Chapter Seventy-Two: I Like You All Very Much, So Let Me Devour You

Wu You was now in Qiongqi’s observation mode.

He could “see” whatever Qiongqi saw, and so it was almost like telepathy—he instantly understood that the two men in the front seats of the van were up to no good. In the back, he could sense three children overwhelmed with fear.

Human traffickers!

If you ask people which kind of criminal they despise most, many might hesitate—some would say murderers, others rapists, still others would mention those involved in gambling, prostitution, or drugs. But there is a type of criminal often overlooked, yet once brought to mind, they can spark a deep-seated hatred in nearly everyone—especially among parents.

Human traffickers.

They destroy not only children, but entire families—sometimes two. And some traffickers, finding older children harder to handle, will even kill them midway through their crimes (a grim reality). If there were one law in the country Wu You would vote to change, it would be this: traffickers should be sentenced to death.

But now, in this state, Qiongqi seemed to be… very fond of the two traffickers. Yes, it was a feeling of joy, even admiration.

Wu You suddenly recalled the old folk legends about Qiongqi. But he frowned—yes, he’d drawn on those legends when creating Qiongqi, but its will was ultimately his own. Qiongqi did not exist because of the legend, nor did the legend exist because of Qiongqi; it was his own alchemy that had brought Qiongqi into being.

Even if, this time, he’d deliberately amplified subconscious and folkloric influences, the essence should still align with his own principles.

But soon, Wu You realized he was overthinking it.

Qiongqi—or rather, Moke—did like and appreciate the traffickers. But as it looked at them, its hunger only grew.

This wasn't about encouraging evil and suppressing good, as in the legend. This was simply a delight in evil—because evil was delicious.

Qiongqi seemed to be in a peculiar, weightless state, barely flapping its wings as it hovered above the van. The way it looked at Gao Rufeng and his accomplice seemed to say:

I like you very much. So, let me eat you.

Wu You could now feel Moke’s ravenous hunger as if it were his own. This time, he did not intend to intervene—as long as Moke cleaned up thoroughly.

…

Originally, Gao Rufeng was about to restart the van.

But his partner, as if possessed, suddenly got out, mumbling about looking for something, opening the door on his own without even asking. Gao Rufeng had just accused him of being crazy, but now it seemed his partner was the real lunatic.

Slamming on the brakes had been Gao Rufeng’s responsibility, but now, what was his partner looking for? Muttering incomprehensibly… was he after money, or was he courting death?

As he brooded, Gao Rufeng felt an irresistible urge to find out what was outside the van. The moment the thought appeared, he could no longer suppress it.

For no apparent reason, he too opened the driver’s door and stepped out.

The two traffickers, one on the left, one on the right, both walked slowly toward the back of the van. When they saw each other there, they seemed to snap out of a daze—his partner suddenly “woke up.”

“Hey, why did you get out, too? I just wanted to walk around. Why are you butting in?”

“I just came to see what you were up to…” Gao Rufeng began, but before he could finish, he caught something in the corner of his eye—a monstrous shadow not far behind the van.

His voice died in his throat as he stared in horror, a chill shooting straight to his scalp.

That thing from before—it hadn’t been a hallucination!

His partner, seeing Gao Rufeng’s expression and reaction, realized something was wrong and swallowed hard, slowly turning his head to follow Gao Rufeng’s gaze.

Goosebumps instantly crawled over his entire body.

As if needing final confirmation, Gao Rufeng’s trembling hand reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and switched on the flashlight.

The streetlights nearby were dim; the phone’s light didn’t reach far. Yet the monster was plain to their eyes, despite the darkness.

A tiger’s head, a bull’s body, bristling with quills, twin wings spread from its back.

The phone slipped from his grasp with a clatter.

Both men opened their mouths to scream, but found that, when the urge to shriek reached their lips, they couldn’t make a sound.

It wasn’t that their vocal cords were damaged, nor that their bodies were restrained—there was simply a strange reluctance to scream. Yet their terror was undiminished.

They suddenly noticed wisps of inky “smoke” rising from their bodies, drifting toward the beast.

Their feet felt nailed to the ground—there was no desire to move at all.

They watched as the monster sniffed the smoke that belonged to them, its tiger’s maw spreading into an unmistakably human smile.

It was smiling! Somehow, they both understood.

…

A long time passed—perhaps half an hour.

The children in the van never saw the two villains return.

At first, they didn’t dare move; last time, when they’d tried to escape in similar circumstances, they’d been caught and suffered beatings so severe their families could hardly imagine.

But this time, the wait stretched on and on, and there was no sound from outside.

All the windows except the driver’s were covered on the inside with opaque film, so the children could see nothing of the outside world, save what lay ahead.

At last, a little girl summoned her courage and crawled quietly into the front passenger seat, peeking out warily.

Nothing.

Two boys clambered forward as well. After a few cautious minutes, the three children managed to force open the passenger door.

Sure enough, the two villains were nowhere in sight. But the darkness outside was frightening, and the fear of being caught and beaten kept them from running.

Walking to the rear of the van, they found a phone with a cracked screen, face down on the ground. When they picked it up, the flashlight was still on.

…

Despite the frightened voices on the emergency call—all sobs and tears, and despite the children’s inability to describe where they were, their broken clues and the dispatcher’s experience, aided by the traffic department, quickly pinpointed the stretch of road under repair.

Within twenty minutes of the call—ten of those spent searching for the exact location—four police cars arrived at the scene.

The moment the children saw the officers, hats bearing the national emblem, uniforms unmistakable, they burst into tears.

A female officer handed out candy and bread, soothing them.

Meanwhile, the squad leader, Captain Xing, led a careful sweep of the area.

Hearing that the traffickers had left and never returned, he found the situation odd—abandoning the vehicle simply didn’t make sense.

The asphalt was dirty, scattered with debris—a perfect surface for footprints.

Excluding the children’s messy little tracks, the prints from the driver and passenger both ended at the rear of the van, where the phone was found.

Officers fanned out to search the surroundings but found nothing.

A more thorough search would have to wait for backup from headquarters.

Captain Xing didn’t know how to describe what he was feeling.

The two men—had they just vanished into thin air?