Cataclysm Chapter 11: A Skeleton Under Clothing 4; Ghostly Locust

Chapter 11: A Skeleton Under Clothing 4; Ghostly Locust

Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations 

Editor: Addis

 

Feng Yuan was angry, but they didn’t have the courage to refute Kou Xuanling’s words. After all, this was caused by them, and the target of those things were also them. It is most appropriate for them to lure them out.

“Then… How do we lure them out?”

Chen Yang, “Don’t do anything. Just live your lives as usual.”

The three were confused.

Chen Yang explained, “The evil beings have been around you for a long time, and since they’re targeting you, they’ll come into contact with you in various identities. Because they need to know your living habits and contacts. You just need to pay more attention to the people you associate with around these days, demons will most likely be mixed in with them.”

Ge Qing, “If they are complete strangers, we won’t be able to recognize them either. Besides, what if the evil spirits do harm to us?”

“Xiaoli.”

Mao Xiaoli took out four talismans from her pocket and handed them over, “Demons and evil spirits are afraid of thunder and fire. As long as the demons encounter this five thunder talisman, they will be afraid to appear. Throwing them on the demons can save your lives.”

“After that?”

“Run.”

“……”

Mao Xiaoli thought about it and added, “Remember to call for help.”

Ge Qing, “You won’t be protecting us closely?”

“How can you lure them out if we do that?” Kou Xuanling asked.

The three were speechless, and the matter was settled. Chen Yang’s and the other Tianshi also settled down in the villa and found that there was one room short when allocating room keys. There were eight people, but only seven rooms.

Feng Yuan hoped Ge Qing could room with Mao Xiaoli, but they both refused at the same time.

Ge Qing said to Chen Yang, “Master Chen will room with me, and I will be happy.”

Mao Xiaoli jumped in front of Chen Yang and vowed to defend the innocence of her director. At this time, Du Bei walked up and said, “He will be staying in a room with me.”

With that, he looked at Chen Yang, then turned and walked into the room.

Chen Yang, “That’s settled then. I’ll go in and put my things away first, then I’ll come out at noon.”

As long as the director kept his innocence, Mao Xiaoli had no objections. She ran to pick a room and put her luggage in.

The rest of the people in the corridor scattered, leaving only Kou Xuanling behind. Although his expression looked the same, his heart was full of turmoil. Just now, did that supposedly quiet, serious and indifferent director Du, invite someone to stay in the same room with him? The most difficult person to get along with in the world of Tianshi? He occupied a whole floor in headquarters, and no one even dared step foot on that floor!

As soon as the door closed, an unfamiliar aura shrouded Chen Yang from head to toe. Chen Yang’s hand grabbing the doorknob froze, he frowned, and turned to see Du Bei standing behind him, staring at him indifferently.

The two were very close.

Chen Yang closed the door, stepped back, looked up at him and said, “Change back.”

Du Bei’s expression did not change, “What do you mean?”

Chen Yang crossed his arms, “It means that if you don’t turn back to the appearance and aura I’m familiar with, you can’t hold me.”

“You noticed?”

“You’ve made some very clear gestures.”

Shuo is the other name for north, so Du Bei is Du Shuo ¹. He explained to him clearly.

“My Yang Yang is so smart.” Du Shuo turned back to his original appearance, beautiful, indifferent, and incomparable in dignity.

“Don’t change the topic. How did you become the director of Dafu headquarters?”

“There’s a cooperation project between the underworld and the human world, which started twenty years ago. I volunteered to work in the headquarters of the Dafu office for three years under the pseudonym of Du Bei.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

They had been together for six years, and Du Shuo had something so important hidden from him. He hid it for three years to boot, Chen Yang didn’t like that.

“I told you, you weren’t listening.”

Chen Yang doubted, “Have you ever mentioned something like that?”

Du Shuo nodded, “I took office three years ago, I told you. It’s just that your attention was focused on a flock of sheep.”

A flock of sheep? Three years ago? Chen Yang coughed heartily. At that time, he was addicted to a famous domestic animation. There was a group of sheep and two wolves trying to catch them, a total of 530 episodes were released. ²

It’s not his fault. It was the first animation he came into contact with. You know, before he was sixteen years old, he was busy trying to stay alive and learning taoist skills. After the age of sixteen, he was busy making up for the school learning he had left behind. Because there were only two years left before the college entrance examination, he had to make up for all that missed education.

Fortunately, Du Shuo helped him with his homework.

Before he went to university, he only saw the old version of the journey to the West. When he was in university, in order to catch up with the famous domestic animation, he became a neet for a long time. He stayed up late secretly behind Du Shuo’s back and forgot to cook several times. It took him half a year to finish the clothes he should have mended.

Yes, cooking and sewing. Those were skills that Chen Xiao Yang had learned since he was a child. He was very skilled at it too. Later, after they got married, he still kept honing those skills.

“You remember now?”

Chen Yang lowered his head in shame, then grabbed Du Shuo’s sleeve and shook it a bit, “I forgot.”

Du Shuo raised his hand and pressed the back of Chen Yan’s neck, just like catching small prey.

“So you were the one who gave me that employment letter at the Dafu branch office?”

“Hmn.”

“No wonder you didn’t need me to make money to support the family. Do you have a salary?”

“…No.” The whole underworld belonged to him, and the Dafu office was a cooperation project between the underworld and human beings. To tell the truth, as the emperor of Fengdu who had lived for thousands of years, he had never been paid a salary before.

Chen Yang suddenly realized, “Oh, so you’re earning credits and virtues from this endeavor.”

Du Shuo was silent, one could put it like that… maybe? Although this credit and virtue was like using a drop of water to quench a car fire, it was not worth mentioning, “Are you adapting well?”

Chen Yang nodded, “It’s probably because I have learned Ghost arts with grandpa Wu ³ for two years, so he could easily deal with ordinary fierce ghosts and evil spirits. In addition, after I married you, I was also half a resident of the underworld, and evil spirits were no longer attracted to me much. Plus, it’s easier to make money doing this job.”

“What if you got into danger?”

Chen Yang blinked, hugged Du Shuo, leaned into his arms and said, “Brother Du, my grandfather and parents were all killed by evil spirits because of me, and they never gave up on me. There was also grandpa Wu, who disobeyed heavenly laws to help me hold an underworld marriage. Later, you stayed by my side day and night, in order to have me live. I definitely value my life. If there’s any real danger, I’ll be the first to run away.”

Du Shuo pinched the nape of his neck softly, “Just remember that. Your life is the most important thing.”

“Hmn.” Chen Yang said happily, “If things are not going well, I can always ask for you to come.”

Du Shuo chuckled, “Cheeky.”

“By the way, what did you discover when you went out?”

“Let’s talk about your findings first.”

“Now I’m quite sure it’s an evil spirit. The method of harming people is ferocious, peeling off human skin and eating flesh. Seems like the JingGuai is obtaining human essence from blood and flesh in order to cultivate into a human form. They obtain human flesh with the help of human skins.” Chen Yang deduced further, “Besides, I’m afraid there is more than one evil spirit. It’s just that I’m not sure what being the JingGuai cultivated from.”

Du Shuo, “Hmn. What else?”

Chen Yang frowned and hesitated, “I’m not sure… but I’m a little worried that the JingGuais are raising ghosts.”

“Why?”

“Surrounding the Miyun Ghost House were ancient locust trees ⁴, and ghosts often live in them. In that case, it’s hard to guarantee that the JingGuai won’t feed and raise them.”

Nine out of ten, they were raising ghosts.

Du Shuo’s eyes were full of admiration, “Good. You can guess this much just by reading materials and listening to their description. Yang Yang is really smart.”

Chen Yang was used to Du Shuo praising him as if he was a child. Although this man was his husband, he may actually be several times older than him. It didn’t feel weird to be treated as a child occasionally if he thought about it like that, “Then what did you discover at your end?”

“Let’s play a guessing game.”

Chen Yang’s interest was piqued. He often played this game with him when he was a teenager. Every time he won, he would get expensive prizes. “How do I play? Are there any rules?”

“There are no rules. Within three days, find all the JingGuais involved with the hints I give you, also guess the original form of the JingGuai, and you win.”

“The hint?”

“Ghost locust.”

“That’s it?”

“One hint a day. This is today’s hint.” Du Shuo looked at him with a smile.

Chen Yang quipped, “Stingy.”

Although the locust tree was said to be the ghost among all trees, in fact, not all locust trees were inhabited by wandering ghosts. In the north, locust trees were regarded as the habitat of ancestors’ souls, so there were also tales that locust trees protected their descendants. On the contrary, the ghost locusts were inhabited by the wandering and often fierce ghosts, once they grew stronger, they became a danger to people.

The so-called ghost locust had a human head-like tumor that grew on locust trees. When the tumor’s peel splits and the facial details were formed, the locust tree and the ghost had become one, and it had cultivated to a point that it had the ability to harm people. At that point, Tianshi must be hired to drive it away, otherwise it would make the household restless.

Chen Yang touched his chin. Was there a ghost locust in the villa area?

If the JingGuais fed the ghosts residing in the trees, then it was normal to have ghost locusts in the courtyard ⁵. Wasn’t this hint a tad too obvious?

“You aren’t tricking me, are you?”

Du Shuo smiled, pulled him into his arms, hugged him, and said, “A treat for the first day.”

“Are there more treats tomorrow?”

“Don’t be greedy.”

Chen Yang clicked his tongue and went into deep thought. But his happiness did not last long, since he found that the ghost house was surrounded by a lot of locust trees, there was even a locust forest. Chen Yang forgot that the north was different from the south, even if he didn’t start with the Fengshui. In terms of geographical environment alone, it was easier to grow locust trees in the north than in the south.

In the south, locust trees were considered to be the ghost of all trees and had too much Yin aura. In the north, it is believed that the locust trees were the resting place for ancestors and could provide protection for their descendants and homes. Seeing a locust was like seeing a relative. Therefore, planting locust trees in the north was not a rare thing. It happened that the developers of Haoyuan Villa liked it very much, so they planted a lot of them.

This was just awesome, to find the ghost locust among hundreds of locust trees. The difficulty level had just risen tremendously.

“Sly,” Chen Yang said to Du Shuo.

Chen Yang told Mao Xiaoli to pay attention to a ghost locust, while Feng Yuan and the others were often driven out of the villa for strolls in the district to lure the JingGuai. But after a day, there was not much gain. However, Wei Changping was very happy when he came back that he had an extra bowl of rice.

When Chen Yang asked, Ge Qing said, “He just met a beautiful woman. So he has a surplus of adrenaline.”

“Beautiful woman?”

Wei Changping grinned, “She is extremely beautiful and has a first-class body figure. She just moved here recently.”

Kou Xuanling asked lazily, “Aren’t you afraid that she is a JingGuai in disguise?”

“No way.” Wei Changping hesitated and refuted, “…she is beautiful.”

“The more beautiful, the more evil, the more they are able to hook people like you.”

Wei Changping was completely frightened and had no more libido.

Chen Yang shook his head and didn’t remind Wei Changping that if it was really a JingGuai, the five thunder charm would have been activated. But it was good to be more vigilant. Just in case he fell for the beauty trick.

 

 

 

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