The young man jumped up, only to realize his legs were weak, and he tumbled back down with a thud.
Long Dan approached dagger in hand, and stood before the young man with a menacing look. “Run! Let’s see where you can run to now!”
The young man stared at that handsome face, much fairer than those of Northern Qi men, yet exuding an icy chill.
This pretty boy eats people!
No, not just this pretty boy – the others eat people too.
The young man turned his head to look at the other three by the fire.
The scruffy man was cutting leg meat into thin slices, piling them onto a plate to serve to the old woman and the young girl.
The old woman still gazed at the young girl with loving eyes. “Eat up.”
The young girl demurely declined, “You eat first.”
Seeing this scene for the first time, the young man had thought these people could be taken advantage of. But witnessing it again now, cold sweat immediately covered his back.
The kindly-looking old woman, the timid-seeming young girl – they were too, too frightening!
These people must be demons!
Watching wide-eyed as the young girl calmly ate a steaming slice of meat, even looking satisfied, the young man turned his head and vomited.
Long Dan shook his head in disgust and kicked the young man. “We’re eating here. Do you have a death wish?”
The young man shuddered, his face turning pale.
Usually, he feared nothing, not even death. But now he was terrified of being roasted and eaten after dying – the mere thought made him shiver uncontrollably. He didn’t dare to die now.
At this moment, the scruffy man suddenly asked, “How is it? Tasty?”
The young girl considered, then earnestly critiqued, “It’s passable.”
The scruffy man seemed a bit disappointed. “We should have chopped the leg off while he was still alive and roasted it then. Roasting it after death, the flavor just isn’t quite the same.”
The young man was on the verge of tears, his face twitching uncontrollably.
Chopped off while… alive?
Heavens above, he had just been thinking he didn’t dare to die, but now he didn’t even dare to live…
Seeing that the young man was sufficiently frightened, Long Dan crouched in front of him and asked, “Who are you?”
“I, I…” The young man didn’t know how to answer for a moment.
The question was too broad, and truly challenging for someone scared half to death.
“Are you alive or dead?”
“Alive.”
“Man or woman?”
“Man.”
“Northern Qi or Great Zhou?” Long Dan fired off rapidly.
The young man answered just as quickly: “Northern Qi-“
As soon as the words left his mouth, his face turned deathly pale. He slapped himself hard and stammered, “I, I misspoke-“
“Heh.” Long Dan’s cold laugh was the only response.
The young man felt his blood run cold at that laugh.
Long Dan pressed the greasy blade against the young man’s ice-cold cheek. “Misspoke? Then why didn’t you ‘misspeak’ and say you were dead?”
The young man’s lips moved, but he had no reply.
“Enough nonsense. Confess honestly – what are you two Northern Qi people doing here in our Great Zhou?”
Seeing the young man glance towards Old Qin and the others, Long Dan’s face darkened. “Don’t bother speculating. Every citizen must catch spies. Though we’re ordinary people, we can’t ignore it when we encounter one!”
The young man was momentarily stunned.
Every citizen’s duty to catch spies? The Great Zhou people near the northern border didn’t seem to act this way-
In that brief moment of hesitation, Long Dan’s wrist turned, and the dagger pierced the young man’s arm. Then he brought the bloodied blade to his mouth and licked it.
The young man felt like vomiting again.
Long Dan glared, his killing intent palpable. “Vomit again and I’ll cut out your tongue to roast and eat! The tongue is the most satisfying to chew.”
He had already made such a big sacrifice; if this bastard remained tight-lipped, he really wouldn’t be polite anymore.
The young man bit his lip hard and silently swallowed the rising bile.
“I’m asking you for the last time – what’s your true purpose in Great Zhou? Are you here to scout for information to attack our country? If you don’t speak up, I’ll cut out your tongue right now!”
The young man completely broke down, his eyes glazing over as he said, “No scouting for information, just looking for someone…”
Long Dan glanced in Jiang Si’s direction, his expression growing even more ferocious. “Looking for someone? Who?”
The young man hesitated for a moment, feeling the pretty boy’s killing intent. He glanced furtively in that direction.
The scruffy man continued roasting meat, the firelight making his face even redder than the cooked meat.
The old woman hadn’t touched much of the pile of meat slices in front of her. The young girl was eating daintily, small bites at a time. After finishing, she wiped the corners of her mouth and looked over with a meaningful smile.
The young man’s scalp tingled as he gave up his last bit of resistance. “We came to Great Zhou to find the Princess.”
“What is your Princess doing in Great Zhou? What’s her purpose?” Long Dan immediately pressed.
The young man hurriedly shook his head. “She has no purpose! The Princess just likes to run away from home. This time she’s been gone for so long without returning, so her family got worried and sent people to look for her. We found clues that the Princess had come to Great Zhou, so we followed…”
“You’re not lying?”
The young man was on the verge of tears. “No, really, I’m not lying-“
Long Dan turned to look at Jiang Si and the others, wiped his face, and then flashed a sinister smile at the young man. “If that’s the case, we’ll just cut off your ears to roast and eat.”
As he finished speaking, the dagger slashed towards the young man’s ear.
The young man, who had been completely drained of strength before, now burst forth with 200% of his power. He rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the blade.
Seeing the dagger coming at him again, the young man cried out, “You Great Zhou people are all liars! I didn’t tell a single lie, so why are you still cutting off my ear?”
Long Dan sneered, “You think this is child’s play, pinky swearing? Haven’t you heard that all’s fair in war?”
This time, Long Dan didn’t hold back. With a swift motion, he sliced off half of the young man’s left ear.
The young man clutched his bleeding ear and let out an agonized scream.
Long Dan held the half-ear with obvious disgust and tossed it to Old Qin. “This guy dodged so fast, I only got this much. Make do and roast it.”
Old Qin caught it steadily and asked seriously, “Honey glaze or sauce?”
The young man’s eyes rolled back, and he fainted from fright.
Long Dan immediately jumped up. “Ptooey! That’s disgusting.”
Though he had killed many people before, this was his first time tasting human blood.
Old Qin was much calmer. He dropped the half-ear on the ground and poked at the sizzling leg meat. “It’ll be overcooked soon. Are you eating or not?”
Long Dan’s lips had paled slightly. “You can still eat?”
Old Qin looked utterly confused. “It’s a juicy roasted pig leg. Why wouldn’t I be able to eat it?”
Long Dan gave Old Qin a thumbs up.
He had always thought Old Qin was just a scruffy old widower. He never imagined he’d be such a tough character.
Meanwhile, Jiang Si recalled what Old Qin had said when he asked her to take him in: “I have no other skills, I’m only good at killing people.”
Old Qin truly was an honest man, not exaggerating one bit – Jiang Si thought silently.
“Should we kill these two?” Old Qin took the roasted meat off the fire and asked for Jiang Si’s opinion.