’ After seeing how the pig masks were really formed, chills spread over Han Fei’s heart. The creatures who used the cruelest method to punish humans were not animals but humans themselves.
Even at this moment, the big brother was still trying to resist the pain and torment to crawl over the scale to remove his brother’s mask. The younger brother though glanced at its brother detachedly. There was only hatred and hunger in its eyes. It wished that its brother would die sooner, to join its ranks. The twins looked identical but they had different personalities. Inside the plant, one of them was held in place by blood threads and turned into a pig mask; while the other had his bones and flesh torn apart but still retained the pride of being human. The complicated nature of humanity was simplified at Cattle Alley, there was no third choice in this chaotic and maddening place. Watching the big brother still struggling on the hook, the pig-faced monster laughed mockingly.
Moments later, an extremely fat pig-faced monster ‘walked’ out from the room behind the blood pool. It was probably the one who launched the iron hook at the big brother earlier. Different from other pig-faced monsters, this monster’s body had severely regressed. There were little traces of humans left on it. The rotund body barely squeezed itself out of the room. Both of its legs were stuck together. Its feet and back were crawling with impossibly large blood vessels. The vessels grew beyond its body to connect with the factory as well as to reach into the bottomless blood pool. It seemed to be at one with the whole meat packing factory. Seeing the fat monster, the pig-faced monster beside the pool stopped laughing. It turned to leave immediately, showing extreme fear of the other monster.
‘Even the pig-faced monsters have someone they fear?’ Han Fei’s eyes darted towards the pig-faced monster who was connected to the plant. Its body was at least twice as large as the normal monster. A small bell was hanging from its layered neck, it looked like a wind chime. ‘This pig-faced monster is clearly different from the rest, could it be the manager of this factory? Does this mean killing it will cause the factory to malfunction?’ Hiding his intention, Han Fei slowly gripped the bone-paring knife. He knew it would not be easy to kill the monster, he would have to find the perfect opportunity. ‘The monster can control everything inside the factory through its blood vessels, only by killing it that I will be able to save the souls on the iron hooks.’ Even though the souls on the right side of the scales were heavily wounded and physically broken, their souls still contained a very unique power. It was a power that even the blood pool could not melt. This was extremely rare in the cryptic world. It appeared to be the most brilliant part of humanity.
‘There are no other monsters inside the plant now but I don’t think I can take it down on my own…’ Just as Han Fei was coming up with a plan, a giant commotion came from the front door. The walls cracked and the windows shattered, it sounded like there was a fight at the door. Han Fei retreated back into the shadows. About several minutes later, heavy footsteps arrived as two bleeding pig-faced monsters walked into the plant while staying guard of each other. The smaller monster was dragging two of its kin. The bodies were covered in miniscule wounds and the masks on their faces were fully shattered. The other pig-faced monster was 3 metres tall. It was the tallest creature Han Fei had seen at Cattle Alley. The monster, which was 3 metres tall, painted his body with strange blood tattoos. They looked like totem paintings, or like the ghost tattoo on Han Fei.
However the thing that caught Han Fei’s attention was not the tattoo on the monster but the person it was carrying.
‘Weep?’ The small boy had his eyes closed. His body was mangled and strange symbols were painted all over his skin. Whenever Weep tried to struggle, all the symbols would emit a thick bloody scent. ‘Weep has killed 2 pig faces?’ The pig-faced monsters would never cooperate, Weep probably managed to take down 2 monsters before he was ambushed by the monster over 3 metres. Seeing the strange pattern on the monster’s body, Han Fei couldn’t help but be cautious, the pig-faced monster should possess some kind of unique power.
The smaller pig-faced monster tossed its kin into the blood pool. The carcass and masks melted inside the pool. After it did that, it turned silently towards the fat monster. The latter appeared to be the manager at the plant and the small monster was hoping for a reward for a job well done. The fat monster though was in a bad mood. After it approached the pig-faced monster, it stuck a blood vessel into the latter’s chest. After taking a few satisfied gulps of blood and flesh, it flung the other monster to the side.
Instead of a reward, the smaller monster got injured instead, its body became even weaker. It looked at its two other kin inside the plant and hurriedly crawled out from the plant. After the manager had its fill, it smiled with satisfaction. Then it turned to stare at the monster over 3 metres tall. The fight Han Fei was hoping for did not happen. The monster carried Weep to the edge and dropped him into the pool. When Weep touched the blood, the whole pool boiled!
The malice sedimented inside the pool curled around Weep like chains. The black blood at the bottom of the pool started to surge to the surface. Like little hands, they tore at Weep’s body. The blood eroded the skin. The strange symbol that suppressed Weep was washed away with his melting skin. The pain was unimaginable. Weep’s harrowing cries echoed around the blood pool. Negative emotions and melancholy started to affect the masks and souls on both sides of the scale.
The pig-faced monster didn’t expect Weep to have an ability which would affect the things in his surroundings. He immediately controlled the chains inside the pool to drag Weep further deeper into the blood water. After the water drowned out Weep’s crying, the scale returned to normal.
The manager glared at the abnormally large monster. If the manager was not present and noticed the problem instantly, Weep might have caused a huge trouble at the factory. The water of hatred formed a whirlpool inside the pool. Han Fei’s heart rose to his throat, he feared that Weep might also be turned into a mask. After a normal spirit was tossed into the blood pool, they would be ‘cleansed’ almost immediately but Weep was a unique case. The whirlpool only disappeared after around 10 minutes. The pig-faced manager controlled multiple iron hooks to fish Weep out from the pool. Not a bit of flesh was left on Weep, most of his energy had been stripped. However, the memory at his core did not disappear, if anything, it became clearer due to the intense washing of the blood pool.
The memory that Weep refused to face inadvertently saved his life. Under the threat of dying and consumed by unimaginable torture, Weep was forced to face the memory that he had been avoiding. Weep was different from other spirits. For the other spirits, the stronger they were, the larger their bodies would become. Weep was the complete opposite. At that moment, the most painful memory spread through his broken body and was the only thing keeping the small boy alive.
The two pig-faced monsters glanced at the dying Weep. Neither of them realized that when Weep was dragged by the iron hooks out from the pool, he had stopped crying. The rusted hooks pulled Weep to the edge of the pool. The manager was about to go inspect Weep’s status when a scream came from the entrance of the plant. The two monsters turned to look behind them. A pig-faced head rolled towards them, the smaller monster who left earlier had been decapitated!
A woman’s crazed laughter echoed inside the large plant. As the blood mist thickened, a figure strode towards the blood pool. The blood mist was like her dress. The blood red lips curled into a heart-rending smile. Blood dripped from her table knives. The berserking Xu Qin appeared inside the meat packing plant. All the butchers were chasing after her but she had chosen to come directly to their den!
The pig-faced monster had more urgent thing to attend to now than to inspect Weep’s state. It controlled the hooks to quickly hang Weep on the right side of the scale. Then it dragged its body towards the deepest room at the plant but Xu Qin was already launching herself at it. With a howl, the two pig-faced monsters turned to combat Xu Qin.
Seeing this, Han Fei hiding behind the machine knew his opportunity had arrived. He took out the red paper doll and decided to sneak his way into the deepest room at the factory before the pig-faced manager had the chance to!
