Meatworm with thick fingers

Bang bang bang - a series of muffled sounds. The hunter tightly gripped the big stick in his hands and gritted his teeth as he smashed it down onto the female insect's body, once, twice, three times, countless times! He vented all the fear and anger that had been building up inside him over these past few days on the female insect."

Sheryl held a chopstick in her hand and vividly described the scene from the story with gestures.

JIETOU and I listened with bated breath, our palms starting to sweat.

Sheryl's storytelling was really too graphic.

"I don't know how long he fought for until finally exhausted, while the female insect had turned into a pile of rotten flesh oozing out putrid black water. Only then did he stop." Sheryl paused here to take a sip of tea before continuing,"Later on, struggling with his distended belly, he made his way down from the mountain back home."

"His family thought he was missing or met an accident so they were naturally overjoyed when they saw him return. However everyone became curious about why his belly was so swollen and where he had gone during this time." Sheryl took a deep breath,"At this point,the hunter didn't have time to explain everything because there were still eggs inside him that needed to be removed if he wanted to survive."

"So he briefly told his family what happened- that he encountered a monster on the mountain who injected eggs into him wanting to use him as its host. These eggs would soon hatch so they needed to be removed quickly. His family rushed him off to see a doctor who upon hearing about this matter checked under his skin using small knives along his navel before cutting open his stomach." Sheryl looked at us,"This kind of surgery has existed since ancient times but we don't know whether it is true or not."

"Forget about whether it's true or not, just continue the story! After all, Ma Fei San has been around for a long time. Once you drink it, you become numb to pain and even Hua Tuo could perform brain surgery let alone later doctors. I believe they could cut open someone's stomach and reattach their head if needed. Long live our ancestors!" I urged Sheryl anxiously.

Seeing my expression, Xie Yilin couldn't help but laugh a little, and then continued: "Okay, I'll continue. It is said that when the doctor cut open the hunter's belly at that time, many people were watching around. As a result, everyone saw a very disgusting and terrifying scene. After the hunter's belly was opened up, it was full of white insect eggs inside. Some of the insect eggs were still wriggling, and some had hatched into finger-thick flesh worms. Those flesh worms attached to the hunter's intestines and had already begun to gnaw on his internal organs."

"You can imagine that scene," Xie Yilin looked disgusted and gestured with her hand as if she wanted to describe it but then skipped over it and continued: "Anyway, the doctor treated him in time. He used pliers to remove all of the insect eggs and flesh worms from inside the hunter's stomach one by one. It is said that when he removed each egg or worm he would throw them directly into a charcoal brazier burning nearby until they burned up completely.

After finishing surgery on the hunter's abdomen which was sewn back together again afterwards; everyone looked at what remained in brazier only to find half of it filled with burnt-up insect eggs."

"Okay, so that's basically how this story goes," Xie Yilin finished speaking and couldn't help looking at me and Jietou asking: "Isn't it exciting?"

"It's extremely exciting indeed! However there is something I don't understand; please enlighten me Teacher Xie." I smiled at Xie Yilin.

"This student may speak," Xie Yilin made a gesture towards me excitedly.

"People in ancient times weren't exactly kind-hearted individuals; since they knew about these female insects' existence wouldn't they have gone up into mountains again seeking trouble? Did they not go back to find those female insects?" I looked at Xie Yilin and asked.

"Good question! This problem fully demonstrates Liu Yiheng's strict logical thinking and divergent thinking," Xie Yilin looked at me, then continued: "Those people definitely went up the mountain to exterminate the demons. They first organized a group of people, prepared to throw firewood and charcoal into that underground cave, then lit it up and burned all those female insects alive. But unfortunately, when they rushed up the mountain with great momentum, they found that the strange bamboo forest was gone; they couldn't find where those female insects were.

The hunter didn't kill a female insect, did he?" I frowned and asked. "And it was outside the cave where she was killed. They should have been able to find her body, right?"

Xie Yilin shook her head and said, "No, they couldn't find any trace of her at that time. The cave where the female insect lived mysteriously disappeared. People were ignorant back then and couldn't find a solution, so they sought help from witches. Those wizards were all frauds who just chanted prayers and rituals after climbing up the mountain without doing anything useful."

"So this matter ended like that and became a bizarre legend since then?" I asked somewhat disappointedly.

"Exactly," Xie Yilin nodded. "As I said before, this story is quite mysterious."

"It's okay as long as you tell it well," I comforted Xie Yilin before turning my head to Jietou only to see him frowning in thought.

"What's wrong with you, little monk?" I asked.

"Why did the female insect save the hunter? She saved him but he still killed her! He deserves to die!" Jietou furrowed his brows tightly with anger on his face.

Seeing Jietou's reaction made me and Xie Yilin feel embarrassed for a moment before we told him: "It's just a legend; why take it seriously? Besides, we can understand what the hunter did because that female insect was actually an evil moth spirit which frightened him so much that he had no choice but to kill her."

"Heartless!" Jietou exclaimed angrily while looking out of the window without saying another word.

Xie Yilin stood up when she finished speaking and opened the door of our room preparing to leave. Seeing this action prompted me to follow suit while calling out: "Let's go, monk!"

However, what surprised me was that just as I finished speaking, Jietou suddenly shook his whole body and then pushed open the window before jumping out of it.