Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1372 Food Strangeness

The mouse instinctively ran deeper into the house.

In the night that enveloped the yard, there were always some rustling sounds. The little animal was very sensitive to these sounds, so it avoided these ominous sounds and ran all the way to the kitchen.

Unfortunately, Lu Ning couldn't use her sense of smell, so she didn't know what smell immediately lured the rat over there. However, from the name "Fang Fu" and the deeds of the Yuwen family, she could basically infer it.

The rat hid behind the stove, and Lu Ning couldn't see anything, but she was very patient. She waited until the second half of the night, when the rat slowly crawled out and climbed onto the stove along the bulge in the brick joints in the corner of the wall.

There was a huge pot with some cold soup in it, with fat floating on top that had solidified into white lumps. Some pieces of meat were solidified on the surface of the soup, showing some signs of drying out.

The mouse did not go directly into the pot. It knew that it might not be able to get out, so it started to walk around the edge of the pot. Some oil drops or small pieces of meat spilled on the edge could be used as food.

If it is not a spiritual beast raised by oneself, there is no way to command it. After all, this little spell is mainly used to let the birds, cats and dogs raised by oneself peek at the opponent's cards when playing cards. Although Lu Ning used it here, he could not avoid the various disadvantages of this spell.

At this moment, a figure entered the mouse's field of vision, without it noticing it at all. The figure hunched over and groped his way into the kitchen, then lit the oil lamp hanging on the wall.

Suddenly, the mouse jumped into the gap behind the stove in fright. But the eyes still looked out through the gap in the bricks. What surprised Lu Ning was that this was just an old man. Although he was hunched over and his face was full of wrinkles due to his age, he looked just like an ordinary old man, without any strange changes.

Since she couldn't hear anything, Lu Ning could only watch the old man stretch out his hands to fumble around the stove while mumbling something. Although Lu Ning knew some lip reading, the old man was obviously not talking to anyone, and his mouth shape hardly changed much, so it was difficult to tell what he was saying through the subtle changes in his lips.

The old man fumbled for a long time before he grabbed the flint from the edge. He squatted down, grabbed a bunch of grass leaves for kindling, stuffed them into the stove, and then used the flint to ignite the stove. Then he filled in a few thick sticks to create a little space, and put a few small firewood in. Soon, the flame became strong, and the mouse felt the heat and quickly changed its position.

Then, the old man took a look into the pot and began to walk around the kitchen, placing the ingredients he found on the chopping board one by one.

So far, all his actions looked like an old man who came to the kitchen to cook because he was hungry, but this action itself was very strange.

The Yuwen family is a prominent family. If they are children of an aristocratic family, there is almost no need for them to cook by themselves. And if they are servants who cook, this old man is too old. At this age, he should have been sent home long ago. Even if they wanted to keep him, they probably wouldn't dare to let him do the job of cooking.

Lu Ning watched the old man busy reheating a pot of oil soup, and the meat bones began to float in the pot again, and the color was better. The old man poured the prepared food into the pot, and then scooped in two scoops of water, and then a satisfied expression appeared on his face.

But with such a satisfied smile, Lu Ning finally discovered that the old man had no teeth in his mouth.

When the soup was cooked again, the old man drank two bowls of soup in the simplest way. After the two bowls of soup were swallowed, he stretched out his hand and began to scratch his cheeks, and then blood began to flow out of his mouth. As his face gradually became painful and distorted, the wrinkles began to gradually decrease, and his hunched back began to straighten up, and his white hair quickly turned black.

When he spat out a mouthful of blood and grinned, a row of white teeth had already grown in his mouth.

The old man - no, it should be said that the middle-aged man, put out the fire in the stove, and then walked towards the door. But when he reached the door, he paused, then slowly turned his head and looked over here at an abnormal angle.

He saw the mouse, even through the stove.

Then, Lu Ning "heard" a sound, an unclear "gurgling" sound, like the sound of a hungry person's stomach rumbling. Immediately afterwards, a big hand suddenly appeared in his field of vision. The man's palm appeared in the mouse's field of vision at a speed that the mouse could not react to. Then, the effect of "Spirit Beast's Eyes" disappeared.

Lu Ning looked up suddenly. She was still not far from the Yu Wen family's residence, and the people in the courtyard looked up at her with no obstruction at all.

"Gulu".

The clear voice appeared in Lu Ning's ears again. Even though she had seen many strange things, she still felt a little tingling at this moment.

There is no doubt that the problem with the Yuwen family is that something related to their food has caused problems, but the specific situation is not obvious now. Instead, using a mouse to probe it is like a curse that haunts people.

"What is this..." Lu Ning closed her eyes and didn't look at the guy who was looking at her, but the other's gaze was still burning, so burning that she couldn't ignore it at all. Moreover, Lu Ning could even feel the thoughts contained in that gaze, which was appetite.

It would not be difficult for her to stop this person now, but with the Yuwen family in such a strange state, she was still worried that the follow-up would never end. Just in case, she took out the "Life and Death" to confirm that nothing had been taken away from her.

"Then we'll have to wait until tomorrow."

The other person was just staring at her, and even if Lu Ning chose to withdraw temporarily, she would still keep staring at her, and the salivating voice followed her.

Of course, this disturbance was nothing to Lu Ning, it was just annoying.

The next day was the day for Mr. Jia to visit. She went straight to Mr. Jia, explained the situation to him, and then followed him to Yuwen's house.

During the day, there was no one at the door either, and the lanterns were put away. I don't know who did it. When Mr. Jia came to the door, he was not afraid at all. After all, it was a demon, and it was an evil thing in itself.

After a while, someone came and opened the door.

It was not the middle-aged man seen yesterday, but a young woman - Mr. Jia and Lu Ning frowned almost at the same time, because the woman was not dressed like a servant, but like a daughter of a noble family, and it was actually inappropriate for someone of such status to come out to greet guests. It was not for any other reason, but because of her age. Mr. Jia's status in the martial arts world was not low, and the servants should have directly greeted the person in charge of the host family, unless there was no one older than this woman in the family.

"Your Excellency is..." the woman asked with some fear, and her tone was obviously not like those of young talents who came out to show off their talents.

"Jia Chong from Tiemianlou sent me a visiting card a few days ago. I came to Yuwen Mansion today to discuss important matters."

"Iron Face Building? Ah, yes, yes... Please follow me."

Jia Chong followed the woman in, and from beneath her robe, a few antennae protruded, sensing the scent in the air.

With Lu Ning's reminder, it was very clear that the current abnormal situation in the mansion might not be something it could handle on its own. However, with an important mission at hand, it still wanted to find out what changes had occurred here. At the very least, it had to go back and remind the demons in the Iron-faced Building so that they could make preparations early.

After the woman led Jia Chong into the hall, she picked up the teapot on the table and poured a cup of tea. Then she lowered her head and whispered, "I'll go find someone... maybe someone will come to see you."

"Maybe what does it mean? Miss, Jia has submitted a visiting card. Could it be that the Yuwen family, as the first family in Shengyuan City, doesn't even know how to entertain guests?"

Perhaps because the noise was too loud, the woman flinched but still shook her head. "What's going on?"

"My family... has been busy these days, and even the affairs in the city have been handed over to the people below to take care of. I really don't know if they are free to entertain you today... I'm very sorry."

"Forget it, please ask for me, young lady."

"Yes, tea please."

Jia Chong was puzzled as he watched the woman run out of the house. He felt that he was just making a legitimate request, so why was he bullying her? If he couldn't entertain the guest, why not send someone more capable?

Helpless, Jia Chong picked up the teacup, but as soon as he touched the cup, his fingers trembled.

The cup was cold to the touch, not just cold, but as if it had been in an ice cellar for a while. It looked into the cup, but saw that the "tea" was so clear that it couldn't see anything except a circle of water, as if the cup didn't contain water at all.

Jia Chong hurriedly put the cup back on the table, not daring to touch it at all. It could "smell" some sweet and fragrant smells in the air, which were very pleasant. If it was not focused enough, it would probably be attracted by curiosity and go to see where the fragrance came from.

But now was obviously not the time to be curious. Mr. Jia sat there, looking at the desolate courtyard and the slightly shabby house. It was clearly a demon, but for a moment he felt like a fly caught in a spider web.

In the silence, it suddenly heard a voice.

"Gulu."

A small figure appeared in the corner of the door. It was a child, a child who was so hungry that he was unrecognizable. He was skinny and his hands were more like claws. The child's eyes were bloodshot and the expression on his face was dull and numb.

"Gulu."

The child opened his mouth and made a strange sound in his throat. Jia Chong felt that he was beginning to sweat, but as a demon, he didn't have this ability.

It is good at smelling, but the smell on this child is turbid and unclear, with only a little bit of human smell, and the rest are the smells of snakes, insects, rats, ants, pigs, dogs, cows, sheep, grass, branches and leaves, soil and stones, and it even seems to have the smell of demons.

Jia Chong had never seen such a complicated and chaotic thing in his life. After the child finally crawled out, under the body that was so thin that bones could be seen, there was a bulging belly covered with protruding blood vessels. Unlike the dirt on the body, the belly looked very white.

"This……"

"Jian'er, why did you run out?"

A hoarse, old voice was heard, and an old man with half of his hair lost walked out from behind the child. His face was haggard, and his clothes seemed to have not been washed for a long time and were covered with grease. He was leaning on an iron rod in his hand, and his hawk-like eyes were staring at Mr. Jia.

"Gurgle." The child didn't say anything, but made strange noises.

"Then come over."

The old man walked into the hall with a cane, looked at Mr. Jia, reached out and touched his beard, and several strands of his beard fell off.

"I am the current head of the Yuwen family, Yuwen Ke."

"Yuwen Ke? I heard that the current head of the Yuwen family is Mr. Yuwen Hong..."

"That happened three days ago." Yu Wen Ke grinned.

Mr. Jia was stunned.

"Three days ago, when you handed in the visiting card, it was still my eldest brother who was in charge, but now it's my turn." Yu Wen Ke walked in with the child, sat down on the seat, picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup of tea, then tilted his head back and drank it down.

"But I know your story and your request." Yuwen Ke poured another cup and handed it to the child with a sinister smile on his face. "You can probably guess something when you see our appearance. Fortunately, you chose to come during the day. If you had come at night, ha, no one would come to visit at night, right?"

"Mr. Yuwen, is the situation in this mansion really out of control?" Jia Chong asked hurriedly.

"Hahaha, square cauldron...what square cauldron...it's a magic weapon!" Yuwen Ke sneered, scratching the table with his fingers, leaving a few white marks. "The Yuwen family is not finished, the Yuwen family can still hold on for a while, but we can't find a way out. We can only eat, anything is fine...because we took things from the pot, so we have to starve forever like this! Jian'er, Jian'er? What are you doing?"

Yuwen Ke's words gradually became confused, and Jia Chong heard the sound of chewing. He didn't dare to look over because his tentacles had already detected the smell of blood in the air.

The child slowly crawled out, holding two fingers in his mouth, chewing them with a crunching sound. Yuwen Ke raised his hand, looked at the broken knuckles, put them into his mouth and sucked twice, and the blood stopped oozing out.

"Ugh……"

"I'm sorry to have come here to visit you. But why did the cauldron change to its current state? Although it is changing, it shouldn't be so fast, right?"

"Because..." Yuwen Ke opened his mouth to speak, when suddenly footsteps were heard.

Jia Chong looked towards the door and saw that woman.

"Sir, my family is busy, I'm afraid today——"

The woman walked into the room while talking, and then she and Jia Chong stood there in a daze.

Jia Chong looked at the woman, then at Yuwen Ke and the child, and immediately realized that the clean and tidy clothes of the woman, a daughter of a noble family, were completely different from the dirty clothes of the two.

The moment it came to its senses, two pairs of insect wings popped out from behind it, and with the force of the catapult it rushed directly to the door, grabbed the woman and rushed out. Then, two consecutive "gurgle" sounds were heard behind it. Jia Chong didn't look, as it still remembered the way out, and it also remembered that Lu Ning had said that she would keep an eye on this place.

A dull sound that penetrated the air sounded behind him, followed by the sound of soft matter being crushed. Jia Chong was very fast and arrived at the door in a moment, while Lu Ning stood outside the door, with his palms stretched out and pointed at the inside of the door, with cold mist covering his palms.