EM CH22

Chapter 22: Pretty Impressive Already

The stud earring was merely a pretext; Yu An’s true intent lay in puncturing him. That flawless, silk-like face and body stirred an inexplicable restlessness in Yu An. The allure of perfection was not displayed solely in full bloom, but also lingered in ruin. In the instant of destruction, it revealed an unprecedented beauty of violence.

Yu An deliberately touched the wounded earlobe, preventing it from healing too quickly. He smeared the blood from his hand onto Zhao Ran’s face, his thumb lightly stroking along his lips to part his mouth slightly, pushing the pad of his thumb against the sharp tip of a fang to test its razor edge.

He picked up his phone, opened the camera, and snapped a photo of that face from above. Red marks surfaced on Zhao Ran’s cheek, faint fingerprints still visible.

The desire Yu An had kept dormant for a short day had been realized so swiftly: with skin so pale, even the slightest smear truly stood out vividly.

“Interviewer,” Yu An met his gaze without flinching, “you have such a good temper.”

Zhao Ran sat in the chair with his head tilted slightly back. His racing heartbeat left him disoriented, frozen and unable to react. The stinging ache from his earlobe couldn’t compare to the agony of his body straining to suppress its desire.

Although he understood the brat before him was simply this way by nature, having grown only slightly obedient through years of disciplined grooming, at least those overly dark, brutal thoughts no longer surfaced as frequently in that little head of his.

As for disciplining him, it wasn’t actually difficult. The little menace had paper-thin defense and zero endurance; one night of thorough education would surely have him tearfully mumbling promises never to do it again.

“Mm, I’ve only ever heard that assessment from you.” Zhao Ran swiveled the chair toward the left. The knee Yu An had planted on the cushion was forced outward, his center of gravity shifting. Hooking under the crooks of his knees, Zhao Ran hoisted him up, leaving his back suspended in midair, such that the slightest misstep would send him tumbling backward headfirst.

Strangely, while Yu An could never bring himself to play trust falls that required relying on others, he wouldn’t even flinch when an accident happened with Zhao Ran. His instinct to avoid danger seemed to shut off automatically whenever he drew near him.

Yet Zhao Ran merely looked at him calmly, holding his waist with both hands without doing anything more, like catching a kitten tumbling off the wardrobe yet again on an ordinary afternoon.

This posture clearly put Yu An at a disadvantage under control, yet he remained utterly fearless, staring unscrupulously at Zhao Ran’s parted sharp teeth: “Are you this tolerant with other interns too?”

“Since joining the company, you’re the only intern I’ve ever taken on,” Zhao Ran replied. “Besides, no other intern could cause as much chaos as you do.”

“Doesn’t Underground Railway have a rule stating an interviewer can only ever mentor one intern?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Meaning, once I get regularized, you’ll take on other students?”

“Mm… that’s hard to say.” Zhao Ran curved his eyes with a smile.

Yu An went silent. Spacing out on Zhao Ran’s lap, his fingers spitefully traced the strokes of his own surname across Zhao Ran’s neck. With each forceful stroke of his fingertips, red marks bloomed across the snow-white skin.

Judging solely by the gaze he used when brainstorming homicide methods, the brat was definitely plotting no good.

Before long, Yu An slid off the interviewer’s lap and walked toward the bedroom exit.

“Where are you going?”

“Bored. Taking off my coat.” Yu An had already stepped beyond the bedroom door, reaching an arm back around the frame to flip him off. “I’ll be back to continue tutoring.”

The patterned wooden door slowly swung shut.

After Yu An left the room, Zhao Ran stood up as well, lingering in a daze. Seemingly after a long time, he fished a cigarette from his pocket, but couldn’t get it to light after several attempts.

He sank slowly into a squat like a wilting flower, resting his arms across his knees, burying his head deep into his elbows. A scalding layer of pink flushed across the tips of his ears and the nape of his neck, his earlobe as crimson as the blood dripping from the puncture.

The fingertips of his gloves were soaked through, dampness seeping outward through the leather, thick viscous droplets clinging to the tips.

“He… must have been acting cute, right? How was my performance just now?” Burning hot, Zhao Ran muttered to himself, buried in his arms.

A few inches in front of him, a rustling sound came from the floor. Disappointed, the little hands that had been eagerly spectating from the shadowy corners dispersed. Before leaving, they traced reviews into the carpet with their fingertips:

“Trash.”

“I could do better.”

“It’s fine. Holding him for a whole minute is already pretty impressive.”

…

Towel-drying his hair, Yu An walked out of the bathroom. Returning to the bedroom with the towel draped over his head, he saw Zhao Ran sitting at the desk. The computer was on, displaying a file download that had just finished and was currently installing.

“No more tutoring?” Yu An walked over to the desk, drying his hair while inspecting the desktop rig. “You have nice gear.”

“I don’t know much about specs; the kids at the company put it together for me.” Zhao Ran clicked the little house icon newly downloaded to the desktop. The screen flashed black, and when it lit up again, a 3D block house icon appeared, spinning to cheerful, slightly childish background music.

Every face of the block house showcased a distinct art style, spinning through several rotations without repeating.

“You play video games too? No more tutoring?” Yu An pulled up a stool and sat curiously beside Zhao Ran.

“Balancing work and rest. Grey Crow released a new game, Grey Crow: Dollhouse. Let’s give it a spin.”

“Grey Crow? Sounds familiar.” Yu An leaned on the desk with his chin propped in his hand. “Oh, the studio behind Grey Crow: Haunted Mansion? I’ve played it.”

This caught Zhao Ran somewhat off guard: “What did you think of it?”

“My roommate played it on stream and called me in whenever he got stuck. Overall, it felt superficial. Advertised as psychological horror, yet monsters irrelevant to the plot jumped out every two seconds to scare you. Later they rolled out some gun system, but you could tell it was rushed with zero polish. Shooting felt like firing water pistols, totally wasting top-tier art and narrative.”

Yu An asked caustically, “What kind of flop did they put out this time?”

“I recently took on a commission from Grey Crow, currently under investigation. They provided me with a copy of the temporarily pulled demo; take it for a spin.”

Zhao Ran gave his chair to Yu An and sat to the side, propping his head to watch him play. Not knowing what anomalies lurked in the game yet, it was best for the brat to play under parental supervision.

Clicking Single Player, a line of text popped up: [Randomly selecting scenario for you].

The block house in the center spun rapidly, cycling faces like rolling dice, before slowly coming to a halt. The face oriented toward the player was painted purplish-black, dark vines creeping across small window panes, Halloween jack-o’-lanterns clustered beside a cauldron in the corner, bats wheeling across the night sky, and an eerie full moon hanging aloft.

“Art is pretty solid.” Yu An left-clicked the mouse, entering the automatically generated stage. “Looks like a Central European sorcerer theme.”

[In this scenario, you may select from the following characters]

[Pumpkinhead Warrior] Illustration: A mysterious youth wearing a Halloween pumpkin mask.

[Fierce Witch] Illustration: A long-haired hottie wielding a gem-encrusted staff.

[Potion Master] Illustration: A red-haired male sorcerer.

“No character bios or ability profiles; are they not unlocked yet?” Yu An browsed between the three options. “Potion Master sounds like a healing support, pass. The witch has a staff, likely magic attacks, feels a bit squishy. Pumpkinhead Warrior then; he should have a weapon.”

[Character Selection Confirmed: Pumpkinhead Warrior]

A plain youth with an utterly downtrodden face dropped from the sky, landing flat on his backside in the player-controlled spot, rubbing his lower back as he scrambled to his feet.

“Hilarious.” Zhao Ran chuckled, resting his head on his hand.

“Where’s the start button…” Yu An maneuvered the character left and right across the starting screen. Clicking randomly, he happened to click the cauldron in the background, triggering a short cutscene.

Breaking free of mouse control, the youth wandered around. Slipping on a pumpkin rind, he tumbled into the pile of pumpkins in the corner. He clambered to his feet dazed with a pumpkin stuck on his head, only to plunge headfirst with a splash into a cauldron as tall as a man, colorful potions splattering everywhere.

[Game Start] The loading animation was lively: the pumpkin-headed youth thrashed about in the cauldron before drowning and sinking beneath the brew.

“…This is crafted pretty meticulously.” Yu An waited through a dozen seconds of loading. The scene loaded: the pumpkin-headed youth awakened in an eerie village, a flock of bats fluttering across the cold full moon.

Quiet, mysterious music drifted in. Yu An turned up the volume slightly.

[Tip: WASD to move, Space to jump.]

Yu An guided the youth through a few steps in the village. The village at night was completely deserted, doors and windows barred shut as though hiding from some horrors due to emerge after dark.

“Doesn’t seem to state the objective; let’s explore first.” The youth stepped across cobblestones, parting bushes to enter a wasteland. The surroundings were bleak, with only a dim light glowing outside a remote cottage in the distance.

Thorny, burr-like weeds grew across the ground. Yu An ran right across without thinking.

Suddenly, the pumpkin-headed youth hopped around the grass, leaping left, then right. Yu An watched the comical performance in surprise, initially thinking it was a cutscene, but… no.

“I’m losing health!” Yu An quickly steered the youth forward. “The ground is pricking his feet…”

[Tip: Press F to pick up items.]

“Oh, you can pick it up.” Yu An grabbed a weed bundle resembling a hedgehog, but the youth began tossing it back and forth between his hands in sheer panic.

“Still losing health… is it pricking his hands…?” Cradling the prickly weed bundle, Yu An sprinted toward the distant cottage. “It doesn’t display player HP; any more pricks and he’ll die.”

Upon reaching the cottage door, Yu An dropped the hedgehog weed bundle onto the ground. Sure enough, the youth stopped losing health.

This cottage wasn’t built within the village, but sat alone in the wilderness. The youth stepped up and knocked on the closed door. Three seconds later, the light outside went out.

The screen went dim. Suddenly, the light flared again, purple washing over the entire display. The porch lamp had turned into a skull, purple flames burning within its eye sockets, mouth, and nose.

The ramshackle door creaked open a crack. In the dark, a lidless eyeball pressed against the seam, staring unblinkingly at the pumpkin-headed youth.

With a creak, the door opened slightly wider. The homeowner extended a hand, palm open, seemingly asking the youth for something.

[Tip: Press E to interact]

“An NPC? Wonder what she wants.” Possessing nothing on him, Yu An could only pick up the hedgehog weed bundle from the ground and place it in the homeowner’s palm.

The prickly weed hopped twice in her palm. Bloodshot veins abruptly spiderwebbed across the homeowner’s eyeball; it had clearly pricked her hand.

Next, a piercing woman’s screech detonated from the speakers. The homeowner thrust out a massive, blood-colored arm gnarled like ancient tree roots, slamming down with a deafening boom right onto the pumpkin-headed youth’s head.

The youth was flattened into a meat patty on the spot, smeared across the ground in mush.

[Sudden Death]

“Huh? Dead already?” Yu An stared in surprise as the screen faded to gray, spacing out in thought for a moment. “I get it now. The homeowner is the boss of this stage. I should find weapons first and challenge her with full gear. So I basically just grabbed a clump of weeds off the ground to fight the boss and pricked her twice.”

“Pretty fun, actually.” Leaning back in his chair, Yu An stretched his back, suddenly noticing the stool beside him was empty. Where was the interviewer?

Turning his head, Zhao Ran had retreated behind the chair, gripping the backrest with both hands, shifting as far from the computer as possible: “So scary. Aren’t kids terrified playing this?”

“This isn’t even a horror game. Is that monster scary? Where did you get startled?”

“The part where the weeds pricked their hands. Scared me to death.” Putting way too much empathy into it, Zhao Ran tightened the clasp on his gloves.