CH 32

When the two of them rushed back to the second floor, they ran into a group of children running down the stairs. Xu RenDong looked for Ye QingLiu but couldn’t see her. He grabbed the little fat kid that was closest to him. “Where is Ye QingLiu and the baby?” 

The little fat kid shook off his hand angrily: “I told you he would be the death of us! But you insisted on looking for death!”

{Although we do find out this person’s name later, he’s still mostly just referred to as “fat kid”. Chinese people do not really understand the concept of fat shaming being wrong. Hopefully no one will get too offended.}

He gave Xu RenDong a hard shove. Xu RenDong was unprepared and staggered back a few steps. If it weren’t for Lian Qiao’s quick reflexes in grabbing him, he would have been pushed down. Lian Qiao got angry at once. He went up and kicked the little fat kid to the ground: “Talk properly! Why use your fists!”

The little fat kid: “…”

Xu RenDong: “…” There was nothing wrong with Lian Qiao’s words, he moved his feet and not his fists.

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The little fat kid was at a loss and was completely overwhelmed by Lian Qiao’s momentum. Angrily he replied, “They are still upstairs.” 

The two looked towards the second floor together and saw the door of their room open and there was a figure moving inside. Ye QingLiu screamed loudly. It seemed she was still alive.

Xu RenDong said to the little fat kid: “The gate in the courtyard is locked and can’t be opened. Go and find out if there is anything to step on and see if you can climb out over the wall.” 

The little fat kid got up and scrambled outside.

Xu RenDong turned his head and looked at Lian Qiao: “Are your legs okay?”

Lian Qiao: “It’s okay to kick ten little fat kids but it’s a bit more difficult to kick that monster.”

Xu RenDong said, “Then let’s go up and save her.”

Lian Qiao: “Okay.”

They went to the second floor. Sure enough, the slender and pale basilisk had forced Ye QingLiu to the corner. Ye QingLiu couldn’t run fast with the baby. Fortunately, her size was small and she dodged the attack of the basilisk several times in a thrilling manner.

Seeing a big table in the middle of the  room Xu RenDong suddenly remembered the scene where Lian Qiao and Brother Sledgehammer circled around the stone tablet in the previous world. He shouted: “Run around the table and find a chance to escape!”

Ye QingLiu hurriedly responded. A gleam of surprise and a smile flashed through Lian Qiao’s eyes. He untied the small school bag from his back, lowered his head and rummaged through it.

Soon, he took out a roll of skipping rope and handed one end of the rope to Xu RenDong: “Brother RenDong, let’s stay at the door and trip it over!”

Xu RenDong immediately understood and stood on both sides of the door with Lian Qiao. 

Inside the house, Ye QingLiu was circling the pale basilisk with difficulty. When the basilisk went to the left, she went to the right. When the monster went to the right, she turned around and ran to the left. She always stayed at the opposite end of the table as the basilisk, staring at it with her huge eyes.

After a few laps of such a confrontation, the white basilisk became furious. It roared,  reached out and lifted up the table. Just listening to the loud noise, the heavy wooden table had been slammed aside. Ye QingLiu took the opportunity to run out of the room.

She didn’t pay attention to where Xu RenDong and Lian Qiao had gone. At this time, she stepped out of the door and saw two people standing on either side of the door. She was taken aback: “What are you doing?”

Lian Qiao said anxiously: “Run what for? Hurry up and look ah!” {Lian Qiao’s words are jumbled.}

Ye QingLiu: “???”

Xu RenDong glanced at Lian Qiao speechlessly and corrected: “What are you looking at? Hurry up and run!”

Ye QingLiu reacted, hugged the baby and ran downstairs. The white basilisk in the room immediately chased after her. The two calculated the timing and pulled back and tightened the skipping rope forcefully at the same time. As the white basilisk chased Ye QingLiu out of the room, its lower half was caught by the rope and its upper half rushed forward and then fell heavily face down into the ground. Dust flew up from the ground. It was a success!

Xu RenDong decisively dropped the rope: “Run!”

Lian Qiao stepped over the back of the basilisk and made a run for it.

The white basilisk was caught in the trap and was already extremely angry. After being stepped on by the little bastard Lian Qiao, its anger became even worse. It howled and got up and ran after the two children.

At this time, Xu RenDong and Lian Qiao had already run to the lower half of the stairs. Lian Qiao suddenly turned around and sprinkled something on the floor behind him. Xu RenDong was taken aback but Lian Qiao had already grabbed his hand and started running again. There was an excited and expectant smile on his face.

The basilisk was chasing down the stairs, its thick and long tail twisting frantically as if parading in the water. It was extremely fast and, in a flash, it had reached the place where Lian Qiao had stopped just now. Suddenly, without quite knowing what happened, the snake’s waist was tilted and it’s entire body lost balance again.

The whole body of the basilisk fell backwards and the back of its head slammed on the steps but its body still couldn’t help sliding down. It thumped down step by step and fell to the very bottom. The monster was dumbfounded.

Xu RenDong was also stunned. The image was so funny that he couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

But Lian Qiao, the instigator, said solemnly: “Big boss, be serious. Run for your life!” When he said that, he pulled Xu RenDong up and continued to run towards the door.

The two ran out of the monastery, looking all around them for the gate. The original atmosphere of despair actually became lightened because of Lian Qiao’s prank. It made people unable to help but laugh. Xu RenDong smiled and asked, “What did you throw on the ground?”

Lian Qiao said, “Sand.”

Xu RenDong: “Where did it come from?”

Lian Qiao: “Isn’t there a small sandbag in our room? I took it.”

Xu RenDong couldn’t help but sigh, he didn’t expect sandbags to be useful. Lian Qiao was really smart and quite mischievous. He even bullied monsters until they had no dignity.

The two closed the door and heard Ye QingLiu’s call from behind: “Come on, over here!”

They ran to the courtyard and saw a big box in the corner of the courtyard wall. A girl stepped on the box and was trying to climb the wall. There was a seven-year-old boy on top of the wall. He stretched his arms and tried to pull her up. Xu RenDong remembered the boy’s name was Ren GaoFei and he was the tallest in their group of children.

Ye QingLiu was standing next to him holding the baby. Xu RenDong asked, “Where are the others?” 

Ye QingLiu said, “They are all outside the wall!”

The monster was still banging the door. The old wooden door was not strong and it was about to be smashed. At this time Ren GaoFei had already pulled the little girl up to the wall. The girl didn’t stay on the wall for too long. She took a deep breath and leaped bravely towards the outside of the wall. The people outside screamed: “Got her, got her. Is there anyone inside still?”

“Has the monster come out yet? Hurry up!” Ren GaoFei turned his head. Ye QingLiu had climbed onto the big box and lifted the baby aloft. Unexpectedly, Ren GaoFei frowned when he saw the baby. Instead of picking up the baby, he looked at Xu RenDong and Lian Qiao: “Quick, you guys come up first!” 

The three of them instantly understood what he meant. He didn’t want to take the baby and be dragged down by it.

Ye QingLiu was furious and was about to throw a fit. Xu RenDong snatched the baby from her arms and said, “You go up first, and I will pass the baby to you.” He raised his head and asked Ren GaoFei, “Is this all right? Don’t waste time!”

Ren GaoFei had no choice but to reach out to pull up Ye QingLiu. However, Ye QingLiu was not tall enough and even if she stood on tiptoe, she couldn’t reach Ren GaoFei’s hand.

Lian Qiao stepped forward decisively, holding Ye QingLiu’s butt and pushing her upwards. Ye QingLiu made a “ying!” noise. Xu RenDong was thinking about how she managed to make that kind of pitch come out when Ren GaoFei grabbed Ye QingLiu’s hand and pulled her up onto the wall.

There was a loud noise suddenly behind him. Xu RenDong looked back and saw that the wooden door of the monastery had been smashed into a big hole. A pale, slender arm stretched out from the hole, grabbing the wooden board and crushing it hard. Just listening to the noise, the wooden board had been smashed to pieces.

The white basilisk leaned out from the doorway, its bloody eyeballs rolled around and quickly caught the children’s figures. It’s black hole-like mouth grinned terribly.

Ren GaoFei saw the monster break the door and his face suddenly changed: “I don’t care anymore! Climb out yourself!” Then he turned and jumped off the wall. After landing, he shouted, “It’s catching up! Run!”

Outside the wall there was a commotion.

Xu RenDong didn’t have time to look at his back, trying to stretch his arms and lift the baby high. Ye QingLiu also bent down helplessly, too small to reach it. Xu RenDong suddenly felt lighter as Lian Qiao was lifting him up by his ass.

Xu RenDong instantly understood why Ye QingLiu made such a cry when she was pushed up just now. The touch on his butt was really subtle and the tingling sensation climbed all the way from the tail vertebrae to the tip of his head. Even he couldn’t help but want to kick Lian Qiao away.

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With Lian Qiao pushing from the bottom, Ye QingLiu finally caught the baby. However, the color of joy stayed on her face for only a moment and when she turned around, her face suddenly became pale. There was no one outside the wall! Everyone had run away! There was no one answering her below!

This wall was as high as two adults so don’t talk about a child holding a baby. Even if an adult leapt from here, they would definitely break bones!

Lian Qiao grabbed Xu RenDong’s feet and put them on his shoulders: “Brother RenDong, you go up too!”

Xu RenDong was too small and there is still a long distance from the wall. He asked Ye QingLiu for help: “Grab my hand!”

Unexpectedly, Ye QingLiu hesitated for a moment then instead ran along the wall holding the baby in her arms. Xu RenDong was stunned and suddenly felt the chill from his back as if a needle had pierced into his bone marrow. He looked back and saw that the pale monster had reached a distance of one metre behind them and could break his neck as long as it stretched out its hand.

However, the monster’s gaze was chasing Ye QingLiu who was running. It let them go, turning its head to chase after Ye QingLiu.

Ye QingLiu ran away holding the baby. Due to the narrow wall, she would easily fall off if she wasn’t careful so she was forced to slow down. With this delay, the pale monster immediately caught up with her. The slender ghost claw caught her and hooked the baby easily.

Ye QingLiu screamed, clinging to the baby and not letting go, pulling it back from the monster. At this time Lian Qiao understood what was going on. He gritted his teeth and said: “Leave her, Brother RenDong. You go up!”

Xu RenDong stretched out his arms desperately: “I can’t reach it!”

Lian Qiao: “Step on my hand! Be careful!” As he said, he grabbed Xu RenDong’s feet and violently lifted him a dozen centimeters higher.

Now Xu RenDong finally caught the edge of the wall. He felt Lian Qiao’s arm tremble under his feet and knew he couldn’t last much longer. He gritted his teeth and desperately grabbed the wall, trying to climb up with his hands and feet. But there was a dull and heavy muffled noise not far away.

A crack.

He instinctively glanced at the source of the sound but was shocked by the scene in front of him and almost fell off.

Ye QingLiu fell to the ground head down. Her neck was broken and blood was gurgling out of her mouth and nose. Her eyes were wide and her eyes were full of anger and unwillingness. Her small body was still twitching slightly and with every twitch, more blood flowed out of her face.

The baby who had landed in the monster’s arms was crying. The white basilisk completely ignored the baby’s crying, took it to its mouth and bit the baby’s head with one gulp.

Xu RenDong’s heart leapt into his throat. He felt like time had stopped flowing. But the basilisk’s movements were not reduced at all, it grabbed the baby’s body with both hands and pulled hard. The baby’s neck was instantly bloody and broken. The head had been torn off alive!

Xu RenDong’s eyes and ears were full of the sight of the monster chewing on the baby’s head. The scene was so terrifying that he started to sweat all over. He tried to force himself to be calm but his sweat-soaked fingers couldn’t help slipping and could no longer grasp the wall.

He heard his own trembling voice: “Lian Qiao…I…”

“Don’t be afraid, Brother RenDong.” Lian Qiao’s voice was unexpectedly calm, “Even if it’s death, let’s be together.”

Xu RenDong couldn’t see him but his heart felt extremely agitated. There was a strong emotion there that could not be expressed.

At the same time, the basilisk not far away suddenly stopped swallowing the baby. It stared blankly at the headless baby in its hand, as if thinking about something. Then suddenly it raised its head and let out an ear piercing shriek.

The sound pierced into the ears of the two men like steel needles. Xu RenDong instinctively covered his ears, only to feel air underneath his feet. Lian Qiao could no longer hold him so he suddenly lost his balance and fell down. However, in the next second, he fell into a warm embrace. Lian Qiao caught him and immediately wrapped him up in his arms.

The basilisk is still screaming and shrieking. Although Lian Qiao used his body to shield him as much as possible, the harsh sound still penetrated Xu RenDong’s eardrums. The sharp needle-like pain pierced his head and his head swelled like it was about to be split open. Xu RenDong felt that the world was spinning and he wanted to faint to death. He couldn’t help but grasp Lian Qiao’s shirt tightly but found that Lian Qiao’s body was convulsing. Suddenly he began to choke violently.

Along with Lian Qiao’s cough, Xu RenDong felt a heat on his back. A large amount of warm liquid instantly soaked his clothes. He raised his head in a panic and saw that Lian Qiao’s mouth was full of blood. Every time he coughed, he would choke up a lot of blood and internal organ fragments.

Pain went through Xu RenDong. Just as he was about to speak, a sharp pain suddenly came from his left eye and half of his vision disappeared instantly. He instinctively touched his left eye and his hands covered with slimy blood. He felt something rolling out of his eye sockets and hanging down his face. He reached out his hand and touched it. It was a round ball and was still connected to his eye socket.

That is- it was his eyeball!

An unprecedented great fear instantly crushed his heart. His muscles trembled, he couldn’t control it at all and even his teeth were chattering. The basilisk’s sorrowful shriek continued and the shrill cry was like a spoon that was digging and plucking into his brain. He had a terrible headache and he felt fluid, probably blood, constantly pouring out of his left eye socket. He was in a complete panic, completely at a loss and could only try to press his eyeball back to his socket. But blood still kept pouring out of his eyes.

What to do, what to do, what to do… It’s terrible… It hurts… I can’t stand it anymore, what should I do, it’s so painful… How long will it last…

… It hurts…

Xu RenDong held his left helplessly. His eyes, his entire palm was soaked with blood. He was so scared that he wanted to cry and scream but he didn’t dare. His body has been completely reduced to a plaything of fear and the big cold hand of the god of death stroked every inch of his trembling skin. He couldn’t resist and he could only tremble.

He is like a pigeon whose wings have been plucked out of feathers and cut off. The pink flesh is exposed unobstructed, fragile and tender, shining with wetness.

Just when Xu RenDong was about to collapse, Lian Qiao hugged him harder. He was  like a mother holding a baby, gently supporting the back of his head and pressing him in his arms.

Lian Qiao was still coughing up blood and every time he coughed, his body would tremble. Despite this, his lifting motion was extremely gentle, with a strong sense of comfort, giving Xu RenDong’s fearful heart that was about to burst a bit of comfort.

He didn’t know how long it took before that horrible cry finally stopped. The two people’s minds were blank. Lian Qiao reacted first and looked back at the basilisk. They saw the white basilisk sitting paralyzed on the ground, holding the headless baby in both hands, and its shoulders were trembling as if it was sobbing.

Lian Qiao said helplessly, “Why is it crying…I want to cry…” His voice was already hoarse. The violent cough choked his throat and prevented him from speaking normally.

Xu RenDong’s left eye was completely invisible. He pressed his left eye and dared not let go for fear that his eyeball would fall out if he let go. Relying on the left eye, he saw that Lian Qiao’s pale face was covered with blood and blood was still gushing from his nose and ears. Even the front of his chest was stained with blood.

Lian Qiao touched the back of his hand and said softly, “Brother RenDong, I’m out of strength.”

Xu RenDong was speechless. His body was still shaking, his muscles were convulsing constantly and he couldn’t stand up at all. The fear and pain had completely deprived him of his ability to act and he had no strength to resist. Only death awaited him.

Perhaps there was also the terrible torture before death.

At this point, Xu RenDong shuddered even more. He has died several times and what he fears most is not death but pain. His head was smashed by a sledgehammer, his throat was cut by a knife and he was torn to pieces by sharp teeth… These fatal injuries not only took his life but also left severe damage to his soul. Every time he thought of it, he was scared that even his brain trembled.

Lian Qiao suddenly curved his eyes and laughed. He gently wiped the blood stains on Xu RenDong’s face and then took Xu RenDong into his arms again. He said softly: “Sure enough, you also get scared too….”

Lian Qiao’s embrace was so warm and so reassuring. Xu RenDong leaned on his chest, feeling suddenly sad and wronged, just wanting to hold him and cry. But he didn’t dare, he didn’t even dare to let go of the hand on his left eye. He was afraid that his eyes would roll out and he was afraid that Lian Qiao would see his hollow eye sockets and drooping eyelids. He was so embarrassed now that he didn’t want Lian Qiao to see it.

So he buried his head deep into Lian Qiao’s chest, greedily enjoying this last embrace.

Lian Qiao touched his head and said, “Can I sing a song for you?”

Xu RenDong nodded. At the same time he heard the rustle of a stout snake’s tail twisting on the ground. It was getting closer and closer…

Lian Qiao gently stroked his hair to prevent him from being distracted by the approaching danger. Then he smiled and began to sing: “Two tigers, two tigers, running fast, running fast…”

Why this song? {It’s a common children’s song in China.}

Xu RenDong wanted to ask but couldn’t bear to interrupt the last song. He quietly leaned in Lian Qiao’s arms and soon knew the answer.

“One has no eyes and one has no tail. It’s so strange, it’s so strange…” 

The basilisk approached step by step, wailing lowly. However in Lian Qiao’s innocent childish voice, there was no trace of sadness or despair.

Lian Qiao sang hoarsely, entwining Xu RenDong’s hair with his fingers and couldn’t put him down. He really wanted to keep singing like this, holding the person in his arms. But his body became heavier and heavier, his consciousness gradually blurred and he even started to lose his voice.

While dying, Lian Qiao had a bold idea. He lowered his head and kissed Xu RenDong on the top of his head.

The singing stopped abruptly.

Xu RenDong felt his body sink. Lian Qiao leaned heavily on him like a warm and soft bag.

Lian Qiao had died.