Gan Tang curled his fingers slightly.
He really wanted to punch that irritating face of Cen Zibai’s.
But he quickly dismissed the thought. He had a hunch that doing so wouldn’t be a punishment for Cen Zibai at all—if anything, it would be a reward…
Besides, his grandmother was still waiting for him outside the door.
Gan Tang took a deep breath, treating the tall figure on the floor as if he were nothing but air. Then, he pushed open the door and walked out. As expected, he immediately felt a resentful yet burning gaze on his back. He ignored it—not that he had time to care, anyway.
The moment he stepped outside, he saw his grandmother. The elderly woman stood in the main hall, her eyes fixed intently on the bedroom door.
As soon as Gan Tang met her gaze, he completely forgot the lie he had prepared in his mind before opening the door.
“Grandma? What’s wrong?”
The boy called out in alarm.
It had only been a few hours, yet his grandmother suddenly looked much older. Her face was gaunt and haggard, her eyes—wrapped in fine, layered wrinkles—held a strange nervousness.
Only when she saw Gan Tang walking out in his pajamas, looking “sleepy and drowsy,” did she let out a barely perceptible sigh of relief.
“So you were home after all. I called you so many times, but you didn’t respond. Really…”
Her thin lips moved slightly, mumbling in a faint grumble.
“The Zhang family said they saw you hanging around with that crazy Yu Huai this morning, heading into the mountains. Scared me half to death! My heart almost jumped out of my chest!”
Hearing this, Gan Tang’s heart skipped a beat, and cold sweat instantly drenched his back.
“No way! I was with Cen Zibai all day today. The only person I hang out with is in my room. Why on earth would I be bored enough to run off with Yu Huai, that countryside troublemaker?”
He swallowed hard and replied with feigned innocence.
“Oh… I see, I see…”
Thank the heavens, his acting skills had peaked at just the right moment, successfully fooling his grandmother.
Hearing his response, she visibly relaxed. Even so, she still looked exhausted and weary, her wrinkles seemingly deeper than before.
Just when Gan Tang thought the issue had passed, his grandmother mumbled again, “But I’ve seen you two together a lot before… Tang Tang, don’t keep playing with that Yu Huai. His family isn’t from our village, after all. You never know what’s in a person’s heart. And his father—you know how he is, don’t you? Completely unhinged. No telling when he might lose his mind. Being around him all the time won’t bring you any good…”
Seeing the conversation steering toward Yu Huai, Gan Tang’s smile stiffened.
To stop her from going further, he quickly changed the subject, “I got it, I got it! Oh, right, Grandma—I was half-asleep earlier and heard someone crying outside. What was that about?!”
Sure enough, his grandmother’s attention shifted. But as soon as Gan Tang brought up the crying, her expression became even more sorrowful and grim.
“Ah, that…”
She sighed deeply, hesitating for a moment before finally speaking. “Your Uncle Xijiao… something happened to him today. He’s gone.”
At first, Gan Tang didn’t quite process what “gone” meant. But the moment he saw his grandmother’s heavy expression, something clicked in his mind, and he instantly understood—
Uncle Xijiao… was dead?!
He nearly failed to suppress the shock on his face. Just a few hours ago, he had seen Uncle Xijiao following Uncle Zhang Er and the others into the mountains. Though the man had seemed a bit off mentally, physically, he had been completely fine—full of energy.
How could a living, breathing man suddenly drop dead in just a few hours?!
“W-What happened? How did Uncle Xijiao suddenly die?”
Gan Tang couldn’t help but ask.
But his grandmother was evasive.
“These mountains… accidents happen easily,” she said vaguely. Then, after a pause, she added, “Anyway, the village is going to be in chaos again soon. Tangtang, just like before, stay home and don’t run around.”
After saying this, Grandma rubbed her temples, clearly exhausted beyond measure. Yet, even in this state, she didn’t forget to remind Gan Tang and Cen Zibai to eat well. She had even specifically asked someone to prepare a separate meal just for them.
“This was made by your Seventh Aunt. I told her to set some aside for you two. Something happened in the village today, so I didn’t have time to cook for you myself. You’ll have to make do with this…”
After giving these instructions, the old woman hurriedly turned to leave again.
Watching her increasingly haggard figure, Gan Tang felt a sudden tug in his chest. Then, he called out to her.
“Grandma, do you need me to help…? You look really tired. Uncle Xijiao, well… I used to call him Uncle too. If there’s anything I can do, just tell me—I’ll help you.”
Hearing this, a gratified smile unconsciously appeared on Grandma’s lips.
“No need, no need, it’s all a messy business—” She paused for a moment, then suddenly changed her mind. “Actually… maybe you could help. But not by doing anything. Just come with me now to burn some incense. Your Uncle Xijiao left too suddenly, they haven’t even set up the mourning shed yet. There shouldn’t be too many people at his house right now. If you go today, you won’t have to join the crowd later when they hold the formal rites. Just stay home then, alright?”
With that decided, Gan Tang casually headed to his room first.
On the surface, he was just going to inform Cen Zibai of his plans. But the moment he stepped inside, he immediately reached out, grabbed the tall, pitiful-looking boy—who, despite being nearly 1.8 meters tall, acted as delicate as a fragile flower—and slammed him against the wall.
Gan Tang’s expression was dark, his cold gaze stabbing into Cen Zibai. But that person still wore the same infuriatingly innocent look.
Then, Gan Tang spoke, enunciating every word with his most severe, most terrifying tone: “You heard me, didn’t you? I’m going out.”
Cen Zibai obediently pressed his back against the wall, his long lashes trembling lightly at the sound.
“Mm.”
He murmured softly.
Before Gan Tang could continue his threats, he fluently added, “I’ll be good.”
Gan Tang: “You—”
“I’ll listen. I’ll stay in the room, I won’t go anywhere. I’ll just wait for you to come back, okay?”
Cen Zibai said pitifully.
And that was precisely what infuriated Gan Tang the most. Every time he saw this pathetic expression, an inexplicable rage flared up inside him—
“You’d better be.” Gan Tang gritted his teeth. “Otherwise, I’ll make sure you pay for it. Got it?”
The moment his words fell, he clearly felt the boy beneath him shudder strangely.
A familiar wave of disgust crashed over him.
At the same time, a sense of utter powerlessness, like punching cotton, weighed on his fists.
Gan Tang clenched his teeth, suddenly releasing his grip. Just as he was about to leave, Cen Zibai abruptly lowered his head and, ever so gently, brushed his lips against the knuckles of Gan Tang’s hand—the very knuckles that had been gripping his collar.
There was a faint trace of blood there, left from when Gan Tang had anxiously gnawed at his fingers earlier.
The moment a damp, sticky tongue licked over the wound, Gan Tang instinctively shuddered.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
If he hadn’t been afraid that this lunatic would actually enjoy it, he would have kicked him right then and there.
Cen Zibai tilted his head slightly, looking at him with a pure and untroubled gaze.
“Tang Tang, you taste so sweet… so delicious.”
As if that tiny blood scab was some kind of divine delicacy, the boy spoke in the most innocent, childlike tone—yet his Adam’s apple bobbed distinctly up and down.
A clear sign of hunger and craving.
Gan Tang’s pupils shrank.
For a split second, an instinctive terror surged through his veins, leaving him utterly speechless.
“You… you’re a—”
A freak.
Just then, Grandma called out to him from outside the door.
In the end, Gan Tang had no choice but to forcibly suppress the violent urge raging in his chest. He shoved Cen Zibai aside and hurriedly left the room… Though he didn’t want to admit it, even he felt like he had just fled in disgrace.
He wasn’t sure if it was because of the long-standing resentment he held toward Cen Zibai.
But for some inexplicable reason, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this boy, who had died and come back to life, had not only become an idiot but also seemed increasingly… inhuman.
Everything he did was technically something a human would do, yet there was always an indescribable quality in his eyes that made Gan Tang’s nerves tense.
Like that hunger from before… If this had been the past, Gan Tang would have assumed that Cen Zibai was trying to get on top of him (since that guy was, at his core, a damn pervert anyway). But just now, for the first time, Gan Tang had felt a distinct and overwhelming fear.
He had the chilling sense that “Cen Zibai” truly wanted to eat him.
In the most literal sense of the word.
The finger that Cen Zibai had licked continued to itch, and when Gan Tang absentmindedly brought it close to his nose, he could still catch a faint metallic scent.
Did human saliva… normally smell like this?
…
When Gan Tang left the room in a daze, Grandma was already waiting for him in the courtyard.
As soon as he stepped outside, he happened to catch sight of her staring unblinkingly at a corner of the yard, murmuring to herself. Following her gaze, Gan Tang saw the rough, simple mask she had worn during the borrowed flesh ritual.
Judging by the careless way it had been placed, Grandma clearly didn’t treat it as something precious.
But at this moment, the look in her eyes as she stared at the mask was strange and cold, filled with deep-seated disgust.
It was an expression that felt utterly foreign to Gan Tang.
However, the moment she heard his footsteps, Grandma immediately turned around. Her face was once again adorned with a warm, kind smile, as if the scene Gan Tang had just glimpsed had been nothing more than his own illusion.
“You and Xiao Cen seem quite close,” she said, taking Gan Tang’s hand with a smile.
“You two even had to whisper to each other for so long. That’s good, that’s good. That way, you won’t get bored staying in your room.”
Gan Tang: “…”
Gan Tang: “Oh, I guess so.”
His expression twisted into something indescribably complicated, and in the end, he could only lower his head and respond in a dry, miserable tone, looking as if he had just swallowed a pile of crap.
*
On the way to Uncle Xijiao’s house, whether intentionally or not, Grandma never let go of Gan Tang’s hand.
Thankfully, the village wasn’t large, and before long, they arrived at Uncle Xijiao’s home.
Compared to Uncle Zhang Er, Uncle Xijiao—being the older brother—lived in a far more dilapidated and cramped house.
Gan Tang was honestly worried that the rickety wooden door might collapse the moment they pushed it open. And just as Grandma had said, when they arrived, the funeral tent hadn’t even been set up yet.
But what even Grandma hadn’t expected was that the moment they stepped inside, they were greeted by the sight of a corpse lying openly in the middle of the courtyard.
Author’s Note:
Gan Tang: AAAAAHHHH WHY DOES HIS SALIVA SMELL SO GROSSSSS
“Cen Zibai” (smiling.jpg): Hehe, now that I’ve marked you, no other monsters will dare lay a finger on you~
