112: Who is eating whom?

Lin Chuping, who suddenly heard Ding Er being hunted, carefully sensed the direction from which the rat spirit had fled.

Suddenly, Lin Chuping's fingertips trembled slightly, and he abruptly opened his eyes—his amber pupils contracted sharply.

It was as if he had seen something unbelievable.

The rat chestnut's body had reverted to its original form, but the arrow had struck its heart, and blood dripped down the spear shaft, spreading a dark red stain on the loess.

Ding Er was using a branch to skewer the rat chestnut's corpse, holding it high.

The rat chestnut's illusionary transformation was interrupted, leaving him in a half-human, half-rat state, appearing especially tragic.

"Hahaha! We have meat tonight!"

Ding Er triumphantly waved his "trophy," and the surrounding hungry people cheered.

"I wonder what this monster meat tastes like..."

"Who cares, it's better than starving to death!"

"Brother Ding is mighty!"

...

Ding Er seemed particularly pleased with the flattery from those around him. Someone handed him a water skin, and after taking a sip, he felt much of the heat on his body dissipate.

"This dead rat really ran fast!"

"What good is running fast? It's not as fast as your arrow, Brother Ding!"

"That's right, that's right."

"It seems this monster outside isn't very strong after all! From now on, you all follow me, hahahaha!"

Lord Chuping stood on the mountaintop, the mountain wind whipping his green robe.

He slowly raised his hand, and a point of cold light condensed at his fingertips.

Below the mountain, Ding Er was drinking deeply from the water skin, water flowing down the corners of his mouth, mixing with the rat chestnut's bloodstains, spreading on his dirty clothes.

"Brother Ding, do you think this monster meat should be roasted or boiled?" a thin, monkey-like man asked fawningly.

Ding Er wiped his mouth and grinned: "Of course, it's roasted! Look at its fur, so shiny and smooth..."

He said, using the tip of his knife to lift the rat chestnut's softly hanging paw, "I heard that animals that have become spirits are the most nourishing!"

"Follow Brother Ding and you'll have meat to eat!"

"Damn it, one of those beasts got away."

The crowd laughed, and some had already begun gathering firewood to start a fire.

The rat spirit stood at the edge of the crowd, staring fixedly at the figure on the fire, blood tears streaming from her eyes.

She seemed to see the last tear still congealed in the rat chestnut's half-open eyes... Rats are not loyal animals; their reproductive strategy is polygamous. For greater reproduction, male rats mate with multiple female rats, and vice versa.

But she and the rat chestnut were different.

They had supported each other through wind, frost, rain, and snow, narrowly escaping death in the belly of a demon several times. They still had so many pups... Just now, they were happily roasting a chicken, and now, the rat chestnut was dead!

Dead at the hands of humans she considered friendly.

How could the rat spirit accept this!

"You all must die!"

"Die, die, die!"

"All of you, go to hell!"

The rat spirit stood in the shadows, her teeth grinding audibly.

She watched the group of people gathered around the fire, poking the rat chestnut's corpse with branches, letting out piercing laughter.

The rat chestnut's fur was licked by the flames, making a "sizzling" sound, and the air was filled with the smell of charring.

"Brother Ding, this meat smells so good!" the thin, monkey-like man greedily sniffed.

Ding Er proudly rotated the branch: "What's the hurry? It's not cooked through yet!"

He licked his lips, "Later, I'll taste the first bite of meat..."

...

The rat spirit could no longer bear to listen. She withdrew her gaze, staring intently at Lord Chuping in front of her.

This was a blood feud for their family, an unending struggle!

"Go!" Lin Chuping said softly.

He wanted to stop them, but he didn't seem to have a stance, his heart in turmoil.

His feelings for these few small demons were completely different from his feelings for humans.

They were his believers, and also his subordinates.

Lin Chuping had even fantasized that in times when his incense value was abundant, he would buy something similar to the Investiture of the Gods, gather all his loyal subordinates within it, and have them fight for him.

As Lin Chuping's voice fell, a black shadow flashed like lightning, followed by a second, then a third... Unbeknownst to him, the rat chestnut and the rat spirit's pups had all arrived.

Lin Chuping even saw the Little Green Snake among them.

***

Ding Er, still showing off, felt a sharp pain in his wrist—his entire right hand was severed at the wrist, and blood gushed out.

"Ah—my hand!" Ding Er let out a pig-like scream.

Everyone watched in horror as a rat demon, covered in blood, stood by the bonfire, tightly clutching the charred corpse of the rat chestnut in her arms.

Her eyes had completely turned blood-red, and tears mixed with blood continuously dripped.

"You all... deserve to die..." The rat spirit's voice was hoarse, unlike that of a living creature.

The thin, monkey-like man had just picked up a wooden stick when he suddenly froze.

Rat demons swarmed down from the mountain, a dense, dark mass.

"Monsters, monsters!" Everyone scattered in terror.

Ding Er clutched his severed wrist, stumbling backward: "Help... help..."

The rat spirit slowly walked up to him, gently placing the rat chestnut's corpse on the ground.

She lightly waved her paw, and the rat pups swarmed forward. In a short while, there was no trace of any human figure left on the spot.

The rat pack dispersed, but Lin Chuping remained in place, motionless for a long time.

The mountain wind wailed, stirring up the bloody ground.

"System, I feel uneasy."

[No physical abnormalities detected in Host.]

"System, I just realized today how naive my previous thoughts were."

Lin Chuping gave a bitter laugh, his fingertips lightly touching the still-wet bloodstains on the ground.

The rat spirit's hateful gaze as she left still lingered in his mind.

"I was once so naive as to believe that demons who had gained sentience, as long as they didn't hunt Mortals, could coexist peacefully."

The current situation was like a resounding slap, harshly across his face.

[Host's emotional fluctuations are abnormal. Suggest regulating breath and calming Qi.]

"Calm Qi?" Lin Chuping suddenly laughed out loud, his laughter tinged with a hint of madness.

"System, tell me, in this world, who is truly devouring whom?"

He kicked away a half-charred branch on the ground, which was Ding Er's "tool" for skewering and roasting the rat chestnut.

"Humans eat demons, demons eat humans..."

Lin Chuping squatted down, picking up a piece of charred rat fur and scattered clothing fragments from the ashes.

[Host, this world is one where the strong prey on the weak.]

Lin Chuping thought about the System's words and, for a moment, couldn't refute them.

In his previous life, exploitation relied on extracting labor value; in this life, exploitation was the direct plunder of life.

"Hahahahaha! The strong prey on the weak."

"What a 'strong prey on the weak'."

If it were only like this, why would living beings in the world need to gain sentience? Wouldn't it be better if everyone just fought like wild beasts?

What is the meaning of the existence of intelligent species!

"System, this time you are wrong."

He slowly stood up, a green light appearing in his eyes, "This world isn't about the strong eating the weak..."

The mountain wind suddenly grew fierce, stirring up ashes everywhere. Lin Chuping's voice boomed like thunder:

"It is the vile devouring the kind!"

"It is the greedy consuming the content!"

"It has nothing to do with race, only with one's true heart!"