Chapter 5: Chang
Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Chang
’I’m already dead?’
Zhu Ge froze. The thought was absurd, impossible.
But he understood in the next instant. Hua Xiaomei wasn’t talking about him, but about "Zhu Ge."
The original owner of this body!
This made Zhu Ge realize at once that Hua Xiaomei must have seen through something!
But...
He had clearly seen Hua Xiaomei and her mother buried years ago. How was she alive again?
Could Hua Xiaomei be the breakthrough he needed to solve this crisis?
Just then, Hua Xiaomei turned her tall, slender figure and began walking into the distance, singing out loud:
"Little sparrow, so much fluff, blows in your mouth and makes it itch, sing a lying song and have a laugh."
"Yesterday I saw the Mountain Monarch lay an egg, today I see the cricket move its nest~"
"One, three, five, seven, nine; two, four, six, seven, eight~"
"Everyone loves to eat babies, flayed and slit-throated and eaten raw. Three thousand fresh skulls a day, even better with a pregnant woman’s flesh and eggs, flesh and eggs~"
"One, two, three, four, five; six, seven, eight, nine, ten~"
Hua Xiaomei sang her song to a simple tune, like a common children’s jingle.
Its lyrics, however, were so horrifying they sent a chill down Zhu Ge’s spine.
Nearby, his parents stiffly turned their heads back and resumed their farm work.
"Hua Xiaomei is dead. We were just having a hysterical fit," his father’s voice was muffled and hoarse. "That song she sings is awful."
Zhu Ge said in a low voice, "Yes, a hysterical fit."
’A hysterical fit?’
’It wasn’t a hysterical fit.’
Zhu Ge just didn’t know if this Hua Xiaomei was here to help him, if she was one of the god’s minions, or if she was here to "steal the god’s food."
For now, he could only assume she was here to help.
Wait... Zhu Ge’s eyes suddenly narrowed.
’If she’s here to help me, why appear in the form of Hua Xiaomei?’
’Regardless of the helper’s identity, choosing to appear as someone who is already dead must mean the key lies with Hua Xiaomei herself.’
Several key points had emerged so far.
The chirping of insects that "woke" him last night.
The hen that crowed at dawn.
The sudden appearance of Hua Xiaomei.
And Hua Xiaomei’s nursery rhyme.
And Hua Xiaomei’s identity itself.
’So many anomalies...’ Zhu Ge frowned in thought.
He had no leads on the chirping insects for now.
As for the crowing hen, he needed to check if other creatures, like wild dogs, were also all female to confirm if it was truly an anomaly.
Other than that, the best hope of destroying the "god’s" nest probably lay with Hua Xiaomei’s appearance.
’Is that nursery rhyme some kind of hint for me?’
Zhu Ge carefully mulled it over.
The first line was: "Little sparrow, so much fluff, blows in your mouth and makes it itch, sing a lying song and have a laugh."
A sparrow has a lot of fluff, which would make your nose and mouth itch if it got in, so you’d want to sing a song and laugh it off.
This wasn’t hard to understand on the surface, but he didn’t know what deeper meaning it might hold. He set it aside for now.
’But "lying song" must mean the nursery rhyme itself is a lie, right?’
A lie means it doesn’t align with the truth.
It could be the exact opposite, something similar, or something completely unrelated. In any case, it’s inconsistent with reality.
But if it were completely unrelated, there would have been no reason for Hua Xiaomei to appear.
Therefore, the situations described in the following lines of the rhyme were either the opposite of reality or very close to it.
"Yesterday I saw the Mountain Monarch lay an egg, today I see the cricket move its nest."
Mountain Monarch?
The *Shuowen Jiezi* says: "The tiger is the king of mountain beasts, thus it is called the Mountain Monarch."
But tigers are mammals; laying eggs doesn’t make sense.
However, the line could be expressing something else, like the Mountain Monarch having offspring.
This reminded Zhu Ge of a saying he’d heard in his past life.
To be a slave-ghost for a tiger!
’The Mountain Monarch lays an egg... The Mountain Monarch...’
Zhu Ge couldn’t help but look at his "parents" beside him.
’If a living creature ascends to godhood, it might gain other strange characteristics and abilities.’
’But what if it’s the spirit of a dead tiger that has condensed into a god?’
’A Tiger God!’
’Could the Tiger God’s power be the ability to turn the spirits it has seized into Chong, making them appear no different from ordinary people?’
’The Chong... perhaps they are the "eggs" laid by the Mountain Monarch in the nursery rhyme!’
’Chong Ghosts... Chong Ghosts...’
Zhu Ge mulled over the term, struggling to remain calm.
It was a good thing he hadn’t revealed his own peculiarity from the start.
These people whose spirits had been seized had already become Chong!
If this Tiger God could share the sight and hearing of its Chong, his concealment was absolutely necessary.
’It might not necessarily be a Tiger God...’ Zhu Ge’s mind was a tangled mess. He could only continue analyzing the nursery rhyme.
With so little information, he felt much of his analysis was just forced speculation.
He didn’t know if the number sequences like "One, two, three, four, five; two, four, six, seven, eight" had any meaning, but it was impossible to tell for now.
The line after "Yesterday I saw the Mountain Monarch lay an egg" was "today I see the cricket move its nest."
Zhu Ge felt this "cricket" might be related to the "chirping of insects" from last night.
As for the next line?
"Everyone loves to eat babies, flayed and slit-throated and eaten raw. Three thousand fresh skulls a day, even better with a pregnant woman’s flesh and eggs."
Just thinking of this line made Zhu Ge feel the bloodlust and cruelty.
’This is the world I’m in now!’
"The weeds are cleared."
Just then, his father’s voice sounded out. "I’ll keep watch here. You two go back and rest."
Zhu Ge looked out.
Their family’s field had no irrigation; it was a dry field where they grew sweet potatoes.
The ground was covered in weeds.
But considering his father was in a mindless state, Zhu Ge understood.
"Let’s go back," his mother said, beckoning for Zhu Ge to follow her.
Zhu Ge immediately followed, his heart pounding.
’An opportunity!’
’An opportunity to find and destroy the Tiger God’s lair!’
’Information... I have to gather enough information!’
Zhu Ge knew that the information he currently had was far too limited.
He had to get enough information to determine where the Tiger God’s lair was. Destroying it would be the next step.
He didn’t have much time, probably only a day.
After all, in just a day or two, the Tiger God had already seized the spirits of more than half the families in the village.
It wouldn’t take much longer for it to seize the spirits of all the remaining families.
Right now, his brain was a muddle, and all he wanted to do was sleep, so he couldn’t think too much.
The best method was to gather as much information as possible, then, when the time was right, equip "Kunpeng" and "process" all this information at once.
Based on his use of Kunpeng last night, the trait was at least equivalent to the three traits of "Calm," "Detachment," and "Rapid Thought."
Calm and Rapid Thought would allow him to cool his head and swiftly organize and contemplate the information.
And Detachment would allow his soul to leave his body.
A single, unique trait was equivalent to a collection of many others!
If not for the limited time he could use it, Zhu Ge would want to have it equipped every day.
That feeling of being several times more clear-headed and quick-witted than usual was just too good!
Lost in thought, Zhu Ge reached the edge of the village.
Just then, a few men were returning from the mountain path not far away.
"Well, well! Isn’t that Zhu Ge? Finished with your chores? Come give us a hand!"
Six men were struggling to carry a large, felled tree stump.
The one in the lead was a burly man with a savage grin on his face.
"If you don’t come lend a hand, I’ll ’claim’ your mother during the Mushroom Festival in a few days! HAHA!"