Chapter 32 Human Disaster Surpasses Demons

Chen Mu demanded sternly while vigilantly scanning the surrounding environment, his brows furrowing involuntarily.

Near the doorway, there were large patches of dark brown bloodstains, deeply soaked into the ground, forming a gruesome stain.

Several broken bones were scattered across the floor, still clinging with patches of dried flesh.

Three living people were huddled in the corner.

Two adults, a man and a woman, were emaciated beyond recognition—one old and one robust—along with a similarly thin boy who looked only seven or eight years old.

Their hands and feet were bound with hemp rope, their clothes were tattered, and their exposed skin was covered in bruises, scratch marks, and festering wounds.

Chen Mu did not immediately rush to save them; he drew his longsword, his cold gaze locking onto the woman once more.

"Speak! Who are you? Why are you here? And what is going on with them?"

He gestured toward the blood-stained floor and the three people in the corner who had been tortured beyond recognition.

Seeing her escape route blocked by Liu Ziming and realizing Chen Mu had not immediately struck her down, the woman's desire to live flared up, and she explained hurriedly.

She spoke at a rapid pace, laced with the relief of having survived a disaster.

"Those cats... those demon cats didn't harm me; they were helping me!"

"Helping you?"

Liu Ziming leaned on his blade, panting heavily, and sneered incessantly.

"Helping you tie these people up and torture them like pigs and dogs? Helping you survive in this hellish place? Or helping you slaughter your own kind!"

The woman's body trembled, and she looked up at the three people in the corner. A flash of complex emotions darted through her eyes.

There was resentment, gratification, and a hint of fear.

She bit her lip, her voice growing lower, yet carrying a long-suppressed resentment.

"They... they deserve it!"

"Deserve it?"

Chen Mu raised an eyebrow, his tone unreadable.

"Yes! They absolutely deserve it!"

The woman's voice rose sharply, her face twisted with excitement.

"My lords, you don't know what kind of life I've endured since marrying into this family over a decade ago!"

"I was treated like a beast of burden, rising earlier than the chickens and sleeping later than the dogs, doing all the farm work and household chores by myself!"

"When the villagers saw it, who didn't snicker? Who didn't think I deserved it? They all said it was fate, that a woman must accept her lot!"

She first pointed at the Old Woman who was bound and on the verge of death.

"This old hag would find every way to torment me! She wouldn't let me eat my fill, wouldn't give me thick clothes in the winter, and wouldn't even spare a bowl of brown sugar water when I was recovering from childbirth!"

She then pointed to the middle-aged man, "And this spineless wretch! He only listened to this old hag, beating and scolding me. I was treated worse than a dog in their house!"

Finally, she looked at the little boy, her gaze even more venomous.

"And this little brat! Just because he was a boy, the whole family doted on him! At such a young age, he already learned to steal my things and tattle to his grandmother! He's a rotten seed, just like his father and grandmother; he was bad to the core!"

The more she spoke, the more agitated she became, not like someone crying over grievances, but more like someone venting years of pent-up hatred.

"I raised cats, I just love cats. Cats are better than people; cats know who treats them well."

"I secretly saved my rations to feed the stray cats in the village! Only they would listen to me; they wouldn't hit me, scold me, or look down on me!"

Liu Ziming swallowed hard, wanting to say something, but ultimately did not interrupt the woman's outpouring.

"Later... later the village met with disaster, the cats changed, and the people changed, and those cats found me."

"They didn't burrow into my body or eat my soul like they did to others. They understood me, and they gave me power!"

The woman raised her head, her eyes shining with a terrifying intensity.

"They told me to catch these people and tie them up! At first, I just beat and scolded them. Whatever they did to me, I returned it! I returned it tenfold!"

"But later, I felt it wasn't enough—nowhere near enough!"

The woman's breathing grew rapid, and a long-lost sense of gratification appeared on her face.

"What's the point of just letting them get beaten and scolded? I had to make them understand how I survived all these years! I had to make them understand what fear truly is!"

"I disposed of those useless things right in front of them! Right here! Sometimes it was those useless villagers, sometimes it was the little things born to those women! I chopped them to pieces! And let my cats..."

Chen Mu listened quietly, his face devoid of any expression, only his fingers gripping the sword hilt turning slightly white.

Liu Ziming's face turned pale. He looked at the woman who appeared possessed by madness, then at the three family members in the corner who were no longer recognizable, and his stomach churned.

He had thought demons were evil, but this woman before him, a person consumed by hatred...

Her twisted mind and cruel actions were even more chilling and repulsive than those demon cats that only knew how to eat flesh and devour souls.

Seeing the two men silent, the woman thought there was a chance for reprieve and hurriedly crawled forward on her knees to beg.

"My lords, please have mercy. Spare me, and spare the cats that helped me! They are nearby, they are very obedient, and they won't harm kind-hearted people like you!"

Her words were highly defensive of the demon cats, even carrying a morbid sense of reliance and closeness.

Chen Mu shifted his gaze from her face, scanning once more over the three people in the corner who were now drifting into unconsciousness, and the white bones scattered on the ground.

"You said they deserved it."

Chen Mu finally spoke, his voice calm and unruffled.

"The family was unkind, the husband was unrighteous."

"But you could have walked away. You could have left this home. The laws of Great Wu do not leave women without a path to survival."

"Reporting to the officials, seeking a divorce, even struggling to survive on your own—anything would have been better than becoming another abuser yourself and falling into the abyss of siding with demons."

Chen Mu paused, then slowly drew his longsword, the blade gleaming with a cold light.

"Between you and your cats, and those man-eating demons outside, what is the fundamental difference?"

"One wears human skin, the other wears a cat's face, but both are engaged in the act of consuming humans."

Upon hearing this, the look of pleading on the woman's face froze, transforming into deeper fear and a trace of resentful indignation.

She realized that this young official before her did not seem to intend to let her go.

"You... you can't kill me! I am human, I am not a monster!"

She shrieked, struggling to crawl up.

At that very instant, Chen Mu moved; a flash of sword light appeared, cutting through the air in the room.

The expression on the woman's face froze instantly. She opened her mouth as if wanting to say something, then finally collapsed with a thud.

"Sshh—"

A pillar of blood shot into the air, and the warm liquid splattered onto Chen Mu's lapel. His gaze remained completely unruffled as he sheathed his sword and turned around.

"Chen Mu, you..."

Liu Ziming exclaimed in shock. Although he felt the woman's actions were extremely terrifying, she had not yet fully transformed into a demon.

Chen Mu's decisive and swift execution still left him shaken.

"She was no different from a demon."

Chen Mu wiped the blood from his sword, his tone calm.

"Perhaps even worse. Demons harm people mostly out of instinct or for the sake of Cultivate, but she was consciously savoring the pleasure of torturing her own kin."

"When the human heart falls into demonic ways, what is the point of letting it remain?"

Liu Ziming was speechless. He looked at the woman's severed head and couldn't help but shudder.

Chen Mu said nothing. He walked to the corner and cut the ropes binding the three people, who immediately collapsed to the floor.

Liu Ziming sighed and stepped forward to help. Once the three regained consciousness, he helped them up, softening his voice as much as possible.

"Don't be afraid. We are from the Demon Suppression Division, clearing the demons out of the village. It's safe now."

The three of them supported each other and stood up, trembling.

The Old Woman looked at the corpse of the woman before her, then glanced at Chen Mu's official uniform and waist token. A flash of cunning suddenly crossed her clouded, old eyes.

She suddenly broke free from her son's support and threw herself beside the woman's corpse, wailing dryly.

"My daughter-in-law, you died so tragically!"

"What are we, the old and young of this family, supposed to do now that you've left us!"

She cried for a moment, then suddenly turned toward Chen Mu. Tears streamed down her aged face, but her tone was filled with mercenary greed.

"You are from the Demon Suppression Division! You killed my daughter-in-law! You killed our family member! Pay up! You must pay! Otherwise, I will report you to the officials, I will accuse you of killing innocents!"