A mysterious realm descends, and I defy fate in comics.

Chapter 11 The child is innocent.

These children are not actually innocent, or rather, they are not as innocent as they claim.

In fact, as the village chief's grandson, Xie Yangping was the second child to stare at the monster after the village chief was affected.

The boy stared blankly as his grandfather performed the shadow puppet show for him as always, then instinctively rolled his eyes and reached for his phone.

—Then the cleaver fell.

The machete, originally intended for chopping firewood, now fell into the hands of the young boy.

There's not much difference between human bones and firewood, except that they are much harder to cut. Even if the bones are broken, there is still a thin layer of skin connecting the hand and forearm.

It seems about to fall, but it won't.

The pain came very slowly.

At least from Xie Yangping's perspective, his brain only began to feel pain after he had watched helplessly as his hand was severed.

The stinging pain of his hand being almost severed made him cry for a moment, but the emotion that surfaced at that moment was not resentment, but confusion and disbelief.

What happened? Why did they do this? ...I just wanted to play on my phone, is this really a punishment? This is clearly child abuse!

Besides, shadow puppetry is an entertainment form that has been phased out by the times! What's wrong with him not wanting to watch or not liking to watch shadow puppetry?

Despite his deep resentment, Xie Yangping looked at his grandfather's smiling face, his lips trembling slightly from the pain, but he dared not utter a single word.

He just cut off my hand, how can he act so nonchalantly? Xie Yangping felt wronged and confused. For the first time, he realized that his grandfather now felt so unfamiliar to him.

Is the person in front of him really his grandfather?

This question lingered in Xie Yangping's mind, but he had no answer and dared not ask it directly.

"Come see the shadow puppet show." Grandpa smiled, and every wrinkle on his face was gathered up because of that smile, like a human skin that had been squeezed together.

So, in a daze, Jie Yangping turned his gaze to the shadow puppet show being played by his grandfather.

He had seen the familiar play thousands of times. He was raised by his grandfather and grew up listening to the sounds of shadow puppet shows.

But to be honest, never before had Xie Yangping felt so captivated. He suddenly began to wonder, was a cell phone really that fun? Enough to make him abandon shadow puppetry?

Jie Yangping couldn't see his own expression, but his "grandfather" could see it clearly. The boy's expression, which originally showed some pain and reluctance, gradually disappeared, and his eyes were filled with a color that could be described as "obsession".

"Why don't you come and see a shadow puppet show?" Xie Yangping repeated.

He didn't see the satisfied smile that appeared on "Grandpa's" face the instant those words left his lips.

The pain of his severed wrist almost vanished under the allure of the shadow puppet show. Xie Yangping knew very well that something was wrong with him; he should be in pain, he should be crying out. He had even made plans with his online friends to play games together at this time…

But damn it, who cares?

Jie Yangping thought to himself.

Anyway, Xie Yangping didn't care at the moment. He simply turned around, smiled at his "grandfather," and said enthusiastically, "Grandpa, I know how to increase the popularity of our shadow puppet show!"

Grandpa's eyes lit up: "Come, come, good child, tell Grandpa properly, our generation's shadow puppetry depends entirely on you young kids!"

As Xie Yangping looked at the sincere fervor emanating from "Grandpa's" eyes, a thought flashed through his hazy mind.

He thought—his grandfather now looks somewhat similar to his grandfather before.

His wrist, which was almost severed, was wrapped with a wooden stick by "Grandpa," who stitched it back up. The pain never stopped, but now Xie Yangping had learned to ignore it.

"Our little village has too few people, sir," Xie Yangping said, a keen smile on his face. "If you want shadow puppetry to spread further and reach more people... you'll still have to rely on mobile phones!"

Grandpa's first reaction upon hearing this was to frown. Deep in his memory, his grandson was always glued to his phone, and no matter what he called out, he would always reply with "Wait a minute."

He has never had a good impression of mobile phones.

But the words of refusal were only mumbled in his mouth, not even uttered, before they turned into a nod of agreement.

This is why videos of shadow puppet shows have gone viral online.

Although "Grandpa" had agreed to his plan, Xie Yangping was not prepared to send the video directly.

The New Year has passed, and most of the young people who returned to their hometowns have boarded trains to go home—which means that there are not many young people left in the village now.

The whole village was dealt with quickly. "Grandpa" put on a show in the name of the village chief, and by saying a few words at the beginning and end of the village, he successfully gained a lot of audience.

No one doubted it.

After all, the whole village is very knowledgeable about shadow puppetry, and many elderly people still don't adapt to the style of modern society. They just find smartphones and short videos too noisy.

Therefore, when the village chief proposed to build a stage so that everyone could watch shadow puppet shows, it received a lot of support.

They carried small stools and, amidst the icy snow and howling wind, watched intently as the village chief skillfully manipulated the puppets from behind the stage.

As Xie Yangping stood at the front of the stage, his gaze swept over all the village elders and peers who were completely absorbed in the performance.

The young boy took out the machete he had prepared long ago—he had sharpened it a few days ago, just waiting to be able to help his grandfather today.

As the machete was swung at the eighty-year-old grandmother sitting on the edge, it affected everyone around her, including the children who had been forcibly dragged there by their parents.

No one ran away; instead, they frowned and looked at Xie Yangping: "Xie family kid, what are you doing waving that knife around like that?"

"Seriously, if you have nothing better to do, chop up the firewood at the edge of the village. Don't leave it there and interrupt our shadow puppet show!"

Jie Yangping tilted his head, revealing a harmless smile, and the boy defended himself righteously, saying, "I didn't delay your performance."

"I clearly wanted you to become one with shadow puppetry, didn't I? Don't you want that?" Xie Yangping said in an almost seductive tone.

They thought.

So everyone in the open space rushed to put their heads under Xie Yangping's cleaver.

Zhou Shengnan was the only exception.

The headless corpses were skinned by "Grandpa" and then made into human skin shadow puppets.

Xie Yangping held Zhou Shengnan's hand and walked towards "Grandpa." The two asked in unison, "Why can't we become one with shadow puppetry?"

Why can't they be disassembled and turned into human skin shadow puppets?

Grandpa just looked at the two children with a loving expression: "Because you are still young."

It was unclear whether it was the village chief or "Grandpa" murmuring to himself; the voice was so soft that it vanished into thin air the instant it left the mouth.

"We are fading away, we are dying, but the children are innocent."