Chapter 447 - 273: God Slaying
“Sister, I am scared!”
From outside the dark cage, the sound of flesh being torn and chewed echoed, and the child backed away in fear.
“Don’t be scared, your sister is here. I will always protect you, those people won’t hurt you.”
The gaunt girl looked into the darkness, her eyes also full of fear. But the younger brother in her arms made her realize that she had to be strong.
“Sister, have mom and dad been eaten?”
The child didn’t dare to look anymore and turned to bury his face in his sister’s abdomen. That slight warmth comforted his terrified and anxious heart.
Under their father’s guide, their family fled to the sparsely populated mountains to avoid the warfare, but their numbers dwindled. Not long ago, their parents disappeared from their sight.
They looked just like them when they first met. They were very kind with smiling faces, and even offered food. It seemed very friendly. But after dark, those people became even more terrifying than the demons they encountered on the road.
“Mom and dad are fine. They’re still alive. Don’t be scared, we will be okay too.”
The girl held her skin and bones brother in her arms. From outside the wooden cage, she could hear the ominous sounds of chewing and heavy panting. It made her afraid too, but there was no one left behind her to turn to for help.
“We will definitely escape from here alive.”
“Will a celestial being come to save us?”
After hearing his sister’s soothing words, the child lifted his head, his eyes filled with hope.
“A celestial being?”
The girl was taken aback for a moment and then remembered. Before the world had turned so grim, the child’s favorite pastime was to sneak away to a tree and listen to a storyteller from the neighboring village spin tales of celestial beings that wandered among the people, punishing the wicked and saving the injured.
“Yes, a compassionate celestial being will come to save us.”
In her extreme despair, the girl could only hope for these celestial beings who lived only in the tales and the mouth of the storyteller.
But who knows, maybe celestial beings do exist, after all, she had personally witnessed demons who ate humans, and saw her companions being captured and devoured by these demons.
And the ones who captured and caged them, had shown their ferocious and cruel nature last night. It was more horrifying than any demon she had ever encountered.
Even thinking about it now makes her shudder. Humans, how could they be so cruel and brutal? Are they really her own kind?
“Really?”
Expectation shone in the child’s black eyes which were smeared with dust and unidentified blood stains. They sparkled in the darkness, exuding a light named ‘hope’.
“Yes, a celestial being will definitely come to save us.”
The girl’s tone suddenly became firm.
Even though she knew that it was almost an impossible dream, but before the real despair strikes, she would like her brother to be immersed in this dream. Such a cruel world, they would not want to be a part of it in their next life.
“Where is the celestial being now?”
“On their way to save us.”
“The storyteller said that the celestial beings live in the mountains. So, is the one who’s going to save us also coming down from the mountain?”
“Yes, the celestial being who will save us has already come down from the mountain.”
The girl murmured softly, imagining a celestial being who didn’t exist according to her little brother’s innocent and naive words.
“You two little ghosts, what dreamland are you dwelling in? The mountains only have gods, where are there celestial beings?”
While the brother and sister were comforting each other mentally, the flickering light of a fire illuminated them, and a mocking voice was heard. The dim light outlined a bearded, rugged man, who seemed to be dragging something behind him.
“Behave.”
The lock on the wooden cage was opened, and this terrifying man tossed in what he was dragging. The siblings looked over and saw a person? Curled up into a ball, body full of whip marks, groaning in pain.
Despite the cage door being wide open, the siblings did not have the slightest impulse or thought to escape. They were so hungry that they were weak, with bouts of burning hunger surging from their stomachs from time to time.
“You’re lying, many scholars have said that celestial beings live in the mountains!”
The girl lowered her head, not wanting to provoke this brutish man, but her brother in her arms stubbornly raised his head, intending to argue with him.
“Storytellers, huh? The nonsense from their mouths only baffles children like you. When I was young, I lived off the mountains. After getting married, I’ve been relying on the mountains to survive.
In this forest, I’ve gone in and out countless times. I’ve never seen a celestial being, but I have encountered seductive fox spirits several times.”
The man cracked a smile, revealing black and yellow teeth like that of a predatory beast’s fangs, exuding an intangible but real evil aura.
“Lately, I’ve indeed met a true god who bestowed upon me divine power. Those fox spirits that I used to dodge, I can now taste their flavor.
You two just stay put. Don’t even think about escaping. The gods especially like children like you who are innocent. If you run away, I will have to catch you back, then give you a beating again, what a bother!”