Chapter 464
Chapter 464
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 464
>Chapter Title: Li Sui
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“A flayed dog’s face? It’s smiling at me?”
Listening to Bai Lingmiao’s words, the blind Li Huowang sketched a spine-chilling image in his mind.
Li Huowang swallowed hard and asked toward the direction of the voice, “Mantou?”
“Woof! Woof!!” A familiar bark rang out.
Li Huowang had raised Mantou for over a year—he absolutely wouldn’t mistake that voice. And there was no pain or fear in it, just a hint of excitement and urgency.
Frowning, Li Huowang tilted his ear, listening intently toward that side before asking again, “Li Sui?”
Li Sui’s voice, overlapping slightly and coming from the exact same direction as the bark, rang out once more. “Dad, I’m here.”
With that, Li Sui seemed about to climb in through the window, but was immediately interrupted by a burst of rapid drumbeats.
“Dad, Mom won’t let me come over.” Li Sui’s voice carried a hint of grievance.
Hearing this, Li Huowang rubbed his temples in agony, momentarily at a loss for what to do.
He didn’t even know how to address the thing in front of him now. What exactly had Li Sui done under the influence of that heavenly disaster yesterday?
“Dad, don’t you want me anymore?” Li Sui’s voice took on a sobbing tone, mixed with a bit of Mantou’s low whine.
Li Huowang patted the shoulder of the second deity in front of him. “It’s fine. He can’t hurt me—even if I’m blind right now.”
With a grave expression, Li Huowang walked past her toward the voice.
Though Li Huowang couldn’t see, he could still sense the direction. He soon stopped about ten feet from the other.
“Come in and talk. Don’t just crouch outside the window like that.”
With two heavy footsteps, Li Huowang caught a whiff of blood—it was standing right in front of him now. Not human blood. Dog blood.
Li Huowang thought for a moment and reached out both hands to grope toward it.
The first thing Li Huowang touched was a rough tongue amid sharp fangs.
The tongue licked rapidly, swiftly cleaning the scabs of blood from the back of Li Huowang’s hand. “Dad, your hand’s bleeding.”
Li Huowang slid his hand up along the tongue and felt a skinless beast face—hardly any muscle, with hard bone exposed in many places.
The beast head still wore the conical hat Li Huowang had bought for Li Sui, though it was badly damaged, reduced to just a frame that did nothing to hide the face.
Li Huowang’s hands then left the beast skull and moved under the tattered raincoat, inching over the rest of its body.
Below the beast face was a similarly mangled dog body—not on all fours like before, but hunched slightly like a stooped person.
He could feel it was markedly different from the old Mantou. Something writhed beneath the body, bloating it out hugely. In places, parts were even dislocated, as if a burly man had forced himself into a much too-small coat.
Experienced as he was, Li Huowang knew what it was: Li Sui’s tentacles.
As Li Huowang brushed over its back, a tentacle even slipped out to gently wrap around his finger.
Some tentacles hadn’t even retracted, sprouting out in clusters exposed to the air.
Its limbs had been stretched and thickened—even distorted and deformed by the tentacles—so its body was now a bit taller than Li Huowang.
Through his hands’ inch-by-inch exploration, a mental image formed in Li Huowang’s mind: a blood-and-flesh monstrosity with a dog face, covered in tentacles.
After a long moment, Li Huowang exhaled slowly and asked, “What exactly are you now? Are you Mantou or Li Sui?”
“Dad, I’m Li Sui! Woof woof!” A puff of hot, bloody breath blew onto Li Huowang’s face with the words.
“Where did you go last night? And what exactly happened?”
“Dad, I don’t know. I was playing with Mantou, then I don’t know what happened, but I fell asleep. When I woke up, I couldn’t find Mantou.”
“I think I heard you calling me, so I hurried over.”
Listening to Li Sui’s simple, chronological explanation, Li Huowang sighed deeply. “How could this...”
He knew Black Tai Sui could possess other bodies, but he’d never imagined this scenario.
Was the thing before him Li Sui? Mantou? Or some fusion of the two? How should he treat it?
Sensing Li Huowang’s low mood, the beast face nuzzled closer. Its hard skull gently rubbed against his chest as its tongue lightly licked his chin. The tattered conical hat rolled off its head onto the ground.
Feeling its affection, Li Huowang hugged it with both arms and thought for a long time.
Finally, he patted its ragged raincoat lightly. “Alright, alright... This is fine. Not dying is already a blessing. I won’t ask for more.”
Others might fear or recoil from this mangled, bloody monster.
But not Li Huowang. In this utterly mad world, who was really any better off than anyone else? He was hardly in a position to judge.
Li Huowang turned toward Bai Lingmiao. “Miaomiao, she’s our daughter from now on.”
“Daughter? Her?”
“Yeah. Li Sui’s a Black Tai Sui—no gender—but Mantou was female, so she’s our girl now. Hope you don’t mind.”
As Bai Lingmiao hesitated, the second deity walked over and gently stroked Li Sui’s horrifying head.
—————
The heavenly disaster had passed. Though the events of that short time could fuel nightmares for nights, life had to go on.
After the heated discussions died down to calm, everyone returned to their tasks.
“His dad, his dad, time to get up.”
Wu Fuzi was nudged awake from his nap. Opening his eyes, he saw his sallow-faced wife.
“What time is it?” He sat up slowly and stretched out his feet, waiting for someone to put his shoes on.
“Dusk. Sleep any longer and we’ll need lanterns for the road—wastes money.”
He’d chosen mornings and afternoons to teach in Niuxin Village, but many had to work the fields, even young Yang had to cook. In the end, he’d had no choice but to shift to evenings.
“Mmm~ Help me change.” He stretched out both arms.
“Hey, I’m busy collecting dried radishes from the roof today—no time to serve you. Dinner’s on the table. Wash up after and put it back in the kitchen.”
Wu Fuzi glared at her with both eyes. “This old man is a scholar! How can I go near the kitchen?”
(End of chapter)