It was quiet.
Dark.
The sky was foggy, and the air was filled with moisture. It was as if you were near the water, and every breath was sticky and wet. This wetness seemed to have consciousness and was trying hard to stick to your lungs.
There was a cave, and inside the cave was a prison, with cell bars resembling stone. It was very quiet. The bottom of the bars was covered with a faint, slimy moss.
This was the scene He Kan saw when he opened his eyes.
The cells were separate, each containing a comatose person, either male or female. Most of them lay unconscious on the floor, dressed in very simple clothes – short, coarse cloth, resembling ancient attire and completely different from modern clothing He Kan remembered.
Seeing this, He Kan couldn’t help but sigh deeply. He knew he had been reborn again.
This was already his third life, and he couldn’t understand who was tormenting him so persistently. Even dying twice hadn’t been enough, it’s just too much.
In his first life, he was an ordinary male university student who died suddenly while playing games in his dorm, only to open his eyes in an ancient and barbaric era.
In his second life, he was in an ancient time filled with various myths and legends, where each race lived in tribes with their own beliefs. He Kan unfortunately became a giant spider known as the Buddha Bone Demon Spider, supposedly named because their ancestors had once devoured a Buddha.
He Kan was a little unconvinced about this.
The main reason was that his elders were not very decent. They relied on the identity of Buddha Bone Demon Spider as a mythical species to cheat and deceive people every day. Those other weird and ominous creatures, many of them were tempted by their offerings and then directly killed.
How could such cunning creatures have really eaten a Buddha? Were Buddhas so delicious?
The cause of death in his second life was simple.It was simply a tribal war between barbaric races. He was sent to fight as soon as he came of age and was unfortunately killed by a powerful enemy in the snake-lizard faction.
Opening his eyes again, he found himself in the current situation.
The pain of being torn apart still seemed to linger on his body. He Kan rubbed his forehead and recalled the sight of his mother spider rushing over just before his death. Six spider eyes appeared on her face. With her cultivation, it was impossible for the mother spider to make such a small mistake. It was probably because she was too panicked.
Her own spider cub had been killed right in front of her.
He Kan couldn’t even imagine how his mother spider felt.
Thinking about this, He Kan was somewhat relieved that he was a male spider. In his tribe, males leave after reaching adulthood, so after his death, his mother spider might think of it as him leaving the tribe. Given her resolute nature, she would likely seek revenge and then quickly move on to a new life.
This was the instinct of every beast race in that wild era, and mythical species were no exception.
“…Huh.” He Kan quickly calmed himself and stopped dwelling on past memories. His previous life’s experience told him that it was unlikely he would return. Death was final. He just reincarnated and did not drink Meng Po soup¹.
So, what was his identity in this life?
He Kan looked around, trying to find clues about his identity within the cell.
The next second, He Kan felt that his brain was hit hard by something, and it was blank. Then, countless information came out, washing away his reason for a while.
After a while, He Kan sorted through his memories.
He Kan’s expression was strange. In this third life, his body was that of a half-idiot. To be precise, it was a person who was mostly sane and occasionally not sober. More importantly, the face of this life was exactly the same as his face.
This made He Kan suspect that this might be another version of himself from a different world, otherwise, it was too much of a coincidence.
As for how he ended up here.
He was kidnapped, specifically when he was on his way to Daqi City to become a sorcerer. Unexpectedly, he happened to become stupid and his mind was not sober. He was caught by a caravan on the road and became a sacrifice for a monster.
This world also had supernatural powers. But humans did not dominate.The dominant position is occupied by various powerful monsters.
However, humans were adaptable and learned quickly. When monsters reached the top of the food chain, sorcerers emerged who harnessed the power of these creatures.
He Kan looked up at his damp cell. The entire cell was extremely moist, and it seemed that there was a strong smell of water vapor in his breath. Over time, he could smell the fishy stench of river water, almost as if he was at the bottom of the water.
At present, the specific situation is unknown. The stone pillars of the prison are not like ordinary stones. He is now an ordinary person and can only take one step at a time. He Kan pinched his hands. It was a pity that the once-feeling of abundant power was now completely gone.
Outside the cave, there was a “crackling” sound, like several people’s footsteps slowly approaching the cave. The sound also resembled metal and stone clashing.
He Kan immediately closed his eyes and lay back in his original position.
His cell was at the front. From the moment the footsteps entered the cave, He Kan smelled a strong stench, like fish, but specifically, dead fish – the kind that stinks in the market.
“Bang! Bang!!”
“Get up, it’s time to eat. Everyone, stop sleeping.” A hoarse and strange male voice echoed in the cave, accompanied by the sound of heavy objects striking the bars. He Kan heard the groans of those around him being awakened, then slowly opened his eyes, deliberately blinking a few times to feign the confusion of waking up.
Outside the cell, a group of guys wearing short cloth garments were carrying a huge jar about a person’s height. The strong smell of dead fish was coming from the jar, and occasionally, the sound of liquid sloshing against the jar could be heard. At the front was a tall, thin man in a long robe with a mean face and thin eyebrows.
He Kan recognized this man as the leader of the caravan that had captured him.
The rules in this life were almost the same as in the wild era of his previous life. The strong prey on the weak. In the jurisdiction of the Jiantiansi² in the city, some dignitaries and nobles may restrain themselves. Out in the countryside, without the jurisdiction of the Jiantiansi, ordinary powerless civilians were often captured by stronger individuals and turned into slaves or sacrifices.
The caravan leader was satisfied watching the fearful state of the sacrifices awakening in their cells. He was ordered to do this smoothly, and luck had it that they had captured a strong civilian while passing through the desolate Daqi City.
The caravan leader glanced at He Kan’s cell and noticed that this particular sacrifice was quietly staying inside. It might be because it had just woken up, and its expression was very terrified.
“Master, this medicinal food—” A short man, resembling a mouse, darted out from the group and approached the caravan leader, speaking in a low voice.
The caravan leader said without hesitation: “Feed them all. Every sacrifice must be fed, don’t miss any.” As he spoke the final sentence, the caravan leader turned to glare at the short man. His squinted eyes opened fully, resembling a cunning, greedy fox, which made anyone under his gaze feel a chill.
The short man felt a shiver run through him, immediately lowering his head and not daring to meet the caravan leader’s eyes. Startled and terrified, he instinctively replied, “Yes!”
The caravan leader was satisfied with the answer and surveyed the surroundings again, confirming that no sacrifices were missed, before turning and leaving. He had more tasks to attend to, he was responsible for overseeing the entire blood ritual.
Everyone watched as the caravan leader departed.
He Kan then focused on the retreating figure of the caravan leader. He had clearly heard the conversation between the two men, all the medicinal food had to be fed.
This made He Kan easily think of a kind of food. In his previous life, some dignitaries liked to eat livestock fed with special feed.
They were probably just such livestock.
He Kan quickly withdrew his gaze from the caravan leader’s back. People stronger than others could easily sense being watched, so a brief look was enough.
After the caravan leader left, the short man hastened his pace, urging his subordinates to drag each person out of their cells.
“Hurry up, eat it.” The short man stood by the large jar, with a middle-aged man holding a long-handled spoon on his right. Others went to the cells, dragging people out one by one.
The person dragged out was a short, fat young man, poorly dressed, with dirt on his fingers. He seemed to be an ordinary civilian, dazed and unresponsive, unable to speak even when the short man spoke, and was forcibly fed by another person.
After being fed, he quickly quieted down.
One by one, each person, regardless of age or gender, appeared similarly dazed, as if they had lost their senses.
He Kan’s heart sank. He understood that these people were most likely ruined.
This so-called medicinal food might contain something that affects the mind. That’s right, this is the real world, not a novel. They are all sacrifices. How could there be any loopholes? Anyway, it doesn’t matter whether they are conscious or not. It is easier and more convenient to be alive without consciousness.
“This body’s previous consciousness shouldn’t be lost just because of this medicinal food,” He Kan said with a wry smile. No wonder he could still access the memories of the body after waking up. The original owner’s already fragile mind must have been turned into a living corpse by the poison, and then he happened to arrive after their death.
Throughout the process, besides the scolding voices of the caravan members, the silence was terrifying.
Soon, it was He Kan’s turn.
He Kan also pretended to be dazed and was obediently dragged out of the cell by two caravan members, moving towards the medicinal food jar. Initially, He Kan was determined not to drink the medicinal food, unsure if it would continue to affect his mind.
He planned to swallow it and then spit it out later, using his previous life’s experience to match the medicine’s effects. As he got closer to the jar, He Kan couldn’t help but show a strange expression.
The closer he got to the jar, the more he seemed to hear a spider’s hissing in his heart. The meaning of the voice was very simple, “want to eat” the medicinal food in the jar.
This feeling was very familiar. In his previous life, as an underage spider, he felt this way every day. He instinctively needed blood food and ate whatever he saw. There was nothing he could do. All the underage spiders in the tribe were like this. The elders in the tribe never let their pets outside because they were afraid of these spider cubs whose appetites took over their rationality.
So… was this instinct following him?
Notes:
¹Meng Po soup: Meng Po is the Goddess Of Forgetfulness, every soul would have to drink her “soup” before successfully reincarnating, this “soup” will make the person forget their past lives, and be reborn purely.
²Jiantiansi: 监天司 can also be translated as “Sky Watchers”… but don’t you think it sounds tacky? I don’t know, tell me your thought and maybe I’ll considered changing it in the future
