Have you ever been paralyzed in fear?

 

Well, Xun Xie was experiencing this at this very moment.

 

Only a few moments ago, he was lamenting being worked to the bone and struggling to feed himself in the current society while ironically sharing his woes with several coworkers over an all you can eat barbecue with beer. Perhaps it was the foolhardy combination of alcohol, coke, sprite, wine, and unknown drugs that was to blame but after a while he was dizzy, and his vision became distorted.

 

All kinds of shapes and colors exploded like fireworks within his eyes and when he regained his bearings, he was inexplicably in a small and simple house.

 

The walls of this house are rough and earthy-yellow, and the roof is only covered with a layer of thatch. It is a veritable thatched house.

 

A musty smell.

 

Xun Xie then felt something wrong with his body. He was wearing a patched sackcloth, with thin arms and legs, a thin frame, and the biceps he trained for so long had vanished. What’s happened?

 

“How did I become a child?”

 

Xun Xie didn’t have anything to look at his reflection with, so he couldn’t see his current appearance, but his hair had grown to his lower back and his line of sight was several levels lower.

 

“Ah, my head hurts!”

 

His entire head was burning with pain and tender to the touch like blood was present in the skull and sloshing all over after being beaten violently. His ears were also buzzing.

 

Xun Xie touched them.

 

Fuck, there’s blood all over my hands.

 

Mouth, nose, ears, eyes, all bleeding out!

 

Real bleeding from the seven orifices!

 

Zzz…zzz….zzz…zzz

 

It’s like countless flies are surrounding you, like a weird indescribable whisper.

 

Suddenly far and near, echoing outside the house.

 

Xun Xie gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, walked to the wooden door of the hut, and quietly looked through the crack of the door.

 

The rays of the setting sun are bloody.

 

The light shines obliquely on the hillside through a valley.

 

In the afterglow, a village was revealed, with twenty-eight thatched huts scattered on the hillside.

 

The white mist billowed and lingered.

 

The whole village was immersed in white mist and the light pitter-patter of raindrops.

 

Bursts of inexplicable biting chills drifted away with the white mist, sweeping across every corner of the village.

 

Thud!

 

In the billowing gray fog, a huge shadow was erected in the air, directly knocking off the roof of a thatched cottage.

 

“What is that!”

 

Xun Xie’s pupils condensed to a needle in his shock, he bore witness to an unbelievable scene.

 

A gigantic hand!

 

Right in his field of vision!

 

He saw that the giant hand overturned the roof, reached into the thatched hut, scratched twice, and grabbed a person.

 

The villager’s height was a bit taller than the width of the fingertips of the thumb and index of the giant hand. After being held by the giant hand, his head was exposed above, and his feet were exposed below, kicking wildly.

 

Xun Xie’s tinnitus was so severe that he seemed to hear people’s screams, shrill soul-piercing screams where you could almost taste the fear and despair.

 

His gaze subconsciously followed the movement of the giant hand.

 

Suddenly, Xun Xie got goosebumps all over his body when he saw that the giant hand belonged to an equally giant monster.

 

The monster had a human silhouette with four wings and arms, it stood erect in the white mist, among the low thatched huts, kneeling on one knee but its torso was as straight and tall as a tower.

 

Xun Xie blinked, wiped the blood from his eyes, and tried hard to see the monster's face clearly.

 

But the white fog was so thick that everything was a blurry shadow.

 

The next moment, Xun Xie watched helplessly as the giant hand moved to the monster’s mouth, the creature opening its gaping maw revealed darkness like the abyss with yellow fangs that were sharper than knives, and with a click, blood spurted outwards.

 

The scene triggered some deja vu in the back of Xun Xie’s mind and like that scene he remembered, he froze in fear unable to look away.

 

The monster tossed casually, and the villagers’ clothes wrapped in a piece of human skin fell down.

 

Immediately afterward, the monster stretched out its giant hand to the roofless hut again and grabbed another person.

 

This time, it was a woman.

 

Her cry was unusually high-pitched, filled with indescribable terror.

 

“Mon-Monster!!”

 

Xun Xie felt a chill invade his heart and soul.

 

This must be a nightmare! It must be!

 

Wake up me! Wake up!

 

Despite his loud inner screams, it was to no avail. His body became heavy.

 

He pinched his thigh with his nails but the pain only made him more awake, his eyes focused on the blood and the horrifying silhouette.

 

In an instant, the monster ate the woman, stretched out its giant hand again, and grabbed a little guy.

 

“Baby!”

 

Xun Xie’s eyes widened, and his breathing stopped completely.

 

Witnessing the monster eating the infant and watching as he turned to another hut and lifted the roof with a wave of his hand.

 

Grab people and eat them.

 

If this continues, sooner or later it will be Xun Xie’s turn, and there is only one thought that wiped away all his emotions at the moment.

 

Escape! Far away!

 

Must Go!

 

But at this moment, he saw a figure rushing out from another thatched hut not far away, rushing towards the entrance of the village like crazy.

 

Boom!

 

The giant slapped down, and the ground shook like an earthquake was occurring.

 

A hand slowly rose up revealing a messy pool of flesh and blood on the ground.

 

Seeing this scene, Xun Xie shuddered and pushed back his dry heave, his heart incredibly panicked with a burning desire to survive ignited!

 

He forced himself to be calm, while his body didn’t obey his mind was obedient. His thoughts quickly turned with his head, looking left and right for a path to survival, his gaze stopped at a dent near the corner.

 

It appears to be a type of cellar, very small.

 

Xun Xie was overjoyed and quickly hid in.

 

The cellar was not big nor was it deep, but fortunately his current body was small enough to barely fit in and curl up to hide.

 

He reached one hand out and pulled all the surrounding wooden boards and sundries to cover the small gap near the cellar door.

 

After a few moments, 

 

Boom!

 

The roof flew out like an escaping bird, the white fog, chill, and faint bloody rays of the setting sun shone in.

 

An earthen wall collapsed outward from the gust of wind brought by the giant, filling the air with smoke and dust.

 

Xun Xie’s whole body tensed up, and he covered his mouth and nose with all his might, not daring to breathe, but his chest was thumping uncontrollably to the beat of his heart as if he had just finished a 200 m sprint.

 

!!!

 

Through the gaps in the wooden boards above him, Xun Xie saw the giant hand descending from the sky, and the strong wind blows away the smoke and dust. At close range, the giant hand looks even bigger and more ferocious rough like ancient bark but tough like granite.

 

The giant hand rummaged left and right.

 

Bang!

 

Ping!

 

Pulled off the bedboard, spread out the table, smashed the stove.

 

Every second felt like an hour.

 

Xun Xie was nervous feeling like the hand would find him the very next moment but perhaps that would be a cause for rejoice as that was how all his nightmares ended in that exact manner. But this time every second was clear, the world was clear, and most of all that giant hand. Every second was a torment to his body and spirit.

 

Suddenly, the monster roared, as if it was angry because no one was found.

 

The roar is earth-shaking!

 

Xun Xie suddenly remembered his friends for some reason, he was an orphan, so he treasured his time with them. He wished he had treasured those moments even more. 

 

Sound waves visible to the naked eye spread and Xun Xie’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and his consciousness fell into endless darkness.

 

******

 

Time passed.

 

After Xun Xie’s eyelids twitched a few times, he finally opened his eyes, his pupils gradually focused, and he saw the beam of light coming through the cracks in the wooden boards.

 

“Why am I still here?”

 

Shouldn’t he have woken up in the real world? Isn’t this a nightmare? After a series of internal questions, he noticed that outside there was no sound. 

 

The monster seems to have left but he didn’t dare go out, after a while and several peeks through the gaps of wooden boards with no fog, he finally felt like trying to get up.

 

He wanted to get up, but he felt like his whole body was falling apart, and every inch of his body was sore.

 

He continued to curl up like this for a while, and when he gathered enough strength to lift the board, he pushed it open and scattered the rubble above himself.

 

Xun Xie crawled out of the cellar still wary glancing left and right rapidly.

 

But he noticed nothing out of the ordinary, or he noticed no sign of the giant.

 

Sunrises in the east.

 

The bright sunshine shines into the valley, the white fog that was now incredibly thin disappears, and dilapidated villages come into view.