Daomu Biji: The Southern Archives

It was the face of a snake, but its eyes were incredibly long and thin. It didn’t look like facial makeup or other masks. It looked like the face of a real snake.

“What is this?” Wade looked at him in horror as Zhang Haiyan slowly climbed down from the tree with a strange, reptilian movement.

“What are you?” Wade raised his gun, but that snake face seemed to have some kind of charm that made it difficult for him to move.

“What do you think I am?” When Zhang Haiyan stood up, his figure was very slender. He began to circle Wade with a creepy smile on his face.

“Are you a devil? Are you the devil who made that deal with me?” Wade suddenly realized that he was seeing a real demon. This was the demon who made him grow taller and become a man, the master of black magic who let him escape punishment time after time.

Zhang Haiyan had no idea what Wade was talking about, but he took great pleasure in other people’s fear. And the fear that was spreading all over Wade was so amazing that it made Zhang Haiyan feel really excited. “You’ve got the wrong person.”

The first time he got addicted to fear was when he ate people for the first time. At that time, the famine had reached a stage where there was no hope. Zhang Haiyan’s father cooked a neighbor’s youngest daughter who had died of starvation.

That was the first time his father had cooked a human, so he wasn’t skilled. The pot was full of hair, which got stuck to Zhang Haiyan’s teeth when he ate. But Zhang Haiyan was very happy while eating.

There were two groups of people in the village at that time: those who had eaten humans and those who had never eaten humans. Zhang Haiyan switched to another group after eating a human. Whenever he walked the streets, uncles and aunts who usually doted on him gave him weird looks.

It took him a long time to realize that it was fear.

Those who had eaten humans and those who hadn’t eaten humans were two kinds of creatures. Those who had eaten people didn’t belong to the human world anymore.

But he found that it was actually thrilling to have everyone fear him, especially when he wanted to do something that people couldn’t usually do. At that time, no one would come out and stop him and he seemed to be absolutely free. For the first time, he dominated his whole world without restrictions.

Wade looked at him. “Then what are you exactly?”

Zhang Haiyan turned his head and looked behind him. Wade immediately turned his head and saw Madison standing behind him with a knife.

Wade immediately realized who he was. “It’s you. Why are you here?”

He went to draw his gun out of reflex, but when he raised his hands, he found that all of his fingers were missing. As he lowered his head to find them, he saw Zhang Haiyan circle around and lean forward under his armpit, holding Wade’s fingers right in front of him.

Wade’s fear reached its limit. He wanted to run, but found that he couldn’t move at all.

A pen had been inserted into his cervical joint, damaging all the nerves. He could only sit there, probably unable to sit properly anytime soon.

According to Madison’s memoirs, he never saw how Zhang Haiyan did these things. But it was so amazing that it was like a magic show.

Zhang Haiyan looked back at Madison before stepping aside.

Madison trembled as he came to stand in front of Wade.

Wade looked at him and grinned. “I get it now. You’re here for revenge. Is an Asian child worthy of you doing this? You can always adopt a large group of children again. You need to remember that you’re a priest who can’t kill people. And if I confess to you, God will forgive me.”

Madison grabbed the cross in front of his chest, tore it off, and moved to throw it away.

Zhang Haiyan came up to stand behind Madison, gripped his hand, and then put the cross in Madison’s pocket.

“Don’t be so serious,” Zhang Haiyan whispered as he grabbed Madison’s wrist and placed the knife against Wade’s throat. “Human skin is very tough. If the knife isn’t fast enough, the skin can't be cut. The trick is to sequentially use the strength in your wrists, elbows, shoulders, waists, and ankles. You have to imagine yourself as a whip. When you apply your strength, start from the ankles. Your strength must be increased as you make your way up. When it comes to applying strength to your wrist, you need to point the knife at the neck, slash it, and cut through both the trachea and artery.”

Madison nodded as he kept his eyes on Wade.

Wade started to feel scared. “You’re a priest. You can’t kill people. You’ll go to hell.”

“It’s fine. He’ll confess to other priests and God will forgive him,” Zhang Haiyan said.

Zhang Haiyan found that Madison’s body was stiff and he couldn’t move his knife. He adjusted his vocal cords and said “Dad” in a girl’s voice right next to Madison’s ear.

Madison’s eyes immediately turned red with rage. Zhang Haiyan held his wrist as Madison’s whole body turned and he swung the knife, cutting through Wade’s artery directly.

Blood spurted out very far and countless gadflies flew over in an instant, hovering over Wade.

“The trachea… the trachea isn’t cut!” Madison shouted.

Zhang Haiyan sighed. “It’s not bad for your first time.” He walked over to where Wade had collapsed in the mud. Wade’s body was covered in gadflies and his blood was constantly spurting out of the artery.

“Who are you exactly?” Wade stared at Zhang Haiyan.

Zhang Haiyan pulled the pen out of the back of Wade's neck and pointed it at his heart. “You’re so annoying. Why should I tell you who I am?”

“Don’t kill me and I’ll tell you a secret,” Wade said with his last bit of strength. “There’s a huge secret in the rainforest. Herman told us not to reveal it. Don’t kill me and I’ll tell you about it.”