Volume 5 - CH 6

Location: Taiwan

Time: 5:11 am

That night, I had a weird dream. In the dream, I was surrounded by darkness with just one small path to take in that darkness, and the end of the path was lit very brightly.

I headed towards the light, after I walked out of the unknown depth of the small path. On the other side of the light, I saw another person.

It was someone whom I was most familiar with, but his current look wasn’t the same as usual.

Standing in the light was senior wearing his usual black robe, but he was different from usual. His red hair similar to blood, like fire being blown about by the wild wind, and bloody-red eyes were looking at the other side of the light.

He didn’t look at me directly, giving off an abnormally cold feeling. I don’t know how to describe it, it just felt something was not right.

From the bright light, something flew over. It had wings, it looked like a very big bird. Its whole body was shining, so I couldn’t make out how it actually looked like. The only thing I saw was it was perched on senior’s arm.

The surrounding was very cold.

The body of the bird-looking thing started getting brighter, slowly causing the surrounding scene to materialize.

It was a natural underground cave.

A place I’ve been to before. As cold as hell, it was the place where the Elfin clan’s biggest taboo, the Ghost King was buried.

Senior and I were standing next to the river, when suddenly, senior expressionlessly looked at the bottom of the river. Remembering the corpse of the Ghost King was at the bottom, and he had even resurrected once.

Curiously, I carefully moved my body, tiptoed, and looked into the water. Perhaps in this life, the thing I regretted the most was looking at the thing under the water.

“Chu, wake up.”

Still yet to have woken up and groggy, I was suddenly pulled up. With slapping sounds, I felt severe pain on both my cheeks.

Woken up due to fright, opening my eyes wide, I saw Senior pulling my collar, and his other hand was held up high. It was obviously the action of an assailant.

Boss, if I didn’t wake up, you intended to give me a few more slaps, right?

“Wh-what is it?” I immediately covered my cheeks with both my hands, afraid he would suddenly lose patience and give me another two slaps. Only God knows how strong senior’s hand was. If I was to be slapped a few more times by him, my flat face would most probably turn into a swollen face. I was sleeping so deeply and was suddenly slapped awake. I guess if the person who was slapped wasn’t me but the five-colored rooster head, it would have probably turned into let us go out and have a life and death battle, or I won’t give up until one of us dies.

Senior loosen his grip, and jumped off my bed as light as a cat, not making any sound at all. “What did you dream of just now?” He straightened his messy clothes and long hair; it looked like he also just woke up.

I looked at the sky outside the French window, which was a dim dark blue. It was still very early.

It was raining heavily outside, and the entire French window was covered with raindrops. From the debrises that were continuously flying past, one could guess the wind was very strong, too. However, this place was soundproofed, so I couldn’t hear anything.

“What did you dream of just now?” Senior stood beside my bed and asked again.

What did I dream of just now?

“Nothing much, just dreamt of the whatchamacallit Ghost King’s tomb, the place we visited before.” I didn’t know why senior wanted to ask because I often had weird dreams, and this was not the first time. But having said that, I looked down, and saw something I thought I shouldn’t have seen. Why was it that when I woke up, I completely forgotten what the thing was?

Opps, I can’t possibly have Alzheimer, right?

Senior, who was standing beside my bed, slowly lifted up his hand, and only then did I see his hand holding on to a small black object. It kept on struggling and moving about, but it couldn’t escape from senior’s grasp, “This thing is called a dream-eating ghost. It generally eats dreams with power.”

“Dreams with power?” What’s that? Sleeping halfway and the soul would leave the body?

“For example, precognitive dreams, real dreams, cursed dreams, murderous cursed dreams; those kind of stuff.” Senior frowned and then he tightened his fingers. The small black thing issued a small thin sharp sound and was completely exterminated with not the slightest ashes left behind, “Dream-eating ghosts are harmful. If you continue letting it eat the dreams with power, you’ll be lucky enough to get away with just being exhausted after waking up. In worse case scenario, you might not wake up forever, but you won’t be dreaming anymore either.”

I was stunned for a while, and then I started breaking out in cold sweat.

After entering the school, I have found that I seem to often inadvertently be in the midst of some strange crisis.

“Dream-eating ghosts are rarely seen, I guess it might be due to the typhoon’s natural phenomena causing a certain degree of influence.” While walking towards the bottom bed of the high ceilinged staircase, Senior yawned, “Suddenly running in, causing me wake up, and catch it before I had enough sleep…” An absolute complaining tone.

In fact, I think I should be the one who had the more right to complain.

Senior woke up due to that thing coming in, while I was slapped until I woke up. No matter how I thought about it, I feel my process was much more painful.

The room’s light was suddenly turned on, and the entire interior was immediately very bright, causing my eyes to hurt.

Senior walked around downstairs, and I heard the sound of water in the bathroom; he should be bathing.

I covertly closed my eyes for a while again, only to wake up after.

“You want to call for room service for breakfast?” After he finished organizing his clothes, senior dug out some toasts and milk from the small kitchen downstairs, and threw the toasts into the oven. He then carried the milk out of the kitchen into the small living room downstairs and sat down on the sofa.

Looking at senior’s action of eating breakfast, for some reason, I suddenly had a feeling of being a little relieved.

This means the whatchamacallit Beast of Scroll we will seeing in the evening should be easy to deal with, or else senior wouldn’t be eating.

“It’s fine, eating bread is enough.” Only God knows how much money will be spent by someone else when calling for room service.

I jumped down from the soft bed, folded the blanket, went down the stairs, and the fragrant smell of toast drifted from below.

The room was really worthy of being called a Superior Suite, even the bread smells so nice.

“It’s in the kitchen, go and get it yourself. It looks like there’s also spice bags.” Senior turned on the television, and news was being broadcasted in the channel. It was currently broadcasting about the matters of the typhoon, and it also talked about school and work being halted.

The wind outside was really very strong. I took a look at the window outside, the sky was still so dark, and walked back into the kitchen.

The small kitchen was perfectly equipped. Yesterday after entering the room, I immediately rushed to take a bath and slept, so I didn’t realize it. Almost everything could be found inside, from a refrigerator to a gas stove, an exhaust hood, an oven, a microwave, and etcetera — almost all the kitchen utensils were available. The small refrigerator was stuffed with ingredients, almost all of them were fresh and were just restocked. It looks like they were regularly replaced, the bread were placed at one side, very soft, sealed inside a plastic bag. I guess it was just made not too long ago.

Can it be that before I woke up, the hotel staff sneaked in here and changed all the ingredients to the freshest ones available?

I opened another closet, and inside were some instant food and cans of beverages, which I could use to immediately brew or cook something to eat.

The quality of the instant food was too high, making me very afraid to open it. Thus, without taking even a second, I immediately put it back to its original spot. The oven’s light went out, and I remembered senior toasted some bread earlier. I found plates, took out the bread, took one slice and put it on the places. “Senior, which bread spread do you want?” I opened the cupboard and inside were several bottles of sealed jams, covered with labels written in languages I couldn’t read. The only thing I could identify were bottles advertising it as a natural handmade jam.

“Anything would do.” Senior didn’t even turn his head as he continued to stare at the TV. However, it was only broadcasting about the typhoon, what’s so interesting about it?

I would see this a few times every year, and I was very accustomed to seeing it already.

When I took out two slices of bread and walked out of the kitchen, senior suddenly turned off the TV, “Typhoon really attracts some unnecessary stuff.”

Nevertheless, I absolutely didn’t want to ask what it attracted… since I could probably guess the answer to the question.

“I’ve opened the orange marmalade.” Putting the plates on the table, the aroma of the jam immediately spread throughout the entire space, and I immediately felt a sense of extreme hunger.

“Nn.” Senior nodded and his hair fell. He tucked his hair behind his ear, picked up the bread and lightly took a bite. The action was elegant to the extreme, causing me to not dare to start wolfing down the food; not unleashing my usual ability of eating half of the bread in one bite.

One slice of bread wasn’t enough to fill my stomach, especially since the bread provided by the hotel was so fragrant and soft. Even after being toasted, it was still so crisp and crunchy, and it immediately melted in my mouth. Together with the fragrant handmade jam, it was a type of deliciousness of the human’s world. After finishing the bread on the plate, I still haven’t had enough. I wonder if senior still wants to eat some more?

“Getting your own portion is enough.” Senior, who had only finished half of his bread, glanced at me and said.

“Oh, alright.”

When I stood up, I suddenly heard the sound of some kind of bell-like music — it was the sound of the phone ringing near the table.

Senior, who was the nearest, bent his body and picked up the handset, “Nn? We didn’t call for it.” He frowned slightly, hung up the phone, and stared at me with his red eyes, “Chu, go and open the door. The hotel sent breakfast.”

Huh? I thought we didn’t call for room service?

“They came themselves.”

Came themselves?

After walking out of the room, partly feeling puzzled, I opened the door. I really saw a waiter pushing a trolley standing at the door’s entrance.

It was similar to the waiters seen in movies. The waiter had excellent posture, carrying a platter with a silver cover which he took from the trolley, and walked inside the room. His action was elegant and neat, the platter he was holding didn’t tilt even the slightest. Behind him were two other people also carrying platters in a similar manner.

“This is the entertainment special meal from the chairman of the hotel. It’s the chef’s masterpiece, please do try and enjoy it.” The waiter’s voice wasn’t too loud nor too soft. It was very polite, making him give off a feeling of being very approachable, “The chairman knows you don’t like to be disturbed, so he instructed us to send this small token of his mind to welcome you.”

Senior glanced at the person without too much of a change in his expression, “Help me to thank the chairman. Before leaving, I will help him to carefully look around the hotel as thanks.”

The waiter thanked him again, and then he indicated to the other two people to put the two platters on the table before he left.

Looking at the chain of actions similar to some sort of scenes, I dumbly closed the door, looking at the platters on the table.

“Chu, come over and eat. Leaving it here would be wasteful.” Senior exhaled, and then he took off the round cover.

At that second, I was once again blinded by the sight of the food inside. I suddenly felt the toasted bread was more suitable for me.

Under the cover was a big plate of exquisite meal. On top of the lotus leaf was a pot of healthy porridge, which looks extremely expensive, and beside it were some high class side dishes. The entire meal was shining brightly, so high class that I didn’t dare to eat it. Opening the other two platters, were also highly expensive meals, and they came with glass tableware for two; towels and what-not, everything was available.

So this is the legendary morning life of the rich. Very, oh so, frightening.

“I, I’d better go and toast my bread.” Seeing one of the plates of white slices of cake included with the breakfast where the top was sprinkled with golden foil, I immediately stopped moving.

“You’d better come here and eat.” Senior issued a final and ultimate warning.

I immediately rushed towards the seat opposite him and sat down obediently. So fragrant, the entire breakfast was very fragrant.

“Take your time and eat. I want to go out for a walk later.” Senior filled his own bowl with porridge and put it on the table.

A walk? I never thought senior had a habit of walking around hotels.

“I want to go out to see if there are any unclean things around here.” Red eyes ferociously glared at me, “Considered as a repayment for the breakfast.”

Oh God… one meal of breakfast was probably more than a thousand dollar, and it only requires you to walk around the hotel.

I suddenly felt Black Robes were really non-humans.

“So talkative!” A warning sound could be heard once again.

I coughed once, picked up the cutlery, and lowered my head, not daring to think of anymore nonsense, or else, it would probably hurt a lot if the pot of porridge was poured on me. Nn… should be so painful that I would die.

* * *

Around eight o’clock, senior, who just finished walking around the hotel, didn’t want to waste time and wanted to immediately set off. And so, I stepped out of the hotel entrance.

A piece of sign with XXX Fitness Center written on it flew past right in front of me, issuing “clang, clang, clang” sounds, turned around three times, before it flew off to an even further place.

The typhoon… is too strong, right.

It can’t be that actual the legendary tornado had finally come!?

“In this kind of weather, if you want to use teleportation charm, you need to be very careful.” Senior looked at the storm, suddenly opened his mouth and said calmly, “I remembered last year there was a similar student from this world, and due to wanting to show off in front of his friends, he used the teleportation charm during a typhoon. In the end, he was interfered with by the weather’s fluctuations, and he was entirely embedded inside the wall and couldn’t escape. It was the medical team who heard of his situation and went to save him before the matter got solved.

I looked at the second signboard flying past, with “clang, clang” sounds, it flew past and disappeared at the other end.

“Senior, you don’t have to worry. I definitely won’t use teleportation charm during a typhoon.” I don’t want to show off because I have self-awareness of me being a very unlucky guy. Also, I currently don’t have the wish to become more acquainted with the people in the medical team. Other than that, there was another main point, which was: there was no one who wants to see me show off, but there’s a whole lot of people who would want to see me being unlucky.

“What I wanted to say is not this.” Red eyes glanced at me, “For charms and similar things, when you’re going to use them, you’ll need to take into account the factors of the climate. Because they are fixed formula storage type of incantations, it’s very easy for problems to occur due to the environment’s factors.”

I found out that senior currently seemed to be saying his thoughts due to his emotions.

Two signboards and a tree flew past in front of us, the boss was still very carefree while he slowly explained to me.

Now I’m very afraid we would be the ones to fly out the next second.

“First, I’ll send you back. Don’t forget tonight we still need to go and see the Beast of Scroll and also the job you accepted.”

Uh, was it considered as a job I accepted…?

“It was you who accepted it.” Senior soon added an affirmative sentence, “Don’t worry. Similar to the Beast of Scroll, when dealing with it, I’ll be by your side, so no one would die.”

Alright, since no one’s going to die.

“Oh right, senior, where are you going then?” I heard him say he would send me back first, and would pick me up in the evening to see the Beast of Scroll, so what will he be doing for the remaining time?

“Nowhere, probably just passing the time somewhere in the vicinity.”

Passing the time? To be honest, it’s very hard for me to imagine senior’s so-called passing the time.

With a “bam”, senior rewarded the back of my head with a punch, “We’re already at your house.”

I was unconsciously already standing under the canopy of my house’s entrance. Outside was still very windy and stormy, a bunch of broken branches were chaotically flying all around.

I suddenly realized this scene was very familiar. It was similar to the time when I first met senior.

However, the other time when senior sent me back, I didn’t see him using teleportation charm because he used shifting array.

The mystery was solved.

Just when I was about to press the doorbell, the door suddenly open.

This kind of situation could only be seen when I’m in the school. Generally I would just pretend I saw a ghost, but if I saw this in my home, it was very terrifying.

I was only away from home for two months, and my house had already leveled up into a ghost house?

“Why are you standing outside?”

The person who opened the door was actually my older sister. After more than two months of not seeing her, I don’t know why but I suddenly had a sense of salvation.

After coming back home from another planet, one would probably have a sense of nostalgia.

“Are you delirious? You only thought of coming home during a typhoon, and you were hit by a signboard, right?” For over two months, Chu Ming Yue’s mouth was still so poisonous while she using a looking-at-a-neuropath kind of gaze to look at me. Then, she opened the door, “Come in first, mom was just mentioning you being a bad son for staying outside for two months and didn’t think of calling home even once. She said she’ll be waiting for you to come home and make you regret it, and then you really came back.”

… It’s not that I don’t want to go home. There was just too many things happening, and I was completely in an ultimate status of being in a long story.

“I’ll be leaving first.” Senior wore his cap, pulling it very low.

“The wind and rain outside is very heavy. Do you want to come in and wait until the rain is lighter before leaving?” Unexpectedly, Chu Ming Yue actually called out towards senior and even asked him to stay.

Senior turned around, and looked at my sis.

I don’t know if it was my imagination, but both of them didn’t look like they just met. People who just met would have some rather unfamiliar kind of feeling. However, I couldn’t find the word unfamiliar from the expressions on their faces,.

But, my sis shouldn’t know senior.

Even if senior came to my house before and they had seen each other once or twice, they shouldn’t be able to become close just like that, right?

“Anyway, senior, since you’re not going anywhere specifically, do you want to come to house?” Looking at the wind and rain, it was very heavy, and the shops outside should all be close, so where else could senior go to pass time?

Nowhere, right.

A sound drifted from behind the porch, a voice I was very familiar with, “Yue, who are you talking to? I seemed to have heard Yang Yang’s voice.”

I seemed to have heard the legendary devil’s music resounding. After being absent for a period of time, my mother came on stage again.

* * *

The current location is at my house’s living room.

With my mother on stage, even if senior wanted to leave, he wouldn’t be able to.

“You damn kid still remember to come home! Your mother was thinking you already died in your new school and was buried there. Every night I would be waiting for you to appear in my dreams so I would be able to go and dig up your corpse. I never thought you still knew how to come back home alive!” As soon as I entered the living room, my mother gave me a long string of long-time-no-see opening.

“Because I was busy at school…” I covered my ears, my mom directly roared beside my ears, there was a kind of illusion where I was being hit by lightning.

“Yeah right you’re busy! In the past you were never busy at school, and now you’re telling me you’ve been busy.” My mom couldn’t accept my refutation. With one hand, she grabbed onto my ear and twisted it, “You damn kid, your wings grew and you dislike staying in this boring house. As soon as you left, you went and enjoy yourself everywhere. Your skin got itchy and you couldn’t bear with it, isn’t that right?

“No, no, school really is very busy. Very painful, very painful…”

“You still know what pain is!”

Compared to our noisy corner, the sofa and TV area was really very relaxed. There were two people who had nothing to with this matter each holding onto a mug coupled with my mom’s proudest handmade biscuits, looking like they were in another world.

“You house really is very lively.” Idler number one, senior, said.

“It’s often like this. Although it looked weird, I don’t feel it’s weird anymore. You’ll get used to it after seeing it for a long time.” Idler number two, Chu Ming Yue, answered.

The both of them had identical actions and continued to drink tea.

Hey, hey! At least one of you could come and help persuade her, can’t you!?

After a long while, my mom seemed to have had enough of teaching me a lesson, treated me like a rag, and threw me at one side, allowing me to fend for myself before she thought of the need to greet senior. It’s been two months since I came home, and my weak position in the house seemed to have not disappeared, so miserable…

“The wind and rain is so heavy, how did the two of you come back?”

My mother was feeling suspicious because both senior’s clothes and mine were clean without any trace of mud. It didn’t look like we went out during a typhoon.

“It’s…”

In one second, I rushed over towards senior and covered his mouth, “Just now we were wearing raincoats, but when we reach home, we took it off and they got blown away.” I knew senior wouldn’t mention about the array, but instead of listening to a very supernatural answer, I felt it would be faster if I explained.

Although the answer was very forced.

“Oh.” My mom looked like she was still rather suspicious, but she didn’t ask further.

Smack. Senior slapped my hands, and it even came with a ferocious glare.

“The wind and rain is so heavy, Yang Yang’s senior, do you want to stay here for tonight? Since there’s an empty room in our house for you to sleep in, or would your parents at home worry so you need to call them to ask first?” My mom was very amiable while she asked; she had a totally different expression compared to when she was teaching me a lesson.

After staying over in the hotel yesterday night, I was thinking if asking senior to stay in my house would be rather inconvenience for him?

Senior glanced at me, and I subconsciously felt senior probably wanted to refuse, but it was rather hard to refuse.

“Then, I would be disturbing auntie.” Senior very politely thanked my mother after a few seconds.

“No, no, having more people in the family would be more lively. Oh right, auntie still don’t know your name.” My mom asked the main point.

“…Icy Flame.”

“Such a strange name, the names of the children of this era is getting more and more artistic.” Pausing for a while, my mother looked at the clock in the living room, “Oh right, just now auntie made some lunch. You and Yang Yang should go and wash your hands and face, then you can come and eat lunch after that.”

Then, my mom turned around to face me, changing her face in one second, “Quickly bring your senior to wash his hands, don’t you know any better!?”

Does the difference in treatment have to be so huge?

“Thank you, auntie.” Senior continued to be very polite while thanking her. Then, he dragged me out of the living room and walked towards the corridor.

Now, this is my house, right? So why is it that you seemed to be more familiar with the way compared to me?

When I reached the corridor outside, I suddenly froze for a moment. Was my house so narrow in the past?

The decorations in the corridor haven’t changed, the lightings and pictures haven’t changed either, but for some reason the corridor seemed to be narrower compared to what I remember. It was as if there were some things I couldn’t see were crowding around the corridor.

“You only noticed this now?” Senior glanced at me.

“Uh… there’s really something there?”

Senior nodded, “Normally this would occur more often during summer, especially during typhoons. Actually, a majority of them don’t have any evil intentions and they only came to hide, ignoring them would be fine. As soon as the typhoon ends, they would leave by themselves.” With a there-is-no-big-deal-about-this expression, senior didn’t need me to lead the way and he found the toilet by himself, went in, and washed his hands and face.

He really is very obedient, he actually followed my mom’s instruction… In some ways, senior might actually be abnormally obedient.

“But this is the first time I saw this kind of situation in my house.” Leaning against the bathroom door, I suddenly became suspicious. In the past during typhoons, I didn’t seem to have seen these kinds of change in the corridor. This is still the first time seeing this.

The bathroom’s door was suddenly opened.

“Part of the reason is because you’re currently in the school. Because the school has a barrier as an aid, so the time needed to gain power is much faster compared to other worlds. Figuratively, the power you have before you entered the school, and following this world’s timing, you would probably need about ten years of being washed by the tide before you would be able to see the things in the corridor. And after you’ve entered the school, due to receiving the influence of the barrier’s aid, you most probably needed one month or less to be able to feel the existence of those things.” Senior said faintly. It felt as if he was only stating some knowledge from a book, “So our school would be called as a special ability development school.”

“So it was actually like this…” No wonder I kept feeling strange things were happening more and more often. It turns out it was actually thanks to the school.

The culprit has finally appeared!

With a bam, senior knocked me behind my head.

“If it wasn’t because of that culprit‘s help, could you still continue being safe without anything happening to you until now?”

Now that he mentioned it, that’s pretty true, too.

Since entering the school, my rate of getting injured has been greatly reduced.

Wait a minute, according to what was said, could it be that there was a reason why I was very unlucky and got hurt everywhere in the past?

I don’t know. If there was a reason, what was it?

I turned my head, looking at senior’s deep blood-red eyes.

“There would be a day when you’ll find out.”