The Night Watcher of Great Jing - Chapter 87

A gentle breeze stirred the old woman’s graying hair.

Prince Rui called several times but received no answer.

“Your Highness, there’s someone over there too.”

At a guard’s direction, Prince Rui turned.

Through an open window, they could see a man sitting with his back toward them.

Prince Rui took one step forward.

A faint crunch sounded beneath his feet.

He looked down and felt instantly sick.

A thick layer of dead white moths covered the ground.

Like snow spread across the earth in winter, gray-white wings carpeted everything.

Each step produced a tiny, crisp sound as the bodies broke.

The subtle sensation transmitted through the thin soles of his boots made Prince Rui’s scalp itch. He involuntarily stepped back.

“Y-Your Highness!”

A panicked cry sounded behind him.

Prince Rui shuddered and whirled around.

One of his guards had crossed the fence and approached the old woman at her spinning wheel.

Impatiently, he tapped her back with his scabbard and muttered, “Old woman, are you deaf?”

The sheath struck her blue-clothed back with moderate force.

It sounded like hitting leather.

The seated woman swayed. Her head gave a small nod as if she were waking from sleep.

Rrrip.

A faint tearing sound followed.

Curious, the guard bent closer to listen.

Then he noticed something wrong.

The old woman made no sound of breathing.

Startled, he jerked upright and retreated.

“Y-Your Highness.”

The woman sitting on the stool suddenly sagged sideways.

An empty, shriveled skin in clothes collapsed across the spinning wheel.

An irregular vertical split ran from the crown of its head down the back beneath the garments.

Black and pale residue could be seen through the opening.

The guard stood frozen, his mind blank.

A hand suddenly reached from behind and seized his shoulder.

He cried out, drew his saber, and slashed backward.

“Have you lost your mind?”

The curse arrived with a heavy slap across his face.

Stars burst before his eyes.

Prince Rui dodged the saber. Furious and frightened, he stared at the empty human skin with revulsion.

Only then did the guard recover.

He hurriedly dropped his saber and knelt among the dead moths to plead for forgiveness.

Prince Rui waved impatiently.

The education he had received since childhood finally prompted a wise decision.

“Leave.”

He chose an immediate strategic withdrawal.

But in that brief interval, they discovered the white moths in the air converging on them.

A single sweep of the hand could catch a fistful.

The insects battered constantly against their heads and bodies.

“Protect His Highness!”

Prince Rui’s guards descended into chaos, drawing their sabers and slashing.

The guard who had been slapped hurriedly removed his outer robe and threw it over Prince Rui’s head, protecting him as they withdrew.

Before they could leave the courtyard, however, a shadow flashed across their path.

The group stopped short.

At the sight of the figure blocking them, their hearts nearly stopped.

It was the human skin that had been hanging across the spinning wheel.

It raised its head.

Without anything inside to support it, the features of its face were sunken and twisted in a way that made the scalp crawl.

The skin moved with astonishing speed.

It stretched out both arms and embraced a guard who failed to dodge.

The blue outer garment slipped away.

The split along its back opened and wrapped around the grown man.

The old woman had been short. As her skin struggled greedily to contain the tall guard, it stretched so tight it became nearly transparent.

The man’s mouth opened and closed beneath the old woman’s face.

His terrified plea emerged, muffled.

“Save me. Save me!”

Everyone else stood stunned.

The man’s expression of utter horror showed clearly through the thin skin.

The skin itself seemed deeply satisfied. It lovingly stroked the new filling it had just seized.

“Hee-hee.”

The old woman’s laugh rang out distinctly.

The skin turned awkwardly and limped back into the courtyard.

It sat on the small stool once more and resumed spinning.

The wheel creaked and turned.

“Go! Hurry!”

Prince Rui stared at the twisted creature working the wheel like a practiced housewife.

Gray-white moths flew around it.

The gold-red sunset shone across them.

The collision of life and death, beauty and ugliness, weakened Prince Rui’s legs until he could no longer stand.

Two guards supported his arms and dragged him away by force.

“Get His Highness out!”

The loyal guards swung their blades and hauled the trembling prince toward the street.

Amid chaotic footsteps and ragged breathing, the entire street came alive.

Under the gold-red sunset, human sounds gradually filled what had been a dead and silent road.

Doors creaked open.

Pots, bowls, and utensils clattered over evening fires.

As one guard supported Prince Rui past an alley, a small, shriveled hand wrapped around his arm.

Tremendous force pulled.

Already terrified beyond reason, the guard was yanked into the dark alley.

Deprived of support on one side, Prince Rui fell. The guard holding his other arm staggered with him.

Only one brief cry came from the deep passage.

Then silence.

The delay threw the entire group into confusion.

When the guards managed to pull Prince Rui upright again, he raised his head and began to tremble uncontrollably.

At every street corner, beside every wall…

Human skins crouched and watched.

Their hair hung in disarray. Their facial features sagged. Some lay on their bellies, others crouched low, and every one stared toward the group.

Zhang E had removed their filling.

Now they needed to find new filling.

“Protect His Highness!”

At the loyal guard’s shout, the nearest male skin sprang.

Without bone or muscle to support it, its posture was grotesque, but it remained incredibly fast.

In an instant, it attached itself to a man.

Encouraged, the skins all around rushed forward together, afraid they would arrive too late and find nothing left.

Prince Rui’s guards were elite soldiers.

Trapped in desperation, they summoned real ferocity.

They drew together and slashed wildly, forcing several skins back.

Even so, more than half their number were dragged away screaming.

One guard discovered that his saber, which had killed several bandits, could repel the skins.

Wildly relieved, he joined several others in shielding Prince Rui as they withdrew.

“There! There are fewer moths over there!” a sharp-eyed guard cried, pointing toward a house at the end of the street.

A small lantern hung above its door.

The ground before it was perfectly clean.

“Go that way.”

Panic left them little ability to think.

They all ran toward the house.

Several more men were dragged away over the short distance.

By the time they reached their destination, only three guards remained around Prince Rui.

The prince pressed his back against the narrow door.

Three sweating guards stood before him, while human skins closed in from every side.

Just as despair overwhelmed him, the door behind him creaked open.

Prince Rui fell backward into the house.

He collided with someone soft and fragrant.

A sweet feminine voice cried out.

“Oh! Who is that?”