Chapter 25 The Banquet of Death
“What’s wrong?” Song Qingluo saw that he was in a bad state, “Did you see anything?” “
“There is something, there is something on the meat, like a stone.” Lin Banxia’s body began to shake slightly, and he didn’t know whether it was because of the cold or something else. “I touched it with my hand and felt… not too good.”
When Song Qingluo heard that Lin Banxia touched the thing, his expression immediately became serious. He said, “Come up first.” He extended his hand to Lin Banxia.
Although Lin Banxia didn’t know why Song Qingluo looked so solemn, he still obeyed his instructions obediently and held Song Qingluo’s outstretched hand. Song Qingluo used his arms to pull Lin Banxia out of the water, but at this moment, the stone he stepped on broke into several pieces. Song Qingluo stepped on the air and saw that both of them were going to fall into the water!!!
Fortunately, Song Qingluo reacted very quickly and raised his hand to grab the wet and slippery wall beside him, stabilizing the two of them, but even so, most of Song Qingluo’s body still entered the water. He took a deep breath and slowly pulled Lin Banxia out of the water.
Lin Banxia wiped her face after landing and said, “Are you okay?”
Song Qingluo said: “It’s okay.”
Lin Banxia said: “What should we do next? Don’t we need to take that thing out?”
Song Qingluo confirmed again: “You touched that thing, right?”
Seeing that his expression was wrong, Lin Banxia nodded hesitantly: “I accidentally touched it when I was looking for it.”
Song Qingluo said: “Okay, you wait here and try not to move. I’ll go down there.”
Lin Banxia was stunned when he heard this: “You want to go down? Don’t you dislike water?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Song Qingluo said softly. As he spoke, he took the flashlight from Lin Banxia’s hand and jumped into the deep pool behind him without taking off his clothes. Before Lin Banxia could react, he saw Song Qingluo disappear in front of his eyes. The flashlight was taken away by Song Qingluo, so Lin Banxia’s vision went dark and he could only hear the rushing of water in his ears.
He stood there and put on the shirt he had just taken off. A cold wind blew from nowhere in the cave and hit Lin Banxia, causing goosebumps to appear on his skin.
He followed Song Qingluo’s instructions and did not dare to move around, but he still looked into the black water from time to time. Time became extremely long at this time, and the person who dived into the water never came up. Lin Banxia grabbed Song Qingluo’s backpack, and his mood gradually became anxious. He thought for a while, took out his mobile phone, and opened the torch. The weak light source pointed towards the water, but nothing could be seen.
Time passed slowly, and another minute passed unknowingly. Lin Banxia’s anxiety became more and more intense. At this moment, there was a sound of water in his ears, as if there was something swimming around in the water. Lin Banxia was overjoyed, thinking that Song Qingluo had come out. However, when he saw the black shadow that made the sound of water, the joy in his heart disappeared.
It was not a person’s shadow. It was dark and long and narrow, like a huge fish. It was nearly two meters long and occupied almost half of the deep pool. It was unknown where it came from, but its huge body formed a black shadow underwater and Song Qingluo was in the water with it!
Lin Banxia’s eyes widened, and he was shocked for a moment by the strange creature that suddenly appeared in front of him. If this thing dove and saw Song Qingluo below… Lin Banxia had a layer of cold sweat on his back. Thinking quickly, he came up with a countermeasure. He began to move his body and slapped the water with his arms, trying to make a sound to attract the huge, unknown creature.
Generally, giant carnivorous fish will definitely be attracted by the sound. Sure enough, Lin Banxia’s actions had an effect, and the area of the underwater shadow began to increase – it floated up.
Although Lin Banxia didn’t react quickly, he also knew that this thing would definitely be difficult to deal with. He gritted his teeth and groped around in Song Qingluo’s backpack, trying to find a handy weapon. If he remembered correctly, Song Qingluo put a sharp weapon in his backpack before setting off, but he didn’t know where he put it.
The giant monster finally floated to the surface, and Lin Banxia, who was looking for weapons in a panic, also saw its appearance clearly.
It was a weird-looking fish with a flat and long head. At first glance, it looked like a crocodile’s head was attached to its body. However, its body was much longer than the crocodile, at least about two meters long. There are dense spots scattered around, making people’s scalp numb when looking at them. Hearing the noise made by Lin Banxia, this strange fish came running towards him. Fortunately, the place where Lin Banxia stood was in shallow water, and the fish couldn’t come up for a while, but Lin Banxia was still forced to keep moving. He backed up, and while backing up, made sure the fish didn’t dive.
His harassment made the strange fish more and more irritable. It swung its long tail vigorously, splashing layers of water. At first, Lin Banxia thought it was angry, but he soon discovered that this fish was not just angry, it was using its own tail to move its body towards Lin Banxia, and it moved very quickly – in just a few breaths, it was already in front of Lin Banxia.
Seeing the situation, Lin Banxia turned around and ran. However, before he could take two steps, he felt his feet slip and fell heavily to the ground. This time, he fell very hard and choked hard at the same time. After a few sips of water, he staggered and tried to get up from the ground, but his feet were slippery. For a while, he could only struggle in the water, and the huge strange fish had already swam in front of him.
In a daze, Lin Banxia saw its long, narrow and flat mouth open, revealing a row of fine and sharp teeth, exuding a cold light.
Almost at the same time, Lin Banxia finally touched Song Qingluo’s sharp weapon in his backpack. It was a dagger. Lin Banxia suddenly swung the dagger, and the sharp blade plunged into the giant fish in front of him. However, what Lin Banxia didn’t expect was that the moment the blade came into contact with the giant fish’s scales, it would make a screeching sound and uselessly bounce away.
What caused the scales of this fish to be so hard?!! Lin Banxia covered his numb arm and stayed where he was.
The huge shadow had completely enveloped him. He exhaled and watched as the monster fish’s huge body splashed violently in the small cave. It swung its tail and opened its huge mouth to bite Lin Banxia. Lin Banxia seemed to have no room for resistance at all. He sat on the same spot and even seemed to smell the strong stench emanating from the huge mouth.
Was he going to die? Lin Banxia thought that even at such a time, he didn’t feel scared at all.
Lin Banxia closed his eyes, waiting for the darkness to come, but the expected pain did not come to him as expected. He heard a fierce sound of water, opened his eyes blankly, and saw a bright light coming through the darkness. Someone stood in front of him against the light and helped him block the heavy blow from the strange fish. The man turned back and faced him with a faint smile.
“Song Qingluo!!!” Lin Banxia called in surprise.
“Are you okay?” Song Qingluo’s voice was softer than ever before, like a soft feather that was about to be covered by the sound of rushing water.
“Be careful behind you!! That fish!!!” Lin Banxia roared.
Song Qingluo said: “Hmm, don’t move.” He stretched out his hand and wiped his wet hair plastered to his forehead backwards, completely revealing the delicate but cold doll-like face. At this time, that face was boiling with murderous intent that was incompatible with that exquisiteness, he lowered his dark eyes and said in a soft voice like a lover’s whisper, “Just wait here for my return.”
Song Qingluo jumped into the water.
Lin Banxia stood there, watching the water in front of him begin to churn, and the huge fish flipped and rolled in the narrow river. His eyes were dark, and he could not see anything. He could only smell the smell of blood within the moist water vapor. At first, the fishy smell was very light, but gradually it became stronger. Lin Banxia’s cheeks were also splashed with some water. He wiped it with his fingers, put it under his nose, sniffed, and confirmed… That’s not water, that’s blood.
After an unknown amount of time, the movement in the water gradually slowed down and finally subsided.
There was a slight gasp in Lin Banxia’s ears. Before he could turn around, his eyes were gently covered by a pair of cold hands.
“Turn on the lights.” Song Qingluo’s voice sounded in his ear.
Lin Banxia’s heart moved slightly and he whispered: “Yeah.”
The flashlight turned on again, and a vague sense of light came through the hand. After a moment, Song Qingluo’s hand slowly moved away. Lin Banxia saw his face, with a smile on his lips, as Song Qingluo said warmly: “Well done.” That gentle look seemed to be praising a child who worked hard.
Lin Banxia had never seen Song Qingluo like this before. In other words, from the moment they met, Song Qingluo gave him the feeling of being cold and distant. He had never seen him look like this before.
Such a change only happened for an instant. Song Qingluo quickly returned to his usual appearance, and the smile on his lips gradually disappeared. He coughed heavily several times, bowed his waist, and seemed to be very uncomfortable, and said: “Go and search in the water and find my backpack…”
Lin Banxia said yes.
When he was attacked just now, he accidentally dropped the backpack into the water. Now he groped carefully in the water for a while before he found the backpack.
Song Qingluo continued to give instructions: “Look in the bag for a small black box.”
Lin Banxia quickly found what Song Qingluo wanted and handed it to him.
Song Qingluo took the box and entered the password. The box opened with a click, revealing the contents inside.
It was something made of leather. Song Qingluo carefully took it out, and then took out a small object from his chest pocket.
Lin Banxia took a closer look and realized that the thing was the stone he found at the bottom of the pool.
The appearance of this stone was much clearer than what Lin Banxia saw in the water, but no matter how you look at it, from the appearance point of view, it was just a stone with a somewhat special shape. It was such an ordinary stone, but as long as you got close to it, you would feel an indescribable palpitation. While Lin Banxia was still thinking, he saw Song Qingluo gently wrapping the stone with the skin and preparing to put it into the box.
Lin Banxia asked: “What on earth is this?” He was a little confused, “Why didI feel uncomfortable when I touched it?”
Song Qingluo said: “A special stone.” He thought for a while, as if he was considering how to explain to Lin Banxia, “Let’s go out first.”
The two began to walk out.
After walking through the long and dark cave, the two finally saw the light again. At this time, the heavy rain outside had stopped, and the sun that had not been seen for a long time showed half of its face behind the clouds. Lin Banxia was basking in the sun, but he felt nothing. It was so cold just now. He turned his head and saw Song Qingluo staring at the stone wrapped in his hand and said, “Can you explain it now?”
Song Qingluo said, “Just wait.” He looked around, then walked to the roadside and randomly selected a lush grass. Then he gently put the stone together with the grass.
Although Lin Banxia was a little confused, he still watched obediently from the side. Within a moment, black smoke slowly rose from the grass, and then a bright flame jumped out. This grass turned out to ignite for no reason.
“What’s going on?” Lin Banxia was stunned, “This thing can absorb people’s life force?”
“That’s not exactly accurate.” Song Qingluo said, “More accurately, the creatures affected by it will be infinitely close to death. I’m just guessing, it may be used for other purposes.”
“Then am I going to be ok?” Lin Banxia said.
“That fish is called the crocodile gar. It’s a large fish only found in the tropics. It shouldn’t have appeared there.” Song Qingluo said, “But because you touched this thing…”
Lin Banxia had nothing to say: “Then why are you okay?”
Song Qingluo said: “Are you lucky?”
Lin Banxia: “…”
As Song Qingluo spoke, he carefully wrapped the stone again, saying that the specific effect of this thing would probably only be known after a period of experiments, but its impact on biological life was undoubted.
“Let’s go back first.” Song Qingluo said, “He Huaian’s side is not safe yet.”
“That’s right.” Thinking of Mou Xinsi’s tragic situation, Lin Banxia’s good mood disappeared instantly, and he said, “Let’s go back.”
The sky cleared up, but the road was still muddy. Lin Banxia and Song Qingluo slowly walked down the mountain road.
***
He Huaian carried Mou Xinsi’s body back to the village chief’s house with difficulty. He entered the house and saw the village chief sitting in the main room silently doing carpentry work with a cigarette in his mouth.
He Huaian glanced at the large piece of wood in front of him and quickly recognized that it was a coffin. At the same time, there were several more coffins in the corner of the main room.
“Why are you back?” asked the village chief, “Didn’t they ask you to send the body away?”
“The car was smashed.” He Huaian put Mou Xinsi’s body next to him and whispered, “For the time being, I can’t leave…”
When the village chief heard that He Huaian couldn’t leave, his expression suddenly became much colder, and his tone was a bit strange. He said, “You can’t leave anymore. Why can’t you leave? I told you not to come, why didn’t you listen? There aren’t many coffins left in this village, and they can’t hold so many dead people.”
He Huaian felt that he looked strange and defended: “We are also here for the village, so you don’t need to say such sarcastic words!”
The village chief looked at him coldly and did not respond. He waved the hammer in his hand vigorously and hit the tool in his left hand.
There was a “bang”, and He Huaian was shaken by the harsh sound, and he said: “I’m going back to rest first…”
“What about the body?” the village chief asked.
“I’ll carry it back and guard it in the house.” He Huaian said.
The village chief shook his head and said, “The body has been left there all night. You can’t enter the house anymore. Either you throw her in the yard or you put her there.” He pointed to the corner of the main room which contained several coffins.
There was no roof in this yard. If the body was left there, it would soon be soaked by the rain and changed beyond recognition. He Huaian was unable to do such a thing. He looked at the village chief with an unkind expression and spoke hesitantly. He didn’t understand why the village chief would be so hostile to a corpse, but this was considered normal. After all, corpses always reminded people of death.
He Huaian was silent for a moment and said, “It’s better…put her in the coffin.”
“Yes, that’s right.” The village chief smiled and said, “Put it in. There aren’t many left, so just put it in.”
Compared with the previous few days, the village chief’s mental state was much worse, and he even looked a little nervous. He put the cigarette into his mouth again and kept mumbling in dialect, which He Huaian couldn’t understand at all.
The coffin lid was very heavy and required at least two adult men to move it. The village chief enthusiastically came to lend a hand, while He Huaian gently picked up Mou Xinsi’s body. She was still a young girl. She had gone on several missions before, but she had not experienced much. Moreover, she was extremely unlucky and lost her companions in the last mission.
He Huaian had heard about this incident. According to internal information, Mou Xinsi saw her companion torn into pieces by a ferocious beast, and not even an intact body could be recovered. He gently tidied her messy hair, and began to regret agreeing to bring her here. If he had hardened his heart at that time, she would not have suffered all this.
Thinking of this, He Huaian felt a little sad. He rubbed his eyes heavily and slowly put Mou Xinsi’s body into the cold coffin. Mou Xinsi’s body was still very soft. He Huaian put her body in a peaceful posture. He stood up again, but when he stood up, he suddenly felt something strange, as if there was something important that he had accidentally ignored.
He Huaian paused.
The village chief said gloomily: “What are you doing?”
This question made He Huaian suddenly change his attention. He turned to look at the village chief and said seriously: “I don’t want to put her in your coffin. Her family is still waiting for her to return. Even if it is a corpse, I want to take her body back. If you won’t let us stay here, I will go out with her.”
The village chief’s expression suddenly changed, becoming resentful, cold, hateful, angry, and even a bit scary for He Huaian.
He Huaian had seen this look in the eyes of some people, and those people were all madmen.
The village chief said solemnly: “Have you thought about what you are doing?”
He Huaian felt a little uneasy, but still nodded stubbornly.
The village chief said: “Okay, okay.” He didn’t say anything else.
He Huaian looked at his ferocious expression and fell into deep uneasiness. He bent down and put Mou Xinsi’s body on his back again. He was about to walk out when he was stopped by the village chief again.
“It’s still raining outside. Where can you go?” He said, “Just wait in the house. After a while… it will be over.”
He Huaian said: “Will it be over?”
The village chief smiled, said nothing, turned and left, leaving He Huaian in a room full of coffins.
The room fell silent, and only He Huaian and a cold corpse were left in the main room. After his blood cooled, he still had to face the cruel fact before him. He could not go back to the house, he could only sit on the stool and stare silently at the dead Mou Xinsi.
He Huaian has seen a lot of dead people, but he has never been so calm with a dead person. He took out his mobile phone and randomly opened a small game, trying to divert his attention, but he could not deceive himself and looked away from Mou Xinsi.
Mou Xinsi was lying softly at his feet, with some weird bruises showing on her white skin. She didn’t move, and neither did he. The room was obviously very spacious, but it gave He Huaian a strange feeling of suffocation. At this time, he finally understood why the rules and regulations required them to try not to be in the same room with the corpses of their companions. In just a short period of ten minutes, He Huaian felt that his mental state was declining rapidly, to the point where he seemed to hear a faint breathing sound, but he was clearly the only one in the room.
He Huaian took a deep breath, took out a pen and paper, and began to take notes. He recorded what he saw one by one in the black notebook. As he wrote, the writing on it disappeared. He almost forgot what he wrote.
When He Huaian stopped, the weather outside was already a little dark. It was still noon, but it seemed to be evening. The clouds were so low that it seemed to cover the earth, and the early twilight took away the sun.
He Huaian was distracted when he noticed from the corner of his eye that the village chief had returned at some point. His body was a little wet, as if he had just gone out, and he was holding a steaming basin in his hand.
Although he was far away, He Huaian could smell the rich aroma emanating from the soup. He seemed to have never smelled such an alluring scent. He couldn’t help but swallow his saliva.
“You haven’t eaten yet?” The village chief, who had a ferocious expression just now, seemed to have calmed down again. His voice was gentle and full of concern. He walked up to He Huaian with a basin in his hand and said with a smile, “I ordered some lunch, why don’t you make do with it?”
He Huaian asked: “Is this chicken soup?” He looked at the soup bowl, where a chicken was stewed. The chicken was very tempting just by looking at it. If you took one bite, it would be soft and delicious, and your mouth would be filled with a strong taste of gravy. When he saw this, he swallowed hard again.
The village chief smiled and said, “Yes, it’s local chicken soup stewed with mountain mushrooms. It’s delicious. Everyone in the village likes it…” He put the soup pot next to He Huaian and said, “I’ll give it to you. Have a bowl.” He said, went to the kitchen next to him, and left He Huaian and the basin of soup alone in the house.
The aroma of the soup flowed into He Huaian’s nose, and he took a deep sip, showing an intoxicated look. He was not a person who indulges in food and drink, but the pot of soup in front of him was so tempting that he couldn’t take his eyes off of it after looking at it.
One sip, one sip would be all, He Huaian thought, he was not greedy for more, he just wanted to take a sip and let the warm chicken soup slide down his esophagus into his stomach, and the heat would spread in his body, eliminating the bone-chilling cold. Just one sip and he could enjoy the tranquility he had longed for.
The village chief came back with a smile on his face. He held a bowl and a spoon in his hand and gently placed them in front of He Huaian: “Try it, it’s just been stewed. If you don’t drink it, it will get cold. “
“What about you, don’t you want to eat?” He Huaian looked at him.
“Me? I just ate and there’s only a little left.” The village chief smiled and said, “You drink it.”
He Huaian swallowed hard again. At this time, all his attention was focused on the soup in front of him. One spoonful, two spoons, and the small bowl in his hand was gradually filled.
The village chief looked at him as if looking at his own gluttonous child, with kind and compassionate eyes, like a Buddha who loves the world.
The author has something to say:
Song Qingluo: I don’t like watery things
Lin Banxia: Really?
Song Qingluo: Except for you and Happy Fat Home Water.
Lin Banxia: I also like Happy Fat Home Water. Wait, are you being a hooligan??
Translator’s comments:
Hey, Guys. Sorry that the chapters were locked past the time they were supposed to be. I’ve recently gotten a new job and things have been hectic. I will try my best to not let it happen again.
Hey guys, I’m the translator for this novel. If you have any questions or thoughts feel free to comment and I’ll do my best to answer everything. If you notice any inconsistencies or errors, drop a comment and I will fix it. Thanks so much for reading Phantom Skeleton Painting, I hope that everyone enjoys the novel. If you are interested in fluffy BL novels, consider giving the other novels that I am translating a try. They are ‘I’m Really a Dragon’ and ‘The Leader’s Warpet Hamster’. New chapters released everyday.
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