Chapter Eleven: Cooking the Corpse, the Devil’s Feast

On the outskirts of a quiet little town in Hunan lived a man named Li Hua. His back was hunched, and his eyes held an indescribable, sinister strangeness. He lived alone in a crumbling old house beyond the town. Taciturn and withdrawn, he was little more than a shadow among the neighbors, and no one knew of the dark secrets hidden within him.

It was a sweltering summer evening, so oppressive that the air seemed impossible to breathe. The setting sun, red as blood, spread an eerie hue across every street and alley in the town. Zhang Yue, a young and beautiful woman, had been sent to deliver an urgent document to a factory in the outskirts. By mistake, she wandered into the gloomy lane where Li Hua lived. She wore a pale blue short-sleeved blouse and a black skirt. Her shoulder-length hair gave her a neat, capable appearance, while her hand clutched the document folder tightly. A trace of anxiety and weariness lingered on her face.

Li Hua was crouching outside his front door when his gaze fixed upon Zhang Yue like a snake’s. As she drew near, he slowly rose. The corners of his mouth lifted into a chilling smile.

“Miss, this place is rather remote. Have you lost your way?”

The sudden voice startled Zhang Yue. When she looked up and saw the coldness in his eyes, her heart lurched, but she answered politely, “Sir, I’m trying to get to Hongsheng Factory in the outskirts. I think I took the wrong road.”

A flicker of barely concealed excitement passed through Li Hua’s eyes. He pointed behind him.

“It’s still quite a distance from here. Why don’t I show you the way? There are some unsavory people around here.”

Zhang Yue hesitated, but as the light continued to fade, she gritted her teeth and followed him.

The two of them proceeded along a narrow, dimly lit alley. Every so often, Li Hua glanced back at Zhang Yue. He muttered to himself all the while, his indistinct words making her increasingly uneasy.

Suddenly, Li Hua stopped. He spun around, and the twisted smile vanished from his face, replaced by a hideous, terrifying expression. Zhang Yue tried to scream, but Li Hua clamped a hand over her mouth. His other hand closed around her throat like an iron vise.

She struggled desperately, kicking wildly, but against Li Hua’s brute strength, her resistance was pitifully weak. Before long, her body gradually went limp. Her eyes remained wide open, filled with terror and despair, as the flame of her life was extinguished.

Li Hua dragged Zhang Yue’s body into the house and threw it into the basement. The basement was dark and damp, thick with the stench of decay. Various knives and strange containers stood scattered around it, making the place resemble an abyss of evil.

Over the next several days, Li Hua revealed himself as a true demon. Taking up a sharp butcher’s knife, he savagely dismembered Zhang Yue’s body. Blood splattered across every corner of the basement, leaving horrifying streaks along the walls. With every cut, a perverse delight appeared on his face, and from time to time he broke into wild laughter.

When the dismemberment was complete, he placed the remains in a huge black iron barrel, poured in pungent chemicals, and lit the firewood beneath it. The flames quickly leapt upward. The liquid inside the barrel began to boil violently, releasing a nauseating stench.

Li Hua sat beside it, his eyes vacant yet feverishly unhinged, staring fixedly at the remains slowly dissolving within the barrel as though he were savoring a grand celebration.

Meanwhile, the people of the town gradually began to sense that something was wrong. Zhang Yue’s disappearance drew the police’s serious attention, and they launched a large-scale investigation. Officers went from door to door questioning residents, but they found nothing. No useful clue came to light.

At the same time, strange rumors began to spread through the town. Some claimed to have heard faint screams coming from the direction of Li Hua’s house at night, as though someone were enduring inhuman torture. Others said they had seen wisps of black smoke rising from the roof, carrying what seemed to be the stench of decay—so foul it made them sick.

At first, however, the police paid no attention to the rumors, dismissing them as baseless speculation and fear spreading among the residents.

But one person believed them completely: Zhang Yue’s closest friend, Wang Lin.

The two women had been as close as sisters, and Wang Lin refused to believe that Zhang Yue had simply vanished without a trace. Determined to uncover the truth on her own, she began secretly observing Li Hua’s every move. Before long, she noticed that his behavior was becoming increasingly strange.

Every night, the lights in Li Hua’s house stayed on until very late. Strange noises frequently drifted from within, sounds that made the blood run cold.

One night, filled with unease, Wang Lin quietly approached Li Hua’s house. She hid carefully behind an abandoned stack of firewood, her eyes fixed on the front door.

Suddenly, the door opened slowly, and Li Hua emerged carrying a heavy burlap sack. He looked around warily before setting off toward the outskirts of town.

Gathering her courage, Wang Lin followed him on tiptoe. Her heart pounded violently against her ribs, and every step was steeped in fear. Yet her determination to find Zhang Yue gave her the strength to continue.

Li Hua reached a stretch of deserted woodland beyond the town and stopped. He threw the sack onto the ground. Then he drew a shovel from his waist and began digging furiously.

Wang Lin crouched behind a large tree, scarcely daring to breathe. She watched his every movement, gripped by a terrible premonition. Before long, Li Hua had dug a deep pit. He emptied the contents of the sack into it, then quickly shoveled the earth back over the hole.

While he was covering the pit, Wang Lin edged closer. When she saw what lay inside, her vision went black, and she nearly fainted.

There were shattered bones and tangled clumps of hair, all giving off a suffocating stench of rot. Wang Lin understood at once that they were most likely the remains of Zhang Yue.

Suppressing her grief and terror, Wang Lin stumbled all the way back to town and reported everything she had seen to the police without hesitation.

Only then did the authorities realize the gravity of the situation. They immediately organized a full search of Li Hua’s house.

When the officers entered the basement, the scene before them left them speechless. It was a living hell. The stench of blood filled the air; the walls were smeared with stains, and various weapons and unfinished remains lay scattered across the floor. In one corner stood the enormous black iron barrel. Some sticky, unidentified substance clung to its interior, releasing a revolting odor.

The police swiftly launched a manhunt for Li Hua. After an arduous search, they finally found him in an abandoned warehouse outside the town.

By then, Li Hua had descended into madness. He gripped a rusted axe and faced the police in a tense standoff. The officers tried to calm him and persuade him to put down the weapon, but he remained unmoved. He swung the axe wildly, roaring like a madman, his eyes filled with boundless insanity and despair.

With no other choice, the police moved decisively. After a fierce struggle, they finally subdued him.

With Li Hua’s arrest, the horrifying murder and dismemberment case was at last brought to light. Taken to court, Li Hua confessed to his crimes without reservation.

It emerged that he had suffered severe psychological trauma in the past, which had twisted his mind and awakened within him a perverse desire to kill. He had committed similar crimes before, escaping legal punishment time and again through cunning means.

But this time, he could no longer evade the judgment of justice.

When the people of the town learned the truth, they were overcome with shock and fear. They could never have imagined that such a merciless demon had been hiding in a place that appeared so peaceful and serene.

In the days that followed, the town’s nights became unnaturally quiet. People locked their doors and windows early, as though only in that way could they drive away the fear buried deep within their hearts. Li Hua’s old house became a forbidden place spoken of in whispers. Whenever anyone passed it, they quickened their pace without realizing it, as though afraid that the lingering evil might cling to them.

The case was like a terrible nightmare, burned forever into the hearts of the townspeople and transformed into a wound that could never heal.

Those bloody, horrifying scenes served as a constant warning: in a world that appears beautiful, evil may be hiding in some dark and forgotten corner. We must remain vigilant at all times, protect ourselves and those around us, and never allow evil the opportunity to strike.