Chapter 280: Different Choice
Fang Mu was not panicking in his heart. Although all sorts of distorted and fantastical illusions filled his view, he knew his life would not end here, so he was not afraid of terminating right then and there. In contrast, the few beasts with human-like appearances and the flock of sheep before his eyes all appeared to him as mutated, distorted, rotting, and broken postures at that moment.
Fang Mu had already foreseen their death, and it would be in the not-too-distant future—perhaps right there, today!
The flat-headed man and his group walked very slowly. To keep aiming at Fang Mu at all times, he took a step, then paused, his gaze coldly fixed on Fang Mu.
But after a while, the flat-headed man felt a chill in his heart. In his eyes, the seemingly meek and weak Fang Mu had a pair of eerie eyes—eyes showing no emotion at all, not even indifference or detachment. They were like black voids, containing everything yet seeming to contain nothing. In the depths of the other’s pupils, something terrifying seemed hidden, as if while Fang Mu was looking at them, another pair of eyes in the depths of his pupils was constantly gazing at them.
The little goat held in Fang Mu’s arms was particularly obedient. It seemed to know its situation, yet also innocently ignorant. The sharp stone in Fang Mu’s hand had already pierced the skin of its throat, but it showed no pain, still expressing its liking for him by licking Fang Mu’s cheek with its small tongue. Otherwise, its body remained completely still, letting Fang Mu manipulate it.
In the long silence, the flat-headed man was the first unable to hold steady, speaking first in a deep voice: “You have no idea how much trouble your current behavior will bring you.”
“Trouble?” Fang Mu smiled faintly. “When you’re covered in lice, you don’t mind the itch. Believe me, I have too much trouble on me already; I’m not afraid of one more.
Besides, you beasts are quite interesting. You’re the ones who provoked me first, yet now you’re telling me not to ask for trouble. Heh, I wonder if the goddess in your mouths looks down on you fools.”
Hearing Fang Mu curse them as beasts and fools one after another, the few people beside the flat-headed man couldn’t hold back anymore and wanted to roll up their sleeves and pounce. But Fang Mu slightly tightened his grip on the wound on the little goat’s neck, and the little goat immediately cooperated with a miserable cry. Those guys instantly froze with stiff facial expressions, halting their actions to strike.
“Let me guess. The ‘goddess’ you speak of probably likes to eat all living creatures, with no taboos, including believers like you, right?” Fang Mu carefully watched the stairs under his feet while guessing. “Otherwise, why would you only dare to let sacrifices like me and this flock of sheep go down by ourselves, instead of escorting us all the way?”
The six said nothing, their facial expressions as gloomy as water.
Seeing their expressions, Fang Mu knew he had guessed right, sneering: “Truly brainless, believing in such a thing.”
“What the hell are you saying!?” Fatty was both shocked and furious, the terror and fanaticism in his eyes hard to conceal, roaring, “You don’t understand at all what kind of being the goddess is! She can bring wealth, can bring eternal life! Trash like you, how could you comprehend!?”
“Why should I understand what you beasts are thinking?” Fang Mu mocked calmly, though in his heart he wondered what exactly that goddess called the Evolving Daughter and Mother Earth really was.
Meanwhile, Fang Mu was secretly comparing the Evolving Daughter and the Toad God, wondering which of these two beings was stronger or weaker. If he angered both at the same time, could he fight poison with poison?
As long as it didn’t make a bad situation worse…
Heh heh heh…
Just as Fang Mu was thinking about that goddess deep underground, bursts of laughter crisp as a silver bell came from underground, lingering in the air, as if a enchanting woman with countless incarnations, invisible yet close, whispered seductively in their ears.
Fang Mu saw the six people who had been lurking menacingly at him instantly show terror on their faces. But before their fear peaked, their gazes immediately turned dazed and lost, nostrils flaring, faces breaking into lecherous grins, as if they had seen some peerlessly seductive beauty enticing them.
In contrast, Fang Mu heard other sounds in the laughter—sounds ordinary humans could not hear. The “woman” emitting the laughter was speaking in an incomprehensible language. Though he couldn’t understand it, Fang Mu detected the excitement of famine-stricken refugees seeing food.
A chill ran through Fang Mu’s heart, and he decisively seized this rare opportunity. He suddenly threw the little goat forward, lunged ahead in one stride, hooked the flat-headed man’s leg to trip him, then rammed forcefully, knocking down the lust-clouded, weak-legged Fatty. He then pushed upstream into the flock of sheep, toppling sheep downward while running back.
The flock of sheep knocked over on the stairs let out bleats, becoming a “rolling barrel” that pushed the flat-headed man and the others back down the stairs again.
The flat-headed man, who had quickly awakened from the “magic power” of that laughter after being tripped and falling painfully, saw Fang Mu escaping and immediately fired several shots at him in shock and anger. But he didn’t have Fang Mu’s extraordinary eyesight, and the flashlight for illumination had fallen from his hand during the tumble, rolling to the bottom of the stairs. In the darkness, he couldn’t capture Fang Mu’s presence at all. He nearly emptied his bullets without hitting him once.
They wanted to chase, but the tumbling flock of sheep became their only obstacle, also turning into rolling stones forcing them toward the goddess’s feeding place.
“No!”
Fang Mu heard screams from below. He glanced back and felt his heart skip a beat. The flock of sheep seemed influenced by the laughter and went mad, starting to bite people. The little goat marked with the eerie symbol had its head mutate, just like the scene he had seen in the truck—its head split open into a flower of flesh and blood, enveloping Fatty’s human head and frenziedly devouring it.
Seeing this scene, Fang Mu’s legs went a bit weak. He simply stopped looking back and ran back with all his strength until he reached the ground, far from that cave hidden in the woods.
Fang Mu luckily found the truck loaded with sheep that the flat-headed man and his group had hidden in the woods. He simply hid in the truck, locked the doors and windows, sat in the driver’s seat, and panted heavily to rest.
“This world is too damn dangerous.” Fang Mu smiled bitterly to himself. It seemed that ever since his first contact with an anomaly, he had become fated with the shadows of the world he originally couldn’t observe. No matter what he did, he could sense their existence.
It was clear the flat-headed man and his group weren’t very cautious—or rather, they were extremely familiar with the area. After parking the truck here, they hadn’t even removed the key, completely unafraid someone would drive it away while they were gone.
“Whatever, it’s mine now.” Fang Mu wiped his sweat, found a few packs of biscuits and two bottles of water in the truck, ate and drank simply, then started the truck and hit the road again.
The truck reached a fork, and since there were no vehicles nearby, he stopped briefly.
Left led to the Guinan Region, right to the North.
Fang Mu thought for a moment and turned the steering wheel right.
Straight to Yanping City, the city where his second life and wife An Qin had moved to, the nanny’s hometown—a place two thousand five hundred kilometers from Guinan yet also with faith in the Toad God.
Perhaps this time, he could have some discovery and gain there.
