Chapter 36 Stakeou (1/2)

Chapter 36 Stakeout

“But this time, there was nothing. I don’t even have that feeling, let alone any dreams.” I couldn’t help myself from asking. “Wen Jiubo, that evil spirit. What exactly is it?”

“Who knows?” Wen Jiubo said, deliberately being vague.

“You obviously do know right?” I could once again feel my anger simmering because of Wen Jiubo’s half-hearted attitude towards things. “If you don’t want to tell me, then say so.”

Wen Jiubo looked at me with a helpless expression and then tucked his hands into his sleeves. “Gu Yu, have you heard about ‘living demons’?” he asked me seriously.

This was completely new to me, I shook my head mystified. “Living demons?”

“A so-called ‘living demon’ is someone who, while still alive, becomes a demon.”

“Becoming a demon… while still alive?” I repeated, surprised, unable to understand what Wen Jiubo meant. “How is that possible?”

“Everything is possible. As long as there is cause and effect, nothing is impossible.” Wen Jiubo looked in my direction. “I’ve told you before right? No matter what sort of supernatural being or superstition, it all originates from the human heart.”

I nodded.

“If there’s no evil in a person’s heart, then there’s no chance of an evil spirit. Therefore the existence of a ‘living demon’ is also easily explained,” Wen Jiubo continued. “A so-called ‘living demon’, is merely a human who has been cursed.”

“Cursed?” I felt even more confused. “You meant saying something like ‘abracadabra’, waving a wand and turning someone into a demon, that sort of curse?”

Wen Jiubo laughed. “Even though there are those, but the ‘curse’ we’re speaking of, isn’t that sort of curse.”

“Then what is it?” I tugged at my hair in frustration. “The more you talk, the more I don’t understand.”

Wen Jiubo smiled, explaining, “Let me try another easier way of explaining. For example —”

As he spoke, Wen Jiubo picked up a leaf from the grass beside himself. He presented it to me. “Tell me, what is this called?”

“Eh?” I was confused. “It’s a leaf.”

“That’s right, this is a leaf.” Wen Jiubo shook the leaf in his hand. “At the moment when you called its name, you, Gu Yu, placed a curse on this leaf. On the other hand, this leaf was also bound by the name ‘leaf’, never to be free from it again.”

“What are you talking about? I still don’t understand a word.” In light of Wen Jiubo’s utterly bizarre logic, I completely gave up trying to understand.

Wen Jiubo dropped the leaf. “Another example,” he said, suddenly leaning into my space. “If I do this…”

I jumped, startled by Wen Jiubo’s sudden move, his face had come dangerously close to mine. At the same time, one of his hands brushed across the back of mine, conveying a sense of warmth where our bare skin touched.

He was too close! The alarms in my mind went off, my heart started hammering away in my chest. Wen Jiubo had positioned himself so that his shapely mouth was only centimeters away from mine. I froze completely in place, my eyes fluttering closed reflexively.

At this point, Wen Jiubo’s lips moved up, next to my ear. He said softly, “If I did this, you would think that I was about to kiss you and close your eyes. Your face heating up, the rapid beat of your heart… these are also a type of curse.”

I suddenly got mad and didn’t even hesitate, punching straight towards Wen Jiubo’s face.

“Ow, that hurt!” Wen Jiubo didn’t have time to move aside, taking the hit straight on, almost falling to the floor.

“Serves you right!” I glared at him. “What face heating, what rapid heartbeat? You just wanted to take the opportunity to be indecent! You’re shameless!”