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A club struck down, hitting his head with a thud, and the taste of iron rust filled his mouth. People surrounded him, dragging him along, sticks and fists raining down from time to time. He didn't resist, but chuckled.

Fresh blood spilled from his mouth, making him, bound by ropes and staggering forward, appear particularly wretched and ferocious.

A group of people dragged him towards a rugged mountain gully ahead…

Along the beaten path, the road was muddy and potholed, the stench of mud and filth clinging to his body. In comparison, the blows he received seemed powerless. At this moment, pain and curses were equally futile. He hung his head, still chuckling, his gaze fixed on the gaps between the feet of the large crowd.

Spring had arrived, and the mountains were gray. Over the past six months, the starving ghosts gathered here had cut down all the nearby trees, burned everything that could be burned, and eaten all the edible animals in the mountains, leaving a desolate wasteland in their wake.

He looked at this scene, his eyes also filled with desolation.

The tenth spring of the Wujian Shuo era, February 12th.

My name is Wang Shitong.

This is my final destination…

…

The weather was cold and damp. Holding knives and clubs, people in tattered clothes dragged their prisoners, beating and cursing them, towards the mountains.

Gravel littered the mountains, and the trees had long been felled, making it unsuitable for habitation. Therefore, looking around, no traces of the starving ghosts could be seen. Beyond the other side, at the end of the horizon, stood a dilapidated wooden hut. This was the farthest outpost for the starving ghosts' patrols. In front of the hut, a group of people were waiting. The four leaders, of varying heights, were all leaders among the starving ghosts. They waited anxiously as the crowd dragged Wang Shitong, beaten and bloodied, to the open space in front of the hut and threw him into a puddle.

Wang Shitong's head was submerged in the water, and after a moment, he rolled up, coughing violently and spitting out mud.

"Did anyone see anything!" one of the leaders secretly asked nearby. The henchmen replied, "We killed them all! We killed them all... This Wang, he didn't dare to fight back, so we knocked him down and tied him up..."

"Didn't fight back?"

"Yes, yes, yes... that's right..."

The leader's expression suddenly changed. He ordered the henchmen, "Check around." Then he drew his knife and kicked Wang Shitong, who had just stood up, to the ground.

Wang Shitong fell to the ground, coughed twice, and laughed. "Cough, cough, what? Xiu Guo, are you scared? If you're scared, let me go..."

"Wang, you stop bluffing! You're in our hands, why would we be afraid of you—" The leader named Zang Xiuguo pointed at him with his knife. Wang Shitong sat up from the ground, and Zang Xiuguo took half a step back. This action made Wang Shitong laugh again as he looked around.

"Wu Ding, Chao Yuan, Uncle Dayi, hehe... it's you guys."

"Damn your mother! Acting like a ghost!" Hearing Wang Shitong speak like this, the leader named Wu Ding rushed over and swung the club in his hand at him. Wang Shitong's body rolled several times on the ground, spitting out blood. He curled up, and Wu Ding was about to rush over when an old man wearing a white turban in the distance slammed his wooden staff on the ground. "Enough!"

Wu Ding spat and turned away. Wang Shitong curled up on the ground for a long time, his body twitching for a while before gradually becoming still. He stared blankly at a newly sprouted blade of grass in the wasteland ahead, lost in thought, until someone pulled him up. He looked around again. "Hehe."

He smiled, then seemed to remember something, his expression dropped, and after a moment he said, "Now that you've caught me, you've caught others too, right?"

"Good to know!" Wu Ding said, waving his hand. Someone opened the door of the wooden hut behind them. A woman in thin clothes stood there, a knife held to her throat, her body trembling. This was Gao Qian Yue, who had been with Wang Shitong for a winter. Wang Shitong turned to look at her, and Gao Qian Yue also looked at Wang Shitong. This terrifying leader of the starving ghosts, now bound, bruised, and covered in blood and mud, had a gaze that was more peaceful and warm than ever.

"Brother Wang." The old man named Chen Dayi spoke.

"Hmm?"

"The decision to act against you was my idea..."

"I know, I know." Wang Shitong nodded, turning back. It was clear that despite being the greatest leader of the starving ghosts, he had a lot of respect and regard for the old man.

"The decision to get rid of you was the Jurchens' idea, you know that, right?"

"...Ah, I know, I know..." Wang Shitong looked at Gao Qian Yue, lost in thought for a moment, then nodded. The reactions of Wu Ding and the other leaders showed their confusion at his nonchalant response. The old man's lips trembled.

"We... you know why we did this?"

"I know." This time, Wang Shitong answered very quickly, "...No way out."

Hearing this, the old man sat down on the wooden stake behind him. "This isn't something you should be saying."

"No way out."

"—This isn't something you should be saying!" The old man gripped his wooden staff, suddenly standing up, his voice shaking the surroundings. After a moment, he pointed at Wang Shitong. "Brother Wang, this isn't something you should be saying! You said there was a way out, you always said there was a way out! You told everyone... Brother Wang, you... you saved my life, you saved my family's life!"

"Xiao Yao still died."

"But you saved my family's life! My daughter's death wasn't your fault! Brother Wang, the Jurchens are here, I never thought... I never thought we'd really have to kill you..."

The old man's words caused Wu Ding and the others to change their expressions. "Old Chen!" The old man held out his hand. "You shut up!"

His authority was clearly higher than the others around him. As soon as he spoke, some people near the hut made to draw their swords, and people confronted each other. The old man ignored them, turning to look at Wang Shitong again. "Brother Wang, the weather is going to warm up. You're smart, you have integrity and responsibility. If you really have to die, I can die for you at any time. I just want to ask you one question... how are we going to go from here? Say something, don't hide in a woman's den and say nothing like before! The Jurchens are here, the snow is going to melt, should we fight or surrender? We need to make a decision—"

"There's no way out." Wang Shitong looked at him calmly, with even a hint of a smile on his face, a smile that was both frank and desperate. The air around them seemed to suffocate for a moment. After a while, he said, "Last year, after I killed Brother Yan, I knew there was no way out... Brother Yan also said there was no way out, he couldn't go on, so I killed him. After I killed him, I knew we really couldn't go on..."

He laughed, a laugh with a sob. "Before... in Ze Zhou, that Mr. Ning suggested that I not go south. He told me to gather everyone in the Central Plains, to fight battle after battle, and finally to fight out a group of people who could survive. He was... a devil, a beast. What right did he have to decide who could live—we all had no right! These are people! These are all living, breathing human lives! How could he say such a thing—"

Speaking here, tears were already streaming down his face as he roared. "But he was right... We went south, burning and killing all the way. We harmed and ate people all the way, and in the end, there was no way out. This world won't give us a way out. What did millions of people do wrong?"

Wang Shitong cried. It was a man's cry of grief and despair. Then he took a deep breath, blinked his eyes, and held back his tears. "I killed everyone, hehe, Uncle Chen... there's no way out. You... you should surrender to the Jurchens, surrender, but even if you surrender, there's no way out..."

"If there's no way, then fight your way out! Just like you used to say, we'll fight with you! As long as you say the word." The old man tapped his staff several times in a row. Wang Shitong shook his head.

"There's no more, we can't fight our way out either, Uncle Chen. I... I'm tired."

Wu Ding tilted his head back, and the leader named Zang Xiuguo licked his lips. At this moment, they finally understood why things had gone so smoothly this time, and why this ghost king, who had led them for years with violence and cruelty, had become so easy to subdue.

Only the old man stared at him for a long time, his body seeming to shrink by half a head. "So... we, what they did, you knew all along..."

"Hehe, a bunch of idiots."

"You don't want to live anymore..."

"..."

"But everyone else wants to live..."

Wang Shitong lowered his head, stunned, and whispered, "Go live..."

"You..." The old man walked over and swung his wooden staff, hitting Wang Shitong on the head. Wang Shitong's body tilted. The old man leaned on his crutch and finally turned to leave. "I'll grant your wish!"

"Old Chen."

The old man turned his head.

"Let me do it myself."

"Hehe, you..." The cold wind blew through the hut and the mountains. The old man was furious, then waved his crutch. His entourage rushed over and cut Wang Shitong's ropes with their swords. After this was done, the old man left with his men, and Zang Xiuguo followed. Wu Ding and the leader named Wang Chaoyuan looked at each other and said, "I'll watch him die!"

Wang Chaoyuan twitched the corner of his mouth. "I'll leave half the men."

Wang Shitong no longer paid attention to the movements around him. He tore off the ropes and slowly walked towards the wooden hut not far away. As he looked around at the surrounding mountains and fields, the cold wind was blowing as usual, year after year. In the mountains at the farthest point of his view, it seemed that new branches were sprouting on the trees.

He no longer yearned for this world...

He walked in and hugged Gao Qian Yue, but he had too much mud and blood on him, so he let go. He took off his tattered coat, and the clothes inside were relatively dry. He took them off and put them on her.

"I'm sorry, we still came to this..." Wang Shitong said, "But, it's okay, we're together, I'll be with you, don't be afraid, it's okay..."

He pulled the cloth gagging Gao Qian Yue's mouth. The woman's body was still trembling. Wang Shitong said, "It's okay, it's okay, you won't be cold in a while..." He walked to the corner of the hut, opened a hidden compartment, and there was a bucket of pine oil in the compartment. Wang Shitong opened it and poured it into the room, and then poured it on himself, but then he paused.

Gao Qian Yue ran out of the door, and screams came from outside. He walked to the door and shouted for them to stop. Outside the door were layers and layers of people. They surrounded the place, watching the ghost king's suicide. These people were already hungry and thirsty for a winter. Seeing Gao Qian Yue taking the initiative to run out, some people stopped her, and some people were going to pull her away. Gao Qian Yue hugged her body, with nowhere to go.

"It's okay." Inside the room, Wang Shitong comforted her, "You... you're afraid of this, I'll... I'll send you away first, then I'll come and be with you. Don't worry, it won't hurt, it won't hurt, you come in..."

His face was covered with tears and a smile. He opened his arms and spoke.

"Come back, Qian Yue..."

At this moment, all the people outside were not in his eyes. In his eyes, there was only the crying, frightened woman. That was the only thing left in this world that had light.

"Come back..."

He cried.

"That outside and inside... are the same—"

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