Chapter 434: Evil God Ritual - The Boathouse

Xiaokui continued in a daze.

"Since then, the prefecture has held a great annual festival of the evil gods, and because the evil gods of the dream demanded pure suffering, the prefect and the men of the village met for three days and nights and finally decided unanimously that only the suffering of children was the purest, so the sacrifices offered should be children."

"In the beginning Luming County was not so rich, and the sacrifices for the evil gods were not purchased ...... from out of town but, like me, from children chosen from the village."

Surprised, Aota asked in return, "You had a mother and father, didn't they stop you from being chosen as a sacrifice?"

"It was my father and mother who offered me and my brother up as sacrifices." Xiaokui's voice became choked with sobs, "because the rule of the prefecture is that the family who offers the sacrifice, if it is finally chosen, will have the right to make the wish."

"My father offered me and one of my brothers as a sacrifice in the hope that the evil gods would choose at least one of us, so that our family could make a wish to the evil gods that we would no longer have to work so hard to feed our family by going out fishing every day. "

"At that time, almost every poor family offered their children as sacrifices, and the richer ones, who did not want to sacrifice their offspring, would buy them from the poorer ones, train them well and use them as their own sacrifices."

"Because there was no telling who would be chosen by the evil gods, some families would sell one of their children as a sacrifice if they had a spare one."

"I was sold by my father to the Bei Yuan family." Xiaokui whimpered, "My name is now Beiyuan Xiaokui."

Aota sighed sympathetically, "A sacrifice to the evil gods? And I wonder which is a little better than hard labor."

"Hard labour?" Xiaokui turned her head slowly, her wet hair covering her thin, miserable face, and locked eyes with Bai Liu, who was leaning against the side of the bed, "You have no idea what it takes to be a sacrifice to an evil god."

"You will be whipped, tortured, in pain, begging for life and death."

Aota sounded puzzled, "But so is hard labour, as soon as you go over there you have to start being beaten and made to do the work."

Xiaokui laughed nervously twice: "But being a sacrifice didn't start out that way."

"At first, you'll be assigned a particularly warm houseboat, a particularly cute little dog and cat, squire friends who treat you exceptionally well, good food at every meal, and parents who visit you daily."

"- you can't even tell for a moment whether you've come over to be a sacrifice or a princess."

Confused, Aota asked, "Wouldn't that be nice?"

Xiaokui was just about to speak again when the door to the boathouse was thrown open so violently that she stopped her voice with a shudder of her shoulders.

The wind and rain mixed with a low, mellow, middle-aged man's voice came in, "It's pouring, just the time for these newly-picked pups to be mentally unstable and insecure, so let's divide the cats and dogs among them first, so they can cuddle each other through the storm and get acquainted with each other and nurture their feelings first."

Another, slightly thinner male voice echoed, "Yes, Lord Gosho."

The dark cabin was illuminated by a dim oil lamp carried by seven or eight men carrying a large, long, wide, black cloth-covered cage from which came the long, thin, shivering cries of animal cubs.

"Mee-mee-mee-ooo!"

"Ow-ow-ow ...... woof!"

A man placed a gas lamp on the bow side of Bai Liu, who was sleeping with his eyes closed, and reached out with a calloused, fishy hand to give him a firm pat.

Bai Liu opened his eyes as if he had just woken up and met the animal in the cage that the man was carrying in the dim light.

It was a particularly beautiful long white haired cat with silvery blue eyes.

The cat, which looked no more than a few months old, was beautiful, fluffy and warm, with a golden bell around its neck and the pupils of its eyes turning round in this grey light, was sitting upright in its cage with one paw raised and its little pink tongue out to lick the fur of the other, which was a little muddy, as if it didn't like not being tidy enough to meet people.

When Bai Liu looked up at him, the cat tilted his head slightly, his pink nose peeking out of the cage, and gave Bai Liu's hand, which was tied to the bed rail, an affectionate and unafraid arch, and a whiny, long-tailed mewl.

The man carrying the cage saw the scene but gave a wry laugh, "This cat has been well-trained to stick to people on sight and likes them."

"I'll let him out later and he'll head for your arms, and if you can't hold him steady in the wind and waves, such a cute little kitty can be dropped right out of the bed and fall out of his guts alive."

As soon as the cat was out of the cage, it burrowed into Bai Liu's arms, eventually squeezing out an indentation that would almost fit into Bai Liu's chest.

The kitten squinted at the warmth of Bai Liu's body, purring in his throat and nuzzling his head against Bai Liu's chin, purring as if he loved his new owner.

Satisfied that the cat had gotten into Bai Liu's arms, the man withdrew his eyes and carried the cage to leave, but then turned back as if remembering something and admonished, "All these animals have the same name as their owners."

"So this cat has the same name as you, both are called Bai six."

Bai Liu lowered his eyes to look at the kitten curled up in his arms for warmth, very much at home and about to curl up into a ball and fall asleep.

The kitten's eyes were about to close, but it seemed to notice Bai Liu looking at it and leaned towards Bai Liu with a cry, resting its head on Bai Liu's bound wrists, stretching its paws against Bai Liu's palms, purring twice and licking the tip of Bai Liu's nose.

"Don't give me-!!!" A harsh female voice came from Bai Liu's bunk, interrupting the kitten's attempt to lick Bai Liu's fur, "I don't want this dog!!!"

The kitten's eyes widened at the sound and she and Bai Liu looked down together.

Xiaokui struggled desperately on the bed, her eyes red and snotty, her voice sharp and hysterical, interspersed with broken sobs: "Don't give me this dog!!!"

Next to Xiaokui's bed is a small, round-eyed Shiba Inu, half the height of a man's calf, orange in colour, ears perked up, looking spirited and alert, seemingly frightened by Xiaokui's reaction but standing by her leg, hesitating for a moment before licking Xiaokui's tears.

Xiaokui let out a cry of utter devastation, waving her hands around mindlessly: "Get out! Don't lick me! Don't come near me! Get away!"

"I don't want any more pain! I don't want a dog!"

The little Shiba Inu was hit by Xiaokui's haphazardly swinging hands and let out a frightened wail and wail and tried to hide behind the man's feet, but was kicked out of the way by the man with a cold kick and crashed straight into a bedpost following the momentum of the wave throwing up the boat.

The sound of the puppy's bones breaking came clearly, and he let out only a very short, miserable wail before he rolled to the ground, where the puppy's head and tail were knocked together, his eyes wide open, and he lay motionless on the ground.

Xiaokui, who was holding her face and howling, had her pupils spread out for a moment and her expression was completely blank as she jerked her head around to look at the motionless Shiba Inu, the touch of being licked by the little Shiba Inu's tongue still lingering on her face.

Tears slipped mindlessly from Xiaokui's wide-open eyes as she shakily reached out in the direction of the Shiba Inu pup's body lying on the ground and murmured, "...... Xiaokui."

At the sight of this, the man's original impatient expression loosened to reveal a bit of joy as he stroked his palm and laughed, "Crying!"

"I didn't expect to cry with an offering on board, that's a good start." The man turned his head to the man next to him and ordered with a wave of his hand, "Bring over some more cats and a couple of Shiba Inu."

Soon the cat and Shiba Inu were brought in.

The man knelt down and spoke softly and gently to Xiaokui, who was lying on her side completely dazed, "Xiaokui doesn't like dogs, does she? Does Xiaokui like cats?"

"No ......" Xiaokui's tears were flowing continuously, her pupils had gone lax, her voice was hoarse and dry, but she was still in denial, "... ...I don't want a dog, and I don't want a cat."

"...... I don't want to see [Xiaokui] die again for being Xiaokui's friend."

"Really?" With slight regret the man grabbed a kitten by the back of the neck from its cage and held it up to Xiaokui, " Xiaokui is going to push them away so hard? You were the most fond of the little animals of all the sacrifices in the first place."

"Now that they like you so much, you don't want them as your friends either?"

The kitten, unaware of what was happening, mewled twice, faltered and propped itself up to arch Xiaokui, rubbing him affectionately and cowering on Xiaokui's shoulder.

Xiaokui clenched her fists slowly as she did her best to turn her head and feign a cold tone, "Even if you kill them in front of me, I won't suffer because of them anymore."

"Then there is no way out." The man shook his head sadly and leaned over to Xiaokui's ear to whisper, " Xiaokui should know, right, that animals that have no way to cause you pain are of no value on this ship."

He laughed, squeezed the back of the kitten's neck and pulled it out of Xiaokui's arms, then placed his hand on the neck of the tiny kitten that knew nothing, whose eyes were staring at Xiaokui in ignorance and that could be wrapped around it with two fingers, and tightened it violently.

The kitten's mewling, which had been playful and intimate, became mournful as it struggled on its four little legs, kicking at the man's hand, trying to jump from the man's strong grip, but it was a futile struggle; it was not as big as one of the man's hands.

The cat cub's black and white eyes were pinched and bloodshot, his voice pinched and shrill, then slowly grew weak again, his struggling paws dropping.

Xiaokui gritted her teeth and didn't look back, but finally, when the kitten's last mimic came out, she didn't hold back and turned her head around and frantically reached for the kitten: "Give it to me!"

In response, the man let go of the cat, which had been squeezed so softly that it had only one breath left, and fell into Xiaokui's arms, whimpering muffledly against him as if he had been wronged.

Xiaokui clung to him with tears in her eyes, "I want this kitten, I want this Xiaokui, please give it to me!"

"I will be in good pain for it later!"

The man stared at Xiaokui for a moment and then suddenly laughed: " Xiaokui was not chosen by the evil gods several times, because the pain was not enough, I guess."

Slowly, he reached out from Xiaokui's arms and pulled the kitten, which was clinging to Xiaokui's clothes, out of Xiaokui's nearly blank stare, and gently stroked it twice before placing his hand on its neck. Whispering.

"Then let's make it more painful, Xiaokui."

The kitten cried out in distress, but this time Mikifune did not let go. He clapped his hands and casually dropped the limp body of the kitten next to Xiaokui, who was in a trance, and turned to leave.

"Find Xiaokui another Shiba Inu to keep her company, crush her to death if she doesn't want to, and get another cat."

"Change it until she can't cry."