The clouds hung very low, and time seemed to have passed for an eternity, yet night had not fallen, nor had the sun risen.
The desolate swamp felt oppressive, like a vast graveyard.
Qi Xiaokui slowly walked around the swamp, slightly bent over, her legs stiff as she moved, resembling a walking corpse. Her clothes were torn and ragged, dragging on the ground, caked with mud and blood. Insects, drawn by the stench of blood, buzzed around her but never landed.
The girl sighed in relief, touching the purplish bruises on her skin. This was the insect-repelling herb she had stumbled upon. She had crushed the herb and smeared the juice all over her exposed skin, which was why, up until now, she had not been drained dry by these bloodsucking mosquitoes.
The coins in her arms felt heavy, over six hundred of them, all she had collected tirelessly over the past few days, almost too many to hold, wrapped in her school uniform jacket.
Initially, she had been disgusted and unwilling to touch them, but now she dared not let the coins out of her sight. This was because half of the coins she had piled up earlier had been snatched away by a little demon that had rushed out from who knows where. Qi Xiaokui had chased after it, nearly stabbing its back with a branch to drive the thief away. Since then, she had to hold onto this pile of hard coins even while sleeping, afraid to let go.
She vowed that if she ever returned home, she would never set foot in a gold shop again, never wanting to see any gold products for the rest of her life.
“Still 358 coins left…” Qi Xiaokui murmured to herself, her gaze constantly scanning the surroundings. Whenever she spotted something reflecting light, she would rush over to check, only to be disappointed many times, even stepping into traps set by glowing poisonous insects.
But her progress remained slow. She had searched through the nearby forests, even climbing trees. The spiders and insects she had initially feared no longer made her scream and flee. With a numb expression, she skillfully used a branch to cut through spider silk, causing the spiders to flee instead of seeking revenge.
The cost of this progress was staggering. Her arms were covered in countless bite marks and swollen bruises, her complexion a sickly hue, as traces of poison coursed through her blood, reaching her brain, making her dizzy and sluggish.
No, no, not here either…
After searching through most of the forest and finding no coins, she reluctantly turned her gaze to the overgrown swamp.
This was the only place she hadn’t searched yet.
Just standing near the swamp, a foul, decaying odor assaulted her senses. It looked like merely damp soil and overgrown weeds, making it hard to imagine this was a place that could claim lives.
Unidentifiable flying insects swirled among the weeds, and occasionally, the grass would rustle, revealing a glimpse of a snake’s body covered in dense scales.
And there was the occasional flicker of golden light.
It would not allow her to escape.
The boundaries of the swamp were not very clear. Qi Xiaokui poked the ground in front of her with a sturdy branch, moving forward bit by bit, until the branch suddenly sank into something. She stopped, seeing just about a meter ahead of her, a glimmer of gold peeking out from the mud—it was a coin!
But how to get there? Qi Xiaokui estimated the distance; the coin was actually very close to her, just a step away.
She decided to take a risk.
First, she tentatively stepped onto a patch of ground in front of her, finding it stable enough. It was only slightly softer than normal ground, not enough to sink into. Perhaps because it was at the very edge of the swamp, it wasn’t as soft as deeper inside. She thought that if she just took it slow, it should be fine.
Qi Xiaokui had never seen a swamp in person and was not fully aware of how dangerous it could be. Still holding onto some hope, she slowly shifted her weight onto that leg.
Her flat shoes sank slightly into the mud, then deeper and deeper. By the time Qi Xiaokui sensed something was wrong, half of her leg had already sunk in!
“Ah!” She panicked and struggled, her body losing balance and leaning forward. The other leg uncontrollably took a step forward, and that half step caused both legs to be swallowed by the swamp!
“Help! Oh God!” In her terror, Qi Xiaokui desperately tried to pull her legs up, twisting her body to grab onto the solid ground just behind her, but it was useless. Her legs wouldn’t budge, and she continued to sink. Her body couldn’t fully turn, and the frantic movements only made her sink faster. In the blink of an eye, the thick mud had already reached her waist!
Her body was sinking rapidly, and Qi Xiaokui felt almost hopeless. She knew that no matter how loudly she screamed, no one would come to save her!
Her waist, abdomen, chest…
The mud crept up little by little.
In this critical moment, she suddenly recalled something Xin Meng had once told her.
That was just before she was about to board a bus that could lead to either her destination or her death. Xin Meng had sent her off, and just before the door closed, she had leaned in and whispered.
“No matter what situation you’re in, no matter what danger you face, stay calm. Clear your mind of all distractions. Don’t think about fear or death; the only thought that should exist in your mind is how to escape this predicament. Only then can you find a way out as quickly as possible.”
Stay calm… Clear your mind…
At that moment, recalling those words, Qi Xiaokui unconsciously began to follow their meaning. She stopped thinking about unrealistic hopes of being rescued and focused solely on how to escape the swamp.
Her understanding of swamps was too limited; she had no idea how to deal with it. But because she managed to calm down in time, she suddenly thought that swamps seemed similar to quicksand? The more you struggle, the easier it is to sink. So the way to deal with it is…
Qi Xiaokui slowly relaxed her body, no longer kicking her legs wildly, and observed the situation. It was clear that the speed of her sinking had slowed down!
She was overjoyed and held her breath, slowly bending her upper body backward until her back touched the hard ground outside the swamp. Almost lying down, she relaxed her body, slowly moving her left leg upward. It felt like an eternity, but that leg finally emerged from the swamp. Qi Xiaokui struggled to roll toward the bank, her entire body sprawled on the ground, and then slowly pulled out the other leg…
When she finally rolled out of the swamp, she was as dirty as a hippo that had just taken a mud bath. Her torn clothes barely covered her emaciated body, and there was not a single patch of unblemished skin left. Her hair was disheveled, and the dry strands were tangled with decaying tree sap and hay, with black maggots crawling in and out.
Qi Xiaokui curled up into a ball and began to sob softly.
…
Xiong Jiabao was led through a small door. When the door opened, he was surprised to find a vast hall that rivaled the outside space. The hall was arranged like a classroom, with ten rows of ten tables, a total of one hundred tables, all piled high with food, plates and cups scattered everywhere. Behind the tables sat many fat people, some particularly plump, others moderately so, all shoving the food from the tables into their mouths.
Xiong Jiabao stared in disbelief, but the guard kicked him, pointing to an empty table in the far corner, impatiently saying, “You! Sit there! Hurry up!”
Xiong Jiabao was confused and wanted to ask the guard something, but seeing his fierce expression, he dared not say more and obediently walked over to sit down, casually placing his backpack beside him. Soon, with a wave of the guard’s hand, a large pile of plates magically appeared on the empty table in front of him!
The plates were filled with various foods, a mix of Chinese and Western dishes, all of which he loved: pizza, roasted chicken, ham, braised pork knuckle…
On the corner of the table were two glasses of different colored wine, one red and one white, meant to be paired with different foods.
Feeling a bit thirsty, he picked up the red wine and drank a glass. As soon as he set it back down, another full glass appeared as if by magic. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, picked it up again, and drank. It seemed the wine glass had some kind of magic, never running dry, with red wine flowing endlessly.
He tentatively took a bite of a corner of the pizza, and soon, where he had bitten, another identical piece appeared.
“How amazing!” he murmured to himself.
The guard nudged his helmet, which was about to slip off, and with a gruff voice, barked, “Eat! Don’t stop!”
Xiong Jiabao was overjoyed; he was starving! Choosing to be a gluttonous demon king was indeed a good choice, with so much delicious food to eat, and he didn’t have to worry about running out!
What did it matter if he got a little fatter? In the next game, he could return to his original state without even needing to diet, all without any pain—he could make all the women in the world envious!
He tore off a roasted chicken leg and stuffed it into his mouth, the mixed aroma of fruitwood and meat filling his mouth. Xiong Jiabao squinted his eyes in happiness, feeling there was nothing better than this.
Seeing him start to eat, the guard no longer paid attention to him but looked around. Soon, he walked around Xiong Jiabao’s table to his left, where a man sat. This man was much thinner than the other fat people and seemed to have arrived not long ago. At that moment, he was slumped over the table, panting, as if he was tired from eating and wanted to take a break. The guard approached him.
Xiong Jiabao was eating, his gaze unconsciously following the guard’s plump figure. He chuckled to himself, thinking that there was a reason why gluttons liked other gluttons. Just look at the gluttonous demon king, so fat, and the guard he found was just as plump, waddling like a penguin, swaying back and forth, swaying and swaying~
At that moment, he had already started on his second chicken leg, while the fat guard had reached the man.
“I… I just want to rest a bit…” The man looked at the fat guard, his face showing a look of terror. He immediately grabbed the bread in front of him and stuffed it into his mouth. However, the fat guard’s movements were surprisingly quick for his size. With a swift motion, the man’s head was severed from his body, flying into the air and rolling to the ground, landing right at Xiong Jiabao’s feet.
Xiong Jiabao, with a chicken leg in his mouth, stared wide-eyed in shock. The warm blood splattered onto his face, and as it dripped down his cheek, the half-eaten chicken leg turned blood-red. His throat convulsed violently!
