Residence Of Monsters Volume 1 Chapter 6

Sorry for being late… You know, when you start translating and end up reading the rest of the chapter instead… And the rest of the volume… And the rest of the series…

Note: I’ve changed ‘homeroom teacher’ to ‘cla.s.s advisor’. It sounds more natural that way.

Originally posted on RBKTR Translations. 
Author: Lan Qi Zuo Ren (藍旗左衽).
Translated by: Yujuan

He had already left the cla.s.sroom for thirty minutes, and Feng Ping Lan quickened his footsteps to go back. As he went past the border of the school compound, he glanced at the small pathway of thinly spread trees that provided shade. He started going down that shortcut route on a reflex.

He had seen Morris the last time he went down this pathway. He wondered, if they would meet there again—

As he thought of that, a tall and suntanned figure entered his vision, facing the same wall and staring up at the wall.

What was he looking at?

Feng Ping Lan crept forward, halting a little distance away from where Morris was.

Morris stared at the wall, holding his breath with rapt attention. He was serious and concentrated as if he was keeping watch of something.

Was it a demon? Feng Ping Lan moved his position a little, raising his head to look at the same line of sight Morris was gazing at.

He could see a ball of white and black nestled at the nook of the wall, languidly enjoying the sprinkle of sunlight coming from the spa.r.s.ely dispersed leaves.

A cat. Looking from its build, it was a kitten.

Morris stared at the kitten, then, he slowly reached out a hand, and before he could touch it, the sleeping kitten rolled its body to reveal its stomach, changing into a much more comfortable position.

Morris hesitated and withdrew his hand, deciding not to disturb its peaceful sleep. The face that was constantly serious and angry instantly became gentle, his mouth raising into a light smile.

"You like kittens?"

Morris didn't think there would be anyone here and got a shock, turning his head to realize that it was Feng Ping Lan, and couldn't help but be startled and furious at the same time.

"When did you get here!"

"Just now." Feng Ping Lan laughed foolishly, "I didn't think that you would like small animals, I thought that you were going to catch it for breakfast. Luckily it wasn't like that. Hahaha!"

"None of your business! Who wants to eat it!" Morris roared agitatedly, rousing the kitten from its sleep. The shaken feline shot up, rolling over to jump down the wall and ran away.

Morris gazed at the kitten's distant figure, then glared at Feng Ping Lan with a look that said 'this is your fault'.

"I just pa.s.sed it by coincidence," Morris explained impatiently, "The underworld doesn't have this kind of species, so I was just curious."

"But you were looking at it the last time too." Feng Ping Lan broke through his excuse insensitively, smiling lightly, "If you like it then just say it, it doesn't matter."

"I don't!"

"I also like kittens. I kept three cats at home." Feng Ping Lan continued saying, "When there was no one at home, the cats would keep me company and sleep with me. They're so warm and fluffy it's really comfortable when you sleep with them during winter."

"So what!" It didn't have anything to do with him! "I have no interest in this puny species!" So he wasn't envious at all!

"But they were especially frail, so they pa.s.sed away before long." Feng Ping Lan revealed an awkward smile, "So I didn't adopt any more. Maybe it's because I didn't take care of them well, haha…"

Morris stared at Feng Ping Lan, not saying anything except a low mutter, "Nothing to do with me…"

"You're always at the school compound. So are you going to act as a student later on?" Feng Ping Lan asked expectantly.

"I'm just here to investigate." Morris replied snappily, "The atmosphere at this school is a bit weird."

"Is it the matter with the increasing lower-level demons?"

"That's one of the reasons." Morris glanced around the school area. School hadn't really opened yet, so it was tranquil, "But there was already a peculiar feeling before that…"

That was a feeling that he couldn't describe, that had been covered up by something they couldn't touch or feel as if it didn't exist at all.

But he had animalistic instinct, and he could sense the things that existed yet did not exist. Although his strength was weaker than he usually was, his innate abilities warned him of something unknown.

There was an inharmonious force working behind the scenes. Were people sent from the royal clan hiding here? Or was it—

Suddenly Morris' eyes became icy, and he pulled Feng Ping Lan to hide behind the trees.

Just as Feng Ping Lan was about to ask what was wrong, he saw a twisted figure near the entrance of the pathway.

It was a tall and thin body that looked like something built out of children's clay. The dark-green appearance was moist like undried mud, not a piece of clothing on its body, an entire head bald of hair, and its face smooth with one of its sides covered in eyes. The underweight and shriveled up body moved forward with a strange posture, and the countless eyes on its face were rolling in all directions, probing around.

"That's Ci Mu's clone…" Morris lowered his voice to say quietly to Feng Ping Lan, "It has no interest towards humans, so don't make eye contact towards it and act like you didn't see it. Walk past it and leave this place."

"What about you?"

"I don't need your concern!" He wasn't so miserable as to need a human's pity!

"Are you going to attack it?"

"No. Fighting in my current state will only lead to my life force getting consumed even faster. Besides, if I alert more people on the royal clan's side, it'll get more disadvantageous towards us." Morris gritted his teeth, cursing in humiliation and anger, "It's just merely lieutenant-level… if my strength wasn't restricted…" He could only hide away and hope, powerlessly, that it would leave. Although the worst-case scenario would be to be discovered, and flee while meeting the enemy head-on.

"I see…" Feng Ping Lan nodded his head, "Doesn't it have any weakness?"

"Ci Mu doesn't like water. His clone can't come close to big areas like rivers and lakes, because the water's reflection will distort its vision." Morris quietly observed its movements, not daring to move an inch.

"Oh. If it's like this, I know what to do!" Feng Ping Lan grabbed Morris' hand, "Let's escape together! Move here!"

"What?" Before Morris could react, Feng Ping Lan had taken his hand and rushed forwards.

Feng Ping Lan lead Morris along to pa.s.s through the trees and make a round the dormitory, fleeing towards the other side of the school compound.

Morris could feel Ci Mu's clone chasing them from the back. It wasn't very good at moving on both legs, so it maintained some distance from both of them, but they still couldn't shake it off.

"What are you up to! As long as our shadows are locked on, we can't escape its clutches!" Morris roared angrily.

Looking at the distance between them, Ci Mu wasn't able to get a hold of his appearance, plus with his weakened powers, there was a possibility that it hadn't recognized him.

But running away like this wouldn't be any good!

"We're almost there!"

Feng Ping Lan pulled Morris in front of the gym, turning a corner to enter the alley by the side, pointing to the window ventilator on the walls outside the building. "That's it! Jump through the window!"

Morris hesitated for a moment, but the situation at hand forced him to have no choice.

Desperate times called for desperate measures!

He grabbed Feng Ping Lan's collar and threw him over his shoulder, both knees bent, and jumped through the window in an amazing parabola.

Behind the window was a s.p.a.cious area, and at the center was an enormous light-blue rectangular track—

This was?

Morris froze, and realized before he met with that blue track what the ground beneath his feet was. It was water.

This was a pool?! d.a.m.n it, towards water he was—

He wanted to evade it, but the weight had already thrown both of them into the water.

Splash!

A huge volume of water splashed out. The tranquil waters stirred up a burst of waves, then slowly calmed down into small ripples of clear and crystalline reflections in the sunlight.

Feng Ping Lan shrunk beneath the waters, raising his head to look above. A blurred and twisted body above the surface entered his vision.

He held his breath, carefully waiting. He saw a figure appear at the window ventilator by the side.

Was it really okay? Although he was submerged in water, the water was transparent, so would it really evade Ci Mu's trail?

The silhouette by the window slowly stretched out, staring at the vast swimming pool. It stopped for a while, then it slowly withdrew and vanished behind the window.

Feng Ping Lan waited for a moment until he could breathe no more, then he emerged from the waters.

"Huah!" He took a deep breath, at the same time glancing at the window with alertness. If he sensed anything fishy he would immediately submerge himself underwater again.

But the twisted figure did not appear again.

"It's gone!" Feng Ping Lan laughed in rejoice, "Luckily there was water in the swimming pool, or else we'd be goners. Hahaha."

But n.o.body answered him, not even a single curse of anger.

"Morris?" Feng Ping Lan turned his head. The only one above the surface was him.

Where was he?

He lowered his head, only to see a well-built suntanned body face-down underwater, all four limbs spread out.

"Morris?!"

Feng Ping Lan hurriedly took a deep breath, plunging into the water to pull Morris who was drifting slowly like seaweed out. He exerted huge might before getting the robust body onto the banks.

Morris had his eyes closed, frowning deeply. He was clearly in an unconscious condition, his chest moving up and down weakly.

Oh no oh no, what to do! Feng Ping Lan was in a flurry.

CPR? No, that was to be used when there weren't any more signs of breathing!

What should he do? He remembered that first aid cla.s.s had also taught him… the CAB mnemonic chant. Firstly, call out and verify the person's consciousness…

Feng Ping Lan patted Morris' shoulder, "Hey, are you okay, how are you feel— Ah that's not right! It's not like that!" Both of his hands grabbed his head, thinking frantically while messing up his hair. He finally came to a decision.

Whatever! Artificial respiration it is!

Feng Ping Lan licked his lips, then glancing at Morris' subtly gaping mouth.

He'd sacrifice his first kiss to save someone, as this was an honorable thing to do!

Thus, he breathed in deeply, closed his eyes and moved his head towards Morris—

"What are you doing!"

A reproving voice sounded before him, and before his head touched down a solid palm had blocked him mid-air.

Feng Ping Lan opened his eyes and saw between the gap of Morris' fingers that Morris was glaring at him in alarm and anger.

"That's great, you're awake!" Feng Ping Lan released a sigh of relief.

Morris coughed twice, spitting the water that he had swallowed on reflex. He then gasping for breath, coughing for quite a while after that.

Feng Ping Lan patted Morris' back while saying nostalgically, "From after the seal was broken, we've met exactly three times altogether. The first time I made you get wet; the second time we hid together. During the third time, we hid together with our bodies wet," he couldn't help but let a laugh escape, "That's so interesting!"

"Interesting like h.e.l.l!" Morris became agitated, "Who told you to act on your own accord!"

"Sorry, I didn't know you couldn't swim."

"Shut up!" Morris bellowed violently, and then he started another series of coughs.

"You okay? Do you want to drink some water?"

"Shut up!" Morris stood up, "Get away from me! You're not allowed to approach me again!"

After throwing down those harsh words, he didn't care about his soaked body and jumped hard, leaving the swimming pool area through the same window.

Feng Ping Lan grabbed his head. He looked at his watch and realized that there were still three minutes before cla.s.s ended.

Oh no! He hurriedly stood up and quickened his steps to go back.

Feng Ping Lan climbed over the walls of the changing room to avoid the guard at the entrance of the swimming pool area. He arrived at the cla.s.sroom a minute before the bell rang.

Yin Su Shuang stood before the teacher's desk, coldly gazing at the utterly soaked Feng Ping Lan, "You were gone for twenty-seven minutes." With that said, he paused and waited for the bell to ring, then opened his mouth, "You said that you had a stomach ache and had to use the toilet, but in the end, cla.s.s has finished and you came back entirely wet."

"This isn't toilet water!" Feng Ping Lan clarified seriously.

"I know. That's why I tolerated your nonsense and didn't treat you like rubbish to dispose of." Yin Su Shuang stared at Feng Ping Lan for a moment, impatiently muttering a few curses under his breath.

Feng Ping Lan couldn't hear what he was saying, just a few phrases like 'the Director' and 'unruly and rash'.

"I'll take note of you." Yin Su Shuang warned, then sweeping a cold gaze around the whole cla.s.s to deliver a threat before leaving the cla.s.sroom.

Feng Ping Lan returned to his seat under everyone's gaze.

"You're crazier than I'd originally thought." Bai Li Rui handed a napkin to Feng Ping Lan, saying, "Are you trying to create an unrestrained and wild bad boy image to attract the girls? Brilliant move, but it's a bit too much."

"I'm not thinking that far!"

"What were you doing?" Conglong asked, frowning.

"Aiya, it's a bit hard to explain, I'll tell you later."

Later, Feng Ping Lan explained to Conglong and Simo that he'd seen Byriel on the rooftops; and then he'd met Morris, and they'd been chased by Ci Mu to the swimming pool.

But, he didn't say anything about Morris observing cats. He felt that Morris didn't want anybody to find out. However slow he was, however stupid he was, he knew that everyone had something that they didn't want discovered.

Because he had one too.

"Ci Mu's clone huh…" Conglong contemplated, "It usually observes using its original body, and seldom sends out its own clone. Who knows what induced it to act like this."

"Maybe it's because of the change in environment."

"Possibly. If its clone appeared here, we need to be more subdued and try not to end up alone, get mixed into the crowd."

Simo who had stayed silent all this while and had not uttered a word from the beginning to the end revealed an uneasy expression.

The half-day was spent collecting schoolbooks, measuring sizes for the uniform, and going to the a.s.sembly hall to listen to a boring school's introductory video. In the end, Byriel hadn't come to a single cla.s.s.

When the school bell rang, Conglong made an incredibly hard-pressed request.

"I want to use the public bus to go back."

"You sure?" He did not forget the incident when they rode a bicycle where he had been enlightened with perfect wisdom.

"I checked, this kind of transport goes and stops, and its fastest speed is 40 mph so it's not that fast." Conglong smiled with confidence, "No problem. This would make us even more subtle and a.s.similate us into the student crowds."

"If you say so…" Feng Ping Lan forced a smile, "Hopefully we won't get placed on their blacklist." As they left the cla.s.sroom, he brought a rubbish bag and a towel in pa.s.sing, just in case he needed it.

When Feng Ping Lan brought Conglong and Simo to the bus stand, there were quite a lot of students waiting there as well, including the girl that kept on combing her hair.

Yin Su Shuang had not let everyone introduce themselves. Looking at his personality, he didn't seem like the type to arrange ice-breaking games to let them bond better.

Feng Ping Lan wanted to say h.e.l.lo to that girl, but she kept on looking at her mirror and combing her hair, completely oblivious to the matters happening around her, so he could only drop it.

"Until when are you guys staying at the residence?"

"We'll probably keep on staying there. Although there aren't a lot of good memories there, getting a place to stay in the human world isn't easy."

"I guess so, buying a house nowadays is quite expensive."

"The problem isn’t with the money." Conglong rolled his eyes, "We're not humans, and we're even more so not this area's residents. Because we don't have ident.i.ties, we'll need to cast a whole lot of spells, including using hypnosis, allusions and willpower to control and obtain the doc.u.ments and various contracts to live as a normal human. Every process we go through has to follow the rules, and if anything goes wrong it'll summon some really troublesome problems in the future."

"I guess you could say that." He didn't realize that the demons were actually quite abiding by the law too. Feng Ping Lan paused for a few moments, then opened his mouth hesitantly, "By the way, why did you guys get sealed into that house? Was it done by other demons?"

Conglong became silent, and just as Feng Ping Lan beginning to think that he didn't want to answer, a downcast voice due to the memories started speaking.

"It wasn't a demon. It was a Demon Slayer, the hunters that are a part of the Summoners." Conglong gritted his teeth, as if he didn't want to admit it, "They're humans."

"Demon Slayers? Summoners?" The new terms caused Feng Ping Lan to be baffled.

So in the human world, there were other humans who could see the demons' existence?

"Demons coming into this world isn't an easy feat to do, but there are some humans with special capabilities that can use curses and magic circles to summon the demons to the human world. They'll create a contract with them and put those demons to work. Those are Summoners.

"Of course, that doesn't mean every demon is summoned to the human world. Summoners can only control demons of their level. If they summon demons that are of a higher caliber, they'll be the ones controlled instead and become the demons' slave, or be killed on the spot." Conglong helplessly said, "Amongst the Summoners, there's a category that's called the Demon Slayers who can cast strong spells. In their eyes, demons are intruders that shouldn't exist in this world other than the ones that are contracted to humans. Just like us."

"I see…" Feng Ping Lan was really astonished. The wars between humans were already chaotic enough. The relationship between humans and demons was even more complicated.

No matter the species, they could not peacefully, steadily coexist on this land.

"Before we came to this residence, there was originally a demon that would attack humans, who were residing there. We got rid of that demon when we came to the human world so that we could take the house for ourselves."

"Seems like you helped the humans by getting rid of a disaster, what's wrong with that?"

"Yes, so the Demon Slayer did not destroy us, and just sealed us off." Conglong's expression became sorrowful, "Our master exchanged some kind of deal with the Demon Slayer, so that he could let go of us. The Demon Slayer did not seal us off forever, and left behind the conditions to break the seal. He gave us a chance to escape, and also left us a strand of hope."

At first, they had thought it was an uncertain and indefinite hope, but they didn't think those conditions would be attained twelve years later.

But, they had unlocked the seal with great difficulty but the prince was nowhere to be found, so they were once again at a loss.

"Then why did you guys come to the human world?"

"To flee. To escape from the struggle for the throne between the thirteen princes…" Defeat, resentment, distress, humiliation, it was all written in the boy's eyes.

With that expression, this was the first time Feng Ping Lan felt that although Conglong looked about the same age as him, he wasn't human and was several times older than he was, the trials that he had gone through in his life several times harsher.

He hurriedly changed the topic.

"Oh that's right, Byriel mentioned that if you guys wanted to get away from your current situation, there was another method other than finding your master. What was it?"

Conglong glanced at Feng Ping Lan, "None of your business."

"Oh, okay." Feng Ping Lan shrugged his shoulders, not asking any more.

Before long, the bus had arrived. The group of three and that girl boarded the bus. Although she kept on looking at the mirror while she walked, she didn't trip nor b.u.mp into anybody. Feng Ping Lan silently admired her from the back.

They went to the last row which was a double seating. Simo and Conglong both sat down, and Feng Ping Lan stood on the walkway beside them.

After all the pa.s.sengers had boarded, the doors of the bus slowly shut close.

Just as the bus doors were about to close, a dark-green hand suddenly shot in, and a long twisted body flashed in through the narrow slit of the doors.

Feng Ping Lan sucked in a breath, lowering his head to look at Conglong and Simo and seeing that both of their faces had gone ashen after realizing that they had an uninvited guest in their midst.

In the next second, the bus started moving.

Feng Ping Lan moved his body sideways towards the railing, lowering his voice to speak to Conglong, "What do we do? Why is it here?"

"It could be because of you and Morris' encounter earlier that raised its suspicions. It saw your shadow, so it could track you."

"Uh! Sorry!"

"This isn't your fault." If Feng Ping Lan hadn't helped Morris escape, that could have resulted in a fight between Morris and Ci Mu. It would have attracted more people sent by the Third Prince, causing their plight to become even more disadvantageous.

But they could still run in an open area, and now that they were trapped in a bus, what should they do?

Feng Ping Lan secretly looked to the front. Ci Mu's clone was inspecting the students one by one, observing them from head to toe. It looked as it came closer to the back.

"Getting off the bus halfway would raise suspicions, and the next stand is at least eight minutes away. Do you guys want to cast a spell and escape from the windows?"

"We'll be noticed if we cast spells now, and we're not sure whether it has other companions."

"Then what should we do?" Feng Ping Lan anxiously looked over and saw that Ci Mu had stopped beside the girl who was currently combing her hair. For some reason, the time that it took was longer than with others. "Can't we do anything?"

"Yes, we can do something. We make a contract." Simo who had been silent this entire while opened her mouth.

Conglong looked at her with a flabbergasted expression.

"We can sign a contract with a human to strengthen our link and rationale with this world. After the contract is signed, we can make a mimicry of actual contractors."

"Don't talk nonsense!" Conglong refuted, "We'd be no different from the domesticated beings of those Summoners then!"

"Feng Ping Lan isn't a Summoner, he's different from a Summoner." Simo said seriously, "We have no choice. I don't want to be defeated by someone this weak before I can meet Prince Shuekan again…"

Conglong stared at Simo, then at Feng Ping Lan, his heart at a loss and hesitating in every possible way. At last he gritted his teeth and staked it all on one throw.

"Idiot, listen well. After this whatever I repeat, you repeat." Conglong quietly instructed, "I, Feng Ping Lan, am willing to sign a contract; take the chains that transcend this common world and bind it upon our souls, blood, and flesh."

"You’re sure?" Feng Ping Lan had seen Conglong's earlier reaction. It had felt extremely reluctant, and he didn't want to take advantage of someone while he was in danger. "Will we be noticed?"

"No choice. The contract is a binding of our souls, and it's not a spell cast outwardly. When it starts it won't be prominent to people other than the ones involved, so n.o.body will realize it. We don't have enough time, hurry up!"

Feng Ping Lan repeated those words.

"Do you have any demands? According to this world, you're the master and I'm the servant, so you can put forth some conditions."

"I don’t have any."

Conglong widened his eyes, "You sure?"

"Yeah yeah, we don't have enough time, hurry up."

"I serve use to you, you serve use to me."

"I serve use to you, you serve use to me."

After repeating this, Feng Ping Lan felt something different in his body, as if his pores had been opened up and every one of his cells was clamoring with noise, his blood flow and circulation speeding up, a tempest surging forward in great waves within his body.

"And then?"

"Leave a mark on my body."

"Ah?" Please forgive him, he had thought at a crooked angle for a second there.

"Touch me, and leave a mark that belongs to you on my body, then the contract will be completed!" Conglong looked anxiously to the front, "Hurry up."

"Since it's a promise…" Feng Ping Lan raised his little finger, "Let's pinky swear."

Conglong frowned, glaring at Feng Ping Lan, then raising his little finger as well and hooking it on Feng Ping Lan's.

The moment both fingers touched, Feng Ping Lan could feel that the storm within him had collided with the storm within Conglong, and then folded over each other, a raging big wave bursting forth.

He could feel he and Conglong connect, and he could feel the other's perception and emotions. He could feel a hole in Conglong's soul, and it was as if his physical strength and demonic strength was draining away out of it. In an instant, the hole was blocked up, and a smooth and serene adaptive feeling enveloped them both as if a fish stranded out of the water had been thrown back in.

Contract completed.

"Simo next, hurry!"

Feng Ping Lan quickly repeated those words for the contract, but Ci Mu's clone had started to move, about to near their positions!

What to do?! It was too late!

Just as Ci Mu's clone was about to slowly move forwards. A silhouette sat in the front suddenly stood up, rapidly walking to the back exit and pressing the b.u.t.ton to disembark.

It was that girl that kept on combing her hair. After pressing the b.u.t.ton, she continued to look at her mirror, gazing at it while combing her hair.

This didn't restrict Ci Mu's footsteps, the twisted figure continuing to move forwards.

Just at this moment, a flash of light hit onto Ci Mu's face. The bright light pierced the surface full of eyeb.a.l.l.s, which caused it to close all of its eyes in pain, its footsteps halting due to the pain as well.

That ray of light had been shot from the girl's hand by the door, the afternoon sun's rays reflecting off her mirror and shooting just right onto Ci Mu's face.

Feng Ping Lan stared blankly.

Was it a coincidence?

The girl looked like nothing had happened, and continued to comb her hair.

Taking advantage of Ci Mu's pause, Feng Ping Lan quickly finished chanting the pledge and hooking fingers with Simo to complete the contract.

When Ci Mu's clone had opened its eyes, slowing walking towards the seats, he could only see three perfectly normal people with diffident expressions, glancing out at the window to look at the scenery.

The clone walked towards Feng Ping Lan, recognizing him as the human that had suddenly run in a frenzy in the school, and the one it had lost trace of this afternoon.

The eyes on its head stared at Feng Ping Lan for a long moment, carefully sizing him up and down.

Was this human a Summoner? If he was, why did he run away after seeing it? Was the guy with him earlier a demon or a human?

Feng Ping Lan tried his best to ignore it, taking out his phone and seriously playing a game on it.

This move was really useful. When he focused on the game's field of view, it was incredibly easy to ignore the existence around him.

Ci Mu stared at Feng Ping Lan for a long while, then decided at last that this was an insignificant normal human.

The gaze of Ci Mu's clone moved away from Feng Ping Lan, its eyes closing and then vanishing starting from its feet just like pencil marks getting erased.

The danger was gone.

The three of them released a sigh at the same time, and Feng Ping Lan leaning limply on the railing breathing in deeply.

For a while, the three of them did not say anything, facing each other. With this brand new relationship, this brand new situation, it was like they were lovers that were dating for the first time after the confession, strangely awkward.

"Thank you…" Simo quietly but sincerely spoke. "I will try to my utmost capabilities to repay this favor…"

"Oh, it wasn't much. It was just a pinky swear." Feng Ping Lan grabbed his head embarra.s.sedly, "So… after signing a contract together, is there anything that's going to be different?"

"If you had added any conditions in that contract, it would be different. We would need to listen to you until we completed that demand, or if we had the conditions to break the contract." Conglong explained, "But you didn't demand anything, so we are free individuals. Although we have a contracted relationship, you don't have the ability to restrict or control us.”

"Oh, this really isn't bad at all."

"Actually, the one that is suffering losses is you." Conglong's expression was a bit unnatural as if he was perplexed yet embarra.s.sed, "You built a contract with us, but you're not getting any benefits from it." It was actually them that could establish themselves in the human world without paying any cost. It was like immigrating themselves to another country for free, gaining the ident.i.ty of a permanent resident and enjoying its social welfare benefits without paying their taxes.

Most importantly, Feng Ping Lan could possibly become a target of other demons due to their contract… Their enemies had also become Feng Ping Lan's enemies.

"It's not disadvantageous to me either." Feng Ping Lan smiled, "Then, do I need to do anything? Or will there be any changes to me?"

"Summoners are all people with special capabilities, and after signing a contract they will be able to use the power of demons. But you're just a normal human, and you didn't demand anything when binding the contract." Conglong frowned, "This kind of situation has never occurred before, so I'm not clear on what will happen after this."

"I see." Feng Ping Lan grabbed his head, "Then will I start to love drinking milk just like you? If it's like this I'll keep on getting stomach aches…"

"Of course not! You idiot!" Conglong rebuke impatiently, "Remember, this is just a temporary arrangement, this doesn't mean anything. Our contract has no effect at all, so don't think that you've become extraordinary!"

"Mmmm, I know."

"Don't be like this, Conglong…" Simo gently curbed him disapprovingly.

"Humph! I was just reminding him of his position." Conglong glared at Feng Ping Lan, "Also—"

His words paused for a long while, and at last Conglong uneasily, unnaturally spit out softly: "…Thanks."

As the bus reached the bus stand, they disembarked, walking quite a distance before reaching the residence.

It might or might not be an affect of the new contract, but Feng Ping Lan felt that his physical strength had increased a lot as he did not feel tired in the slightest after climbing a mountain under the hot sun.

"You should go back first." As the reached the residence, Conglong instructed Feng Ping Lan, "Right now you can't show up here."

"Oh, okay."

Feng Ping Lan lead along the bicycle resting at the front, and just as he was about to leave, Conglong pulled on his sleeve.

"Here, take this." Conglong looked reluctant in every possible way, opening up his palm in front of Feng Ping Lan arrogantly.

Feng Ping Lan reached out a hand to take it. It was a piece of blue scale about the size of a leaf, that had the transparency of ceramic glaze, almost like a miniature lake.

As he placed it in his palm, a cooling sensation percolated over.

"What's this?"

"That's one of my scales. You should feel honored to have the privilege of keeping it!"

"Why did you give me this? Can I use it for gua sha1?"

"No! You moron! That scale has a connection to me, it can defend you from getting affected by the lower-level demons' contagious energy!" After yelling this, he then awkwardly twisted his head to the side, "To meet human as stupid as you is pretty rare, but you're defenseless just as you are stupid, I just don't want you to die too early and cause me to get used to the human world's atmosphere again! It's just like that!"

"Oh oh! Thank you!" Feng Ping Lan carefully kept the scale in his pocket. "I'll take care of it nicely!"

"Humph!"

Simo walked up to Feng Ping Lan, opening up her palm, and a gorgeous multi-colored sparrow appeared from thin air, flapping its wings and flying a round around Feng Ping Lan, stopping on the top of his head for a moment before flying off.

"This is my messenger demon…" Simo lowered her head, timidly speaking, "When you need me just whistle, and it'll appear to get your message, it'll also provide help to you."

"Thank you!" Feng Ping Lan grabbed his head, "Getting so many presents, I'm really sorry for inconveniencing, haha!"

"This is… a must…"

After sending Feng Ping Lan away, the two of them exchanged a look, breathing in deeply before entering the house.

Dongya was the one who opened the door. The second he saw Simo and Conglong, he had sensed the changes present on both of them.

"You guys are bound to a contract?"

"Yes." Conglong was a bit hard-pressed to admit, "Ci Mu's clone appeared on the bus, we had no choice, so…"

"Ci Mu's clone?" Dongya muttered to himself for a while, "Morris saw that clone at school too. Who knows what it's looking for? I hope it has nothing to do with us."

Byriel who was lying on the sofa heard this frowned, but remained calm and collected.

That narrow-minded small fry had actually done something behind his back.

Looked like he had to quicken his pace. Before Ci Mu could realize something wrong, he had to set about with his plans…

"Signing a contract before reporting, this is my fault." Conglong lowered his head, with an expression of someone acknowledging his mistake and awaiting his punishment, "It was my idea."

"Special circ.u.mstances forced you, it was a situation you couldn't have prepared for beforehand, you didn't do anything wrong. I think Quetzal will also forgive you." Dongya spoke gently, "Also, the person you're contracted to is Feng Ping Lan, so I'm at ease."

Byriel who was lying on the sofa asked, "What conditions did Feng Ping Lan set?"

"…He didn't ask for anything." Simo replied, "He didn't have any requests, and binded a contract with us just like that."

"Oh?" Byriel knitted his eyebrows pondering for a while, then smiling lightly, "That's quite good too, it's good too. Hehehe…"

"Your condition is pretty bad." Simo walked towards the sofa, inspecting Byriel's pale face, "If you speak up, he will definitely be willing—"

"I know." Byriel jumped to stand up, heading towards the staircase, "But I don't want to, hehehe…" 

Not just that he did not want it.

He was also not fit to be wanted…

Feng Ping Lan cycled quickly back to the dorms. As he reached his room, he saw that the window curtains had been pulled shut, the lights turned off into a cooling darkness.

Through a dim vision, Feng Ping Lan realized that a mountain of flesh was once again built on Bai Li Rui's bed. It wasn't just the bed, but the under the desk and between the gaps of the cabinet had lower-level demons perched in them if there was just a little darkness present. The density was greater than it was in daylight.

Feng Ping Lan pulled open the curtains, but the lower-level demons did not vanish and just squeezed into corners where the light would not reach them, glaring ostentatiously at Feng Ping Lan.

Why was it like this? It seemed that the lower-levels' conduct had become more showy and excessive…

"Close the curtains… It hurts my eyes." Bai Li Rui who was lying on the bed spoke sulkily.

"Did you eat lunch?" Feng Ping Lan climbed up the ladders of Bai Li Rui's bed, standing on the upper side of the ladder to observe his roommate.

"No. I feel a bit tired, I want to sleep." Bai Li Rui yawned, turning over.

As he turned over, Feng Ping Lan could see that quite a lot of eyes under his blanket, blinking.

Feng Ping Lan frowned, "Do you want to go out to eat together?"

"No need." Bai Li Rui lazily spoke, "I need to preserve my spirit, so that I can have an outstanding performance for tonight's friendship activity for newcomers the woodwind club's set up…"

"You can play woodwind instruments?"

"I don't know how to at the moment. No one will know anyway." Bai Li Rui yawned again, "If I'm still not awake by five, remember to wake me up… And close the curtains…" With that, he mumbled for a while before going back to dreamland.

Feng Ping Lan switched on the table lamp, shining it into the room, but the light could only make the succubi turn away and not vanish.

Raising his head to look at Bai Li Rui sleeping on the bed, his roommate was in a state of deep sleep and was letting out a sound that was of dubious implications. Feng Ping Lan couldn't tell if that was an uncomfortable sound due to his lifeforce being drained by the succubi, or the comfortable groans caused by limitless wet dreams.

No matter which one it was, he was sure that if this went on any further Bai Li Rui could die of exhaustion, die in his own bed.

Tilting his head to think for a moment, he suddenly had an idea. He took out the scale that Conglong had given him from his pocket and secretly climbed to the side of Bai Li Rui's bed to lightly place the scale into Bai Li Rui's breast pocket.

The succubi surrounding the bed turned into countless shadows, escaping from the blankets. In an instant, Bai Li Rui's complexion had returned somewhat.

The succubi that had escaped into the dark corners glared with grudging and indignant looks at Feng Ping Lan. He hurriedly left the room, coming to the courtyard illuminated by the sun.

After making sure that there wasn't anyone around him, he lightly whistled twice.

Before long, a crisp twitter rang out unhurriedly, the gorgeous bird soaring down from above to land on Feng Ping Lan's extended hand.

"Chirp chirp chirp, coo coo, little birdy you're so cute!"

The bird glanced at Feng Ping Lan, not responding. But Feng Ping Lan had an indistinct feeling, that he had seen impatience and contempt from that bird's roundish eyes.

"Help me tell your master, the dormitory's lower-level demons are increasing, and are getting even more aggressive…" Feng Ping Lan turned his head to look at the dormitory, "I want to have a huge cleansing. I hope she and Conglong will help me."

As his words ended, the bird flapped its wings by Feng Ping Lan's side flying two rounds before vanishing.

Before long, he could see Simo and Conglong's figures walking from the dormitories.

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, why weren't you in your room! You made me spend a trip there!" Conglong started interrogating at the first moment, "Where's the scale I gave you? Why didn't you bring it along with you!"

"Oh, I put it at where Li Rui is, because the condition at our room is in a worse state, and I'm scared that he'll be affected." Feng Ping Lan replied calmly.

This answer made Conglong very discontented, his face revealing a hint of dejectedness, "You idiot! Don't walk over somebody's kindness! I signed a contract with you, not that pervert, if you give the scale to him, then what about you?!"

"Me?" Facing Conglong's fury, Feng Ping Lan felt perplexed, replying as if it was obvious, "I have you guys."

This answer made Conglong freeze, and his fury had been subtracted by quite a lot, but he kept that high and mighty tone while saying, "Humph! I'll count you as tactful." Then he took out a scale to give to Feng Ping Lan, "Take it! This is the last one I'm giving to you! Keep it well! You're not allowed to give it to anybody else!"

"Yesyesyes. Thank you thank you!"

"I went to the dorms for a while, and it really is pretty bad to be like this in broad daylight. Especially your room." Conglong shook his head, "How deep is that guy's desire and delusions towards the opposite s.e.x? He's actually not dead yet even in that kind of state!"

"Yup yup. Do you have anything to wipe them all out in one go? Just depending on your scale isn't a solution, if this goes on it wouldn't be just Li Rui, the others would get affected too."

"There is. Looking at this amount, the succubi's main body is situated near here. If we just find the main body and destroy it, we can get rid of all the clones."

"Then what about the other lower-levels?"

"The other lower-level demons don't bring much harm, doesn't matter if we get rid of them or not. They're just like dust, if you sweep away the old ones there'll still be new ones that will appear."

"I see." Feng Ping Lan broke into a smile, "Thank you!"

Conglong humphed, "Don't misunderstand, I don't particularly care if those humans die or not." He said awkwardly, "I just feel that letting those lower-levels mess around would bring more trouble if we draw the Demon Slayers here."

"Aiyo, how can you be so distant." Feng Ping Lan hooked an arm around Conglong's neck, "We're buddies now, so be a little more open. Oh right, how about we pick nicknames for each other? It'll feel more intimate!"

Conglong shook off Feng Ping Lan's hand, "Okay, I’m calling you Idiot."

"Aiya how can you be like this, Xiao Cong-Cong is really cruel."

"…Do. Not. Call. Me. That!"

Feng Ping Lan ignored Conglong's warning, looking at Simo, "Then, for Simo…"

Simo looked at Feng Ping Lan nervously, worried about being named something weird, at the same time a looking forward to it.    

Feng Ping Lan thought for a second, "Mm, Simo's name is already cute, I can't think of anything cuter, so I guess we'll stick to the original."

Simo released a sigh of relief, but a bit of disappointment emerged in her heart.

"Or do you like Momo? It sounds like j.a.panese peaches, haha!"

"No. S-Simo is fine…"

"Say, where is the succubi's main body hiding at?" Done with his jokes, Feng Ping Lan switched back to the main topic, "Do we need to scour the entire school compound?"

"No need to look," Conglong muttered a spell, his finger pointing downwards, a drop of circulating silvery-blue transparent droplet dropping onto the floor, quickly diffusing into a thinly spread out water path, extending towards the whole school area.

"Wow! Amazing!" Feng Ping Lan bent to touch the water path on the floor, to feel that his palms had a sort of cool percolating and moist feeling as it touched it, although his hands were dry when he separated it.

"A minor accomplishment." Conglong said proudly, "It's only one-fifth of the strength we have although we've not fully regained our full powers yet."

The twelve years of sealing, with the few days they had lived with no contract in the human world had caused great damage to their vigor, and they needed a certain amount of time before they could fully heal.

The next moment, a dark-purple stream of filth flowed from the girls' dormitories. Almost as if wastewater had been discharged onto the rivers, the silvery-blue surface had been contaminated to a black.

"The main body is in the girls' dorm." Conglong put away his hand, the water path vanishing, "As I expected, it really favors female humans."

"The girls' dormitories…" Feng Ping Lan gazed towards the girls' dorms, curious about what the succubi would turn into in there, "Do we move now?"

"It's the s.e.xual demons' hiding period in the day, and the main body will create countless clones to hide on various corners. There's no point in attacking now. It'll only start to gather in the night, so we break in then."

"Oh right, how do we get in then? Do we use allusions and hypnosis to make them think of us as girls?"

"It's already an allusion for us to exist within this school, if we add other conditions we'll need to add complex allusions to every person we meet. This is an incredibly huge project for us to do, and there's no guarantee that we don't end up overlooking something." If someone coincidentally saw them from somewhere they didn't realize, their disguise would be seen through.

"Then can we transform? Transform into female students?" Feng Ping Lan proposed excitedly. If it was like this, he could show off to Li Rui.

"I can create an individual illusion, but to change the original body into something else, or to put on an illusion that turns me into something I'm originally not…" Also, he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't alert the, with all these complicated spells. "We can only wait for an opportunity, and move when everybody's asleep at night."

"Not possible! All the students typically sleep late at night, and the entrance is also guarded."

"Troublesome! If it's like this only Simo can operate, don't tell me we have her go in with us waiting outside?"

Simo shook her head in a panic, "I-I probably can't…"

Feng Ping Lan grabbed his head in distress, "There should be a more simple method."

There were always perverts and s.e.xual hara.s.sers in society, who snuck into female dorms, female toilets, and female changing rooms for their own l.u.s.t. What kind of methods did they use to slip into them?

Ah, he had it figured out.

"I have an idea!" A really simple and substantial idea!

"You sure?" Conglong looked a bit distrustfully at Feng Ping Lan.

"Don't worry don't worry, leave it all to me." Feng Ping Lan patted his chest to pledge, "There's definitely no problem! Let's gather at my room at six o'clock!"

When Feng Ping Lan went back to his room, Bai Li Rui was already awake. He was standing in front of the mirror dressing.

"You're awake? How's your condition?"

"Very good. I suddenly don't feel tired anymore." Bai Li Rui combed his hair to a side, one part divided to be more obvious than the other.

"You're going out now?"

"The cla.s.sical literature club has a tea ceremony at three o'clock, and with my romantic elegance, I'll probably be able to create a whirlwind with those gentle and graceful literature girls." Tidying his shirt, he finally put on a pair of powerless gla.s.ses. "Mm, totally perfect."

"Is the cla.s.sical literature club going to read Harry Potter? Why are you wearing gla.s.ses."

"It's not Harry Potter, it's Xu Zhimo. After putting these on I'll become a natural literature youth, and my poetic grace and literary talent will make those girls scramble for my good graces."

"How enthusiastic!" Seeing Bai Li Rui's recovered vigor, Feng Ping Lan became cheerful as well, "Oh, by the way, can I borrow a few clothes from you?"

Bai Li Rui took a look at the mirror, asking curiously, "You're going a date? Is it a fellowship meeting? Outside the school or inside the school? At what time?"

"Nah, I just have a few things to do with Conglong at night."

"Oh." The moment he heard that it had nothing to do with the opposite gender, Bai Li Rui lost his interest, "They're all in the closet, they're stored by the quality of the design and the season. Don't mess it up."

"Okay." Feng Ping Lan rummaged through it for a while, "Where do you put the female attire?"

Bai Li Rui who was doing the final touch-ups in front of the mirror became rigid for a moment, "…What are you planning on doing?"

"Nothing much, I'm just curious. Hahaha." Feng Ping Lan casually put out a reason, "I felt that the experiment you did before this was very interesting, so I wanted to try it for myself, hahaha!"

"It's stored in the storage box under the bookcase…" Bai Li Rui replied, partly in disbelief.

"Oh okay." Feng Ping Lan turned to pull out the plastic storage box, "Wow, you even have a maid outfit!"

"I want my future girlfriend to wear it for me."  Bai Li Rui paused for a moment, "The cheerleading outfit and the nurse outfit too."

"Wow, you even have a wig!"

"I like girls with short hair, but I'd hate to part with long hair too, so I prepared it for when I get a short-haired girlfriend so I can have two different types of styles."

"Just too perfect! I'm so lucky to have a roommate like you!"

Bai Li Rui looked at Feng Ping Lan from the reflection of his mirror, saying a bit embarra.s.sedly, "No one has ever said that to me before…"

No one had ever accepted the was he was. Not even his family.

He was already used to being looked down upon, being rejected and getting sneered at. But, facing all those negations and ridicule, he had never tried to curb himself or shrink back, instead making his actions even more excessive, ignoring all the derision and contempt.

Thereby deciding his own self. Thereby carrying out his own conviction.

He wanted to be his own person, he didn't want to live by anybody else's desires.

Only he could affirm himself before this. Until he met Feng Ping Lan. This was the first time he had met someone who did not treat him as a joke, who did not push him aside as a freak.

Besides, if it wasn't for Feng Ping Lan, he wouldn't have met Conglong and Simo. Although Conglong was always saying the wrong things, he could feel that the other probably didn't have any evil intentions towards him.

He was the lucky one…

"Oh, that's right." Feng Ping Lan continued to say, "Can I borrow two sets from you? Conglong wants to wear one too."

"…What are you guys planning to do?"

"Nothing? Just for fun. Don't worry, we'll wash it after use." Fighting against a demon would probably dirty them, "That's right, can you also lend me the wigs?"

"…You can keep those two sets. Although I'm not discriminating against you, I don't want to get killed by my own visualizations while wearing those clothes."

"Thank you!" Feng Ping Lan glanced outside happily, cheering in joy, "Li Rui is a really good guy! A super-ultra good guy!"

"This small matter is considered nothing…" Bai Li Rui pushed his gla.s.ses up awkwardly, taking up his bag. Before he left the room, he couldn't help but remind seriously, "Uh, before I come back, I hope the room will be cleaned up…"

Tl Notes

Gua sha is a traditional Chinese medical treatment in which the skin is sc.r.a.ped to produce light petechiae.