Chapter 202: The Nightmare of a Man-Eater
Chapter 202: The Nightmare of a Man-Eater
The Director’s legs went weak as he watched Lu Xin calmly stand up and walk towards the office.
He wanted to shout a warning for Deputy General Manager Xiao to run, but he didn’t dare.
He wanted to pounce and pin Lu Xin to the ground, earning great merit from Deputy General Manager Xiao, but he dared even less.
In the end, trembling and unsteady, he witnessed Lu Xin reach the office door, knock, push it open, and enter. The office door closed quietly. Uncontrollable shivers racked his entire body. Using all his strength, he turned to look at a male colleague:
“Hey, Xiao Yin, I heard you have a relative doing pretty well Outside the City?”
“Outside the City… it’s not like it used to be, grabbing people for forced labor everywhere, right?”
“Do jobs Outside the City even offer social security and housing funds now?”
“…”
When Lu Xin entered the office, he saw Deputy General Manager Xiao sitting on the sofa in the Director’s office. His dark sunglasses remained on. He hadn’t touched the tea beside him. Just moments before, he had been rubbing his face with both hands. The sound of Lu Xin entering made him immediately raise his head. The gaze behind the sunglasses fixed on Lu Xin with an abnormal mix of vigilance and seriousness.
“Hello, Deputy General Manager Xiao.”
Lu Xin greeted him and, after a glance around, sat down on the chair opposite the sofa.
Although unsure why this potential man-eater had summoned him, and mentally prepared to shoot him if things felt wrong, Lu Xin still felt he should show proper respect to the big boss, given the other party hadn’t shown overt hostility yet…
“You’re Lu Xin?”
Deputy General Manager Xiao’s gaze, once it landed on Lu Xin’s face, never left. He stared hard and unblinkingly for a long moment before finally speaking slowly: “I’ve looked into you. You’ve been performing well in the company lately. Seem to have some connections. My father’s secretary personally called here before, wanting to hand a specific project directly to you… though I don’t know why.”
“You’ve been with this company for over three years. Received the Model Employee award multiple times.”
“But last time… I heard you got into a conflict while negotiating a transport contract? Even drew your gun?”
“…”
Listening to him count off each point, Lu Xin frowned slightly.
Then he gave a single nod. “Correct.”
Deputy General Manager Xiao seemed unprepared for such ready agreement, momentarily at a loss for how to proceed.
After a beat of silence, he asked: “Who exactly are you?”
Lu Xin noticed the eyes behind the sunglasses had narrowed, radiating intense hostility.
This kind of question was essentially meaningless!
So Lu Xin simply watched him quietly, offering no answer.
Deputy General Manager Xiao also stared at Lu Xin in silence. Used to his position of authority, he was naturally skilled at using such pressure tactics.
This time, however, he stared for a long, long time without even blinking.
He realized Lu Xin’s expression hadn’t changed one iota. He just sat there, watching him silently.
He suddenly felt like he was punching air.
To describe it: it was like closing your eyes waiting for your girlfriend to kiss you, holding still for ages, only to open your eyes…
…and find the girlfriend had vanished!
Ultimately, he gave up the tactic. He vigorously rubbed his face again and let out a long sigh, “Forget it… I won’t press those questions. But I came here today to ask you one thing, properly. Yesterday… what did you mean by giving me this?”
As he spoke, he pulled a crumpled paper ball from his pocket. He smoothed it out and placed it on the coffee table.
Written on the paper was just one sentence: “People should not, and must not, think about eating people.”
“He actually kept this note?”
Lu Xin considered it carefully. Keeping the note implied the man placed importance on it. Which meant his message had truly struck a chord. The fact Deputy General Manager Xiao came looking for him first thing this morning also suggested this person could still be saved…
So Lu Xin smiled slightly and said, “Actually, it’s pretty simple. It means exactly what it says.”
“Seriously, you really shouldn’t try to know what it tastes like. Neither the law nor morality permits it…”
“You…”
Seeing Lu Xin’s earnest expression as he reminded him, Deputy General Manager Xiao almost lost his temper.
But he restrained himself, fixing Lu Xin with a glare. “What I’m asking,” he said, his voice harder now, “is why you gave me this note?”
“Why would a normal person suddenly hand someone a note saying something like this?”
Listening to him, Lu Xin thought communicating with these people was truly exhausting.
He much preferred it when the other party just showed their psychotic, murderous face, giving him a clear self-defense reason to shoot him right then and there…
After all, if they weren’t showing their psychotic tendencies, and hadn’t committed any other crimes, then they were normal people.
Even though he had a gun, he couldn’t just shoot a normal person…
So he thought it over carefully. “Well,” he said, “if you were normal, you would have asked me about the note as soon as you saw it yesterday, right?”
“But you waited a whole day, and only now, note in hand, did you come to find me.”
……
As he spoke, he leaned forward slightly and delivered his conclusion: “So, you’re not normal either.”
“You…”
That Deputy General Manager Xiao stared intensely at Lu Xin, then abruptly stood up.
Lu Xin silently opened his backpack.
Then he saw the Deputy General Manager suddenly walk to the door, glance outside to confirm no one was eavesdropping, close it again, and return. He didn’t sit, just kept watching Lu Xin as he asked, “Is that dream I had related to you?”
“Dream?”
This question momentarily stunned Lu Xin.
He then watched as the Deputy General Manager reached up and removed his sunglasses, revealing eyes filled with Blood Threads.
He looked like he hadn’t slept a wink all night.
Those eyes twisted his otherwise somewhat handsome face into something eerie.
“That nightmare that’s been tormenting me for a full month… is it because of you?”
“…”
Lu Xin sensed this might be different from what he’d assumed.
After a brief moment of thought, he asked, “What kind of dream exactly?”
Seeing the Deputy General Manager’s look of caution, Lu Xin offered a friendly smile. “It’s alright. You can tell me. I do have some experience handling matters that seem… unusually strange…”
The Deputy General Manager visibly faltered at his expression.
Some people were skilled at discerning lies from expressions, and Lu Xin’s was the absolute textbook model of sincerity.
The Deputy General Manager took a deep breath, sat down heavily, sounding drained. “Tell me first, why did you write me that note?”
Lu Xin nodded, his voice smooth and deliberate: “I could tell… you desperately wanted to eat…” He paused intentionally, watching for a reaction.
But observation soon proved unnecessary. Deputy General Manager Xiao’s reaction was immediate and extreme.
His face contorted in unnatural terror. His body trembled.
After a long moment, he finally nodded faintly, his voice unnaturally hoarse. “I… I did want to.”
“Or rather… I already have.”
“And… I’ve been doing it for a full month!”
“…”
“Oh?”
Lu Xin was genuinely intrigued now.
Deputy General Manager Xiao exhaled deeply, grabbed his water glass, and drained it in one go before speaking: “A month ago, I started dreaming of a bizarre scene. In it… someone killed my younger brother and younger sister… and then… prepared them into…”
“…forcing me to eat!”
Panic flickered across his face, as if he couldn’t bring himself to finish. His adam’s apple bobbed convulsively.
“Can you imagine that?”
“He presented it to me on a polished silver platter. Then… forced my mouth open… made me eat…”
“…”
Lu Xin pictured this, then nodded calmly. “Quite horrifying…”
“You…”
Deputy General Manager Xiao shot him an annoyed glance. “You don’t seem horrified at all.”
Lu Xin nodded again. “I’ve gotten used to it.”
He meant he was accustomed to people finding his reactions understated. But the words made Deputy General Manager Xiao shudder violently.
Nevertheless, Lu Xin was the first person to see through his craving, and he’d been holding it in for so long. After a brief hesitation, he pressed on:
“That night when I woke up, I vomited violently from disgust. I immediately rushed to check on them… Even though we don’t share the same Mother… I truly… deeply love those two…”
“Thankfully, both my younger brother and sister were perfectly fine. Only Father questioned me in confusion about what was wrong.”
“I didn’t dare tell Father about that grotesque, frightening dream. I dismissed it as extreme stress and tried to forget it.”
Deputy General Manager Xiao paused before continuing, his eyes turning hollow.
“But I never expected… the second night… I had the dream again.”
“In the exact same place. The same man. I couldn’t see his face clearly. Just watched him murder my younger brother and sister… Then… carry them to me in a red clay jar…”
“I realized I was dreaming then. Struggled with everything I had…”
“But no matter how I struggled… I couldn’t wake up… Until… I’d eaten it…”
“Later… he came every single night…”
The muscles in Deputy General Manager Xiao’s face twitched spasmodically, his voice shaky.
Seeing his distress, Lu Xin kindly pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered him one.
But Deputy General Manager Xiao raised a hand and pulled out a flat, silver cigarette case from his own pocket.
Opening it revealed neatly packed cigarettes, each filter tipped in gold.
He extracted one, placed it between his lips, lit it with the case’s attached lighter, and absentmindedly offered the case towards Lu Xin.
Lu Xin accepted it but didn’t light one immediately, gesturing for him to continue.
“That nightmare… it dragged on. That man appeared in my dreams every single night…”
“And I… every time… could only wake up… only after finishing…”
“…”
Lu Xin looked at him with genuine curiosity. “You never told your family?”
“How?” Deputy General Manager Xiao snapped his head up, his expression profoundly strange as he stared back at Lu Xin. “Tell them I dreamt of eating my brother and sister every night?”
“That does seem… problematic…” Lu Xin acknowledged.
“Is that all?” he then asked.
Deputy General Manager Xiao was silent for a long moment. Finally, he nodded slowly. “Yes. That same dream, repeating… over and over…”
“My brother and sister remain perfectly healthy. Besides poor sleep, I showed no other abnormalities. Except…”
He paused, then looked straight at Lu Xin, his eyes fiercely bloodshot:
“I… became addicted!”