The atmosphere instantly became stagnant; the heat of the congee lingered in the air, and Lan Xu kept staring at him; it was silent for a few seconds.
Then Lan Xu suddenly smiled again, showing his white teeth, “I’m just teasing you.”
He reached out and fiddled with the red bouquet of flowers placed in front of the table; the silver bell on his wrist emitted a pleasant “tinkling” sound.
Chu Chen’an came back to his senses; letting out a small, dry, nervous laugh. He looked at Lan Xu’s seductive smile and was in a trance for a while.
That perfect face reminded him of the crimson flower that Lan Huai planted in the backyard, it was like a poisonous poison, and even the familiar yet unfamiliar fragrance lingered in the air.
Chu Chen’an froze, his mind buzzing; all kinds of mixed fragments of images quickly swept through his mind. He opened his soulful eyes, his pupils slightly trembling.
“What’s wrong, Chen’an?” Lan Xu asked with concern, “I see you’re not in good spirits.”
Chu Chen’an’s red lips were slightly open, but he only froze for a few seconds before returning to his senses. The unknown trance and powerlessness tugged at him, leaving him at a loss.
He had a moment of dizziness just now, probably because the dr-ug he had been hit with hadn’t fully healed yet.
He lightly shook his head, “It’s fine.”
Chu Chen’an lowered his head and focused on his thoughts, his mind going through many things.
He had never seen Lan Xu before in the first copy.
After the meal, Lan Xu brought a bowl of clear soup. “Chen’an, this is the soup for clearing heat and removing toxins. I see that you are still not well. Drink the medicine for two more days.”
“Okay.” Chu Chen’an nodded.
The soup had the aroma of some kind of cool herb; it wouldn’t be hard to drink.
He didn’t think too much and directly held the bowl and drank the soup obediently.
……
He used the excuse of sketching to sneak back to the alley where he met the woman in the red dress yesterday. The morning in the fortress was humid as hell, and a few clouds on the side of the hill were still bubbling with a light grey colour.
The air here was fresh and pleasant, sometimes accompanied by the sound of twittering birds. Apart from the gloomy alleys, this could be considered a rare paradise outside the world.
With his drawing board, he carefully passed by the door of a few houses, and strangely enough, it was now after seven in the morning, and the door of every house here was open, but he couldn’t hear the slightest movement of people.
The silence around was creepy.
Where had everyone gone?
Chu Chen’an ran a few laps around the area. The woman in the red dress had sneaked out of the vicinity, so her home might also be nearby.
He searched from house to house and finally stopped in front of a remote and quiet single bamboo building.
Because when Chu Chen’an tilted his head to look, a red-skirted figure appeared in front of the second-floor balcony of the bamboo building.
The red-skirted woman’s hands were in front of the bamboo railing, her eyes complex, fear mixed with excitement and desire.
She took the lead and approached the balcony, half of her body poking out as she looked around, alertly saying to Chu Chen’an, “You, was what you said yesterday true! You’ll help me escape?”
“Hm?” Chu Chen’an thought back and nodded as he replied, “It’s true.”
Many of the people in Old Liang’s group had been injured on the way to discover the secret realm a few days ago, and He Xuesheng said that they were planning to recover for a day or two before hitting the road and returning home to treat and slowly recuperate from their injuries.
At that time, he could take the opportunity to bring this red-dressed woman away from here as well, so that she could regain her freedom.
As for his own ability to follow the team back, it was still unknown.
“Then why are you helping me?” The red-skirted woman asked nervously.
Chu Chen’an couldn’t say that it was because the mission required it; he thought about it, tilted his head, and said, “No reason, I just want to help you.”
This woman should have been nabbed or tricked in, and she looked young.
In addition to the needs of the mission, Chu Chen’an was also happy to do this favour in passing.
The red-skirted woman stood in place, her face tangled in fear, and after hesitating for a few seconds, she pursed her lips before shouting, “He was injured today and fainted; you can come in directly from the back door.”
Chu Chen’an glanced at the chains on the red-skirted woman’s ankles and nodded.
He followed the red-skirted woman’s instructions and pushed open the back door of her house, and the moment before he entered, he cautiously looked around to the back before softly closing the door.
Perhaps it was because he had been too nervous these past few days; he always felt that someone was following him for no reason.
Chu Chen’an walked inside; the building was quite spacious; each floor had four or five rooms. When he walked towards the steps, he was startled by Wu Yao lying on his back at the bottom of the steps.
Wu Yao was lying there motionless, injured and bruised; one eye was smashed so hard that he couldn’t open it, and quite a lot of bl-ood had congealed next to his cheek, and he was gasping for air roughly, looking very hurt.
How was he hurt to this point?
Chu Chen’an couldn’t help but recall that bloo-dy scent on Lan Xu’s body last night; it couldn’t be that Lan Xu did it, right?
When Chu Chen’an approached, Wu Yao slightly squinted open his other eye, his hand weakly and angrily raised, but he didn’t even have the strength to hold up his body; he whimpered silently and soon hung his hand down feebly and fainted again.
Chu Chen’an confirmed that he fainted before he dared to go around and quickly ran up to the second floor.
Several rooms on the second floor were closed tightly, emitting a rotten stench. Chu Chen’an pushed open a door on the left side and suddenly froze in shock.
Inside… there were several dry corpses hanging; the abdomens of these corpses were cracked open, and in the transparent glass cover of the horizontal refrigerator, three or four bright red organs were placed, and ice was piled up around them.
Chu Chen’an hurriedly looked away.
The red-skirted woman was in the innermost room, which had a number of whips and awl blades of various colours hanging on the walls.
Chu Chen’an paused, and vicious chills surrounded his heart.
The red-skirted woman’s face was haggard; her eyes were wide open, staring only at Chu Chen’an; the prayers and hopes in the bottom of her eyes were magnified.
After a few minutes of silence in the room, Chu Chen’an gathered the courage to take a few steps closer and timidly opened his mouth and said, “My name is Chu Chen’an; what about you? How… were you locked in?”
The red-skirted woman looked straight at the youth in front of her; his figure was slim, he had a fair face that was excessively good-looking, and those eyes were bright and brimming. She couldn’t help but freeze for a few seconds.
Then she spoke, “My name is Zhang Fengting; I travelled here and was quite unlucky to be looked upon by Wu Yao. I was locked up with a compulsion, and he insisted that I be his wife and give him children. I’ve been locked up for four or five years.”
She spoke succinctly, tugging at the iron collar around her neck. The collar’s opening was pressed against her neck; it looked heavy and abrasive, and the skin around it had already been strangled with bruises and purple marks.
Zhang Fengting’s voice was neutral on the hoarse side, perhaps because her throat was uncomfortable.
Chu Chen’an glanced at the heavy lock on her neck and felt suffocated.
Although Lan Huai had more or less locked him up before, it wouldn’t be more than half a month at most, and it would only be a silver chain padded with cotton for his ankles. All he had to do was pout and act pitiful, and Lan Huai would be so heartbroken that he would release him and coax him.
The behind-the-scenes NPCs had never harmed him, not even the cranky and perv-erted big crazy Qin Jue.
Qin Jue was the NPC behind the next copy, the same big per-vert who sawed off the protagonist player in a fit of rage; he shivered just thinking about it.
Chu Chen’an found an awl on the wall. “I’ll try to see if I can pick the lock on you.”
Zhang Fengting’s eyes were covered in gloom. “He put a compulsion on me; as long as I leave the fortress, I will die.”
Chu Chen’an gripped the awl in his hand tightly; this little task might not be simple: “Is there an antidote then?”
Zhang Fengting shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Chu Chen’an looked at Zhang Fengting and realised that she was about the same height as him, and on closer inspection, he found that Zhang Fengting’s shoulder bone structure was a bit wider than a woman’s, and her jawline was wide and distinct.
Suddenly, Zhang Fengting said, “I used to be a man.”
Chu Chenan was a bit shocked; she said “used to be” a man.
Then now…
Zhang Fengting met his shocked gaze and said casually, “Yes, it’s what you think; I’m what you call a transvestite; in order to look like a woman, I took medicine for six years. Wu Yao used to think that I was female too; he put me under a compulsion in order to make me give him children. Then he found out that I was male and was so angry that he whipped me with a whip every day, stabbed me with an awl, then gave me medicine.”
Chu Chen’an had previously thought that Zhang Fengting hadn’t suffered any injuries, but it turned out that the injuries were not even visible.
“When he was at his craziest, he took a razor blade and cut open my stomach to see if there was a uterus in my stomach or not.” Zhang Fengting lowered his eyes and spoke disdainfully, “Later on, he hadn’t given up yet and ki-lled a few women who travelled here and dug out their uterus, intending to stuff the most suitable one into my stomach. Later, if he stuffed it and I couldn’t conceive, he ploughed open my stomach again, scraped out the piece of rotten meat, and then stuffed it in with a new one. I’ve been stuffed by him more than a dozen times over the years.”
Chu Chen’an listened with fear; he clenched his fingers and asked in a small voice, “Then why didn’t he let you go after he found out that you couldn’t have a baby?”
“Because he likes me.” Zhang Fengting smiled to himself, “He kept stuffing the uterus in my stomach while saying he loved me.”
Chu Chen’an didn’t know how to comfort him and could only stammer, “I will help you.”
[Ding!]
[Temporary Small Task Completion: 50%]
Suddenly, there were a few rattles from outside the door.
Chu Chen’an frowned; he stood up and turned back, only to see that Wu Yao had woken up. He held onto the stairs and shouted hoarsely at Chu Chen’an, “Get… out of my house!”
Wu Yao had completely lost his mind and fiercely attacked Chu Chen’an; he took a few steps into the room door holding a sharp steel knife in his hand.
Chu Chen’an took a long cone on the wall and took a few steps back.
Wu Yao already didn’t care; he ferociously attacked Chu Chen’an. The iron cone wasn’t as sharp as the steel knife, and Chu Chen’an didn’t find the opportunity to attack and staggered back two steps.
Just as the steel blade came at him again, a big palm held his waist, and the steel blade in Wu Yao’s hand cut towards his own stomach.
With a “pfft” sound, Wu Yao spat out a few mouthfuls of blo-od and directly fainted, a puddle of bloo-d quickly forming.
Chu Chen’an tilted his head to see that it was Lan Huai.
The moment he saw Lan Huai’s face, he suddenly forgot his fear and stared at him in a daze.
He didn’t know where Lan Huai went when he wasn’t present. Chu Chen’an felt that Lan Huai had rushed over from somewhere; if he was here from the start, Wu Yao might not even have the chance to raise his sword. He couldn’t tell if this feeling was only instinctive reliance or intuition.
Or he had long been used to being protected by Lan Huai and the others.
Lan Huai wrapped his arms around him and leaned down to kiss his lips. “Don’t be afraid.”
Chu Chen’an lowered his eyes, his heart beating faster.
He was kissed a few more times by Lan Huai; he didn’t even avoid kissing his eyelids.
This feeling was extraordinarily familiar; they were like the same person, saying the same words and loving him with the same paranoia.
Zhang Fengting couldn’t see Lan Huai, and when he saw Wu Yao being hacked to death, he couldn’t hold back his relieved laughter.
Chu Chen’an bent down and raised his steel blade and was about to cut the lock on Zhang Fengting, but Lan Huai snatched it away.
“Dangerous.” Lan Huai wrapped his arm around his waist and threw the knife back to the ground.
Then, the heavy chains on Zhang Fengting’s body automatically snapped.
Zhang Fengting tried to take a few steps, and looking at Wu Yao’s half-dead-like dead appearance, he indignantly went up and raised the knife, stabbing at Wu Yao’s stomach like a madman.
Blood splattered on his face and the hem of his red dress, dyeing it more and more vividly.
“Is it fun to stab your stomach? Is it fun? Is it fun? Crazy! Crazy!!!”
Zhang Fengting hissed, his eyes turning scarlet and spilling a few tears.
Wu Yao spat out a few mouthfuls of bloo-d and looked to have died.
Chu Chen’an was wrapped into Lan Huai’s arms, and one of Lan Huai’s hands was still firmly resting on the back of his head, preventing him from looking.
Zhang Fengting didn’t pay attention to Chu Chen’an as he slowly calmed down, let go of the handle of the steel knife, and sat on the ground, choking.
“Thank you…” Zhang Fengting regained his senses; he said with tears in his eyes, “Don’t you know a shaman, can… you help me ask for a way to solve the compulsion poison?”
His tone carried a prayer, and the hot tears in his eyes signalled the pain and humiliation he had accumulated over the years.
Chu Chen’an didn’t look at the Shaman beside him who was hugging and kissing him and nodded his head at Zhang Fengting, “Yes, don’t worry, I’ll ask right now.”
“Thank you, really thank… you.” Zhang Fengting was almost on the verge of kneeling down and kowtowing to him, his eyes full of gratitude and desire to leave.
Zhang Fengting was poisoned by Wu Yao yesterday and couldn’t get out of here, so he had to say goodbye to Zhang Fengting and seize the time to find a solution to the compulsion.
The system prompted him: [Quest time limit left: 12 hours.]
When Chu Chen’an walked to the corridor, he pulled Lan Huai’s sleeve and asked, “Do you… you know the way to solve the compulsion poison?”
“Uh-huh.” Lan Huai directly intercepted him and wrapped his arms around him as he walked down the hall. “You have to bind the hair of the inflicter and the recipient together, put them in the furnace in the Witch god Temple, and burn them, and then burn three incense sticks for the Witch god statue.”
“Is that enough?” Chu Chen’an asked.
Lan Huai looked at him and said, “Yes, are you going to help him, baby?”
Chu Chen’an nodded and found a reason: “I see that he’s pitiful so I want to help him.”
Lan Huai looked at him solemnly but didn’t argue, “Then our An An is really kind.”
Chu Chen’an’s scalp went numb from his look, his hand weakly held onto his shoulder.
Lan Huai shifted his direction and handed Chu Chen’an a small dagger, standing in the doorway for him to fetch the hair of Zhang Fengting and Wu Yao both.
“Be careful; don’t hurt your hands.” Lan Huai instructed.
Chu Chen’an nodded obediently; he was like a child in Lan Huai’s eyes, he thought of everything for him.
After taking the hair, Lan Huai picked him up again, rubbing his fine, soft hair and letting him lean against his shoulder. “Wasn’t it scary just now?”
Chu Chen’an tightened his grip on the hair wrapped in cloth in his hand and softly said, “Hmm.”.
He was firmly carried down the stairs by Lan Huai, and Chu Chen’an still couldn’t help but shiver as he recalled what he had just done.
He remembered having a child.
He did like little babies; fleshy and with a milky scent, they were especially cute.
But he was a male after all, and he was still in the game world; he would leave one day, and he couldn’t be so selfish as to leave his child here.
A child might be Lan Huai’s eternal regret.
He suddenly tilted his head and asked Lan Huai, “Do you want a child?”
Lan Huai’s body was cold and icy; at the mention of a child, his eyes obviously changed. He hugged Chu Chen’an tightly, “I want to; I’ve even dreamed about it before.”
Chu Chen’an raised his eyes. “Dreamed of what?”
“You gave birth to our baby; he looked like you, very small, very cute.”
Chu Chen’an lowered his eyes; his eyes couldn’t help but curve at the end as his mind made the connection.
But Lan Huai added, “But compared to the baby, you are more important. I know you have your worries; I’m fine with you, baby; it’s okay; it’s more important for you to be by my side than anything else.”
Chu Chen’an didn’t know how many times he had heard these words, and he couldn’t help but be in a trance in his heart every time he heard them.
……
“I can’t get in yet.” Lan Huai sent him to the entrance of the Witch god Temple and said in a warm voice, “There’s a priest inside who will take you there; just do what he says. Do you remember the way home, baby?”
“Uh, I remember.” Chu Chen’an looked relieved that Lan Huai was leaving and asked politely, “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to be resurrected.” Lan Huai rubbed Chu Chen’an’s cheeks, holding his small hand over his own cold face. “If everything goes smoothly, I can come back tomorrow. This way, when I hold you to sleep, you won’t feel cold because of me.”
This reason made Chu Chen’an’s earlobes redden.
Lan Huai made it sound as easy as going to a fair, but Chu Chen’an slightly lowered his eyes. He then remembered that Lan Huai had used sorcery to draw his soul away to find his soul in the first place instead of an ordinary su-icide, so he was sure that he could also return to his body.
Lan Huai finally hugged him, “Be good and wait for me to come back.”
Chu Chen’an let out an “Oh,” thinking about the travelling party that was about to leave.
Would he be able to leave?
……
After Lan Huai left, he stepped into the Witch god Temple. The Witch god Temple was completely different from the sacrificial temples he had seen before.
It was quiet, with a few ethereal ancient bells ringing from time to time.
The priest who received him was an older, white-haired old man, and the priest was dressed in a red robe with a strange pattern painted on his face.
The priest led him respectfully, and after putting his hair into the refining furnace, he kneeled down in front of the statue of the witch god and respectfully burnt three incense sticks for the statue.
After a loud “tearing” sound.
A bright flame exploded in the furnace, and the two priests jumped up around the furnace, chanting incantations that he didn’t understand.
After a long time, the fire in the furnace dimmed, and a few wisps of ash that had turned into smoke drifted out.
Zhang Fengting, who stayed in the bamboo building, felt his heart tear. The severe pain finally stopped after he vomited bloo-d.
Chu Chen’an looked at the extinguished fire and knew that the compulsion on Zhang Fengting should be resolved.
Halfway back, he bumped into He Xuesheng, who was sitting on the side of the road drawing a dog.
He Xuesheng greeted him, “Good morning, Chu Chen’an, where did you go?”
Chu Chen’an said good morning and added, “I didn’t go anywhere; I just went for a walk.”
He Xuesheng nodded. “Right, Old Liang said he plans to go back tomorrow; pack up your things; we will leave early tomorrow morning.”
Chu Chen’an nodded; it wasn’t certain if he could go; he asked, “Can I bring another person along?”
“Of course we can; who? Lan Xu?” He Xuesheng asked.
“No.” Chu Chen’an came close to He Xuesheng’s ear and roughly told him about Zhang Fengting.
After He Xuesheng heard it, he was so angry that he broke the paintbrush in his hand and couldn’t help but curse, “God damn it! There’s still this kind of per-vert!”
“Shhh.” Chu Chen’an was afraid that He Xuesheng would attract people from the village, so he looked around. Fortunately, there were not many people on the roadside, and it was cold and deserted.
He Xuesheng quickly stopped talking and rolled up his sleeves. He was a naturally enthusiastic person and was full of fighting spirit. He whispered to Chu Chen’an, “What’s the plan now? Do we need to go sneak him out?”
“No, no need!” Chu Chen’an waved his hands and shook his head. “He’s not locked up now; he’s in an okay condition at home; you just need to take him.”
“Okay, that’s fine.” He Xuesheng nodded. “Then remember to call me if you need anything.”
Chu Chen’an nodded; he didn’t disturb He Xuesheng’s painting anymore and didn’t want to go back to Lan Xu’s house, so he simply strolled purposefully on the path near where He Xuesheng was walking around, as if he were enjoying the scenery.
He walked on and turned onto another road, taking a roundabout turn. He heard a noisy voice coming from the temple not far away.
It turned out that everyone had gathered here.
Chu Chen’an stood beside the doorway and looked into it from a distance, only to see that the walled people inside were all dressed in grand attire, kneeling on the ground in a circle, their mouths reciting complicated and strange incantation scriptures.
“Eh, get out of the way, get out of the way!”
Chu Chen’an turned around, and a young villager accidentally bumped into his arm while holding a basin of water, almost spilling the water from the golden basin.
The villager looked very young, and after seeing Chu Chen’an’s face, he quickly bowed and apologised, “Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t see that there was someone here. I’m so sorry!”
Chu Chen’an quickly said it was fine, then he asked, “What is going on inside?”
“It’s returning the soul of the previous shaman; although this is similar to praying for blessings, the key still relies on the current shaman, but the rules aren’t less.” The young villager said respectfully, “You don’t know, do you? Our last Shaman was blessed by the witch god and was able to bring the dead back to life.”
The young villager said with eyes full of faith.
Chu Chen’an felt strange. “Shouldn’t returning the soul be in front of the… coffin?”
He looked into the distance; the people were kneeling under the offering table, and the coffin was missing.
The young villager’s face went white when he heard the word coffin. “The last shaman had already entered the secret realm; How could there be any coffin?”
Chu Chen’an was stunned; he clearly saw it last time.
“In the forest of the flower field in the back mountain, isn’t there a large tomb?”
“What are you saying? The forest there was all cleared and planted with rice three years ago.”
Alarm bells boomed in Chu Chen’an’s heart.
That day, everything he saw was what Lan Xu wanted him to see.
“How are we worthy of looking at the coffin of the previous shaman? Ah, only the current shaman can; not only the coffin, I heard from the priest, the successive shaman can see souls.” If it weren’t for Chu Chen’an and Lan Xu’s relationship, this young villager wouldn’t dare to say so much more.
Chu Chen’an was suddenly confused, this meant that Lan Xu clearly recognised who he was a long time ago.
He bypassed the sacrificial temple and panicked as he walked in He Xuesheng’s direction.
“Chen’an.”
Chu Chen’an looked back. Lan Xu was standing not far away, smiling, “Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you for a long time.”
Chu Chen’an subconsciously ran; he hid in the corner of a residential alley.
His heart was beating hard. Lan Xu had always known of Lan Huai’s existence, so those strange dreams he dreamed were actually true?
Chu Chen’an crouched down, the back of his head pressed against the bamboo wall, just to escape reality.
“Buckle.”
Two soft sounds came from the bamboo wall.
Chu Chen’an’s heart trembled, and when he looked up, he saw Lan Xu’s smile deepening.
Lan Xu asked him with a hint of grievance, “Why are you avoiding me?”
TN:
See ya tomorrow ✌️
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Thank youuu <3333