"Why aren't you lighting the wicks?"
The old lady was surprised to see that Jiang Hong and Sima Mu hadn't lit their wicks.
Aren't you afraid of dying?
"Look, it's shrinking! It's getting smaller!"
Among the tourists, someone shouted excitedly.
Lin Baici turned his head and saw a young man wearing glasses; he had lit the wick.
The dim glow was not intense, but it made the Paishen Buddha infant on his back shrink as if it were ice and snow meeting the scorching sun.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at this sight.
There was hope.
The male tourists with lighters began to light their wicks.
"Hold on!"
Lin Baici shouted, grabbing Sima Mu's wrist in a quick motion, "Don't rush, let's watch the situation!"
"What's there to watch? The ghostly thing shrinks under the light; doesn't that mean the oil lamp is useful?"
Someone asked, puzzled.
"Shrinking does not mean it will disappear!"
Lin Baici's words raised everyone's anxiety again, "And there's another problem. There's only one wick in the oil lamp, and no lamp oil. How long can the oil lamp stay lit?"
The bespectacled young man's hands shook, nearly dropping his oil lamp.
He looked down and indeed, the wick was burning quickly.
That made him break out in a cold sweat.
"It's... it's over!"
"Why didn't you say so earlier?"
"Why can't I control my hand?"
There were probably over forty men, acting too swiftly out of fear of death. Seeing the Paishen Buddha infant on the bespectacled young man's back shrink, they hurriedly lit their wicks.
Now they were at a loss for what to do.
"Brother Lin, you're so thoughtful!"
Sima Mu raised his hand, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a frightened gesture.
Jiang Hong looked at the lighter in his hand, feeling it burn.
"You... don't scare me. There's... there's no need for lamp oil!"
The glasses-wearing young man stammered in panic, refusing to give up. He tried using the oil lamp to scare away the Paishen Buddha infant on his shoulder.
But it was futile.
In less than a minute, the wick had visibly burned out.
Woosh!
With the flame extinguished, the Paishen Buddha infant on his shoulder swelled up like vengeance itself, ballooning seven, eight times bigger, and hung like a middle schooler on the young man's back.
"Save me!"
The bespectacled young man panicked.
"Get another one!"
Lin Baici urged.
"Oh! Right!"
The bespectacled young man snapped out of it and rushed toward the purple lacquer rack.
More than forty men who had quickly lit their wicks were now frantically dashing to the front of the rack, wanting to grab another lamp to save their lives.
The bespectacled young man lit another oil lamp.
But it was no use.
The Paishen Buddha infant on his back grew even faster.
"What...?"
The bespectacled young man wanted to ask Lin Baici what to do,
Suddenly,
The Paishen Buddha infant on his back bared its fangs and bit into his throat. Then it savagely tore off a piece of the throat, complete with a chunk of flesh.
Bang!
The bespectacled young man fell to the ground, unable to make a sound with his neck broken.
The Paishen Buddha infant, like a wild dog, crouched beside him, gnawing at his body.
The more than forty unlucky ones who had acted too quickly didn't survive either. When their oil lamps went out, the Paishen Buddha infants on their backs began growing wildly and then tearing, attacking, and consuming their flesh.
This terrifying and bloody scene chilled everyone to the core.
"Everyone search quickly, see if there's any lamp oil?"
Jiang Hong shouted.
It was complete chaos.
Kim Myungjin, upon seeing this, suddenly understood why Lin Baici hadn't taken out his lighter.
If one person took out a lighter but didn't ignite the wick, waiting instead for others to make the first move, it would seem too scheming.
Like now, in the eyes of the others, Lin Baici was still that harmless student with a bit of kindness.
Only Kim Myungjin knew how meticulous this Oppa's mind was.
He had considered every possible consequence of any action and was even crafting his personal image.
Now, whatever that boss Jiang said likely didn't have as much impact as Lin Baici.
He might have money,
But Lin Oppa could lead everyone to survival!
"We couldn't find any lamp oil!"
The tourists had searched several times, but to no avail. Watching their back-mounted Paishen Buddha infants growing increasingly larger, they were scared to death.
Lin Baici had already considered the lack of lamp oil; it seemed he would have to look for a substitute.
"It couldn't be human oil, could it?"
Jiang Hong suddenly spoke up, startling Hua Yue Yu.
"What did you say?"
Hua Yue Yu had heard him clearly but was too frightened to imagine the implications.
"Human oil, for lighting sky lanterns, haven't you heard of it?"
Jiang Hong covered his mouth with his hand, keeping his voice very low, "At this rate, we might need to use human oil to pass this obstacle!"
Apart from that, Jiang Hong couldn't think of any other source of lamp oil.
Kim Myungjin, the old lady, Sister Xiao Li, and others just thinking about the horrific scenario, turned pale.
"You... that's just a guess; what if human oil doesn't work?"
Hua Yue Yu countered.
"Let's think of another solution if it doesn't work. This thing keeps growing; we don't have much time left!"
Out of desperation for survival, Jiang Hong was willing to kill. He turned to Lin Baici, "What about you?"
"I won't do it!"
Lin Baici flatly refused.
If it meant killing people for their fat, he'd be living in a psychological shadow for life.
"Fine, but if my method works, don't come begging me for help later!"
Jiang Hong acted decisively and immediately went to gather a group of people.
They needed to be strong and capable of fighting.
"This guy is just scum."
Hua Yue Yu felt Jiang Hong was too inhumane.
Lin Baici hadn't given up; he was observing the oil lamp.
The patterns on it were very pretty.
[A bronze oil lamp, even if made exquisitely, is useless if you can't eat it. What's the point?]
Lin Baici was almost angered to death by what the Eater God said—eat, eat, eat, that's all it knew; couldn't it say something important?
[On a cold and desolate night, when all is quiet, add blood and ignite the lamp, and the Buddha's light will shine brightly. Eating a vegetarian meal in such an environment could have a unique flavor!]
The Eater God's sentimentality struck a chord in Lin Baici's heart.
"Add blood and ignite the lamp?"
Lin Baici latched onto a key phrase.
Could it be that the oil lamp didn't use lamp oil but blood instead?
Thinking this, Lin Baici pulled out the firewood knife from his lower back, cut his finger, and began to bleed into the lamp.
Drip-drop! Drip-drop!
The rich red blood dropped into the bronze lamp cup, creating ripples.
"What are you doing?"
Hua Yue Yu didn't understand.
Apart from her, Sister Xiao Li, Kim Myungjin, Auntie Xu Xiu, Sima Mu, Zhang Ju mother and daughter, and about fifty other people followed Lin Baici.
Nobody noticed that when Lin Baici was adding blood to the lamp cup, the Buddha statue on the altar, which had been resting with closed eyes in the darkness, suddenly opened its eyes and glanced at Lin Baici.
"Uncle, lend me your lighter!"
Lin Baici saw that blood had filled the bottom of the lamp cup and was about to stop when a voice echoed in his mind.
[Fill it once, and it can burn for three years.]
What's that supposed to mean?
Lin Baici frowned.
He didn't want to continue bleeding—the lotus bud lamp cup wasn't big, but to fill it completely, he estimated it would take about 200cc of blood.
But if it wasn't completely filled, what if the lamp couldn't stay lit until that ghostly thing disappeared...
Lin Baici turned his head, looking at the dozens of corpses that had been messily gnawed on by the shoulder-riding Buddha babies, and suddenly gritted his teeth.
Steady! Just blood, right? Once we get out of here, I'll find a chicken and make it up.
"Brother Lin, what are you..."
Sima Mu wanted to say, if you've found something, don't do it alone, use cannon fodder first; if you die, what will we all do?
Lin Baici took the lighter and lit the lamp wick.
Whoosh!
The light was as small as a bean, pitiable in size, but its glow warmed the heart.
Lin Baici felt much more comfortable immediately.
"It's getting smaller! It's getting smaller!"
The elderly lady began to exclaim with joy.
"Jiang Hong, blood can be used instead of lamp oil!"
Lin Baici shouted out, feeling he had to tell Jiang Hong, or the man would start killing people for their fat to use as lamp oil.
Woosh!
The tourists all crowded over.
"Really?"
Jiang Hong pushed through the crowd to reach Lin Baici's side.
He had already persuaded eight people.
"See for yourself!"
Lin Baici held an oil lamp in one hand and a Songmu torch in the other. Unlike the panicking crowd, his face was the picture of composure.
As the wick burned, the shoulder-riding Buddha baby on Lin Baici's back had completely shrunk behind him, not wishing to be touched by even the slight glow of light.
Even so, its body was gradually diminishing.
"Looks like it really works!"
Behind Jiang Hong, a young man with an eagle-hooked nose spat out thick phlegm: "Does it have to be your own blood?"
Upon hearing this, everyone's heart tightened.
"Didn't you see? Each person can only take one lamp. What if you use someone else's blood, defile the lamp cup, and can't light the wick?"
Lin Baici countered.
Kim Myungjin admired Lin Baici's clever response in silence.
This hawk-nosed fellow was a tough character who didn't listen to reason. It would be hard for Lin Baici to convince him not to harm others, but with such a response, the man was put in a bind.
After all, nobody dared to risk their lives on a bet.
Apart from Jiang Hong and the hawk-nosed man, some others also thought about using someone else's blood as lamp oil, but Lin Baici's rhetorical question stopped them in their tracks.
You could say Lin Baici's words saved quite a few lives.
"Forget it, better to be safe!"
The hawk-nosed man took out a switchblade, flicked it open with a click, and began bleeding his finger.
"It's best to fill the lamp cup in one go!"
Lin Baici reminded loudly.
"Do I have to fill it? It hurts so much!"
Hua Yue Yu's eyes brimmed with tears.
"Don't all of you bleed once a month anyway? Aren't you used to it?"
Sima Mu joked.
Under the pressure of death brought by the shoulder-riding Buddha babies, everyone moved quickly, even fighting over lighters and knives.
After some struggle, everyone had added blood and lit their lamps.
"Quick, check if the ghostly thing on my back is getting smaller."
"It works! It really works!"
"Young man, you are amazing!"
"What young man? Show some respect, call him handsome!"
Seeing the shoulder-riding Buddha babies shrink and feeling hopeful about their chances of survival, the tourists' tension eased slightly.
Lin Baici ignored these discussions; he only thought about quickly finding the God's bones and destroying them to dismantle the Divine Ruins.
Otherwise, if things kept going like this, no number of lives would be enough to lose.
"It looks like there shouldn't be any more problems now!"
No sooner had Sima Mu finished speaking than a girl screamed.
"Why is my blood burning up so fast?"