Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 25: After Submission

Under the night sky, Hongshan was vast and desolate. The Zhenbeitai, enduring over four hundred years of wind and frost, no longer bustled with daytime tourists and stood quietly atop the mountain in the biting wind, like a general surveying the land he guarded.

Suddenly, a purple light appeared mid-air, gradually enlarging until it became a manhole-cover-sized purple vortex. Then, four living people fell out from it, pitter-pattering onto the Zhenbeitai.

The thud of landing mixed with cries of “Ouch” abruptly broke the tranquility of the mountaintop.

If one were to look down from above Zhenbeitai at this moment, they would see four figures in the shape of a ‘大*’, all facing upwards, either panting heavily or taking deep breaths, all exuding a mix of relief and exhaustion from a narrow escape.

*Means big, but the character looks like a person sprawled out.

Qian Ai: “Why do I feel like I’ve been thrown out…”

Xu Wang: “Just be glad you made it out alive. What, you expected to be carried home in a sedan chair?”

Kuang Jinxin: “It’s only 4:20…”

Qian Ai: “Four twenty? I feel like it’s been forty days…”

Wu Sheng: “Let’s rest for two minutes and then quickly get going. The wind is fierce at the top of the mountain.”

However, after two minutes, the sense of accomplishment from “passing the test” started to emerge amidst the exhaustion, belatedly bringing a hint of excitement.

“This time we made it out alive. I definitely owe you big time.” The flashback of the battle scene made Qian Ai sit up suddenly, looking down at Wu Sheng seriously. “If you hadn’t grabbed the doorframe when the tail exploded, all of us would have flown out!”

“It was alright.” Wu Sheng stood up, dusting off the dirt from his clothes, trying to be modest. “In that situation, finding something stable to hold onto is instinct. I was just a bit quicker in reaction and movement.”

Xu Wang, lying there, glanced at Wu Sheng, seeing his lips and brows about to fly up with pride. He wanted to almost warn Qian Ai, “Stop praising him, or he might think he can fly to the moon.”

Perhaps feeling the same way, Qian Ai didn’t continue with the praises but changed the subject. “But I was really shocked when you were ‘carrying the three of us’. How have you trained these past years? Why is your physical fitness so good?”

Wu Sheng was less pleased to hear that. “When have I ever been unfit?”

“In high school,” Qian Ai recalled. “Do you remember once, when Xu Wang and that tough guy from Class 7 were fighting in the corridor? We were afraid of getting caught by the teacher, so none of us dared to help, except you went to help Xu Wang. Then that Class 7 guy pushed you, and you fainted.”

Wu Sheng: “……”

“I remember even if you don’t,” Xu Wang chimed in, getting up energetically to continue the story. “Then the teacher came, and instead of dealing with us, she rushed you to the infirmary first. After all, the top student is precious.”

“Right, right.” Qian Ai nodded vigorously. “And later didn’t that Class 7 guy, fearing punishment, collude with you, claiming you guys weren’t fighting but just playing around?”

“Pfft,” Xu Wang scoffed. “I didn’t even want to deal with him from the start. A punishment is a punishment; as long as it wasn’t easy for that guy, anything was fine,” he said, glancing at Wu Sheng. “Who knew that after waking up, this guy would insist we were just playing.”

“He was helping you.” Qian Ai couldn’t stand it and spoke up for justice. “If he hadn’t said that, you both would have gotten a major demerit.”

“Why do you always say he was helping me?” Xu Wang couldn’t hold back any longer. “Just now you said he stepped in to help me; he was breaking up the fight—a neutral party.”

“Both of you wait a minute.” Wu Sheng couldn’t bear it any longer and had to interrupt to defend his youth. He first looked at Xu Wang. “First, I did step in to help you. Even Lao Qian can see it. Are you that obtuse? Otherwise, why do you think you got off with just a verbal warning?” He then glanced at Qian Ai. “Second, you two haven’t really thought I actually fainted all these years, have you?”

Xu Wang, still tangled in whether it was breaking up the fight or taking sides, received new information, and his brain almost couldn’t keep up. “Huh?”

Qian Ai was also taken aback. “You didn’t really faint?”

“Of course, I pretended to faint,” Wu Sheng stated as if it were obvious. “If I hadn’t ‘fainted’, wouldn’t it have become a three-person fight? If I said I was breaking it, would that guy admit it? So I had to faint. Once I fainted, that guy got scared. As long as he chickens out, everything else is easy to handle…”

“I get it!” Kuang Jinxin suddenly sat up. In the first level, they encountered Xu Wang, and while Xu Wang only saw Wu Sheng without noticing him and Sun Jiang beside him, the two had reminisced about high school when Xu Wang was kicked into the goal by three burly men and Wu Sheng called the teacher over. Wu Sheng had then said, “This is called using your brain!”

Qian Ai: “……”

Xu Wang: “……”

Wu Sheng felt gratified. He found a kindred spirit in Kuang Jinxin amidst high mountains and flowing water.

After chatting for a while, the little excitement from their submission gradually dissipated, and tiredness crept back in. The four of them, sneaking out of the scenic area under the cover of night, called a taxi with their phones, and within fifteen minutes, they were back at the hotel.

Standing outside the hotel, they suddenly remembered a grave issue—when they entered the “Owl” at midnight, they were communicating with the proprietress through the door. After they were all swept away, how would the auntie outside the door react? Leave filled with doubts? Rush into the room to find no one? Or simply call the police?

No matter the scenario, they needed to provide a reasonable explanation.

Now, through the glass door, they saw the auntie dozing off at the front desk.

“What do we do?” Qian Ai scratched his head a little worriedly.

“Go in.” Xu Wang made a decisive decision. “What will be, will be. Let’s play it by ear.”

With that, he was the first to walk in, followed closely by Wu Sheng. Kuang Jinxin and Qian Ai exchanged glances and followed suit, steeling themselves.

As if sensing their arrival, the auntie happened to wake up and open her eyes at that moment. She was about to yawn, but as she opened her mouth, she saw the four of them entering. So, the yawn stopped, and her eyes and mouth opened wide.

The four stood still, not moving forward or backward, just quietly watching the auntie, adopting a strategy of no action until the enemy moves.

“You guys…” The auntie finally spoke, but her tone was not accusatory; she was just purely puzzled and surprised. “When did you go out? I’ve been here all the time. How come I didn’t see you?”

The four were baffled by this unexpected question. They looked at each other, and finally, Xu Wang said, “Uh, we went out earlier for a late-night snack. You might have been asleep and didn’t notice.”

“Oh.” The auntie accepted the explanation without any problems and even kindly reminded them, “It’s very cold at night. Kids should wear more.”

Her attitude was natural, and after speaking, she yawned and put her hand on the counter, ready to continue her nap.

Even the most oblivious person could sense something was off. Xu Wang, throwing caution to the wind, directly asked, “Auntie, you came to our room earlier…”

He stopped halfway, partly cautious not to reveal too much, and partly because he genuinely didn’t know how to continue. It’s not like he could say, “You came to our room, and then we disappeared. How do you feel about that?”

The auntie, waiting for the continuation, finally responded to the first part. “What? When did I come to your room?”

The air suddenly went quiet.

Xu Wang, suppressing his disbelief, pressed further, “Around midnight last night…”

“Kid, what are you talking about?” The auntie laughed as if they were children making up stories. “I’ve been here all night. When did I go upstairs?”

The air went utterly silent.

They looked at the auntie, and the auntie looked back at them, equally baffled.

In the long silence, the four finally realized one thing—the auntie had lost her memory.

This disjointed conversation ended with the auntie’s bafflement and the four’s heart-thumping realization.

They were shocked by the absurdity of the “memory loss” and even more so by the power of the “Owl”. But after calming down, they thought, if the “Owl” can pull real people into its world, where even injuries sustained there can be brought back to reality, what’s so impossible about altering someone’s memory?

Still, it was terrifying.

This terrifying power blurred the lines between the “Owl” and “reality”, making those who used to clearly separate night and day, relegating the “Owl” completely out of their lives as if it were just a dream or a test, feel a chill in their hearts.

Back in the room, the four sat in silence, either on chairs or on the bed, speechless for a long time.

“Actually, looking at it from another angle, it’s a good thing. This way, we won’t be considered lunatics, and we don’t have to lie to cover up a strange disappearance.” Kuang Jinxin was the first to speak. He patted his face, and his eyes regained their vitality and optimism. “Let’s sleep. Tomorrow is a new day.”

Xu Wang sighed.

They wouldn’t be considered lunatics, but they had also completely lost the chance to seek help.

But on this night of hard-fought battles, it was better not to discuss such heavy topics.

“Agreed.” He patted his legs, standing up from the bed and loudly seconding Kuang Jinxin. “Sleep!”

“I’m not going back to my room.” Qian Ai immediately raised his hand. “I’m feeling very insecure right now. I want to sleep with you three!”

“Lao Qian.” Wu Sheng seriously corrected him. “Just because we three share a room doesn’t mean we sleep together.”

Qian Ai paused, then retorted. “It’s the same thing. Why nitpick?”

“No, no, no.” Wu Sheng shook his head firmly. “There’s a big difference…”

“Can you talk about something useful!” Xu Wang couldn’t take it anymore and threw out a practical suggestion. “Then let’s push the three beds together and sleep all four of us.”

“Don’t push them together. The gaps between the beds are uncomfortable to sleep on.” Kuang Jinxin volunteered. “Qian Ge, I’ll go to your room and accompany you.”

“Alright.” Xu Wang thought this was a good idea, patting Qian Ai’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. No matter what happens, Xiao Kuang will protect you.”

Qian Ai looked at Xu Wang’s serious face, then at Kuang Jinxin’s sincere one, and finally at Wu Sheng, who seemed oblivious to the outside world, feeling his martial prowess was being insulted, but…

“That works.”

After sending off Qian Ai and Kuang Jinxin, the room was left with just Xu Wang and Wu Sheng.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>