Linbiangui Village-Infinite Streaming Chapter 40
byLord of This World
Chen Jin’s mind was filled with the image of Wu Zeng’s suggestive actions from the morning, leaving him with no appetite. His gaze swept over the noisy crowd. He saw the three Bai brothers sitting in a corner, the two younger ones obediently squatting on their seats, waiting for the food their eldest brother was scooping for them.
Wu Zeng’s fingertip lightly brushed the back of Chen Jin’s hand under the table. The icy touch made him shiver. Following Wu Zeng’s subtle indication, Chen Jin glanced toward the iron pot in the distance, where a basin full of washed and torn wild mushrooms was placed.
The sun had climbed high into the sky unnoticed. The main course for lunch was served—all specialties of Mengle Village. Various cold salads, raw pork, and wild mushrooms were neatly arranged in porcelain bowls, a feast for the eyes.
The sudden, mournful wail of the suona sounded—it was time to eat. The guests began to pick up their chopsticks as if hearing a command. Wu Kai Ke did not hold any formal ceremony, using only firecrackers and the suona to control the flow of the banquet.
“Don’t eat these mushrooms,” Chen Jin stopped Uncle A Dong’s hand from reaching for the plate of stir-fried fungi. The mushrooms from the previous world had left him with lingering fear. “Eat your meat.”
“You eat.” As soon as the words left his mouth, Wu Zeng placed a piece of braised pork, half-fat and half-lean, perfectly colored, into Chen Jin’s bowl.
Wu Kai Ke was sitting alone at a separate table, perfectly upright. His meal was noticeably simpler, lacking the local specialties, consisting entirely of light and plain stir-fries. He delicately picked up a piece of green vegetable from his bowl, slowly chewed, and swallowed.
Several elders, led by Granny Liu Feng, sat behind his table. The wrinkles on their faces appeared especially deep in the sunlight, and their cloudy eyes darted back and forth, scrutinizing Wu Kai Ke.
After several rounds of drinks, the villagers at the surrounding tables successively got up, greeted Wu Kai Ke, and left. Their relationship was shallow to begin with. Old Man Wu was the only link between the village and Wu Kai Ke. Wu Kai Ke was willing to host a banquet after the old man’s passing, and the villagers were willing to show their respect by attending the funeral. It was all for the sake of the little old man. After this meal, they would likely be strangers again.
“Kai Ke!” The lame Grandpa Zhang Liao spat a bloody phlegm onto the ground. He forcefully thumped his cane on the floor. “It’s the last day! Are you still not going to send your father to the temple?”
“Exactly! Your father is holding the divine statue as he goes. If you don’t send him there for one last look, how can he rest in peace?!” Another old man pounded his chest, his voice hoarse.
“Wu Kai Ke! Did a dog eat your conscience?” Granny Liu Feng shrieked, her withered finger pointing directly at Wu Kai Ke’s nose. “You ate a meal at my house when you were little. I’m not asking for anything now, just listen to this one thing I have to say!”
Wu Kai Ke sat as still as a bell, his face grim. He unhurriedly pulled a wet wipe from his pocket to clean his fingers, as if he had touched something filthy. The gaze behind his glasses was cold and sharp as he swept over the elders’ agitated and distorted faces. The corner of his mouth even curled into a mocking arc. He was deaf to all the accusations and curses, his expression suggesting he was watching a group of noisy ants.
The surrounding clamor seemed separated from him by an invisible pane of glass. He remained detached, observing the local funeral with cold eyes.
“That one meal, my old man repaid it well, didn’t he, Aunt Liu?” Wu Kai Ke spoke slowly, his tone full of disdain. “Since I achieved success, how much money my old man invested in the village, do you think I wouldn’t know?”
Uncle A Dong was so startled by the sudden argument that he lost his appetite, holding his bowl and cautiously observing the scene ahead.
“Can that be the same?! Can that be the same?” Several elders jabbed the tabletop, heartbroken. “You still don’t understand the situation!”
“The feast is over, see the guests out!” After dropping this order to clear the area, Wu Kai Ke stood up and returned to the inner room. His secretary immediately took over to handle the cleanup.
The elders sighed by the table, looking as if they had something to say but couldn’t voice it.
“Judging by this situation, Wu Kai Ke probably doesn’t know about the fate-borrowing method, but the attitude of these elders is quite strange.” Chen Jin felt Wu Zeng’s presence draw near, a faint scent of mint lingering at his nose.
The banquet finally ended. Leftovers and cold stoves emitted an air of decay.
A sudden downpour began without warning. Large raindrops hammered the red plastic awning, creating a roaring sound. The guests scattered like birds. The courtyard was mostly empty, the mess of tables and ground remaining where it was. Old Man Wu’s coffin still lay lonely in the center of the room, and Wu Kai Ke had long since disappeared.
Chen Jin and Wu Zeng followed the crowd to take shelter under the eaves. Uncle A Dong squeezed out from among a few villagers, leaned close to the two, and lowered his voice mysteriously: “Look over there!”
They saw the hunched Granny Liu Feng, taking advantage of the chaos and the cover of the rain, sneakily approach the coffin in the house. Several elders stood in the courtyard keeping watch for her, looking vigilant yet trying to appear innocently unnatural.
Granny Liu Feng’s withered hand trembled as she pulled something from her bosom—it was a palm-sized, rain-soaked wooden carving of a divine statue! The statue was ancient and eerie in appearance, with downcast eyes and a solemn, dignified expression, exactly like the main deity in the Mountain God Temple!
The bottom edges of the statue were still stained with damp soil and incense ash, as if it had been dug up from deep in the earth.
Granny Liu Feng’s cloudy eyes shifted. Her lips trembled as she tried to wedge the small statue into the gap between the coffin and the lid, muttering under her breath: “Old Brother Wu… with this last completion, you won’t lack anything…”
“What are you doing!” A thunderous roar tore through the rain curtain! The fury in the secretary’s voice was unmistakable.
Immediately, Wu Kai Ke slowly stepped out from the house, his expression unusually calm, his movements cool and restrained. However, his imposing presence, even without anger, dropped the surrounding temperature to freezing. Wu Kai Ke shoved aside a paper wreath blocking his path and slowly approached Granny Liu Feng. He looked down at the hunched elder and spoke slowly: “Aunt Liu, three strikes and you’re out. This is the last time I will tolerate you.”
With that, Wu Kai Ke delivered a flying kick. The statue in Granny Liu Feng’s hand clattered to the ground, rolling a few times on the rain-slicked flagstones before stopping in the middle of the courtyard. The rainwater quickly washed away the mud and ash.
Granny Liu Feng stared blankly at Wu Kai Ke, her mouth trembling open but unable to utter a word. Perhaps she was wondering if the next blow would land on her.
Seeing the statue roll into the center, the elders stumbled forward, trying to walk into the courtyard to retrieve the object of their longing.
Wu Kai Ke gave his secretary a look. The secretary immediately lunged forward, planting one foot down. His leather shoe stomped heavily on the statue, which instantly shattered into pieces.
The elders cried out in anguish. Grandpa Zhang Liao was so enraged he couldn’t stand steady, nearly falling into the rainwater.
“What are these old folks trying to achieve? Just to let their old friend receive one last touch from their god before burial?” Uncle A Dong sucked in his stomach, attempting to save his belly from being splashed by water.
The rain intensified. Wu Zeng pulled Chen Jin further inward, preventing him from being soaked by the water dripping from the eaves. “Just watch the show, don’t talk.”
“Disperse,” Wu Kai Ke said flatly, scanning the surroundings before turning back into the house. “After today, we won’t meet again.”
“Stop right there!” Grandpa Zhang Liao threw his cane onto the ground, his face contorted, his voice sharp with fury. “You ignorant fool! You don’t even know who is trying to save you! Ungrateful!”
Wu Kai Ke ignored him and continued walking toward the house.
“You think your success is all because of yourself!” Grandpa Zhang Liao spat on the ground and shouted loudly at Wu Kai Ke’s retreating back: “If your father hadn’t begged us back then, do you think your family would have survived until now?”
Wu Kai Ke stopped, standing still, seemingly waiting for him to finish.
Seeing that his words had an effect, Grandpa Zhang Liao raised his cane and continued speaking to him, though his tone was slightly softer now. “After tonight, if your father doesn’t complete this last sacrifice to the Mountain God, everything you possess will vanish!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Wu Kai Ke slowly turned his head, smiling. “I’m afraid it won’t be after tonight, will it?”
Everyone was confused.
Wu Kai Ke smiled and looked at his watch. “His passing wasn’t at midnight, you know. 10, 9, 8, 7…”
Wu Kai Ke counted down. As the ten seconds passed, the hour hand pointed directly to two o’clock in the afternoon. In that instant, the coffin lid exploded without warning. Old Man Wu’s stiff corpse suddenly sat bolt upright, his head immediately rotating ninety degrees to face all the guests present. His eyes were tightly shut, his skin iron-black. Dense white mycelial threads, like living organisms, frantically drilled out of his seven orifices, then burrowed into the exposed skin.
Most of the guests who hadn’t yet scattered in the courtyard suddenly developed huge tumors on their necks, with countless things seemingly wriggling inside.
In a flash, screams, shouts, and the sound of shattering dishes mixed into chaos.
Chen Jin didn’t know what was happening to him, but the fungal threads wriggling beneath human skin were clearly visible to his eyes. He instantly recognized that the mycelium was at work—they had all eaten the mushrooms on the table. However, this substance was completely different from the fungi in the previous world. The previous fungi controlled people like puppets, but this mycelium was entirely aimed at forcefully occupying and exhausting the human body. Every single thread was deeply rooted in the organs, frantically drawing nutrients from the host.
Old Man Wu in the coffin slowly rotated his neck, the movement producing a grating “kaka” sound. His head turned toward the direction where Chen Jin and the other two were standing, then froze, no longer moving.
Wu Zeng abruptly yanked Chen Jin back and retreated to the side. “A Dong, follow us!”
“Aye, aye!” Uncle A Dong stumbled along behind them.
With a “crack,” Old Man Wu’s shell of a body shot out of the coffin, charging directly toward Chen Jin and the others.
“You… this is… impossible. Sister A Rong said that the fate-borrowing technique must repay all the borrowed fate before the sacrificed person’s soul returns to the heavens, otherwise the fate will return entirely to the original owner, and the sacrificer’s soul will dissipate, never to be reborn.” Grandpa Zhang Liao staggered forward two steps. “The time has come… what exactly did you do to your father?!”
“What kind of trashy, unorthodox technique thinks it can control me?” Wu Kai Ke reached out and caught a few raindrops in the air, speaking with a cold laugh. “Why don’t you ask who you owe your life in this world to?”
As soon as he finished speaking, a white fungal thread pierced through Grandpa Zhang Liao’s glabella. His eyes widened, and blood streamed down from the center of his forehead. Before he could say another word, he dropped to his knees with a “thud,” lifeless.
“Who… who are you exactly…” Granny Liu Feng shrank back two steps, tightly clutching the talisman she had sought from the temple.
“Naturally, I am the Lord of this World.”