Volume 8 - CH 8

Chapter 8: The Peaceful Rest in the Hostel

Atlantis  5:25 PM

When I walked down to the second floor, that large hall from a moment ago was already filled with the fragrant smell of food.

“Nn? I was just about to call you guys down to get ready. It’s almost time to eat.” Carrying a pot of soup and following in the wake of the hot steam was the target, who just so happened to pass by right in front of me and immediately greeted me as soon as he saw me.

Take a deep breath. Don’t be afraid. You’re only asking him a very small question. It’s not like a piece of your flesh will get chopped off.

“That, senior Gasai, can I ask you a tiny little question?” It doesn’t matter if I die earlier or later: I’m still going to die anyway, so I directly charged over to him and asked.

“A question? Sure.” Senior Gasai was still wearing the same smile, “What do you want to ask?”

“I want to ask you about the matter from ten years ago, when the Yukino Clan received a half-rotten corpse and a bottle of white fog.” I couldn’t think of any better adjectives so I simply worded it that way.

In that second, Gasai was completely frozen for quite a long time.

I just knew that this wasn’t a question I could ask!

Ah, Chifuyu, if I get “this” and then “that” and “this” again and finally with a “kacha,” I become unable to go home due to this question, you had better wait until you can properly compensate me.

“You heard this from Chifuyu, didn’t you?” Unexpectedly, Gasai didn’t instantly try to finish me off with one blow like what I’d imagined. Instead, he very elegantly finished placing the pot of soup on the table, before taking off his oven gloves. “Was it his idea or your own idea for you to come here and ask me?”

Uh…Is there a difference?

I felt that if I answered incorrectly, there might be two different results.

“That…Chifuyu wanted to know, but I also really wanted to know, so I suppose that could be my idea as well.” I swallowed and carefully answered.

He wouldn’t directly pick up the pot of soup and pour it over me, right?

The reason I was so wary is that someone had once poured it over me before. But it was an unfamiliar passerby whose hand slipped, and then just like that, the unlucky me got sent to the hospital for three days.

Gasai pondered for a while, “Chifuyu doesn’t know about this matter?”

“He doesn’t. He said he was just half-a-month-old at that time and only heard about it later from other people.” I repeated what Chifuyu had told me to him.

“Nn…As a matter of fact, I did hear about this matter when I was about thirteen years old in the Yakushiji Clan, not in the Yukino Clan.”

“Eh? Isn’t this the Yukino Clan’s secret case?” I was stunned for a moment. I never thought that Boss Gasai had heard this from somewhere else.

“That’s right, it is their secret case. However, that year, the one who analyzed the white fog was from the Yakushiji Clan. All the results of the analysis were recorded, but due to a certain matter later on, the Yukino Clan didn’t come to retrieve the analysis results. I suppose it’s because of this that he was unaware of the matter.”

So that’s how it is. I suddenly felt that Chifuyu saying Gasai would know was definitely because he was aware of the circumstances around the analysis.

“Then do you know the results of the analysis?” I pursued the main point.

Like we all thought, sure enough, Gasai nodded. “I know. Almost everyone in the Yakushiji Clan knows about this.” He placed the oven gloves on the table too, and his expression became a little serious. “That year, after analyzing it, the analyst discovered that the thing inside the bottle wasn’t white fog, and nor was it something like water vapor. Instead, it was worms.”

“Worms?”

For a second, every hair on me stood up.

“Did you ever hear about a swarm of locusts?” Gasai thought for a moment and gave me an example, “Locusts are able to devour an entire rice paddy in an instant. It’s pretty much the same case for that white fog, but the difference is that the locusts’ target are the rice paddies whereas the white fog’s target is animals.”

This example really does make one’s skin crawl.

“Are there actually such worms?” It’s not that I doubt it, but this statement is just…too horrifying, causing one to not really believe it.

“Yes, it’s called a blood snake*. It’s so small that it’s nearly invisible to the naked eye, but when it appears in a large cluster, you can clearly see it as a white fog.” Very certain as he told me, Gasai folded his arms. “During that time, after the analysis was finished, the Yukino Clan set aside this case, and later on, the white fog never appeared again.”

[T/N: It’s a kind of mythical poisonous snake.]

If Gasai knows this…I can suddenly understand how Xiao Ting had known that the fog couldn’t be touched.

Perhaps even Senior knows about this matter, which could be why when he saw the video, he said that everyone in the town had died in such a certain tone.

“Senior knows about this matter?”

“Nn, he does.” Not avoiding the topic at all, Gasai very honestly told me. “Before we arrived here, he’d already asked about the things regarding the white fog and also made several related preparations.”

I just knew that it was impossible for Senior to be so rash as to jump right into the drainage channel. It turns out he was already prepared.

“That fog…and this fog are the same thing?” Looking at my corroded fingertips, I started worrying a little about whether there were still some bloodXworms left inside.

“Without analyzing it, we can’t make a final conclusion, but it’s most likely the same thing. However, the records didn’t mention anything regarding the yellow fog, so we don’t know about this. And, as for where the worms came from, and why they came, everything about them is a mystery.” Shrugging, Gasai cast a seemingly thoughtful glance in the direction behind me. “That’s pretty much it. You guys should get ready to eat dinner soon. Yido is almost done over there too.”

“Oh, alright.”

…

Wait a minute?

“You guys”?

I instantly turned around and near the staircase, I seemed to have vaguely seen Chifuyu’s shadow.

Sure enough, he still followed me here.

***

Dinner was a very normal five-dishes-with-one-soup.

This made me feel an unlimited suspicion: just where did they find all those ingredients for these dishes?

We pushed the tables in the hall together, and a few of us sat in a circle around the low table.

“Dinner was made by Master and Mr. Yido.” Xiao Ting was carrying a couple of big bowls as she ran back and forth to fill them up with rice, and then she laid them out on the whole table. “So you guys better be filled with grateful~ness and eat it all up!” Next, she even threateningly flicked out her snake tongue.

So by making this action, you’re trying to say that those who don’t gratefully eat it all up will be gratefully swallowed into your belly in the next second, right?

“We know, we know. We’ll definitely eat it all up gratefully and then drink the earthworm soup.” Leido had an impatient look as he dug into his ear, “From the kitchen just then till now, you’ve already said this three hundred times. Isn’t your mouth tired?”

I think Xiao Ting probably doesn’t understand what earthworm soup* means.

[T/N: It’s a traditional soup that really does have earthworms as its main ingredient…]

“It’s been three hundred times already?” Xiao Ting foolishly looked at him for a few seconds before turning around and holding out her fingers, “Once, twice…” She counted as she walked away.

Once again, I seriously doubt this snake’s head.

“Let’s eat while it’s still hot. Who knows whether we’ll be able to eat any more hot food tomorrow.” Yido sat down at the side, and the twins sat down next to him, in a synchronized manner.

Uh…He spoke as if he didn’t know whether we’ll be alive or dead tomorrow, but this does seem to be the case.

The last one to arrive (I suspect he did it on purpose), Chifuyu looked around before sitting down on the empty seat beside me; he was even sitting on his knees with such a straight posture. Seeing him like that really does make me want to try kicking him from behind to see if he’d hit the table.

There wasn’t a big variety of dishes on the table, but there was very much in terms of quantity, so much that I felt nauseous just looking at them. And then I instantly remembered that everyone sitting here has an appetite several times bigger than me.

I don’t know if it’s because everyone all felt a sense of accomplishment, but this time when we were eating, there was actually not even half a person who spoke. Even the normally very noisy Leido had also obediently buried his head as he crazily ate.

The dining table was filled with a hard-to-explain heavy atmosphere.

It is at a time like this that I would suddenly realize that they’re really from another dimension from me.

After we finished eating, the empty plates and bowls on the table were taken away by Yido, while Xiao Ting was still crouching in the corner and counting on her fingers.

“We’ve decided to go into the drainage channel with Mr. Gasai tomorrow.” Yido issued the first sentence that broke the silence, “There seems to be something inside the drainage channel, so we felt too uneasy to let Mr. Gasai go down alone.”

Ehh…So to speak, about half of us would be heading into the drainage channel?

Then wouldn’t only Chifuyu and I be left above?

“Due to safety considerations, Chifuyu and Yang Yang, what do you plan to do?” Yado said, and then turned around to ask us. “If you stay above, you might encounter the others wandering by themselves, or you might not. And if you go down with us, that wouldn’t guarantee absolute safety either. Neither is an absolute guarantee, so what do you plan to do?”

What do we plan to do…

I sneaked a glance at Chifuyu.

If he wants to stay above, then based on morality, it seems like I should stay with him above. After all, leaving Chifuyu alone at a time like this isn’t exactly the best thing to do either. It’s just that I don’t know what he’s going to decide to do.

Gasai didn’t say anything.

I guess, if Gasai said the word, then Chifuyu will definitely follow him. There’s no reason why, it’s just that I had this kind of thought.

Chifuyu looked like he was thinking it over.

“What does the divination of the water mirror say?” Breaking the temporary silence, Gasai asked an unrelated question.

Briefly stunned, Yido, who didn’t expect that he would suddenly ask a question, quickly recovered. “Before departing, we did use the water mirror, but because there was a shadow often covering it recently, the water mirror was pretty much unable to predict whether our future will be ill-fated or auspicious.”

There was a brief pause before he continued speaking, “Ever since the competition began, there has been an unknown shadow covering the water mirror, as if to prevent us from scrying the future. We don’t who would be persistent enough to do this, so we are very cautious about this competition.”

I remember that Yido seemed to have said something similar before, something like how the water mirror was being played around with by someone.

Our future is unknown, right?

“I’ll also go into the drainage channel with you guys.” All of a sudden, Chifuyu spoke.

Oh oh, now it’s easier.

“Than what about Yang Yang?” Everyone looked over at me.

Nonsense, if you guys are all going down, how could I still possibly stay above. “I’ll go down too.” I still clearly remember Senior’s instructions and Andellar’s threat.

“Good, then it’s been decided that everyone will go down into the drainage channel tomorrow to investigate.”

Just after tomorrow’s plans had been decided, Xiao Ting, who was crouching in the corner a moment ago, came bouncing over.

“I finished counting, I’ve only said it fifty-four times!”

***

After eating our fill, since it was already flooded outside, at around seven or so, we were all gathered inside the room to take turns using the bathroom.

“In order to prevent the barrier from being broken, tonight everyone will take turns to stand guard, except for Chu, so let’s start scheduling the shifts.” After I entered the bathroom, the low sounds of discussion drifted in from outside.

I’ve always knew that they were very careful about this matter, and that they also didn’t want me to get too involved.

Opening the tap, I very carefully listened to the subtle voices.

“If we start at eight and go up to six o’clock in the morning, it would be a total of ten hours. That’d be five people rotating for two hours each, so which time do you guys want?”

It seems that the one leading the discussion of this topic is Yido. I could imagine that the people next to him were using this time to think it over.

In the end I didn’t hear who chose which shift. Their voices grew even lower, making it difficult to tell them apart.

After I finished washing up, each of them was already doing their own thing, as if they had never discussed this topic.

Just when I opened my mouth to ask Gasai, a white, soft pillow suddenly flew at my face.

Completely too late to react, I helplessly watched on as a white, fat, soft object directly enlarged before my eyes, before hitting me right in the middle of my face, with such a strong force that it made me feel like I was about to faint in a second.

“Yado! Why did you have to dodge and cause me to hit Yang Yang instead!?” A certain culprit hastily issued the words of someone who was guilty but was the first to make a complaint.

“Why were your hands so itchy to hold a pillow that you ended up hitting someone else.” This is the reply his brother gave him.

“Pillow fight, pillow fight~~~” A certain black snake, who wanted to stir up more trouble, was holding onto a large box of white pillows that she got from who knows where, as she jumped up and down on the bed.

“Don’t you get it.” Leido caught the pillow that Xiao Ting threw over. “This is a must when you stay at a hostel.”

Dude, just how old are you!?

Yado shook his head, “Totally don’t get it.”

A pillow flew past in front of me.

“You’ll get it after we finish fighting!” Exactly like a certain five-colored rooster head who believes in making the first move, Leido directly took a pillow and started throwing it at people, moreover ignoring who the person is as he randomly threw the pillows around.

With a “pa,” I saw the second pillow smash into Chifuyu’s, who was flipping through books and newspapers, head with my own eyes.

Uh, actually, I think I should hide in the closet now.

“What is inside your head!?” Chifuyu removed the large pillow, then grasping the pillow vengefully as if the other side had murdered his whole family, he viciously hurled it right at Leido’s face.

A very loud sound could be heard.

Oh oh, I think that should be quite painful.

“Pillow war~~~” Xiao Ting spilled out all the pillows over the bed, making a big pile of white that looked like a pillow mountain.

Probably affected by his own brother’s provocations, Yado gloomily picked up another pillow. With a “pa,” this second hit caused Leido to be directly overturned on the bed in repentance.

Grabbing off the two pillows on him, Leido once again revived and stood up. “You two actually joined forces to take me on…”

I had a feeling that I should run away or else in the next second, I’ll suffer the fate of the fishes in the pond.*

[T/N: Get caught in the crossfire.]

Turning around, Yido, who was supposed to jump in and settle the fight, had actually stuffed his ears with earplugs as he sat reading by a table that was quite a distance away from the beds.

This older brother, you’ve already made up your mind not to get involved, right?

I saw several white pillows flying past, and all around me were the sounds of someone getting struck down before rising back up again.

Just when I was seriously planning to open the closet next to me and hide inside, I noticed Gasai, who did not join the battlefield at all, silently walking out the door while everyone was in a chaotic mess.

Here and there.

I think it’d be safer to leave the room and lie low until the fuss dies down.

***

After Gasai went out, I wonder if he noticed that I was following behind him. And just like this, we walked straight through the corridor and then entered this floor’s small saloon.

Rather than say it’s a saloon, I might as well say it’s a big balcony. At the side of it were some sofas and tables, as well as a little bookshelf and the like.

Once he entered, he stopped there. I didn’t dare to rashly go up and greet him, so I just carefully hid in the corner to find a suitable time to go over.

Facing the balcony, Gasai seemed to have taken out some sort of object and placed it on his palm.

The moonlight that passed through the balcony and landed on the ground looked particularly clear. The surroundings seemed to be dusted with silver powder as specks of light sparkled.

“This is the second team’s Gasai. This is the first night that we, along with Alis Academy’s players, have successfully entered the town. We found the blood snake’s activity and currently suspect that there are two species of the blood snake. There is a yellow one that isn’t in our information and may be a new species. After the General Assembly receives this report, please make an identification.”

His palm emitted a faint blue light, and then I realized that Gasai might be making a recording, just like the video that I saw in the player’s lounge before.

That faint-blue object flew out of his hand before leaving the balcony, rising up, and soaring into the dark sky.

I suppose it’s probably filming the surroundings and the like, so it should be similar to a small flying camera and whatnot.

After a long time, that object flew back, and because it was facing me as it passed through the balcony, this time I was able to clearly see what it was. It was a tiny, round sphere covered with blue light, and on it was a word that looked a lot like a cursed seal. After the tiny sphere flew past, it landed on Gasai’s hand again.

“As of now, the hostel is encircled by a level eight alert. A barrier has been set up around the area to keep the blood snakes from invading. The barrier will last for one day and if there’s a large amount of blood snakes, we’ll consider putting up a second one.”

Pausing for a moment, Gasai seemed to be thinking about his next words in the recording. “Our current conclusion is that the yellow fog should be a type of blood snake that destroys inanimate objects. Today’s accident occurred to our teammate Chu. He was hurt by the white blood snake and is currently being observed. In addition, Icy Flame has gone into the drainage channel alone, and if nothing happens, tomorrow we will be heading in the direction of the drainage channel. End of recording.”

Then, he put away that tiny sphere.

After hearing his recording, I had a horrified feeling, and then I looked down at my injured fingertips.

Just now, they have already been re-dressed by Yido and almost don’t hurt anymore, except for an occasional tingling pain when I touched something.

If it’s only like this, what else does he need to observe?

My hair stood on end, all the hair on me stood up on end.

Then, I thought of something else.

Every time I got injured, the medicine given by the medical team would almost immediately heal my wounds, but it doesn’t seem to be the case this time. When Yido helped me rebandage them just now, the wounds were still there, and there didn’t seem to be any progress in healing.

At that time, I thought that the wounds needed a little more time for the skin to grow back, so I didn’t take it to heart. But now, the more I think about it, the more I feel that something isn’t right.

This is bad, my hand wouldn’t just rot like this, right?

I suddenly thought of something called sulfuric acid. It seems that if you don’t get rid of it properly, it will likewise continue corroding down. I wonder if it’s not too late for me to go wash it off with a lot of water.

Aih, now I suddenly felt that having Sir Assistant and Miao Miao in the school is such a great thing. If there were any injuries or problem, I could just look for them to settle it.

Gasai didn’t intend on moving. It looked like he was thinking about something.

I felt that it’d be better if I don’t disturb him so I carefully turned around to walk back—

“Chu, please come over here.”