Tricked 077: Lighting the Fire

Jiang Yan kept her voice low; Mrs. Wang didn’t hear her.

Once she finished handing out the Cow-Raising Class Code of Conduct, she glanced around, savoring the various expressions on everyone’s faces. The large, stout woman pulled down the hem of her shirt, revealing teeth stained yellow with tartar.

“The Cow-Raising class is now complete. Everyone is expected to finish the course within three days.”

It was obvious that this code was all there was to the class.

As she left, the woman even began to hum a tune—cheerful and strange—as she leisurely pushed open the cowshed door.

Thud, thud, thud.

Her chunky-heeled shoes beat the floor like a drum, but if you listened closely, the footsteps didn’t grow distant. Instead, they approached and receded in turn, as if she were dancing in a circle as she left.

Shen Xiaoxiao was exasperated by her own overactive imagination. She scratched at the goosebumps on her arm and sidled up to Jiang Yan. “Sister Jiang Yan, what did you just say? I didn’t catch it.”

Yu Renwan was equally puzzled. Although she’d heard Jiang Yan clearly, she hadn’t understood the meaning.

“So, should we sing now?” she asked. “Didn’t the code say to wait until the third eye appears…?”

Jiang Yan looked around, ensuring everyone still seemed mentally stable. Given how little time had passed, it made sense that no one was showing obvious symptoms of SAN loss yet.

The people who’d become “cows” probably hadn’t seen the calves grow a third eye for a long while, and so, never sang; as their SAN values dropped and they lost their reason, eventually they couldn’t sing at all.

So Jiang Yan briefly shared her view.

Finally, she pondered aloud: “Given that Mrs. Wang could make the first calf’s extra eyes disappear, I think ‘Sir Cow Immortal’ refers to all the calves. After all, judging by her reverence… she doesn’t seem like she was adopted by just that first calf—she’s more like a devoted follower of each and every one.”

“So while it seems that each of us is adopted by a particular calf, it would be more accurate to say we are each a follower of one of the Cow Immortal’s incarnations. So as long as someone sings, all the calves’ eyes will return to normal.”

“But while singing, due to the lyrics, the person’s adopted chick and lamb will also grow. So for now, we’d best take turns singing,”—here Jiang Yan paused briefly—“but I don’t think it’ll be for long. I’ll fetch some hay and start a fire. Soon, I’ll be cooking some of the corpses. I hope my plan works.”

Lan Lin thought quietly after hearing this.

Jiang Yan’s plan called for chick and lamb corpses.

But at the moment, only Jiang Yan’s group had any in the cowshed. When her team picked their young, they hadn’t grabbed any extras, and it felt improper to ask others for their hard-won corpses—especially since there weren’t many to go around anyway. If they split them tonight, what about tomorrow and the day after? With only enough corpses for four people, there was no way to share among eight.

Lan Lin turned to consult with her own team before finally looking back at Jiang Yan. “Sorry, but it looks like you’ll have to start singing first.”

“We think your plan is workable,” she continued, “but since we lack animal corpses, we simply can’t follow through with it right now. We’ll have to go to the chicken coop and sheepfold.”

Yi Liang added, “Judging by the current situation, the chicken coop and sheepfold should have codes of their own. If we can follow the rules, we should be able to go in again without trouble.”

Jiang Yan nodded.

The twins and Yu Renwan agreed as well.

So for the moment, Jiang Yan would go off alone to gather hay for the fire; the twins and Yu Renwan would take turns singing, and the three of them would also care for the remaining young animals.

“Let’s get moving,” Lan Lin said, heading for the door.

Before opening it, her gaze drifted to the corner of the cowshed.

There, the man who had adopted the mother sheep was sitting on the floor, entirely withdrawn from everything around him—paying attention to nothing but endlessly stroking his daughter’s face.

As time went on, the face on the back of the sheep’s head was visibly growing clearer. It wouldn’t be much longer before the sheep’s head became his daughter’s entirely.

One could not tell if this was what the man actually wanted.

Lan Lin sighed and pushed open the cowshed door, leading her teammates out.

Jiang Yan also got ready to find a pot and light a fire.

Before she left, she thought for a moment and walked over to the green-tea calf that had adopted her.

At the moment, the calves of various temperaments were sprawled in their own nests, whispering together, occasionally glancing up at the believers they had chosen. When someone left, they paid no attention at all, seeming entirely insulated from the humans’ conversation.

The green-tea calf raised its eyes languidly as Jiang Yan approached. “What do you want?”

“Until you make yourself more exceptional, I won’t introduce you to the other cows,” it said sternly. “Don’t even dream about it.”

“What do you mean by ‘more exceptional’?” Jiang Yan asked.

Green-tea calf: “When everyone tries to win you over, but you choose to follow only me.”

Jiang Yan gave a perfunctory smile. “I’ll do my best.”

“But as it happens,” she continued, “I’ve just thought of a way to become more exceptional.”

Green-tea calf straightened up. “What way?”

“Let me go stretch my legs,” Jiang Yan said, utterly sincere. “Fresh air makes your body healthier; running a few extra laps will build muscle; searching for a pot in unfamiliar territory will sharpen my eyesight; carrying a bundle of meter-high straw will test my strength.”

Green-tea calf: “Then what are you waiting for?”

Jiang Yan: “Hm?”

The green-tea calf nudged her. “Get going, get going! When you bring back the straw, walk two laps in front of me—you better make a scene and let everyone see.”

“Understand?”

Jiang Yan bent down and gave the green-tea calf a bizarre high-five. “Understood.”

【Such meticulous behavior.】

【Poor green-tea calf, Jiang Yan totally tricked you…】

【I still like the good-smelling calf better.】

【Yet another reminder: this is a terrifying energy field—stop treating it like a tasting panel!】

After leaving the cowshed, Jiang Yan headed straight for the row of hay sheds nearby.

Earlier, she’d noticed faint lights glowing in the two leftmost sheds, but hadn’t had a chance to check them. Now, as she searched for a pot, she could finally investigate.

She hurried toward the second-left hay shed.

She heard faint lowing even before reaching the entrance.

The door was half open; Jiang Yan crept silently to the threshold and glanced inside.

It wasn’t much different from the chicken coop or the sheepfold—filthy scraps of skin everywhere, sticky, stinking feed covering the floor. In a cramped space, there were seventeen people in all:

Four chickens with human faces, six sheep with human faces, and seven people kneeling, mooing like cows.

One was the man who had earlier crawled and carried the calf to open the cowshed door.

It had been too dark to notice before, but in the light, Jiang Yan saw the man’s movements were more than bovine; his tailbone jutted at an odd angle, as if a tail might soon sprout. Even so, his symptoms were still the mildest.

Several people had already ceased to look human—their limbs had turned to hooves, their bodies were covered in dense brown cow hair, and nothing but wild madness remained in their eyes.

Completely beyond saving.

Having made her assessment, Jiang Yan didn’t linger; she turned away for the leftmost shed.

As she’d expected, the situation here was much better.

There were only two people inside, but both still seemed lucid.

She watched a while to confirm, then pushed the door open.

Inside were a middle-aged man and an old woman of over seventy. At the sound of the door, both instinctively shrank away. After a long pause, they nervously turned toward the entrance.

Jiang Yan was direct: “When did you come here?”

Both looked startled. The old woman finally responded after a thoughtful pause. “Girl, you’re a human, aren’t you?”

Straightforward and endearing.

Jiang Yan nodded.

The old woman looked mournful—her sadness tinged with anger. “You’re still so young. How can this place be so devoid of humanity? You still have your whole life ahead—what are you doing in a place like this?”

It sounded as if she’d been through something, or at least witnessed it.

Jiang Yan asked, “Did you both arrive just in the last couple of days?”

Now the man spoke. “I arrived the day before yesterday. This auntie here came in yesterday.”

No wonder—they’d been here too short a time to reach the fatal condition.

Jiang Yan’s gaze drifted to the chicks and lambs behind the man. His adopted animals were already a little bigger; the lamb’s eyes radiated absolute trust, while the chick glared with a touch of jealousy.

She then looked at the old woman’s animals—both still very much infantile, with only slightly too-human expressions, nothing else out of the ordinary.

The man spoke up: “You must know something’s wrong here, too. Don’t hope for luck—people die in this place.”

“When I got here, there were two other survivors in this shed. We talked, they’d already lasted two days, but yesterday morning, they suddenly turned into sheep.”

The memory seemed to bring something grim and horrible to mind. His jaw clenched slightly and his face grew pained. “I’ve even written my last words. But this place is so strange—I don’t even know if my wife and daughter will ever see them.”

“My daughter just got engaged last week. I already bought a new suit for the wedding—cost a fortune…”

Jiang Yan inquired politely, “How should I address you?”

The old lady said, “You can call me Granny Zhuang. My granddaughter is about your age—just graduated from college.”

The man said, “My surname is Wang.”

Hearing this, Jiang Yan blinked. “What does your daughter look like?”

The man gestured, “About this tall, very fair, a bit slender because of stomach problems. She just dyed her hair red before getting engaged—looked beautiful.”

It was the girl who had died on the raft.

【……】

【Damn… For real…】

【Oh god, Jiang Yan, don’t let it slip—you’ll doom them!】

But Jiang Yan said nothing.

She changed the subject. “I need a pot—do you know where I can find one?”

At that, both exchanged helpless, fearful looks; the terror on their faces was real.

“What is it?” Jiang Yan asked.

Granny Zhuang replied, “We know, it’s just…”

Jiang Yan pressed, “Just tell me. I need it badly—the cow told me to find it.”

At this, the old woman gasped, muttering, “Then yes, you have to find it… you have to…” She used her stick to rise. “Last night, about this time, Xiao Wang and I heard something outside. We were so scared, but followed from a distance, and saw—a pot, a very big pot by the river.”

The middle-aged man nodded, about to add more, when a loud door slammed outside.

Bang—!

All three fell silent instantly.

They heard the drumbeat of footsteps—Mrs. Wang was nearby, dragging something that rustled and scraped.

Jiang Yan waited until the sound faded, then said crisply, “I’ll be back.”

“And one more thing,” she added before leaving, glancing at the man, “stop favoring the lamb. Feed the chick a little more so both grow at the same rate. You should last another night or two.”

With that, Jiang Yan left the shed.

Off thirty or forty meters away, Mrs. Wang was striding briskly, both hands pulling something—by the size and shape, it had to be a human-faced sheep and a human-faced chicken.

Jiang Yan followed at a distance.

Mrs. Wang moved fast—what should have taken fifteen minutes took half as long. Perhaps because she hurried so, neither animal was dead despite being dragged all the way.

Hidden behind a tree, Jiang Yan silently watched the woman’s actions.

The woman bent to gather twigs, then walked to a massive iron pot by the river—who knew when it had arrived. She expertly built a fire and boiled water. The distinctly human chicken and sheep were swiftly plucked. To ensure all feathers came off, she pinched their necks and dunked them in scalding water. They screamed in pure human terror, but every sound stopped in an instant.

Mrs. Wang held them under until their bodies were thoroughly scalded, then pulled them out and peeled off the skin with care.

Soon, the milky white flesh was giving off an enticing aroma.

Mrs. Wang swallowed unconsciously, wiped her mouth, and muttered something indistinct. From a distance, Jiang Yan couldn’t make out the words, only saw her toss the human-headed chicken and sheep into the river, then kneel in devotion with her forehead to the ground.

After a few breaths, the river began to boil. A gigantic cow hoof reached up from the water, engulfed the animals, and in three or five seconds flung bleached bones back to shore.

They were picked so clean they shone like jade, save for the dense indentations of teeth.

Mrs. Wang collected the bones and hurried away. Jiang Yan, sickened, massaged her throat, stepped out from behind the tree, quickly grabbed the iron pot, gathered handfuls of hay by the riverside, and rushed back to the cowshed.

*

When Jiang Yan returned, Yu Renwan was singing inside.

Normally, her speaking voice did not seem particularly beautiful, but now, even simple lyrics sounded haunting and sweet.

Jiang Yan remembered Yu Renwan’s upbringing—born to an opera family, schooled in singing since childhood; no wonder her voice sounded so good.

Jiang Yan pushed the door open and stepped in.

Now every calf’s face was perfectly blank—no mouth, no nose—just a white expanse; as blank as paper. Thanks to the singing, both Yu Renwan’s and the twins’ adopted chicks and lambs were visibly plumper, snuggling closely to them.

At the sound of Jiang Yan’s return, all the animals turned toward the door in unison.

Jiang Yan’s expression didn’t change. She hadn’t forgotten her promise to the green-tea calf—so first, she circled it once. The green-tea calf leapt up and triumphantly beckoned the good-smelling and strong calves: “Jealous, aren’t you?”

“Mine, mine, mine!”

It wore a big blank face—no features at all, yet could still see and speak.

The green-tea calf strutted a full lap around the cowshed, soaking up the attention before sprawling back on its nest. “You made me look good. You can rest now.”

Jiang Yan frowned. “That won’t do.”

Green-tea calf: “What?”

Jiang Yan stacked the hay, set up the pot, scooped water from the cowshed trough, and pulled a lighter from her bag. “If you’re still up, how could I dare rest?”

“Let me sing for you, holding your favorite chick and lamb. We love you, we love you.”

She added more firewood as she spoke.

The green-tea calf beamed with satisfaction. “She loves me, she loves me!”

“She’s my most loyal believer.”

The flames blazed high, the water boiled, and Jiang Yan tore a lamb leg from one of the corpses.

Leisurely, she threw it into the pot. The clear water instantly turned crimson, suffused with the scent of blood, and all the lambs in the cowshed began to back away.

Smiling, Jiang Yan fetched a chick’s corpse.

All the chicks scattered as if fleeing a monster.

She calmly seized her own two little ones, kissed their heads, scooped them into her arms, and languidly stirred the pot with a stick.

She started to hum in snatches:

“I thank the Cow Immortal for all you bestow.”

“Lambs are lovely.”

She stirred the lamb leg around in the pot.

“Chicks are wonderful.”

Then ladled boiling water over the chick corpse.

A strange meaty aroma began to rise from the pot. Jiang Yan hummed low, “They love me, they love me, for I am a true child of the Cow Immortal. They love me, they love me.”

“I caress them with my hands, I adore them with my heart…”

She licked her lips as she sang.

“I flee the evil god, hide in your embrace. And if the Cow Immortal is harmed, I shall set myself adrift.”

Sensing Jiang Yan’s sincerity and patience, all the calves’ two newly-grown eyes vanished at once.

Cradled in Jiang Yan’s arms, the chick and lamb squeezed their eyes shut, both dry-heaving in response to her unwavering devotion.

【I swear, I’ve never seen such piety in my life.】

【Truly devout. Truly, truly patient.】

【She looks just like a little girl waiting for Thanksgiving turkey.】

【The little ones are done growing.】