Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

 Roasted Pork

“Holysh*t! The washroom is really haunted!” Liu Kang shouted as he ran into the courtyard, and hid in a corner. He was no longer that fearless, confident man. He had been reduced into a blubbering, nervous wreck…

Seeing Liu Kang terrified to such an extent, everyone finally started panicking. They had claimed to be very interested in supernatural phenomena, yet they were thoroughly afraid of it.

These people had actually been looking forward to such encounters. They wanted to see what a fierce ghost actually looked like. Now that reality had reared its ugly head, their wits have left them.

Detective Ou Yang encouraged everyone to investigate the washroom together. With more people, there would be enough Yang energy[1], and they would not need to be afraid of ghosts.

Everyone quickly agreed. They entered the washroom together, and were greeted by the sour, metallic stench of blood. Liu Kang lay dead in the toilet. His entire head had been submerged in the old-style toilet pit. It was a disgusting death, if not gory. What a smelly death!

Novelist Zhao Song took note of the fatty’s death. He chuckled. That was why such bravado would never last more than a chapter in his book!

Suddenly, someone pointed out, “If Liu Kang is already dead, who’s the guy who ran out shouting just now?”

The moment they heard this, a chill emerged from within each of their souls. When they took a closer look, Liu Kang’s body was gone.

Prior to this, everyone still had their doubts concerning the existence of supernatural phenomena. Now that all of them had taken note of this strange phenomenon, they could no longer deceive themselves anymore.

This Feng Men village was definitely haunted, and some murderous evil ghost was here. They had no way of speaking to it. Now, they were in a haunted house!

When everyone had gone to the old-style toilet, Zhao Youyue had actually seen a very interesting scene in the courtyard. That totally scared Liu Kang had seemed to have lost his mind, and took his own life. What’s interesting was that he had even substituted himself with the roasted rabbit, and became the roasted pork!

It had been a rather visually shocking scene. Zhao Youyue felt as if she was watching some sort of holographic horror movie. Unfortunately, she could not watch it from Liu Kang’s first-person perspective. If not, it would have been more exciting —— What did he actually see?

One could only guess. Liu Kang most probably envisioned himself putting up a struggle against the attempt on his life, but he was actually killing himself. Ghosts enjoyed such tricks, more than anything else. They could drive just about anyone to their deaths.

Then, Zhao Youyue saw the female ghost Chu Renmei appearing from the body. She brought along the black cat, and absorbed a wave of soul power that lay within the fear.

Zhao Youyue finally sensed the “Two Dimensional Gate” churning about. It took in the power and applied it on the “Hua Xiaomao” character card. It originally had a time limit, but that duration had now be extended!

Zhao Youyue was shocked!

So, by observing fierce ghosts kill people within this supernatural genre literary world, she could actually harvest “Two-Dimensional Gate” related energy?

The implications were equally shocking. If she wanted to keep this up, did she have to turn into a black cat, and go everywhere, observing all sorts of fierce ghosts kill more people? By then, she would become the truly ominous cat. Wherever she was, there would be death!

By now, the confused crowd had once again returned to the courtyard. They wanted to figure out where the fatty Liu Kang actually was. In the end, they could not find him!

They had been mentally stressed, and it had drained them. Then, someone took note of the “roasted rabbit” that still lay atop the bonfire. That’s right. In their eyes, the thing on the bonfire was still a “roasted rabbit,” not roasted pork.

Somehow, the “roasted rabbit” smelled better than ever, and their appetites had only been whetted!

Thus, under the lead of the rebellious girl Wang Yan, everyone divided the “roasted rabbit” and tucked in. Zhao Youyue, the black cat who still lay atop the throne, was more entertained than ever. This group of people were really enjoying their meal a little too much!

Within many horror novels and stories, all the devils and ghosts basically had the ability to ‘produce’ human meat, and were able to cast some form of camouflage, to deceive ordinary people into eating it. Now, the group of people found themselves in such a situation, except for Detective Ou Yang, who seemed to have picked up on something.

Instead, he ignored his hunger pangs. He continued surveying the area, keeping an eye out for the missing Liu Kang.

Then, Zhao Youyue noticed the extremely beautiful Chu Renmei removing the camouflage, and enjoyed watching the ensuing chaos from the group.

Zhao Youyue could have done something, but she sat back to watch the scene unfold. And so, she was now officially an accomplice to the fierce ghost – Chu Renmei. So what? She was just a player in the game. This interaction between a fierce ghost NPC and a human NPC was most entertaining.

This was probably how others felt while watching a spectacular cutscene in an interactive game.

Zhao Youyue was quite something. One day, she might even witness a skilled expert taking on a ghost, and winning! Would she be able to obtain some other interesting information by then?

The rebellious girl Wang Yan was glutting herself with delicacies. It was then when she noticed that the “rabbit leg” in her hand had turned into a smelly “pettitoe.” Most crucially, it was far from roasted. Her mouth was covered in blood, and she looked just like a cannibal. Eating raw meat and drinking blood!

A moment ago, the food had been the most delicious thing she had ever tasted. Now, it was something vile, and disgusting.

Wang Yan had still retained a great deal of spine, compared to the rest of the group. Even when she saw the corpse of Liu Kang with his head inside the pit, she had not screamed out of fear. But now, she stared at the open space before her in frozen shock. The next moment, she hurled the “pettitoe” aside. She vomited her guts out, only to scream and yell her lungs out!

She had just eaten human flesh, and that was the last step to the total caving in of her mind!

All around them, people started puking their guts out. Ou Yang took note of Liu Kang’s separated body parts atop the bonfire. What an unfortunate man. Death had not been enough for him, but his kind had to divide his body into separate parts and dine on him!

At that moment, fierce ghost Chu Renmei was laughing heartily. She brought along the black cat and absorbed another wave of fear, which could be quantified in terms of SAN values[2]. These guys had just eaten Liu Kang’s flesh. Some of them had even drunk Liu Kang’s encephalon. In fact, they were almost finished!

All of them had been played into the palm of the ghost

All except for those three who had silently surveyed everything from their peaceful corners. They seemed unperturbed and accustomed to the scene.

Translation Note:

[1] Yang energy – “Yang energy” has several meanings. In the context above, it refers to the “life” energy. On the other hand, “Yin energy” can be referred to “death” energy.

[2] SAN value – It is a concept proposed within the game “The Call of Cthulhu,” literally translated as a player’s “sanity.” To an extent, it can be considered willpower. When seeing a supernatural phenomenon or something utterly horrifying, the player’s mental state would be stimulated, and the SAN value would decrease drastically.