Wu Xin: The Monster Killer

Chapter 32: Turning Points

Gunshots echoed throughout the alley, rising and falling incessantly. Yue Qiluo chased after him, only to see Wuxin turn a corner at the next intersection and vanish in an instant. Small in stature and with cumbersome clothes, she broke into a sweat after only a few steps. Fortunately, the soldiers were quick, firing as they pursued. Yue Qiluo finally emerged from the alley, only to hear a soldier's hoarse, distorted voice screaming in anguish, "Dead! Killed!"

Yue Qiluo abruptly stopped, instinctively raising her hand to cover her nose. An indescribable stench of blood filled the air, and in the distance, a man sprawled on the street, a mangled mess, lay before her—it was Wuxin.

Yue Qiluo wasn't afraid of blood, but the unintentional smell of fresh blood made her feel suffocated. Her hands and sleeves were useless; she clearly inhaled a sweet, cloying, cold, and fishy stench. Her right eye began to burn with pain, and she took several steps back, shouting, "What's going on?"

A soldier stopped halfway with his rifle, while the other three ran forward and used their gun barrels to turn over the corpse on the ground. Wuxin lay limply on the street, riddled with countless bullets. His skull was shattered, and a gaping hole had been blasted into his back; his left leg was severed at the knee, and both arms were mangled beyond recognition. One of the bolder soldiers bent down and flipped him onto his back, but the face was gone, leaving only a perfectly intact chin; his chest was split open, red and white—the red was blood, and the white, at first glance, looked like cotton from a cotton-padded coat, but upon closer inspection, it wasn't; it was chewed-up and swallowed steamed buns.

The three soldiers had been so focused on firing that they hadn't realized they'd been riddled with bullets. Someone noticed something: "The bodies are all smashed, but why is there no blood?"

Upon hearing this, the remaining two were taken aback, discovering that there was indeed no river of blood on the ground, only a small, sticky pool of crimson that smelled nauseatingly sweet.

At Yue Qiluo's command, four soldiers found a bamboo basket and a shovel, and shoveled Wuxin into the basket. Yue Qiluo stood a hundred meters away, refusing to believe that Wuxin was truly dead. Since he had no soul, his mysteries must reside in his body, so Yue Qiluo was determined to shovel him back in. She would shovel him back, seal him away, and see what changes he would undergo!

After Yue Qiluo and the soldiers retreated, the streets returned to silence. A large, filthy wild dog sniffed its way over and circled the bloodstains on the ground.

A thin layer of blood had frozen to the ground. After sniffing around, the stray dog ​​found not a single scrap of meat, so it went to a dark spot by the roadside, lowered its rear end, and listlessly defecated a pile of dog poop.

After being pulled, it drooped its tail, seemingly disoriented. Meanwhile, a cold wind blew through the roadside weeds, and a severed hand, its wrist broken, loomed closer and closer.

With his index and middle fingers taking small steps, he dragged his entire palm towards the stray dog. Suddenly, he grabbed the dog's tail, startling it. The large stray dog ​​barked aimlessly once, then barked again.

After two barks, the hand had already climbed up its back along its tail. Five fingers spread out and clung to the wild dog's skin, its filthy, tangled fur concealing its presence.

The big stray dog ​​continued running forward, stopping after a couple of steps to shake itself off like a drowning dog, before continuing to run.

The stray dog ​​had run through the streets all night, finally stopping in front of a house around dawn. Before daybreak, the gate was already open, and a sleepy-eyed young man came out to hitch up the carriage, followed by an old woman carrying a bucket of swill. The old woman splashed the swill on the roadside, coughing and panting as she instructed the young man, "When you see your old master at Qingyun Temple, think about mentioning a change of job. He's kind; perhaps he'll agree."

The young man yawned and readily agreed; while the stray dog ​​scavenged for scraps in the still-unfrozen swill by the roadside. The hand hidden in the dog's fur seemed to possess a mind of its own, and upon hearing the words "Qingyun Temple," it immediately and imperceptibly changed direction.

The young man got into the carriage, cracked the whip and shouted, completely unaware that a hand was clinging to the window and climbing over the thick curtain.

Wu Xin never imagined he would "live" in a hand. A gunshot wound to his wrist that night sent him into a daze. When he regained consciousness, he found himself transformed into a hand. The hand had landed in the roadside grass, its fingers incredibly flexible, allowing it to move freely. Growing from a hand into a person wouldn't take long; therefore, he planned to first return to Qingyun Temple to report his safety, and then find a place to hide and slowly grow. However, walking openly on the road with only a hand was clearly inappropriate, especially since the journey from Wen County to Qingyun Mountain was long; he feared he would transform into some strange form before even reaching the end of the road.

He accidentally fell onto the carriage seat, his index finger lightly tapping the seat. He wasn't in much pain, but he was a little worried, afraid that Yueya would dislike him.

The large carriage clattered along the street at a brisk pace. People gradually appeared on the street, and the young man driving the carriage kept meeting friends, chatting away. Wuxin listened quietly and learned that the young man's former employer was extremely wealthy and lived in the Qingyun Temple, practicing Taoism. Now that the weather was cold and the Spring Festival was approaching, the young master had sent the young man to fetch his former employer home for the holiday. The carriage smoothly left Wen County, leaving a trail of yellow smoke along the dirt road. Wuxin bounced and hopped, thinking that perhaps he would reach Qingyun Mountain before dark.

As evening fell, the young man parked his large carriage outside the mountain gate and ran up the mountain path. A young Taoist priest followed slowly behind, carrying a bundle of firewood on his back. Hidden inside the bundle was a nearly frozen Wuxin.

The firewood was thrown into the woodshed, the young man went to find his old employer, and the young Taoist priest went to eat dinner and take a nap. The broken door of the woodshed opened a crack, and in the darkness, a finger stealthily peeked out.

The index finger touched the threshold, and then the middle finger followed. With a strong push, the palm stood upright, and the index and middle fingers took long strides and ran away in a flash.

In the early hours of the morning, Wuxin entered the courtyard where Yueya and Lord Gu lived.

He ran to the door of the crescent moon-shaped doorway first. With his index and ring fingers firmly planted, he extended his middle finger and pushed the door open.

The door was locked tight, so he ran to the door of Lord Gu next door instead. Yueya was a woman, so of course she would close the door when she slept at night; Lord Gu, however, didn't care at all. His door was a broken one anyway, so it didn't matter whether it was locked or not—it was all the same, offering no shelter from the wind. Wuxin slipped his hand through the crack in the door. A stove was burning inside, and with the stove and Lord Gu, the air was warm and pungent. Wuxin shivered contentedly and then wanted to get onto the kang (heated brick bed). But the kang was too high, and he couldn't climb up. Suddenly, he sensed Lord Gu's large cotton shoes next to him, so Wuxin simply climbed inside. Since he had no nose, he wouldn't be bothered by the stench.

Meanwhile, Lord Gu slept soundly until dawn, when he was awakened by the urge to urinate. Groggy, he threw off the covers and sat up, putting on his cotton-padded coat and trousers, and stretched out his legs to slip on his shoes and go out. Unexpectedly, as his large foot stepped into his cotton-padded shoe, he suddenly felt something hard and uncomfortable beneath his feet. Rubbing his eyes and looking down, Lord Gu saw a finger hooked onto the shoe upper, struggling to crawl out.

Lord Gu opened his mouth wide and yawned loudly, wiping a speck of sleep from the corner of his eye. Feeling completely awake, he looked down and saw a pale hand had crawled out of his cotton shoe.

The first ray of sunlight streamed through the window, falling on Lord Gu's feet. A surge of anger suddenly welled up within him. Barefoot, Lord Gu squatted down, grabbed his thick cotton shoes, and cursed, "You son of a bitch, you dare to scare me in broad daylight! Damn it! If I don't teach you a lesson today, you won't know that even the King of Horses has three eyes!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he slammed his shoe down, flattening Wuxin to the ground. Wuxin tried to wiggle his fingers, attempting to write something on the ground, but Lord Gu, enraged, gave him no chance, only slapping him repeatedly. Wuxin was chased all over the room, while Lord Gu, frowning and glaring, crouched on the ground, chasing him in circles with a large cotton shoe in each hand. Yueya, who had just gotten up and was covered in tangled hair, came out of the outhouse. Hearing the commotion in Lord Gu's room, she went to the window and peeked inside: "Lord Gu, what are you doing? Are there bedbugs in the room?"

Lord Gu didn't even look up, his hands still covering Wuxin's retreat: "It's nothing, a monster has come to my house. If I don't beat it to a pulp today, I'm not a Gu!"

Upon hearing that a monster had arrived, Yueya made no attempt to avoid suspicion and pushed open the door to enter. The moment she stepped inside, a hand darted out and grabbed her trouser leg. She looked down, about to scream, but just as she was about to stop, she bent down and suddenly said, "Lord Gu, don't hit it! It seems like an unintentional hand!"

Master Gu, his hands clasped in thick cotton shoes, looked up in disbelief: "Master's hands?"

Crescent Moon remained silent, tentatively reaching down with her hand, her eyes wide open. The hand gripping the trouser leg seemed to sense this, and just as Crescent Moon's fingertips were about to reach out, it somehow mustered the strength to leap up. The two hands clasped instantly, and Crescent Moon rolled her large eyes to meet Lord Gu's gaze.

"Wuxin..." she began, her voice trembling, "Is it you?"

The severed hand immediately raised one index finger and gently drew circles in her palm.

(End of this chapter)