“Majestic and powerful!” Xiong Jiabao whistled.
The second small painting depicted a demon general with a blurred face, his figure dancing like a malevolent spirit, wielding a thorny whip that struck a small demon, covered in wounds, kneeling on the ground, creating a spray of terrifying blood. In front of him, three blood-soaked small demons knelt, their expressions filled with fear, hands raised above their heads, desperately pleading. Beside them lay a corpse, severed in half, and the entire painting was drenched in a vivid red hue, exuding a sense of brutality and savagery.
“Ugh!” The scene was so lifelike that Qi Xiaokui couldn’t help but turn her head away, leaning against the wall and dry heaving.
The others, however, seemed somewhat numb. They had died too many times and were now only concerned with how to survive, their hearts long since closed off to the suffering of others. Xiong Jiabao even thought that he had suffered worse deaths than those demons several times over; who could say who deserved sympathy? These images were nothing compared to their experiences.
Dong Xiu felt the same. Watching Qi Xiaokui, who could still vomit at such a scene, he both despised her weakness and envied her good fortune for not having endured as many tragic deaths as they had.
Li Yougen showed no expression, as if he were reading an unrelated newspaper article.
Taking in everyone’s reactions, Xin Meng sighed and looked up at the third small painting.
In the painting, the demon general was in a cave filled with mountains of gold and jewels. He lay atop the treasure, arms outstretched, claiming the entire mountain as his own. However, his gaze was turned to the side, fixated on a small gold coin tossed by a guard passing through the doorway, his expression greedy and evil, never satisfied.
The fourth painting, the most interesting one, showed a demon general reclining on a lounge chair, with a tiger-skin blanket beneath him, looking exceptionally comfortable. Surrounding the lounge chair were tables piled high with a chaotic assortment of items: clothes, wine glasses, bread, and even a roasted chicken… The demon general had his eyes closed, sleeping soundly, while above him were painted dozens of lightning bolts, yet they seemed unable to wake him from his slumber…
At this point, Xin Meng had formed some guesses in his mind and continued to look down.
The fifth small painting featured a plump figure, a demon general whose flesh nearly sagged to the ground, sitting at a massive dining table piled high with no less than a hundred plates, each filled with various foods. The table couldn’t hold all the plates, so they were stacked on top of each other, nearly reaching above the demon general’s head. He held a half-eaten turkey leg in one hand and a large piece of steak in the other, stuffing them into his mouth, making anyone watching feel their cheeks ache…
By this time, Qi Xiaokui felt much better. Seeing the figure that resembled a mound of fat, she couldn’t help but feel her stomach churn. She instinctively touched the corners of her mouth and patted her waist, confirming that her mouth wasn’t cracked and her waist was still slim before letting out a sigh of relief.
Xin Meng chuckled, “I’ve heard that losing weight is a lifelong pursuit for women.”
Qi Xiaokui rolled her eyes, “What can I do? If I quit my job, I’ll definitely end up with fatty liver.” After saying this, she glanced at Li Yougen, though this time she felt a bit unjust towards him. Although he had indeed developed a belly from misusing public funds at the beginning, he had slimmed down considerably after enduring various hardships.
Their exchange made Qi Xiaokui’s stomach pain feel much better. She knew Xin Meng was intentionally helping her divert her attention and felt a bit grateful.
Xin Meng smiled at her, not saying anything more, his gaze returning to the mural. The next painting was simpler, depicting a frail demon general sitting on the ground. On the wall in front of him were many photos, some showing other five demon generals being rewarded by the Demon King, others showing various demon generals with their arms around each other, and even a handsome Western man and a muscular giant. However, without exception, every photo was slashed in half by a dagger or torn into pieces, and the demon general’s expression was filled with jealousy.
Only one painting remained…
Xin Meng widened his eyes, staring for a long time, but surprisingly found no demon general in it, only several pairs of naked men and women embracing each other. Upon closer inspection, there were even men with men…
“This is…” Qi Xiaokui suddenly exclaimed, “Lust! The Seven Deadly Sins!”
“Exactly, it’s the Seven Deadly Sins,” Xin Meng said after looking at the painting. “They are pride, wrath, greed, sloth, gluttony, and lust, with pride being the old Demon King, while the other six demon generals represent the remaining six sins.”
They looked at the last mural, which returned to a background filled with dark clouds. The old Demon King, with white hair and a wrinkled face, lay on the ground, wrapped in only half a white cloth. His bony, emaciated arm reached out, unwillingly stretching towards his beloved golden throne, but one was on the ground while the other was lifted by the clouds in the sky, forever out of reach.
Beside the floating throne, five armored demon kings wielded weapons, fighting amongst themselves, while in a more distant corner…
In a very inconspicuous corner, there was a tiger-skin lounge chair where the lazy demon general lay sleeping, oblivious even to the thunder.
“Truly comfortable,” Xin Meng twitched his mouth. “Alright, the riddle is solved. The lazy demon general doesn’t participate in the battle for the Demon King’s throne due to his laziness… so there are only five doors.”
The others looked speechlessly at the small space where the demon general was sleeping and blowing bubbles from his nose, feeling the painting style was simply too bizarre. Only Xiong Jiabao lamented, “If only he participated, that would be great! I would definitely choose him!”
Everyone else: “…”
“You’re already stupid when you’re awake,” Dong Xiu mocked. “If you keep sleeping, you might as well die, wasting food for nothing.”
“Hey! Are you looking for a fight?!” Xiong Jiabao spat into his fist and swung it at Dong Xiu, scaring him enough to dodge quickly, but it wasn’t out of fear of his punch.
“You’re spitting! How disgusting! Get away!” Dong Xiu stared at that fist in horror, afraid it would touch him.
“Alright, five doors. Let’s choose separately,” Xin Meng took out a card and looked at the map on it. The starting point at the bottom of the map was the five doors, which then twisted and branched out in five different directions. The map did not indicate which direction corresponded to which demon general, only showing a blurred head portrait at the end of each path.
However, each head portrait looked similar, with no distinction in size, and the faces were all blurred, making it hard to tell apart.
“I don’t want to draw the Lust demon general,” Qi Xiaokui whispered to Xin Meng, “and I don’t want the Gluttony one either.”
After all, she was a girl, and such thoughts were quite normal. Xin Meng wanted to help, but when he looked down again to try to distinguish between the two demon kings, he still had no luck and helplessly said, “We can only rely on luck.”
Qi Xiaokui sighed, “Then I’ll just pick one at random. I hope my luck isn’t too bad.” After saying this, she waved at Xin Meng and confidently walked towards the middle door.
Xin Meng nodded, “Good luck.”
Once Qi Xiaokui’s figure completely disappeared behind the door, Xin Meng looked at the other four doors, then at the map in his hand, thinking he might as well follow Qi Xiaokui’s lead and choose one randomly. However, as he was about to put down the card, his peripheral vision inadvertently swept across a certain head portrait on the map, and his hand suddenly froze.
This head portrait… why does it look somewhat… familiar when viewed from the side?
He picked up the card, brought it closer to his eyes, and examined it carefully, feeling it resembled someone he knew, but it didn’t seem quite right. He held the card at the previous angle, but that feeling vanished.
Perhaps it was just a trick of the light?
Xin Meng rubbed his eyes and looked at that head portrait again. After thinking for a moment, he ultimately decided to choose the path represented by this head portrait.
He walked towards the far right, pushed open the heavy solid wood door, revealing a bottomless dark tunnel. Xin Meng hesitated for a moment, then cautiously stepped inside, the door closing behind him.
Dong Xiu, Li Yougen, and Xiong Jiabao saw how quickly the two of them had made their choices, and since they hadn’t received any useful information from them, they each randomly picked a door, filled with trepidation, stepping onto the unknown path from which there was no turning back.
When the light before her brightened again, Qi Xiaokui couldn’t help but shield her eyes with her hand; the intense brightness almost brought her to tears.
“Who are you? Why are you here?” A sharp voice suddenly rang out.
Qi Xiaokui immediately lowered her hand, squinting her eyes in an attempt to see clearly, but she couldn’t stop the physiological tears from flowing down. After walking in the dark tunnel for an unknown amount of time, her eyes had grown unaccustomed to the light. Now, suddenly seeing the dazzling golden mountain before her, which radiated a blinding glow, made it nearly impossible for her to open her eyes. She immediately realized whose territory this was!
Fortunately, it wasn’t Lust, nor was it Gluttony!
The Greed demon general had long, slender limbs, coiling around the mountain of gold and jewels like a giant spider. His slate-gray skin appeared dull and nearly black, but he didn’t care at all. Upon seeing the unfamiliar intruder, he didn’t even bother to remove his hands and feet, only half-turned his head, scanning her from head to toe with a scrutinizing gaze, not missing a single strand of hair, before quickly turning back, disinterestedly sneering, “Penny pincher! No matter who you are, get out of my treasury immediately!”
Qi Xiaokui steadied herself, calming her trembling legs. The blood-red eyes with snake-like vertical pupils emitted a sharp, greedy, and thirsty cold light, scanning her body like an X-ray, as if her body were being dissected by his gaze.
“Y-You…” Qi Xiaokui began, her voice slightly hoarse but unable to conceal the deep-seated tremor. She clenched her fist, mustering some courage to continue speaking. “I want to follow you; please give me a chance.”
“Follow me?” The Greed demon general lazily turned his head, his blood-red vertical pupils landing on Qi Xiaokui, causing her to shudder again.
“Are you deaf? I said—penny pincher, get out of my treasury!” The Greed demon general said with disdain.
He only liked gold coins! Treasures!
Of course, he occasionally enjoyed having wealthy individuals enter his treasury, so he could turn their money into his own, then either drive them away or kill them. He relished this process!
But a penniless penny pincher… had no value whatsoever.
The Greed demon general reveled in embracing the mountain of gold, rubbing his rough, calloused skin against the coins as if he were hugging his beloved. He planned that if this penniless intruder dared to repeat what she just said, he would kill her to avoid interrupting his time alone with his treasures.
“Get lost! This place only welcomes coins, gold, and gems…”
