C20 — Strange Tales By The Lakeside
by UntamedSOn the tip of the moon, a hazy light shone on the wooden house, and tonight’s wind was unprecedentedly gentle.
The Golden Lake was cleared of all intruders.
The exorcist, whose consciousness was manipulated by Zhuo Yu, was in a coma in the utility room, while Liu Jingyun was just an innocent passerby and wouldn’t be greedy for the place, so the Golden Lake had a rare quiet night.
Zhuo Yu lay on his bed, and after the relief, the exhaustion from staying up all night in a row finally backfired on him, making him wish to sleep all day.
He knew that he could only take advantage of tonight to catch up on his sleep.
The exorcist had contacted the mayor of the town, who, for his part, wasn’t planning on coming at night, and it seemed that he would have to organize his members to come here together for the ceremony, something that would take time.
Tonight was safe.
Zhuo Yu laid back on the ancient pillows and reached out to wrap his arms around a pillow.
Asha lay beside him.
Zhuo Yu knew what had happened back then; Asha hadn’t died when he was transformed into the guardian of the Golden Lake, so he wasn’t a Yin Corpse but an outright human being. It was just that the average person wouldn’t believe it when they saw his horrible appearance.
Just now, he had been cleaning the blo-od from Asha’s body and helping him remove the bullets from his body. His wounds visibly healed, leaving scars that recorded the battle.
As a human, Asha also needed to sleep, of course. He usually slept at the bottom of the lake; this was the special power given to him by the Golden Lake.
But Zhuo Yu didn’t want him to leave, and Asha didn’t want to keep Zhuo Yu away from his sight, so, rightfully so, the two slept in the same bed.
“The feeling of being hit by a bullet—does it hurt?”
Zhuo Yu borrowed the moonlight to admire Asha’s godlike body; no male star in Hollywood had such a sexy body; even if he even wrote it, he wouldn’t write the character so perfectly. He also didn’t feel that Asha brought a sense of fear and oppression; Zhuo Yu only felt unrivaled attraction.
“After… the day you died,” BOSS’s voice was very soft, as if he was afraid to wake up from this phantom dream: “It stopped hurting.”
Zhuo Yu narrowed his eyes; in fact, Asha’s body felt pain, but Asha had already experienced extreme pain; now, even if his limbs were cut off, he wouldn’t frown.
Because, compared to back then, these weren’t even “pain.”.
Zhuo Yu was a bit silent because he remembered what happened to his character; his emotions were very complicated.
Judging from Ma Yuanan’s performance, the character and the actor were two different individuals. Although Zhuo Yu accepted everything with peace of mind, he wasn’t the same as “Zhuo Yu.” After all, he didn’t personally experience those tragic stories; he only gained the memories.
He knew that what Asha cared about and was attached to wasn’t Zhuo Yu, but “Zhuo Yu.”.
He had a rare desire to win, because it was as if he were enjoying something that didn’t belong to him.
Asha belonged to ‘Zhuo Yu’, not him.
“Sure enough, I want to conquer you more than I want to own you.” Zhuo Yu stroked Asha’s red hair and planted a kiss on the half-skulled face, but it was so cold that the touch didn’t linger.
“Goodnight kiss, sleep; tomorrow will be hard.”
Asha caught his hand.
“You always think too much.” Asha’s tone underwent a slight change, as if he were remembering something, but that memory in no way belonged to the Golden Lake. “I know I’m stupid, and I’m probably doing something wrong again.”
This strange feeling came again. Zhuo Yu’s heart fluttered, and he followed up by asking, “How could you be wrong?”
“The way I’m acting, it looks a lot like I’m living for the past.” Asha frowned, half of his handsome face filled with annoyance. “Instead of living for you.”
“Living for me…”
“Yes, the actions I’ve taken and the thoughts I’ve had have probably rubbed you the wrong way.”
“So,’me’ is just’me’, not ‘Zhuo Yu’, right?”
Asha smiled and said, “Hmm.”
“Good boy.” Zhuo Yu felt as if something in his heart that was in the way had been drained away, and all that was left was ease and pleasure. He sighed deeply and laughed along with Asha.
He similarly took Asha’s hands, which were large, strong, capable of tearing apart all living things, and a source of execution for the executioner. But in Zhuo Yu’s case, it was a warm shelter, an adoring caress, and a hard, full embrace.
He saw through the boss.
Now, this silly boy who spoke fluently, he was sure it was also Asha, not “Asha.”.
The night breeze blew, and the two of them slept quietly against each other.
[What kind of riddle is Zhuo Yu playing with the boss?]
[That’s not important; what’s important is that they’re sleeping in the same bed, ah ah ah!]
[Zhuo Yu’s action of removing the bullets for him is so gentle; who said Zhuo Yu doesn’t like the boss!?]
[I think the analyst had a point. He just feels sorry for his dog’s injury.]
[Hey, the analyst didn’t mention that; I think Zhuo Yu really sees the boss as his muse. But the scenes you’re looking forward to won’t appear, it’s not a romance movie…]
[Upstairs, why are you throwing cold water?]
[The boss is just a character in the film; Zhuo Yu will have to leave. Who will really love a virtual character that they’ll definitely leave?]
[Alas, I’m high on a CP that’s sure to be sad.]
[TN: CP — Couple Pairing]
[Why are you so pessimistic? What if? What if? What if I’m the one in a million genius who chose the real CP?]
[Why are you all looking at Zhuo Yu’s side? Look at the mayor; the mayor is going to do something again!]
In Spring Town, Mayor Marcus was crying out in joy. He kept worshipping towards the sky, letting out a howling maniacal laughter that was released after being suppressed to the extreme.
“Finally, finally! I’ve been waiting for this day for fifty years!”
He fished out a book from the basement, which was filled with complex spell formations and patterns, as well as secret words that seemed unintelligible, and then took out a list of the church members, ticking off all of those who had been meritorious that year.
He wanted to inform the congregation that it was time for the ceremony to begin.
After a night of preparation, the day had dawned, and a vast procession of more than twenty people marched towards the Golden Lake, majestically, seeming to want to wipe out the previous shame.
Mayor Marcus sat in the co-pilot of the lead car, he kept fiddling with the six bottles in his hands, the closer he got to his destination, the more restless he became, his inner turmoil intermingled into a mess and his usual high spirits and calmness disappeared without a trace.
He had followed his father and joined the Church of the Fountain when he was seven years old, and then spent more than ten years as an adult tracking down surveying teams before he finally found a lake that was almost the same as the one in the church’s records, and then relied on his connections and tactics to become the mayor of the local town; he was the greatest bishop of his generation.
He was the strongest man with the highest devotion in the church, and he even sacrificed his beloved son for it.
Everything was for today.
The evil spirits that had entrenched itself in the Golden Lake could no longer stand in his way.
The ability to live forever was a dream that many emperors had pursued throughout the ages, and if the Golden Lake was returned to him, then the pyramid of the entire society would collapse and the Church of the Fountain would become the new master of mankind.
And he, Marcus, would become a god.
The difference between humans and gods was just longevity.
Marcus’s hand kept trembling; he firmly gripped the bottle and said in a cold voice, “Still not driving faster?”
After about ten minutes, the caravan that sped all the way stopped at the foot of the Golden Lake Reservoir. The church members worshipped as if it were a holy place, chanting poems as they took a few steps. There were many people inside who had never been here in their lives and didn’t dare to come here. This was the first time in their lives that they stepped foot on the land of the Fountain, and many of them were excited to the point of tears.
The wind changed.
The original gentle blowing breeze was suddenly manic, blowing the leaves off the trees, but the religious people didn’t know what the omen of danger was, and one by one they ascended the mountain in their black robes with hoods.
The Golden Lake came into view in a solid wave of light.
The exorcist was waiting on the shore early, and he bound the two evil spirits and a human with ropes soaked in holy water and flaunted them as if offering treasure.
“Mayor Marcus, you have kept me waiting.” The creepy, short exorcist crossed his arms, his pupils dark and sunken, but Marcus didn’t notice the difference.
“I’ve troubled you; where are the others?”
The exorcist sneered, “Isn’t it because of these two damned things?”
He kicked Zhuo Yu with his toe. “This pair of evil spirits ambushed my older brothers, and the fierce battle ended with only me left. But you need not blame yourself; such is the fate of priests; we are cleaning up his kingdom for God.”
The congregation fixed their eyes on the grass, and there were three people half-awake, half-sleeping, and drowsy; the most striking was the inhuman monster over two meters high, with the crocodile head that frightened them, and beside him was a distinguished-looking Asian man, who must have been the vengeful returning spirit.
At the same time, they saw a human being.
A member of the congregation whispered, “Isn’t that the girl from the Stuart family? She’s so unlucky.”
“Yeah, I heard she went hiking.”
The congregants looked at the girl with regret, but none of them asked the bishop for instructions, for all they lacked was an offering.
“O great priests…” Marcus lamented, “Thanks to you, the Golden Lake will see the light of day again, and our spring town will be free from evil spirits.”
He beckoned, and a black leather case was handed over by his underling.
“Your two hundred thousand dollars.”
Marcus presented the huge sum of money without a moment’s hesitation, which in the eighties was enough to last an average person a lifetime.
“However, there is one more thing I need to ask you for.”
Marcus gave a condescending smile. “Please offer your pure blo-od.”
As soon as the words fell, several members of the congregation appeared from behind the exorcist; one of them held a scimitar, and the remaining several people violently held his limbs. The shocked exorcist couldn’t react in time, his throat was directly slit, and a large amount of blo-od gushed out and fell into the urn bottle that received the liquid.
Zhuo Yu’s and the exorcist’s mental connection was instantly broken.
[Actor Huang Shu is dead.] [Died from a slit throat.]
[Pre-quest: Survived at the hands of four exorcists. Achieved.]
[Main quest update: Please dismantle the Church of the Fountain and bring peace back to the Golden Lake.]
Zhuo Yu was notified by the system, and he was a bit surprised, faking a stupefied stance while contemplating the current situation.
He didn’t expect Marcus to really be this heartless; if it were him, he would have let an exorcist go so that the church would have an explanation and wouldn’t send anyone again because the priests went missing, which would save a lot of trouble.
But Marcus didn’t think so; he k-illed him very neatly and seemed to have planned it in advance.
The black-robed religious people carefully put away the bottle containing the blo-od, and a few people took out an ancient, thick parchment book and handed it to the bishop.
Zhuo Yu quietly looked over, but when he saw the book’s cover, he froze.
What on earth was Marcus going to do?
TN:
See ya tomorrow ✌️
Thank you for the update!