BXBX NOVEL Ch103.1 - The Cycle of Karma, What Goes Around Comes Around (17.1)
Chapter Ch103.1 - The Cycle of Karma, What Goes Around Comes Around (17.1)
translator: baumkuchen editor: glitterypanda
As night fell, only then did rain start to fall.
The earth, dampened by the rain, started to emit a pungent, foul smell. Numerous earthworms were driven out of the soil in droves, writhing and thrashing as they tried to avoid being suffocated.
Chi Xiaochi was about to enter the little black room. In a rather subdued mood, he began to silently chant the Great Compassion Mantra to alleviate his worries.
Gan Yu was dusting shadows onto his cheeks, making him look more haggard to make his appearance more in line with his character. “What are you reciting?”
Chi Xiaochi sang, “Namo, ratna, trayāya......”
Gan Yu immediately pressed the handle of his contour brush against Chi Xiaochi’s lips.
......He suspected that if he continued to sing, the Buddha would remember this disrespect.
Chi Xiaochi opened his mouth and bit his contour brush.
Gan Yu, helplessly, “Let go.”
Chi Xiaochi raised his eyebrows, clearly wanting to do something else to divert his attention.
Gan Yu gently pinched his chin, but at the same time, was afraid that if he used too much force, he’d hurt him, so he only shook it, his tone helpless yet tender, “Don’t make trouble, let go.”
Chi Xiaochi looked at him, himself thinking that this move was very childish.
Chi Xiaochi had been afraid of the dark and of ghosts since he was young. In this aspect, his childishness and imagination came out in full force. Whenever he got scared, he would run over to where Lou Ying was, because that place was the safest and he wouldn’t be laughed at.
In his childhood, getting up at night was to him the no. 1 of life’s three biggest challenges.
The biggest feature of the tube-shaped apartments was its communality; its kitchens, washrooms, toilets, all without exception public, and all without exceptionpublic property.
If Chi Xiaochi needed to go to the toilet in the middle of the night, he would have to put on his slippers, and walk from one end to the other end of the corridor lit by sound-activated lights that never activated.
This, to Chi Xiaochi, was no less difficult than the 25,000 li Long March.
In order to overcome this issue of his, Lou Ying bought some yellow kraft paper from the school shop, cut it, drew a talisman on its surface in red ink and told him if he held this when going to the toilet at night, ghosts wouldn’t dare to approach him.
Chi Xiaochi said, “You’re lying.”
Lou Ying said, good-temperedly, “It’s true.”
Chi Xiaochi rolled his eyes, then stuffed the yellow talisman that had been folded into a triangle into Lou Ying’s pocket. “Then you hold it.”
——Lou Ying would hold the talisman, and he would hold Lou Ying’s hand. That way, he wouldn’t be scared.
His grasp of circuitous tactics could be said to be exquisite.
After Lou Ying died, he was no longer so scared. Occasionally, when he got up in the middle of the night, in his half-asleep state, he would drag himself back and forth through the corridor, wanting to bump into a ghost surnamed Lou. But that hope failed to be realised every time, making him finally begin to doubt the existence of ghosts.
If Lou-ge had a soul, why wouldn’t he come back to visit?
Gan Yu didn’t know what he was thinking about. He just thought that this kind of childish Chi Xiaochi was adorable, he really wanted to kiss him.
He lightly brushed away the contour powder with his hand. After confirming that his makeup was in order, he let Chi Xiaochi torture Xi Lou with his Great Compassion Mantra while he turned around and drew out a talisman on a piece of toilet paper with a lipstick, then folded it into a triangle.
Even though it would definitely be useless, it was still useful for coaxing the Puppy Chi who was still chewing on his brush handle.
The sight of a surgeon using their slender yet strong fingers to fold something was simply a feast for the eyes.
As he was using his knuckles to flatten out the folded edge of the toilet paper, Ponytail lady came to the dressing room to call them over, saying that the night scene was about to begin shooting.
......Worried about Pigtail guy’s safety, she didn’t even need makeup to look haggard.
Chi Xiaochi got up. Just as he was about to walk out, Gan Yu stuffed something into his shirt pocket.
Chi Xiaochi raised his eyebrows slightly, using his gaze to ask him what it was.
Whether it was Gan Yu or 061, they both preferred to manifest their comforting into something tangible.
A line of “don’t be scared”, was nothing more than empty words.
He stroked his head and said, “I’ll be waiting outside. If you run into danger, just shout Gan Yu.”
Chi Xiaochi walked into the room and stood in a corner. Feeling out the shape of the triangle in his shirt pocket, he let out a sigh, becoming slightly absent-minded.
But it was just slightly. He hadn’t forgotten where he was.
Pigtail guy had left his mid-length hair completely loose. His lips were deathly pale. His eyes were fixed on his feet, a feigned fierceness in his gaze.
The rain outside became heavier, raindrops pitter-pattering onto the window and converging into tiny streams, contrasting against the dead quiet of the room and making it seem all the more terrifying.
Chi Xiaochi sang, “Freezing, icy rain beats against my face.”
Chi Xiaochi, “Heehee.”
......Xi Lou began to wholeheartedly hope for that female ghost to put in more effort, and scare this shriveled calf to the point of paralysis with her next move.
And this time, the one who would bump into the ghost, was indeed Chi Xiaochi.
According to “Guan Qiaoqiao”’s script, “Guan Qiaoqiao” would pop up in the middle of their game. When Chi Xiaochi saw his dead girlfriend, he would be first shocked, but then happy. In the end, he would actually grab onto her and refuse to let go. The room would fall into chaos, but when the lights were turned on, everyone would find that Chi Xiaochi was holding nothing more than a coat hanging on the wall.
“Guan Qiaoqiao” was a ghost, so she came and left without a trace, not even needing any special effects. It could be said to be a fundamental benefit to the later staff.
Before the lights were turned off, “Guan Qiaoqiao” specially entered the room to say apologetically to Chi Xiaochi, “Don’t be scared, it’s all just acting.”
The contents of her words and the guilty look in her eyes were all sincere enough, but when he thought of her cold gaze that had been sharp as a knife in the boat that morning, Chi Xiaochi only felt his neck go cold.
The lights turned off.
The entire room fell into complete darkness, leaving only the sounds of their breaths rising and falling audible.
Chi Xiaochi counted the number of breaths. Very good, considering himself the fourth, there was no “fifth person” as of now.
For the first round, he was at position D, where “Guan Qiaoqiao” had once stood.
Pigtail guy stood at position A, one of his hands braced against the wall as he walked over to Ponytail lady at position B. His footsteps sounded like they were dragging on the ground, making a rustling noise.
There was a light source in the room, and the windows weren’t completely covered. Occasionally, bright white lightning would flash across the horizon, lighting the figures of the four people in the room, each and every one of them looking exceedingly like ghosts.
Pigtail guy’s plaster-covered hand landed on Ponytail lady’s right shoulder, both cold and soft. Through her clothes, Ponytail lady’s skin prickled from the icy touch.
She didn’t even dare to look back before she set out walking, hurrying over to Freckles in position C at a slight jog.
Freckles stumbled forwards at her slap on his back. He turned back to shoot her a resentful look before starting to feel his way over to Chi Xiaochi.
A warm hand patted his shoulder. Chi Xiaochi began to walk forwards, his heart both dark and heavy, thinking, would she be at the next corner, her hands hanging at her sides, her head lowered, waiting for me?
He subconsciously reached into his pocket. With the strength granted to him by the toilet paper talisman, he continued to walk forwards.
However, the thing he was worried about never happened.
The next corner, due to Pigtail guy having left it, was empty.
Following the rules of the game, he coughed once, then walked towards the corner where Pigtail guy currently was.
When he reached, he raised his hand and patted Pigtail guy on the back. His hand was met with cold sweat.
Pigtail wasn’t in a hurry to walk. He turned back slightly to look at him, as if confirming that this person was indeed human.
At that very moment, lightning flashed, casting a pale light on the faces of everyone in the room.
The look in his eyes was so crazed it could no longer belong to a normal person. It even held the dark gleam of a beast, like a blunt knife, slicing into Chi Xiaochi’s nerves and making them go numb.
But Chi Xiaochi could indeed endure.
He stood there as if he hadn’t seen anything, letting Pigtail guy walk forward.
“Guan Qiaoqiao” didn’t appear for a long time, making them simply walk around in circles in the empty room.
Slowly, everyone’s mood became more or less anxious.
When would she be coming?
The wait for the object of the fear to come was even more terrifying than the object of fear itself.
Chi Xiaochi had gone in so many circles that he’d become a little numb. As he stood in the corner, waiting for the next round of Freckle’s arrival, out of boredom, he snarked to Xi Lou, “Feels like I’m an old donkey turning a grindstone.”
Xi Lou, “Hi, donkey.”
Chi Xiaochi, aiyo, he’s learned how to retort.
After waiting for a while, Xi Lou said, “Donkey, why aren’t you talking?”
Chi Xiaochi supported himself against the wall, using that to cover up the weakness in his legs.
Seeing Chi Xiaochi still not speaking, Xi Lou fell silent for a moment. “Talk to me a little.”
Even though Chi Xiaochi’s personality was childish, his mouth was cheap and he needed a lashing, his cowardice and his fear of ghosts was something Xi Lou knew about.
Having him come here to do this kind of task was, after all, hard on him.
Chi Xiaochi thought for a moment, and understood Xi Lou’s effort.
Moved, he began to sing to foster his spirits, “Even when I see a cockroach I’m not afraid of it.”
Xi Lou, “......” Fuck your mother, why do I suddenly want to eat donkey meat.
Chi Xiaochi stood where he was. When he heard Freckles start walking over towards him, step by step, he prepared himself to start walking to the next corner.
A hand landed on his shoulder.
Chi Xiaochi was just about to walk forwards when his throat suddenly contracted. The place which had been touched by that hand became as if it had been bitten by a snake, his blood and flesh slowly freezing bit by bit.
——That wasn’t Freckles’ hand.
It was a woman’s hand, slender, soft, yet strangely cold.
Chi Xiaochi stiffly turned.
Even the lightning cooperated with this scene. With a loud bang, a bolt of snow-white lightning broke through the sky——
“Guan Qiaoqiao” was standing behind Chi Xiaochi, watching him. There was a pretty smile on her face, as if she wanted to speak some loving words to her old lover, but when she opened her mouth, inside were teeth like that of a lamprey eel, undulating in circles, leading all the way to her throat.
Moving the relevant part of the A/N over:
【On another note, a friendly notice: Don’t look up “lamprey” without preparing yourself mentally first, it’s a kind of creature that if you searched it up on Baidu its picture would come with the notification “This image might make you feel uncomfortable, do you wish to proceed?”】
baum: I don’t think lampreys’ mouths look that terrifying, but I decided not to include an image just in case lol
anyways, when you guys make your guesses as to what the trick behind this task is, do remember that Song Chunyang triggered it too, in his last life. Plus, there’s nothing that depends solely on luck in this world.
links for songs in case the links in the tn don’t work:
Icy Rain by Andy Lau
lyrics: https://www.echinesesong.com/bing-yu-%E5%86%B0%E9%9B%A8-ice-rain-lyrics-%E6%AD%8C%E8%A9%9E-with-pinyin-by-liu-de-hua-%E5%88%98%E5%BE%B7%E5%8D%8E-andy-lau/
song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7U4LKLD5F4
Fearless by Jocie Kok (eng title of the song is according to what I could find on wikipedia)
song+lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_OKCMbm2Ts