When Grandpa woke up again, Ji Huan told Grandpa about his decision.
The horned monster raised its head strenuously, as if its eyes with layers of gray film looked over, seemingly asking, “Little flower, are you not going to college?”
Ji Huan was silent for a moment and placed Hei Dan in front of him. Hei Dan rolled into Grandpa’s arms and stuffed a piece of green candy into Grandpa’s mouth. The horned monster rattled its mouth for a long time but it could not taste anything. Alas, Ji Huan discovered the odds and finally peeled off the sugar wrapper, which made Grandpa tasted the sweetness of candy.
Nestled in the neck of Grandpa, Hei Dan snorted with a smile.
“Grandpa, don’t worry, I don’t think he would lie to us, we…have nothing for him to scam either.” Knowing the worries in Grandpa’s heart, Ji Huan whispered.
“Yesterday, he signed a vow with me. He said he would not harm our family.”
“In addition, he also said that he would provide us with a place to live there. The levels of surrounding monsters are about the same as Grandpa. Grandpa, you have to get better as soon as possible. When the time comes, we will have to rely on Grandpa.” Ji Huan then told Grandpa, and himself, one after another about the information of “that world”, which he got from Ah Jin in the past few days.
Knowing nothing about “the other world”, the weak horned monster could only lick its two cubs.
However, from that day onwards, he was consciously eating a little more than before. When he got there, he still needed to protect his grandson and great-grandson. How could he not get better?
Putting the black egg in Grandpa’s room, Ji Huan ran outside to get down to business.
What’s said needed to be done, he really began to fulfill his vow and began to take good care of Ah Jin.
At his point of view, his whole family was rescued by Ah Jin, not to mention arranging a place for the future without second thought. He felt that he should give back to each other. After making tea every day and cleaning the tea set, he found that the food he made was suitable for Ah Jin’s taste. After Ji Huan simply prepared a portion for Ah Jin every time he cooked, it was more particular than Grandpa’s big pot of rice, and Ah Jin would eat some occasionally. Most of the time, he did not touch it at all, even then he had never been short of side dishes from Ah Jin’s side.
In addition, Ji Huan took the initiative to undertake all the cleaning work in the house. Before that, many people were there only to serve Ah Jin alone. Now, all of them had withdrawn, so Ji Huan took the initiative to take over all the work. Fortunately, he did not have to worry about the entire house as he would only focus on the small courtyard where they lived.
Ah Jin did not speak anything, but it seemed Ah Jin was satisfied with what he did.
Ji Huan then worked harder.
Grandpa got better day by day, and the wounds on his body began to heal slowly. Every day, he could even turn into a human form for a while!
However, the opposite of Grandpa’s situation was Ah Jin, who was increasingly debilitating.
Tea leaves could not even hide the rancid smell on his body.
At the same time, the movements of the monsters outside the small courtyard grew active.
Grandpa and Hei Dan were anxious. For a moment, the calmest people in the yard were Ji Huan and Ah Jin instead.
“All of you go out together today.” On that day, when Ji Huan was out for routine shopping, Ah Jin suddenly looked down and said, “You all go. Although the injury of Callas isn’t healed completely, he is still stronger than you. You can carry more things when you go together.”
“Buy what all of you wanted to bring today. After this, you can’t go out anymore.”
Only then did Ji Huan realized, before he knew it, it was already the last second day of the twenty eight days!
Suddenly widened his eyes, Ah Jin stretched out his hand, and there were two more credit cards between his two fingers, “Take it to use.”
After meeting Ah Jin’s eyes, Ji Huan was startled. After a while, he took the two cards from Ah Jin’s hand, “Ah Jin, do you have anything you wanted me to bring?”
Ah Jin glanced at him quietly, “No need, but…”
“You must come back before ten o’clock at night. If you are later than that, then don’t come back.”
“…Goodbye.” Packing up the necessities, carried Hei Dan on his back like usual, as Ji Huan bid farewell to Ah Jin.
But this time, Ah Jin did not say goodbye to him and just smiled faintly, then closed his eyes again.
Ji Huan thought, perhaps Ah Jin meant to give him the last chance to leave.
If he wanted to stay in the human world, that’s good. Since the three of them left, it would be better to just continue leaving. Ah Jin gave them three credit cards after all.
If they still decided to go with him, then they would come back within the time limit.
Ji Huan did not know the reason, but he had a hunch, that the so-called twenty-eight days, in fact, a countdown for Ah Jin to leave on the twenty-eighth day.
If nothing happened, then today would be their last day there.
With Grandpa and Hei Dan, Ji Huan went to the town next door to buy the necessary supplies he memorized in his heart as quickly as possible. Realizing that today was the last day, he did not buy a lot of Grandpa’s food, but bought the supplies that he calculated for a long time which were needed after moving to a new place. He thought very carefully. With his head as a needle and his brain as the thread, he prepared all kinds of stock medicines. After that, it would be Hei Dan’s supplies. The two of them left the big-brain of the essential items to Hei Dan. Aside from milk powder, calcium tablets and rice noodles, Ji Huan did not know whether if there would chickens, so he just bought a basket of them. Farm eggs in small areas were small, but they looked delicious at first glance.
As the plan was made on the road, it did not take much time to buy those things. It was still too early to return to Bade Town, so they decided to go there for the last time.
Carrying big and small bags, Ji Huan held Hei Dan and walked with Grandpa on the empty road in Bade Town.
The town that was not so prosperous, yet lively, had quickly waned once there was no one there.
The surroundings were quiet, only Ji Huan’s footsteps.
Grandpa had no foot-stepping sounds.
Padump,padump.
“Little flower, why not, we don’t leave?” Grandpa suddenly said, “That big monster asked the three of us to leave today on purpose, right?”
Grandpa was not confused at all.
Padump, padump. It was the sound of Ji Huan’s footsteps continued moving forward.
Then, the footsteps stopped, and Ji Huan suddenly spoke,
“Grandpa, I thought of it for a while, growing up so big, is this the first time we walk together in an upright manner?”
The horned monster was startled.
“It’s also the first time I walk down the street with Hei Dan in my arms.”
“I wanted both of you to walk on the road with integrity in the future, that’s it.”
“So, I’m going.”
The horned monster was stunned again. He lowered his head and waited for a long time before raising his head and said, “Then, let’s go together.”
Smiles appeared on their faces. Although Hei Dan did not understand why Grandpa and Uncle laughed, Hei Dan accompanied them, laughing.
————
The hour hand had pointed to “ten”, and the minute hand would reach “twelve” in five minutes. It seemed that it was almost ten o’clock. However, the group of three generations had not come back. Ah Jin was lying on the big bed in the bedroom, squinting.
After all, he was left alone.
The corner of his mouth rose slightly. Just when he was about to close his eyes, the bedroom sliding door was opened all of a sudden, and a horned monster rushed in with a young man on his back! Aside from the boy on his shoulder, he also had… a pig held in his left arm?
“Sorry! Because we came back very early, so we went to our old house to clean up the relics. When we planned to return, we found Big White on the mountain… It’s my family’s pig. May I, take the pig?” Just before the horned monster put the pig down, Ji Huan began explaining, pointing to the big white pig that was tied around its neck by a rope and obediently following his pig. He said with a little confidence, “We didn’t buy too much. I don’t know if three people and one pig… Ah Jin, can you carry it on your back…”
Ah Jin thought, ‘…Did he think that I was going to another world with their family on his back?’
Ji Huan’s suddenly stopped speaking, and only he noticed that at that moment, Ah Jin’s expression was very bad.
Although his face had always been pale, he had never been so lifeless as he was at that time.
Just when Ji Huan was uneasy, he saw Ah Jin’s sudden smile.
It was not the usual smile, but a big laugh. He laughed so hard that he coughed up a bloody rotten flesh.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” Ah Jin took out a handkerchief from under the pillow and gently wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
But… you don’t look good———— Ji Huan’s expression clearly spoke those words.
Just when he looked hesitant, Ah Jin suddenly pointed his finger at the corridor in front of him, “If you want to take away, put it on the floor of the corridor in front of my bedroom. Please take note that it must be placed on the floor in the corridor that you usually cleaned, not anywhere else.”
Naturally, Ji Huan was no stranger to the place he had cleaned up for a few months. He took a look at Ah Jin, then took Grandpa, carried Hei Dan on his back and Big White with the other hand and walked to the designated area. He let Grandpa stood with Big White as he went to the next room for a few more times. It did not take long for him to pack up some big baggage and put all the stuff together. Then, Ji Huan stood beside Grandpa and stopped moving.
“Okay, stay there, all of you can sit down. After that, don’t move anymore.” Pointing to the floor of the corridor, Ah Jin emphasized again, “From now on, don’t leave your area a single step. If anything happens, don’t leave.”
“Alright, now, you can close the sliding door.” Ah Jin said softly, closing his eyes.
Ji Huan closed the door for Ah Jin as he said. In an instant, the inside and outside of the house were separated as if they were two worlds.
One in the light, another in the darkness.
There was no light in the house, which was a hundred miles wide, except for the faint light in Ah Jin’s bedroom.
In the cool corridor, the horned monster turned into a normal size and held his grandson and great-grandson tightly in his arms. He also hooked the family’s property with his tail: a few big baggages and a big white pig.
Staring at the digital watch on his wrist, Ji Huan started a countdown.
He knew that the time to leave was approaching.
It got windy————
Ji Huan noticed that Grandpa’s drooping beard suddenly fluttered, and moved his gaze from the dial of the digital watch to the front. Ji Huan found that the leaves of the trees in the yard shook slightly.
First, it was a soft rustle. Then, it was a violent shake!
The surface of the calm pool water suddenly oscillated in circles as Ji Huan immediately felt the floor underneath him began to tremble.
Grandpa’s claws that surrounded them clenched harder and the small body of Hei Dan, buried in his arms started to rumble.
It’s time————
There was a shock in his heart as Ji Huan immediately lifted his spirits.
He instinctively looked up.
He was a human being and he should have seen nothing, but at that moment, he suddenly raised his head, knowing that something had jumped in from outside.
He was right————
Along with the loud cracking sound, the roof above Ji Huan’s head shattered! At the same time—
“Kachak“!
Accompanied by a damp muffled sound, a stench full of rust came through the room.
Ji Huan turned his head under Grandpa in horror. At some point, two shadows were projected on the blank paper door. One of the shadows was thin and looked like a human being, while the other was quite huge, extending out its claws, shackling the human under him tightly. The shadow of the huge head clung to the shadow of the human, and bit him!
Ji Huan’s slender eyes suddenly widened!
That huge shadow gnawed down on the body of the human underneath, the human being did not move at all, as if it was dead…
However, at that moment, just when Ji Huan struggled on whether he needed to rush in, or what he could do when he rushed in, something unexpected happened: The monster’s head suddenly disappeared!
A black liquid slammed onto the paper door in front of Ji Huan, and he was taken aback. After that, Ji Huan watched the huge shadow disappear little by little…
It was not the kind of disappearance that turned into black ash. It was like being eaten, and with the noises of scalp numbing dampness and the sound of decomposition, the body of the monster disappeared little by little.
Just after it disappeared, under it, a thin, human shadow suddenly sat up.
Ah Jin————
Ji Huan forgot to turn his head.
Before he returned to his senses, with the sound of the other half of the roof collapsing, another huge monster came in from outside, and then the third and fourth…
Just as countless monsters kept pouring in, the land where Ji Huan was located began to shake violently. He heard the sound of cracks in the ground, and it began to sink.
No way! The ground was really sinking!
At that moment, Ji Huan found that the surroundings suddenly lit up. They were not lights. Ji Huan had no idea what the light was. Those lights were lit up at the same time, row by row, very orderly. They looked like a complicated pattern arranged in all directions of the house, and when they rose, they were no longer just dots of light. Light curtain! They constituted into blocks of light curtain!
It was not only limited to the small red-walled courtyard he was currently in, but a larger area, separated by a distant wall, a huge light curtain covered the entire courtyard!
Huge invisible monsters appeared in sizes on the light curtains one after another, howling in pain, as they flew towards Ah Jin’s bedroom behind Ji Huan.
No… It might be inappropriate to say “flew”. “Sucked”, they were “sucked” towards the bedroom.
The entire courtyard looked like a huge light array, and Ah Jin’s bedroom behind him was the “eyes” of the entire array. The monsters which had been waiting outside the light array were “sucked” into Ah Jin’s room.
Ji Huan felt that he heard howling sounds.
It was loud, overlapping with painful screeches…
Grandpa was holding itself and trembled uncontrollably, Ji Huan held Grandpa’s arm tightly, comforting him silently.
No matter how big the bedroom was, there was no room for that many monsters. It did not take long for the room behind Ji Huan to finally reach its limit as it could not bear the impact and crashed to the ground. What was happening in the room finally appeared before Ji Huan’s eyes.
Countless monsters were wailing, their heads were still howling, but their bodies had long been dismembered, floating in that room in a scattered manner as their bodies disappeared piece by piece. Ji Huan immediately realized that they were being “eaten”.
This was the most brutal eating scene Ji Huan had ever seen.
Hei Dan in his arms and Grandpa on his body both closed their eyes tightly. Big White had already passed out. Ji Huan thought he would be unable to hold on, but the fact was that he was still holding onto himself, finding it hard to blink. He witnessed the invisible creature in the air eating the last monster.
The last drop of blood dripped from mid-air, and Ji Huan knew that the creature had finished its meal.
A powerful coercion enveloped him!
Staring at a certain direction in the room, Ji Huan remained motionless.
He could not hear the other person’s footsteps. However, he knew that the other person was heading towards him.
One step, two steps, three steps…
An icy palm suddenly fell on his shoulder. Ji Huan looked pale and raised his head. That was when he saw the sudden appearance of Ah Jin’s face in the air.
His body was clean and there were no traces of blood. Ah Jin’s naked body walked towards steadily. All the rotten skin and flesh on his body had grown. Although he was extremely thin, he looked no different from a normal person now.
However, at that moment, Ah Jin gave Ji Huan the thought of ”This is not a human being” for the first time.
Before, even Ah Jin himself admitted that he was a monster, but to Ji Huan, Ah Jin still looked like a human being up until now.
With astonishing aura all over his body, Ah Jin held Ji Huan’s wrist and looked directly at him with his jet black eyes,
“I’ve let you waited a long time. Now, we can leave.”