Chapter 6: White Fog, Yellow Fog
Atlantis 12:13 AM
By the time we found Yido, it really was about ten minutes or so later.
He was standing on the gravel-strewn ground in front of the building with the eagle sculpture on Mock Avenue. Yido, who had obviously been doing something before we came, was dusting the lower hem of his robe and straightened himself as soon as he saw us appear.
"What are these things?"
Just as I was vomiting into the nearby gutter due to the after-effects of traveling at a high speed, Leido"s voice sounded out close by, and then I heard the sound of gravel being kicked.
"Rocks." Yado gave him an answer that was the equivalent of nonsense.
It was only after I"d spat out a bunch of acidic water that I stood up, and a handkerchief appeared before me. Yido, who had walked over to me at some point, very cordially held out a high-quality silk handkerchief to me.
Speaking of that, I"m very grateful for your kindness, but this boss…
I don"t dare to use items of such high-quality!
Yido"s hand had been hovering in the air for several seconds already so I had no choice but to take it. I wonder which washing method would make this thing the cleanest…
At the side, Chifuyu bent down to pick up a broken little rock and looked over it for a while. "Man-eating rock?" He frowned and said a familiar name that I"ve seen before in a manhua.
"Yes, but it seems like there should be no one controlling them. When I pa.s.sed by just now, I accidentally set off the device and thus, I was attacked." Yido curved into a smile and gave an affirmative sentence, "They"re probably some objects left behind by the town"s inhabitants."
I looked at the little rocks on the ground that were broken until they were scattered all over the place. It looks like their original size wasn"t small. I had the impression that the manhua had mentioned something about man-eating rocks. It seems that they come from a whatchamacallit source, and then it said something like how they would eat people and whatnot.
"They should be security guards, right?" Raising his head to look at the building, Chifuyu agreed with that statement. "This place should be Lake Town"s bank, so it would be normal for it to have things like that."
It"s normal for a bank to have man-eating rocks?
Wait a minute, did I hear that right?
Basically, I don"t think this is normal at all.
Chifuyu glanced around and then picked up a half-burnt charm from the ground. "Yido." His expression was rather heavy, and after he flipped the charm over, he said, "There was someone else with you just now, right."
His words were filled with certainty.
Looking at that paper, Yido also curved into a faint smile. "That"s right, Gasai was with me just now."
Eh?
I widened my eyes and looked at that sc.r.a.p of paper in Chifuyu"s hand. That"s too G.o.dly! You were able to tell who was with Yido with just that?
"Then how come Gasai"s not here?" Leido draped his arm over his twin"s shoulder before getting smacked away.
"Nn…Since there was a cl.u.s.ter of man-eating rocks before, Gasai said that going separate paths and leading them away wouldn"t damage the town a second time, so at the previous fork in the road, we split up into opposite directions." Yido gave a brief description to the others. "But you don"t have to worry, Mr. Gasai"s strength is very high. He wouldn"t get hurt by man-eating rocks." Perhaps noticing that Chifuyu"s expression wasn"t right, he then added on those words.
"Nn, I know that." Clenching the half-burnt charm in his hand, Chifuyu responded and then put that half charm into his backpack.
The atmosphere felt somewhat awkward, especially for someone like me, who knows a bit of the inside story; it made me feel completely uncomfortable. If I were to comfort Chifuyu here, it seems like that"d be weird too, so it"s best if I don"t say anything at all.
"That"s right, Yido, did our luggage land near you?" Leido interrupted everyone"s silence just to ask a totally unrelated question.
Speaking of which, if he hadn"t said that, I wouldn"t have noticed it: that huge luggage they had when we departed really was missing…The only thing left was the little backpack that each of us had brought.
Uh-oh, if that falls on top of someone, even if that person doesn"t die, he"d still lose half his life, right?
"No, it probably fell somewhere else in Lake Town." Shaking his head, Yido gave him a negative answer.
"Drat, there were rations and sleep-out equipment inside. Now that they"re gone, how are we gonna get through the night?" Leido said very distraughtly.
What kind of equipment did you put…
I suddenly felt extremely curious about the things inside that bag.
"The supplies in this place are still very abundant. It wouldn"t be a issue to temporarily stay here." Yado cut off his twin"s worries as he very seriously said.
Speaking of that, there really are quite a lot of supplies. I knew that from looking through that store before. Even though there"s no one here, the majority of the things are completely preserved. It shouldn"t be a problem for a couple of people to make do with them.
"Yado, you"re so stupid! What if those things have poison in them?" Waving his hand in objection to this opinion, Leido curled his lip. "If you want to eat, then go ahead and eat them yourself. Serves you right if you get poisoned to death."
Yado was silent for a moment as if he was thinking about something. Then, using a very slow speed, he said something that would make his twin brother throw up blood thirty thousand times.
"Don"t worry, we"ll die together."
This is the first time I realized that Yado actually knows how to joke.
After leaving Mock Avenue, we"d walked for quite a while from the avenue to downtown, and yet, we still haven"t b.u.mped into any of the others.
"How strange, logically speaking, we should"ve at least met one or two of them by now…" Chifuyu"s murmur just so happened to be the question in everyone"s hearts.
That"s right, even if we haven"t met up with them, there should at least be a little noise though. But from arriving here a while ago to now, there was not a tad bit of sound. It can"t be that they had all disappeared, right?
Once I thought of this, I began to feel a little terrified.
Glancing at the time on my watch, it"s about two o"clock or so.
Uh…To tell the truth, I"m starting to feel a little hungry, and after walking for so long, my feet are also quite sore. But since these inhuman guys are all around me, I have no idea whatsoever if they"re hungry or tired, causing me to feel too uncomfortable to suggest taking a break.
"Let"s take a break."
Five minutes later, someone said something that saved both my feet and my stomach.
Yido, who said something that was like the words of a G.o.d descending down to Earth, tilted his head as he peered at the ground. "It seems that the lake water is rising faster than we had expected." Hearing his words, everyone looked down. At some point, small puddles of water had already started spreading out, one by one, on the ground; as if they were contagious, they began to gradually expand outward. "Let"s stop our search here, and then see if there"s a place nearby to spend the night. Once we find it, we"ll use that place as our base and continue our search from there. Before the water fills up, everyone must return to that starting point." He took out a green crystal that was just like the one Yado had before, and then he found the closest gutter and threw it in.
After a flash of light came from the crystal, it faded away again.
"Let me think…If we"re in this area, then there should be a small hostel that we can temporarily stay at." Chifuyu, whose head was probably filled with road maps and other than that, there were still road maps, pointed in a direction. "It"s just past that corner in front of us."
Following his finger and looking across, I saw a building that was about five stories high. Outside the building was a blue sign with words that I couldn"t read. It should be the place that Chifuyu said was a hostel and whatnot.
Just as I was about to ask if that place is really safe, a force suddenly grabbed the back of my collar and pulled me backwards.
"In that case, Yang Yang and I can go in first to check out the rooms." Completely ignoring the wishes of the other person, Leido made the exact same move that a certain d.a.m.n rooster would, causing me to want to slap his hand away. "You guys could just look around to see if there"s anything edible or useful!"
Hey hey, did I really say that I"ll be going with you?
"Then it"s decided. We"ll set up a barrier here as well as search for food and supplies." Yido nodded, having no objection at all to splitting up into two groups. "Chu, we"ll be troubling you."
Since someone had already said it like that, what else could I do.
"That…It"s no trouble…" In reality, I really don"t want to go. But cooperating with the group to divide up the work is essential; just like how it"s also very dangerous for them to go looking for things, compared to us who only need to determine the lodgings, this is a lot more leisurely.
As long there isn"t a person called Andellar popping up inside the lodgings, it definitely won"t be dangerous.
"After you"ve determined the lodgings, don"t run around to prevent the safe place from being invaded." Chifuyu very carefully explained, "I keep feeling that something"s going to happen…"
Hey! Don"t jinx us!
Once he said that, it made me feel like something"s going to happen too.
"Leido, if there"s anything, you can always tell me about it." Patting his brother"s shoulder, Yido"s expression, which was already very solemn, now became even more solemn. I can totally understand his consideration, because after I got to know Leido better, I found out that there was a horrifying amount of loose screws in his brain.
"Long-winded, with me around, nothing"s gonna happen!" Clasping his arm around my shoulder hard, Leido very heroically threw out this sentence, "Yang Yang will help me guarantee that!"
Uhh…I am unable to help you guarantee that.
"Alright, let"s split up and get to work. If we hang around any longer, the sun is going to set." Seeing that more and more puddles had appeared on the ground, Yido said loudly, urging us a little.
"Nn."
Then, we were split up into two groups.
It was only after Leido had explained it that I realized that the place Chifuyu referred to as the hostel was named the Lake Water Hostel.
A very poetic and a very realistic name.
"Looks like there should be nothing here." Leido was the first to walk in. The interior of the hostel was just like the other buildings, with a completely empty first floor that had only one staircase leading up.
We walked up the stairs to the second floor. The first thing we saw was a front desk with a wall behind it. Hanging on the wall were some pictures that should be used for introducing the rooms. Then at the side was a gla.s.s locker that sealed up the keys inside. On top of it was a couple of numbers, so there"s probably about a dozen rooms.
"Nn…Three of the rooms have been checked in." Seeing the missing keys on the front desk, Leido was suspected to be talking to himself for a while and then opened the gla.s.s locker. "I think we should just take the largest room. It"d be safer if everyone stays together."
It"s so rare for us to actually have the same thoughts.
Just as we were about to look for the door that corresponds to the number on the key, a sound broke apart the entire strange and still silence. Not long later, it gradually grew louder before changing into another sound altogether.
"Is someone here?" Very curious, Leido turned toward the source of the sound.
"Don"t go! Will die!" I immediately pulled the hem of his clothes. After having that horrifying encounter in the morning, I do not want to remeet that face-changing person in the afternoon at all.
"What"s going to die?"
"You"ll die if you go there!"
I"m begging you, boss Leido, please turn back! Up ahead, the Land of Bliss* is beckoning to you!
[T/N: Paradise in Buddhism]
However, being unable to have telepathic communications would obviously result in obstacles. Completely not believing he"d die, Leido very persistently walked forward. "If there is something, then we need to get rid of it as soon as possible. Our living environment has to be clean and sanitary."
He uttered some kind of advertis.e.m.e.nt for promoting pest control that would show up on TV during the summertime.
But basically, if you go there, you"ll probably be the one that"s gotten rid of!
I grabbed the hem of Leido"s clothes, but I was completely unable to pull him back. Instead, I was even dragged along with him, and he quickly dragged me into the hall of the hostel, where the sounds had originated from.
In the hall was a TV, and the sounds had come from that TV.
However, this time the one pressing the power b.u.t.ton wasn"t that face-changing person.
It was a stinky little brat playing with the remote control.
"Ah!" Holding the remote control and playing with it, as soon as she saw us, a certain golden-eyed black snake in the form of a little girl gave a loud cry and even used an eyesore of a fat finger to point toward us. "Dessert box!"
When did I become a dessert box!?
Holding the remote control as she jumped off the hostel"s sofa, Xiao Ting bounced two steps over in front of us. "You guys came to stay at the hostel too?" She tilted her head and then started circling Leido. Leido also allowed her to look as she pleased, without stopping her.
Oh right, she seems to have rarely seen Leido and the others.
"Is senior Gasai here?" Since Xiao Ting has appeared in this place, then it represents another possibility—her master is also here.
Sure enough, Xiao Ting nodded her head forcefully, "Master just went upstairs. He instructed Xiao Ting to wait here, and if any unfamiliar bad guys come…Nn…I have to…" She tilted her little head and began to think hard. After a long while, she probably found a satisfactory answer, "Kill them all!"
I"m positive that senior Gasai definitely did not instruct you to do that!
"When did he go up?" Leído glanced at the nearby staircase leading up and asked.
Xiao Ting held out her fingers and counted for a moment. "Seven minutes ago."
"Yang Yang, I"ll go up first to greet Mr. Gasai and at the same time, help him out with the inspection. You and this little girl can relax over here." Leido patted my shoulder, and all of a sudden, he said very maturely, "When you"re no longer tired, you can come upstairs. Don"t be too hard on yourself."
If you suddenly become so normal, I"ll be afraid.
"Yang Yang, stay with me!" Xiao Ting grabbed my hand. Before I could even reply, I was unexpectedly tugged by her terrifying brute force, and I fell onto the sofa. "Just now, Master took me to get lots of candies. Let"s eat them together." She shook her kimono"s sleeves, and a big heap of colorful wrapped candies and cookies really did fall out.
You guys actually took advantage of this to rob people!
"This curse looks like it should be very strong." Pointing at Xiao Ting, Leido told me. "For now, there"s probably nothing that will happen. You can rest easy and relax here."
"Okay."
In fact, after removing his mental disorder, Leido can be quite thoughtful.
But unfortunately, his mental disorder can"t be removed.
After Leido went up, the only ones left were Xiao Ting and me.
Still not yet satisfied, she once again started playing with the TV and remote control. After a while, Xiao Ting threw away the thing in her hand and jumped off the sofa. "Do you want tea?" She raised her head to look up at me.
"Uh…No need, thank you." The tea in this place, to be honest, I really don"t dare to drink it.
"But we need to have tea in order to eat desserts." Looking at the candies and cookies sprinkled all over the chair, Xiao Ting regretfully said.
This fake little MeiMei, basically we can not drink tea and still be able to eat desserts…
"Then fine, you can pretend that you want to drink tea, I"ll go make tea, and that way we can eat the desserts." Very quickly, she helped herself find a compromise.
"Alright, I"ll pretend that I want to drink tea so you can go make tea." I was very afraid that her eagerly awaiting eyes would soon turn into murderously glaring eyes, so all I could do was comply to her wishes.
"I"ll go make tea!"
The little black snake MeiMei joyfully ran off.
The entire hostel hall instantly became empty. Not a single sound could be heard.
I sat on the sofa and looked up at the ceiling. Above, there were some carved flower designs that looked rather simple and yet also very detailed. You can definitely tell how meticulous the hostel owner was.
Just like a very ordinary little town with ordinary people living there. And it probably also had a lot of people like me, who aren"t good at magic and just want to live a quiet life.
Then, every one of them disappeared.
If this happens to the people around me, what am I going to do?
Looking at the deserted huge hall, I suddenly felt a little scared.
If, this happens to us, what are we going to do?
I suddenly realized that this mission isn"t just a mission. It is a real incident and it"s very likely that it"ll happen to us soon. If, all of a sudden, someone around me vanishes, what should I do?
My head was in a chaotic mess, and I couldn"t think of a single idea.
If it was Senior and the others right now, there"s an eighty percent chance that they would"ve already come up with dozens of ways to deal with it.
"Yaah—-!"
At the same time that I decided to stop thinking so much and closed my eyes, some sort of strange sound came from the back. Opening my eyes, I hurriedly ran towards the source of the sound, because that was the place where Xiao Ting had gone to make tea just now.
After turning past the corner, inside what should be the hostel"s attached kitchen and the like was a gas stove and some kitchen utensils. Xiao Ting was just standing on the kitchen countertop, one hand holding onto a large kettle and then staring straight at the sink.
"What happened!?" I lifted Xiao Ting off the countertop.
"There"re bubbles inside." Xiao Ting pointed to the sink, giving me a really weird answer.
Bubbles?
Following what she said, I looked down at the sink.
A faint "hong hong" sound was coming from a water pipe under the sink, as if there was something forcing its way up, and then the sound grew closer to us. A couple of seconds later, I widened my eyes in response.
A white fog-like thing was slowly emerging from the pipe.
Wait a minute…Fog!?
In a second, I knew that we had a big problem.
"Hurry and find something to plug up the pipe!" We"re gonna die, we"re gonna die! We"re definitely going to die! I hastily grabbed a nearby dishrag and threw it into the opening of the pipe. The white fog floated for a while and then started to drift out again through the seams of the rag.
"Plug it up!" After Xiao Ting ran several rounds, she brought all the rags and sponges in the kitchen over here, working hard to plug up the pipe. She even got a spatula from who knows where to poke the rags down.
"Stuff it to death, don"t let the fog escape!" I heard that "hong hong" sound becoming increasingly loud, but maybe it was because the pipe was plugged up that the white fog was temporarily unable to come out. Only the fog that had come out from the sink just now was left. And without thinking, I directly reached out my hand to clear away the fog.
The second I touched the fog, a sharp pain immediately came from my fingers.
"It hurts!" I instantly withdrew my hand. As if corroded by something, a layer of skin on my fingertips was dissolved off, resulting in a bunch of blood.
It can"t be that this fog is a strong acid or aqua regia, right!?
"This cannot be touched." Xiao Ting opened her mouth wide and completely swallowed that small piece of the white fog.
It can"t be touched but it can be eaten…?
I had a feeling that her stomach might be more formidable than strong acid.
The "hong hong" sound from the pipe gradually grew weaker.
First taking out the handkerchief from my backpack and wrapping up my wound with it, I had a feeling that this matter wouldn"t be so easy to resolve.
Xiao Ting placed the kettle on the gas stove and then turned it on to start boiling the water. Perhaps there wasn"t much water inside, because it didn"t take long before we heard a sound from the kettle. "Master said the fog is a bad thing so I can"t just touch it." She tilted her head as she looked at my hand, being rather late in telling me this information.
You should"ve said it earlier…
A few minutes later, the water boiled down.
Next, that "hong hong" sound seemed like it"d decided to start all over again after taking a break, so this time, it didn"t come from the sink"s pipe. I heard that strange sound coming directly beneath us.
"Seems like it"s coming back." Xiao Ting climbed up on the table and began brewing tea.
If it"s beneath us…
I suddenly realized that there should be something called a "drain hole" in the kitchen.
Turning around, sure enough, not far away was a small drain hole, and that was where the sound was coming from. Following a gradual increase in volume of that sound, at the same time, we saw a tiny yellow fog starting to creep out.
Yellow?
Xiao Ting jumped off the table while carrying a boiling hot kettle. "I"ll cook you up a little so that you won"t come anymore."
Saying that, right before my eyes, I saw that little black snake MeiMei taking the hot kettle and then with the spout facing down, she poured the entire kettle of hot water straight into the drain hole.
Speaking of which…You"re not supposed to pour hot water into the drain hole, right…The pipes will get deformed…
The second the hot water was poured down, inside the pipes, I heard a very, very clear as well as sharp "ji" sound.
It should be very painful, right, no, it should be extremely painful.
The yellow fog instantly shrunk back and disappeared, and even the "hong hong" sound that came with it left along with it.
No matter what that fog was, I suddenly felt a little sympathy for it.
The little black snake MeiMei has some kind of talent in causing damage.
"Time to eat desserts~~" Xiao Ting felt nothing at all towards pouring hot water to scald something just now, as she happily took all the cups of tea off the table, and then walked outside while pulling the hem of my clothes.
I turned to glance back at that pipe. It was quiet, with not a bit of sound.
I guess, for now, those fogs wouldn"t dare to come, right?