Translator: Mukyuu
Editor: Mikyuu
Having failed continuously at finding a place to stay in real life, Wang Xiaoming and Baal decided to take advantage of their space.
But they came out after only two seconds.
Though the tiger from the Forest of Shattered Illusions was extremely strong and could go without food for several days, it clearly couldn’t go several days without pooping. Baal was about to create another space when Wang Xiaoming suddenly declared excitedly, “Baal, it’s past midnight.”
“So?”
“We can go find an ATM and then we can go stay in a hotel.” Wang Xiaoming bounced along happily.
In order to save time on walking, they each decided on their own fastest way of transportation.
Thankfully it was the middle of the night and there weren’t many people out in cars or on foot. Therefore, only two cars slammed into walls, one car crashed into another, three pedestrians ran into electric poles—that was really fortunate. After all, not everyone’s heart could put up with seeing a free tiger following a creature that seemed like an eagle but wasn’t and another that seemed like a human but wasn’t.
Wang Xiaoming withdrew the money and they found a nearby hotel in which to stay. Of course, the tiger jumped in from the second floor window.
After messing around for most of the night, and with two third wheels in tow, Baal didn’t have any more thoughts of picking up where they had left off. So the night that should have been spent being lovey-dovey was put on hold.
The next day, Wang Xiaoming left the tiger and Prilli in the hotel and headed out with Baal bright and early in the morning. He bought a bunch of things, including fruits, fresh flowers, and vitamins, spending so much of the twenty thousand he had just withdrawn that he was only left with several thousand yuan.
Baal followed behind him and said with a frown as he tossed the things inside his space, “You bring flowers to see your parents?”
“No, these are for my brother.” He turned around to explain, “I want to go see him.”
“Do you know which hospital he’s in?”
“No. I’ll call mom and ask.” Wang Xiaoming did as he said and took out his phone to call.
The phone rang twice before getting picked up. It was actually Wang Xiaoming’s father.
Wang Xiaoming’s voice instantly dropped an octave, “Dad.”
“Get back here. I have questions.” Wang Xiaoming’s father’s voice was cold and distant, no longer uncomposed as he had been the day before.
The call ended and Wang Xiaoming’s heart thumped in fear, making the fresh flower seem less bright.
Baal heard all of it from his position beside Wang Xiaoming and said in confusion, “What are you afraid of?” Setting aside the fact that Wang Xiaoming was already a second generation Kindred, even if he hadn’t been one, wasn’t Baal right there with him?
Wang Xiaoming forced a smile. “To most children, parents are strong and cannot be refused.”
Baal’s mind brought up an image of Wang Xiaoming’s father… “Humans are strange.”
Wang Xiaoming asked, “Don’t you have someone that’s so strong you can’t go against them?”
Baal vaguely recalled a silhouette, but then quickly chased the image out of his mind. “No.”
Wang Xiaoming noted the impatience on Baal’s face and suggested, “Why don’t you find a place and wait for me? I’ll be back very soon.”
“No need.” Baal smiled slightly. “I miss your father very much and would love to see him again.”
…
Wang Xiaoming recalled the bottle of beer and the pants from the day before and said hurriedly, “No need, I can do it myself, really.”
Baal crossed his arms. “Do you know how to argue?”
Wang Xiaoming said, surprised, “I’m not going there to argue.”
“Do you know how to fight?”
Wang Xiaoming’s mouth was wide enough to fit a duck egg inside.
“You can’t do either of those things. Do you know how to threaten someone?”
Wang Xiaoming jerked to attention and grabbed Baal’s hand. “Baal, don’t be impulsive.”
Baal looked at him calmly. “What makes you think I’m impulsive?”
“But you just said…” Argue, fight, threat… Wang Xiaoming could already foresee the utter chaos that was about to happen in his home.
“I’m just making routine inquiries.”
“But…” Wang Xiaoming still couldn’t relax.
Looking into Wang Xiaoming’s eyes, which seemed so anxious he was on the verge of tears, Baal compromised, “As long as they don’t hurt you, I won’t do anything.”
Wang Xiaoming was about to say something when Baal cut that off with a cold stare. “That’s my bottom line.”
Wang Xiaoming stared intently at Baal, as if in silent protest.
Baal looked back with a cold expression.
The two stood frozen like that for a very long time until the phone rang.
Wang Xiaoming picked up the phone, only to hear his mother say in utter seriousness, “Hurry and come back, your brother and sister-in-law are here too.”
Wang Xiaoming could only take the things and hurry home.
In front of Wang Xiaoming’s home, Baal dumped out everything they had just bought. So when Wang Xiaoming’s mother opened the door, it was to see the pile of fruit baskets and gift boxes piled by Wang Xiaoming and Baal’s feet.
“Uh, let’s talk about this inside.” Wang Xiaoming’s mother suddenly thought that maybe Baal had been the one to give Wang Xiaoming all the money. That could explain how Wang Xiaoming had so much money all of a sudden; plus Baal didn’t seem like he was from an average family. If they were together, who knew what the other person’s family would think and if they would come find them. She thought about it over and over, without even realizing that she had already followed behind them and shut the door and walked into the living room.
Wang Xiaoming paused when he got to the entrance of the living room. So it wasn’t just his brother and future sister-in-law there, but also his two aunts and two younger female cousins. When he remembered what had happened the previous night, he couldn’t help but feel knots in his stomach.
Their living room was tiny to begin with. With eight people in it at the same time, all of them could only crowd around each other like clumps of dough pressing up against each other.
So Baal and Wang Xiaoming could only sit by the door.
That way, it appeared like a three-against-one tribunal.
Baal noticed that Wang Xiaoming looked a bit nervous, so he moved closer to Wang Xiaoming’s ear and said, “If you find this tedious, I can shut the door and send the entire house to the bottom of the ocean.”
Wang Xiaoming was startled. Just as he was about to say something, he heard his father shout angrily, “What are you two whispering about? If you haven’t done anything to feel guilty about, why can’t you say things out loud?”
Wang Xiaoming’s mother hurried to placate, “Talk nicely, talk nicely. Didn’t we talk nicely before?”
Wang Xiaoming’s brother Wang Daliang also joined in, “Dad, Xiaoming’s on one of his rare visits home. Let’s be friends.” With that, he even pulled on their father’s sleeves.
Wang Xiaoming’s mother noticed that Wang Xiaoming’s father stayed silent and picked up the conversation, “Actually, we wanted to talk about your brother and sister-in-law’s wedding.”
Wang Xiaoming heard her say that and, in addition to the sigh of relief, he also felt a bit dejected.
“Your sister-in-law has quite a lot of relatives and friends and our family does too. The fifty thousand is probably not enough. You know, the price of everything is going up and everything is expensive. They even bought their house with a mortgage…”
Wang Xiaoming’s mother wouldn’t stop once she started until Wang Xiaoming’s father spoke up and interrupted her, “Alright, alright. There’s a limit to how embarrassing you can be!”
“Embarrassing? What’s so embarrassing?” Wang Xiaoming’s mother was just hitting her stride when she was interrupted and she was still riding the emotional high. “We’re all family, what’s there to be embarrassed about?”
Wang Xiaoming’s father glared at Baal and insisted, “Family? Hmph, what kind of cheap family is this.”
Wang Daliang instantly touched his father with his foot. Unfortunately he had one foot in plaster up on the coffee table and looked awkward performing the action.
His younger aunt jumped up to smooth things over. “Didn’t we come here to talk things over? How’d we get so off track?”
“Yeah, to discuss things.” Wang Xiaoming’s mother realized that Wang Xiaoming wasn’t reacting and it was just them talking, so she said a bit awkwardly, “Xiaoming, I’ll just be frank about some things. Can you help your brother out a bit more?”
Baal had actually figured out their intentions as soon as they stepped in.
No wonder they reacted so poorly the day before and then they turned around to call and invite them for a visit. It seemed like that brother with the broken leg did some work.
Baal pressed his lips together in disdain.
Wang Xiaoming’s father had been watching him since the beginning and almost jumped up when he saw Baal’s expression, but Wang Daliang desperately held him back.
Wang Xiaoming’s mind didn’t go through the same twists and turns as theirs did. He nodded and said, “I can.”
Wang Daliang’s eyes lit up. “If money isn’t tight for you, can you take out another fifty thousand?”
“Fifty thousand?” Wang Xiaoming frowned.
Wang Daliang hurried to say, “If fifty thousand is too much, thirty or forty thousand will do.”
The aunt that Baal had met once suddenly interrupted, “What were you guys doing at my place in the middle of the night yesterday? Don’t tell me you were looking for a place to sleep because you didn’t have money?”
“You explain that too! Your aunt said that you went and knocked on her door in the middle of the night yesterday? What for?” Wang Xiaoming’s father demanded harshly.
The aunt kept going, “I also think I saw something weird behind them.”
Wang Xiaoming sweated.
Baal finally spoke up, “We knocked on your door because we were afraid you would pee on your bed. You saw something weird because you need your eyes checked.”
…
The aunt jumped up and pointed a finger at his nose as she cried, “What did you say? Do you have any manners?! Have you ever been taught manners? To talk to your elders like this.”
Baal slowly stood up and stared at her coldly. “In this world, only God is qualified to be my elder. But I’m not happy about it.”
…
“Where did this crazy person come from?” The aunt’s anger was turning into bafflement.
Wang Xiaoming’s two younger cousins held hands tightly and looked at Baal with adoring eyes.
They both loved anime and this was the first time they’d seen such an anime-like character in real life.
“That’s enough!” Wang Xiaoming’s father slammed a palm on the table and stood up. “Our home is too small to put up with…”
“Dad!” Wang Daliang suddenly shouted loudly and made Wang Xiaoming’s father swallow all his words.
Wang Xiaoming’s father stood still and looked at Baal in stunned surprise.
Wang Daliang didn’t dare look at him. He could only tap his mother’s arm and then gave his future wife a look. “Mom, you and Dian can walk Xiaoming and his friend out.”
Wang Xiaoming obediently stood up and held Baal’s hand tightly as the fallen angel’s expression turned as dark as a thundercloud. Wang Xiaoming said gently, “Let’s go first.”
Baal stared coldly at Wang Xiaoming’s father and his fist clenched tighter and tighter.
The desk and sofa started shaking for unknown reasons.
“Earthquake?”
Everyone jumped up in surprise.
But the earth stood still; it was only the sofa, desk, and chairs that were moving.
“Baal!” Wang Xiaoming suddenly yelled.
Bang!
The lamp on the ceiling shattered and the shards rained down.
“Ow!” Everyone else dodged; only Wang Daliang was struck because of his injured foot.
“Daliang, are you alright?” Their parents, Daliang’s girlfriend, and the two aunts rushed up to ask the question, their faces filled with concern.
Wang Xiaoming’s mood fell.
His aunt wasn’t a cold woman. He had always seen his aunt be welcoming, it was just never toward him.
“I’m okay, I’m okay.” Wang Daliang pushed the crowd aside and struggled to poke his head out, “Xiaoming, what do you think about what I just said?” He forcibly ignored the pain in his leg and looked hopefully at Wang Xiaoming.
Pity welled up in Wang Xiaoming’s heart. “We’re brothers. No matter how much, I’ll give it to you as long as it’s within my means.”
Wang Daliang asked cautiously, “So fifty thousand or…”
“A hundred thousand.” After the lesson from the day before, he didn’t dare give too much all at once. But that number was enough to surprise Wang Daliang.
Maybe it was because the money solved their most pressing problems, or maybe it was because they were too taken with what Wang Xiaoming had just said, but the end result was that Wang Xiaoming and Baal were asked to stay for lunch. The strange things that happened had also been temporarily forgotten in light of the joyful news.
Though the meal was still filled with mockery and placating words to stop a fight, Wang Xiaoming was satisfied.
No matter what, this counted as a good beginning.
After the meal, Wang Xiaoming’s mother even made sure to walk them out when they left so that she could ask questions about Baal’s past.
Wang Xiaoming made up a vague French background.
His mother relaxed slightly. It was better that the guy’s home wasn’t here since that meant they wouldn’t visit as often. Then she asked after Wang Xiaoming’s living situation. Not much, but at least it was sincere.
That was why Wang Xiaoming’s lips were curved upward the entire walk back to the hotel.
Baal said with confusion, “They’re taking advantage of you.”
“I know.” Wang Xiaoming walked in and lay down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. “But I’m glad I can help them.”
Baal was silent.
Wang Xiaoming pillowed his head on his hand and looked up at the ceiling, saying as if to himself, “They’ve raised me since birth and this is all I can do to pay them back. Though my brother is asking me for money, it’s what he deserves. Since I won’t be able to stay with my parents and take care of them, my parents can only depend on my brother. Do you know that in the human world, I’m a very irresponsible child? I can’t take care of my parents in their old age and I can’t give them grandchildren…”
Baal said, “You’re not human.”
“Yeah, I’m not even human anymore.”
“You regret it?” Baa lifted an eyebrow.
Wang Xiaoming didn’t answer the question directly. “Humans are selfish. Though I’ve been trying to persuade myself that I’m not with my parents because I bring misfortune and I don’t want to cause trouble for them, I know that in my heart, it’s because I want to be with you…”
Baal pressed down on him before he had even finished the sentence.
The atmosphere turned dangerous, but it was the romantic kind.
Baal bent his head and looked at Wang Xiaoming, smiling with devilish charm. “You can’t just say you want to be with me…”
Wang Xiaoming’s dark mood was instantly pushed to the corner of his heart and he raised both hands to try and push Baal away. “Wait, I need to go withdraw money from the bank.”
“Woof, woof, woof…” Suddenly the sound of a dog barking came from beside them.
Baal turned around just in time to see Prilli parked on the tiger’s nose, trying to cover its eyes.
Wang Xiaoming took the opportunity to turn into a bat and fly toward the window.
Just as he was about to taste victory, he found himself back on the bed in a blink of an eye.
The tiger and Prilli both vanished.
Baal stroked Wang Xiaoming’s little stomach in bat form. “Hmm, you sure you want to stay in this form?”
…
Wang Xiaoming instinctively trembled once.
“I don’t mind.” Baal’s smile looked extra devilish.
Wang Xiaoming turned back into his human form.
Baal said with disappointment, “You should have insisted a bit longer.”
…
Wang Xiaoming closed his eyes and spread his arms wide in a demonstration of “do what you will.”
Baal bent down and laughed softly against Wang Xiaoming’s ear. “You really won’t fight?”
Wang Xiaoming suddenly opened his eyes and pressed a light kiss against Baal’s cheek. “Baal, no matter what happens, my love for you will never waver, ever.”
“…”
His response was Baal’s passion, unleashed as it had never been before!
