C76 – Seeing is not Believing

The last few stragglers were also cut down by Song Hong and Ah Xue working together.

Kou Dong lay on the ground, still a little dazed. The young man above him kept guarding him tightly until he confirmed there was no danger, then finally stood up and extended a hand, using some strength to pull him up.

This move had been a bit risky, but the result was remarkable. Now the air above was empty—no sign of those densely packed wings—and the ground was piled high with them instead. The strange fragrance from the predators’ blood overpowered the acrid smell of burning, like an overly intense floral scent that made people dizzy and lightheaded.

Beside him, Ye Yanzhi asked in a low voice, “How are you? — Are you feeling unwell?”

His voice was deep, carrying an unmistakable gentleness. Kou Dong shook his head, staring steadily at his face. On such a clear and refined face, that single dried bloodstain stood out vividly, as bright as a red plum blossom on an ink painting, enough to make one’s eyes swim.

Kou Dong’s mind drifted for reasons he couldn’t name, and it took him a while to snap back. He reached out and rubbed at the bloodstain.

It wouldn’t come off. Instead, he rubbed the skin there until it turned slightly red. Kou Dong didn’t dare press harder and asked quietly, “You’re not hurt, are you?”

“No,” Ye Yanzhi replied briefly, though his brows were still furrowed as he looked Kou Dong over from head to toe. After being wrestled over by predators for so long, Kou Dong was now covered in glittering phosphor powder, shimmering faintly in the light. To Ye Yanzhi, it was an eyesore, almost like someone was deliberately provoking him.

He frowned and began dusting it off, but no matter how long he brushed, it wouldn’t come off. Song Hong, watching from the side, said, “This probably won’t come off unless you wash it.”

Kou Dong: “…Easy for you to say. You gonna wash me, then?”

Right now they were still stuck in the little grove near the sports field—where were they supposed to find a bathroom?

As soon as those words left his mouth, Ye Yanzhi’s eyes sharpened, locking onto him.

Kou Dong: “…”

The boy’s gaze somehow made his scalp prickle, his body tense. He didn’t know why, but he quickly added, “I was joking.”

Ye Yanzhi kept staring at him silently. That look made Kou Dong feel strangely guilty, like his nonexistent conscience was being scolded. After a long pause, the boy said faintly, “Why ask him? I can help you.”

Then, with emphasis, he repeated, “Bathe.”

Kou Dong’s hands waved even faster, hurriedly clarifying that he was only kidding. In truth, a father and son bathing together wasn’t necessarily a problem—at least in the Korean dramas he’d seen, whole families of men bathed together, with the younger ones scrubbing the elders’ backs. Under normal circumstances, he might have just agreed casually.

But somehow, right now, he didn’t quite dare. And no, it wasn’t because he was chickening out—he told himself it was because Ye Yanzhi now had that striking red mark on his face, which made him seem… different.

Kou Dong was convinced that the reason he didn’t dare agree was because his “kid” now looked a little like a stranger.

And who wants to take a bath with a stranger?

He refused flat-out, then he heard Ye Yanzhi let out an ambiguous sigh, as though lamenting a missed opportunity. In reality, Kou Dong didn’t feel the slightest regret—in fact, there was even a tiny, secret sense of relief growing inside him.

With their pursuers temporarily dealt with, there was no need to keep going toward the NPC’s location. The group turned back, consulting the school map they’d drawn earlier, and decided to find a different hiding place.

It was best to find somewhere hidden, where they wouldn’t be discovered for the time being.

At this moment, Song Hong’s value truly stood out — in the past few days, he had explored the school more thoroughly than anyone else. Familiar with the layout, he led the group toward the school logistics department’s warehouse. Inside were piles of unused desks and chairs, along with air conditioners and humidifiers prepared for the new campus.

The teacher guarding the door had already turned into an almost transparent cocoon. Song Hong took the key from his waist and unlocked the door.

The warehouse was pitch-dark inside, with no windows. Teacher Mo fumbled along the wall for the switch and flipped on the fluorescent light overhead, finally illuminating the whole room.

“This place is remote, hardly anyone comes here,” Song Hong said. “Let’s stay here for a while and see if we can last until night.”

It was now two in the afternoon — a full ten hours remained before the copy ended.

The four of them found a clean spot in the warehouse to sit, occasionally saying a few words. Since growing into his adult form, Ye Yanzhi had been quiet, now he half leaned against the wall, sitting shoulder to shoulder with Kou Dong.

“Better turn off the light,” Teacher Mo muttered. “There are no windows… but the light can still leak through the gap under the door.”

Clearly terrified of those butterflies, he nodded to the others, then stood and switched the light off.

It took a long while for Kou Dong’s eyes to adjust to the darkness, and he finally made out the faint outline of his “cub” leaning back against the wall. Ye Yanzhi’s skin was pale, standing out even more in the dark, so at least his silhouette could be seen.

In contrast, Teacher Mo seemed to have completely vanished — like ink dissolving into more ink. Even Song Hong, speaking to him, had to awkwardly ask where he was.

Teacher Mo, sounding more embarrassed than him, replied, “I’m right next to you.”

Song Hong: “…Ah.”

He coughed lightly, then forced himself to say, “I can still see you. Teacher, turn your head — then I can see you.”

Kou Dong understood. He meant the light reflecting off the middle patch of the man’s bald head.

He wanted to laugh, but with Teacher Mo present, he didn’t dare burst out. His shoulders trembled slightly instead.

In the darkness, Ye Yanzhi glanced at him calmly, then reached out a hand to cover his mouth.

Kou Dong’s lips brushed against warm skin, and he froze for a moment.

“If you want to laugh, then laugh,” the boy’s breath was right beside him. “You don’t have to hold it in.”

The two were so close that Kou Dong simply leaned sideways to whisper in his ear.

“What if they hear us?”

Ye Yanzhi also lowered his voice in reply: “You can say it was me who made you laugh.”

Kou Dong didn’t believe him.

“You don’t even laugh yourself — how could you make me laugh?”

Anyone could tell that was a bluff. His cub was the cold-faced type; he had rarely ever seen him smile.

Even if he did, most of those smiles were the kind that made Father Kou uneasy — the kind where the corner of the lips curl up, but the meaning was unreadable.

Ye Yanzhi’s voice was low and steady: “Who says I don’t?”

“How could you?” Kou Dong mumbled through the hand covering his mouth. To prove his point, he raised his own hand to feel along the boy’s lips. “Don’t move! I can’t see — let me feel…”

He just didn’t believe his cub could smile in a pitch-black room like this.

His fingertips traced across the boy’s face, feeling that Ye Yanzhi’s skin was warmer than usual. Slowly, his finger pads slid down until they stopped at the corner of his mouth.

“See?” Kou Dong said, “You—”

He was about to say ‘I know you too well. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t deserve to be your dad!

But before the words left his mouth, he froze.

The corner of Ye Yanzhi’s lips was actually curled upward.

Kou Dong didn’t believe it and carefully checked again — and this time, he even felt a trace of unease.

…Holy crap.

He was really smiling.

Why?

He couldn’t believe it when he suddenly felt something hot and wet slam across his fingertips, instantly stirring up a small patch of goosebumps.

It was as if someone, of all people, had licked him with the tip of their tongue.

Kou Dong jerked his hand back, reacting almost as if he had been electrocuted. He looked at Ye Yanzhi, and for a moment, his heart was flooded with emotions that he couldn’t even tell, and the hairs on his entire body stood up like a small animal.

Ye Yanzhi, however, didn’t have much of a reaction, in such darkness, Kou Dong couldn’t see his expression, and could only hear his puzzled voice: “What’s wrong?”

“……”

Kou Dong held up the slightly wet finger and pondered over it carefully.

It wasn’t like that.

……

It didn’t look like it!

But could it be Ye Yanzhi?

How could Ye Yanzhi …… lick him?

Kou Dong was a bit confused. Pure father-son friendship, should not include this paragraph ah.

He had never been a master of treating himself poorly, so while he pondered half a day in his heart, his hands didn’t hesitate and immediately pinched Ye Yanzhi’s face in retaliation. Inexplicably pinched, the young man hummed and stretched out an arm to hold him a little tighter and quietly spoke: “Don’t make a fuss.”

If it continued like this, he was going to become the father in this relationship!

Kou Dong pressed over with his hands and feet, eagerly trying to pinch him, “You ……”

Song Hong on the other end finally couldn’t help but start coughing. At first it was still a small voice, and then it became louder and louder, just in case they didn’t notice.

Seeing the two of them still didn’t respond, he had to speak up, “Kou Dong. You guys are still …… still a little tight.”

What “let me touch”, what “don’t make a fuss”, these were simply the words of a tiger and a wolf.

Coupled with the rattling sound made by the rubbing of the clothing, it was impossible to think about it at all.

He didn’t know if this was some kind of new age method.

Kou Dong didn’t understand, “Tight?”

He was merely educating his son.

When Song Hong heard this, he coughed even more heartbreakingly. Only after a long time did he say, “At least, you should distinguish between occasions.”

Old father Kou pondered, hmmm.

–That’s right, those educationalists seemed to say that educating children should be done on occasions.

Scolding in front of outsiders was definitely not conducive to a child’s physical and mental health.

Kou Dong then put away his hands, and turned to Ye Yanzhi: “I’ll clean you up when I get home.”

Song Hong︰“……”

Alas, this sentence was also ……

He twisted his head with a bitter expression, he didn’t understand why a good young man like him, who was born under the Red Flag and grew up in the new era of the Five Speeches and Four Beauties, had to go through this.

The room was silent again, and for a while it fell into silence. He didn’t know how long it took, but Teacher Mo suddenly opened his mouth, as if something was wrong, “I’ll go out.”

Song Hong naturally didn’t want him to go out, “Why do you want to go out at this time? It’s dangerous outside.”

Teacher Mo moved his legs, it took a while before he stood up, shy and bashful.

“Hey, actually I’ve been wanting to go to the toilet since noon, I just couldn’t make it …… If I don’t go, I won’t be able to stand it …”

This reason made the few people in the room a little embarrassed as well. Song Hong wanted him to settle it in the room, but with a glance at the little girl next to him, the words hung and he hesitated.

“Otherwise–”

Ah Xue also added, “It’s okay with me.”

“It’s okay,” Teacher Mo said, already pulling the door open a crack, “How can it be okay with a girl here, I’d better go out first.”

His slightly overweight body squeezed through the crack in the door and went out into the corridor. Song Hong closed the door again, only then realizing that he still felt a bit hungry.

There was no convenience store in the school, and the cafeteria didn’t allow takeout, completely eliminating the possibility of them carrying food. Fortunately, it was only for today — they could still endure it.

A few minutes later, Teacher Mo came back. He plopped down in his original seat without saying a word.

It was Song Hong who spoke first: “You didn’t run into anyone, right?”

“…”

The middle-aged man kept his head down and didn’t answer.

“Teacher Mo?” Song Hong found it strange and called out again, “Teacher Mo?”

The man finally lifted his head and mumbled, “I ran into some. — It’s fine, just a few students.”

What he didn’t say was that those students were dragging along another young man who looked like a teacher. On the other side, there were predators that hadn’t been completely wiped out. The students kept the teacher outside, panic-stricken, and scrambled into an office themselves — leaving that young man outside, pounding on the door, waiting for death.

He had witnessed that scene with his own eyes, and his heart was pounding. It made him recall the start of his own teaching career, when he’d been full of hope, thinking he could teach and nurture students.

But he was never a top student and couldn’t get into a key high school in the city; he ended up at an ordinary high school full of delinquents. As a teacher, he was short, overweight since childhood, and dark-skinned, so of course he wasn’t the kind of teacher students admired or liked.

Some girls even said that when he smiled, he looked greasy and disgusting.

The students had countless ways to torment him, treating it almost as a source of amusement. He often found his single dorm room broken into, his bicycle tires deflated. In the cafeteria line, someone would “accidentally” bump into him hard, knocking the tray from his hands.

Among their tricks was also locking him outside the classroom.

His hand trembled slightly until his other hand pressed it down.

Just now, that same hand had picked up a rock and smashed the window of that office.

…

He wasn’t wrong.

Those students — including the ones outside —

They all deserved to die.

Kou Dong kept his eyes closed, ears still sharply alert to sounds. Suddenly, he heard a faint, unsettling chewing noise — a soft, rustling sound, like silkworms delicately gnawing on mulberry leaves.

If you didn’t listen carefully, you’d miss it entirely.

The sound was so familiar that Kou Dong’s eyes flew open, unease rising sharply.

“Did you hear that?”

Song Hong hadn’t closed his eyes at all, so he only glanced over blankly. “What?”

“There’s movement.” Kou Dong pulled Ye Yanzhi up beside him, the unease in his heart growing heavier. “Let’s go out first. Don’t stay here.”

Having gone through several instances together, Song Hong and the others trusted him enough to stand up immediately. But Teacher Mo, still sitting on the ground, didn’t move an inch.

Song Hong patted him and called, “Teacher Mo? Teacher Mo?”

Only after being called twice did the man finally react, slowly rising to his feet and following behind them. At the very front, Ah Xue opened the door first. As the light spilled in, the man at the back suddenly stopped.

“Wait — they’re still out there. Are we just going to walk out like this?”

Song Hong nodded and said briefly, “We should still go. Once we’re out, we’ll find another place.”

“Let’s not go out,” the man’s voice drifted oddly. “Why go out? It’s so dangerous…”

Suddenly, his hand shot toward Kou Dong, grabbing the boy’s arm. The grip was so strong it nearly pinned Kou Dong in place.

“If you go out, they’ll find you,” he said to Kou Dong, his eyes filled with a chilling excitement. “They’ll snatch you away…”

Ye Yanzhi’s brows knit sharply. Standing beside Kou Dong, he re-examined the man, his gaze like one assessing a vessel.

Kou Dong tried to yank his arm free several times, but he couldn’t shake off the man’s grip; he was beginning to sense that something was very wrong.

“Teacher Mo!”

“—Shh.”

The middle-aged man stood in the darkness, his posture unconsciously straightening, completely different from his previously hunched figure.

It was as if something inside him had propped up his body, forcing him to stand tall so it could come out more smoothly.

“Shh…”

Suddenly, he trembled slightly, his mouth falling open as he toppled backward.

His skin began to whiten at an unnatural speed, turning pale like a discarded silkworm shell, or like a leaf drifting to the ground. The bluish veins beneath swelled one by one, until he took on a translucent, alien appearance.

The change caught everyone else off guard. Then Song Hong suddenly shouted:

“Out! Get outside!”

They couldn’t fight this thing in the dark, not when they couldn’t even see it.

They needed sunlight.

But his warning came too late. Kou Dong, whose arm had been tightly gripped by the man only moments ago, suddenly felt something tighten around his waist. Something soft and unseen wrapped around him — it had to be the predator’s wings.

Those wings were strong and powerful, binding him firmly. Then something sharp forced its way past his lips, pushing inward without hesitation.

Kou Dong trembled. He didn’t understand why these butterflies insisted on thrusting their mouthparts deep into his insides. This wasn’t normal feeding.

If he had to call it something… it felt more like transformation.

…Transformation into what?

He struggled to think, wanting to resist, but the wings pressed so tightly around him that even breathing became difficult. He had to open his mouth just to draw in what little fresh air he could.

Ye Yanzhi clenched his teeth, yanked Ah Xue’s knife from her hand, and swung — but without seeing the predator, his strike cut through empty air. He tried to aim for Kou Dong’s side but held back, afraid of hitting him.

The predator seized the chance to tighten its hold and made a satisfied, gurgling sound. Kou Dong felt sharp pain — but not from his organs as he expected. Instead, it came from his back. The agony made his whole body shudder, and if not for the wings holding him up, he would have collapsed.

Ye Yanzhi panted heavily, then swung a second time. This time, judging from Kou Dong’s movements, he guessed the right spot and — in one sharp motion — severed the predator’s head.

The wings loosened, and Kou Dong collapsed onto the floor. Ye Yanzhi dropped to his knees, scooped him up, and carried him out without hesitation, his voice trembling.

“You okay?”

Kou Dong was still retching uncontrollably but shook his head.

“Just… my back hurts,” he muttered. “Check it for me…”

He turned around.

Ye Yanzhi’s gaze swept over his back — and Kou Dong suddenly felt his breathing hitch.

“…?”

He could feel it. Something had changed back there.

But… what?

“Wings,” Song Hong said, his voice tight with fear as he swallowed hard. “Kou Dong, you—”

The pair of small, newly grown wings on his back were more beautiful and vivid than any predator’s they had ever seen.

At their tips shimmered a strange blue, as clear and pure as the sea.

Kou Dong… had grown wings.

---

TN:

Plott twist 🫢