Chapter 6 - What is this

Give me the Yao-Binding Rope!

Translator(s): juurensha
TLC(s): moon
Editor(s): Jane, jelly

What was this?!! Oh my god!!

Chi Xiaoduo thought that he was dreaming, no, this had to be a dream! How many heads did this bird have?! While Chi Xiaoduo was still counting the number of heads, that monster collided with Xiang Cheng. Xiang Cheng had just taken out the bundle of red rope from his pocket, only to be slammed to the point he was rolling around on the ground. The red rope flew onto the seat beside Chi Xiaoduo.

Chi Xiaoduo stared at Xiang Cheng in a daze. The strange bird opened its mouth again, and black smoke gathered into a ball that then shot out in all directions. It hit Chi Xiaoduo's back, slammed against everything, and the compartment was soon full of black fog.

"Move!” Xiang Cheng yelled at him.

Chi Xiaoduo was already dumbfounded as he shifted over to the next seat, the Westlife song in his earbuds just reaching the climax. The heavens had been torn asunder, the earth had split open, the sun and the moon had both gone dark, and the mood had reached its peak. The next moment, Xiang Cheng flew over to him, pulling him into his arms as they rolled together. He then pushed him under the seat and roared, "Give me the Yao-Binding Rope!"

"Wha...What?" Chi Xiaoduo’s earbuds were still in, so he couldn't hear clearly. Plus, his thoughts had obviously left reality, and he gripped Xiang Cheng’s metal staff. Xiang Cheng said in a loud voice, "Don't touch the Demon-Subduing Staff!"

Chi Xiaoduo was squishing that bundle of rope down, and after being yelled at, he hurriedly moved aside. Xiang Cheng grabbed the magic weapon just as the monster bird pounced over again. Its claws swiped at him wildly, and its nine heads all pecked at him at once. However, Xiang Cheng lifted up the Demon-Subduing Staff and stabbed the strange bird in the chest. The monster bird let out a shrill cry, black smoke emitting from its entire body, as if it feared Xiang Cheng's weapon.

In a flurry of action, Xiang Cheng flicked out that red rope. The red rope, in the blink of an eye, turned into an inescapable net and blocked the monster bird's retreat.

The monster bird thrashed around wildly and slammed into walls within the enclosed space, its nine heads violently tearing at the red rope. From underneath the seat, one of Chi Xiaoduo’s hands appeared. He took out his cellphone, turned on the video function, and waved it back and forth while facing outside.

The monster bird screeched, tumbling to the left, and Chi Xiaoduo's hand turned to the left; the monster bird tumbled to the right, and Chi Xiaoduo's hand turned to the right.

Then he heard Xiang Cheng’s muffled grunt, and the monster bird, wrapped in the red rope, rushed straight up. The subway train came to a stop, and the monster bird took advantage of the momentum to leap at him. Xiang Cheng yelled angrily and was pushed until his back hit the compartment wall, before he was then sent flying, the Demon-Subduing Staff falling out of his hand, spinning around on the ground.

Four of the monster bird’s heads howled, but just at the moment it was about to ferociously peck at Xiang Cheng’s eyes——

Chi Xiaoduo rushed out from under the seat, picked up the Demon-Subduing Staff, and fiercely lashed out at the monster bird’s head with it.

That monster bird let out a strange, ear-piercing shriek; Chi Xiaoduo's ears buzzed, and his head ached fiercely. However, he gripped onto the Demon-Subduing Staff tightly and wildly aimed a series of hits at the monster without any rhyme or reason. Xiang Cheng kicked out with both of his feet, and the monster bird went flying.

The shrieking stopped as the monster bird rolled out of the compartment, turned into black smoke, and with a shua sound, shot over to the escalators.

Xiang Cheng picked up the red rope and gave chase again. Chi Xiaoduo ran after Xiang Cheng, before the train doors closed, shouting, "Wait!"

The two people rushed up the escalator, and Xiang Cheng leapt over the ticket turnstile. Chi Xiaoduo hurriedly swiped his subway card, but this time, Xiang Cheng had been discovered by the staff members, and someone from afar shouted, "Hey! Don't try to steal a ride! You in the bathrobe! "

The black smoke stuck close to the ceiling, and with a shua, it flew towards the stairway and shot out. Xiang Cheng wanted to continue chasing after it, but he was stopped by a staff member. Xiang Cheng couldn’t stop himself in time and ran straight into the ticket checker, sending the person flying, their head falling back onto the security scanner, sending them in by the conveyor belt.

Chi Xiaoduo: “....”

This alarmed the security guards; Xiang Cheng turned and ran, but was then surrounded by three security guards. Chi Xiaoduo cried in a hurry, "Don’t fight them!"

The security guard stepped on the bathrobe; Xiang Cheng grabbed his bathrobe, unable to run away. He could only lean back against the wall, gasping for breath.

Eleven o'clock, in the police station.

Chi Xiaoduo sat there,making a call to Yang Xingjie to ask for help, while Xiang Cheng was repeatedly questioned by the police.

"What exactly is your guys’ relationship?" the policeman asked.

"Ah." Chi Xiaoduo anxiously looked at Xiang Cheng.

"It has nothing to do with him." Xiang Cheng said in a deep voice, "Come at me for the trouble I’ve caused."

"Oh." The policeman said, "You wanna do it like that?"

Chi Xiaoduo dimly sensed that he seemed to have touched upon some earth-shakingly big secret. However, the things that happened tonight were both too many and too messy, completely upending his understanding of the world. Love and shock had both arrived too quickly, just like a tornado, which made him really unable to process it all.

“No, he’s...actually my friend,” Chi Xiaoduo said instinctively.

"What exactly is going on here?" the policeman said, "You talk first, make a phone call and ask a friend to bring your ID here."

Xiang Cheng didn't say a word, and Chi Xiaoduo said, "Uh, Da-ge, this is my fault..."

Another policeman came over and said, "The security footage won’t play."

Chi Xiaoduo thought, thank god, was this Xiang Cheng’s doing? If they hadn’t recorded what they had done in the compartment, then this was easy to deal with.

"It's like this." Chi Xiaoduo began to come up with a story, and he continued eloquently, "Xiang Cheng and I quarreled at the club. He ran out after me to apologize. I hurt him, and he got angry and ran out of the subway station... en, it was like that. Sorry, sorry, we gave everyone so much trouble. "

Chi Xiaoduo got up, bowed ninety degrees, and said sincerely, "It’s all my fault, I’ll pay for all the damages."

Looking at Xiang Cheng and Chi Xiaoduo suspiciously, the policeman called the men's club again. The club confirmed that they did indeed have a Xiang Cheng, and then they asked if Xiang Cheng could come on the phone. As soon as Xiang Cheng took the phone, he said, "I’m at the station drinking tea, can someone help scoop me out of here?"

The other party began to fiercely curse at Xiang Cheng.

The police officer: “....”

Chi Xiaoduo: “....”

The director of the subway station came over and said that the person who had been sent flying with a hit was alright, so just paying back the ticket would be enough. The policeman still wanted to say a few words, but Chi Xiaoduo received a call from Yang Xingjie.

"You get the person on duty to talk to me." Yang Xingjie said, "It’s okay, don’t be nervous."

Chi Xiaoduo handed the phone to the policeman. After they talked for a while, the policeman also didn’t want to make a big deal of this matter anymore, so he had Xiang Cheng and Chi Xiaoduo apologize and pay for the ticket, and so concluded the whole thing.

It was already past midnight when they left the police station, and Chi Xiaoduo and Xiang Cheng stared at each other speechlessly.

Xiang Cheng lit a cigarette and smoked for a while under the streetlamp. He put a hand in the pocket of his bathrobe, looking like a warm, large boy, and he sighed.

"Thank you, you're a good person." Xiang Cheng said to Chi Xiaoduo, "We’re friends from now on. If something comes up, just tell me. If the waters rise, I’ll jump in, and if fire breaks out, I’ll also run in."

Chi Xiaoduo started laughing, but when he thought about what had happened on the subway just now, he started to feel a little afraid again. Under the influence of many complex factors, such as fear, curiosity, happiness, and excitement, Chi Xiaoduo didn’t dare to ask anything and just gave Xiang Cheng a probing look.

"I'll send you back?" Chi Xiaoduo asked.

"I'll send you back, where do you live?" Xiang Cheng asked in return.

Chi Xiaoduo pointed to the opposite side. Coming out of Keyun road, it would just take one bus stop before getting home, but the bus had already stopped. Xiang Cheng nodded and walked Chi Xiaoduo home.

"You're not wearing shoes."

Xiang Cheng waved his hand to show that it didn't matter. The two of them walked slowly under the streetlamps.

"What do you do?" Chi Xiaoduo asked curiously, "What happened on the subway just now? Am I dreaming? Or was it a hallucination? I feel like something...strange has happened. "

"I’m an exorcist, and it wasn’t a hallucination of yours." Xiang Cheng said.

With a shattering sound, Chi Xiaoduo's three views on life broke into pieces.

"Ex...what did you say? Exorcist?”

"Subdue yao and exorcise mo." Xiang Cheng also said, "Don’t go out and talk about it, you’ll get me killed . Even my qualification certificate has been confiscated, I can't muddle around in this business any more."

Chi Xiaoduo's face twitched, and he looked at Xiang Cheng and said, "So just now, you were on a mission?"

Xiang Cheng nodded.

Chi Xiaoduo asked another question, "Then you...do that...male public relations to cover up your identity?"

"No,” Xiang Cheng replied coldly, his hand flicking out the ash from his cigarette.

Chi Xiaoduo was already completely dizzy and said, ”There are really yao in this world?"

"There’s a lot." Xiang Cheng replied, "They’re everywhere."

All of Chi Xiaoduo’s hair stood on end, and his back felt a bit chilly.

"Then...are there ghosts in this world too?" Chi Xiaoduo thought about it a bit, and his outlook on the material world that had been founded on Marxist philosophy was smashed into pieces, which mercilessly drifted away in the spring breeze. Now the gaps were filled in by all kinds of ghosts from horror films.

"We aren’t in charge of ghosts." Xiang Cheng replied, "Exorcists only exorcise demons, and ghosts were human beings before they died."

"Then, then, then..." Chi Xiaoduo, as a mola fish, was very afraid of ghosts. "Will ghosts and yao harass people the way the stories say they do?"

Xiang Cheng didn’t answer, and the two of them merely continued to walk slowly. Chi Xiaoduo couldn’t help but draw closer to Xiang Cheng, latching onto Xiang Cheng’s right arm, the hand of which was stuck in his pocket.

"Are you scared of ghosts?" Xiang Cheng looked at Chi Xiaoduo.

"It’s….it’s okay ba." Chi Xiaoduo said.

"If you don’t do bad things normally, you don’t need to fear ghosts knocking on the door in the middle of the night." Xiang Cheng said casually, "You have a righteous air about you, no need to be afraid."

Chi Xiaoduo asked, "Then what about yao and mo?"

"Yao and mo are hard to say," Xiang Cheng said, "People don’t take yao into account, but yao take people into account."

Chi Xiaoduo asked, "Why?"

Xiang Cheng didn't answer, so Chi Xiaoduo asked, "Where did that monster come from today?"

"I don't know." Xiang Cheng carelessly replied. He casually flicked the cigarette end into the garbage can and asked Chi Xiaoduo, "Did you take pictures just now?"

Chi Xiaoduo remembered, so he took the initiative to get out his cellphone and show Xiang Cheng the video he had just taken. Then he deleted the video right in front of him.

Chi Xiaoduo asked, "Will it come again?"

Xiang Cheng shook his head, but Chi Xiaoduo didn’t know whether that meant "hard to say" or "it won't come."

Xiang Cheng sent Chi Xiaoduo downstairs, recited a phone number, and said, "If something comes up, come find me."

Chi Xiaoduo hurriedly said, "Give me a sec."

Xiang Cheng waited downstairs as Chi Xiaoduo went to a 7-11 convenience store to buy him a pair of large slippers. He also took out 100 yuan for Xiang Cheng. Xiang Cheng said, "No need, I'll take the night train back. Just give me some change, Gege doesn’t need you to treat him like this."

"Take it all ba." Chi Xiaoduo also gave him a transit card and said, "If there is a night bus, take the night bus. If not, take a taxi."

Xiang Cheng put the card and money away and said as he left, "Go back and sleep soon, don't be afraid. If you’re afraid, just call me. "

Chi Xiaoduo watched Xiang Cheng leave. Under the warm street lights on a spring night, Xiang Cheng looked like a lonely traveler.

That night, Chi Xiaoduo shrank into his quilt, using the cotton padding to protect himself. He was shivering a bit, filled with emotions; he switched back and forth between thoughts of horror and romance, and it was about to split his personality apart. In the middle of the night, he sat up again, feeling that he was going crazy.

There were yao in this world? What was a yao? If there were yao, did that prove people had souls after they died, and that heaven and hell were also true? Chi Xiaoduo thought that if this was known by the scientific community, it would definitely overturn the new rules of the whole civilized world, and maybe even change society as a whole).

Xiang Cheng was really hot ah. Although he didn’t feel like he met any of his requirements for a blind date, Chi Xiaoduo thought it was necessary to modify his conditions for blind dates now... No, Xiang Cheng was an exorcist. What exactly was going on right now, was he dreaming?

It was spring, so he felt overheated when covered with the quilt, but he was also cold when he kicked it off, so Chi Xiaoduo rolled around on the bed and hugged the quilt to him. His mind was full of Xiang Cheng's voice, and when exhaustion finally took over, he fell asleep. Unexpectedly, he didn’t dream that night.

Xiang Cheng went back to the men's club, washed his feet, opened the locker door, and put the red rope back inside. With the help of the manager and his friends, David had finally taken out the thing in his rectum, and he asked, "How was the guest?"

"A beautiful, kind, and considerate child." Xiang Cheng replied.

"I know." David didn’t know whether to laugh or cry and asked, "The guest wasn’t angry?"

"No.”

"Thank you!"

"Wu." Xiang Cheng replied.

That night, Xiang Cheng was lying in the lower bunk of the bunk bed, holding Chi Xiaoduo's Guangzhou transit card. On the card cover was a chibi picture of Monster Hunter.

The next day, the flowers on the side of the road were in full bloom, and the sun was warm. Chi Xiaoduo was riding his bicycle, and when he passed by the corner, he saw the shop assistant in the bakery, still wearing an apron, and still tall and handsome, with very fair skin. Before, he had thought that the shop assistant was very handsome, but after last night, he felt that he couldn’t ever find anyone more attractive than that Xiang Cheng from last night.

Chi Xiaoduo, with dark circles under his eyes, drank his milk and ate his bread while crouching on top of his bicycle, his entire face completely exhausted.

"How was the cake yesterday?" The shop assistant asked with a smile.

"Delicious." Chi Xiaoduo replied, thinking that last night was really comparable to a night in an American blockbuster. His initial shock had already gradually subsided, and these strange facts already couldn’t cause him too much surprise. Instead, he was now filled with boundless curiosity. First he made a psychological decree for himself: he could never reveal this matter to others, or else Xiang Cheng might be harmed or killed.

Secondly...should he give him a call? There should be more to this matter, right?

The shop assistant asked, "Did you not sleep well? Spring has too many disturbances. "

"Spring disturbances ne." Chi Xiaoduo wanted to cry but had no tears. He pedaled his bicycle and went to work.

When passing the traffic lights, a moped stopped beside him. The man driving the moped was wearing a strange helmet.

Chi Xiaoduo was crouched on his bicycle, one hand holding the milk he was drinking. The man next to him turned to look at him and nodded.

Chi Xiaoduo: “?”

The man took off his leather gloves, made a strange gesture with his fingers, and as if doing hypnosis, waved his fingers in front of Chi Xiaoduo twice. Then he took out a snuff bottle from his jacket and opened it up.

Chi Xiaoduo: “???”

Chi Xiaoduo was caught unaware by the scattered powder, choked, fell into a panic, and sneezed.

"Excuse me." The man riding the moped put away his snuff bottle, put his hands together and gave a slight bow to Chi Xiaoduo. The red light turned green, the cars stopped, the bicycle crossed the road using the pedestrian walk, and the moped drove away.

Chi Xiaoduo was puzzled and shook his head violently. He felt as if he had forgotten something, but he couldn’t remember what. What exactly was this important matter? However, since he had already forgotten it, he naturally couldn’t remember what he had forgotten. Chi Xiaoduo thought hard for a while and was finally convinced by his own logic, so he stopped worrying about it and rode away.

All day long, Chi Xiaoduo was absent-minded, feeling as though he had indulged too much in carnal affairs. He was wondering whether to call Xiang Cheng or not, but Xiang Cheng said to only call him if he was afraid, so would it annoy him if he just randomly called him? Last night... No, why would he be afraid? What would he be afraid of?

Chi Xiaoduo's thoughts grew confused. Wang Ren had invited him to get his feet washed and get a massage and an oil massage. Chi Xiaoduo thought Xiang Cheng was really hot! His thoughts were like monkeys jumping around and wild horses running. Was Xiang Cheng gay? He didn’t look like he was. Chi Xiaoduo thought of the scene when Xiang Cheng was putting on the bathrobe and when Xiang Cheng had left by himself after sending him home. He had really wanted to pounce on him then and embrace him.

Wait, didn't he just leave after the massage yesterday? Chi Xiaoduo remembered; how could Xiang Cheng then come to send him home? It should be that he had some kind of dream and confused his memory with that.