Yu Huai stood at the bathroom door for a while, waiting until he heard the sound of rushing water gradually fade. He hesitated for a long time, unsure whether he should kick open the door and barge in. In fact, at first, he even thought he had misheard: how could there be two voices in the bathroom?
Gan Tang’s voice sounded particularly flustered and desperate, while another low, hoarse voice sounded especially strange.
Yu Huai couldn’t imagine any grown man crying like that, with a sticky voice, as if every syllable had been coated with thick, viscous paste. The moment Yu Huai heard that voice, he felt uncomfortable, though he didn’t know why. He lowered his head and saw the hairs on his elbow standing up.
“Gan Tang?”
He called again.
Fortunately, Gan Tang responded immediately.
“I—I’m here, just wait a moment—” The boy’s voice was still clear.
Then, the voice dropped: “Get the hell away from me, or I’ll crush that thing of yours… get lost… disgusting… put on your damn clothes…”
The muffled curse was particularly gritted through the teeth, and these words weren’t directed at Yu Huai.
But Yu Huai still couldn’t help but listen carefully, his ears pricked up.
He heard a few muffled groans, the sound of a bucket smashing against something hollow, chaotic footsteps, curses… After these sounds gradually faded away, the bathroom door opened.
A wave of warm, damp air rushed out through the doorframe.
Gan Tang’s chest was heaving, and most of his clothes were soaked through.
His hair and face were covered with fine sweat, as though he had just undergone a sauna, but his complexion was ashen.
“Yu Huai, what’s up? I was just about to look for you—”
Gan Tang’s expression seemed to soften a little when he saw Yu Huai.
However, at that moment, Yu Huai couldn’t focus on Gan Tang. All his thoughts were drawn to the hunchbacked, shrugging figure behind Gan Tang, the one with a face full of snot and tears.
He could feel a strange acidic sensation rising in his stomach, and his blood seemed to turn cold at that moment.
Without needing to look, Yu Huai knew that not only his elbows but every place on his body with hair follicles had probably broken out in goosebumps.
That was Cen Zibai.
Although they had only met once, Yu Huai instantly recognized the person behind Gan Tang.
At first glance, he looked exactly like he did when he was alive.
However… with a second look, there was something off about him.
In Yu Huai’s memory, Gan Tang’s so-called friend, the young master from the city, had always had an air of arrogance in his eyes, even when pretending to be kind.
Now, that guy looked pitiful, crying like a child, with a very obvious slap mark on his face.
His mannerisms seemed childish. Immature people often gave off a harmless vibe. But when Yu Huai looked into Cen Zibai’s eyes, it was like looking into the eyes of a dead person.
Those murky eyes were hollow, empty.
This emptiness, in contrast to the rich emotions on his face, created a terrifying feeling that was hard to describe.
If Yu Huai’s education were a little higher, he might know that this feeling was called the “uncanny valley.”
“This, this is—”
Yu Huai stuttered.
He stepped back two steps, standing in the bright sunlight, too afraid to move.
“He’s back.”
On the contrary, Gan Tang seemed much calmer now. He wiped his face and said softly.
*
“It might be the aftereffects of decapitation… or maybe once the ritual is complete, he’ll return to normal.”
A few minutes later, Gan Tang brought the stunned Yu Huai back to the living room, eating breakfast that his grandmother had left for him, his expression neutral as he speculated.
“…Anyway, I’ve done everything I could. At least now, the guy is alive.”
Throughout the conversation, Gan Tang didn’t once turn to look at Cen Zibai.
Even though he had immediately washed his legs with water after they were “soiled” and licked by someone, Gan Tang still felt that lingering disgusting touch and faint fishy smell on his skin. He didn’t know whether it was psychological, but the sensation remained even now.
He wasn’t sure whether to thank Yu Huai—if it weren’t for him suddenly showing up and making a sound, snapping Gan Tang back to his senses, he probably would have gone into a rage and used the bucket to smash Cen Zibai’s head open again.
Even though Cen Zibai had become a fool, at that moment, Gan Tang had once again caught a whiff of the foul stench from him—the same murky, nauseating desire.
Even after dying once, Cen Zibai was still a filthy, disgusting pervert.
*
Naturally, Gan Tang didn’t tell Yu Huai anything about what had happened in the bathroom. However, even if Yu Huai didn’t know anything, anyone in the room could feel Gan Tang’s extreme disgust toward Cen Zibai. Only the person himself, Cen Zibai, seemed completely unaware of it.
Perhaps because he had been beaten twice before, the boy seemed especially pitiful and cowering when he came out of the bathroom.
He lowered his head dejectedly and stayed behind Gan Tang and Yu Huai, entering the living room.
Originally, he wanted to sit close to Gan Tang, but after Gan Tang gave him a glare, he obediently shrank his neck, moved a small chair, and sat far away in the corner of the room.
However, while Yu Huai was still gasping for air, trying to figure out the current situation, Cen Zibai had already placed both hands on the small stool. As soon as Gan Tang wasn’t paying attention, he carefully moved the stool and inched toward Gan Tang’s direction. After sitting for a few seconds, he arrogantly repeated the same steps, thinking he was being discreet.
The boy’s eyes never left the side of Gan Tang, intensely focused, as if it had turned into greed.
And now that greed seemed almost tangible, like thick mud gushing out from his eyes.
Yu Huai’s goosebumps intensified.
“…If—if after the ritual he still looks like this, what are you going to do?” He couldn’t help but ask.
He then watched Gan Tang’s face gradually grow pale.
“I don’t know.”
Gan Tang’s voice was low and hoarse.
“He’s… strange right now. But he’s still a living person. As long as he’s alive, I haven’t killed anyone.”
The boy’s voice was soft, but the tone was hollow.
“Otherwise, we can just use his fingerprints to unlock his phone and see if his family can find someone to take him back.”
Gan Tang said.
“I actually tried earlier, but his hands were too dirty with mud, so the fingerprints weren’t readable…”
Yu Huai sighed as he looked at his bewildered friend.
Actually, before all this, he had vaguely sensed that there was something off between Gan Tang and this so-called “friend.”
He felt like Gan Tang wasn’t exactly welcoming toward Cen Zibai, and Cen Zibai had always shown a strange hostility toward him.
Moreover, last night when Gan Tang had knocked on his door in the middle of the night, scared out of his wits and begging for help with a body, Yu Huai had seen some very strange things in Gan Tang’s room…
But now, discussing the past seemed pointless.
The immediate priority was to get rid of this guy who had crawled out of the flesh-well.
Yu Huai found himself physically repelled by Cen Zibai. Even though the guy now looked innocent, with a childish face and behaving harmlessly, he couldn’t help but feel terrified whenever he saw him.
How come when it was Zhang Ershu, who had also died and revived, borrowed flesh and came back to life, Yu Huai didn’t feel the same way about him as he did about Cen Zibai?
Yu Huai thought.
In his contemplation, he spoke up: “Speaking of the borrowed flesh, I came to find you because of this. Uncle Zhang gathered several relatives today, and they’ve been working in his yard early this morning. I overheard and it sounds like they’re preparing to go to the back mountain.” He licked his lips. “…Maybe they’re planning to borrow flesh from the flesh-well today.”
Then he looked at Gan Tang.
“We should follow them and see how Uncle Zhang does the borrowing. I wanted to ask my dad earlier, but he didn’t say anything useful… Anyway, worst-case scenario, we just follow their method and do the same.”
As he spoke, Yu Huai couldn’t help but glance at Cen Zibai.
At that moment, the boy had silently moved just a meter or two closer to Gan Tang.
He tilted his head slightly, his eyes wet and focused on Gan Tang.
From his expression, it was clear that Cen Zibai had no idea what Gan Tang and Yu Huai were discussing.
But, as if possessing some strange ability, the instant Yu Huai looked at Cen Zibai, the tall boy turned his face, and his murky eyes locked directly with Yu Huai’s.
Yu Huai shivered sharply.
Cen Zibai’s eyes were still hollow and vacant, unfocused.
However…
Just now, Yu Huai had still felt like someone in the room was watching him.
And the gaze directed at him was full of cold malice.
“Yu Huai? What’s wrong?”
Gan Tang’s voice snapped him back to reality.
At this moment, Gan Tang’s focus was entirely on the borrowed flesh ritual, and he clearly didn’t feel any of the scrutiny.
“Why are you just telling me now? Uncle Zhang and them didn’t leave already, did they?”
As soon as the mention of the borrowed flesh came up, Gan Tang immediately became restless.
He pushed the table aside and stood up, not even touching most of the food on the table as he tried to rush out.
Yu Huai quickly grabbed him.
“It’s fine. When I arrived, I listened for a long time. Uncle Zhang’s wife is causing a scene, so they can’t leave just yet. They’ll definitely have time to leave soon…” As he said this, Yu Huai’s hesitant gaze fell on the tall boy next to Gan Tang.
“But when I came, I didn’t expect your… uh, friend… to ‘come back’ so soon.”
Yu Huai hesitated and said.
“With him like this, he probably can’t come with us, right?”
Yu Huai scratched his head, feeling awkward.
And almost the instant he finished speaking, he felt like something in the dark had suddenly glared at him fiercely.
This time, the malice in the gaze was even more obvious.
Yu Huai felt as if an icy hand had grabbed his back, making him jump in surprise, and his whole body uncontrollably leaped up.
Following the direction of that malicious gaze, he looked up and saw nothing unusual—just the familiar beams of the room.
Gan Tang’s grandmother’s house was still an old building, with a high-pitched gabled roof full of beams and rafters. Wooden boards were placed on the beams, holding some miscellaneous items.
Unless someone brought the tall bamboo ladder from the backyard, an ordinary person couldn’t climb up. Even if they did, the thin wood boards wouldn’t support their weight. So, it was impossible for “someone” to be glaring at Yu Huai from up there. And even if it were possible, it should have been Cen Zibai glaring at him, right? But now, when Yu Huai looked, he saw the boy submissively reaching for Gan Tang’s sleeve.
“Tang Tang, please, don’t leave me.”
The boy, taller than Yu Huai, had tears in his eyes, his gaze full of fear and anxiety so thick it seemed like it would fall out of his eyes. Even though Yu Huai hated this current version of Cen Zibai, he had to admit that the guy did look pitiful.
“Smack—”
Then, in the next moment, Cen Zibai’s hand was slapped away forcefully by Gan Tang.
“Don’t touch me!”
Gan Tang snapped.
