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Chapter 51: Truth
by Yue Xia Sang
“You, when will you die?” Staring closely at Ah Jin, Ji Huan suddenly asked.
This way of asking was so direct to the point of being rude that it made Ah Jin smile when he heard it.
“I thought so before: you… are really a blunt person.” His pure white fingers stroking his chin, Ah Jin turned to look at the courtyard scenery in front of him: “To the best of my knowledge, many people have wanted to know the answer to that question, but I didn’t like the way they asked it. In comparison, it seems that a blunt approach is more likely to move a person like me.”
He seemed to be thinking out loud.
After a moment, Ah Jin suddenly turned his head and when he did, he wasn’t smiling. His face was wan and his dark eyes were somewhat frightening.
“28 days. I will still be in this world for 28 days.”
“This world? Later… are you going to another world?” Ji Huan was still looking at him seriously and Hei Dan had also quietly stretched out of his arms. At first glance, the expressions on the uncle and nephew were identical!
Ah Jin paused for a moment before unexpectedly praising him again.
“You really are a person who’s surprisingly good at picking up keywords.”
Ji Huan just looked at him intently, and after he finished talking, he asked again: “What is a gaiguanren?”
Before he fell unconscious, he remembered Ah Jin mentioning the word gaiguanren. At first, he thought it was a dream because he couldn’t hear at the time, but with Ah Jin mentioning “death” now, he couldn’t help thinking that that word wasn’t actually something that he had imagined.
“You even heard that? Your recovery ability is pretty good.” Ah Jin smiled again and raised his eyebrows as he looked at Hei Dan in Ji Huan’s embrace. Noticing that Ah Jin’s gaze had suddenly fallen on him, Hei Dan hastily pulled back into his uncle’s arms again.
“It seems like that little guy cries often at home.” Only those who often heard a devil’s high-pitched frequency could not only keep their hearing, but also recover quickly from a devil’s voice attack. Currently, it seemed like only that speculation was somewhat accurate.
“That’s right.” Ji Huan patted Hei Dan who had started to tremble again. Under his pacification, Hei Dan’s head rose up again.
“Gaiguanren, to speak bluntly, are grave goods. They need someone to watch me die.” Ah Jin glanced at Hei Dan again and this time, Hei Dan was very strong and didn’t pull his head back.
“They?” Ji Huan picked up another keyword.
“Mmn, the people who lived with me before. They provided me with a house and I provided them with money and protection.”
“Is, is it your family?” Providing a home, money and safety, wasn’t that family?
“…” Ah Jin shook his head: “Not really. They’re scared of me and want me to die.”
Ji Huan didn’t say anything.
However, Ah Jin didn’t seem to care about that in the slightest and as if he had opened on an interesting topic, he continued to speak by himself: “That Callas, oh, maybe I should call him grandfather out of respect? He was bitten by one of the devils they raised.
Humans were really troublesome and raised anything. Even… daring to raise anything.
But I’m guessing that it was merely an accident that the devil bit your grandfather. They were raising it in order to test me.”
“Test?” For someone who didn’t know anything about devils before, Ah Jin’s words were a little difficult to understand.
“Ha, the Wang Family are descendants of the people I lived with all those years ago. They love to raise devils, and they also know the most about the character of devils. When they discovered that a great many devils were starting to converge in the place I lived, they knew I was dying.”
Ah Jin smiled:
“Then, more and more devils were attacking me.”
“And then, they looked for a residence and sent me here to die.”
“Sounds like a story of unfilial children abandoning their elders after they fell ill,” Ji Huan said in a low voice.
“Mmn, it really seems like such a story,” Ah Jin agreed with a beaming smile: “A little melodramatic, isn’t it?”
After being silent for a few moments, Ji Huan lifted his head again. He looked at the man next to him and asked seriously:
“Okay, you deliberately told the others that you were dying, let them establish you in a home here, made everyone leave which left just me, someone who didn’t know anything… so that you could leave this world in 28 days, right?”
The smile on Ah Jin’s face was still there, but this time, his smile was much different than before. He wasn’t sure what was different, but…
Ji Huan watched, his scalp tingling.
“You really are a surprising person,” Ah Jin concluded.
“As for the answer to your question…”
“The answer is still ‘yes.'”
Ah Jin spoke while he stood up. As he moved, Ji Huan could almost hear the roars of countless devils from all directions. They paid so much attention to Ah Jin’s every move, just like a wild beast protecting its food.
Hei Dan’s small body started to tremble again.
Ji Huan watched as Ah Jin slowly walked to the edge of the courtyard’s pond. Huge ripples erupted from the tranquil surface of water, and suddenly! Something leaped out of the water. Ji Huan could only watch as huge waves drew out of the pond. All the water in the pond seemed to change into a bulky water dragon that rushed from the pond towards the sky before rushing back down towards Ah Jin.
It was too late—
Ji Huan opened his mouth and had just stood up when Ah Jin suddenly moved at the same time. To be more specific, it was his right hand that moved.
His right hand made a familiar gesture in the air by lightly grabbing the air, then flicking it…
The huge water dragon instantly exploded in the air.
Along with faint gray ash, dense rain came down in the courtyard.
“When I’m about to die in twenty-eight days, all the devils will rush towards here. I will absorb all of them, gather all the power of the devils, then depart from here.”
“This world will have no more devils.”
“Of course, considering that we have a minor friendship, I’ll let off those two devils by your side. However, you have to choose to let me take them away. There’s plenty of food there and in the beginning, I’ll take care of them to ensure that they can regain the ability to live independently before they leave.”
“Keep them or let me take them away. Which will you choose?”
The rain was heavy and Ji Huan became soaked going to pull Ah Jin out of it. However, Ah Jin, who had experienced most of the downpour in the center of the courtyard, was exceptionally dry. There was only some black ash on his shoulder.
The two people stood in the courtyard, looking at each other, and for a time, the courtyard was silent. No bird song, no insects, no human voices.
It was as if the entire world had put in a vacuum.
TL Notes
none!
Author Comments
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(a very rough TL)
[Doodle] One day, the rich landowner Ah Jin wanted to watch Xiao Hua dance, but Xiao Hua refused.
Ah Jin carelessly breathed out a high level devil.
The brave, fearless Hei Dandan immediately volunteered to take his uncle’s place and danced the “Spinning Egg” dance, the only dance he could do.
The background music started…
“Spin and jump, I close my eyes.
(Aunt) Are you satisfied with your unseen arrogance?
White lightning and black night, I won’t stop.
No one can see Hei Dan’s sorrow and joy…”
This doodle portrays what Hei Dan’s life will probably be like someday.
A day in the life of my egg (Uncle) and aunt (presumably Ah Jin). every day is an abyss of suffering
2333333 (means laughter)
See you after the author signing!
There will be even more compensation, cough. If I’m late today because of the author signing, there will be more done in ahead of time…
(My humble self is really astute~ Uh huh!)”