The blue flames burned on its body, causing it to wriggle and squirm, emitting strange screams as it wildly changed shape, appearing to be in agony.
It suddenly turned around, roaring at them with its toothy mouthparts, “There is no love in this world! All lovers will betray each other! You will too! You will face betrayal!”
Tong Xiaosong’s eyes widened with anger, his rage boiling inside him. He yelled, “You’re talking nonsense! Neither I nor Zhi Xian will betray each other! It’s you who’s been betrayed! Do you think everyone is like you? Daring to curse Zhi Xian and me! You better die now!”
Tong Xiaosong angrily searched the ground for anything flammable, using the pendant to ignite it, and then throwing it towards the strange creature.
“I will burn you to death with the fire of true love!”
Zhi Xian:…
The more Tong Xiaosong cursed, the angrier he became. “Zhi Xian sent me flowers in the dream! Yet you dare to treat him like this! Did you have my consent? I’ll burn you! I’ll burn you! Letting you hurt my Zhi Xian! I’ll make you feel even greater pain than him! I’ll burn you!!”
Under the blue flames, the strange creature gradually melted away, dripping and drooping into a mass. Its sharp mouthparts, however, remained at the top, emitting eerie and mournful screams.
Suddenly, there was a sound.
Both Tong Xiaosong and Zhi Xian on the bed simultaneously opened their eyes.
Tong Xiaosong hadn’t fully recovered yet, still breathing heavily in anger, his chest rising and falling.
After a few seconds, he got up and looked around aggressively. “Where is that thing?”
Zhi Xian picked up the shattered white jade ring from his clothes and couldn’t help but laugh. “Looks like you burned it to death.”
Only then did Tong Xiaosong notice that the ring on his hand was also shattered. He picked up the broken pieces, wrinkling his brow in disgust. “What on earth is this thing? It looks so disgusting. Could a ghost be so repulsive?”
Zhi Xian sighed, taking the ring fragments from Tong Xiaosong’s hand and throwing them into the trash. “It’s not a ghost. If it were, I would have pulled it out long ago. That’s resentment, the accumulated grievances of countless lovers who couldn’t be together.”
Tong Xiaosong was completely puzzled. “Resentment?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Zhi Xian explained, “Given the story that He Bing told and the name of this ring, we can guess that this pair of rings must have passed through many lovers. Its age cannot be determined, but to generate such resentment, it must have been around for quite some time. Those lovers who couldn’t be together have moved on, but the resentment lingers on this pair of rings. Over time, it gave birth to something like this. It’s similar to me, but the thirteen students I was created from are pure, while this creature, born out of countless pains and despair, is filled with lingering grievances.”
Kbcu Wljbrbcu obecv la tjgv ab yfilfnf. “Lbk mbwf jii rbgar bo gjcvbw atlcur mjc pera qbq eq? P mjrejiis ybeuta j qjlg bo glcur obg j mbeqif tecvgfv yemxr…”
Itl Wljc rlutfv tfiqifrris. “Dfmjerf bo ws wjucfalm olfiv. Pa jaagjmar atfrf atlcur. Ktfs’gf gjgf lc atf kbgiv, yea kf fcmbecafg atfw ogfdefcais yfmjerf kf’nf fcmbecafgfv jiwbra jii bo atfw.”
Tong Xiaosong:…
Suddenly, he felt a bit of regret; he shouldn’t have said something so harsh.
He quickly tried to backtrack, “Actually… it’s not your fault either. Sometimes you can buy rotten fruit even when you’re just buying groceries. I just didn’t choose well. Next time we’ll pick out the ring together and choose carefully.”
Zhi Xian smiled and said softly, “Sure, I’ll accompany you to pick it out next time.”
***
The next evening after school, the two of them arrived at the jewelry store and selected a pair of pure silver rings.
The rings were delicately shaped like ears of wheat, and Zhi Xian felt that these rings were particularly suitable for Tong Xiaosong, so he bought them.
They both put on the rings, placed their hands together, and the rings sparkled brightly.
***
On the way back home, Tong Xiaosong’s smile never faded. He kept holding Zhi Xian’s hand, looking at the rings on their fingers, smiling constantly.
Tong Xiaosong rarely showed such outward emotions, but he was genuinely happy and couldn’t contain his excitement.
When they returned home, they heard music as soon as they entered the door.
The screen of Gu Xuan’s phone on the coffee table was lit up, showing an unfamiliar incoming call.
Zhi Xian glanced at it, answered the call, and turned on the speakerphone.
Inside came He Bing’s voice: “You’d better return that ring to me, or just throw it away. I’ve found out that the ring is a big problem. Every owner of the ring has had relationship issues. Some who had good relationships ended up breaking up after buying the ring. You…”
Zhi Xian replied calmly, “It’s okay, the ring has been destroyed.”
He Bing paused, “Destroyed?”
Zhi Xian affirmed, “There was something unpleasant inside it that caused nightmares for me and my partner, so we destroyed it.”
He Bing was surprised, “But they say that ring can’t be destroyed! Every owner who wanted to destroy it ended up having a strange accident and dying. How did you manage to do it?”
“That ring isn’t sturdy. My partner dreamed that I was cheating on them, got angry, and burned the ring with fire.” Zhi Xian recalled Tong Xiaosong’s impatient demeanor, and there was a hint of amusement in his tone. “That’s how it got destroyed.”
Tong Xiaosong: … Why does he make it sound like I’m so bold?
He Bing was speechless for a moment, then managed to squeeze out a voice from his throat, “Your partner is awesome.” After a pause, he continued, “So, little brother, if you need any help in the future, you can come to me. You two are my friends now, consider it done!”
***
The next day at noon in the cafeteria.
Hearing Tong Xiaosong’s narration, Ke Lin’s lollipop almost fell out of his mouth in shock.
Wu Mabo and Wen Dong pushed away their plates with disgusted expressions, their appetites completely gone.
Wu Mabo: “Damn, so disgusting. Shouldn’t the resentment of love incarnate into a beautiful woman? How did it end up as a slime?”
Tong Xiaosong looked puzzled: “A slime?”
Zhi Xian explained softly: “It’s a mass of fluid that can change shape freely, similar to what we saw.”
“Similar?” Tong Xiaosong looked uncertain: “But the one we saw was a humanoid pink snail with a mouth full of sharp teeth. Does this slime have that too?”
Ke Lin: “Ugh…”
Wen Dong:…
Zhi Xian smiled faintly, took a slow breath, and lowered his gaze, unable to bear looking any longer.
Wu Mabo sighed from the bottom of his heart: “It’s a good thing you moved out of the dormitory, otherwise, we might all have seen this together. I dare not imagine how deep my psychological shadow would be after seeing such disgusting things.”
Ke Lin: “… My psychological shadow is already quite deep. I need to go home and take a break. See you guys in a few days. I’m out.”
After saying that, Ke Lin didn’t even want his lollipop anymore and just slipped away.
As soon as Ke Lin left, the lollipops on the table disappeared too.
Tong Xiaosong:…
Wen Dong: “Let’s talk about something else. Wang Yu moved out of the dormitory, so you guys can relax now. He won’t bother you anymore.”
Wu Mabo snapped out of his thoughts: “Yeah, he finally moved out!”
Though Tong Xiaosong wanted to ask why he moved out, he felt a bit hesitant with Zhi Xian beside him, afraid of making him jealous.
Zhi Xian, on the other hand, had fewer reservations and asked directly, “Why did he move out?”
Wen Dong shook his head. “I don’t know. It was sudden. I only realized last night when I went back to the dorm and saw his bed empty. We didn’t see him at all. It seems like he didn’t inform the school and didn’t give up the dormitory.”
Wu Mabo grumbled, “Good riddance. I misjudged him completely. Didn’t even say a word before leaving.”
Wen Dong sighed. “You two fought all the time. How do you expect him to communicate with you?”
Wu Mabo retorted, “Well, he didn’t say anything to you either! We treated him decently, didn’t we? At least he should have said goodbye!”
He’s dead 😃
Why do I feel like Wang Yu and that slim thing is related? 🤔
Thanks for the chapters!!
ˁ•ᴗ•ˀつ～ 💞
Oooh… Interesting connection.
Huh? Was Wang Yu… a product of the ring?