Chapter 50 Lilith's Seduction (3)
Is that guy an Ogre?
Master narrowed his eyes slightly, a drunken smile playing on his lips.
The Anubis Dog and Jormungand Cat, who had been lying quietly on both sides of the sofa, seemed to receive a sign from destiny; they opened their eyes and pricked up their ears, watching Wood with full concentration.
Papa—
What did you say? You encountered an Ogre?
Tell me the details, quickly!
[I want to know exactly what happened~]
“—Darling, could you tell me—completely and in detail—what happened to you today?”
Of course.
Wood composed his thoughts and told Master the eerie and bizarre story he had heard from Roger.
Anubis Dog and Jormungand Cat sat upright on both sides of the sofa, listening to Wood's story along with Master.
..
.. I originally thought those guys Roger encountered—the ones dressed up all gaudily and acting like nobles—were either a subspecies of vampire or perverts suffering from Vampire Delusion. But since you just said I smell like an Ogre, Boss, then the group Roger met must be Ogres.
Wood expressed his views with a serious expression.
Master shook his head and said softly, "Vampires and Ogres share the same origin."
Huh?
Wood froze.
“In ancient times, cannibalistic acts, including eating human flesh and drinking human blood, were witchcraft rituals rooted in animism. People firmly believed that consuming the flesh and blood of enemy warriors could conquer the enemy on a deeper level. Furthermore, after the death of a hero or leader of their own tribe, they would gather to consume his flesh and blood, thereby incorporating the warrior's Soul and vitality into their own bodies, hoping that they too could become warriors. People in ancient times held this belief without doubt; they would even consume the flesh and blood of their loved ones, delusional in the hope of becoming completely one with their departed kin.”
Of course, in primitive tribes where protein sources were extremely scarce yet a sense of communal mutual aid had already emerged, the human body would inevitably be a precious ingredient that was both delicious and taboo. Therefore, from its very inception, the custom of 'cannibalism' had to be supplemented with symbolic, magical explanations.
Master looked leisurely at Wood, his deep blue eyes gazing both at Wood and at the boundless darkness outside the floor-to-ceiling window behind him.
Conversely, precisely because cannibalism stems from primitive tribes' craving for precious protein amidst extreme food scarcity, the ultimate goal of various animistic explanations regarding cannibalism is to rationalize and destigmatize the act. Therefore, once civilization reaches a certain stage, humanity collectively establishes an absolute taboo against cannibalism.
However, even after human society entered a civilized stage and established absolute prohibitions against cannibalism, the urge for cannibalism has never been eliminated from the human heart—of course, this excludes cannibalism caused by famine; once hunger passes a certain threshold, others cease to be fellow humans in one's eyes and instead become mere chunks of meat required for survival. Cannibalism caused by extreme hunger is less a matter of cruelty and more a desperate instinct for survival.
It is precisely because a strong impulse to consume one's own kind as flesh exists deep within the human heart that all civilizations created by humanity regard cannibalism as the most insurmountable taboo. The binding force of this taboo is so powerful that humanity has almost forgotten its own bloodlust, viewing cannibalism as the most unacceptable of all crimes.
Even so, the world is not lacking in Cannibals who break the taboo—names of these people are often linked to serial dismemberment murders—but unlike ordinary murderers, they often fervently praise the beautiful bodies of their victims, they cut specific parts from the deceased, cook them meticulously, taste them, then offer their thoughts.
Like Hannibal?
Wood asked, "I mean the elegant and refined Hannibal from *The Silence of the Lambs* who likes to.."
Hannibal is indeed a quintessential Cannibal.
Master said with a nod, "But not every Cannibal or vampire possesses such grace, such as Peter Kurden, who was known as the 'Düsseldorf Vampire.' He committed sixty-nine murders in total, most of which were accompanied by abuse and torture. Even on the day of his decapitation, he remained highly excited by blood, hoping that at the moment his head was severed, he would hear the sound of blood gushing from his neck."
Like Countess Bathory?
Countess Bathory?
Master gave a contemptuous smile. "In his era, the aristocracy mostly believed that a young girl's blood had the miraculous effect of preserving youth—she was arrested solely because his wealth and power threatened the interests of the higher classes. To continue regarding the urge for 'Cannibalism'—all living things must devour other life to survive, humans are no exception. Therefore, religion considers a life that relies on 'appetite' to survive to be born with original sin, promoting vegetarianism and fasting, and, along with morality and law, condemning the act of consuming one's own kind as the most intolerable of crimes."
“Even so, humans still cannot resist the primal urge to consume the blood and flesh of their own kind. Thus, while people worship God, they simultaneously exercise the ways of the Demon—the 'Mass' distributes 'Christ's Blood' (wine) and 'Christ's Body' (bread) to the believers, whereas the 'Black Mass' restores the 'blood' and 'body' required for the ritual back to the blood and bodies of animals or even humans—this behavior is less a parody of the 'Mass' and more a return to the true nature of life.”
You mean, Boss—that banquet was actually a 'Black Mass'?
“Yes, a true 'Black Mass'."
Master looked up, gazing at Mister Wood with a gentle and merciful expression: "Not only are the ones carving and distributing the meat, as well as the men and women dressed as nobles feasting on human flesh at the banquet, formal participants of the Black Mass, but the wanderers led by Roger are also an indispensable part of the Black Mass ritual—nobles from high society, driven by deep-seated bloodlust, beggars, driven by nothing but the instinct to survive due to extreme hunger and poverty—all dining at the same table, together completing the most primal and instinctive act of carnivory in humanity."
But Roger said.. the one in charge of carving and distributing the meat told him.. not only is the human flesh being eaten at the banquet sourced from those carefully raised by that group of perverts, but the ones eating the meat are also just as.. just as..
If I were the one presiding over the ritual, the one responsible for butchering and distributing the meat, I would also feel that every fellow participating in this feast, greedily devouring human flesh, is no different from the meat they consume.
Master said indifferently, "As long as humans remain human, they must face human nature—the ability to both sacrifice one's life to save others and to dismember one's own kind. If one blindly believes that others are mad while he is sane, others are evil while he is kind, or others are lowly while he is noble, then, the moment he or she harbors such thoughts, he or she has already become the most mad and twisted creature in the eyes of others."
Boss, you seem a bit—
A bit too serious?
It's more than just being serious.
Wood said cautiously, "When you say these things, it's as if you become a different person, someone distant, strange, and.. and.."
And what?
The Man reached out, pulling Wood toward him and pressing him against his own body.
I don't know.. but I feel.. the indifference you show when talking about Cannibals is almost as if.. as if you were one of them, a God descending upon the Altar to receive the High Priest's blood sacrifice.. or.. My God! What am I even saying! How could the Boss—
Perhaps my true self is a bloodthirsty one who has lived for hundreds of thousands of years.
Master looked up and kissed Wood's forehead. While the other man closed his eyes to savor the delicate sensation of lips brushing against his eyelids, Master continued speaking.
“Because they cannot face the cannibalistic desires within their hearts, nor dare to relieve such madness through righteous means, humans entrust their desires to fictional dark imaginations. By using real-life bloodthirsty cannibals, losers slandered by history, outcasts exiled by society—such as the Impaler Vlad III and the 'Bloody Countess' Elizabeth Bathory—they create monsters known as Vampires and Ogres, releasing their inner desires by fantasizing about them being active, dominating, conquering, destroying in the darkness.”
These dark, mad imaginings rooted in human nature, after centuries of fermentation and fusion, have gradually evolved into a pop culture based on collective human imagination, aided by the dissemination of visual media like television and film in the technological age. They have even drawn in mythological figures who originally did not belong to this imaginative system, such as Cain and Lilith.
Indeed, there are those who insist that Lilith, the Night Demon who originated from Mesopotamian mythology before being absorbed into the Hebrew mythological system, was the original bloodsucker, that Cain became the Progenitor of Bloodline under her teachings.
"Indeed, Lilith and Cain.." Wood said in a daze.
Yes, Lilith and Cain..
Master's lips slid to his earlobe, his voice growing increasingly soft: "Because of the re-creation of modern culture, They have indeed become the Progenitor of Bloodline and leaders of the Vampires, leading the Vampires and Cannibals to wander about in the darkness.. By the way, I do not like that guy who invited Roger to the Black Mass."
Why? Because he's a pervert?
No, because he is 'Void'.
Master narrowed his eyes: "Fortunately, there is a high probability that he won't actively seek you out or provoke me—he knows what the consequences of angering me would be—but you had better be careful, because That Guy's 'Emptiness' is approaching Nothingness."
“‘Void’.. approaching Nothingness.. Boss, why are your words becoming more and more..”
You don't understand?
Yeah.
Wood nodded earnestly.
Then—let's start with a Purification for you.
The Man grumbled in complaint, releasing the earlobe he had been biting, as his hot, intense kiss gradually slid down the fair skin that bruised easily.
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Author's Note: Thanks to readers "Hardworking Internet Abstinence · Seeing Me Telling Me to Go Study!", "Kitten Fishing for Big Fish", "kiki", "Ye Yuan", "If the Moon Doesn't Come", "Lan Mei Xiao Yang", "a", "Courage is Lifelong Reliance", "Shi Yi", "Lei Zhuang", "Lan Wu", "Riyue Taosan Huan", "Half City of Sand", "Meng Li Jian", "Li Yu", "Fat Mermaid", "Liu Nainai Mai Niunai", "Qing Yun", "Xing Ye", "moonlit", "Min", "Gu Lu Gu Lu", "Yi Tuo Da Yan", "Yeren Xinzhisu" for the Irrigation Nutrient Solution.
Please provide the Chinese paragraph you would like me to translate.
Chapter 51 Lilith's Seduction (3)
.. When you were talking to Roger, did you ask him a question?
What question?
Wood was immersed in a warm embrace, his voice somewhat muffled and his mind slightly clouded.
Why was everyone at the scene unable to control their appetite and fall into madness, yet he was able to suppress it at the last moment, becoming the sole survivor of the 'Black Mass'? And after the fact, he could even tell you everything that happened that day with such clarity?
Is that kind of thing difficult to do?
It's difficult.. if That Guy is the one I think he is..
That Guy.. just what kind of person is he?
Wood forced himself to stay conscious and asked.
Passion caused his gaze to gradually turn decadent, his voice gradually turned into instinctive murmurs.
.. Do you want to know That Guy's identity that badly?
Mmm.. ah.. if you can't say it now, then there's no need.. I.. mm.. I don't really mind the outcome..
In a daze, his body sank deep into the chaos, yet his hands still instinctively clung on tightly.
..
..
Passion lasted for an unknown amount of time, yet time itself seemed to have stagnated, showing no sign of passing.
Outside the window, the darkness remained thick, almost impossible to penetrate, Jormungand Cat and Anubis Dog at both ends of the sofa remained motionless, as if frozen by some force.
Only the intimate couple continued their usual lingering embrace until one of them grew exhausted and fell into a deep sleep.
After ensuring that the other had fallen into a deep sleep—
The Man stood up and slowly raised his right hand toward the floor-to-ceiling window, which, thanks to the contrast of the excessively thick darkness, could now serve as a mirror.
The reflection in the mirror raised its hand in unison.
A fine layer of sweat coated the back of his hand in the Mortal Realm, but in the mirror, the hand was wrapped in bandages from the elbow to the fingertips, all of which were engulfed in flames.
In addition, a man standing behind the figure in the mirror wore a long white silk scarf around his neck—if Roger were present and saw this man, he would surely cry out in shock, "It's him! It's him! It's him!"
Why not come inside?
Master said nonchalantly.
No entry into the room without an invitation; that was the ironclad rule you established back then.
The man in the mirror spoke slowly, the night wind tousling his hair and revealing the oldest and most unforgivable sin upon human history.
It actually became an ironclad rule?
Master smiled with a hint of mockery, with a slight movement of his fingertips, the White Silk Scarf wrapped around the Man in the Mirror's neck fell to the ground, revealing the wound that would never heal.
“Where is Lilith?”
He has a new toy.