Translated by: TaffyGirl13
Chapter 3: Act like a complete fujoshi; be a proper otaku
At the top of the tower, they completed their task from a golden monkey spirit with gorgeous bright hair. By leaving their signatures, they received their first stamp in their guidebook.
The defenders at each base were school alumni volunteers. Fu Xing couldn’t help but look forward to being a base defender at a sign-in location in Taiwan after he graduated; yet at the bottom of his heart, he felt quite opposed to graduation. Another day passed as he carried these conflicting emotions.
The next evening, they headed to their next stop and arrived at Henan’s Zhengzhou Airport at 7 PM.
The moment they left customs, an enormous red sign poster appeared before them. On it were headshots of He Fu Xing’s group—literally just shots of their heads! The photos had been cut out along the outline of their hair; everything below the chin had been removed. At first glance, it looked like severed heads floating around in a pool of blood, accompanied with “Welcome” in huge text…a truly novel sight.
What the hell is that?! It’s crazy ominous!
Fu Xing’s gaze dropped downwards and saw a familiar fair-skinned figure below the poster. However, their colour scheme wasn’t quite right.
“Z-Zi Ye?” Fu Xing and the others stared doubtfully at the one who had arrived.
His snow-white face wore an absent-minded expression, but his fluffy hair had been dyed into multiple colours and then styled up into tall spikes with pomade. It was quite shocking.
“Mn, long time no see.” Zi Ye calmly rolled up the poster. “Dan Juan called me yesterday to ask for my help, and I happened to be free so I came over. We’ll take the train to Anchang, then a bus to the residence.”
“Ahem, you….”
“I made the poster. I was afraid you guys wouldn’t be able to find me with so many people around, so I made a more conspicuous sign.”
“Er…” Fu Xing’s eyes were locked onto Zi Ye’s hair. “Your new hairstyle is…very unique…”
“Mn, I just dyed it this morning. Because I was worried that my original appearance would attract too much attention, I changed it a bit to be more low-profile.”
Doesn’t this just attract more attention?!
“You dyed it yourself?”
“No, Yu Tai helped me do it.” Zi Ye touched his hair. “He originally wanted me to wear boots and a punk windbreaker covered in belts and holes, but I felt it was too hot.”
“Yu Tai?” He looks so normal, how is his taste so bizarre?
“He’s been dropping by often recently.” Zi Ye furrowed his brow in what appeared to be slight embarrassment. “Although he’s very fussy, it’s not horrible…”
It seemed that it hadn’t just been the northern campus students that had changed after the school ceremony.
Fu Xing was delighted. Although it had nothing to do with him, he felt indescribably happy.
They got on the train, then transferred onto a taxi, arriving in Anyang at a bit past ten. The place Zi Ye had arranged for them was a townhouse in the suburbs. The homeowner was one of his distant relatives that had recently returned to visit their hometown in the northeast, so the house just so happened to be vacant.
“Has your summer break been going well?” Fu Xing was curious.
“It hasn’t been bad, just slightly boring.” Zi Ye helped move their luggage inside. “I prefer when there’s school and Samukawa to play with.”
Fu Xing couldn’t hide his chuckle when he recalled the shouta Samukawa’s embarrassed and irritated appearance.
“Since his enchantments have been restored, he should’ve already turned back to his old face. His mouth is as vicious as usual, but he’s not as cute.”
“Really?” Zi Ye furrowed his brows and muttered under his breath to himself, seemingly plotting something.
“Is this place near the Ruins of Yin?” Momiji asked, “And anything amusing to do nearby at night?”
“It’s not too far, you can get there by car within half an hour.” Zi Ye expertly pulled out a notebook and checked his notes there. “Most shops are closed at this time, though there should be some small places open near Beida Road or the train station. We can go grab food there.”
“We won’t stay here for too long, so let’s just head to Ruins of Yin now.” Brad urged, “We’ll be going to Japan tomorrow and might stay there for two days, then end the Asia part of the journey there and head to the Americas.”
“Since when did he get so pumped up?” Zi Ye raised a brow as he questioned quietly.
“Since someone complimented him. This guy seems to really want to show off…” Fu Xing murmured back.
The others sniggered to themselves.
“What are you guys talking about?!”
“Oh, nothing.” Emerald smirked as he mocked, “Brad is so great and very knowledgeable. Let’s hurry up and head out, oh-so-amazing-Brad.” He purposely mimicked Zhu Yue’s tone, the teasing obvious.
Brad fiercely glared at them, but despite his annoyance, he could not vent at them. Zhu Yue, who was oblivious to the situation, smiled at everyone without understanding.
Per Brad’s suggestion, they got into a rented minivan after sorting out their luggage and headed directly to the Ruins of Yin. The moon was bright, illuminating the empty road. The dark earth blended together with the night sky and stretched boundlessly.
They parked the car around a kilometre away from the entrance of the ruins.
“We’ll have to walk from here; parking too close will draw attention.” Ever since UNESCO added the ruins to the list of World Heritage Sites, the management and protection systems had become stricter.
A kilometer was an extremely short distance to a special animate being. Within ten minutes, the crowd swiftly advanced, passing through all the patrols and avoiding the detection systems to infiltrate the ruins.
The vast ancient city in all its magnificence rested peacefully under the moonlight in complete silence.
“Alright, where is the sign-in point? Don’t tell me we have to dig it up?”
“Could it be where the ruins museum is? This king’s tomb feels very empty.”
“So in the end, we do have to circle around the whole place?”
“Wait.” Rocort gestured for the others to be quiet. He closed his eyes as though using his other senses to capture the slightest details. Then, he uttered in a low voice a secret no one else knew—
“There’s…the smell of Haagen-Dazs ice cream ahead.”
“What?”
“Dead people eat midnight snacks too?”
Without waiting for their responses, Rocort immediately took the lead. The rest of them followed suit and headed into the shrine of the king’s tomb.
The solemn city of the dead carried the cruelty of the slaughtered sacrifices in the air. The king’s tomb and its sacrifices had been reburied after it was initially dug up, allowing the deceased to return to their rest. All that was left behind were a few tomb pits on display. These displays were surrounded by glass that looked like ponds when reflecting the moon’s glow.
A humanoid silhouette sat behind one of the glasses. In the moonlit night, the figure had its back facing them, its head of black hair lowered and waving slightly. It was quite a terrifying scene.
“Erm, may I ask if this place is the sign-in location?”
The figure slowly turned its head.
“Samukawa!”
“It’s you guys?!”
Samukawa was clearly irritated upon seeing who had arrived.
Fu Xing very distinctly heard a few curses spouted at them.
“You’re eating ice cream?” Fu Xing peered at the paper container in Samukawa’s right hand. “Does that count as slacking on the job?”
“And it’s tiramisu flavour.” Rocort clicked his tongue as he shook his head and said, “You can’t do that.”
“Aren’t the defenders all alumni?” Brad’s eyebrows arched upwards as he added to Samukawa’s suffering, “Were you demoted?”
“Not that surprising,” Flora supplemented with another attack.
“Demoted, my ass!” Samukawa roared, “This place’s defender had a last-minute issue so I came to temporarily support. And in the end, I somehow encountered you guys.” What a rotten fate!
Momiji chuckled, “You make it sound like we wanted to see you badly.”
“Any ice cream left?” Rocort leaned over from behind Samukawa and directly began to pat down the other’s body like an airport security guard.
“What are you doing?!” Samukawa slapped Rocort’s hands away. “There’s none for you!”
Brad yawned, stretched his back, then commented in a bored tone, “Let’s hurry up and get the stamp so we can go. I’m hungry, the food on the plane was terrible.”
Samukawa glared at Fu Xing’s group. With an evil expression, he began to chuckle like a movie antagonist. “Hehehe…you want stamps? It won’t be that easy. The stamp is hidden in the ruins, go find it yourself!”
Everyone groaned in complaint.
Why is Samukawa still such a pain to deal with even after a semester? Actually no, it feels like he’s even more annoying than before…
“Can you give us a hint?” Fu Xing leaned in to sweet-talk, “Master Samukawa, considering the pillow I gave you–r niece last time, can you share a leak?”
Samukawa lashed back, “Speaking of which, I nearly forgot that you owe me! That pillow was obviously a fake!”
“How is that possible?!”
“Rilakkuma is made by SAN-X, not Sanrio! Sanrio produced Latte Bear!” Damn it, I didn’t check until later and was nearly tricked!
“Ahem!” The seller at the night market had told him that! “I don’t know…” There’s so many bears, how am I supposed to know the difference.
“Samukawa, you know quite a lot…” Zhu Yue commented in surprise and excitement. “You like Rilakkuma too?”
“Hmph! As if?!”
“It’s his niece,” Fu Xing hurriedly reconciled. “Then at least that teddy bear is genuine! Don’t be so merciless…”
Momiji raised a brow, seemingly sensing something as she snickered, “Who would’ve thought Samukawa would treat his family so well. I heard that after entering Shalom, you stopped contact with your hometown in Mt. Kurama. I guess the rumours were wrong…”
“I don’t understand anything you guys are saying!” Samukawa turned his head stubbornly. “You’d better go searching. Don’t waste your time and energy.”
They all glared at Samukawa and gave up on wrangling to scatter and search the vast Ruins of Yin.
The completely empty, level ground was the surface level over the graves that hid thousands of sacrificial bodies underneath. They had died in wretched ways and left their corpses behind simply to accompany the bones of a sovereign king.
Fu Xing shuddered as he walked over the king’s tomb.
Such a cruel thing…
Is something only humans would do.
Humans.
The humans that fear special animate beings should be the ones to fear instead.
Wandering about, Fu Xing unconsciously strayed to a corner where the sacrificial ornaments and pottery were on display above the tomb pit.
He cast a simple ward to bypass the barrier and security system and jumped into the hole.
The caved-in crypt was darker than the surface level. There were only faint traces of the moonlight that penetrated through and barely outlined the objects. But in the two years he had been at Shalom, his senses had grown sharper, and this illumination was more than sufficient for him.
The tomb had a neat pile of various funerary objects, exquisite carvings and fine gems, setting off the majestic status of the tomb’s occupant.
Among the items, a palm-sized jade carving drew his attention.
It looked a bit like a lion yet also a four-hooved creature like a deer, sitting upright on a cloud of magic. There was a single sharp horn protruding out from the centre of the head of the solemn and imposing beast.
A wave of familiarity surged through him, along with a slight sense of recognised unease.
My king piece…
Out of nowhere, these formless words echoed through his mind.
Fu Xing glanced left and right, his consciousness trapped in a daze.
The gears of revolution have begun to move—
—Understood.
His subconscious automatically responded to the low voice speaking.
—Then are you willing to become the apparatus to determine what is right and what is wrong, to drive out the twisted and corrupt…
“Fu Xing?”
“Ah?” The sudden call pulled Fu Xing back into reality. He turned his head to see that Zi Ye had at some point also jumped into the pit and was standing by his side. “Haha, I was searching for clues here, but it seems like there’s nothing…”
“Was there anything in particular that caught your attention?”
“Oh, no…” Fu Xing scratched his head as his eyes swept a glance at the funerary items piled on the ground. “Ahem, is that a qilin?”
Zi Ye followed Fu Xing’s line of sight downwards and studied it for a few seconds. “Strictly speaking, it should be.” He used the tip of his foot to write in the sand as he added, “The ancient way of writing ‘law’.”
“Law?”
“A beast of axioms to assist monarchs and differentiate right from wrong.”
“There was really such a thing?”
“Don’t know, too long ago. Maybe it was created by humans based on the qilin.” Zi Ye shrugged and checked his watch. “Mn, it’s getting late, we won’t make it in time for food like this. Let’s go up.” With this, he pulled Fu Xing with him to jump out from the pit.
“But we haven’t found the stamp yet…”
“No need to find.”
Zi Ye directly walked up to Samukawa.
Samukawa raised a brow to shoot a taunting look at Zi Ye. “What, decided to give up? Huhuhu, conceding to your own inability is also a sensible move.”
“Why did you do this?” Zi Ye calmly asked.
“To test your abilities.”
“No, I wasn’t talking about that.” Zi Ye stared intently at Samukawa and sighed, “Why did you make yourself look like this?”
“Like it’s any of your damn business!”
“Not cute at all.”
“Be quiet!”
Zi Ye did not reply, instead reaching a hand out towards Samukawa. The hand stopped around ten centimetres away before swinging sharply downwards. While the palm seemed to simply wave through the air without touching anything. Fu Xing heard a tiny cracking sound when the hand struck.
The next instant, Samukawa’s appearance began to distort like a broken screen, flickering intensely. After a while, the image calmed, and the arrogant shota Samukawa reappeared — a sight that had not been witnessed in a long time.
Samukawa eyed his own body and furiously roared, “Damn it! You used chaotic energy!” His illusory spell had been destroyed by Zi Ye!
The corners of Zi Ye’s lips curved upwards as Samukawa frantically shouted. “That’s much better.”
“You—”
“We’re short on time and need the stamp as quickly as possible.” Zi Ye insipidly stated, “If I don’t remove the chaotic energy, you won’t be able to cast an illusory spell for a very long time.”
Samukawa was dumbstruck as he stared at Zi Ye with gritted teeth. Finally, he announced his defeat.
He muttered an incantations and a dim glow lit up below his feet. Samukawa stepped aside and the Shalom-embossed stamp floated up from the ground.
“Ah! It was hidden there?! That’s too low!” Fu Xing complained.
“Likewise, that makes the two of us,” Samukawa sneered, then unhappily pulled out the signature ledger.
Fu Xing summoned his companions back. Everyone received a stamp in their guidebook and left their signature. They seemed to ignore the reverted shota Samukawa in tacit agreement, instead displaying a fragment of consideration for the professor to preserve the slightest bit of dignity.
Once the procedures were all completed, they prepared to head home when Samukawa hurriedly called out to Zi Ye, “You haven’t removed the chaotic energy!”
Zi Ye turned his head. “That will dissipate in three days.”
“You actually tricked me?!” Samukawa erupted in rage.
“You actually got tricked.” Zi Ye sighed softly and shook his head. “Work a bit harder, Professor Samukawa.”
They had stopped at Anyang for a day and advanced to Japan the next evening to arrive at Haneda Airport at night.
Tokyo during nighttime was even more stunning than it was in the daytime.
Below Saitama, near Tokyo’s metropolis, was the underground drainage system that stretched down 22 stories. The steadfast and straight lines and the towering stone pillars constructed the massive underground space. It was entirely different from the usual damp and dirty impression that typical drainage systems gave — bright and clean, like a simple water palace.
It was past visiting hours, and sneaking into such a deep location was not easy. The security systems were extremely tight, and there were patrols at set posts.
They passed through layer upon layer of defense, crossed over hundreds of stairs, and arrived at the bottom of the palace. The tourist information centre from the daytime was completely dark now. Even the moonlight could not penetrate the subterranean world. There were only a few small incandescent lights barely emitting dim glows.
“What a magnificent sight…”
Momiji chuckled. “We should just quickly sign and get the stamp. Tokyo at night won’t give you time to rest.”
They advanced through the darkness to begin searching.
While vast, the underground shrine was extremely empty. There was nothing in sight. After surveying their surroundings, they immediately discovered a pale yellow light under one of the giant stone pillars in the distance.
They walked to the light source. Before they even spotted the defender, they instantly heard a familiar roar of anger.
“Why is it you guys again?!” A childish voice cursed aloud.
“Samukawa?” Fu Xing stared at the other person in astonishment.
As the illusory spell had not yet been fully restored, Samukawa was wearing a facial mask, hat, and windbreaker. If it were not for the fact that his body was a smaller size, his getup could have gotten him mistaken as a pervert appearing in the corner of the street to peek at any exposed parts of a female’s bottom half.
“Why are you still lingering around…” Brad wrinkled his brow, “Don’t tell me you’re following us?”
“That’s a bit disgusting…”
Taeharu raised a finger as though appraising him. “Chi–kan.”
“Shut up!” Samukawa burst his top. “I was originally the supervisor for East Japan. The reason I went to Anyang was because I was dispatched there last minute!”
“Supervisors don’t need to defend the sign-in points, right?” Zi Ye paused for a second. “Could it be that you really were demoted…”
“It’s your damn fault!” Samukawa forcefully threw his light onto the ground. “Before the illusory spell is restored, I don’t want too many people to see this revolting form!” Since he could pretend to be an alumni as a defender, no one would recognise him.
“It’s very cute.”
“Shut up!”
Originally, retrieving the stamp required passing a test and searching the stamp themselves like in Anyang. But Samukawa seemed to hold lingering fears of Zi Ye’s chaotic energy, so he quite tactfully summoned a familiar to retrieve the stamp from atop one of the massive stone pillars.
A smooth resolution.
They left the gloomy, dark and silent underground and returned to the surface. The various noises from the vibrant bustling street enshrouded everyone. People weaved back and forth through the subway like schools of fish, though it was significantly less crowded than during rush hour.
Momiji stood before the complicated subway map and asked with a grin, “Where do you want to explore?”
“Akihabara!” Zhu Yue and Flora chimed in unplanned unison, with the former’s voice carrying obvious excitement.
“I want to go too.” Fu Xing raised his hand. “I want to buy some limited game spin-offs.”
Momiji smiled wryly, “I don’t go to that area much…”
“Aside from Akihabara, I also want to go to Ikebukuro-Higashiguchi,” Zhu Yue added.
“Ikebukuro-Higashiguchi?” Momiji’s eyes lit up. “Not bad! We can walk around 60th Street, it has quite a few department stores.”
Zhu Yue awkwardly replied, “Um, I wanted to go to Otome Road…”
“I want to go too!” Taeharu lifted her hand.
Momiji replied with a dazzling smile. Despite having no idea what the hell Otome Road was, her instincts told her she could never let Taeharu go. “Taeharu, we should just walk around Harajuku and Omotesando instead.”
“What about everyone else?”
Dan Juan, Emerald, and the others exchanged looks with each other, having no particular opinion.
“Any bookstore is fine.”
“Wherever.”
“Um!” Zhu Yue hurriedly said, “Just tell us how to get there, and Flora and I can go by ourselves.”
“Not together?”
“Ahem, you guys might not have any interest in the things we want to buy…” Zhu Yue chuckled dryly.
Dan Juan nodded and added, “Mn, indeed. The things we want to buy might not be of any interest to you guys either. In that case, let’s just go separate ways and do whatever we want.”
Momiji nodded. “The hotel is close to Ikebukuro Station, so we can just meet up there later.”
Brad shot Dan Juan a glare, clearly very dissatisfied with this suggestion. However, he did not know how to tactfully ask them to stay, so he could only watch Zhu Yue and Flora leave.
The girls headed off together, leaving the rest of them standing there and simply staring at each other.
Fu Xing awkwardly asked “Um, so…where do you all want to go?”
“No opinion.”
“I want to eat!”
“I just need to stop at a drugstore.”
“Then should we just go down the route I want to go?” Fu Xing asked.
“You know the way?”
“I’ve come here a few times and looked up information after. I’ve done some homework.” Fu Xing smugly flashed his marked up tourist booklet. “Sorry, looks like the only reliable person left is me. Everyone stay close!”
“Do you know Japanese?” Dan Juan bluntly stabbed his weak point.
“A tiny bit…” Fu Xing replied with little confidence, but he argued back, “I often watch Japanese media, so I know a bit.”
“If the Japanese media you’re referring to are the clips in ‘Extracurricular Extended Learning’ on your D-drive, I can definitely tell you that anyone that knows basica hiragana can understand it all,” Emerald coldly roasted.
“Hey! You snuck through my computer?!”
“You’re the one that has the settings to display recently viewed folders; it showed itself the last time I borrowed your computer and saved files.”
Fu Xing muttered to himself in irritation.
“Alright, can we start moving?” Brad impatiently pushed. He had already gotten tired of the gazes from the passerbys. Despite using a partial ward that could weaken their presence, it was difficult to not attract attention when a group of eye-catching people gathered together like this for a long enough period.
As the half-assed guide, Fu Xing led them to Akihabara, the holy land for otakus.
They followed the guide into an alley to arrive at a shop of dreams that only “insiders” knew of. When the wooden door was pushed open, the chime rang and a cute, childlike voice greeted them.
“Welcome back, Master!”
“What the hell…” Brad’s eyes widened at the inside of the shop where maids wearing gorgeous pink uniforms were walking around to greet customers. “What kind of shop is this?!”
“A maid cafe, of course.” Fu Xing went ahead to sit near the window, then flipped open the menu covered in lace and flowers. “Rocort wanted to eat something, so I figured we’d come inside and rest a bit.” While seamlessly dragging you all down with me.
“Isn’t there a more…plain and simple shop…” Dan Juan’s brows furrowed as he surveyed the girls of dreams in pink uniforms. He felt like there was some kind of sweet scent in the air as well.
“This place is pretty nice.” Fu Xing turned his head to glance at a maid passing by, his eyes forming downward crescents.
His companions helplessly shook their heads.
“Love Magic Bubble Violet—is that how it’s read? Is drinking this okay? And one glass is 800 yen?” Emerald’s eyes widened as he secretly leaned towards Fu Xing. “Don’t tell me this is an illegal shop, you little…” Like after ordering some drinks, they’ll invite customers into a secret room to drink it in a special way.
“As if! This is a properly run, simple shop, alright!” Fu Xing indignantly retorted, then ordered something called Ruby Moonlight and Magic Energy Omurice.
Zi Ye and Rocort both ordered the same thing: Spring Green something. The others all stared at the menu like it was a grimoire and politely declined.
Ten minutes later, Rocort, Zi Ye, and Fu Xing calmly ate their massive sundae filled with cream and crushed chocolate. The others’ complexions turned a shade of green that was identical to the mint ice cream inside the cup.
As soon as they left the maid cafe, Dan Juan left first to drop by Jimbocho Book Town. Fu Xing led the others to stroll through a special store for figures, anime and manga merchandise, and video games. The crowded storefront and the unfamiliar humanoid figures on display attacked their vision and shocked them to the core.
“Such a small model costs 13000 yen?!” Emerald’s eyes were locked onto the price on the display rack in great astonishment. “Otakus are really too formidable…”
Looks like someone’s found a new business opportunity.
In agreement for once, Brad and Leon thought the inside of the shop was too narrow and stood together outside the shop. In their boredom, they surveyed the figures displayed in the glass window.
Exquisite, with beautiful colours. Clearly plastic, yet lifelike, as though the specific moment’s action had been frozen in time.
Brad’s eyes casually swept around, only to be drawn by a specific figure.
It was a figure of a mermaid with long pink hair, its lovely face pitifully gazing upwards. It reminded him of Zhu Yue’s partial jiaoren transformation…though the tail shape wasn’t the same, it was similarly half human, half scales.
If Zhu Yue wore those clothes…
The corners of his mouth that had been turned down in annoyance since entering Akihabara unconsciously curved up.
Doesn’t seem bad at all.
The darkblood standing next to him coldly snorted, then turned his head. But when his gaze shifted past the glass display, something caught the corner of his eye, and he focused on one of the figures.
It was of a beautiful young girl with her hair tied up in pigtails. She wore a dark blue uniform and carried an electric guitar in one hand, her face plastered with a sweet smile.
In the past, Lia had often used this hairstyle. In the summer, she’d roam about the manor in a white dress.
However, Lia was proficient in the violin, not the guitar.
If Lia played the electric guitar…
The image gradually took form in his mind.
The frozen corners of his lips curled up without him knowing.
The darkblood and beastman stood together at the end of the street in Akihabara, smiling foolishly at the display of a certain shop.
When Fu Xing and the others walked out and saw this bizarre scene, they momentarily thought they had fallen under an illusory spell.
After wandering for over an hour, Leon and Brad returned to the train station first to wait for everyone to gather. Zi Ye and Rocort followed Fu Xing and Emerald to continue exploring while buying some things off a list.
At a bit past 10 PM, many shops had turned off their lights and pulled down the shed doors. The groups returned from their rewarding journeys and arrived at the meeting point.
Fu Xing’s party got there first, followed by Momiji, her hands full of paper bags with brand names on them. Finally, Zhu Yue and Flora slowly arrived with various sized bags and two paper rolls slung on their backs.
Momiji clicked her tongue in astonishment, “Looks like you guys got quite a lot.”
“Mhm! We were lucky to spot things we liked.” Zhu Yue’s forehead had beads of sweat, but there was a genuine grin on her face, like a farmer that had just completed an abundant harvest at the end of the season.
“What did you buy?” Emerald was curious. “Can I take a look?”
“Er!” Zhu Yue gave a forced chuckle. “Nothing much…”
Flora indifferently commented, “Just some small personal interests.”
Brad couldn’t help but frown when he saw the giant heavy bags hanging off Zhu Yue’s delicate, slim wrists. “Are you alright?” He reached out to take the load from her.
“Ahem! I’m good!” Zhu Yue instinctively hid the paper bags behind her. But the movement was too sudden, causing the bulging paper bag to split.
Whoosh! The printed products inside the bag spilled out like a waterfall.
Books with portraits of half-dressed pretty boys covered the ground. The aesthetic covers with manhua art style depicting exceptionally handsome boys and men in provocative poses, and the paper sashes around the books with a bunch of incomprehensible terms in kanji simultaneously entered everyone’s field of vision.
It was dead silent for a moment, aside from the rumble of cars.
No one knew how to break the awkward silence in the strange atmosphere.
Rocort looked at everyone, oblivious to the situation. He very naturally bent over to pick up the book and patted the dust off the cover. “What’s honey training? Sounds sweet and yummy.”
“Trust me you don’t want to eat it.” Flora grabbed the book, then crouched down to help pick up the rest. “As for whether it’s sweet or not, you can try it yourself…”
“Flora…” Fu Xing weakly protested as he could only watch Brad and Zhu Yue with faint unease and awkwardness.
What now? What will Brad do? What will Zhu Yue do?
Zhu Yue was frozen in place with a look of strong embarrassment. Her mouth opened and closed as though wanting to say something but not knowing what to say, and she ultimately only released a long sigh before bending down to pick up the books as well.
Everyone else wasn’t paying much attention to the things on the ground, as their eyes all gathered on Brad.
What will you do, Brad…?
Brad’s expression was somewhat complicated at first. But a few seconds later, it morphed into a resolute calmness as he suddenly accepted everything.
He bent down and reached out to take the heavy books from Zhu Yue’s hands, carrying out his original intention.
“B-Brad?” Zhu Yue stared at her companion doubtfully, her gaze somewhat hopeful yet uneasy.
“It’s fine.” Brad sincerely met Zhu Yue’s gaze and firmly declared, “I accept every part of you. I like you in your entirety.”
In response to these heartfelt words, Zhu Yue emotionally stared back at him. “Brad…”
“Heh,” Rocort jabbed Fu Xing with his elbow and whispered, “Is this a confession?”
Fu Xing shushed him then continued watching the touching moment.
“Thank you…” Zhu Yue opened her mouth, her words choked with tears of joy. “Thank you…Brad, you really are kindhearted….I’m so happy…”
Fu Xing couldn’t keep his fists from curling as he inwardly cheered.
Congrats, Brad! After two years of hard work, it’s finally come to fruition—
Zhu Yue gently brushed away her tears of gratitude as she reached out to cover Brad’s palm. “…So happy to have a friend like you!”
Instantly, the comedy turned into a tragedy.
Brad stiffened for a few seconds. Then, like a gentleman carrying a heavily shattered heart, he smiled and replied, “The honour is mine…”
Seems like Brad still has a long way to getting his feelings through.
“Kaede, are you Kaede?”
While everyone was feeling terrible pity and admiration as they watched and mourned for Brad, the hero of the tragedy, a stranger abruptly entered as a third party, drawing their attention.
The person was a white-haired old man in his sixties, his face filled with astonished happiness as he stared at Momiji.
Momiji looked at him. While a trace of bewilderment flashed through her face, she did not seem unaccustomed to such a scene.
“May I ask who you are?” She had vaguely recognised the other person through their aged wrinkles, but she feigned ignorance as she smiled and asked, “You are mistaken, Kaede is my grandmother.”
“Haha, is that so…that’s true, Kaede should already be over sixty years old…” The old man peered at Momiji in frustrated disappointment. “Pardon me for my rudeness…you two are too alike…”
“People often say that.” Momiji smiled thinly. “They said I look very similar to my late Grandma Kaede.”
“She passed away?”
“Mm, a while ago.”
“I see, it is what it is. I’m truly sorry…” The old man bitterly smiled, “Always the same, always disappearing without a word…that headstrong little princess…” As he spoke, he turned around, crestfallen as he reflected on that youthful dream which had already died. With a hunched back, he left and merged into the rest of the night streetscape.
“That person was?” Emerald curiously asked.
“Oh, my past boyfriend. Coincidentally, it’s the one I told you guys about last time, the archaeology PhD student from Tokyo University.”
Fu Xing did not understand. “You said it was a few years ago…” Don’t tell me Momiji was dating someone that looked like a grandfather to her? Isn’t that too wide of a playing field?
Momiji smiled as she explained like she was chatting about a trivial matter, “It was sometime in the 1980s. Kaede was one of my pseudonyms, which made things easier to handle. Otherwise, I’d run into situations like today. If the other person probed or investigated further, it would be troublesome.”
She stared in the direction the old man had left and helplessly muttered, “Humans die so easily, and it’s something that gets forgotten when dating them. We clearly look the same, but we’re entirely different. Truly a struggle…”
Special animate beings could live for a very long time—almost infinite. Their lifespans were limitless, their abilities were limitless. But it was because there were no restrictions that they did not know the value or meaning of living. They did not understand why it needed to be cherished, and were incapable of cherishing it.
Special animate beings had never created their own civilization. Since the beginning of their existence, they had always resided among human society, appending themselves to human history.
Yet it was because humans had restrictions, with limited abilities and limited lifespans, that they had manifested a boundless future from their finiteness, displaying the radiance of life.
So, rather than being tiny, dim starlight that remains in the evening sky throughout time, wouldn’t it be better to be a rapid burst of fireworks in the summer night and leave behind that instant of brilliant splendour?
As Fu Xing stared at Momiji, he felt like there was a faint sorrow in the air, an indescribable powerlessness.
He did not like this feeling.
What am I dissatisfied with?
Why am I envious of the humans that are like mayflies? I’ve fallen too low…
If this is how it continues, disappearing would be better.
The words that rang through his subconscious mind were startling to Fu Xing himself. He glanced left and right, spotting Zi Ye walking with his head tilted back to gaze at the moon.
“What’s the matter?”
“A solar eclipse…”
“Now?” Fu Xing lifted his head up towards the dark night sky. “Isn’t it evening now?”
“It’s in Europe. Most obvious in Central Europe.” Zi Ye lowered his head to look at Fu Xing. “Solar eclipses cause the law to fall into disorder and resonate with chaotic energy. It’s a bit unbearable…”
Despite being quite distant from the solar eclipse, he could still feel the energy inside his body stirring restlessly.
Fu Xing glanced back at the sky. “Is that so.” Why don’t I sense anything?
Central Europe, huh…Then it should be visible at Shalom? I wonder if Sis will be alright…
While it was 7 PM in East Asia, it was currently 5 PM in Central Europe. The sun was setting in the west into dusk.
Darkness appeared at the edges of the sunlight, then swallowed the ball of light bit by bit.
It was neither day nor night, a moment of equivocal chaos.
During summer vacation, the campus was surrounded by quietness, excessively tranquil as though time had frozen.
Then the moment the sunlight began to weaken, the ward shifted. Faint, invisible ripples spread through the air.
In the western park area, under the shade of a luscious, white birch tree, a black-haired youth sat with his eyes closed, back resting against the trunk while seemingly in deep sleep.
The instant the darkness completely swallowed the sun, the youth’s eyes opened, a faint golden light swirling in his dark brown pupils.
He stood and stretched his waist. Then in a single bound, he jumped up and soared through the air in a perfect parabola before landing in the middle of the roof of the campus’s main bailey. With a snap of his fingers, a rainbow light flashed as an elf crystal emitting a dim pearly luster materialised in midair. Halos of light slowly rippled outwards, ring after ring. These continued to spread and expand, causing the sky-reaching ward to fluctuate.
After a while, silvery blue ward runes appeared in the sky. The blue runes gradually turned into the same rainbow colour as the glowing elf crystal.
Assimilation complete.
The youth grinned. He stepped onto invisible stairs and pushed open the ward’s net to pass through to the outside.
It was time for the off-campus instruction.
Fu Xing, I’m coming.
Upon returning to the hotel, Fu Xing organised his different-sized spoils of war. The items he’d purchased for his own collection and the items his family had requested for him to buy were all laid out on the tatami mat.
Brad, who was waiting to use the bathroom, approached out of boredom. “Your interests are really unique.” He inspected the boxes of games, the bags of anime spin-off merchandise, and some other scattered goods. It was quite a dazzling sight. “Did you buy so much that you can’t bring it back? Need to weed some out?”
“As if! I’m splitting them up to send back to Taiwan separately!” Fu Xing astutely declared, “That way I can save luggage space.”
“You’re quite proficient at these kinds of bizarre matters.” Brad clicked his tongue in wonder as an object with a beautiful sheen caught the corner of his eye. “What’s that?”
He picked up a small see-through pouch and brought it up to eye-level. It was filled with small, different-coloured beads.
“That’s what Lin Lin – my mom – asked me to buy for bead crafts.” Lin Lin loved handicrafts, but some materials and instruction manuals weren’t available in Taiwan, so she had requested for Fu Xing to buy some during the school trip. “I sometimes make some in my spare time too. It’s a bit hard, but the finished product is really lovely.”
Brad flipped through the plastic bag, his attention sucked in by the beads. The rainbow beads reflected light into his eyes like small, glittering stars.
“Brad?” Fu Xing called out hesitantly. He was extremely worried Brad would shout “Sissy” and then smash the beads into pieces. “Um, if it’s bothering you, I can put them away immediately.”
Brad casually picked up the instruction manual that had been pressed underneath the bag of beads and flipped through it. The book’s multi-coloured prints of dazzling beadworks immediately appeared.
“Ho, the colours don’t look bad.” Dan Juan stuck his head in to look as well. “If you follow these steps, it’ll become like those images?”
“Yeah.” Seeing that his companions were interested, Fu Xing quickly promoted the item to justify the motive for his purchases. “Want to try playing with them? I bought some extra. But if you fail, you’ll have to clean up the materials so you don’t waste them.”
“Fail?” Dan Juan, who never conceded to anything, immediately grabbed the beads. “It’s impossible to fail such a minor task.”
He surfed through the instruction manual and directly went straight to the page with the most complicated and luxurious bead crown. Then he began to follow the broken-down steps and instructions. But ten minutes later, it all mixed into a small mound of beads, a lump tangled together with the thread that mercilessly declared an embarrassing conclusion.
“Yep, failed.” Brad chuckled, “And to think that you’re a spider. You don’t even have the skill of an insect.”
“Spiders aren’t insects!” Dan Juan shot back.
“Oh, fine then. In any case, you really suck.”
“Why don’t you try it then?!” Dan Juan slapped his leg and gritted out, “You can only criticize others if you have the skills yourself!”
Brad indifferently shrugged in response to Dan Juan’s challenge. He picked up the beads and a new thread, studied the instructions on the page for a while, then began.
“Careful, don’t burst the beads in a fit of anger and shame.” Dan Juan watched on the sidelines in anticipation with a smirk.
But ten minutes later, Dan Juan’s grin stiffened as though he had eaten an entire pack of beads and on the verge of vomiting it back up.
“You…you…” That’s impossible! Completely illogical!
Fu Xing stared at Brad in disbelief. “Are you really Brad?” That same Brad that can instantly snap someone’s spine can do bead crafts?
“It’s pretty simple, isn’t it.” Brad played with the bead crown in his hand as he shot a look at Dan Juan. “Am I qualified to criticize you now, flabby-limbed spider?”
Dan Juan gritted his teeth, unable to respond in angry humiliation.
“Oh my! It’s so pretty!” A cry of admiration rang from the paper door behind them. “A headpiece like that is very expensive in Harajuku!”
The girls next door had at some point gathered at the doorway, with astonished yet longing looks pointed at the crown in Brad’s hand.
Brad was stunned. “When did you all get here?”
“About five minutes ago. Fu Xing called and said he had something fun for us to come and see,” Flora calmly answered. She did not appear to be very interested in the crown, but her complicated expression of appreciation and pity was focused on Brad.
Brad turned to shoot Fu Xing a glare. The latter hurriedly darted to hide behind Zhu Yue.
“Too amazing!” Zhu Yue sat next to Brad as she marveled at the gorgeous, glittering, rainbow crown, then reverently exclaimed, “It’s so pretty! Even a crown of pearls made by jiaoren would not necessarily be as beautiful. Brad, you’re truly amazing!”
This was the first time Zhu Yue had sat so close to him. A faint aroma from having just showered wafted over, leaving a hard strike to Brad’s heart.
“…This is no big deal…”
“May I take a look?”
“…Of course.” Brad passed the crown over to Zhu Yue and used the chance to secretly retreat a bit to the side.
He wanted to get closer, yet backed off when they were close. It felt like if they were too close, the tiny happiness would vanish. In that case, it was better to maintain a slight distance from the beginning to secretly admire, secretly enjoy from a safe place.
The emotions of someone in love are so complicated and contradictory.
Fu Xing sniggered to himself. Scaredy cat…
Zhu Yue marveled at the crown in her hands, singing unending praises.
“If you like it…take it.”
“Really?”
Brad nodded.
Beyond overjoyed, Zhu Yue subconsciously reached out to wrap Brad in an embrace. “Thank you!”
Fu Xing and the rest gasped from the sidelines, waiting in trepidation as they observed Brad’s response.
Would the sudden stimulation trigger the purehearted werewolf to burst out in violence?
Brad’s expression was quite calm—no, it was unnatural. An almost unnatural blankness similar to the acceptance of rebirth after a calamity, or the contentment of a Daoist about to die.
Brad stood and stumbled a bit – perhaps due to numbed legs or other reasons – but immediately restabilised himself.
“Mn, you guys can continue taking your time chatting. I’m going to shower.” Then he went ahead and loftily walked out of the room.
“Wow, good job.” Momiji chuckled and elbowed Zhu Yue, “That was a pretty good move. The little wolf pup was so excited he went running to the bathroom.”
Fu Xing grimaced. “Momiji, watch your wording…” Please don’t make it so vulgar.
“Exactly.” The oblivious offender innocently held the crown as she automatically blurted out, “Brad should be going with Emerald.”
Fu Xing was at a loss for words. “Zhu Yue….”
Zhu Yue returned to her senses and forced a smile. “Ahem, did I say something just now?”
“…You didn’t say anything.”
Brad, take care.
About half an hour later, Brad returned to the room, where everyone was playing around once more.
In contrast to her teammates that were laughing and fooling around, Flora wore an indifferent expression as she quietly sat by the doorway, seemingly deep in thought.
Suddenly, a hand patted her shoulder.
She turned her head to see that Zi Ye was now standing next to her.
“Don’t worry.” Zi Ye chewed on the meat skewer he had bought from a local shop downstairs as he said, “If it makes you feel bad, then don’t look.”
“I’m ashamed that my thoughts were seen through…” Flora smiled self-deprecatingly. “But I don’t feel bad. I just think…” She watched the flushed Brad stammer and grinned. “It’s very cute, isn’t it?”
ZI Ye peered at Flora for a while. Then he bit off half the meat skewer and gave the last meatball to Flora.
“In terms of cuteness, you’re not lacking either.” Then he turned and left.
Flora raised a brow, puzzled as she stared at Zi Ye’s back, then at the bamboo skewer in her hand.
What in the…so strange…
Those involved were blinded by the truth. Every person was in a different situation, and never able to clearly recognise their own circumstances.
The hidden emotions hidden in seclusion secretly began to stir beyond anyone’s detection.
The next day, the group that had played around the entire night slept at the hotel until noon. It was very cloudy outside, with thunderstorms starting in the afternoon. The black clouds covered the sky, dimming the sunlight.
The extremely rotten weather was suited for darkbloods to move about. Taking advantage of the rain, the team headed to the ancient capital, Kyoto, to find another stamp.
East. Residence of the astrologer who indentured demons. Where the child of chaos lays in eternal rest.
There was a pentagram next to the clue.
Child of chaos?
Sensitive to that keyword, Fu Xing’s heart clenched.
Near Kyoto’s Togetsukyo Bridge was the tomb of the great onmyouji, Abe no Seimei. They broke through a fox spirit’s ward and found the stamp in a stone lantern by the tomb, which they used to mark their booklets.
“Abe no Seimei was a hybrid type?!” Fu Xing was quite astonished that such a famous historical figure was related to special animate beings as well.
“Legends say that Abe no Seimei’s mother was a fox spirit. Master Seimi inherited her powers and was an extremely powerful irregularity-type hybrid.” Momiji looked at the tombstone enshrouded by midsummer shade. “It’s true.”
Fu Xing’s eyes drifted over to Zi Ye. “But…don’t hybrids…usually all…” Have terrible circumstances?
“Because Abe no Seimei’s mother, Kuzunoha, possessed powerful abilities, no one dared to complain. Besides, Master Seimei was intelligent and innately talented. He had very good control over his special animate being abilities as well as spells used by humans to control souls and indenture demons. He was well-respected,” Zi Ye calmly explained.
“Oh, that sounds pretty nice!” Fu Xing optimistically patted Zi Ye. “Looks like everyone can still interact harmoniously with hybrids after all!”
“Strictly speaking, it’s a type of behaviour resulting from fear.” Reverence was ultimately fearfulness. “There are only two responses that special animate beings have towards hybrids. If not contempt, then it’s fear.”
“Is that so…”
Then, as a good-for-nothing, if my identity is exposed, I’d eventually be excluded and bullied…
Then it would be the exact same as when he had lived in human society.
I don’t want that. No matter what.
~Taffy Translations~ 
Thanks for the translations😍😍😍
So much foreshadowing in this chapter.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fu Xinnggggg ;0;;
LikeLike