The more you believe me, the more real it becomes.

Chapter 139 Serving as an Accomplice to a Tiger
Before the words were even finished, instead of the door opening, increasingly terrified sounds came from inside. The chaotic clatter of various objects being overturned and moved echoed throughout. Finally, a scream filled with terror pierced through the door:
"Get out! Get out of here, you piece of trash! Don't try to fool me!"

This reaction.
Could this place have been haunted by evil spirits?
Otherwise, why would they be cursing "things" instead of "people"?
Du Yuan immediately made up his mind, and after a moment's consideration, he said:

"But is there some evil spirit in the neighborhood? Don't worry, old man, I'm a Taoist priest! Not only am I not an evil spirit, but I specialize in dealing with these things!"

The voice was very old, clearly belonging to an elderly person.

"Taoist? Nonsense! Where would a Taoist priest dare to come here these days! You, you really are trying to fool us into opening the door for you!"

Inside the house, an elderly couple leaned against the wall. The old man gripped a wood-chopping knife tightly in both hands, his old eyes fixed on the door, as if a ferocious creature might burst in at any moment. The old woman, hiding behind him, clung tightly to his clothes, barely daring to breathe.

After an unknown amount of time, there was no sound from outside the door.

The old man's tense body suddenly relaxed, the wood-chopping knife in his hand clattered to the ground, and he slumped down, panting:

"Old woman, that thing outside should be gone by now, right?"

The old woman finally let out a long sigh of relief, her heart finally calming down a little, but she couldn't help but start complaining:
"It's all your fault! You insisted that there was no one left in the village, and that the ghost wouldn't come back! Now look what happened, it really did come back!"

The old man wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his face full of helplessness:
"If we don't light a fire, what will we eat? We can't just eat a handful of brown rice every meal, can we? Our stomachs can take it, but the rice bins can't!"

The old woman understood, but the more she thought about it, the sadder she became, and she couldn't help but cover her face and cry.

The old man watched with a heavy heart, but he was helpless. He could only silently pick up the wood-chopping knife and go to the stove to start a fire. Seeing his disheveled face and his flustered movements, the old woman sighed, wiped away her tears, and silently took over the work.

Night deepened. The two elderly people dared not close their eyes, wrapped in blankets and huddled in the corner, quietly recounting the recent tragedies.

"Do you know? Old Zhang's entire family was eaten! They even took his little grandson. What a tragedy! How old was that child?"

"And the Li couple, everyone thought they had escaped long ago. Who would have thought they would be found dead by the roadside, their bodies reduced to nothing but a head and a skeleton!"

The old woman's voice trembled, and she lowered it even further:

"Everyone says this is a warning to others, to make us give up any thought of escaping!"

The old man sighed repeatedly as he listened, his old eyes filled with sorrow.

“I used to always lament that our eldest brother left us too early. Now it seems that it was better that he left early! It saved him from suffering in this inhuman world with us.”

The old woman also sighed deeply.

"Isn't the Emperor supposed to be the Son of Heaven? How come even with the Emperor still alive, he can't control these messy things!"

The old man was about to say, "If the emperor were truly the Son of Heaven, how could the southwest have suffered from disaster for three years without returning?"

But just as he opened his mouth, he heard a series of urgent knocks on the door.

This frightened the two elderly people, who immediately fell silent and huddled together, staring intently at the door.

The old man wanted to ask who it was, but the old woman quickly covered his mouth to prevent anyone from knowing that there were other people inside.

The room grew even more silent. But the knocking outside grew increasingly urgent.

Finally, a weak, tearful female voice drifted in through the crack in the door:

"Sister-in-law, it's me! It's Zhang's daughter-in-law! I... I ran away with my child! Please open the door! My child is so hungry, and I'm so cold!"

The voice sounded very familiar, startling the two elderly people who exchanged glances and walked away.

The old man didn't speak, but his lips clearly formed a question:

'Didn't they say Old Zhang's whole family was eaten?'

The old woman hurriedly shook her head in a low voice:
"I...I only heard about it!" At that time, everyone was fleeing in all directions like headless flies, how could they know the specifics?

The two elderly people stood helplessly inside the house, while the woman outside spoke with increasing despair:

"Please, please, I'm fine, but the child has been hungry for so long. I'm afraid he'll starve to death if he doesn't eat anything soon!"

"I've lost my whole family, I can't lose my child too!"

Hearing this, the two elderly people finally softened and went to open the door.

"Zhang family's daughter-in-law, come in quickly, we still have some porridge left, let's give it to the child first!"

After opening the door, they did indeed see a disheveled woman sitting on the ground.

However, she was not facing inwards, but with her back to the door.

"Zhang's daughter-in-law?" This eerie scene sent chills down the spines of the two elderly people, but seeing that the woman seemed to be holding a child in her arms, they still hesitantly called out.

Before the words were finished, the woman's head twisted back, and she grinned at them, saying:

"Oh my, the door's really open?"

The voice was still Zhang's wife's voice, and the face was still familiar, but it was clearly—Old Zhang's face!

"What, what are you?!" The two old people were so frightened that they staggered backward and almost fell over.

The thing rose from the ground in an incredibly bizarre posture, turned its head back to its original position, crawled a few steps on all fours, and then slowly stood up.

Even more terrifying was that as it rose, its body twisted and changed shape like a melting wax figure—representing the Zhang family, the Li couple, and the Zhou family of three.
In the short time it took for the two old people to stand up, they watched as the familiar face of their neighbor appeared one after another on that thing.

"You, you wretched creature! Did you really eat them?!" The old man's voice trembled with horror.

The thing twisting its neck let out a strange laugh:

"How can you say they 'ate' them? They clearly accumulated good karma in their past lives and served as sacrifices for Your Majesty! When Your Majesty's merits are fulfilled, they will also attain enlightenment!"

The two elderly people dared not speak again and could only huddle together, trembling.

The thing then looked at them with increasing satisfaction.

It really enjoys this fear.

If it were delivered directly to the king, it would be devoured in no time, unlike now where it could be savored so carefully. Therefore, it deliberately slowed its approach.

Just to enjoy for a few more moments the wonderful sight of those two old faces contorted with extreme terror.

If it could elicit more ugly scenes of abandoning wives and children and betraying each other, it would be even more satisfied.

It loves to play this trick—first, it pretends to agree to the other party's request, and just when that pitiful hope has been ignited and the other party thinks they have escaped, it ruthlessly extinguishes it!

But as it walked, it noticed that the two old people's faces looked strange.

There was fear, but even more so, surprise.

And looking behind him?
Startled awake, it suddenly turned around.

Suddenly, a person appeared and stood quietly in front of the door, hands behind their back, calmly watching it.

After a moment, he said:
"Acting as an accomplice to a tyrant?"

(End of this chapter)