The car sped all the way from the highway without stopping, except for replenishing food and water and addressing physiological needs.
Along the way, Wang Xiaomie even had to hold his urge to use the restroom. After all, he was now an obedient puppet. Who knew if he could speak? If he accidentally exposed himself, it would be disastrous.
Luckily, Yi Yan didn’t overlook this. When they reached the rest stop, he let Bai Yu assist Wang Xiaomie in getting off, and let him relieve himself.
Their group attracted too much attention. Wang Xiaomie had a gentle and handsome appearance, clearly a man but with long black hair and slack expression…
And Yi Yan looked as if he had just finished work at a Republican-era theater.
For the curious onlookers, Yi Yan calmly smiled and explained, “He’s my younger brother. He was born with a brain problem.”
Wang Xiaomie: “…………” YOU have a brain problem! Your whole family has a brain problem!
The passersby awkwardly averted their gaze.
Having easily dispelled the suspicions of the passersby, Wang Xiaomie was led back into the car by them. It was unclear how many rest stops they passed, but the car finally left the highway.
The scenery along the road gradually became desolate, and the car began to bump and slow down. Wang Xiaomie stole a few glances and found that they were now in a barren mountainous area.
The road was all dirt, strewn with rocks. The weeds on both sides of the road were freshly cut, indicating that this road had just been recently opened up.
After enduring half an hour of intense jolting, with dry yellow soil flying everywhere, the white car became covered in dusty grime, swaying and bumping as it passed by a stele.
Originally, the stele should have been inscribed with the name of some village or place, but they were driving through a completely deserted area, even the stele’s newness suggesting it had just been cut from a quarry.
When they reached the village, the car stopped. Bai Yu pulled Wang Xiaomie out of the car, following behind Yi Yan and Xiao An.
Although his black eyes lacked vitality, a glint of cunning flashed through them unnoticed by everyone.
Wang Xiaomie quickly scanned the village’s layout.
The houses were randomly scattered, with no sense of adjacency, all two-story wooden buildings.
The four of them swaggered into the depths of the village, making quite a commotion, yet not a single person came out to take a look. The doors were tightly shut, and even the windows were closed.
Barren mountain, new roads, deserted village… um, could this place be haunted?
A chill ran down Wang Xiaozongzi’s spine.
Although he was a zombie, he was a fake one!
Who wouldn’t be afraid of ghosts?!
Wang Xiaomie teary-eyed: The day after leaving my wild man, I miss him; sob sob
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.
Yi Yan walked up to the door of a small wooden building, took out a key, and opened the door. He turned to smile at Bai Yu, saying, “Let’s stay separately and keep watch separately.”
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“You want to avoid me?” Bai Yu looked at the key in Yi Yan’s hand, then lifted his head with a calm expression. “Why? Because I’ve lost my usefulness to you?”
Wang Xiaomie, standing behind them, twitched his mouth: …Da Bai, that’s too direct!
Faced with such a frank question, ordinary people would show some genuine emotions regardless of whether they had ghosts in their hearts, but Yi Yan didn’t even change his smile.
He said, “Believe it or not, I will never harm you, nor will I ever assess your worth. You are and will always be the person closest to me.”
Bai Yu lowered his head in silence.
However, Yi Yan pulled the seemingly foolish Wang Xiaomie into the house, closing the wooden door behind them, cutting off any prying eyes. Bai Yu’s hand slowly clenched and he let out a breath, then quickly turned with a cold face, taking Xiao An with him and entering the adjacent wooden house with their luggage.
Yi Yan held Wang Xiaomie’s hand and led him towards the stairs. Unlike Bai Yu’s icy and slender fingers, Yi Yan’s hand looked beautiful but had many hard scars on the palm. His palm was warm and dry, yet it made Wang Xiaomie want to pull away.
While glancing back to see if Wang Xiaomie might stumble, Yi Yan whispered softly, “Watch your step.”
His voice was soft and gentle, his features tender and affectionate, almost dripping with kindness, as if he were treating an extremely precious fragile vase or his most beloved daughter who was prone to falling.
While pretending to be an idiot, Wang Xiaomie felt nauseated in his heart.
He had never liked this Yi Yan guy.
Although the man appeared gentle and kind on the surface, like an amiable elder, such a person, once committed to their ‘path,’ would relentlessly pursue it regardless of the means and reject all other ‘paths.’
Those who desire nothing have few friends.
The more someone like Yi Yan, who was indifferent to the world, seemed harmless, the more terrifying they were.
Just like the dagger Kaiming. Wang Xiaomie’s artifact could sense the malice and killing intent directed towards its holder, and it could also warn of extremely wicked individuals.
But even though he was so close to Yi Yan, Kaiming never heated up in warning.
What did this indicate?
It indicated that even if Yi Yan poisoned him and attempted to erase his consciousness to turn him into a puppet, Yi Yan believed that he was doing it for Wang Xiaomie’s own good, not out of malice, but out of kindness!
Even if his hands were stained with the blood of others, it would be for the protection of humanity, for the greater good!
Such a person… is too terrifying…
Feeling increasingly fearful, Wang Xiaomie was led upstairs by the man. Yi Yan covered a chair with deep blue velvet and then gestured for Wang Xiaomie to sit.
Wang Xiaomie was wearing slightly loose light gray trousers and a shirt. His eyes were large and bright, with long eyebrows and thick eyelashes. Below his straight nose were full, pale pink lips. His facial features were not prominent, giving him a gentlemanly and dignified appearance.
Sitting obediently on the chair covered with deep blue velvet, he resembled a luxurious item displayed in a glass cabinet – elegant and beautiful.
Obviously, Yi Yan thought the same.
However, his feelings towards Wang Xiaomie were more profound.
Yi Yan knelt on one knee in front of Wang Xiaomie, his slender eyes flickering with light as he reached out his hands.
Wang Xiaomie resisted the urge to close his eyes due to nervousness. Those hands didn’t do anything to him; instead, they reached behind his head, lightly tugging at his scalp, and untied the hair tie, allowing his long jet-black hair to cascade down like a waterfall.
Yi Yan curled up the corner of his lips, grasping a strand of hair.
Suddenly, he said, “Once I completely refine the puppet silk inside your body, I will have you. I know what abilities you ‘people’ possess, hehe.”
“Unageing and undying, non-human but a human appearance, seemingly stiff yet not.” Yi Yan lowered his eyes, twirling the black hair between his fingertips. “The reason why I can turn you into my greatest masterpiece is all thanks to my former client Yan Chun. Did I mention before that I encountered Yan Chun twenty years ago when I was collecting medicinal herbs?”
“Twenty years ago… I was a prominent figure in the craftsmen circle, proficient in refining weapons and making puppets. My abilities… even if I were to face off against a Drought Demon without a puppet like Xiao An, I would still have the power to fight!”
Wang Xiaomie remained expressionless, shocked in his heart. Could Yi Yan really contend against the Drought Demon An Xie bare-handed?! Was this guy even human?!
As he pondered, Yi Yan continued, “That year, I encountered Yan Chun. He realized that I had the ability to kill him, but also the ability to save him, so he wanted to make a deal with me…”
He sneered, “A walking corpse who can’t even control the power in his own blood dared to speak to me like that?”
“Heh~ I pretended to agree with him, but I actually extracted his blood for research in the long term. Those feathers… They were just the first version of the puppet silk. A monster with delusions of grandeur, only seeking revenge. He was already under my control without even realizing it. So stupid!”
“………”
“Afterwards, in order to seek my help, he told me a story belonging to a thousand years ago…”
Yi Yan’s face leaned closer to Wang Xiaomie’s, their breaths intertwining. His voice was clear and he chuckled softly, “So, Wen Fengjin, Mian Deng… I knew about your existence long ago. You never considered why your burial sites were so hidden, and Yan Chun, turning into a living dead, couldn’t find your burial sites for so many years after crawling out of the ground; why did he suddenly discover them?”
“Because I told him about it~” Yi Yan laughed, his friendly face mixed with a hint of chilling madness.
This pervert!
Wang Xiaomie was shocked and scared, wanting to scream, wanting to seek help from Wen Fengjin, but in the end, he could only sit on the chair like a puppet.
“…After encountering Yan Chun and obtaining his blood, I encountered the Drought Demon while cleaning up those filthy monsters at Qishan.” Yi Yan’s smile faded as he spoke, as if sinking into some memory. He murmured unconsciously, “I engaged in a deadly battle with the Drought Demon. I injured him severely, and he also injured me badly… In desperation, I drank a vial of Yan Chun’s blood…”
“I knew Yan Chun’s blood had a revitalizing effect, but I didn’t expect… to end up like this.”
He released Wang Xiaomie’s hair and touched his own face.
“Who could believe that my body and my time would regress back to my youth?”
“I can’t use my ID anymore. Who will believe that a man in his forties, about to step into old age, has become a resentful silly teenager of not even twenty? I can’t go back home, and my son and grandson won’t even recognize me!”
“Do you know that kind of pain?!”
Yi Yan’s expression gradually twisted into an ugly grimace as he yelled at Wang Xiaomie!
“I am Bai Cheng! I am!”
“But I could only become a homeless wanderer, watching my son search for me tirelessly! Watch my son die in the hands of monsters due to an accident! Watch my daughter-in-law pass away from sickness! Watch my pitiful grandson grow up lonely and without support!”
“I couldn’t even step forward to help them using the identity of their relative! I could only silently send them money!”
“My wife also died at the hands of monsters… She was a good woman, I loved her even more than a craftsman loves his craft— but that day I brought back the corpse of an infant who had been turned into a little demon, intending to free it out of kindness… but it deceived my wife and killed her!”
“They all deserve to die! Monsters are not worthy of pity, they all deserve to die!”
Yi Yan, or rather, Bai Cheng, panted heavily, his pupils filled with blood-red hatred and anger, his gentle features and demeanor distorted into something terrifying!
Wang Xiaomie almost peed in fear.
Why are you yelling so loudly?! If you have the guts, go shout at my family’s Xiao Wenzi!
Feeling on the verge of tears, Wang Xiaomie watched as Yi Yan vented his anger towards him, gasping for breath, gradually calming down. After a while, his expression and breathing finally relaxed.
“Did I scare you? I’m sorry.”
He forced a smile, but in Wang Xiaomie’s eyes, it was more terrifying than the grin of a devil.
“I won’t flare up at you like that again in the future.”
Yi Yan reached out and touched Wang Xiaomie’s cheek.
“After the incident with the Drought Demon, when I lost track of him, he moved to a new location. But I can’t forget that he’s the one who led me to this state today, so I swore to kill him!”
“I began using large amounts of materials to craft golden artifacts, then distributed these things that restrain monsters to those tomb raiders. We frequently went to underground tombs together. They were greedy for wealth, and my goal was simple: to find the Drought Demon! And incidentally, to clear out the zombies in the tombs.”
“I searched for a long time. As for your tomb palace, I’ve been there too. It was when I entered your underground palace and saw the records on the monument that I realized your legends were very similar to what Yan Chun told me.”
“Unsure of your abilities, I retreated for safety. I planned to sell this information to Yan Chun, let that fool explore for me.”
Upon hearing this, Wang Xiaomie screamed internally: Holy crap!
He wondered how Yan Chun discovered them, even carrying the map of the underground palace. So you’re the one who told him, dog thief!
[Author’s note: Yi Yan is Bai Yu’s grandfather, Bai Cheng. He got so badly hurt while fighting the Drought Demon An Xie that he drank a lot of Yan Chun’s blood. As a result, he changed from an old man to a youth, and no one recognized him anymore.]
woah
thanks for the chapter <333333
Bai Yun wanted to be what with his grandfather again?
Author, this family reveal is too spicy 😭
Thanks for the translations!! ❤️