Chapter 217
Chapter 217
As Uncle Bai started down the trail, he suddenly noticed Liu Ye staring at the lantern in his hand with shining eyes. Uncle Bai shuddered.
“Little Ye, please leave your Uncle Bai with a few possessions. Everyone had to pool their money and take out loans to buy these lanterns.”
Uncle Bai signed with one hand. Even the clothes on his back had been purchased for him by Xiaoqian.
Fiends of their rank could hardly go out in public with their backsides bare.
“Uncle Bai, how could you say that about me? I was only curious. I don’t want it.”
Uncle Bai said nothing.
If you don’t want my things, then what happened to the clothes I wore for centuries? You took them despite how old they were!
For the rest of the journey, Uncle Bai guarded against Liu Ye like a thief. He was terrified the brat might take something else from them.
At last, they reached the home of one of the Driver’s friends.
It was an old residential complex that looked thoroughly unremarkable. In truth, however, it was an exceptionally dangerous Fiend Domain. Every building inside was an entity on the same level as the Old Man, the Building Manager. The complex was connected to reality, and ordinary people frequently wandered in and took up residence by mistake. The true residents would then divide them among themselves.
Once they arrived outside, Liu Ye looked around. His expression immediately turned displeased.
“Hey, Fei. Come here.”
“Brother Liu, what do you need?” Xiaoshuai asked cautiously as he came closer.
“You said you prepared this place for my little sister, but why isn’t it festive at all? Fine, perhaps you couldn’t hang big red lanterns, but you should at least have firecrackers. And where’s the red paper over the manhole covers? I haven’t seen a single sheet. Brother Guiwa told me all these customs matter.”
Xiaoshuai fell silent.
So did all the humans and Fiends around him.
Uncle Bai made a mental note to settle accounts with Guiwa later.
He looked toward the Driver. The Driver silently mouthed for him to stall Liu Ye, then hurriedly pulled everyone else aside.
Xiaoshuai gazed at Liu Ye with tears in his eyes.
“Well, Brother Liu, there is a reason for this. And to explain that reason, I have to start with what happened last year…”
While Xu Fei stalled for time with everything he had, the Driver held an emergency meeting with the others.
“Wh-what… what are we supposed to do? Firecrackers and red paper-someone think of something!”
“B-Brother Lü, could we use guns instead of firecrackers?” Second Uncle asked in a low voice.
The Driver’s eyes lit up.
“Yes! All we need is the noise!”
“Good. That solves the firecrackers. What about the red paper? What do we put over the manhole covers?”
As he spoke, the Driver’s gaze landed on the old, tattered kasaya the old monk wore.
The old monk grabbed his kasaya in horror.
“P-Patron Lü, this kasaya is a sacred treasure of my temple. It has been passed down for more than three hundred years…”
“See? Three hundred years. Look how worn out it is! Lend it to us for now. I’ll buy you a new one when we get out!”
“No, Patron Lü, that isn’t the same… Wait, slow down! No!”
The old monk watched helplessly as his kasaya was cut into scraps. His heart gave a violent lurch, and he fainted again.
“Master!”
The young monk beside him hurriedly pinched the philtrum beneath his master’s nose and shoved fast-acting heart pills into his mouth.
Naturally, no one else had time to worry about him. They all hurried to cover the manhole covers.
The moment the Driver finished, he raced into the complex without pause. He ran to the sixth floor and pounded on a door.
“Who is it?”
Before long, a Fiend that looked remarkably human emerged. It was a Mimic Fiend. Such Fiends could imitate a human’s every movement. Their mimicry would gradually progress from stiff and clumsy to increasingly natural, until even the victim’s family could no longer tell which was real. The instant everyone accepted the Mimic Fiend as the genuine person, the original human would disappear.
The Mimic Fiend’s present appearance had been copied from some unfortunate man in the real world. At the moment, it was still inside its apartment digesting him.
When it heard the knock and opened the door, it discovered the Driver outside.
“Little Lü? What brings you here?” the Mimic Fiend asked in surprise.
“It’s a long story, Brother Shen. Lend me your apartment!”
With that, the Driver shoved the Mimic Fiend into the hallway.
Bang!
The Mimic Fiend fell silent.
Click!
A short while later, the Driver emerged again and said with disgust, “Brother Shen, your place is filthy. You’re a grown man. Don’t you ever clean?”
“Wait-”
Before the Mimic Fiend could speak, the Driver took its keys and hurried downstairs.
It was not long before he rushed back with a large group of people.
“Um…”
Bang!
Before the Mimic Fiend could finish, the Driver and the others entered the apartment and shut it outside again.
The Mimic Fiend said nothing.
Soon, the Driver began tossing all of its belongings into the hallway, armful after armful.
The Mimic Fiend remained silent.
“Hurry! Everyone start decorating. Tell me what you need, and I’ll go prepare it!” Brother Driver said anxiously.
“We need balloons, new bedding, and decorations!”
“All right!”
The Driver hurried away again. The Mimic Fiend stood blankly in the corridor, clutching its quilt.
“Little Lü…”
It was about to speak when the Driver interrupted.
“Brother Shen, has anyone new moved in nearby?”
“Uh, a pair of newlyweds moved in downstairs…”
“Oh my god, that’s wonderful!”
The Driver hurried downstairs with the group. Inside an apartment below, a newlywed couple gazed at their brand-new furniture, their hearts filled with hope for the future.
“Darling, this is our new home!”
The woman, however, felt uneasy.
“Darling, don’t you think the neighbors around here are strange? I… I have a bad feeling, as though something terrible is about to happen.”
“Come on, darling. Don’t overthink it. This was the cheapest apartment we could afford. Once we save some money, we’ll move somewhere else.”
The woman remained uneasy, but after hearing her husband’s reassurance, she could only nod.
“Darling…”
“Honey…”
Their faces were about to meet when the door flew open with a crash.
“Sorry to bother you. I need to borrow your furniture!”
The Driver beckoned, and a crowd surged inside. In a frantic flurry, they carried away every piece of furniture in the apartment.
The young couple stared in shock. What was happening? Were they being openly robbed?
They looked around their empty home. The thieves had not left so much as a broom.
The woman fell silent.
Her bad feeling had come true.
After a moment, they finally reacted.
“Robbery!”
They had barely shouted when Uncle Bai cut them off, then threw them outside and directly out of the Fiend Domain.
Before long, everyone finished decorating the bridal room. They returned downstairs, and the Driver closed the apartment door. He turned to the still-bewildered Mimic Fiend.
“By the way, don’t go inside. I borrowed all that furniture from someone else, and I’ll have to pay for anything you break.”
The Mimic Fiend said nothing.
It watched everyone race downstairs, then looked at the apartment door. Finally, realization dawned.
“THAT’S MY DAMN HOME!”