Vol 1 Chapter 4.1 (1/2)
Illusions, Lies, Truth Volume 1: Human Doll Contract Part One
Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我 (Yu Wo)
Chapter 4: Lu Yang Part 1—The Appearance of a Death G.o.d—translated by Raylight (proofread by Trespa.s.serby, EvlNabiki, C/E edited by lucathia)
“Who’s there?”
We have to face the person sooner or later. Rather than being ambushed, we might as well face it head-on! Lu Yang placed Slay in front of his chest, getting ready for battle, though he hoped that it would not come to that.
Jiang Ziya was at a loss as to what he could do, but he continued to stand beside Lu Yang. It seemed that Lu Yang preferred that he stand behind him, but although Lu Yang expressed that with his eyes several times, it was of no use. Therefore, Lu Yang could only just let Ziya be.
Under their scrutiny, a bark of laughter came from the window. “Really, to think that I would actually still get discovered. It seems like I underestimated the truth-seeing eye after all.”
Jiang Ziya felt blank for a moment. He didn’t think that he would hear this phrase coming from the other person’s mouth. Yu Shu truly had not deceived him; his left eye really was this “truth-seeing eye” thing, even though he didn’t think that his own left eye was worthy of that name. Why would an eye that would always see various strange things be called the “truth-seeing eye?”
The other person walked onto the balcony. He was dressed in a very elaborate Chinese robe. It was black-based with a golden trim. His hair was even tied into a bun, and he was wearing a similarly styled, black-based coronet lined with gold. It looked like an outfit from ancient China, but it was simply difficult to tell which dynasty it was from. At least, Jiang Ziya and Lu Yang were unable to tell. The most the two could recognize was the clothing from the Qing Dynasty, and they could possibly vaguely recognize the female gauze clothing of the Tang Dynasty. As for the other dynasties, those fas.h.i.+ons weren’t even a blip on their radar.
The person was even wearing a golden mask on his face. It had designs on it as though it was mottled, and the nose was especially sharp, like a crow’s beak. Although he was masked, he was probably male, judging from his figure.
He leaned on the railing in a relaxed fas.h.i.+on and said, “Don’t be nervous. We are not the ones who created this place. We merely made a ‘door’ to here. I don’t have a strong enough ability to create this barrier dimension.” He muttered softly, “Not yet.”
“What kind of person are you?” Although he asked in such a way, Lu Yang was unable to confirm if the other person was human.
“You don’t need to know who I am,” was the reply from the other. “This is not your goal, so there’s no need to complicate things. Take what you want with you, and then forget it all.”
“What I want?” Lu Yang was unable to understand this. All he knew was that Jiang Ziya had gotten into trouble, and he had come to help him out. Now that he was beside him, all that was left was getting out of here.
Jiang Ziya, however, understood what he meant. He shouted, “Are you the one who captured Xiao Xue? Return her!”
The corner of that person’s mouth turned up, and he seemed to be in a mysteriously good mood. He raised his index finger and gestured behind the two of them—the death G.o.d!
“s.h.i.+T!” Lu Yang cursed. He already had an utter lack of confidence in handling the guy on the balcony. Now that an extra death G.o.d had appeared, he could only hope that the other person would follow his word and let them leave.
There was actually someone in the arms of the death G.o.d. The death G.o.d landed on the ground, placed the person it was carrying down, and then slowly moved back a step.
“It’s Lin Zhixiang!”Jiang Ziya immediately rushed out. Lu Yang was unable to stop him in time and could only follow.
“She’s still alive!” Jiang Ziya exclaimed as he bent down to check. He heaved a large sigh of relief at that. After all, he was the one who had lost her just now. If something really were to happen to her, he would probably have a guilty conscience for the rest of his life.
Lu Yang felt much more relaxed at that. Other than feeling happy that their cla.s.smate was still alive, he also faintly felt that the other person might truly let them go free. However, he still remained cautious as he watched the death G.o.d in front of him. He asked in a low voice, “What did you all do to her?”
He was unable to believe that they would make such a large move just for the sake of taking away a girl for a few moments, and then return her unscathed.
Even if they were not the ones who had made this barrier dimension, it would still take a tremendous amount of effort to create a door to enter someone else’s barrier dimension!
The death G.o.d remained silent as usual. Instead, it was the mottled masked man on the balcony who started to explain, “My family’s Si Ming made a mistake by retrieving the wrong soul.” He gave the other a reprimanding glance and then continued his explanation, “Therefore, he must make up for his mistakes and retrieve the right soul as well as return the wrong one.”
Si Ming? Jiang Ziya froze. He seemed to have heard a similar name before from somewhere.
The masked man seemed apologetic as he said, “Because of carelessness on our side, a portion of this girl’s soul has been taken away. The rest would not stay inside her body stably, so she was targeted by certain things. This resulted in today’s events.”
“When you say certain things, do you mean the things chasing us in the supermarket?” Jiang Ziya questioned, “Weren’t those dispatched by you two?”
“Definitely not.” The masked man replied sincerely, “When I discovered that you all had been trapped here, the only thing I did was make a ‘door’ and then get Si Ming to find you all. It’s too bad that Si Ming only found the two of them. You’re very good at hiding, so he was unable to find you. Therefore, I made an exit, hoping that you would find it. Thankfully, things unfolded as I wished for them to.”
Retrieved? Returned? Door? Jiang Ziya really couldn’t understand a thing. Since Lin Zhixiang was fine, if Xiao Xue was also safe, then it would be—
Lu Yang angrily said, “Retrieved the right soul? So as expected, he was the one who killed the girl in the hospital?”
The masked man sighed as he said, “You are mistaken. Si Ming did not kill her. He merely retrieved her soul.”
“Merely retrieved?” Jiang Ziya stood up and roared in anger, “He dragged a girl away while she was still alive and kicking! She struggled so much that all her fingernails dropped off, and all the flesh and skin of her fingertips were worn down to nothing. She was using the bones of her fingertips to clutch at the ground, struggling not to be dragged away. Do you call this ‘merely retrieving her soul?’”
Lu Yang froze at that. He looked at Jiang Ziya unbearably. Although he had known that Ziya would see such things, Ziya had never described them in such detail, especially the more horrifying scenes. Every time he had asked Ziya about it, he would always say that he was used to it. However, how would anyone be able to get used to something like what Ziya had described just now?
Lu Yang made a decision on the spot that if they got out safely, he would make Jiang Ziya clearly tell him about everything, no matter what he saw, so that he would not bottle it up!
The masked man sighed.
“Retrieving souls is Si Ming’s duty. However, how they leave the human realm is the decision of the humans themselves. This girl was sure that when she pa.s.sed away, she would be dragged into h.e.l.l cruelly by a death G.o.d, so a death G.o.d appeared and the scene you spoke of occurred.”
He smiled faintly and said, “You have blamed the wrong person.”
Jiang Ziya was stunned. He was unable to verify the truth of that statement and merely turned to shoot a glance at Lu Yang. The latter however was also frowning, deep in thought.
“As for the one in the hospital, it seems like the way she left was greatly different.”
The masked man nodded at the death G.o.d. A gust of wind suddenly blew around the death G.o.d, making the robe-like or smoke-like darkness that cloaked him billow.
However, the death G.o.d did not approach them. He merely stood on the spot, and the billowing robe gradually gathered. The color became lighter and lighter, and his skull started growing skin and flesh. Pale white strands of hair appeared on top of his head, and then he actually became a person. He was wearing an outdated printed cloth outfit, with wrinkles covering his face. He was just like an elderly village woman who was currently looking amiably at Jiang Ziya and Lu Yang.
Both of their eyes turned wider by twice their size.
With an air of amus.e.m.e.nt, the masked man said, “Oh, it seems like she had a very good relations.h.i.+p with her deceased grandmother and left together with her. It’s a pretty good way to leave!”
Deceased grandmother… Jiang Ziya suddenly thought of his mother. If it were him, would he also follow his mother and leave? That seemed like a rather good way—no! He definitely wouldn’t go. He couldn’t leave his sister here by herself!
“Why must you retrieve her soul?” Jiang Ziya indignantly protested. He had a twin sister, while that girl must also have family members waiting for her!
“Why must humans die?” the man asked instead. “Do you know what will happen if her lifespan reached its limit but no one went to retrieve her soul? Could it be that the time that girl spent lying in the hospital bed was not long enough for you to understand the consequences?”
Jiang Ziya and Lu Yang were both stunned.
He sighed and continued, “The two of you may leave. You are unrelated to everything. As for this girl, there will be no further problems. She will not encounter such events again… Oh, wait, you can’t leave yet—”
The masked man suddenly jumped down from the balcony. It was impossible to tell how he had moved, for they only saw a gray shadow rapidly moving in. He actually reached the two of them in the blink of an eye. Lu Yang immediately called for Slay, but the masked man raised a hand to stop him.
“Don’t move. I have no ill intentions. All I merely wish to do is to return something to him.” He pointed at Jiang Ziya.
Hearing that, Lu Yang instead put down Lin Zhixiang and immediately stood in front of Jiang Ziya. He had completely no intentions of allowing the man to meet with Jiang Ziya face to face. That person merely smiled faintly. He took out something and handed it over.
“I believe this should be yours?”
Jiang Ziya looked down at it. It was a doll with white hair, large blue eyes, and pale skin. On her body, she was wearing a finely made Western dress. Although the doll had been kept in good condition, she still had some unavoidable dirt and dust from contact. Overall, she looked like she had several years on her.
“It is mine. That’s correct,” Jiang Ziya calmly said.
Lu Yang turned to glance at him, finding it a little strange. However, he ultimately did not say anything. It was just that when Jiang Ziya walked out from behind him and extended his hand to take the doll, Slay was at his side, ready to slice things up at any moment.
As Jiang Ziya took back the doll, Lu Yang asked cautiously, “Can we leave now?”
The masked man gestured with both of his hands and answered, “Go ahead.”
“Where is the exit?” Lu Yang asked, holding back his anger.
“Wherever you came from, you return the same way. Isn’t that something very simple?”
Jiang Ziya automatically turned around. Inside the supermarket, it was well lit and looked vastly different from the world outside that was raining ash. He quickly patted his good friend’s shoulder and exclaimed, “Lu Yang! There are people in the supermarket. They’re real humans!”
Lu Yang gave an “oh” and replied, “Let’s go. Help me carry this girl.”
Jiang Ziya was about to reply that he still had to carry Xiao Xue, but seeing how alert Lu Yang was, he merely placed the doll on Lin Zhixiang’s stomach and then lifted her up.
“Are we leaving now?” Jiang Ziya tried asking.