UCTOOT CH27

Shi Shu screamed, “Ah!!” 

Xie Wuchi: “What’s wrong?”

“Quick, let me down! Xie Wuchi, let me down first! I saw something really scary! Just ahead! Come and see with me.”

Shi Shu thrashed around on Xie Wuchi’s shoulders. Xie Wuchi’s face seemed to show forbearance. After landing, Shi Shu didn’t stand firm and scrambled up the higher part of the slope.

He seemed to be drawn by something, using his hands and feet to climb onto a huge round rock. As he looked out, he was instantly presented with a full view of the valley—

The war had caused massive casualties and a loss of labor. The bodies were left unattended, carelessly discarded on the ground. At this time, the bodies were rotting in the valley under the sun and rain. A winding black stream flowed by, and a lingering black fog rose from the valley. Wild beasts gathered, and severed limbs hung or lay tilted like shriveled potatoes, like a human purgatory.

Shi Shu: “Have you heard of it? The human purgatory under Lion Camel Ridge, with bodies strewn everywhere, is probably like this! Or perhaps not even this cruel?”

Shi Shu grabbed Xie Wuchi’s wrist. Like a cat, his pupils dilated in tension and shock, and his fingers trembled, a physiological reaction to witnessing a cruel scene.

“So cruel.”

Shi Shu’s eyes actually had a red ring around them. His eyes trembled, not knowing what to say.

Xie Wuchi: “The wind is picking up. The miasma and water from this forest of corpses are highly toxic and could cause infectious diseases. We need to leave quickly.”

Without another word, Xie Wuchi pulled the weak-kneed Shi Shu down from the round rock, herded him onto the donkey, and they returned along the rugged mountain path. The two of them and the donkey moved hastily along the mountain road.

“Why did it have to be like this?”

The sky was filled with an endless expanse of fiery red Yining flowers. The petals stepped on by the donkey’s hooves were bright red. The stone steps led upwards, layer by layer.

“War is like this, Shi Shu. We’ve come to a chaotic world on the verge of collapse. Here, people eat people, people kill people. Weakness is useless. I’ve told you before, you have to be a strong person.”

“I am strong, but…”

“You will understand, one day.”

They returned the way they came for several hours, found a new fork in the road, and went around the valley to Anzhou City. They had to travel at night. The corners of an abandoned temple’s eaves were missing, and the grass was overgrown. Finding no one to ask, they took shelter inside.

Shi Shu: “Why is there no one in this temple?”

Xie Wuchi: “It suffered from the ravages of war. The people all fled.”

Shi Shu sat down on the threshold, the moonlight shining on his fair, clear face. He lowered his head in silence, chewing on a yellow-white steamed bun. Xie Wuchi found two pieces of wood to prop up a pot and bowl, boiled some water, and the two sat together.

Shi Shu: “Last time you said you wanted to be emperor. Was it to make a change?”

Xie Wuchi added small sticks to the fire: “Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?”

“The truth.”

“No. I have strong self-esteem, I’m arrogant and vain, and I’m unwilling to be subservient to others or be controlled by them. The pinnacle of power in the ancient world is the emperor. This is also the core driving force for my desire to be emperor. There are no noble reasons.”

Shi Shu glanced at him: “You really are… the ‘favored son of heaven’ persona doesn’t collapse.”

“The core driving forces are mostly revenge, vanity, and self-esteem. There are few others. When a person understands the world, they will accept the disparity. Take it slow.” Xie Wuchi’s face flickered in the firelight.

Shi Shu fiddled with the grass in front of him: “Xie Wuchi, it’s strange. We’ve actually become good friends.”

Xie Wuchi: “Is it strange? Perhaps.”

Shi Shu: “You’re so rational, completely different from my friends.”

Xie Wuchi: “A person must know themselves and control themselves.”

Shi Shu looked at him. Everything before him, including Xie Wuchi—writing in his diary, cooking, not procrastinating, having super strong execution, self-discipline, working out, being rational, emotionally stable, and even… being so incredibly good to him… If all of this was the result of Xie Wuchi’s control, then what was he really like?

So far, the only out-of-character things he had felt were the occasional, inexplicable suggestive remarks, and the kiss.

Even those seemed to be things Xie Wuchi deliberately exposed to him. If he wasn’t out of character, he was almost a perfect human being.

“What are you like when you don’t control yourself?”

Xie Wuchi: “The kind of person who would make you cry and beg me.”

“Heh heh, alright, alright.”

“Today I learned about the world, and I also learned about you!” Shi Shu muttered, sinking into a vortex of exhaustion and falling asleep.

These past few days of travel had been exhausting. Shi Shu would fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow at night, and wake up early the next morning. It could be said that he slept dreamlessly and just walked as soon as he got up.

But today, having received so many stimuli, Shi Shu actually had a dream.

The banyan tree was lush, the cicadas chirped in summer, and a slight heat wave rose from the ground. A restless summer night.

Shi Shu’s dislike for gay men had no other reason. There was a pair in his class. Everyone knew they were dating. They often walked together, ate together, studied together, and occasionally kissed and hugged.

It was after evening self-study. Shi Shu was heading home after a day of studying. His usual buddy had slipped away for something, so he was alone, passing by a crossroads. At the entrance of an alley, the light cast a circle on the ground, and the lighting was dim.

His mind was tired and light. He glanced over unintentionally. The two of them were leaning against the wall, being intimate. Shi Shu had never seen such a scene in his life. Usually in the classroom, it was just a touch of the lips, and he would turn his face away with red ears.

But this time, the two were holding each other’s faces, their hands and feet moving, their expressions filled with an emotion Shi Shu didn’t understand—pleasure and intoxication, making sounds Shi Shu didn’t understand and didn’t find pleasant.

Then, the shirt of the boy against the wall was lifted, and the other turned his head to touch his hair, his hands frantic, looking very intimate.

“How is it…”

“Baby…”

Shi Shu’s mind buzzed, as if struck by something. His legs went numb, and he was rooted to the spot. He didn’t react. The man saw him: “Hey? School grass, huh? Want to join us?”

Shi Shu’s world collapsed. Are you crazy?! He ran wildly with his head down. After leaving, he never told anyone, but from then on, he would turn his face away whenever he saw this gay couple, unilaterally declaring an feud.

Shi Shu had long forgotten about these two. In his dream tonight, for some reason, he remembered this incident. He had forgotten it for so long, even when Xie Wuchi kissed him last time, he didn’t remember.

But.

The same dim incandescent light circle, the dark alley, the quiet night, the floating, restless heat of a summer night that made people’s hearts pound. The person leaning against the wall became himself.

His school uniform was lifted, the exposed skin cold in the air. A broad, hard shoulder pressed against his own, the temperature scorching hot. A knee like cast iron was wedged between his legs, holding him firmly. His chin was held by a palm with calloused fingers, slowly caressing.

Kissing him.

Their breaths intertwined, the hot air mingling. Shi Shu was completely immobilized. In his vision, the other’s neck muscles tensed and relaxed. His mouth was filled with scorching, wet softness, being sucked hard, interspersed with wet, slurping sounds, as if he were melting, about to be sucked away by the other.

…Wait, what the hell? What is this? What are we doing?

Shi Shu felt like a lonely clown standing in the middle of a magic circle, questioning the heavens.

What the hell? No? Still kissing? Shi Shu pushed in his dream, but couldn’t move him. The back of his neck was numb. Is this kiss never going to end?

Also, who are you?!

Shi Shu tried his best to see that face, but he couldn’t see it, he couldn’t see it at all. My god, but I can feel it’s a man. Shi Shu was about to scream in his dream, about to go crazy, his scalp was numb, but he couldn’t move. He went to push those hands, but his hands were grabbed instead. The touch was so familiar, like a pair of hands he had held many times, broad, with rough calluses on the palm.

“Who are you! Are you a ghost! Get off me, get off! Don’t haunt me!” Shi Shu shouted.

“…” The tongue moved wildly in his mouth, patiently licking every spot, as if it hadn’t licked a person in eight lifetimes, as if there was candy in Shi Shu’s mouth, licking from the surface of his tongue to the back of his throat, as if to lick him to death, like a lonely ghost from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio had latched onto a scholar, venting its suppressed desires on him.

The licking made Shi Shu’s slender fingers tremble and clench together. The person kissed him again, holding his lips, kissing him gently, thickly. His jawline was distinct, and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down.

“I’ve read Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. You shouldn’t stay in an abandoned temple. There are unclean things in this place. We have to leave quickly!” Shi Shu thought in his dream, trying to pull away, but was still being pressed down and kissed.

“Bro, I’m begging you, let me go, find someone else!!” Shi Shu was about to cry. “Why, why can even male ghosts find me? Can I never escape gay men in this life?”

The kiss moved away. Just as Shi Shu thought he had escaped, it landed on his neck again. The sensation here wasn’t as clear, it was hazy, very hazy. Then, Shi Shu felt like he had fallen into hot water and jumped up violently.

“Damn it, don’t touch me…” a disgusting feeling.

Shi Shu shivered all over, gritting his teeth: “…Are you… sick? You kiss everywhere. Stop kissing, it’s so weird.”

Although it was a dream, Shi Shu’s scalp was about to explode with endurance. He decided to fight back. He reached out to grab the other’s hair. Just as he grabbed it, the voice came to his ear.

“Kiss me, baby…”

The same words, yet a remarkably different voice. Hoarse, scorching, like the wind sweeping across a desert.

Shi Shu’s mind buzzed. Something world-shattering happened.

Then came an endless demonic sound, lingering in his ears.

“When I’m anxious, I’ll think…”

“I hope you will be braver in the future.”

“Do you want to kiss me?”

“If you want to understand me, you’d best start by touching my body. As for my words, don’t believe a single one.”

“…Do you understand me a little better?”

“Don’t be afraid, I’m here.”

“Give me your hand. Holding my hand will give you a greater sense of security.”

“Baby, I have a tattoo on my inner thigh. Want to see it?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“No no no no no no no no no no—” Shi Shu’s eyes widened in his dream. “What is this, what is this? Go away, don’t come near, don’t remember, don’t appear in front of me! What do you mean, you’re coming again? Did I get infected with gay?!”

“Don’t come over, don’t come over, don’t get close to me, don’t get close—I’m straight, a straight man! I’ve never been in a relationship, I don’t want to like men—”

Shi Shu was stuck in a narrow corner. It was May, the cicadas chirped late at night, a restless, frivolous hot night, with endless fireworks and flickering lights.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

A beautiful night scene. Although he was clearly in the modern era, the sky above was an ancient starry night and a desolate plain. He and Xie Wuchi were holding hands, traveling by day and resting by night, startling a few fireflies in the grass, looking up to see a faint blue mist.

He was kissed again.

Shi Shu’s voice of resistance was swallowed: “Don’t…”

This dream, how could he escape it? So strange, a nightmare with no escape. Shi Shu used all his strength in his dream, kicking him, biting him, punching him, but the feeling of being imprisoned did not diminish at all. He was completely enveloped.

“Is that you, Xie Wuchi! Why are you doing this? Can you please not kiss me? I’m begging you. Xie Wuchi, I’m begging you…”

“I don’t like kissing.”

Shi Shu begged like he was begging for mercy. After begging for a while, it actually worked. The feeling of oppression disappeared, but the scene suddenly changed. It became Xie Wuchi sitting on a bed, his eyes dark, his hot, large hand pinching his chin.

—Making Shi Shu look up at the tattoo on his body.

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