[Jin Xiao Yi Tan V2] Chapter 1 – Concealed Yao

Last day of January! I felt kinda guilty just working on my other project all the time, so here’s a chapter. An entire 4k words! Sorry it sorta ends on a cliffhanger though…

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Originally posted on RBKTR Translations.
Author: Four Feet (四隻腳).
Translated by: Yujuan.

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When I came to my senses, I discovered myself standing in a gigantic labyrinth.

The dim lighting was not enough to banish the darkness. I darted across the chaos with all my might, chasing after that familiar back. It was within my fingertips, but I couldn’t touch it no matter how hard I tried.

“Ah Ye! Wait for me! Ah Ye! Ah Ye!”

Jiuye did not wait for me, turning his back to vanish around a corner of the winding corridor.

“Ah Ye! Ah Ye!”

I rushed over in agitation, turning over that corner, only to see Jiuye standing there, only five steps away under that dusky and misty lighting, one hand on the walls, another clutched at his chest, looking as if he was lacking the strength to prop himself up, swaying as he took a few steps forward.

“Ah Ye, are you alright?”

I murmured as I called out to him.

Jiuye turned his head back, and, before he could say anything, suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

I frantically walked over to lift him up, but the body in my arms immediately turned into a pool of blood, with only blood-soaked clothes left behind. I clutched them in my hands…

“No! Don’t!”

I shouted myself hoarse, the sound slashing through the deep dark night.

I suddenly shot up from my bed, not having recovered from my shock, eyes widening for a long moment, before realizing that… It was a nightmare.

The cold sweat on my back had drenched through the thin material of my clothes, heart pumping wildly. I took deep breaths in and out, and after resting for quite a while, finally settled down a little.

If I counted the days, Jiuye had been gone for about half a year, with absolutely no news of him.

I had tried every method I could think of to find him, but he was still unable to be found.

As time moved on, I grew increasingly fretful, getting even more restless, especially in recent days, where there were countless times I startled awake from my nightmares, unable to sleep as I tossed around in those long nights.

Just thinking about Jiuye drinking that bottle of Yellow Spring Water, about how he was continuously spitting out blood when he returned, made my heart ache to the point that it was difficult to breathe.

At present, Jiuye’s life was uncertain, his safety unknown. I did not have the courage to make any terrible assumptions or conjectures, and could only grasp firmly upon the belief that he would definitely return, obstinately waiting in this villa day after day.

I believed that there was one that that Jiuye would return! Definitely!

Gripping my hand into a fist, I breathed in deeply, turning on the desk lamp and throwing on a piece of clothing to get off the bed. Right as I was about to get a glass of water to calm my nerves, I saw a ball of black fur hopping over from a certain corner. It leapt onto my shoulder, placing its furry body on my cheek to rub against it, then turned, blinking its big ethereal green eyes, baring its teeth and displaying a rather peculiar expression.

I looked at it in puzzlement, not understanding its meaning.

The yingyao hopped up and down on my shoulder with all its might, seemingly in an urgent need to convey something.

Jiuye was not here, there was no one present to provide an explanation. I furrowed my eyebrows, puzzling over it, and was about to ask a question, when I heard Ah Bao’s voice from outside the room.

“Xiao Mo Mo, Xiao Mo Mo…” The childish voice whispered quietly.

I went up to open the door. Ah Bao was wearing pink pajamas with a strawberry illustration on it, his hands around a pillow. He glanced at me with an uneasy expression on his face.

“Ah Bao, what’s the matter? It’s really late, aren’t you going to sleep?”

I squatted down, rubbing his head.

Ah Bao flattened his mouth, lowering his head, then said in a small voice, “Can Ah Bao sleep with Xiao Mo Mo?”

I froze for a moment, asking, “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Ah Bao shook his head, then said something ineffable, “I don’t know…”

“You don’t know?” I couldn’t help but feel that it was strange, then asked, “What do you not know?”

He lifted his head, clutching my sleeve tightly, “Xiao Mo Mo, Ah Bao is scared…”

I couldn’t help but laugh, pinching his chubby little face, saying, “Honestly, you’re usually so naughty, as if you fear absolutely nothing, turns out you’re afraid of the dark? You don’t want to sleep alone?”

However, just as my words fell, Ah Bao looked at me with an apprehensive look that I had never seen before, shaking his head, and said timidly, “Ah Bao is not scared of the dark… I’m… I’m afraid of…”

“Afraid of what?”

“I don’t know what it is either…”

Ah Bao bit his lip, a head diving into my chest, saying quietly, “Xiao Mo Mo, there’s a yao’s aura in this house.”

“A yao’s aura?” I was startled, gripping the kid’s shoulder, asking seriously, “Ah Bao, you mean, in this house… There’s a yaoguai hidden in this house?”

“Mm.” Ah Bao nodded his head.

The yingyao also hopped heavily at the side a few times.

I immediately became more guarded, checking all four corners around me, asking, “Do you guys know where the yaoguai is hiding?”

“I don’t know.”

Ah Bao shook his head, the yingyao also twisting its rounded body.

“T-then, do you know what kind of yaoguai it is? Is it good or bad?”

Ah Bao shook his head again, saying, “I don’t know, that yao is greater than Ah Bao, Ah Bao cannot sense it.”

I questioned hurriedly, “When did you start detecting the yao’s aura in the house? Is the yaoguai really powerful?”

Ah Bao opened and closed his mouth, but before he could answer, the ‘earth trembled and the mountains swayed’.

For some reason, the entire building was rocking violently, the desk lamp falling off the cabinet, the books and CDs flying off the bookshelves, scattering onto the ground, the door frames and window frames resounding noisily, as they would crumble anytime.

What was going on, an earthquake?

I got a fright, hurriedly hugging Ah Bao, grabbing the yingyao, and quickly hid under the desk.

Ah Bao shrunk into my chest, his entire body trembling, murmuring, “Xiao Mo Mo, Ah Bao is scared…”

“Don’t be afraid, I’m here.” I embraced him tightly.

After a long moment, the earthquake gradually quieted down.

After making sure that the house was no longer shaking, I slowly climbed out of the desk to look around.

Luckily, the earthquake did not seem severe, and nothing had been damaged in it. There were no cracks in the wall, and the building had not collapsed. However, this was the first time in my life experiencing an earthquake, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared.

So as to avoid getting injured from any earthquake aftershocks, I quickly rushed Ah Bao and the yingyao down the building, running out of the villa.

All was quiet in the big grass plot outside the villa, and it was currently two o’clock in the morning, the cryptic moon rays of the horizon’s half-moon shining hazily down upon the ground, everything looking tranquil, so peaceful that it felt as if nothing had occurred.

And I had no neighbors to question, because there were no other residents living nearby, and even the nearest block required ten minutes to reach by foot.

Actually, I had sensed something off with this place the first time I came here.

Jiuye’s villa was located far away from the other housing areas, towering over this great grass plot in solitude. In addition, there wasn’t a name for this road, nor a door plate, I didn’t know what was up with this place.

But this wasn’t the time to look into those questions.

*

At two in the morning, I brought Ah Bao and the yingyao to Zheng-bo’s snack shop.

Of course, Zheng-bo couldn’t see the yingyao, and could only see me leading along a child over with my hand.

“Xiao Mo, you’re here, Ah Ye still isn’t back from his trip?”

“Mm, not yet.” I smiled, shaking my head.

At first, I had come to inquire about the earthquake, but when I saw Zheng-bo acting normally, with a cordial smile on his face as he welcomed me into his shop to sit, I realized— Perhaps, things were not as simple as I had thought.

All was normal in that little snack shop, the chairs and tables arranged neatly, the stove ignited in the kitchen, and two or three nighttime taxi drivers sitting there, eating their noodles with relish.

The surrounding flats were quiet and peaceful, not a single window lighting up from within.

At this time, everybody was most probably sound asleep.

Looking at things, it did not seem like the sight it should be after an earthquake.

So… That earthquake earlier, had actually only occurred to my household?

I suddenly felt my back turn cold.

Was there a possibility that it wasn’t an earthquake? But… an incident caused by a yaoguai?

I looked at Ah Bao, who was snuggling up to me in his pajamas. Ah Bao lifted his head to look at me, saying pitifully, “Xiao Mo Mo, Ah Bao is hungry…”

“Honestly, that’s not called being hungry, it’s called being a glutton, am I right?”

I smiled, rubbing his head, and asked, “How about fried dumplings and ramen?”

“Mm! Okay! Okay!”

Ah Bao immediately smiled, revealing his two adorable dimples.

The yingyao hopped onto the dining table, widening its mouth, as if it was waiting for someone to feed it.

Heh, these two gluttonous little yaoguai, as long as there was delicious food placed before them, all their troubles would fly out of their heads.

*

After eating our midnight snack, it was already three in the morning, the color of the sky still as pitch-black as before.

Ah Bao had mentioned that there was a yaoguai hidden in the house. I wondered where the yaoguai had come from, was it good or evil? Would it devour humans?

I didn’t dare to venture into the dark just like that, and could only stay in Zheng-bo’s shop until dawn before returning to the villa with Ah Bao and the yingyao.

The slight chill of the morning breeze gently brushed past, carrying an ephemeral fragrance.

I stood before the front door, and after hesitating for quite a while, mustered up my courage at last, very carefully pushing the door open, very carefully stepping into the house.

The yingyao was the first to rush in, Ah Bao pulling onto my clothes, blinding following behind my back.

The house was so silent a pin drop could be heard, with only the sparrows twittering outside the window.

The bright and beautiful sun sprinkled in, comfortably warm, like spring water, illuminating the enter room brightly.

Excluding the few magazines and overthrown mugs that had fallen due to last night’s ‘earthquake’, the house looked no different than usual.

I turned my head, asking quietly, “Ah Bao, do you still sense the yao’s aura?”

Ah Bao looked at me, nodding his head very certainly.

I took in a deep breath, indicating him to not move from his spot, then captured the black fur ball that had hopped onto the tea table, and, taking out a pair of glasses from my pocket, placed it on.

I was not nearsighted, this pair of glasses had lenses with a different efficacy.

Yes, that’s right, these glasses were polished using that piece of shadow crystal Jiuye had given me. As long as I put on these glasses, I would be able to see things unable to be seen by an ordinary person.

For example, at this very moment, there was a strand of light smoke floating above my head.

I did not know when this strand of smoke started appearing, but it had existed for a very long time.

Ah Bao had said, this strand of smoke had been floating out of the gaps between Jiuye’s study door, and currently, no one had the ability to bring it back into the room. I saw that it caused no harm, so I had ignored it.

Realizing that I had lifted up my head to gaze at it, the light smoke immediately gathered together, crookedly transforming into a oddly-shaped heart, deliberately floating before my eyes. I did not pay any attention to it, waving my hand and breaking up the fog before me.

Ah Bao had sensed a yao’s aura, but it definitely was not this strand of light smoke, it should be something far more powerful.

And yet, the villa just had these few places. I put on the glasses made from the shadow crystal, searching attentively up and down, in and out of the house, not even leaving a single corner of the toilets and storerooms unchecked, moving every single bottle of wine out of the wine cellar, but I did not discover a single ghost’s shadow.

When I returned to the living room once more, that strand of smoke had turned into a… a naked woman, who smiled charmingly at me, then winked, blowing out a smoky heart.

I hurriedly took off the glasses in a panic.

“Xiao Mo Mo, have you found that yaoguai yet?”

Ah Bao looked at me, I shook my head.

That yaoguai hidden in the house was unwilling to reveal itself, I was at my wit’s end.

But, when it came to two in the morning, the entire house starting shaking once again.

This ‘earthquake’ was much more intense compared to the one the night before, I was startled awake from my sleep by the explosive shattering of glass. When I opened my eyes, I saw shards of the glass windows scattered on the ground.

The clock hung on the walls had fallen onto the cabinet, letting out a huge bang.

The floors had assumed a seventy-five degree incline, shaking violently without a halt, the rooftop and walls rattling and cracking into a wide chink.

Seeing that this entire building on the verge of collapsing, I hurriedly crawled out of bed while supporting myself on the bed frame, but before I could change my clothes, I was jolted so much I fell from the bed. 

“Xiao Mo Mo!”

Ah Bao who had been sleeping beside me threw himself over, losing his head out of fear.

I hugged him, saying, “Hurry! Let’s get out!” 

As I said this, I pulled Ah Bao into a sprint to the door.

When the door was pulled open, I couldn’t help but be struck dumb— Outside was not the hallway I was familiar with, but a completely unfamiliar room, various types of interesting porcelain bottles and jade artifacts. On the right was a rosewood screen half a person’s height, a bright colored and beautiful tree peony blossoming unbridledly drawn on the screen.

What was going on? Where was this? The door was actually connected to another room?

Had I accidentally opened Doraemon’s Anywhere Door?

I did not know whether to laugh or cry, standing on my spot, not having the guts to put a single step out the door.

At the same time, a black fur ball had already jumped over with a plop.

“Qiu Qiu! Qiu Qiu! Don’t run!”

Ah Bao chased the yingyao into the room.

“Hey! You guys… stand there!”

I shouted, but in a blink of an eye, Ah Bao and the yingyao had run off, nowhere to be seen.

With no choice, I could only grit my teeth, rushing in as well.

In the moment I stepped into that unfamiliar room, I turned my head to realize the door to the original room was gone, with an age-old mottled door in its place. 

Fuck! The door was actually gone? I was about to run over to touch that wall, when I heard Ah Bao shouting for me behind that screen, “Xiao Mo Mo!”

“What’s wrong?”

I ran over hurriedly, to see Ah Bao grabbing on to the yingyao with one hand, another pointing ahead.

I followed the direction of his finger to take a look, seeing a door.

Oh, no, to be precise, they were two white sliding doors running in opposite direction, and from the cracks beneath the sliding doors, an unknown liquid was quietly saturating the air.

Through the dusky lighting, I looked at it for a moment, coming to a sudden realization— That, that was blood!

The deep red blood was overflowing from beneath the cracks of the door, seeping to my feet.

I wasn’t wearing any shoes, and could only back away step after step.

“Xiao Mo Mo, there’s, a really powerful yao’s aura here…”

Ah Bao pulled on my clothes tightly, clearly extremely uneasy.

Just as he said that, an exceedingly mournful woman’s shriek rang out, a resonant baby’s cries closing following it. No sooner than it subsided, the next arose, the sobbing coming from all four corners, echoing layer upon layer in this narrow, small and empty room, making my hairs stand on end.

W-what was going on? What yaoguai, this place was clearly haunted!

“Ah Bao, can you sense the yaoguai’s location?”

I asked with a tremble.

Ah Bao shook his head, saying, “It’s everywhere, the yao’s aura is in every corner.”

“W-what? I-in every corner?”

I plastered myself tightly against the walls, looking in all four corners in alarm.

It would be better if I didn’t look, I sucked in a breath of cold air when I saw it.

I didn’t know when it had appeared, but bloody hand prints had actually started appearing one after another on the walls, the hand prints small and circular, like the hand prints of a newly-born baby, pa, pa, pa, as they marked the walls.

In a blink of an eye, the entire room was covered in countless bloody hand prints, accompanied by a slightly ear-piercing baby’s wails that got sharper as it carried on, over and over again, stimulating my brain nerves.

I covered my ears tightly, and couldn’t help but yell out, “Just what kind of yaoguai are you? Come out! Stop pretending to be a ghost, come out if you dare!”

Just as my words fell, everything, suddenly went still.

The sudden stillness persisted for a few seconds, before that deafening scream started to gradually ring out from all four corners once again.

This time, the baby’s cries had turned into various types of shrieks, from a man, a woman, even a little child, the screams exceedingly mournful, as if they were currently in enormous pain.

Damn it! Just what the hell was it doing!

I clenched my teeth, looking at the two sliding doors before me.

Although I had no idea what was behind the doors, this was the only way of getting out.

Never mind! We’ll rush out of this room first!

I grabbed Ah Bao and sprinted towards the two sliding doors.

Ah Bao cried out, “Xiao Mo Mo, don’t open the doors! Don’t!”

But he had spoken too late, I had already pulled the doors open, one foot over and out, and in that moment, I fell.

This was something I had never expected, behind the doors, was actually a flight of stairs?

I couldn’t stop in time, my entire body rolling over downwards, head bumping onto the steps, crashing so hard that my head spun, momentarily unable to pull my eyelids open.

Ah Bao who had been tightly protected in my chest cried out, “Xiao Mo Mo!”

A warm liquid seemed to be flowing with a gurgle down my forehead. My knees hurt so much I wasn’t able to stand up, my right arm seemingly become numb.

 Under my fuzzy consciousness, I could only feel as if there was wave after wave of boiling heat waves from every corner, assaulting my senses.

I lay on the floor, unable to move, spending a great deal of effort to gasp for breath, before slowly opening my eyes.

What entered my vision, was an entire sea of raging fire.

I startled, realizing that I had returned to the house, the carpets, sofa, wooden cabinets, tea table, window curtain… all of them had been set aflame, burning with a crackle, emitting a dazzling flame and heat wave.

H-how could this be! Why was the house on fire?

I collapsed on the staircase of the first floor living room, hastily supporting myself up from the floor, wanting to put out the fire, but my knees and arm were in so much pain I couldn’t sit up, the blood on my face trickling down onto the floor.

“Xiao Mo Mo! Xiao Mo Mo!”

Ah Bao sobbed batteredly, burying his face covered in tears into my chest, hugging me tightly.

The yingyao hopped up and down anxiously, not knowing what to do.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine…” I suppressed the pain, forcing myself to calm down. Looking around me, I saw the main entrance not too far away in the middle of the chaotic blaze, saying, “Ah Bao, the door is right there, do you see it? Quickly bring Qiu Qiu out of here first!”

I supported Ah Bao up, giving him a hard push into the direction out the door.

Ah Bao was pushed by me, his butt tumbling onto the floor. In the next second, he threw himself back at me instead, grabbing onto my clothes, tightly pressing himself into my chest, shaking his head stubbornly as he sobbed, “Ah Bao won’t go… Uuu… Ah Bao wants to be with Xiao Mo Mo… Ah Bao won’t go… Uuu…”

The yingyao also hopped over, squeezing in between me and Ah Bao.

Sigh, these two little yaoguai…

I looked at them both helplessly, not being able to chase them away. At this moment, the intensity of the fire rapidly spread, the wooden staircase also combusting into flames, thick smoke billowing on all sides, choking me so much I almost couldn’t breathe.

No good, at this rate there won’t be any chances left!

I clenched my teeth, stubbornly propping myself up to crawl up from the floor, one hand pulling on Ah Bao, another grabbing onto the yingyao, working steadily towards the main entrance under the roast of the raging flames.

Rattle!

Just as I was about to reach the edge of the door, I heard a brittle sound, the entire bronze chandelier had actually collapsed!

Fuck! Do you have to be this thrilling!

I had a million grievances in my heart, and, with not much time to think, nor any chance to escape, I could only fall to the floor with Ah Bao in my arms.

Bang. The damn chandelier had unbiasedly crashed straight onto my back, I was close to passing out right then and there.

“Xiao Mo Mo! Xiao Mo Mo!”

Ah Bao whimpered, sobbing.

This time, I really had no more strength to climb up, giddily slumping onto the floor, the pain of my wounds bursting forth, my vision getting increasingly blurrier, and most excruciatingly, nothing could surpass inability to breathe, because the moment I inhaled, boiling sparks of smoke would bubble into my nostrils.

Ah… I’m at my limit, I really… Cannot go on…

The flames ahead had almost baked my hair, scalding my whole body into unbearable pain, and yet, my awareness was uncontrollably slipping into haziness.

Ah Bao shook my body with all his might, but I could not muster a single reply.

I didn’t know how long had passed, and vaguely, I seemed to… have… seen a silhouette crashing through the front doors, rushing in.

I tried my best to crack my eyelids, but the blaze was too blinding, I couldn’t make out that person’s appearance, only sensing the person lifting me up, then letting out an angered shout, “Qi Qi!”

Qi Qi? What the hell is that…

Just who is this person… Why… Does his voice sound so familiar?

I didn’t know if it was just me, but the boiling heat waves in the surroundings seemed to have dispersed in an instant.

I clenched my teeth, trying to pull myself together, but no matter what, I could not seem to stay awake.

Gradually, the world before my eyes sunk into darkness… 

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