Free Web NovelChapter 38: Kill That Witch (1)
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! Kill her! The chants rang out louder and louder as a massive crowd gathered in the open square of the large city.
Today was the execution of a proclaimed witch, a monster said to feed on blood and haunt the citizens of the city; she had finally been captured, and today she would be judged and executed right in the middle of the city square.
"Kill that witch!" "Burn her!" "Chop her into pieces and feed them to the dogs!" More and more gruesome words poured from the mouths of the crowd as they glared at the frail figure tied up like a hardened criminal on the wooden execution platform.
Several bundles of dry sticks had been stacked around her feet; anyone could tell at a glance what punishment the city had deemed worthy for her.
She was going to be burned alive, and the target of all this hatred would have shocked anyone who witnessed the scene: it was a little girl no older than five years old. She wore a green robe, though much of it had been stained dark red with blood.
Tears filled Yuexin’s eyes as she listened to the ugly and ominous words coming from the crowd. Every single person was glaring at her, cursing her, pointing at her like she was some terrifying monster... as if she was a monster that had merely taken on human form.
Why were they looking at her like that? As if she was the only one at fault. Was it her fault that her body craved blood? When this strange condition first appeared, she had told her parents about it, yet they had only scolded her, saying she shouldn’t make up such ridiculous stories.
No sane human craved blood; such a thing made no sense, so they shut her up. No matter how much she tried to explain the struggle inside her, no matter how desperately she spoke about the growing urge to drink blood, her parents never listened.
Instead, they were far more concerned with their own affairs and business, so she endured. She suppressed the urge again and again, yet the more she resisted it, the stronger it became. The desire grew, the craving deepened, until one day she could no longer suppress it. And that was the day she got caught.
She had been hiding near the edge of a farm, drinking blood.. not human blood, but rabbits she had hunted and drained instead. Unfortunately, some of her friends found her.
Terrified by what they saw, they immediately told their parents. The adults were horrified when they heard that one of their children’s friends was drinking blood; they quickly forbade their children from interacting with Yuexin and kept them far away from her.
But it didn’t stop there. The rumors spread like wildfire: the daughter of the Wu Household was a monster, a bloodsucker, a creature that fed on blood. It was around that time that the hunt began.
At first, it was subtle... suspicious men lurking around dark corners, strangers following her through empty streets, people whispering whenever she passed by. Then the attacks started.
Roadside thugs, mercenaries, assassins.. people who had clearly been paid by the wealthy and powerful figures of the city to eliminate her. They tried to kill her, and several times, they came dangerously close.
But it was during one of those encounters that Yuexin realized something was truly wrong with her. She had been battered, broken, covered in wounds and moments away from death, yet instead of growing weaker, her mind suddenly became crystal clear... clearer than it had ever been before.
Then came the strength. A terrifying surge of power rushed through her veins, her muscles strengthened, and her senses sharpened. Before she knew it, she had charged straight at the men hunting her. The battle ended quickly.
When she finally regained her senses, she found herself sitting among three corpses. The men were dead, and she was drinking their blood; she was drinking it desperately, greedily, like a starving traveler discovering a spring in the middle of a desert.
The realization horrified her. Her thoughts spiraled into panic as she desperately tried to stop herself, but the blood... it tasted so sweet, so warm, so comforting. Those thoughts swirled endlessly inside her head before she finally managed to force herself to stop.
And right then and there, she felt different. Not human. Not normal. She felt like one of the monsters from the nightmares her mother used to tell her about before bed. freēwebnovel.com
The realization terrified her; it scared the living daylights out of her, so she ran.
She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her toward the only place where she believed she would be safe: her home.
When she arrived, her parents had been peacefully eating dinner, then they saw her... covered in blood from head to toe, her face stained crimson, blood dripping from the corners of her mouth.
Her mother screamed and collapsed immediately, fainting on the spot. Her father, however, was far more composed. The older man quickly approached her, closed the door behind her, and then gently removed her blood-soaked clothes and helped her wash herself clean.
He calmed her down, comforted her, and allowed her to rest after everything she had endured. When she finally woke up, her father sat beside her bed. His expression was gentle, his voice calm.
He asked her what had happened, and with a shaky and nervous voice, Yuexin explained everything: the strange cravings, the hunters, the battle, the blood... everything. The older man’s face gradually darkened as he listened.
His daughter had been hunted; someone had actually tried to kill his little girl. A cold fury appeared in his eyes. Still, he comforted her. He told her not to worry. They would figure everything out later.
But first, he was going to find out exactly who had sent those assassins after his daughter. He would show them that his daughter... a member of one of the two great families of Grey City... was not someone they could hunt so casually.
Yuexin never learned what her father did afterward, but one thing became very clear: from that day onward, no one dared hunt her anymore.
Well, maybe it all had something to do with the fact that she was always followed around by three bodyguards whose sole duty was to ensure her safety.
For a while, everything was peaceful as her mother and father tried to figure out exactly what was causing their daughter to crave blood. But no matter how much they tried, no matter how many physicians, cultivators, and non-cultivators they sought help from, they were unable to find a single thing wrong with their daughter.
If anything, all of them said the same thing: she was perfectly healthy. Yet the strange craving within Yuexin continued to grow. She craved more and more blood with each passing day. Whenever the hunger became unbearable, she would secretly drink the blood of rabbits and other animals.
The bodyguards assigned to protect her gradually began to feel apprehensive around her, and Wu Yuexin could see it on their faces. They were looking at her the same way everyone else looked at her... as if she wasn’t a little human child, but some kind of monster.
She didn’t say anything. She didn’t even know what she could possibly say. If she stayed quiet, if she did nothing, then perhaps this fragile peace would continue to last. At least that was what she hoped. Unfortunately, that hope was shattered only a few days later.
Her own bodyguards tried to kill her. They failed, and she killed them instead. Then she drank their blood. Her father caught her in the act. Yuexin’s heart nearly stopped beating as she looked at the expression on his face.
He was wearing the same expression everyone else wore whenever they looked at her... no, it was slightly different. Instead of disgust and fear, her father’s gaze was filled with guilt, pain, and a deep, overwhelming fear.
Sobbing, she desperately tried to explain herself, but the older man simply comforted her. He calmed her down and told her everything would be fine. The incident was buried. Her father continued taking care of her as though nothing had happened.
She didn’t know why, but her mother had begun avoiding her entirely. The way her mother looked at her shattered little Yuexin’s heart. Just like everyone else. Gone was the warmth that had once filled her eyes.
In its place was fear. Deep fear. As though she was looking at a monster. Only her father still treated her like the little girl she was. Everything seemed grim, yet within her father’s embrace and care, Yuexin continued to survive. She continued to smile.
She continued to hope. Because at least she still had one person standing by her side.
Unfortunately... that last bit of hope vanished one afternoon. Yuexin sat on her bed. Blood was everywhere. The room looked like a slaughterhouse.
Her trembling hands held a heart that was still beating. Her terrified eyes slowly lifted and landed on her father. The older man was staring at her with a pained expression. Tears flowed endlessly down his face.
Yet he wasn’t looking at the heart she held. He was looking at her. There was a hand-sized hole in his chest. Where his heart should have been, there was nothing. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
Blood continuously poured from the wound. He had to be in unimaginable pain, yet strangely enough, he didn’t seem distressed because of his approaching death.
No. The pain in his eyes came from something else. From her. "I... I’m sorry, Yuexin..." "I really am..." Those were the last words he ever spoke. Then his body collapsed against her shoulder.
His eyes slowly closed. Forever. He was dead, and the one who had killed him... was her.
