Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation | Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After the roller shutter slammed to the ground with a loud smash, Naga-ashi crouched down and locked it. Aside from telling the patron of the shop that they were closed for the day, it could do little to stop the burglar from entering. Lin Sanjiu was certain that she could lay waste to the roller shutter with a single punch.
“The money is with me, and there are only several pieces of equipment that I can’t take away inside the shop, so don’t worry,” Naga-ashi said after it noticed Lin Sanjiu’s gaze, “It’s very safe here in the day, but it seems that no matter where you are, you posthumans always think there’s something lurking around when night arrives.”
The night was getting dark and most of the shops were closed. As they walked along the street, Lin Sanjiu saw a shop owner fold his wooden hut into a stack and carry it away. The flashing lights from the shops that remained open throughout the night cast flitting shadows against the walkway. A disc-shaped streetlight, which rose from nowhere, was hanging high in the sky. The orange blob cast its warm light on the pedestrians on the street. Their shadows were long behind them. It stretched to the end of the horizon without touching anything midway.
Living up to its reputation, the kuchisake-onna was indeed a guide who performed its duty well. As they strolled down the street, it explained, “This street might not look like it, but it will soon turn into a bustling area. Well, it is different from the kind of busyness you saw in the day.”
“Why’s that?”
“The only thing you can’t find in here is lacking itself.” Naga-ashi shrugged as it continued, “Although Black’s Market has everything you need, there is a quantum of things that aren’t suitable to be placed under the eyes of the public but in a corner shop in the middle of the night.”
“But I am looking for houses...” Lin Sanjiu could not help interrupting.
“Yeah, you already said that before,” Naga-ashi replied apathetically, “It’s better to buy houses secretly in the wee hours of the night. Wasn’t that the reason you came to me at closing time?”
‘What kind of logic is that?’
It was quarter past one in the middle of the night. Lin Sanjiu was trailing a duoluozhong, her head filled with questions. They soon crossed half of Black’s Market and stepped onto a street filled with a kaleidoscope of lights.
There were fewer streetlights here. The fusion of the psychedelic lights from the neon lamp and the rivulet of lights fashioned in a geometrical latticework chased the darkness away, lighting up the dust particles in the air as they leaped through the entire night sky, filling the upper region to the seam in with fervor.
Whilst the other streets had gone into slumber, this street had just awoken. Several posthumans climbed onto a building as they yawned. They pinched the corner of the building and flipped the layer of skin open. The skin was about several meters thick with a furry texture that shrouded the entire building like a sac. Lin Sanjiu would have never known it if Naga-ashi had not told her that it was a building because from the flitting second that those posthumans flipped the skin up, Lin Sanjiu saw that the main body of the building was red in color, and there were short pulsations on the odd occasion as if it were breathing.
“It has to put the skin on before the sun rises and it goes to sleep,” the kuchisake-onna explained when it saw that Lin Sanjiu had stopped to look at the building, “It will then take the skin down at night. This building is popular amongst the younger generation. You’ll be able to see its revelry on your way back.”
The flow of people thickened as they went further down the street and groups of women and men dressed in different attire began to show up. Some of them were leaning against the wall while the others crouched by the roadside. A gang of youngsters made a Virginia fence, walking past Lin Sanjiu’s side. They passed a roll of paper around among themselves, and an occasional peal of laughter would erupt amidst the clanking of bottles.
It was a rare sight to see a woman of Lin Sanjiu’s height strolling around. Everybody was staring at her, and even though Naga-ashi was walking by her side, none of them spared it a glance. It was as if the mask it wore had made it invisible, and those youngsters’ eyes slipped past it as though it was air.
“You mentioned that this building is popular amongst youngsters?” Lin Sanjiu asked as she observed the back of the kuchisake-onna. It had a head of shoulder-length deep-brown hair, and Lin Sanjiu found that it looked just like a woman from this angle.
“Yes, what’s wrong?”
“I’ve been wondering,” Lin Sanjiu asked hesitantly, “You should be very young too, aren’t you?” contemporary romance
The kuchisake-onna did not answer the question promptly. It continued to walk forward. Just as Lin Sanjiu thought it was going to remain silent for the rest of the journey, its muffled voice slid into her ears, “Yeah.”
“How old are you?”
Naga-ashi suddenly stopped walking. It pointed to a door that looked like a tavern. “Do you see those tightly shut red doors? That’s one of the more famous florists on this street. When you visit a florist, you must pick one with a reliable reputation. Not only are their flowers domesticated, but they also regularly prune the flowers’ liquid glands and fangs, so the flowers are rather safe compared to others.”
The moment it finished speaking, the doors were pushed open and a man walked in, emerging from the golden glow that spilled out from the ajar door. His face was ruddy, his steps were unsteady, and his eyes were glazed over. Nevertheless, there was a satisfactory expression sitting comfortably on his face. He lifted his feet, stumbling over a puddle, and waded into the night.
Lin Sanjiu glanced at Naga-ashi. Although she knew it was trying to sidetrack her, she went along and asked, “What’s in that place? I don’t see the man holding any flowers in his hands.”
“Flowers are a service tool,” said Naga-ashi as she led Lin Sanjiu down a long alley, “As for its application, I’ve heard of it before, but I’m not so sure. This is mainly because I’ve never been to a florist before, and secondly, Black’s Market has created tons of new desires that have never existed for humans before and then developed several industrial chains to satisfy these desires. I have no idea which desires the man has fulfilled at the florist, but if you really want to know, you can go in and try it out.”
Lin Sanjiu thought for a moment and decided to flip a coin. After all, when one had too much money, she could do whatever she wanted.
When the clock struck 2 in the morning, Lin Sanjiu realized that Naga-ashi was bringing her into the men’s washroom.
“Hold on,” said Lin Sanjiu promptly. She began to wonder if she was getting a little too comfortable with the duoluozhong. “I want to buy houses. Why did you bring me here?”
“I know. You’ve said that numerous times already.” The kuchisake-onna glanced at her from behind its mask and moved to a cubicle. Then, she knocked it twice.
“Who’s out there?” A young man’s voice, which was the embodiment of carefree and casual—wafted from the cubicle, “I’m sh*tting!”
The kuchisake-onna was stunned. It angled the mask on its face. Then, after taking a deep breath, it rapped the door rapidly, releasing a long chain of rat-a-tats into the air. It was only now that Lin Sanjiu finally saw what this kind of duoluozhong could do. In less than a second, it struck the door at least a hundred times. Every knock landed on the same spot and ended up leaving a tiny cavity on the door.
“Fine! Fine! Here I come!” the man growled as he pulled the door open. Naga-ashi took a step and retreated behind Lin Sanjiu in a swift motion.
Lin Sanjiu glanced at the man from head to toe, glad that he still had his pants on and that the toilet lid behind him was down. The cubicle looked like a small office. Many pieces of paper were nailed to the wall while the toilet seat could have been his chair, and there were several metal cases piled at the corner of the cubicle.
The man had rosy cheeks and a pointy nose. His eye bags were heavy and there were black rings around his eyes. Although Lin Sanjiu had no idea what kind of species he was, she was not perturbed. After all, there were too many humanoid species in the Twelve Worlds. Suddenly, Mrs. Manas mumbled something in her mind, but she did not hear it. Just as she took a step closer to the man, she was shocked. “You aren’t a posthuman!”
“Yeah, so?” asked Pointy-nose nonchalantly as he scratched his face. Like those pedestrians out there, he did not cast a glance toward Naga-ashi at all. “Who are you? Have you not seen ordinary people before?”
Piqued by curiosity, Lin Sanjiu inspected the man from his feet up. “So, there are survivors in the Heaven Underworld...Hold on a sec, no, this doesn’t feel right. You look too young.”
Seventy years had passed since the apocalypse arrived in this world, but the man in front of her looked no more than 30 years old. Besides, ordinary humans could not hop from world to world, so—
“Tsk, what a naive woman.” Pointy-nose rolled his eyes. He formed a circle in the air with one hand and brought up a finger. He thrust the finger into the circle as if he was imitating some kind of unsightly movement. “Don’t you really have any idea? No matter when and no matter what the situation is, that’s something humans will never cease doing. After that, kids will be born, and when kids are born...Hey, are you here to listen to my biology class?”
Lin Sanjiu looked at Naga-ashi that had suddenly turned silent. She turned her head back to see the man and said, “I’m here to buy houses.”
It never occurred in Lin Sanjiu’s wildest dreams that she would one day stand inside a men’s washroom and engage conversation with an odd-looking man, saying that she wanted to buy houses. She even began to consider the possibility of her being caught in some kind of prank.
Pointy-nose was stunned. He lowered his head, pitched his voice low and said, “Why didn’t you say that earlier?” Then, when he lifted his head to face Lin Sanjiu, all the hostility he showed toward Lin Sanjiu melted away as a warm smile blossomed across his lips. “Come in, come in. Let’s talk inside. You didn’t talk to anybody on your way here, did you? Did you tell anybody that you want to buy a house?”
‘Is he going to ask me whether I was being followed or not?’ Lin Sanjiu spun her head to look at Naga-ashi again. Sensing her gaze, the kuchisake-onna nodded. After a short bout of rumination, Lin Sanjiu decided to bite the bullet, so she stepped into the cubicle. After all, both the man and Naga-ashi looked weak, and she was certain that both of them could not best her in a fight.
“What’s wrong?”
After Lin Sanjiu walked into the cubicle, Pointy-nose quickly went up and closed the door. He put his ear on the door and listened. Since Lin Sanjiu’s hearing was much better than his, she knew that there was no one outside except for Naga-ashi, but it seemed that the man trusted his ear more than hers. After a while, he turned his face to her and began introducing himself, “My name is Timo. I’m the most famous real estate agent around here.”
Questions such as “Why is your office in a washroom?” and “Why do we have to be so secretive when buying houses?” plagued Lin Sanjiu’s mind like a pest gnawing on wood.
“Don’t you worry. I have scouted this area and I’m certain it is safe,” Timo said sternly, “I’ve just moved into this place, and I only sent out the location of my new office three days ago. Your guide is pretty good at its job. I won’t ask for your name, and a pseudonym will do. So, now, what kind of house are you looking for?”
Staring straight at the man, Lin Sanjiu wondered was “house” another name for drugs in the Twelve Worlds.
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