Chapter 64 The Sleeping Curse (28) [A-Tan: Don't mention it...]
The lullaby by the nymph Mayonnaise singer is universally acclaimed.
But each of them had their own things to do. They were so engrossed in their dreams that they had no time to relax or have fun. When they woke up, they were busy blasting the mountain and escaping. They were exhausted from their sleep and only got a good night's rest when they arrived at the seaside villa.
Except for Lu Jinzhao, who always has plenty of energy, everyone else slept until noon.
The second one to wake up was Xia Wujin. After sleeping for eight hours, the young lady's biological clock automatically woke her up to greet the new day.
Upon learning that she was the second, she paused strangely after going downstairs, thinking, "They won't be bothered by some singing again..."
The TV in the living room was playing the Art Harbor festival celebration, which lasted for three days. Lu Jinzhao was humming a song as he unpacked the floral arrangement designed by the florist on the table and rearranged it according to his own aesthetic: "No, they're just too tired. They should be waking up soon."
Xia Wujin nodded: "Then I'll ask Aunt Wang to cook."
So the remaining few people came downstairs one after another, and smelled the delicious aroma of food. Chang Mingai's sleepy eyes lit up, and she rushed down to hug Xia Wujin and shake her wildly: "Miss, I love you! We came to the beach to eat seafood—"
The group sat at the dining table, sincerely thanking the young lady for her wealth and generosity. After enjoying a sumptuous lunch, they finally felt like they were on vacation.
So Lu Jinchao suggested, "Let's stay another day. The celebration is so lively, and there's a fireworks display tonight."
Xi Rui immediately chimed in, "That's right! Does anyone remember we're here on vacation? I want to ride jet skis!"
Chang Mingai raised her fork: "I agree. We came out here only to run for our lives and didn't get to do anything. Going back means another death course. It sounds too miserable."
Sun Enze and Xia Wujin had no objections and nodded silently.
As the only elder, Xue Hong certainly wouldn't spoil the young people's fun, but he also leisurely declared beforehand that he would rest if he couldn't walk anymore, and that one couldn't expect his energy to keep up with the young people.
Then it was Xie Tan's turn, so everyone looked at the person slowly eating the king crab leg.
Xie Tan raised an eyebrow: "Same as above."
His energy was about the same as Xue Hong's... He even doubted that he was as good as the veteran detective, who had a professional buff and had chased and beaten up many bad guys over the years.
So he readily categorized himself as working in an elderly industry, not intending to risk his life. When he got really tired, he would just find a place to lean against.
Everyone was somewhat surprised, seemingly not expecting him to be so easy to talk to.
Otherwise, he couldn't possibly drive back by himself, and besides, the old man didn't want to spoil the mood.
Most importantly... Lu Jinzhao winked at him after he finished speaking.
Cheers erupted at the dinner table; their vacation had begun.
This was Xie Tan's first time traveling with other people.
Just as he had warned, he remained extremely lazy, doing whatever he wanted, completely following the crowd, and when he got tired, he would let them continue playing while he found a place to rest.
So the others rushed off to the water activities, while he chose to sit under a tree by the sea, enjoying the breeze. Before him was the real sea, with waves gently lapping against the surface, shimmering in the sunlight.
He relaxed.
Lu Jinzhao sat down next to her and curiously spread the sunscreen that the girls had lent him on his arm.
"Ah Tan, do you want to apply it?" He was eager to try it.
Xie Tan looked at the sunset and silently gazed at him.
"Oh...right, sunscreen is for protecting against sunlight." Lu Jinzhao suddenly realized, carefully twisting the sunscreen off the girls' sleeves. "Then I don't need to apply it."
Xie Tan leaned back in the beach chair, squinting as the wind blew in his eyes: "Didn't you want to play on that flying fish?"
"Flying Fish?" Lu Jinzhao thought he looked a bit like a dozing cat, propping his head up as he looked at him. "But I want to stay and watch the fireworks with you."
Xie Tan blurted out, "I've already seen it."
He paused after speaking, and Lu Jinzhao was also stunned. Then he laughed happily. They both felt that it was like a firework display, and it really became their firework display.
Xie Tan inexplicably understood the meaning behind his smile, and turned his head to the other side. Under his loose, medium-length hair, the tips of his ears seemed to be a little hot.
Lu Jinzhao watched as he slightly turned to the other side, blinked, and circled the beach chair once before turning to the other side and asking pitifully, "You just want to watch a fireworks display with me?"
When did he say that? Xie Tan couldn't avoid him, so he slapped the magazine on Xie Tan's pitiful face: "Is that what you think? Then take it as true."
Lu Jinzhao hurriedly pulled the magazine off: "What I was thinking was that we should watch a lot of fireworks, so I'm taking it seriously."
He was holding a magazine, and the top male models on the cover couldn't match the allure of his handsome face, especially when he smiled and spoke with particular seriousness.
Xie Tan was speechless for a moment, then gave in and said softly, "The fireworks are still a while away, let's go."
Lu Jinzhao looked at him, inserted the straw into the coconut, and gave it to him to drink from, seemingly still hesitant: "Hmm...it's actually similar to a motorcycle, I guess. We already rode that this afternoon, so this one counts as..."
“That’s still different.” Xie Tan propped his head up, looked at him, and smiled. “There’s a water competition over there, and the first place winner gets that penguin plush toy.”
"A penguin plush toy...?" Lu Jinchao's eyes lit up as he thought of something.
Xie Tan confirmed his idea: "It's that IP you asked me to buy, the new collaboration with Art Harbor, that ugly little thing, this time the main promotion is penguin."
After saying that, he ignored him, covered his face with the boring magazine, and gestured that he wanted to take a nap.
Lu Jinzhao leaned over and whispered, "Then I'll go win the penguin back, and then we'll watch the fireworks together. Call me if you need anything."
Xie Tan didn't answer; he seemed to have fallen asleep.
Lu Jinzhao ran a distance, then turned back, gently picked up the magazine that Xie Tan had covered his face, and put it back on before Xie Tan opened his eyes in confusion.
Xie Tan: "?"
After the clingy guy ran away, Xie Tan took the magazine down. The cover wasn't of handsome men and beautiful women anymore; instead, it featured a middle-aged male entrepreneur in a suit with a face full of wrinkles, amidst a list of numerous achievements. It was an economics magazine.
It's not ugly, but it has absolutely nothing to do with beauty.
Xie Tan: "..."
He didn't really want to be associated with this successful person, nor did he want to gain any wealth from him, so he tossed the magazine aside.
He slept too much today, so he couldn't actually fall asleep. When he was bored, he saw Cat Number 7 appear, gracefully jump onto the small table, and first, as usual, nuzzle him and meow in a low voice. After being petted, she went to drink a sip of his coconut juice.
Seemingly finding it delicious, the kitten's eyes lit up, and it buried its head to drink a few more sips, its fluffy tail wagging back and forth.
Xie Tan thought the taste was just so-so, so he held it in his hand so the kitten could drink it, and then he started to observe his own cat.
Ah...completely black.
But as the fire raged, he sat up from the coffin. In his confused state, he seemed to see Number 7 appear. At that time, its fur was the same as that night, somewhat lighter in color, revealing some spots in the firelight.
He asked the cat, but the cat didn't seem to know what was going on either.
"Perhaps it's because my power is being restored, meow?"
How is your recovery going?
The kitten looked up, ate a circle of white whiskers, and looked silly.
It sensed it and its tail movements slowed down: "It's recovering, but it's not quite stable yet, meow."
That's probably why.
"What will you become if you are fully restored?" Xie Tan asked.
The cat thought for a moment and said honestly, "I don't know. I'll have to wait until you finish your mission, meow. When that day comes, my power will be fully restored, meow meow."
Seeing its host was bored, it tilted its tail and pointed to the phone on the table: "Meow, it just updated, why don't you read some comics, meow meow."
Xie Tan nodded, letting the kitten continue drinking, and then opened his phone to read the ending of the story.
One song begins, and songs begin everywhere. Starting with Xia Wujin who suddenly speaks, the sleeping people of the whole town open their mouths and sing the same hymn, pulling the few who are still awake to sink into depravity together.
The song pushed itself along, crashing into the rain and mist, struggling to drift forward, reaching the ears of the lone traveler at sea, causing the boy to turn around and look.
In the early morning, in the rainy night, amidst thick fog and endless waves, a lone person sits on a small boat, with only a dim light at the bow, barely enough to illuminate himself.
A wave came, and he, wearing a flower wreath, narrowly missed it, the four-leaf clover drifting away.
One eye was submerged in the water, following him all the way, its gaze fixed upwards on him.
But Xie Tan seemed completely oblivious, not giving a single glance, instead holding the flower wreath, somewhat dazed.
Corpse flowers cleared a path, leading him up the hill.
The small mountain is towering, and the hanging coffins covering it silently look down on him, creating a strong sense of oppression. Walking among them will evoke a sense of fear and make you feel insignificant in the face of the unknown.
However, the visitor remained unmoved; his first glance fell upon the coffin at the highest point, on the mountain peak.
He ignored the sinister malice emanating from the mountain; the fog seemed to melt away in his eyes, unstoppable. He simply gazed at it for a long, long time.
[...]
He stared for quite a while, until the wind blew past his eyes, he blinked, and then slowly looked away.
He held a clump of long hair in his hand, the talisman appearing and disappearing between his fingers like an inanimate object.
He seemed to be asking someone, or perhaps just talking to himself: "Is this it?"
There was no answer, only the howling wind echoing through the mountains.
In the subtly changing hills, the swirling winds all around stirred his clothes and somewhat long hair.
He began to walk forward, his steps slow, occasionally glancing up at the coffin.
It's as if it's the sun and moon in the wilderness, an anchor point in another world; as long as you look at it, you can determine your direction even if you're in a maze.
That was the traveler's true destination.
[A giant wave came up, is this a tsunami or tornado? Thanks, it's also a great experience to see the view from underwater seafood...]
[I'm once again amazed by the composition and atmosphere created by the sword artist. It feels like A-Tan has entered another world. Is this still Earth? Where did I end up?]
[Not Earth, it's Dichu [doge emoji]]
That's terrible; it's the kind of weird thing an insurance company would do to include paranormal events in its policy terms.
【Real·haunted place】
There was one in the water, with such a big eyeball. When the wave came, you could see an eyeball rolling inside. It scared me when I was digging through the wall of the hotel in my dream.
[Is this the eye that A-Tan saw on the stairs? The eye the innkeeper used to trade with Old Man Su, to monitor these sacrificial candidates?]
There were quite a few of them, but the others weren't spied on; it must be because they were treated like family.
[The main offering: Old Sheep is so ruthless to his own family; what a crazy family!]
[Didn't A-Tan see that?]
[How could that be? I just couldn't be bothered. Didn't anyone notice that Ah Tan was holding the flower wreath and spacing out? And it just so happened that the wave was attacking. Ah Tan was so calm, he definitely wouldn't get hurt. But after being put on the flower wreath and dodging the wave, he was a little surprised. Wasn't that Lu Lu's lucky buff appearing? Ah Tan must have thought so too, right? Ah, our tangency theorem is so delicious...]
[The eyes in the water look so wide open, making the old man's slanted eyes look like deer eyes, hahaha]
[This is hilarious! They were lying in wait when they left the shore, but later they practically crawled out and flew right up to Ah Tan's eyelids.]
[Peeping Eyes: Look at me! Look at me!]
[Ah Tan: Don't mention it, I'm thinking about my lucky star]
[I'm reminded of Ah Tan arguing with Wolf Daddy again. Sorry, our Ah Tan likes young, handsome guys, the kind with black hair, amber eyes, super handsome looks, and a nice smile.]
[You've shown your ID card? Perfect timing! I'm from the Civil Affairs Bureau; I'm here in person. Please let me know you're getting married.]
Good heavens! This mountain of coffins looks like a cemetery on the sea! Is this a place for the dead to rest in peace? How terrifying...
[Not so kind]
[These were probably offerings from the past; they don't look like they were disposable.]
[There's a sense that even the dead can't find peace; could this be another "decadent music girl"?]
[Given your sheep-like moral standards, that's it.]
[Why is Ah-Tan staring at the tallest coffin?]
[It seems like things are constantly changing in the mountains, have you noticed? But the only thing that remains unchanged is the coffin that Atan is looking at, it's completely untouched.]
Could that coffin be something like the core of a formation? Is Ah Tan trying to destroy it?
[It doesn't feel that simple. This is the first time I've seen Ah Tan with this inner ellipsis. Wow, he has so much to say! And Ah Tan's expression is also...]
[This atmosphere... nothing was said, but it made my heart ache so much...]
[Yes, especially when Ah Tan lowered his head to touch that tuft of long hair, as if asking someone, but getting no answer... it felt like a knife.]
Whose coffin is this?
[Could it be Ah Tan's own?]
[This doesn't sound like he's saying it to himself. Could it be... this isn't Ah Tan's hair knot? The coffin belongs to the hair's owner?]
[That makes sense. Do you guys remember the first time the leader of this group made his appearance? It was at Ah Tan's house, the part where he fell out of the master bedroom door.]
[Wow, so that house also belongs to the owner of the hair? It had been empty before, and even the ghosts didn't bother it. I thought Ah Tan moved in there to hurt Lu Lu.]
Looking back now, was it true that Ah-Tan only found that house because of the owner of the hair?
[Is it like he came specifically for this coffin? What exactly is the relationship between the hair's owner and Ah Tan?]
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