Chapter 76.1 – Pinky promise (1/3)

Translator: Xena

Sorry, I’m late! This one’s a bit long so I split it into three parts. Part two will be uploaded tomorrow, and part three the day after. Thank you for waiting~

As soon as he got home, Jian Xie took out the black box from under the bed.

Before unfastening the clasp, he was prepared to see something unusual, but the box remained unchanged.

Was it not enough?

“……”

Although there weren’t many Special A-level monsters at the meeting for Jian Xie to devour, he could sense that the Special A-level monster dressed as a student was quite powerful. It just tasted a bit like squid strips. Logically, it had more energy than many of the monsters he had eaten before.

Jian Xie tentatively placed his hand on the dagger.

To his surprise, he found that he was able to pick it up smoothly, without the stiffness he experienced with other daggers.

However, it didn’t work.

But it wasn’t entirely without reaction. However, it was unlike the previous two daggers, where he had a vague premonition that he knew how to use them the moment he gripped them.

The third dagger did not have the same effect, making it quite unique.

The moment Jian Xie’s fingers touched it, all his strength seemed to fall into an abyss, without any echo, akin to a stagnant pool of water that had long been still, unable to stir up any ripples.

It was as if it wasn’t meant to be used by him at that moment, and the only reason he was able to pick it up was because of a glitch.

Jian Xie seemed to be deep in thought as he glanced at the black box again.

“I have a question.”

He said towards the evil god within his body, unaware of how long the other had been watching.

“You said this was a gift for me from hell. But unlike watches and rings, these cannot be manufactured artificially. Where were they before this?”

The moment he finished speaking, a cloud of black mist appeared beside the bed.

Qin Zhuo leaned back with his hands behind him, his dark crimson eyes looking down at him.

From his perspective, Jian Xie could be seen still looking down at the black box in his hand.

The slightly thin T-shirt outlined his prominent spine and revealed the smooth skin of his nape where his hair met the top of his shirt.

【Not following.】 He straightened up, rested his chin on his hand, and said lazily, 【Like [Eagle Eyes], they can be scattered anywhere until I remember them.】

Because of his strength, he didn’t care about these [props] that were valued by monsters and investigators.

They would appear naturally when needed.

Jian Xie wasn’t too surprised by It’s answer, and glanced at the black box again. “This was once yours too?”

【No, it isn’t. I just found it for you,】 Qin Zhuo said bluntly. 【And it belongs only to the one who can use it. I’m not that person. it was meant to be yours all along.】

He once said that this gift was suitable for Jian Xie.

His role in all this was simply to find and deliver, just as Jian Xie gave Him the wood carving and the Eagle Eye as gifts after finding them.

In essence, those things are him.

Jian Xie: “…”

Did he…. find it specifically for him?

He looked at the black box again, and a bold guess suddenly came to his mind.

Since hell was essentially a game, even if these four daggers have incredible abilities, they should still be under the category of [weapons].

Perhaps, he really was the one who could use it.

This works the same way as the rule that you can only equip items of the same level after leveling up and advancing your character. Every time he defeats a monster to gain experience, his level increases, allowing him to take on monsters that grant even more experience and giving him a chance to obtain new weapons.

These four daggers that belonged to him should have been scattered in different places, staying with different monsters, just like the tools Qin Zhuo used to reshape his body.

However, evil gods were not law-abiding people.

He broke the game rule of [leveling up to get new weapons], and simply took all the daggers and gave them to him.

Given Qin Zhuo’s status as an evil god, this could only be described as the administrator personally creating a glitch to make it easier for Jian Xie to become stronger.

Jian Xie could easily imagine the bewildered, blank expressions on the monsters’ faces when Qin Zhuo personally sntached the dagger from their hands.

“……”

He picked up the third dagger and silently put it back.

It makes sense when explained using a game as an analogy.

Jian Xie’s level was indeed high enough—in fact, it was well above the requirement—but he had already obtained the advancement items for the third stage before even reaching it.

In other words, he now needed to progress through the story and trigger the conditions for using the third dagger before he could awaken it.

Right after he figured it out, Qin Zhuo keenly realized that he had finished what he was doing.

—Time to get up to some mischief.

He could give all his time to Jian Xie, letting him do what he wanted to do: study in his senior year of high school, do his homework, go on missions, and solve mysteries.

But perhaps one of those moments of leisure could belong to him.

The evil god slightly curled It’s lips and rose up from the bed. Before Jian Xie could even stand up, the black mist appeared behind him.

At the same time, It pressed It’s cold lips against the back of his neck.

The sudden attack made Jian Xie tremble involuntarily, causing him to lose his balance and fall onto the bed.

He thought Qin Zhuo would stand firmly in place or lend him a hand, but to his surprise, as soon as he turned over in bed, he found a shadow cast directly above him.

It rested It’s arms on either side of his cheeks and observed him.

…Too close.

At such close range, if it were just the usual oppressive gaze, Jian Xie wouldn’t have felt his heart racing.

On the contrary, Qin Zhuo simply looked at him with a pure gaze, as if he were the only human in the world of the evil god.

“Your hair is messy.” It suddenly said.

Qin Zhuo reached out and carefully smoothed his hair, which had been disheveled after he was pushed down.

“……”

This overly intimate and natural gesture left Jian Xie unsure of what to do with his hands, so he could only subconsciously clench the sheets beneath him.

A cold breath fell on his cheek, mingling with his own. Their eyes met, and the temperature between them began to rise.

Sensing that It intended to bend down, Jian Xie’s heart skipped a beat.

Just before the kiss landed on his lips, Qin Zhuo stopped and stared deeply into his eyes.

Jian Xie was also unaware of his own inner thoughts.

After a few brief seconds, It seemed to have found what It wanted in his eyes, and so It’s body pressed down completely.

The soft touch was fleeting.

It was completely different from that playful kiss last time.

This time, Jian Xie wasn’t caught off guard by a sudden attack, and Qin Zhuo had also taken physical form.

—A “first kiss” in the true sense of the word.

Jian Xie was somewhat dazed.

Qin Zhuo raised himself slightly, reached out and stroked his cheek, then his fingers slid down over his collarbone, pressing his fingertips into the hollow and lingering there.

Finally, just before it touched his chest, Jian Xie suddenly came to his senses, reached out and grabbed It’s wrist, trying to stop It’s increasingly dangerous movements.

“That, no.”

He struggled to stay clear-headed. “—Absolutely, absolutely not.”

Seeing this, the young man pinning him down on the bed gave a faint smile. He said nothing, but simply turned into a cloud of black mist and vanished from Jian Xie’s sight.

“……”

The weight on his body suddenly disappeared, and at the same time, a soft chuckle drifted through the air.

【Of course, I’ll wait for you.】

Even when they kissed, it was only a brief touch of the lips, nothing more, all out of consideration for It’s human’s personality.

Jian Xie was stunned for a while before he came to his senses. He grabbed a pillow from the bed and covered his face completely, hiding the steam rising from it.

He really didn’t fell like venting his anger anymore.

……

As soon as the bell rang on Friday, many students had already packed up and were ready to leave the classroom.

With the college entrance examination approaching, students were cherishing their last moments.

When he heard that Jian Xie still wouldn’t be able to come to the library to study with them this week, Class president Jing Chen immediately looked disappointed. “All right……”

“……”

He perked up a little after a moment. “There’s a get-together this week, just a chance for everyone to help each other with their studies and catch up, aren’t you going?”

“Sorry, something came up.”

Jian Xie pushed back his chair, got up and started packing his schoolbag. The class president watched as he stuffed several exercise books inside but not his homework.

Furthermore, out of the corner of his eyes, he thought he saw a strange black box in the other person’s bag.

Just as he was trying his best to see more clearly, Jian Xie had already zipped up his bag.

Seeing that the person had finished packing efficiently and was about to leave, Jing Chen couldn’t help but remind them, “It seems you forgot to bring this week’s homework.”

Upon hearing this, the other person glanced at him.

“No, I’ve already finished it.”

Class president: “…”

If he remembered correctly, because there were only sixty days left until the college entrance examination, he had so much homework that he had no time to rest.

Did he… did he manage to complete his homework by squeezing in time in between classes?

The class president stood there in shock.

It seems like the other person really has something planned over the weekend, otherwise he wouldn’t have worked so hard. He was just wondering… why?

……