QT: LAC Chapter 97: Seventh World (1)

ARC 7: Supernatural; Ghostly Unchained Melody

Chapter 97: Seventh World (1)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

“Cousin! Over here, here!”

Bai Duan followed the crowd. Seeing his lively, lovely little cousin wave to him unceasingly under the shade of the tree, his expression slightly softened and he walked toward her.

“Thank you, cousin. With this amulet, I’m at ease!” Lin Lin took the talisman from Bai Duan with both hands and looked at her cousin with reverence. “Cousin, the talisman you made is really effective! Last time when I nearly had a car accident, the amulet that was hanging around my neck suddenly broke. It really… it scared me!” As she said this, Lin Lin’s face showed some lingering fear, “I always thought that what grandpa said about the gods and demons were feudal superstition and dross, but I didn’t expect… there was some truth to it.”

Bai Duan smiled and joked, “People are afraid to come to me to ask for amulets. I don’t want to go to this thing.” 

“Oh, cousin! This is a club activity, you must take part in it!” Lin Lin laid out her hands.

“… Aren’t you in the film club? What does it have to do with exploration?” Bai Duan’s face was unreadable.

“This time the script we’ve received is a thriller. But we just can’t nail the thrill part, so we’re going to practise it.” Lin Lin said some serious nonsense.

“I think you’re lying.” Bai Duan lifted his eyebrows to expose his little cousin’s lies.

Lin Lin didn’t retort either and she just laughed.

Lin Lin’s filmmaking club, [Ink Black Moon], was a newly established and small-scale one. However, because the director, screenwriter, editors and CV ¹ were all schoolmates, it was very convenient for them to speak and plan, and have a high production efficiency. In addition to good scripts and several good voices which were highly recognised, they gradually released their names on the Internet and won over many new members, and the whole club had gradually changed from simply playing with cameras. Their nature had become more serious and rigorous, and the quality requirements for each play was more stringent.

This time, [Ink Black Moon] took over a miraculous and horrible radio play. After several failures of trying to achieve the expected effect of the play, a member came up with a risky idea. He wanted to organize members to go to the most famous haunted place on the outskirts of the city to explore, experience life and find some feelings.

The members of the club were college students who were full of curiosity and adventure. So even if the proposal was not reliable, most people immediately responded to it. How boring was it to sit in the club room all day? It was not like doing ‘outdoor sports’ that were good for physical and mental health to improve your mood.

Lin Lin, the little cousin of Bai Duan, had heard many stories about gods and ghosts narrated to her by her grandfather since childhood and so she was a little timid, but not willing to admit it in front of her classmates. Even if she had the impulse to go, her fear was still inevitable, so she specifically found Bai Duan, for his talisman for peace.

Bai Duan was her cousin, one year older and he was also a student of the same school. However, compared with his little cousin, Bai Duan’s major was much harder. He was a talented student of the Aerospace Institute. He was even recommended to visit and study at NASA because of his outstanding studies. Before he graduated, he became the pride of the school. In addition, he had a splendid face and was a proper campus God. He was cold and only before his little cousin would he show a soft expression.

Of course, apart from Lin Lin, no students knew that their family was famous for its technology emperors, who also had high academic origins. Bai Duan and Lin Lin’s ancestors originally had several Onmyojis who were even regarded as ‘famous,’ but with the war and the development of science and technology, the profession gradually declined. In addition, there were no gifted and outstanding descendants. Until their grandparents’ time, they had already fallen from Onmyojis (Onmyōji) to fortune tellers.

Their grandfather studied Yin and Yang, five elements and Zhouyi for most of his life, but his talent was too poor. He had only learned a few things, but he had not mixed up at all. His next generation had received scientific education to break away from feudal superstition, and he even despised the skills handed down by his ancestors.

Bai Duan’s grandfather was helpless, but he could only watch his grandchildren go to “science” until he found Bai Duan.

Bai Duan liked to be quiet since childhood. He didn’t like playing with children of the same age. Instead, he preferred to stay at home alone. Once, inadvertently, he found the ancient books and notes that had been properly preserved by his grandfather, and then looked through them with curiosity.

Bai Duan’s grandfather found his grandson like this and thought the boy was just reading for fun, and so he asked a few questions casually. His grandson, who had just started to read, answered these difficult questions with perfect knowledge, which immediately surprised Bai Duan’s grandfather.

Since then, despite the dissatisfaction of Bai Duan’s parents, his grandfather still stood out and took his grandson with him to teach his grandfather’s skills, and Bai Duan learned very fast. Within a few years, he took out his grandfather’s half bottle of water and began to ‘learn by himself’ under his grandfather’s gratifying eyes.

However, what his grandfather didn’t expect was that his grandson, who had amazing talent, wouldn’t go the same way as he expected and become a Onmyoji. Instead, he was admitted to the University of Aeronautics and Astronautics under the cover of his parents and transferred to the high-end technology camp.

His grandson was so promising. Of course, Bai Duan’s grandfather couldn’t ask him to drop out of school. He could only give up his wish to cultivate his grandson into an Onmyoji with tears in his eyes. Fortunately, Bai Duan didn’t give up his ancestral skills when he was studying. From time to time, he would look through books and draw a few runes to comfort his grandfather.

Bai Duan didn’t know whether the charms he drew were useful or not, but since his family who got his charms all responded well to it, he was willing to help with this. When he saw that his family was healthy and safe, he would feel happy.

Carefully hanging the amulet around her neck, Lin Lin looked at her beautiful cousin, but she was eager to move him. “Cousin, there is a role for you in this play! It’s the role of an Onmyoji! You really don’t think about doing a dub?”

Bai Duan not only had a beautiful appearance, but also had a very attractive voice. Due to his cold beauty, Lin Lin thought his voice control was salivating. She had tried to bring him into her club for the benefit of the public several times.

It was a pity that Bai Duan was not half interested in this activity. He would always politely refuse, and this time was no exception. Ignoring his little cousin’s expectation, Bai Duan chuckled and raised his hand. “Your friends are waiting for you. Go now.”

Lin Lin turned to look in the direction indicated by Bai Duan, and found that all members of the club had arrived and were waiting to start. In an instant, she fell down and complained, “Cousin, are you too lazy and refuse even now?”

Bai Duan didn’t say anything about it. He grabbed his little cousin’s shoulder and took her to her friends. He said with a smile, “Lin Lin is timid. Please take care of her this time.”

The gentle admonition of the campus God immediately flattered the members of the [Ink Black Moon] club. Although there were fans of other ‘God’s on the Internet, they clearly knew that they were far from the real God, Bai Duan.

Lian Sheng promised to take good care of the cousin of the campus God. All of them walked off of the campus in the presence of their campus God. When they disappeared from view, Bai Duan took back his eyes and returned to the library to continue his studies.

At first, Bai Duan thought it was just the most ordinary day, but he would have never thought that, more than three hours later, while he was still sitting in the library, his heart suddenly moved.

This was a very delicate feeling, even Bai Duan could not figure out what this specific feeling was, but Lin Lin’s panic suddenly flashed through his mind.

With a frown, Bai Duan could no longer calmly read his book. After three seconds of silence, he quickly stood up and walked out of the library. Following the guidance of his mind, he went straight to the place where his little cousin and members of the club were exploring.

Bai Duan’s destination was an air raid shelter covering a wide area. The old things left from the wars had been abandoned for a long time. During the period of war, many people died there, including those who died of illness, starvation, bullets and bombing. In addition, there were rumors that some people saw ghosts when they were under the ground. And that some people disappeared and were never found again.

The municipal government had wanted to transform and reuse the land many times, but at the time of each proposal or at the beginning of the construction, there would be various accidents, which would eventually bring all work to an end, and the number of accidents would become more and more strange.

Such a strange place should be avoided by people, but there were always some people who liked the feeling of mysterious events and risks. Even if the government blocked the air raid shelter entrance, it would not stop the pace of those people. Every year, people would sneak in to explore. Fortunately, most of them came back safely, so there were no big storms.

Carefully entering from the cut wire mesh holes into the darkness, Bai Duan immediately felt as if the cool, summer air had disappeared.

There were many underground air raid shelters in all directions and there were many branches, so it was easy to get lost. Bai Duan didn’t know which road Lin Lin and her party had taken, and he didn’t dare to look for her rashly. After a moment of hesitation, he took out a piece of yellow rune paper from his pocket. Since learning to draw, Bai Duan always carried some small tools that didn’t occupy a lot of space which was what he was using now.

Although he had been praised as a talent by his grandfather, Bai Duan did not have much practical experience. He learned all the theoretical knowledge, and now he was quite nervous when actually using it. According to the records in the book, he needed to fold up the rune paper, then bite through his fingertips, and then press on a drop of blood. Bai Duan ignited the rune paper with a lighter, and watched the paper dust flutter around in the air. Then it really flew in one direction, and he showed some surprise on his face.

Unexpectedly, it really worked?

The little magic used by Bai Duan was the most simple and highly restricted tracer. It was suitable for a calm and windless environment, and the target needed to be someone closely related to the blood owner, such as relatives who were connected by blood.

Following the ashes of the paper, Bai Duan made a quick march towards the depth of the air raid shelter. To be on the safe side, he also put on several offensive spells that he didn’t know were useful or useless. Although he had learned a lot of things about spirits and ghosts, Bai Duan had never seen ghosts, and he was still nervous.

After about ten minutes of walking behind the paper ash, the paper ash that had been flying in the air seemed to be exhausted at last, falling gently to the ground, while Bai Duan also saw a young man lying in the distance, quietly.

That young man was Liu Tao. Bai Duan knew him, but he had no friendship with him. He only knew that he was a member of [Ink Black Moon]. Liy Tao was quiet and had no sense of existence.

Although someone had an accident, Bai Duan’s heart was unexpectedly calm. He quickly walked a few steps, squatted beside Liu Tao, and looked at the young man whose face was blue and black, obviously not the skin color that a normal human should have. He frowned severely.

“Hey, Liu Tao!” Bai Duan raised his hand and held Liu Tao up halfway, shaking his body gently. Liu Tao’s weak breath suddenly sank, making a sound that seemed to pull the old bellows, and his half closed eyes suddenly opened, bursting out a very bright luster.

Bai Duan’s heart moved, and somehow a feeling of joy overflowed him, but the next second, the joy turned into panic and fear — because Liu Tao in his arms turned his eyes to him after a flash of reflection, and then there was no breath at all.

Staring at Liu Tao, who lost his vital characteristics completely in his arms, Bai Duan’s heart ached severely, and he felt  hesitation and loss — when he reacted, a string of tears came out of his eyes uncontrollably, dripping on the black and green skin of the young man in his arms.

Bai Duan looked at his tears blankly. He didn’t even know what he was crying about. He was cold-hearted and had no friendship with Liu Tao. It was impossible for him to cry for the death of a stranger. But in fact, Bai Duan was almost overwhelmed by the sadness in his heart.

It was clear and irrational, but Bai Duan felt cold, trembling and shaking in front of him. But before he understood his sudden strange reaction, he found that his cheek had been softly swept by something.

Blinking his eyes, the liquid dropped, and Bai Duan saw that Liu Tao, who had clearly been dead in his arms, opened his eyes again and was lifting his hand to wipe off the tears running down his face.

“… Don’t cry. ” Liu Tao tried to squeeze a smile out of him, but his stiff, blue facial muscles obviously didn’t follow his direction. “I won’t die.”

Bai Duan, with tears on his face, was very calm. “…No, I think it would be better if you died.”

Liu Tao who came back from the dead, “…”

Honey, you are so heartbreaking.