Chapter Seven: I Saw You Long Ago

I heard someone was about to come out, and instinctively I looked up. What I saw was my grandfather and the others, all with their heads drooping, standing back to back in a circle.

In no time at all, a swelling began to rise on each of their backs. I watched as those bulges crept up their spines, inching higher until they reached the collars of their necks. At that moment, it was as if their collars had suddenly tightened around their throats, and every one of them threw their heads back in a sharp motion.

Xie Tianzong, who was facing me directly, stared with bloodshot eyes in my direction. His hands, almost by instinct, reached for his own neck, but after clawing desperately behind him for a moment, his arms fell limply to his sides. The veins in his eyes became so red, it seemed as if blood might spill from them at any moment.

Suddenly, my father barked coldly, “That’s enough. Don’t kill anyone, or I won’t have time to find you another substitute.”

Xie Tianzong gave a cold laugh, abruptly unfastening the button at his collar. Only then did his face slowly return to normal.

It was then I saw that a head had grown from each of their backs. At a glance, it looked like two people were standing head to head, except they shared a single body.

Half a head poked out from behind Xie Tianzong’s neck and turned toward my grandfather. “Hey, you must know our boss. Why don’t you tell us your number?”

The head on my grandfather’s neck replied, “Who doesn’t know the Sixth? I’m the Seventeenth of the Twelfth Month. What about you all?”

Xie Tianzong said, “Twenty-first of May.”

“Ninth!”

“Fourteenth!”

I began to understand their names. None of these people had died of natural causes—some had died young, others had been abandoned as infants at the Tower of Lost Children, left to perish. They refused to use their parents’ surnames, nor had they chosen given names. Instead, they used the day of their death as their names.

In this light, aside from the Seventeenth behind my grandfather, the oldest among them was the Sixth, attached to my father.

Xie Tianzong demanded harshly, “Seventeen, you killed one of us as soon as you arrived. How do you propose we settle this?”

My grandfather sneered, “Back in the tower, wasn’t it always you eating him today and me eating you tomorrow? Who ever cared whose life was taken?”

“To put it bluntly, you may call each other brothers now, but when it comes time to fight over that boy’s body, you’ll turn on each other. Frankly, you should be thanking me.”

Once my grandfather finished speaking, Xie Tianzong was at a loss for words.

My father then asked, “Seventeen, you’re closest to that boy. Do you know something?”

My grandfather replied, “All I know is that the boy is protected by an immortal. If we don’t capture him before he reaches the Great Immortal’s temple, none of us will walk away with anything.”

Xie Tianzong scoffed, “Stating the obvious. We were all thrown out of the Fox Immortal’s temple—who among us doesn’t know he has an immortal behind him?”

“We all know where the Fox Immortal’s temple is.”

“We came to talk business, not to waste time.”

My grandfather grinned, “Who’s really wasting time here?”

“You’re all just afraid I’ll snatch the boy’s body.”

“To be honest, your ambitions are small. What real power do any of us have? Back in the tower, we were only ever errand boys. When those people come looking, even if we seize the boy’s body, we’ll have to hand it over in the end.”

Xie Tianzong found himself speechless.

My father asked, “So what do you propose?”

My grandfather said, “We’ve already possessed all his closest kin, haven’t we? Find him, force him to come with us, then hide him away. Leave behind his hair and nails to draw the others in.”

“The Fox Immortal treats that boy like a son. If he finds out the boy’s gone, he’ll go on a rampage. When the Fox Immortal has killed off the others, then we’ll decide who gets the boy’s body.”

My father nodded. “That could work.”

“Then let’s split up and find the boy.”

My grandfather added, “This is my territory. I’ll give you all a head start—enough time to smoke a pipe.”

My father clasped his hands in thanks and left without looking back. The others dispersed in various directions, but Xie Tianzong lingered.

My grandfather eyed him. “Why are you still here?”

Xie Tianzong grinned, “I’ll keep you company a bit longer.”

Before he could say more, the back of my grandfather’s shirt suddenly ripped in two, and a thin, stick-like arm shot out from within. In one swift motion, it seized the neck of the “Twenty-First” behind Xie Tianzong.

Xie Tianzong cried out in terror, “You—you’ve grown arms?”

“You learned that too late!” my grandfather hissed, his chicken-claw fingers digging into the other’s throat, pulling the ghastly tumor from Xie Tianzong’s back as if hauling on a rope.

Could the ghostly growth actually be pulled out?

I couldn’t help but tilt my head, trying to get a better look at how the tumor could be removed, when suddenly I heard the grass beside me rustling wildly.

Looking back, I saw a snakeskin as rough as iron bark slithering toward me.

The “iron bark snake” is considered the most venomous in the northeast, and it was heading straight for my face.

Right now, everything except my neck and head was submerged in muddy water. If it bit my throat, not even snakebite medicine would save me.

My attention had been so focused on the five people that by the time I noticed the iron bark snake, its forked tongue was almost at my face.

Seeing it opening its jaws, I didn’t care if I’d be discovered—I reached out and grabbed its throat.

I didn’t kill the snake, but its gaping jaws clamped down on the knuckle of my thumb, its two hooked fangs gleaming white right before my eyes. Its body coiled tightly around my arm, squeezing until my arm went numb.

I knew I couldn’t kill the snake quickly. I had a bayonet on me, but if I drew it and fought the snake now, the commotion might alert the ghostly tumors. So I just gripped the snake and plunged my hand into the mud.

When I looked back toward the edge of the pit, only Xie Tianzong lay motionless on the ground—my grandfather had vanished.

Had he gone elsewhere, or…?

As I tried to figure it out, I suddenly heard a soft rustling above—the grass overhead parted with a swish.

Looking up, I saw a human face dangling upside down above me—it was my grandfather’s.

Our eyes met, and he let out a cold laugh. “Did you really think you were so well hidden? I saw you long ago.”