Chapter 14: Stop 21: Purification

Chapter 14: Stop 21: Cleaning Up

Ming Yiyang heard a barely audible gasp.

The figure hidden in the darkness had lost its refined voice, replaced by a strained rasp:

"Ming Yiyang?"

As if finding an answer in the question itself, the person fell silent.

The Spirit Binding Rope caused no harm to Ming Yiyang; instead, it became a docile pet after coiling around his neck, its cold body seeking a comfortable spot before loosely draping there.

It promptly retreated back into his sleeve when its master called upon it again.

For some reason, Ming Yiyang sensed a hint of reluctance from the Spirit Binding Rope as it left.

He hurried to the bedside and discovered that Yan Qiling's shirt was burnt to half its original size.

The suit pants were singed from the hem to the knee, exposing vast areas of burnt skin that were once porcelain white, now marred with blood and ashes, a horrifying sight.

Ming Yiyang was aware that burn victims should not be moved carelessly, but in the Realm of No Respite, rules held the highest priority.

Burns could prove fatal within hours, yet disobedience to the rules could result in a swift and "legitimate" retribution from the Ruler of No Respite, as just witnessed.

It was already remarkable that Yan Qiling had escaped death's clutches.

With such injuries, if he didn't return to rest, he might not withstand a second round of punishment for rule-breaking.

Ming Yiyang gently nudged the headboard with his knee, causing the steel frame to tremble slightly:

"Can you move? Let's go back to the dormitory first."

The man, with his exquisite eyes half-lidded and his long eyelashes drooping, maintained his usual composed demeanor:

"Bleeding attracts the dorm supervisor."

Ming Yiyang understood his concern but still offered his arm to support the uninjured areas, bending down to lift the man into his embrace:

"It's nothing serious."

He expected the fake vase to put up at least a little resistance, but instead, the person leaned against him like a limp sandbag.

The unusually pale lips and complexion hinted at the individual's frailty, causing Ming Yiyang to worry that the person had lost too much blood. He asked deliberately,

"So light, do you never exercise?"

The other person slowly opened their heterochromatic eyes, a hint of unconscious confusion mingling with their calm expression,

"Light? This body weighs over 130 pounds..."

Ming Yiyang couldn't help but chuckle.

Using the tip of his foot, he nudged open the half-open door and, guided by intuition, dripped more blood to dispel the fog once again.

"Stay alert, don't waste my blood."

"No problem," Yan Qiling replied, closing his eyes.

"I'm not going to die."

"What is one plus one?"

Yan Qiling cracked an eye open to glance at him, seemingly confirming who was speaking, before coldly closing it again without uttering a word.

Ming Yiyang habitually issued a threat:

"Not saying? Do you believe I'll leave you here? Tell me now, what's one plus one!"

"…Immature."

With his eyes shut, Yan Qiling didn't even bother to make up an excuse.

Ming Yiyang scoffed:

"You're not going to say, huh? Just wait for me to bother you all night."

"…Fine, ask again."

"What's one plus one?"

Yan Qiling's lips brushed the words gently, enunciating clearly:

"You."

Ming Yiyang took a moment to process this, feeling both amused and exasperated:

"I came looking for you out of concern, and this is what I get?"

"Mm."

The person in his arms only offered a single syllable.

By now, they had returned to their room. With his hands occupied, the young man could only slide in sideways, using his shoulder to push the door shut and secure it firmly.

This inevitably caused some noise.

But it seemed that no one had heard them.

Due to Yao Kunrui's previous antics, Yan Qiling's bed was now spotlessly clean, devoid of anything except the wooden frame.

With a casual glance, Ming Yiyang carried the man onto his own bed and gently peeled away the burned scraps of cloth to examine the wounds.

Night and day held no distinction for Ming Yiyang.

He effortlessly noticed the fleeting frown on the man's face as he lay flat, and asked,

"...Did it burn your back too?"

Though he thought his voice remained unchanged, to others, it sounded unusually gentle.

Receiving the gesture of kindness, Yan Qiling no longer hid his discomfort and softly acknowledged with an "mm."

Ming Yiyang meticulously counted the burns on the man's body.

The shoulder bag hadn't been retrieved, nor had the paper fan or the silk pouch survived.

Yet, the black smoking pipe was still clutched in his hand, untouched by a speck of dust, maintaining its delicate appearance.

The sight disturbed him, and his words reflected his displeasure:

"You really outdid yourself, bringing back something like this?"

Yan Qiling shook his head, whispering softly, almost inaudibly:

"A keepsake."

Ming Yiyang fell silent.

Turning around, he went to the cabinet to search for clean cloth.

Suddenly, Hu Gaoming poked his head out from the bed, suppressing his excitement as he whispered,

"…Is it Brother Yan who's back?!"

Pausing in his action, Ming Yiyang looked over,

"Did I wake you up?"

"No, no, is Brother Yan doing alright? Do you need my assistance?"

Ming Yiyang closed the storage cabinet after retrieving a decent-looking cloth, "Not needed. Go to sleep. I can manage this for him."

"Alright, just call me if there's anything I can help with."

"I will."

Hu Gaoming laid back down, reassured.

Brother Yan was still here. See, even Big Brother Ming was more polite when Brother Yan was around.

Soaking the cloth in cold water, he wrung it out and laid it flat.

Ming Yiyang applied the cloth gently onto the burned area as softly as possible, slowly absorbing the mixed dirt without causing further injury.

"Hold on until we reach the infirmary tomorrow. Don't fall asleep until then."

Yan Qiling's eyelashes fluttered, and he opened his eyes to look at Ming Yiyang.

Shaking off the ashes from the fabric, Ming Yiyang was displeased with the silence:

"Speak."

Yan Qiling lay quietly on one side of the pillow, watching him.

His right blue eye shimmered with a dull glow in the dim light, while his crimson eyes remained hidden in the shadows:

"It's nothing. I can walk normally. You don't have to worry about them. Go to sleep."

"...I'm asking you, Yan Qiling, how did your tongue get so stubborn, harder than bone?"

The young man crouched by the bed, washing the cloth in a basin, his flamboyant silver hair glowing with an eerie luster under the mysterious light. Even his lowered eyelashes seemed to be touched by this radiance, giving him an almost divine aura reminiscent of a Greek statue.

There was no anger on his face, only a calm recitation of a fact:

"It's difficult for you to openly admit that you're injured and need care, isn't it? Saying it's nothing despite being feverish like this - would losing your head be just a trivial scar to you?"

"..."

After a moment of silence, the person lying in bed finally spoke with more sincerity:

"Thank you."

Drips of water echoed as the filthy, orange-brown liquid was wrung out from the crevices, carrying an undeniable stench.

It was time to change the cloth.

Ming Yiyang washed the basin clean and refilled it with water. As he continued searching through the cabinet, there was a sudden knock on the door.

A mechanical, eerie voice, resembling a wailing night breeze, pierced through:

"...Open up, it's a room check."

As if he didn't hear, Ming Yiyang immersed the new cloth in the water and, sitting by the bedside, skillfully wiped away the dirt adhered to the burns.

Yan Qiling's voice, rough and hoarse, spoke:

"Step aside, it's coming in."

Ming Yiyang's tone was indifferent, his lowered silver eyelashes concealed within the dim gray shadows.

"Shut up. Mind yourself and stay awake."

The door creaked open slowly, and a chill from the mountain mist wafted in.

Pulling the covers slightly closer, the silver-haired youth lifted his gaze to survey the uninvited guest emerging from the darkness.

The creature appeared unchanged.

Its completely burnt face revealed only two black, charred, and bloodied sockets where eyes once were, appearing even more eerie under the inexplicable blue light that seeped in.

The partially burned flesh emitted a pungent scent of charcoal, while its contorted body barely maintained a human form.

Yet, despite this, it still possessed a keen sense of blood.

It stood at the entrance, as if guided by something, accurately turning its direction. With sharp, blackened fangs bared, it lunged fiercely towards Yan Qiling's bed.

Ming Yiyang flicked out the bamboo strip, which had now transformed into a sharp "human" shaped wooden hook, resembling those used in meat processing plants to hang slaughtered pigs.

The handle of the hook had morphed into a sturdy interlocking wooden chain.

Utilizing the momentum of this peculiar object and the strength of his arm, he precisely impaled the hook deep into its nostrils before taking a half-step back and swinging the chain horizontally.

With the weight of several dozen pounds in the wooden chain combined with sheer force, the charred corpse was effortlessly pulled down.

The instant it hit the ground, the wooden hook transformed into a bone-splitting axe, and the icy silver-haired youth's relationship with it had utterly reversed.

With the precision of a master butcher dismembering a cow, the cleaver struck joint after joint, the shattering bones and splintering fragments tapping rhythmically against the floor.

The others in the dormitory seemed to be dead to the world, with no one peering out to investigate.

The corpse's flesh crumbled under the young man's deft swing of the blade.

With an expressionless face, the young man stepped on one of the still-trembling limbs, his bone-shattering knife transforming into a large cleaver for flesh removal.

The blade sliced slowly through the flesh, dividing it with scientific precision into countless fragments.

The cut surfaces of these pieces were as smooth as tofu, free from any ragged edges or debris.

The charred corpse's head on the ground let out an eerie straining sound, akin to a rat gnawing its teeth.

Incredibly, it still attempted to bounce back up, preparing to launch an assault with its remaining strength.

What was most terrifying was that the detached joints and mangled flesh were wriggling grotesquely, trying to reassemble themselves!

With unyielding patience, the young man peeled away every limb's flesh from the bone, reminiscent of the perseverance displayed by psychopathic killers in various unsolved cases.

After meticulously slicing them, he casually kicked the pieces apart without a change in expression.

Like an idle child carelessly dismantling their own carefully constructed Lego tower, he whimsically determined the fate of his 'plaything.'

The chunks of meat scattered, slipping into every corner of the bedroom, making reassembly impossible.

With a sharp clang, the blackened skull was impaled onto the ground by a thin wooden blade, barely three fingers wide.

Despite its struggles, the knife remained steadfastly in place.

Gazing at the blade that could cut through steel like butter and shifted unpredictably, Yan Qiling gently closed his eyes.

Yellow Bamboo Song.

Sure enough, it was that one.

After washing his hands in the bathroom, Ming Yiyang returned with a quiet grumble, "Damn, I just cleaned that."

The new fabric he had just hung on the bedspread to dry had fallen to the ground after only a short while of movement.

Realizing there was no saving the cloth, he reluctantly opened someone else's cabinet and began searching for a replacement.

Yan Qiling snapped back to reality, his emotions gradually settling. He spoke up as a reminder, "Look at her student ID tag."

"Still thinking about that at a time like this."

Despite his words, Ming Yiyang managed to find the small badge amidst the debris. He cleaned it and passed it to Yan Qiling.

On the student ID badge, Cui Xishan's name was neatly inscribed.