Chapter 10 – The Scavenger and the Prey (Patreon)

The sudden memory made Lynn Naya’s throat tighten and her cheeks burn. Even the fruit tea in her mouth tasted different.

It was bitter.

She took a deep breath, then placed the still-warm bamboo cup outside on the windowsill.

The howling wind quickly carried away the heat from the cup. Soon, the unfinished tea was covered in a layer of ice, and by evening, the cup and the tea had frozen into a solid block.

Outside, the snow had begun to fall again.

*

Perhaps because the recent murder had put everyone on high alert, Lynn Naya didn’t hear any more rumors of murder in the following days, only of people freezing to death.

At the same time, because she had helped Qian Baolin in the medicinal fields, Qian Baolin would now greet her when she saw her. Over time, their relationship had become closer, and they were now able to hold a conversation.

Qian Baolin had a boastful nature and would often “casually” reveal who she knew and which supervisor was on good terms with her family.

Lynn Naya would listen to her talk without saying anything. After a while, she actually heard a few things that she needed. But her relationship with Qian Baolin was still new, so she would have to take things slowly.

Winter passed at a leisurely pace. After the snow melted, the three families in the courtyard still went out on sunny days, but their harvests weren’t as plentiful as they were in autumn. Sometimes, they even came back empty-handed.

Xue Yong’s wife had mentioned that there was still plenty to find on the farm, even in winter. There was wild wheat and other things, so they shouldn’t have come back with nothing. Unless… they weren’t going to the farm anymore.

Why aren’t they going to the farm? Do they not want to go, or can’t they?

Lynn Naya suspected they had run into some trouble, but since Xue Yong hadn’t come to tell her about it, she would pretend she didn’t know.

About half a month after the first snow, another murder occurred in the mortal zone at the foot of the mountain.

It was another person who lived alone and had a bit of money. When the body was found, all their valuables were gone.

The murder case caused a renewed sense of panic among the people who had just started to relax. Xue Yong’s wife came to ask Lynn Naya again if she wanted to come and live with them.

Lynn Naya gave her the same answer: I’ll think about it.

And so she thought, and then the fourth snowy night of winter arrived.

Watching the snow fall, Lynn Naya clenched her fist, then took a stone she had brought back and squeezed it. The stone immediately shattered into dust and fell from her palm.

A thick layer of stone dust already covered the ground under her feet. She had been practicing this for a while, training to put all her strength into a single, lethal blow. Thanks to the body-strengthening technique, she had grown much stronger. She could now crush solid rocks and easily snap animal bones.

She took some snow from the window to wipe her hands and looked out into the dark night. Then, she went to her bed and began to cultivate.

At midnight, when everything was still, Lynn Naya’s senses caught a faint sound of footsteps.

The footsteps were very light, and they didn’t even make a crunch in the snow. An ordinary person wouldn’t have noticed them, but Lynn Naya was no longer an ordinary person.

She listened as the footsteps came closer and closer, then stopped outside her courtyard door. Lynn Naya’s eyes flashed, and she quietly walked to the back of her door.

Across the courtyard, Xue Yong was already asleep, but his hunter’s instincts had him awake the moment he heard the suspicious sound. He listened for a while and faintly heard footsteps, so faint they were like a rabbit’s steps in the snow.

But what rabbit would be out here?

The thought immediately woke Xue Yong up. He quickly put on a robe and tiptoed outside.

It was still snowing, but the white ground reflected the faint light. He quietly lifted the animal hide curtain on his window and saw a figure stealthily making his way toward the young woman’s hut.

He was about to follow and catch the person in the act when he saw a shadow leap out of the half-open door and heard the sound of bones shattering.

Everything happened in a flash. By the time Xue Yong got there, he saw the most unforgettable sight of his life in the faint light of the snow.

The young woman from across the courtyard was holding a person by the neck. When she saw him, she tossed the body, and the limp corpse fell backward onto the ground.

Xue Yong wouldn’t let the body hit the ground with a thud. He quickly caught it and used the dagger on his belt to slit the person’s throat. Once he was sure the man was dead, he carried the body outside.

Lynn Naya knew the moment Xue Yong woke up.

Seeing him take the initiative to handle the body, she followed him. They walked along the wall to the intersection of the East and West districts.

Xue Yong put the body on the ground, patted the person’s chest and waist, and then motioned for Lynn Naya to walk ahead. He stayed behind and used his robe to sweep away their footprints.

They walked back to the courtyard together. Lynn Naya saw Xue Yong hand her a money bag-like thing and disappear into his hut. She didn’t say anything.

After Xue Yong was gone, she went back to the intersection to check for bloodstains and any other evidence. When she was sure there was nothing left, she returned to her hut.

Back home, she thought about the moment she had crushed the person’s throat. She was surprisingly calm.

She thought she would be afraid, terrified, or even disgusted, but she didn’t feel any of those things. Instead, she felt a secret thrill. It was as if all her pent-up rage had found an outlet, and the feeling made her both shiver and ecstatic.

Turns out I’m not such a good person after all.

She stood in the dark for a long time, then got up and cleaned up the evidence. When she was sure there was nothing left, she got into her bed.

If the heavy snow can cover everything, then let everything be covered by the snow. I’m just an ordinary person. Nothing happened tonight.

The next day, Lynn Naya was woken up by the commotion. Zhao Laoer’s wife was using her sharp voice to talk about the most shocking news of the day. “Someone died again last night! The body was just thrown at the intersection between the East and West districts. It was completely stripped naked. I heard the person’s throat was cut and they bled to death. Everyone is over there now to identify the body. Do you want to go and see?”

“I don’t think we should go join the fun. It sounds horrible.” Xue Yong’s wife said, clearly wanting no part of it. She had always been the kind of person who disliked a crowd.

“Well, if you’re not going, I am,” Fan Shi said, extending an invitation. “Let’s go. Let’s go and have a look. Things always get crazy when it snows.”

After they had mended their relationship, Fan Shi had started to integrate back into the group. At least on the surface, no one was holding her gourd-stealing incident against her anymore.

Lynn Naya lay in bed for a little while longer before getting up and taking out the money bag Xue Yong had given her.

The bag was the size of her palm and contained half a ginseng root and three jade tokens for storing contribution points.

In the mortal zone at the foot of the mountain, contribution points were a person’s entire wealth and were usually kept close to the body. When one person had another person’s token, it was undoubtedly an act of murder and robbery. There were no exceptions.

Lynn Naya pressed each jade token to her forehead. The names and information of the original owners all appeared in her mind. One of the tokens belonged to a person with the surname Hua, which was the surname of the dead woman.

The contribution points in the tokens could be transferred to one another. The man last night, perhaps out of guilt, had not consolidated the points into one.

Lynn Naya looked at the total amount of contribution points on the three tokens, which was a total of 97. If they were all together, it would definitely draw attention.

But…

Lynn Naya thought about it for a moment, then transferred all the contribution points to her own token. She squeezed the emptied, low-quality tokens, and they crumbled into dust that fell onto the floor.

After taking care of the three tokens, Lynn Naya threw the money bag into the brazier and set it on fire.

Unlike the plastic she was used to, the pure hemp bag immediately burst into flames without leaving a single trace of an unusual smell.

After dealing with the bag, Lynn Naya double-checked that all the footprints outside were covered. She then took her bamboo cup, which had been frozen for days, from the windowsill and put it over the brazier to melt.

When Fan Shi and the others came back, Lynn Naya was sweeping the snow off her roof and chewing on a jujube pit.

Everyone else was also clearing the snow off their roofs. When they saw Fan Shi, they all asked her what happened. Only Lynn Naya in the corner and Xue Yong on the roof remained silent.

“The body was identified. I heard it was a person from the Wild Fox Gang in the East district. The Wild Fox Gang is causing a ruckus now, but since it snowed so much last night, there aren’t any footprints or bloodstains. No one knows who the killer is. They want to search every house for the body’s clothes, but they were stopped. No one wants them to overstep their bounds. It’s probably going to be a mess.”

“So how did that person die? Was their throat really cut?”

“It was more than just their throat being cut. Their throat bones were crushed to powder. When they carried the body away, the head just flopped around like a sweet potato. It was gruesome.” As Fan Shi was talking, a large chunk of snow slid off the roof next to her and drenched her.

“Brother Xue, watch out for the people down here!” Fan Shi yelled, brushing the snow off her head.

Xue Yong immediately apologized from the roof. “My bad. My hands slipped.”

After he apologized, he covertly glanced at the young woman sweeping the snow across from him, still struggling to process what he had seen last night.

The other neighbors didn’t notice his subtle expression. They continued to talk about the dead person and guess who the killer could be.

After all, a person who could crush someone’s throat bones must be a master, and most masters now belonged to a gang. So, this must be a fight between two gangs, right?

Listening to her neighbors’ theories, Lynn Naya finished sweeping the snow and spit the jujube pit in her mouth into the corner of the wall.

Someone to take the blame? Perfect.