Song Ciwan wielded the iron ladle, stirring the atballs bobbing up and down in the pot.
Billowing steam rushed from the pot and puffed into her face, carrying with it the tantalizing aroma of at.
Aunt Zhou squatted before the stove, feeding the fire and swallowing nonstop.
Song Ciwan furrowed her brow, pondering Aunt Zhou’s earlier question while simultaneously operating the Heaven and Earth Scale to quickly sell the second mass of essence she had obtained from the green-clothed villager.
[You have sold a Village-Level Mysterious Ghost Spirit—Hate, Hate, Hate—weighing two catties and three taels. You have received one hint for the current Deceitful Realm.]
This ti, she didn’t receive Cultivation feedback, but a hint for the Deceitful Realm!
At the sa ti, an ethereal ssage entered Song Ciwan’s mind—the hint for the Deceitful Realm: [To gain without working is inhuman; to be rewarded for labor is civilized! at eaters are livestock, plant eaters are primates, and Qi Eaters are divine beings.]
Song Ciwan mulled over these words, a mix of surprise and dawning realization washing over her.
’Just as I thought. According to the rules of this Deceitful Realm, we can’t eat the at!’
’But vegetarian food earned through labor should be safe to eat.’
Song Ciwan imdiately picked up the pace, managing to scoop all the atballs out of the pot before the fifteen-minute deadline. By this point, she was so hungry her face was deathly pale, and bile rose in her throat whenever she opened her mouth.
During this ti, Aunt Zhou had asked Song Ciwan several tis to give her so of the at to eat.
She couldn’t endure the hunger as well as Song Ciwan. While Song Ciwan was only dealing with bile rising in her throat, blood would well up whenever Aunt Zhou opened her mouth.
Song Ciwan had to keep reminding her, "Aunt Zhou, hold on! We can’t eat this. Think about Lady Zhen. Lady Zhen is waiting for you..."
The ntion of Lady Zhen gave Aunt Zhou boundless patience and willpower.
She didn’t fully understand what kind of bizarre place Wealth Village was, but she possessed basic powers of observation.
A village sees a horde of refugees, swarming in as aggressively as bandits, yet its people show no fear. Instead, they slaughter pigs, cook a feast, and welco them with open arms. That was the first thing that made no sense.
Then she looked at the people eating so rrily at the banquet—by now, could they even be called human anymore?
The ones who ate fastest had already begun to twist and bloat, their bodies grotesquely deforming.
Their bellies swelled into spheres, their ears grew as large as palm-leaf fans, their noses elongated, and their mouths widened. A dense coat of short, white fur began to sprout on their faces. The fingers on the hands shoveling food into their mouths fused together, transforming from nimble human digits into animal trotters.
They looked exactly like pigs’ trotters!
Aunt Zhou might have been unworldly, but she wasn’t blind, and she wasn’t a fool.
Seeing this, how could she not understand?
The trap in Wealth Village had been laid out in plain sight from the very beginning!
’What good could possibly co to those who accept free als?’
As she thought it over more carefully, a horrifying question arose. ’If people who eat the free food turn into pigs... then this fragrant pork at the banquet—was it ever really pork to begin with?’
’If it wasn’t pork, then what was it?’
Aunt Zhou shuddered, instantly halting her runaway train of thought. She didn’t dare to dwell on it any further.
Then she slled the aroma of at wafting from the stove... Her instincts still found it tantalizing, but a profound revulsion had taken root in her heart.
Now, Song Ciwan no longer needed to ntion Lady Zhen to motivate her. It was as if Aunt Zhou had awoken from a nightmare, her mind clearer than ever before.
Aunt Zhou stamred, trying to get Song Ciwan’s attention. "Miss Song... Look, look..."
She gestured with her eyes, and Song Ciwan gave a slight nod.
Once all the atballs were in the basin, the overseer, a villager holding a Steel Whip, walked over with a kind smile. Squinting, he said cheerfully, "Well now, not bad at all. Miss Song, your speed with that ladle could rival a master chef’s."
Song Ciwan was indeed fast. The main reason for her speed was the partial recovery of the True Qi in her body.
With this small amount of True Qi, her strength, stamina, and speed all naturally increased.
After all, how could anyone cook quickly and well in such a large pot without a great deal of strength?
Song Ciwan smiled and replied, "Sir, the atballs are ready. Should I serve them now?"
The overseer replied, "Of course. Miss Song, take the atballs to our Village Chief’s table. Do a good job of it, and the Village Chief will reward you, understand?"
’The Village Chief!’
Song Ciwan’s gaze flickered toward the Giant Village Chief at the central table. The instant she looked over, the chief abruptly turned his head.
Their gazes locked. The Giant Village Chief had a savage aura and ferocious features, yet at that mont, he managed to squeeze out a "friendly" smile for Song Ciwan.
’Did the Giant Village Chief’s attitude change because I cooked a pot of food for them?’
Song Ciwan thought back to the hint she had received from the Deceitful Realm: ’To be rewarded for labor is civilized!’
She imdiately complied with the overseer’s instructions, called over Aunt Zhou, and together they lifted the basin of atballs and started toward the Giant Village Chief.
As they passed the nurous tables, they saw that many of the refugees no longer looked human at all. The villagers had placed "their" food bowls on the ground, and these inhuman figures were now hunched over, heads down, stretching their mouths to eat directly from the bowls.
They had beco pigs in all but na.
Aunt Zhou and Song Ciwan carried the large basin, walking with trepidation.
By the ti they reached the Giant Village Chief, Aunt Zhou’s back was soaked with cold sweat, and fresh blood dripped ceaselessly from the corner of her mouth.
She was so hungry. Seeing the blood drip from her mouth, it wasn’t hard to imagine it was a sign that her stomach and intestines were beginning to digest themselves.
The fresh blood also seed to stimulate the surrounding villagers of Wealth Village. As Aunt Zhou and Song Ciwan walked, they were followed the entire way by the cold, clammy stares of the villagers.
In contrast, the Giant Village Chief, who sat at the central table awaiting their arrival, kept a smile on his face. His gaze wasn’t sinister; if anything, he seed to have the best attitude of them all.
Following the Giant Village Chief’s instructions, Song Ciwan and Aunt Zhou placed the large basin of atballs in the very center of the square table.
The Giant Village Chief sat there imperiously, forcing a smile. He said to Song Ciwan and Aunt Zhou, "You’ve done well. It’s the rule in our Wealth Village: work must be rewarded. What do you want?"
Aunt Zhou was flustered, but she stuck to the story she and Song Ciwan had quietly agreed upon on the way there. "I... I want to pick so of the wild vegetables at the edge of the village to eat!"
She only wanted wild vegetables!
The smile on the Giant Village Chief’s face faltered for a mont, but then he laughed heartily. "Just a few wild vegetables? If you want to eat them, then go right ahead and pick them!"
Having received his permission, Aunt Zhou let out a small sigh of relief.
Then it was Song Ciwan’s turn. She said, "I have an uncle who’s a villager in Yufu Village, just south of Wealth Village. I’d like to go and seek refuge with him. I ask the Village Chief to please show the way."
In truth, Song Ciwan had no such uncle, and he certainly wasn’t a villager from Yufu Village. She didn’t even know if a place called Yufu Village truly existed in this Deceitful Realm.
After all, everything she had just said was a complete fabrication.
A fabrication, yes, but one that was the result of Song Ciwan’s careful deliberation.
She wanted to test a theory: what would happen if she requested a reward that the Giant Village Chief could not grant?
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