PotD 21

Chapter 21: Night Attack
by 月下桑

Ji Huan sat in the water for a while before he got up and wiped the bathing room’s floor dry. After he finished washing his face and rinsing his mouth, he then closed the bathinf room door and returned to his room.

Ji Huan’s room wasn’t air conditioned. Although it was summer, it wasn’t very hot at all since Ji Huan’s house was on a mountain. However, when Ji Huan would sleep every night, he would nevertheless open the door to make the room a little more breathable.

He usually always did that, but he didn’t know what was wrong today: Hei Dan was staring with fixed eyes at the wide, open door, not closing his eyes. To let him sleep, Ji Huan had to close the door.

It was already late. Anticipating that he still had to go to school early tomorrow, Ji Huan put Hei Dan inside the bed and made him sleep.

Holding Hei Dan to sleep in the winter was a kind of torture —— Hei Dan’s body temperature was too low. However, in summer, it was actually a kind of pleasure. Hei Dan’s body was a bit cool and holding him in the summer was the most comfortable. 

Ji Huan fell asleep very quickly.

He didn’t know how long he had slept. He suddenly felt a slight chill on his pillow.

A burst of a light breeze blew in from the outside of the door, very cool and refreshing. A little too cool and refreshing, so much so that it was a little cold.

Hold on ——

Before sleeping… Didn’t I close the door? Where did that wind blow in from?

Creak, creak… Ji Huan also heard the sound of the door planks being moved by the blowing wind.

Ji Huan opened his eyes in a daze.

His neck damp, the first thought that came to Ji Huan’s mind was “Hei Dan’s urinating again,” but soon realized that he was wrong.

Just as he thought this, another drop of water dripped on his neck from above.

Was it raining outside? The house is leaking? —— This was the second thought in Ji Huan’s mind, but he soon discovered that he was still wrong!

He couldn’t move!

Just as he wanted to stretch out his hand and wipe away the drop of water that had dripped down, Ji Huan was surprised to discover that he couldn’t move in the slightest! In addition, his body was very heavy! It was just like something was sitting on him!

After trying to get up using a little strength in disbelief, Ji Huan, who was completely unable to move, soon discovered something that was even more unimaginable:

Hei Dan was actually floating in the air.

It was very dark, and Hei Dan was also very dark. If it wasn’t for the small, green dudou¹ on his belly, Ji Huan wouldn’t have even noticed him for quite a while. However, at that very moment, Hei Dan who was wearing a small, green dudou was really floating in the air!

To say “floating” wasn’t entirely correct. Hei Dan seemed to have been caught by someone. He should have been crying loudly, but Ji Huan absolutely couldn’t hear his crying. Hei Dan was using all of his strength to flail his tiny limbs in the air and struggling while looking down desperately. When he saw Ji Huan open his eyes, he tossed about even more fiercely.

When those big, white-ring eyes looked over at him, more liquid dripped onto Ji Huan’s neck and face.

A little salty… The taste of tears!

There was “something” pressing right down on him from above. That “something” had grabbed Hei Dan, and Hei Dan was in danger —— This thought flashed in his mind like a flash of lightning. The next second, not knowing where he found the strength, Ji Huan forcibly raised his right hand. His index finger pointed up, his thumb bent inward, and his other three fingers nimbly coordinated in the air. He once again used that gesture!

Then, he caught a tentacle!

A smooth, ice-cold, wet surface. Entirely water!

That thing both looked like a person and not like a person. The humanoid’s mouth, however, opened twice as wide as a human’s, and a long string of saliva hung from the corner of its mouth. Its tongue was sticking out from the inside, and its eyes were looking at Hei Dan as if it was going to lick him! That was why Hei Dan was crying.

Staring at Hei Dan, Ji Huan’s hands were working. His other hand followed and grabbed the other tentacle. Ji Huan suddenly snatched Hei Dan from the other’s hands!

Right after, he imagined throwing the thing out like last time, but it was impossible this time. The thing was fairly strong, and its whole body was slippery so he couldn’t keep his hand on it. It easily shook off Ji Huan’s imprisonment and seemed like it still wanted to grab Hei Dan. Ji Huan hurriedly wrapped Hei Dan closely in his embrace before the thing moved. Then, he saw the thing extend a hand towards him. Ji Huan reflexively waved his palm, then ——

Ji Huan was heavily shot back onto his pillow again.

Darkness before his eyes, he then didn’t know anything.

The next day, Ji Huan overslept in a very rare instance. When he woke up, it was already ten in the morning. Dazzling sunshine, to the point of being too bright, scattered in through the window. Everything that happened last night just seemed to be like a nightmare.

But it wasn’t a dream.

The faint painful feeling caused by his ribs moving remained on his body. In addition, Ji Huan extended his left hand and just saw an obvious binding mark on his left wrist.

As expected, it wasn’t a dream.

Yesterday, “something” had followed him back, followed him into the bathing room, patronized his room, and attacked him and Hei Dan.

Hei Dan?

Ji Huan hurriedly looked inside the bed: Hei Dan hadn’t realized that he had woken up earlier on. Now, his little feet were raised up high, and he was using his small claws to stretch out and play with his feet.

The scene last night didn’t seem to have left behind too many shadows².

Ji Huan let out a sigh of relief.

After quietly watching Hei Dan play for a little while, Ji Huan decided to get out of bed. However, just as he accidentally dropped his gaze to the floor, his eyelids suddenly jumped.

There, there was a hand.

To be exact, it was a claw.

Right under Ji Huan’s unblinking eyes, the remaining limb lying in the corner slowly melted. Like ice cubes melting in the summer, its volume shrunk a little bit, the melted parts completely turned into a foam of black ash, and eventually completely collapsed.

Ji Huan suddenly understood what that black ash represented.

It must be… it’s really that waste left behind by the monsters? Thinking of the several times that he had met scenes of black ash, this conjecture was quite likely. If so, he had found black ash when he had a fever a few days before. The black ash appeared when he was sick and had got better. Remembering the time that Hei Dan slapped the “black ash”, naturally, Hei Dan had been helping him deal with an invisible monster?

“It seems that Hei Dan is really working hard at night.” He touched Hei Dan’s big bald head without any hair, and Ji Huan grabbed him up.

Ji Huan took sick leave. He decided not to go to school for a few days, and even stopped working. He didn’t know if the thing that had come last night was dead or not, and he didn’t know if other things would come over the next few days. Ji Huan decided to stay home for several days and be on guard at all times.

A phone call from Wang Xiaochuan came that day. Having heard that Ji Huan was ill, he asked right away for Ji Huan’s house address, wanting to visit. Ji Huan firmly stopped him and made clear that the one who had fallen ill wasn’t him, but Hei Dan and that he would go back to class in a couple of days. Wang Xiaochuan finally gave up the idea of coming to visit and said that he would help him take notes for the next few days. After thanking Wang Xiaochuan in advance, Ji Huan started to clean tremendously.

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class is finally over, so updates will be a little less sporadic (hopefully. 💦) i’m gonna try to get back to doing one chapter a week!

see you guys next time! ( ˘ ³˘)♥

Translation Notes

¹ 肚兜 dùdōu: a kind of undergarment/sleeping wear that covers the belly. looks a little bit like an apron that stops at the stomach.

² 阴影 yīnyǐng: lit. shadows, but can be figurative for a traumatic experience. 

Author Comments

“Hei Dandan (balls) wearing a little yellow duck swimming ring bathing in the hot spring by Tengli Tuanzi

Pay attention to the yellow duck’s expression 囧

Also pay attention! The picture has highlights! Hei Dan is showing his eggs! (ie. balls, LOL)”