Volume 7 - CH 6

Chapter 6: Temporary Break

Atlantis ?AM

I might have slept for a long time.

I also might not have slept for too long.

Just as I felt that I would probably be sleeping for a long time and was prepared to pull my blanket up and continue sleeping, a certain harassing object that doesn’t know what’s good for her, firmly smashed on top of me with a “peng” sound. There was a second where I thought my intestines would be crushed until they  squeezed out of my mouth.

“He’s awake, he’s awake!”

The figure of a little girl sounded on top of me, plus a few bounces that could immediately put one to death, causing me to have the tragic feeling of being able to fall back into unconsciousness.

“Xiao Ting, come down.”

Someone kind-heartedly rescued me.

“Oh.” The living murder weapon, that was on top of me, started to climb off the bed using both her hands and feet.

As soon as she went down, I immediately threw off the blanket  and got up. I was afraid that she’ll climb back on and jump again, if I continued to lie down. “Senior Gasai?” That’s great, I’m back at this familiar place.

A snowy white room, with a faint clean smell that filled up the surroundings.

The legendary health care center that’s said to save people at rapid speed, only this time I wasn’t lying outside. It looks like a fancy single room, where a television, fridge and the like were readily available.

If the treatment’s too good, I’ll get scared.

The only person in the room was Gasai. Besides him, there’s also one live golden-eyed black snake in the nonhuman group, running around the whole room.

“You’ve slept for a long time, the first competition will be ending soon.” Jumping up on the bed and sitting down, Xiao Ting had a large wooden box in her hands.

I turned my head to look at senior Gasai. Basically, this guy had been unconscious before I was, but he had woken up while I was still passed out, so I guess I’d been unconscious for at least a few hours?

“You’ve been asleep for three whole days.” Gasai held out his fingers and showed me.

“Ah!?”

For real!?

“I just changed shifts with Ziray. He was dragged out by a member of the medical team and is currently undergoing the awakening ceremony.” Using a calm face to say such a horrible thing, Gasai took the tea on the table and very contentedly took a sip. His expression made me feel that he came here just to enjoy the air conditioning plus to stroll around kind of feeling.

I definitely don’t want to know what an awakening ceremony was.

“Mikayla brought this here.” Xiao Ting directly opened the wooden box on the bed, and a sweet smell immediately filled the entire room. Now I really do believe that I had slept for a few days, because my stomach started grumbling. “I was gonna eat them, but master said that I have to wait until you’ve woken up and ask if I could eat them. You woke up so can I eat them now?”

She placed the box in front of me, and inside were all very exquisite little desserts.

I saw a certain live black snake’s eyes sparkling, and then there was a feeling of what I suspected to be saliva, dripping down from her mouth.

Gasai gently coughed, “Xiao Ting.”

The little imp’s face immediately crumbled.

“I’m also hungry, want to eat together?”  And just a second later, I immediately witnessed the horrifying effect of this sentence. “I can eat them? Can I really eat them? I’m already allowed to eat? Then I’m going to eat them now?” Xiao Ting’s face directly enlarged in front of me, and then within her mouth appeared a kind of object called a snake letter. “I can really eat? I’m really going to eat them?” I was thinking, if there was someone who went crazy because of desserts, this guy would probably be the first one.

[T/N: 蛇信 snake tongue]

“Go ahead and eat.” I nodded my head. Before the snake tongue could touch my face, I sat further back. I still don’t want to be the first victim of a snake that accidentally killed someone due to being overly excited over a box of desserts.

With a “dong” sound, Xiao Ting jumped off the bed. Not what I expected her to do, which was to swallow all the desserts together with the box in one gulp. “Mikayla said that desserts taste better with tea, Xiao Ting will go and make tea.”

Then, the live black snake that was still drooling while waiting to eat the desserts just now, was like a skipping needle as she walked and muttered to herself. Then she pushed the door open and went out, leaving the room full of exclamation and question marks.

Gasai, who had seen everything that happened from start to end at one side, lightly coughed again. “I’m sorry for the poor supervision, please forgive me if there was anything that offended you.”

Honestly, who would want to argue with a snake.

The surroundings suddenly descended into silence.

I realized something, in fact, senior Gasai doesn’t seem to talk much. Usually he speaks only when it’s necessary and wouldn’t really ask about other matters. If no one bothers about him, he should be the kind that sits in the corner and reads all day long, without saying a word. “That…what happened later on in the match?” I’ve thought about it and I could only remember firing a shot at that expert. I don’t know anything that happened after that. “That person couldn’t have died, right?” I remembered that his head was burst open, how did I have such nerve? What was I supposed to do if that person had just died like that? I wouldn’t be treated as a murderer and be sent to court, right? If this news reached home, my mother would probably cry to death, my father would be scared to death, and finally my sister would come over to beat me, who ruined the family’s name, to death.

I’m done for, what should I do if the deceased’s family demands compensation?

Wait a minute, that guy was probably not human, he said he was the whatchamacallit ghost king’s subordinate, so he probably didn’t have a family? And also according to the guava dramas on television, he was probably the type that ventured out into the world alone, finding sworn brothers throughout the four seas, without a father, mother or relative and that even if he dies on the side of the road, there wouldn’t be anyone to come and identify the body, right?

Speculating this way, there definitely wouldn’t be anyone to demand compensation.

Hurray, it’s alright now!

“He’s fine.” With one sentence, Gasai completely shattered my perfect speculation. “Did you forget? Our school has made a contract for a huge barrier, so no matter who it is, as long as the accident occurs in the school, that person will not die. At most, he will be reborn with his original appearance.”

Once he said that, it was only now that I remembered a certain important fact that I’ve forgotten a long time ago.

Oh right…people can’t die in our school…

Tsk! That ghost king’s subordinate was let off too easily. I really do hate him, as soon as I heard that he was alright, I couldn’t feel even a bit happy at all. If he really died like that, then it’ll be fine since I wouldn’t be chased after by his relatives anyway.

Ai…that’s not right, that’s not right, wait a minute, I’ve forgotten that there’s also a part about being sent to court for killing someone.

Then it is better that he didn’t die.

***

“How about eating some fruit?”

Gasai picked up an apple, that was supplied by someone I didn’t know, from the side and waved it at me. Then I nodded my head, and he took out a small knife that was probably not a fruit knife and started peeling its skin.

“Did I really sleep for three whole days?”

Honestly, I’ve never slept for so long in my entire life so there was a kind of unrealistic feeling.

Without stopping his hands, Gasai just curved into a slight smile as he looked at me before shifting his line of sight back. “You just did an opening of the eye, and then awakened a royal weapon for the first time, so too much of your physical strength was consumed and your body couldn’t handle it. Thus, that happened. It’s a very normal occurrence. You’ll get used to it after the second time and then it won’t happen again so there’s no need to worry.”

I wasn’t worried…

“At first, using a royal weapon will expend relatively more mental strength, but after you two are fully synchronized, it’ll be as easy as breathing.” He bent his body and took out a plate from the bedside cabinet. Then he set the apple that was already sliced up on top of it.

I saw the legendary apple rabbit in the manhuas, which made me suspect that senior Gasai probably also knows how to make little octopuses with small sausages.

“Thank you.” I took out a pack of toothpicks from the bedside cabinet and then very habitually poked into the first rabbit with a toothpick.

“Aah———-!”

“Whoa———-!”

It screamed, it screamed, it screamed!

The rabbit screamed!

That’s not right, it’s the apple sliced into a rabbit that screamed!

Why was it that it didn’t scream when it was a fruit just now, but it only screamed after it turned into a rabbit!

My hand shook, and the apple rabbit that was issuing the strange sound immediately fell off the toothpick.

At the side, Gasai, who saw it happen, quickly moved to scoop up the rabbit that nearly fell to the floor, and placed it back on the plate, looking completely calm, as if he was deaf and didn’t hear the scream.

“The fruit can scream!” I pointed a trembling finger at that apple rabbit that quieted down. I sat further back, very afraid that the fruit would later rush up and bite me.

It’s been so long since I was scared by something like this, that I actually had a kind of nostalgic feeling.

“Is that very strange?” Gasai used a puzzled expression to look at me. “Pomelo and starfruit can also scream, and furthermore, pomelo will even bleed when you cut it. It’s a type of refreshing nutrious juice. If you want to eat them, don’t use sharp objects to poke them. They won’t scream if you directly eat them; if you accidentally poked them, wait until they finished screaming and lose their voices and then they won’t scream anymore.” He casually picked up an apple rabbit and threw it into his mouth and chewed a few times. Indeed, not even a sound could be heard.

To be honest, I’ve already completely lost my appetite.

I shouldn’t have believed that it was an apple, just because it looked like an apple. The things of this world all use ordinary names to disguise the unordinary things, how could I have forgotten this fact!?

Living an easy life for too long will certainly make one stupid, but I feel that my life isn’t easy at all!

“Then…what about the rest of the matches?” For fear of senior Gasai encouraging me to continue eating the fruits, I hastily returned to the topic from before.

“Nn, when Ziray and I woke up, the match had already ended. Afterwards, we looked at the recording, and it seems like after the black barrier was broken, we could only see that you and Clear Wind’s player had already collapsed. The judges then declared that the match was over.” Thinking for a moment, Gasai slowly said, ”Then Ziray and I attended the second match in the afternoon and we defeated Alis Academy. Yesterday we were supposed to have a match with Seven Hill Academy, but unexpectedly, Seven Hill Academy had abstained from the match for some reason. And so, the first competition came to an end, and two days later will be the start of the second competition.” He finished summarizing the entire situation into simple and concise words.

“Eh? In the afternoon, it was you and the five…you and Ziray went on stage?” Then what about Senior? And here I thought Senior would continue on with the next matches.

“That’s right, Ziray and I also went on stage for the match with Seven Hill Academy.” Gasai didn’t directly tell me the reason why. It felt like he was using a roundabout way to avoid the topic.

If that’s the case, I’m too embarrassed to continue asking, although I really wanted to know why. Forget it, I’ll wait until I can leave the medical team, and ask Senior when I see him.

The surroundings once again quieted down.

Roughly after less than a minute had passed, Gasai suddenly stood up, with a serious expression. “I have something I need to do, so I’ll be leaving for a while. If Xiao Ting comes back, tell her to wait here for me and not run around.”

“Aih? You…”

Before I finished talking, senior Gasai had already disappeared in front of me.

What kind of matter would cause him to be in such a hurry?

Speaking of Xiao Ting, who knew where that snake-human, who claimed to have went to make tea, had gone to. She couldn’t have gotten lost in the pantry, right?

As soon as there’s no one else in the room, it becomes very empty.

My stomach started to feel hungry again. I looked across, and at the side were these very normal looking fruit plus that plate of apple rabbits. Suddenly I lost my appetite again.

Just as I felt that I’d probably starve to death like this and was dejected, a soft sound drifted over.

A hand appeared outside the window.

***

“Excuse me.”

That hand very automatically opened the window, and then a face appeared, a most familiar face. “I heard someone say that you’ve slept for three days. I was busy these past two days so I’m sorry that it took me till today to come.” Bai Ling Ran, who helped me open that legendary eye, hurriedly climbed in from outside the window. It’s only then that I noticed that it’s currently in the afternoon, as the sky outside feels like it was leaning towards the color of dusk.

“Uhh, it’s fine.”

I watched his action of climbing through the window, and my first thought was that there should be something called a door here.

After Ran steadied himself, he bent his body to bring a big box of something from outside. It’s an antique-like cloth box, and the things inside were a question mark.

“I thought that you would be hungry after sleeping for a few days, so I brought some things with me.” Ran glanced around, and dragged the table over to the side of the bed. He placed the box on the table and opened it. Inside were several types of pastries that I’m familiar with, for example, scholar cake, sesame cake and the like.

[T/N:scholar cake]

Seeing this pile of things, logically speaking, since I’m extremely hungry, I should be immediately drooling all over the floor, but I didn’t. The matter with the apple rabbit just now is still clear in my mind, I won’t be so stupid as to fall for that trick a second time, so you guys can just give up!

“These were handmade by me this morning, try some.” Ran curved into that kind of friendly smile that can fool someone into dying without any resentment, and then he took out a stainless stain thermos from his backpack. “There’s also green bean soup.”

I suddenly had a feeling of being-surrounded-by-a-bunch-of-people-who-knows-how-to-cook-overnight.

“Your physical and mental strength are very weak now. It’ll be better if you eat more so that you’ll recover.” Ran gave out some kind of health suggestion, and following that, he spread the pastries out on the table.

After he said that, I suddenly became aware of a matter. I wanted to get off the bed, but couldn’t muster any strength to do so. It’s no wonder that when I was scared by the apple rabbit just now, I only moved back a bit on the bed, instead of completely falling off the bed and running out the room.

“That’s, thank you.” Actually, I wasn’t that close with this person. I’ve never thought that he would come here to find me on his own. It really does make me feel a little flattered.

“You’re welcome, it’s what I should do.” Still smiling, Ran said something that caused me to not understand at all.

Should do?

From the box, he took out a little bowl that he’d already prepared, and poured the hot green bean soup into it. “Your school only has two people for backup now, so you’ll have to quickly get better and help them out.”

Two people?

“What do you mean?” Suddenly grabbing his hand, I immediately asked. “Why is it two people?” And which two?

Ran looked at me with an inexplicable expression, “You haven’t heard? I thought that Mr. Gasai had told you a moment ago. There’s only two players, him and Ziray, left in your school now. In addition, Prince Icy Flame seems to be unwell and has disappeared for a few days. Everyone’s speculating whether he would be able to participate in the second competition.”

Senior has disappeared?

I let go of Ran’s hand, but I didn’t feel shocked like before, though I did have a I-actually-should-have-guessed feeling.

Then just now when Gasai left in such a serious manner, did it have something to do with this?

“Don’t worry, Prince Icy Flame is very strong, and plus, the medical teams in this school are all top-notch. Nothing’s going to happen.” Ran handed me the bowl, with a gentle smile that instantly lets one relax by thirty percent. “Instead, you should be more careful. I kept feeling that your match with Clear Wind was a bit strange. But no one knows what happened, so if you do know what’s going on, you’ll have to be more cautious.”

He was purely being kindhearted in reminding me, I know that. “Nn, thank you. “Holding the green bean soup, actually, I’m really hungry. Then I slowly drank a sip. It was warm, without being too hot or cool, at just the right temperature to be eaten. With brown sugar mixed in, the green bean soup flowed through my throat, and immediately made my stomach settle down quite a bit.

It’s as delicious as the ones my mother makes.

I had a surviving-after-a-disaster kind of moving feeling.

“I also made some rice dishes. It’ll be better if you eat something salty to cushion your stomach, before you eat the desserts.” Ran opened up the second layer of the box, and the smell of bamboo leaves immediately drifted up. Appearing before my eyes were variously colored rice dumplings.

So touched, I really feel so touched! How long was it since I’ve eaten such normal human food!?

“If you like them, then just take your time to eat. I’ve made a lot, so you definitely won’t be hungry.” Sitting on the bedside, Ran smiled faintly. A long time had probably passed before he glanced at the sky outside. “I still have something to do so I’ll be going now. Yang Yang, you should get a good rest.”

I nodded my head hard, because my mouth was stuffed full with things and I couldn’t talk.

“Let’s meet another time.” Ran patted my shoulder and then turned to walk towards the window. Just like when he came here, he climbed out of the window and vanished at once.

Really though, there’s something called a door at the side…

***

Just a few seconds after Ran left, the door at the side was pushed open.

Carrying a tea tray on her head, Xiao Ting opened the door and walked in with a bitter look. “I couldn’t find the tea leaves, and had to run back to the Purple Dorm, so far.”

…Still with the tea leaves! Aren’t you being too particular, little black snake MeiMei!

“We have the tea now, let’s eat the desserts.” Pushing the tea tray onto the bed, Xiao Ting hurriedly climbed on the bed. On the tea tray, were tea that was already brewed and a little teapot. A faint elegant aroma rose up from the cups.

The black snake MeiMei’s quietness ended the second she saw the table full of desserts.

“Desserts, desserts, so many desserts!” Her eyes were shining several times brighter than before. “There was a guest? The guest brought desserts? Can I eat them? Can I?” Looking at the desserts that Ran brought, Xiao Ting nearly glued herself to me.

“Eat this before you eat the desserts. Once you finish, then you can eat the desserts.” I handed her the plate of apple rabbits on the table. To be honest, this plate of fruit will cause me psychological pressure, so it’s best to get rid of them as soon as possible.

“Alright!” Xiao Ting very heroically took that plate of fruit and ate one by one, until the plate was immediately emptied. “Time for desserts!” She jumped up two or three times on the bed, ignoring the patient there. If I didn’t have the foresight to first dodge to the side, my intestines would probably be spewed out after she steps on me.

Next, other than the ghost child, I saw a second horrifying eating method.

Only to see Xiao Ting reach out a hand and pull her mouth open to twice its size. Then she took a plate of desserts, poured it into her mouth, closed her mouth and began to chew.

Sometimes when I see them eat, it can really make me lose my appetite.

“These are mine, and the rest are yours.” I took half of the salty and sweet desserts, decisively drawing a clear boundary with Xiao Ting. With the five-colored rooster head’s tragedy in mind, I’m now very good at something called as striking first gives you the advantage.

“Oh～” Xiao Ting issued an indistinct sound.

Including Ran’s and Miao Miao’s two big boxes of desserts, half of them were eliminated in three seconds.

Probably satisfied, Xiao Ting licked her lips, and sat on the bed, holding a teacup and drinking it, and even let out a small burp after a while.

“That’s right, senior Gasai said that you’re to stay here and wait for a while. I think he’ll be coming back soon.” Stuffing a rice dumpling into my mouth, I suddenly remembered Gasai’s words.

Xiao Ting nodded her head hard, “I know, master said it before, everyone was also talking about it. Because there’s a bad person looking for you, so there has to be someone staying with you, for that person to dare not come.”

There’s a bad person looking for me?

“Did they say who it is that’s looking for me?”

Xiao Ting shook her head, then suddenly had a panicked look. “Oh no, just now when Xiao Ting went to make tea, did someone come to look for you? Was the guest a bad person?”

The guest?

Ran shouldn’t be a bad person, right, “No, it was only a friend.”

Hearing that, she exhaled a bit, “Thankfully, or else Xiao Ting will be scolded. Everyone says that the bad person would sneak in when there’s no one around, so someone always has to be here.”

Someone always has to be here?

No wonder senior Gasai had said that he came to change shifts.

I suddenly thought of Ran.

He appeared after Gasai left, and left before Xiao Ting came back, just happening to fill in the gap where no one was here.

***

Does that count as a coincidence?