A Good-for-Nothing

188. A Long Night (2)

 

Translator: Dragon Rider

 

He Zheng shook his head in an effort to ease the faint dizziness. There was a small window in the wall of the temple. Recalling what had happened to that little boy who had planned to eat him, He Zheng realized that he had Li Zong’s primordial spirit as his guardian angel, so he was not afraid. He stepped up to the window and opened it a crack to peep through it. What he saw nearly frightened the life out of him.

The long and broad street outside was deserted, and those red Chinese lanterns were still ablaze with green, ghostly flames flickering inside, looking exceptionally eerie. The most spooky part was that a spot about five paces away from the temple was surrounded by those phantom figures which had previously been wandering along the streets. The most obtrusive, largest thing there was a shapeless shadow, which was gigantic and took up a lot of room, and there seemed to be countless monsters roaring and fighting inside it, and those ghost-like figures around it were being sucked into it to join the fight.

But there was one particular shadow-like creature crouching where there should have been a head, and where Li Zong’s voice was emanating from.

“Listen to me, sweetie. Come out here.”

No matter how daring He Zheng was, it didn’t change the fact that he was a normal man, and most normal men would probably have already been reduced to wetting their pants in these circumstances. He abruptly took a deep breath and, after watching that shadow devour another monster with a fanged-mouth, couldn’t help but spin around and squat down with his back against the wall, his fingers somewhat tremulous.

“This is so creepy. Wh–What kind of freak is that fucking thing?” Eyes burning, He Zheng felt like crying, but he felt more like seeing Li Zong.

Before he could finish complaining, an inexplicable sound came from outside the window, which was quite familiar to He Zheng. It was the kind of very pleasant groan that Li Zong occasionally gave when the two of them were making out in bed. Had He Zheng’s self-control been slightly poorer, he would definitely be lured out of the temple.

“He Zheng.” Li Zong’s voice was husky with longing, which was the most irresistible to He Zheng. Every time Li Zong had called him in this kind of voice and then stared at him with his deep eyes, He Zheng had been instantly turned on without fail and let Li Zong the old bastard do whatever he wanted to him.

But what with this place and those things out there, He Zheng was unable to get an erection even if he wanted to!

He Zheng buried his face in his hands miserably.

That voice was getting more seductive.

“He Zheng, I’m right out here. Do you not want to see me?”

This voice was exactly the same as that of Li Zong. He Zheng was even picturing Li Zong’s face in spite of himself.

“Don’t be afraid, baby. I know you feel aggrieved. It’s my bad. I should’ve come earlier.” Li Zong’s voice softened. “Come out here, okay? Stop being mad at me.”

‘No, that’s not him!’ He Zheng inwardly admonished himself sharply, but that voice was making it very difficult for him to subdue his urge. He really, really missed Li Zong so much, his face full of misery. He had to hug his knees very tight to keep from rushing outside.

Even a supposititious Li Zong struck him as irresistible.

“He Zheng, I’ve been through so much to get here to save you. Why do you not even want to lay eyes on me?”

Driven beyond the limits of forbearance, He Zheng abruptly sprang to his feet, opened the window a little and bellowed at the monster, “GO FUCK YOURSELF!”

That shadow started trembling violently, as if something was twisting inside it.

Li Zong’s husky voice, dripping with desire, was heard again. “He Zheng, I like you.”

“FUCK OFF! USE LI ZONG’S VOICE TO TRICK ME AGAIN AND I’LL FUCKING BLAST YOU TO PIECES WITH LIGHTNING!!! GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME, YOU FREAK!!!

You think you’re a good imitator? Do me a favor and go watch some TV shows, and then you’ll find your skills are really lousy. Is it because you’ve been staying in this godforsaken place for too long? What makes you think you could trick me with this? Can you please look into the front-facing camera of your cellphone and see what you look like? And you should use a recording software to find out how your fucking voice sounds, too. It almost made me vomit!”

When He Zheng started hurling a torrent of abuse at it, the voice abruptly stopped. He gasped for a few moments and then suddenly felt the hair on his scalp prickle somewhat. He Zheng raised his head and was nearly scared out of his wits. A long strip of black shadow had got through the window and coiled around the top of his head. He rapidly pulled it off his head. Curiously enough, the shadow, as if tangible, felt quite cold.

He Zheng quickly shut the window and leaned against the wall, panting for breath.

He didn’t dare move around. Qiu Luo was giving off a faint light, and He Zheng noticed that the wound in Qiu Luo’s chest was slowly healing. He squatted on his hams. As those monsters couldn’t get in, he might as well perform some Qi circulation and wait until daybreak to figure out what their next move should be.

Thinking about this, He Zheng ignored Li Zong’s voice outside which was still groaning trying to lure him out, sitting cross-legged opposite Qiu Luo, cultivating…

First a faint burning smell wafted to He Zheng’s nostrils. Recalling that there were still candles ablaze in the temple, he abruptly opened his eyes. Qiu Luo was still sitting cross-legged performing Qi circulation, and there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary, but the disturbing voice outside had disappeared.

He Zheng felt hot and terribly nauseous. The heat made him instantly break out in a sweat.

And then he heard someone knock three times on the door.