The Night Watcher of Great Jing - Chapter 90

Prince Rui’s feet had only just touched the ground when a tremendous crash came from the door behind him.

The bolt broke, and the thin wooden panels split in half.

Prince Rui did not dare look back.

He gathered his robes and ran in a random direction like a headless fly.

“Young Master, where are you going? Let’s make children.”

Zhang E’s sweet voice called after him, betraying no sign that she had just smashed through a door by brute force.

She moved toward the window in unhurried lotus steps.

Along the way, her pale fingers lovingly stroked the cradle.

By the time she reached the window, Prince Rui had vanished.

Only watery moonlight filled the courtyard.

It washed over her.

Zhang E closed her eyes and stood comfortably beneath it for a moment.

Then her eyes snapped open, their pupils stained brilliant red.

“I’m coming to find you.”

…

“Young Master. Young Master.”

The woman’s voice kept calling outside.

Prince Rui had never moved this fast in eight lifetimes.

He climbed onto the wall of Yang Jian’s residence and was about to jump down when he saw a bulging skin in a night watchman’s uniform wandering beneath it.

It mimed striking a bamboo tube as though keeping the night watch.

The wooden clappers were gone, so it could only repeat the motion.

The instant Prince Rui appeared atop the wall, it stopped.

The corpse wrapped inside it squirmed and raised its head.

Under the clear moonlight, the face pressed beneath the skin was visible.

It belonged to one of Prince Rui’s guards.

His features were crushed together beneath the outer skin. Only his mouth remained stretched wide.

The horror of seeing that familiar face was indescribable.

Prince Rui swayed and fell back into the courtyard.

The two-meter drop drove the breath from his chest.

He did not dare remain there.

The woman’s calls were already approaching.

Scrambling upright on hands and knees, he hid outside a room in the rear courtyard and peered through its black doorway.

Zhang E’s footsteps drew closer.

Gritting his teeth, he slipped inside and gently pulled the door shut.

The room stank.

An indescribable reek drove straight into his skull.

Prince Rui gagged and hurriedly covered his nose and mouth.

A thin ray of light entered through a high window.

By that light, he saw a scene he would remember until death.

At last, he understood why so many human skins wandered outside.

The cramped room resembled a slaughterhouse.

Dark brown blood covered the walls and floor.

Countless skinless corpses hung upside down from the rafters like cured meat, blood dripping steadily to the ground.

The congealed filth on the floor was three fingers deep.

Near the high window stood a large wooden chopping block.

A kitchen cleaver had been left embedded at an angle, surrounded by indistinct chunks of flesh.

Prince Rui staggered back in horror.

A dangling hand slid wetly across his face, smearing a black-red streak over his pale skin.

He turned woodenly and found himself face-to-face with an upside-down, skinless head.

Its eyelids had been removed with the skin, leaving two bloodshot eyes staring.

The cloudy, dilated pupils still held the terror of its final moments.

Prince Rui could bear no more.

He collapsed into the clotting blood.

The five fingers supporting him sank into it.

Something wet and cool spread beneath his body, freezing him in place.

A wax-white face silently emerged from the darkness and hovered beside his right shoulder.

A crimson tongue coated in clear mucus extended and slowly circled his ear.

Pink lips moved beside it, breathing against him.

“Found you.”

Prince Rui felt soft lips close around his right earlobe and suck gently.

His entire body jerked.

He emptied his bladder yet again.

Zhang E stopped rubbing her face against his temple. Her fine brows drew together.

With distaste, she seized the back of Prince Rui’s neck and lifted him.

Zhang E was short.

As she carried him, half his legs dragged through the bloody slurry.

Prince Rui’s eyes were empty as she hauled him to the chopping block.

Then his vacant gaze caught the pieces of meat and the slanted cleaver.

His pupils contracted.

A scream tore from his chest.

He did not even know what he was screaming. His body merely forced air from his lungs and howled again and again.

Seeing him stare at the meat, a smile appeared on Zhang E’s masklike face.

“Don’t worry. Once you’re carrying the children, I’ll stew pork for you too.”

“I would never let Young Master go hungry.”

She pointed generously toward the corpses hanging from the rafters.

“Look. There’s still plenty of pork.”

At this, a trace of shyness appeared on her face, her understanding of reality utterly twisted.

“If it isn’t enough, I’ll fetch more. I can support my husband, you, and all the children.”

She swept the pieces of meat and cleaver from the chopping block.

Then she lifted Prince Rui onto it.

Sharp nails glided gently along his neck and chest.

With one forceful motion, she stripped away his filthy, reeking trousers.

Cold air struck his lower body.

Prince Rui had not imagined the monster truly intended to proceed.

Everything below had shriveled to the size of a quail egg.

He pushed at her with both hands.

“No. Don’t.”

“Don’t be afraid.”

Zhang E’s face flushed, and her eyes grew hazy.

Her voice remained warm and gentle, though her hands never slowed.

She seized the front of Prince Rui’s robe and tore.

The fabric split apart, leaving only the belt around him.

She forced his feet apart and pressed between his legs.

Holding Prince Rui’s head, she licked around his ear, then pushed the tip of her tongue into the canal and circled it once.

When Zhang E raised her face again, her monstrous features had emerged.

Her lips split to their limit.

Enchanting blue patterns spread across her forehead.

Prince Rui’s mouth hung open, his mind blank.

Something cold pressed against his abdomen.

He looked down.

A thick, flesh-colored tube extended from Zhang E’s belly.

Coated in cold mucus, it circled his navel and released fluid into it.

Then it withdrew slightly and lunged forward, burrowing inside.

“No. Don’t. It hurts—stop!”

Without realizing it, Prince Rui repeated pleas he had heard others make before.

But Zhang E, like the prince himself in those moments, possessed no pity. She cared only about achieving her reproductive purpose.

Once the fleshy tube penetrated his body, it began probing among his organs.

It searched for the best place to deposit the egg sacs and ensure their survival.

“Please. Don’t.”

Tears and mucus covered Prince Rui’s face.

He pushed and begged through the agony.

The sensation of his organs being handled nearly drove him mad.

“Save me. Father Emperor… Mother Consort…”

Zhang E answered with a quiet laugh.

“Young Master’s body is wonderful. You will surely bear healthy children.”

The tube inside him began to convulse.

In despair, Prince Rui saw ghostly blue light fill Zhang E’s abdomen.

A chain of spheres the size of glutinous rice balls began slowly sliding toward him amid wet gurgles.

“Anyone… please save me,” Prince Rui whispered at last.

The spheres were about to enter his body.

Zhang E licked her lips, satisfaction spreading across her face.

Then two dark figures dropped from the rafters.

Silver blades flashed in the darkness.

One thrust straight toward Zhang E’s heart.

The other slashed at the fleshy tube.