Evil Spirit - chapter 12

Chapter 12

“Is that Yunlan Sister coming in?” Li Jiaojiao was already muddled from the heat, and the voice she heard just now was hazy and indistinct.

“Mm.” Duan Qinglian replied softly.

“It’s over… I’m socially dead…”

The soft body in his arms kept writhing, her little mouth, red and burning hot, opened and closed.

Even though she was almost delirious from the fever, her little mouth never stopped talking.

Duan Qinglian bent his lashes, feeling the scorching heat of the girl’s skin in his palm.

“Forget it.” The girl murmured, weakly tugging at the front of his robe, “Ah Qing, talk to me.”

Maybe if she distracted herself, she wouldn’t feel so uncomfortable.

Without waiting to see if the other person agreed, she asked on her own, “Who gave you your name?”

Duan Qinglian. Qinglian.

The name was pleasant, but sounded very much like a girl’s name.

“I don’t know,” Duan Qinglian replied. “When I woke up in the Luo River, I’d lost all my memories. Only those three characters remained clear to me.”

So that’s how it came to be?

Madmen are a little pitiful after all.

“Later, when I killed people, they always liked to ask my name. I got annoyed, so I just used it.”

So that’s how it came to be…

Better to pity those unlucky souls instead.

“Have you remembered anything else?”

Li Jiaojiao forced herself to endure the discomfort, changing the subject.

She’d already finished the plot of the first chapter, so Duan Qinglian should have recovered some memories by now, right?

“I’ve remembered a little.”

But only a little.

It was strange, though. At first, he thought Li Jiaojiao was lying to him to save her own life. In three days, he’d imagined countless ways for Li Jiaojiao to die, but after killing the Earthbound Spirit, he really did recover some memories.

So, how did she do it?

“I promised to help you recover your memories, and I did it. You can’t think about killing me anymore.”

“Also, you have to promise me one thing, or I won’t help you.” The girl in his arms could barely keep her eyes open, but her hand clung tightly to his robe, and her little mouth kept muttering.

It actually piqued his interest a bit.

“Tell me, then.”

The girl mumbled, her cherry lips reddened by the fever opening and closing.

“You have to be a good person.”

Duan Qinglian raised his brows, a little surprised. “How does one become a good person?”

Li Jiaojiao wobbled and raised her index finger. She was so feverish she was about to lose consciousness, and her ears were filled with waves of buzzing like the tide.

“First, you can’t kill innocent good people…”

She hadn’t even finished saying “Second” when her hand suddenly fell, her head slumped, and she fainted in Duan Qinglian’s arms.

The carriage finally quieted down.

Duan Qinglian picked up the black hair that had fallen between his fingers, lowering his eyes with a smile.

A good person game, huh?

……

After fainting, Li Jiaojiao still couldn’t escape the torment of the poison. Her body felt heavy, as if she’d been thrown into a boiling cauldron, and she was just a little chick waiting to be cooked.

She was about to go mad from the heat.

Someone save me! Anyone!

[Host command received. The System will serve you wholeheartedly.]

In the midst of her blurred consciousness, the System’s voice suddenly appeared.

“Holy crap! Save me!”

[System prompt: Host may use a memory fragment to enter the male supporting character’s memories, temporarily escaping bodily sensations. Would you like to use it?]

“Use it, use it, use it!”

[Received. About to use one memory fragment. Reminder: After use, the fragment will disappear from System records.]

“Why so much nonsense! Just use it already!”

She was about to burn to death! Did she not know it would be gone after use? When would this damn System ever be reliable?

[Alright, entering memory now.]

*

It was a desolate mountain, with sparse branches and leaves, withered grass and trees, broken branches, and thick fog that made everything look even more bleak.

Li Jiaojiao stood at the top of the mountain, facing a square courtyard-not large, four walls, a few rooms.

The main gate of the courtyard was ajar. Pausing for a moment, Li Jiaojiao pushed it open and walked in.

Even the doors to the rooms inside the courtyard were all left slightly open.

Weren’t they afraid of thieves?

The courtyard was cold and damp, with a chill in the air. A gust of wind made Li Jiaojiao instinctively shrink her neck.

She walked up the steps in the courtyard, looking for Duan Qinglian. After only a few steps, laughter from the room on the right caught her attention.

Peeking through the crack in the door, Li Jiaojiao saw the room’s furnishings-a square redwood table, a tall chair, and a young child sitting in the chair giggling, while a pure white puppy circled the chair legs, wagging its tail happily.
The little child’s appearance was exceptionally fine-black hair, red lips, features as exquisitely carved as cold jade, with a seventy percent resemblance to Duan Qinglian’s face.

“Is… is that Duan Qinglian?”

Li Jiaojiao could hardly believe these scenes of childlike innocence and fantasy could exist in Duan Qinglian’s memories.

[Yes, you have now entered the male supporting character’s memory.]

Li Jiaojiao nodded, still only half understanding.

[And Host, there’s no need to hide. The people in this memory cannot see you, and you cannot change anything.]

You could have said that sooner!

Li Jiaojiao immediately straightened up and walked in openly.

Before she could even steady herself, little Duan Qinglian’s laughter stopped abruptly. A bright dagger came stabbing toward her. Fortunately, she was in a phantom state, and the dagger passed through her, burying itself deeply in the doorframe behind.

A bead of cold sweat slid down Li Jiaojiao’s forehead. She didn’t dare to move.

“System, didn’t you say he couldn’t see me?”

[Don’t worry, Host. He really can’t see you.]

Little Duan Qinglian truly couldn’t see her. He sat on the chair, his small feet dangling in the air, his lips red as cinnabar, curving in a smile that would mirror his grown self.

“Did I hear wrong just now?”

His voice was tender and innocent, but it made Li Jiaojiao’s back go cold.

Little Duan Qinglian stopped swinging his feet, got up, and climbed down from the chair that was high off the ground. He wore a white robe much too big for him, his black hair loose and twining around his elbows and waist.

Li Jiaojiao glanced back at the dagger, nearly half a foot deep in the doorframe, then looked at him clambering down with effort.

Has he always had such contrast since childhood?

With light footsteps, little Duan Qinglian walked to the door and pulled the dagger out. The blade gleamed, flickering in his clear eyes.

At some point, the little dog, Xiao Bai, had come to his feet, frolicking and rolling around him.

Little Duan Qinglian squatted down and stroked Xiao Bai’s body.

“I’m bored of the last game already. Shall we play a new one?”

His voice was crisp and delicate, like a yellow oriole. “I’ve never used a dagger before. Can you tell me how much it hurts when the blade pierces flesh?”

…It’s just a dog!

Li Jiaojiao was shocked by little Duan Qinglian’s words. Never mind whether stabbing this little white dog with a dagger counted as animal abuse-could it even talk?

Little Duan Qinglian suddenly paused, his beautiful eyes blinking. “Oh right, it seems you can’t speak.”

Yes, please let it go! Even if you stabbed it to death, it couldn’t manage to say even a single word for pain.

“Then could you do it?” He offered the dagger to the little dog. “But you don’t look very strong, so don’t stab the chest. The ribs are hard.”

Li Jiaojiao: …

Let it go. It’s really just a dog.

“Not that either?” Little Duan Qinglian frowned, his long eyelashes trembling, as if troubled. “It’s all right. Even if you kill me, it’s fine.”

The little white dog, Xiao Bai, stopped frolicking and obediently sat down, tilting its head to look at the child’s face, as if earnestly trying to understand him.

“You really don’t seem to understand anything.” Little Duan Qinglian sighed, lowering his lashes.

The thick fog outside the courtyard grew denser, as if a gaping bloody maw was slowly opening to swallow up the small courtyard.

A timely gust of wind blew away the fog that crept over the courtyard wall, seeping through the cracks in the door and windows.

His oversized robe was lifted by the wind, wrapping and fluttering around his thin body.

He stood up, the hair at his forehead brushing his red lips, the black strands hanging at his waist twisting with the white sleeves as they danced together.

Like an ink painting touched with a bit of vermilion, its few colors as beautiful as a landscape scene.

“So sweet.” Following the wind, his straight nose twitched as he sniffed, and the sweet scent of candy made little Duan Qinglian’s brows and eyes curve with a smile. He picked up Xiao Bai and whispered by its ear, “I didn’t mishear-there really is an outsider.”

Hearing this, Li Jiaojiao quickly covered the crimson pouch at her waist.

“Hello.”

Suddenly, little Duan Qinglian looked directly toward Li Jiaojiao’s direction.

He smiled brightly, but Li Jiaojiao’s hair stood on end with fright.

Why is he so frightening even as a child!

Step by step, little Duan Qinglian followed the cloying scent of candy toward her, forcing Li Jiaojiao to retreat. Even though she knew he couldn’t see her, the pressure from his thin little figure made her move back all the same.

Suddenly, he stopped, tilting his head as if listening to the sounds outside the window.

After a pause, he looked down and spoke to the little white dog, Xiao Bai. “Did you hear that? I think it’s Mother calling me.”