Chapter 719: You Don’t Look Like One That Needs An Almsgiving
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation | Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Perhaps because the expression on Lin Sanjiu’s face was rather bizarre, the kuchisake-onna named Naga-ashi released a long sigh into her mask.
“Why…?” It took Lin Sanjiu a fair amount of time before she finally found her voice again. “Why would you, a duoluozhong, work in an eatery? Wait, you are working here, aren’t you?”
The kuchisake-onna stared straight into Lin Sanjiu’s eyes. Lin Sanjiu found that its eyes looked no different from a normal human’s. It answered matter-of-factly, “Duoluozhongs need to live as well. The boss here hasn’t only provided me with food, but also the chance to vent my desire. Besides, the boss isn’t around often. Compared to other duoluozhongs, I’ve clinched a great job.”
“To vent your desire? What’s that about?”
It took its glove off. Lin Sanjiu’s muscles were pulled taut involuntarily, ready to retaliate, but that seemed unnecessary. The duoluozhong brandished its hand quickly in the air, and Lin Sanjiu could see nothing but only the afterimages. “We kuchisake-onna—oh, yes, there are males in our kind as well—love to slice human skin and muscles. The thickness of the human’s epidermal layer is about 0.1 millimeters, and I can further divvy that up into ten pieces, each as thin as snow. Human kids are great because their screams are often satisfying. That’s the reason why the boss decided to sell the bun with the slices…Wait, what? Come again? Oh no, I don’t eat human flesh even after I’ve sliced down.”
It tilted its head and fell into contemplation. At this moment, Lin Sanjiu began to wonder if she was having an outlandish dream. She was standing in the middle of a bustling street, listening to a duoluozhong talk about how it sliced children up. The warm yellow light from the lightbulb scattered gently across her shoulders, and wisps of smoke were fluttering out from the tray of piping hot buns in front of her.
An outlandish dream was even more normal than whatever she was experiencing right now.
“That’s exactly because we are herbivores whose lives you posthumans decided to spare and let us help you with your chores,” said the kuchisake-onna as it waved its hand honestly, “We know you humans dislike duoluozhongs, and the feeling is mutual. However, there’s nothing we can do since life just got in our way.”
Lin Sanjiu was stumped, not because she did not have a question, but she had so many doubts that she had no idea where to start.
After a short while, she murmured, “But…can we really trust a duoluozhong?”
“Don’t look so surprised,” Naga-ashi said as she pointed to a direction behind Lin Sanjiu, “If you still feel uncomfortable, then perhaps you should take a stroll to that building over there. Come back to me after you’ve made up your mind. I’ll give you a special price and charge you half of my original fee.” Naga-ashi put the tray away. “I’ll keep these buns first.”
The building the kuchisake-onna pointed at was a white two-story building. It had a smooth and sleek outlook, fitting in very well with the other buildings around. It was not until Lin Sanjiu had queued up and purchased herself a ticket that she realized what kind of building was this—”A Glimpse To The Past: The 70 Year Historical Museum of The Heaven Underworld.”
The museum tour began from the year the Heaven Underworld first turned into an apocalyptic world. The doomsday in the Heaven Underworld started 70 years ago. The first exhibition hall was classified into four categories: “Disease and Cure”, “Dangerous Pocket Dimension”, “Legacy Technology”, and “World Rebuilding”. Lin Sanjiu had no idea why Naga-ashi had asked her to go to this museum. With a skeptical mind, she quickly browsed through the first part of the tour. When she walked into the second exhibition hall, she froze as understanding dawned upon her.
A large rectangular signboard read, “The History of Humans and Duoluozhongs” stood in front of her. An unenthusiastic posthuman standing was by the entrance. She had a working badge that announced her identity as a paid cicerone hung around her neck.
Nevertheless, even when Lin Sanjiu handed her some red crystals, it did not change the posthuman’s aloof approach at all.
“What you are seeing right now are several of the most common species of duoluozhongs when the doomsday first arrived.” The moment the girl began to bring Lin Sanjiu around, several posthumans followed behind them, attempting to hitch a ride. “Right after posthumans found a way to keep the disease that wreaked havoc across the Heaven Underworld at bay, two of the most dangerous species were completely wiped out along with the progression. Look, these are their specimens.”
Inside the glowing display case, two humanoid figures soaked up the light. One of them was obviously a female because its main female reproductive organ had swelled up to a stomach-churning degree. Meanwhile, the second specimen had such huge physical stature that even though it was thin as a rake, it still looked rather impressive. The two beady eyes on top of its pseudo-stapler-like head reminded Lin Sanjiu of the Komodo dragon she once saw at the zoo.
“After a long period of observation, comparison, and analysis, we have retained two types of duoluozhongs, which have proved to be useful to us over the decades,” the cicerone said as she yawned, staring daggers at the few freeloaders behind.
In the next display case, Lin Sanjiu saw a long-haired desiccated corpse. Its arms were thin and sharp as blades and they were connected to its body via a folded piece of skin. Its mouth was slightly ajar, and the huge slit looked as if it separated the head into two.
“Kuchisake-onna,” prattled the cicerone as she rapped the display case, “Docile, weak in combat, herbivores. As it is relatively versatile, many people would love to raise one to help them with their daily chores.”
There was a living specimen about three minutes away from this dry corpse. Perhaps Naga-ashi had ever bought a ticket to come in and meet its unfortunate predecessor with its mask on.
‘What was Naga-ashi thinking when it saw the dried corpse?’ When Lin Sanjiu thought about that, a complicated feeling rose from her heart.
“Didn’t you say that this kind of duoluozhong is a herbivore? That means they can only eat greens and fruits, doesn’t it?” a freeloader asked before continuing, “What a bunch of bloodsuckers! Not even I can afford to eat those things every day!”
“No,” the cicerone looked at Lin Sanjiu and replied, “They are herbivores because instead of consuming flesh, they feed on human’s screams, fear, adrenaline level, and so on.”
“Where can their owner find those…emotions?” Lin Sanjiu asked, her brows creased tightly in the center of her forehead.
“There’s a corporation that collects those in the doomsday…Oh, speaking about that, there’s a ‘haunted house’ under the corporation in Black’s Market, where the gaseous compounds and screams released by the visitors are preserved and sold to the owner of the kuchisake-onna,” advised the cicerone that had a round face, “You can go and have a try. It’s quite a delightful experience, and by the way, the ticket isn’t that expensive if you are concerned about the price.”
“Why would you enslave duoluozhongs? What can they do?” Lin Sanjiu continued to ask.
“Everybody is posthuman.” The cicerone sighed. “If it weren’t for the money, nobody would be willing to stay at a place for such a long time and work like a dimwit, especially at those jobs that require manual labor. The best example would be the cleaning of Black’s Market. The process of cleaning the streets, collecting the rubbish, sending it off to the garbage collection station to be incinerated…That will take at least five adults all night. However, the case is different for duoluozhongs. We only need to place a duoluozhong on one street, and they can get the job done in a whiff. They don’t need to rest and they will never fall sick. After all, it’s hard for them to die.”
Lin Sanjiu fell silent.
The next duoluozhong was a male. Its body looked no different from a human’s save for one feature—the yellow gaseous compounds that hid underneath its skin though the gas had dissipated a long time ago after the duoluozhong died.
“I can see that you are using red crystals, but have you ever thought about who’s the one that goes into the volcano, excavates the ore that is located about a hundred meters deep, and then polish them into different sizes?” The cicerone spurted out quickly as if she had ingrained everything about the duoluozhongs deeply inside her brain. She seemed edgy as she kept looking at her watch. “Here is your answer: they are the ones who did the job. Every 14 months, we send a batch of duoluozhong miners for the cost of one in four-thousandths of the results of their work.”
“Are you guys not afraid of the duoluozhongs fighting back?”
“I will now show you how we keep those duoluozhongs in check.” The cicerone brought Lin Sanjiu, along with a batch of visitors into an antechamber. There, Lin Sanjiu saw a dozen of detention, manipulation, and containment tools. From shock collar, remote control chips, to Pavlov’s Dog Neurosin, every single one of the exhibits inside the display case was able to make even the most liberal person loses his will to fight back.
“Some of them are developed by the Heaven University,” the cicerone continued to speak indifferently, “In addition to these tools, we have a variety of training techniques. For those duoluozhongs, we are Gods to them and we are the only ones who can keep them alive. Listen and follow our command and orders. That’s the best way for them to survive. We will ensure every duoluozhong understands this concept before releasing them out to work.”
When the tour was coming to an end, the cicerone brought them to the next exhibition hall. Standing by the entrance, the girl continued to blurt out the script in her mind, “However, our world is now facing an increasingly pressing problem. In the past 70 years, a lot of duoluozhongs have died for various reasons, causing their species to deplete at an alarming rate and their population now is only 15% of the population that year. Our demand has risen by half, but there’s no way for us to increase their population since the doomsday is already over. So, how are we going to solve the manpower problem in the future? There is no clear-cut answer to this question yet.”
After she came out of the museum, Lin Sanjiu then strode towards the eatery.
As the night continued to fall, the people in Black’s Market began thinning. A light bulb that emitted an orange glow was hanging right on top of the iron griddle. Naga-ashi had not closed the shop yet. Veiling its grotesque face behind a mask, it sat as still as a rock behind the stall. It did not realize Lin Sanjiu at first as it continued to stare blankly into the night sky. When Lin Sanjiu’s shadow loomed over the iron griddle, only then did the kuchisake-onna suddenly jump up.
It did not speak and just looked straight into Lin Sanjiu’s eyes.
Lin Sanjiu lowered her head to look at the iron griddle which was clean and emanated a shiny sheen. Suddenly, a thought came into her mind. ‘Naga-ashi has been moonlighting as a guide around here. It even went so far as to giving its boss’s buns away for free to secure a job. Can this be considered as curbing a graft?’
“Why do you need to save so much egg money?” Lin Sanjiu asked dryly after a short while.
“There’s somebody I want to see,” Naga-ashi replied honestly.
“Who?”
The kuchisake-onna gave her a glance. “Does it have anything to do with the matter we are discussing right now? One word. Are you gonna hire me, or not?”
Both of them stared at each other in dismay. Then, Lin Sanjiu spoke, “The concept of ‘good’ doesn’t exist to you duoluozhongs, does it?”
“I can show you the good in me if you want, but you don’t seem like one who needs somebody’s almsgiving,” countered Naga-ashi snarkily.
Lin Sanjiu was stumped by her reply. She suddenly let out a peal of laughter as she pointed at the tray next to the iron griddle. “Give me the buns. I want to have a taste.”
Naga-ashi stretched its hand out from its baggy sleeve which contained its web. It took the tray and handed it to Lin Sanjiu. The light bulb continued to glow weakly.
The buns were getting a little cold just like the night of Black’s Market.
