Translator-Rhapsodite
Editor- Koneko, Proofreader-Spring Flower
With such a narrow path and the various shadows going back and forth, the road would normally be very crowded.
Even if they didn’t have any physical entities and couldn’t collide with each other, they should at least layer over each other in a single spot and not pool together in a puddled mess; such as issues in a video game, with shadows and shadow layers piling up on top of each other, creating a rather eerie visual effect.
However, Wei Fuyuan traveled for a long time and noticed the black and white shadows passing by, with none of them crashing into him, but all passed by without any difficulties.
Wei Fuyuan pondered this extremely bizarre phenomenon and could only come up with the conclusion that the strange and rugged path was actually much more “spacious” than what could be seen with the naked eye.
Perhaps, even the so-called “desire path” was just a superficial appearance that Bei Quan had presented to him for his understanding.
“We only have one hour, we can’t waste time here.”
Bei Quan leaned in close to Wei Fuyuan’s ear and whispered in hushed tones, “We have to take a shortcut.”
He then took out a yellow talisman from his pocket and put it between his index and middle fingers, gently shaking it.
The soft and flimsy talisman paper suddenly stood upright as if it were not made of soft silk paper, but of stainless steel.
Almost immediately, the paper suddenly caught on fire. The pale blue flame looked like the will-o’-the-wisps from folklore.
To Wei Fuyuan’s amazement, Bei Quan held this scorching blaze on his fingertips, as if he wasn’t holding anything with such heat at all.
Wei Fuyuan resisted the urge to reach out and touch the fire, but settled on staring at Bei Quan in confusion at what was happening in front of his very eyes.
Bei Quan didn’t say anything else before grabbing Wei Fuyuan’s hand and started running.
At the same time, Wei Fuyuan sensed someone approaching them.
He remembered what he had just witnessed: the “person” holding the light would attract other ghosts, and then more and more shadows would gather, rushing towards the light like moths to a flame.
Wei Fuyuan felt a very strong urge to look back, but Bei Quan’s warning was still ringing loud and clear in his ears.
He could only clench his teeth, use his willpower to suppress his uneasiness, dread, and curiosity, and let Bei Quan lead the way forward.
The ghostly blue flame burned fast, and the talisman paper in Bei Quan’s hand burned shorter and shorter at a speed discernible to the naked eye, inch by inch until it turned into ashes.
Bei Quan’s feet did not stop, and quickly accelerated from a jog to a sprint.
Wei Fuyuan did not dare to slack off either and used the same energy as when he competed in his school’s one kilometer race, just to keep up with Bei Quan’s speed.
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.
The dark path lacked visual references- except for some vague and illusory shadows. Bei Quan and Wei Fuyuan could not see anything else.
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The good thing was that Bei Quan had been clinging to Wei Fuyuan’s hand this whole time, giving a sense of reassurance that even a drowning person could still climb the driftwood.
This comfort was such a powerful tool, meaning as long as this person was by their side, no matter what happens, like even the end of the world, anything could be possible with their strong bond.
Finally, just as the flames were about to go out, a blurry light suddenly appeared on the path that seemed to have no end.
It was hard to describe the kind of light.
Although Wei Fuyuan didn’t have a profound literary background to describe how things looked aesthetically,it seemed like someone lit a candle behind frosted glass – the light refracted by the glass was hazy and unrealistic, even slightly distorted looking.
But, for a person who had been running along the dark path for a considerable amount of time, almost losing the sense of time and distance multiple times on the journey, the light was simply a sight to behold and their “salvation”.
As a matter of fact, Bei Quan led him to make a 100-meter sprint straight towards the little orange-glowing light.
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At the moment when the blue flames were extinguished, Wei Fuyuan suddenly felt a sense of weightlessness from under his feet.
“Wha…!”
He almost blurted out in surprise.
Bei Quan’s action was faster.
He put his arm around Wei Fuyuan’s shoulder and covered his mouth tightly with his other hand.
“Shh, shh! Don’t scream, okay?”
Bei Quan whispered in Wei Fuyuan’s ear, coaxing and comforting him like a child:
“It’s okay, we won’t fall down. Look, see- we won’t fall down.”
Wei Fuyuan suddenly regained his composure from the sudden panic and realized that although nothing was beneath their feet, the two of them did not suddenly fall.
On the contrary, they both were suspended in mid-air, slowly falling like two hydrogen balloons with insufficient air.
Wei Fuyuan was speechless, because at this moment, what he saw was truly beyond his imagination.
What appeared in front of them was a vast, endless city.
In theory, such a place with its towering buildings and bustling streets, could indeed be considered a “city”.
However, Wei Fuyuan was very certain that everything that he could see, whether it was a Western-style house, a skyscraper, the vehicles on the road or even the flowers and plants on the roadside, everything was made out of paper!
He was now in a real, paper-mâché city.
“This is the netherworld.”
Bei Quan yet again whispered into Wei Fuyuan’s ear,
“Everything that burns “above“, may become an object or a part in this city…”
He pointed to a direction below them and said, “Look over there.”
Wei Fuyuan followed Bei Quan’s pointed finger, spotting a courtyard not far from their current location which suddenly emitted a burst of green smoke.
The smoke carried a sparkle of flames and rose into the air which was quickly swept away by a gust of wind.
After the smoke cleared, a brand new black Mercedes-Benz appeared in the courtyard.
If it wasn’t for the layer of silver paper glued onto the car window, Wei Fuyuan would have mistaken it for a real car.
As they spoke, the two gently floated down to the ground.
Bei Quan slowly released his hand that covered Wei Fuyuan’s mouth and put a finger to his lips, gesturing for him to keep quiet.
Wei Fuyuan nodded vigorously to show that he understood.
Bei Quan then took Wei Fuyuan by the hand and began to walk down the street.
Unlike the dark and winding path they had just walked, “Paper City”, although giving the impression of being dim, actually maintained a strange and eerie brightness.
Wei Fuyuan noticed that the sky of the city had no sun, moon, stars, or even day or night. It always maintained a twilight-like color- an endless deep orange that seemed to be a lid covering the vast city, keeping everything in an almost “static” state.
In contrast to the solidified sky, people and vehicles were everywhere in Paper City, bustling with activity.
As they walked, Wei Fuyuan felt like he had traveled back through time, seeing people of different eras passing by.
There were people wearing Zhongshan suits, cheongsams, handmade cotton padded jackets and even Hawaiian style floral pants. Not only were the times different, but even the seasons were extremely chaotic.
As for the vehicles on the road, they were beyond description.
In Paper City, there were all kinds of vehicles on the road, ranging from luxury cars that most people couldn’t afford; to buses, trucks, and even horse-drawn carriages, tricycles, and sedan chairs. Despite the variety of vehicles, the traffic flowed smoothly and there were no obstacles.
Wei Fuyuan thought to himself: “It seems that even as a ghost, there are still many things to do.”
Furthermore, this was his first time “descending to Yin” and Wei Fuyuan noticed that even though Paper City looked very lively, it was actually very quiet.
Everyone walked around without making a sound. Noone spoke and even the passing vehicles, whether they were motor vehicles or horse-drawn carriages, were completely silent.
The usual sounds of engines, machines, and tourists in a typical city were nonexistent in this eerie city.
——No wonder Bei Quan doesn’t let me speak!
Wei Fuyuan was secretly thankful.
That was a close call. If he had screamed just now, the sound would have carried two kilometres away in this quiet environment!
Unlike the blurry figures he saw previously, Wei Fuyuan noticed that most of the “people” who were active in this city had a similar appearance to living people.
Their features were clear, and their gender and age could be seen. Their faces however were as white as paper, and one could say that they had a “face like gold paper“.
As for those that didn’t look human, it was difficult to categorize them.
Wei Fuyuan thought he saw legendary creatures like bull-heads and horse faces, as well as pig, sheep, and snake-like monsters with peculiar shapes and bodies. They were diverse creatures beyond his imagination.
These non-human entities naturally blended in with the crowd, and no one bothered to take a second glance.
It was at that moment, Bei Quan pinched Wei Fuyuan hard.
The young master Wei Fuyuan immediately woke up from his trance, realizing that his gaze at passersby was too obvious.
He quickly lowered his eyes, pretending to be an ordinary pedestrian.
—————————
Bei Quan led Wei Fuyuan through several blocks before they arrived at a large open space.
It was strange that since Wei Fuyuan arrived, everywhere he had passed was packed with paper buildings. There was even a building stacked directly on top of another building in complete violation of the laws of physics. The sidewalks and roads were also unusually narrow, and the structure of the whole city was extremely chaotic and disordered; almost as if it were competing with the legendary “Kowloon Walled City”.
But now, this large open space appeared before them out of nowhere.
The space was almost circular in shape, with a diameter of at least one kilometre. The edge was covered with paper-made buildings, but there wasn’t even a single stone, flower, or blade of grass inside this area.
In the centre of the space was a huge locust tree.
Bei Quan pointed towards the tree, indicating that it was their destination.
Wei Fuyuan nodded to show he understood.
The two wasted no more time and walked straight towards this somewhat significant tree in the centre of the clearing.
Thanks for the chapter
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