MMPS Ch. 58

Chapter 58: Family

As evening fell, a light snow began to drift down from the sky. The streets were nearly empty, and the further one ventured into the outskirts, the more desolate it became.

With the sunlight gone, Zhao Ran trudged through the cold wind and thin snow, passing through a grove of withered trees. It was hard to tell whether the white mist above his head was his fading hair or the accumulating snow.

In the snowy haze, he navigated effortlessly through an illusion designed to look like a desolate graveyard. Golden rings of war banners rose from the ground with each step he took, while floating skulls wreathed in ghostly flames automatically drifted away. The skeletal arms that had been reaching out for him retreated in fear.

After bypassing several eerie ghostly barriers, the scene before him suddenly opened up, revealing a row of neatly trimmed garden fences.

Inside the fence, several evergreen shrubs and some withered grass that would bloom in spring and summer were cultivated. Zhao Ran vaulted over the fence with ease, accidentally stepping on and breaking a flower seedling. He nervously glanced around to make sure no one had seen, then crouched down to disguise the broken seedling as if a stray cat had trampled it. He continued toward the house and sat down on the front steps.

Sitting on the steps to catch his breath, he pulled a velvet box from his coat pocket.

He rubbed the dried bloodstains off the box with his gloved hand, then opened the lid.

Inside lay a silver-glowing aberration core, its surface etched with the pattern of a playing card—the Ace of Hearts. The core still retained some warmth, its amber-like surface smeared with blood.

He had found the velvet box in the magician’s hat. Kneeling in the pool of blood beside the corpse, he had rummaged through the items and decided this box was the perfect container for a gift. He tossed out the prop diamond ring that had been inside and replaced it with the core, which fit perfectly.

The snow grew heavier, blanketing the ground in a thin layer. However, the area around Zhao Ran remained clear, the warmth radiating from his body melting the snow and dampening the hem of his coat.

Suddenly, the door behind him opened, and the light from inside spilled over him. Ha Bai leaned against the doorframe. “Why didn’t you just come in?”

Zhao Ran’s hair and pupils instantly turned white. The snowflakes on his head melted into water, dripping down his hair and onto his shoulders.

“I was waiting for the blood to dry so I wouldn’t dirty your floors.”

“Bullsh*t. Get in here.”

“Hmph.” Zhao Ran chuckled and stood up, stepping inside.

He changed into slippers and headed straight for the bedroom where Yu An lay unconscious. Three small tadpoles were perched beside him, reading a storybook.

The little girl noticed someone entering and looked up. The other two children followed suit, hopping off the bed and scurrying to a corner to watch from a distance.

“Uncle is covered in blood.” they whispered among themselves. “He’s been ‘working’ again.”

Zhao Ran glanced at the bloodstains on his sleeves and the hem of his coat. He turned to them with a deliberately terrifying expression. “It’s still fresh. Want a taste?”

The three children screamed and fled, their little tails swishing as they ran to the kitchen to seek refuge with Ha Bai.

Zhao Ran enjoyed the quiet. He sat down on the floor beside the bed, relaxed, and glanced at the owl-shaped clock on the wall. He leaned over, lifted Yu An’s arm onto his shoulder, and scooped him up by the knees, carrying him out of the bedroom.

Ha Bai happened to be setting the table with bowls and chopsticks. He glanced back at Zhao Ran. “Even a dog doesn’t carry its puppies around like this. You think he’s going to disappear if you leave him here?”

Zhao Ran held Yu An with one arm while slipping on his shoes and opening the door. “No, I’m taking him back to the Circus Illusion Chamber. The emergency unit is heading there now, and there’s a reliable intern in the Emergency Response Unit. She’ll provide an extra layer of protection. If he’s seriously injured in the game illusion chamber, his real brain could suffer severe damage.”

An eyeball emerged from a crack in the furniture, blocking the doorway and staring at Zhao Ran, its deathly gaze preventing him from taking another step.

Ha Bai set a stack of bowls on the table with a light thud. “You think I’d let him die in my house?”

With that assurance, Zhao Ran quickly closed the door and stepped back inside. He knew his older brother’s capabilities well. He was just afraid that Ha Bai might ignore Yu An, leaving him to fend for himself, or use the situation as leverage to force Zhao Ran to swear never to see Yu An again.

“Let him eat with us.” Ha Bai said, setting out six pairs of chopsticks.

An eyeball floated over to Yu An, its smooth surface pressing against his forehead. A visible silver magnetic field formed between the eyeball and his skin. The eyeball then floated above Yu An’s head, its gaze fixed downward.

Yu An’s arm twitched, and he slid out of Zhao Ran’s arms, standing upright on his own. His eyes opened.

“Huh? It can do that?” Zhao Ran waved his hand in front of Yu An’s eyes. Yu An’s pupils were unfocused; he was nothing more than a puppet under control, capable of performing simple actions based on instinct and subconscious impulses.

Ha Bai’s eye could see through all illusions and disguises. Under the eyeball’s control, Yu An perceived the world in its truest form.

Yu An silently sat down at the table and picked up his chopsticks. Suddenly, he paused and turned to look at the tadpoles sitting obediently at the table, waiting for dinner. His expression remained blank. “Huh, twenty-five coins.”

In the game, killing a tadpole would drop twenty-five gold coins.

“…” Zhao Ran quickly clamped Yu An’s mouth shut to prevent him from saying anything else that might get them kicked out.

Yu An finally noticed Zhao Ran beside him.

Ha Bai, ladling soup, watched the scene unfold out of the corner of his eye.

He wasn’t being kind by having the eyeball control Yu An. He just wanted to hear what Yu An’s subconscious truly thought of Zhao Ran.

Would he say something like, “What a disgusting monster”? Ha Bai nearly laughed out loud. It would be good to give his delusional younger brother a dose of reality. He loved watching the moment when a love-struck fool got slapped by the truth.

Yu An turned his head and saw Zhao Ran. He visibly flinched, a reaction comparable to sitting in a classroom and suddenly seeing a giant wasp fly in through the window.

“Ah, he’s scared.” Ha Bai gloated, raising an eyebrow.

Zhao Ran, holding his chopsticks in his left hand, stared blankly, waiting. At this moment, he wasn’t sitting at the dining table but in the center of a courtroom, his entire body resisting the inevitable verdict.

But Yu An didn’t speak. Instead, he pointed to the far end of the table. “That.”

Zhao Ran followed his finger and realized Yu An was indicating that the winter melon and shrimp soup was too far away for him to reach.

Zhao Ran stood up and ladled a bowl of soup for him. Yu An quietly held the bowl and began sipping.

Logically, from Yu An’s perspective, the soft seat by the wall to his left was occupied by three tadpoles with gaping, lamprey-like mouths, eating voraciously. To his right sat a writhing mass of a hundred-handed monster. Further down the table, a pool of sticky eyeballs oozed. In such a scene, anyone else would have wet their pants if their waistband wasn’t tight enough. Yet Yu An was calmly enjoying his soup.

“That just means he’s brave.” Ha Bai said, bored as he picked at his food. Setting aside everything else, at least it proved that his cooking was delicious. His mood improved slightly.

Zhao Ran remained silent for a long time, lost in thought. His gloomy expression softened slightly, but a deep plan was still brewing in his mind.

This state wasn’t so bad, was it? The melon just needed to be picked; there was no need to demand that it be both sweet and alive^[1].

After Yu An finished eating, Zhao Ran patiently led him to the bathroom. The prolonged link had far exceeded their agreed-upon limit, and it was unclear what damage it might have done to his body.

Closing the bathroom door, Zhao Ran pushed Yu An toward the toilet and let him handle his business.

The floating eyeball was recalled by Ha Bai, who had no interest in watching.

Without the shared insight of Ha Bai’s eyeball, Yu An no longer saw Zhao Ran as the writhing mass of his true form.

Yu An looked up at him.

“Can’t go with me watching?” Zhao Ran smiled faintly and turned around.

He waited for a while but heard no movement. Just as he was about to turn back, a pair of hands reached around his waist and pressed against his chest. The cold palms pressed against the well-defined muscles through the thin fabric of his shirt, and one hand even slipped under the hem, resting on his abs and gently rubbing.

Under Ha Bai’s control, Yu An wasn’t fully conscious. His actions could only reflect what his subconscious wanted to do.

Zhao Ran stiffened and grabbed the hand that was wandering over his chest.

Yu An pressed against his back, stood on his tiptoes, and took Zhao Ran’s earlobe into his mouth, biting down gently.

“Mmm…” Zhao Ran’s ears instantly flushed a deep red.

A cool voice whispered in his ear. “Can I… have a turn on top?”

…

“What.”

“WHAT??!!!”

*

While the two were in the bathroom, the three tadpoles ate their meal and looked up at Ha Bai. “Uncle’s job is to kill Aberrants and dig out their cores. Is he a bad guy?”

“Someone has to fight for our territory. He’s willing to be the bad guy so you can go to school and have food to eat.” Ha Bai said, leaning on the table and playing with the recalled eyeball. “Do you want to go back to the cold, stormy ice caves?”

“No.”

“Then study more and ask fewer stupid questions.”

“Okay.”

“Dad, can you help us wrap our book covers tonight?”

“Let Zhao Ran do it. He has more hands; he’ll finish faster.”

“I don’t want him to do it.”

The bathroom door suddenly opened, and Zhao Ran walked out carrying Yu An over his shoulder. Yu An was no longer under the eyeball’s control, lying unconscious against Zhao Ran’s neck. However, tear streaks marked the corners of his eyes, and his lips bore two small bite marks from sharp teeth.

“Who needs book covers wrapped? I’ll do it. I’m the best at wrapping book covers.” Zhao Ran said, his kind gaze sweeping over the three tadpoles.

The three tadpoles, having seen what happened to Yu An for not obeying and being dragged into the bathroom and bitten to death, covered their mouths and burst into tears.

Ha Bai picked up a slipper and threw it at Zhao Ran. “Get out!”

——

Monster Encyclopedia: Man-Eating Tadpoles

Man-Eating Tadpoles are creatures unique to the icy seas of Riyu Town. Their proper name is Hell Pieces, meaning “Pieces of Hell.” They are monsters that resemble tadpoles in appearance and do not transform into frogs as they grow.

They are about the size of a plate, with smooth black skin, some adorned with fluorescent spots. Their method of hunting involves gathering on the water’s surface, luring people into thinking they are stepping on a bridge of pebbles. Once someone steps onto them, they open their lamprey-like mouths and swallow them whole.

However, the area near the ice caves is completely deserted. The clueless Hell Pieces can only open their mouths to catch small fish and shrimp. Due to their large heads and small tails, they swim slowly and are often washed ashore by the waves, where they become stranded. When Zhao Ran (in his monster form) goes ashore to scavenge, he uses shot-put techniques to toss the stranded idiots back into the water.

These Hell Pieces drift with the currents. During storms, many of them die. One pregnant Hell Piece took refuge in Ha Bai’s shell during a storm. After the storm passed, she left without a word. Several days later, Ha Bai discovered she had left three eggs in his home (perhaps she couldn’t hold them in). By then, the eggs were halfway hatched, and the little ones inside had already recognized him as their father through the semi-transparent egg walls (since Ha Bai’s true form does share some similarities with them).

When Zhao Ran (in his monster form) returned from scavenging and found that his older brother suddenly had children, he was stunned. With his still-underdeveloped brain, he agonized over what Ha Bai might have done to the Mother of Hell Pieces during the storm that night.

P.S. Zhao Ran enjoys tossing tadpole spawn like a clown juggling balls. After all, with so many hands, he can pull off quite a few tricks.