Chapter 114

Chapter 114: Naji

He threw only one punch.

The golden fighting arena shattered in response!

Wind howled from where he stood, instantly kicking up sand and stones.

Countless monsters let out panicked cries for help, while the man's figure vanished into the darkness, leaving behind only his eerie silhouette on the ground.

The newspaper article quoted the opinions of the monsters on-site as follows.

Monsters could be rather artistic, Ji Huan mused.

In reality, it was straightforward: Naji finally got his turn and lifted the golden arena with ease. Satisfied with the stone, he found it too large, so he punched the platform, shattering it into numerous fragments right there and then! What made matters worse was that the scattered debris were heavy and numerous, endangering the overcrowded audience. Chaos ensued as many were hit by the flying stones.

The manager of Sabuzhe Arena rushed out, offering a high annual salary to retain Naji. The rival arena's manager also scrambled over, accompanied by a gang of enforcers initially intended for persuasion. However, as more arenas caught wind of the situation, it escalated into an unexpected mass brawl.

It was quite the lively, chaotic, and bustling spectacle, indeed.

Surrounded by retreating monsters attempting to avoid collateral damage, only Ji Huan kept his gaze fixed on Naji, who was now surrounded. As he fretted over what to do, suddenly—

Naji vanished!

"Let's go," came Abu's voice.

In the next instant, Ji Huan felt himself seized and the surroundings blurred into an illusion! His heart pounding, it took him a moment for his vision to stabilize, only to realize that he was no longer in the previous location. His body, which had been in a high-speed motion, returned to normal pace. Ji Huan stumbled—his feet had touched solid ground again!

Little Grey gazed at him with wide eyes, looking at the tiny arm that Ji Huan could still move. There was no doubt in Ji Huan's mind that he had just been carried away by Little Grey.

Just like... Mr. Nibro next door.

As Ji Huan was dragged along by the little grey demon, he glanced at Abu, who was running beside them. Poor Mr. Nibro was being held under Abu's armpit, seemingly on the verge of asphyxiation, while in Abu's other hand was a large chunk of stone.

"That's a piece of the rock that Naji shattered earlier. I picked up the biggest one," Abu explained, noticing Ji Huan's gaze on the stone.

Ji Huan shifted his gaze left and right, but not seeing Adan around, he began to understand the situation.

Sure enough, Abu continued,

"It must be the old man who took Naji away. We need to escape while the chaos is ongoing."

His reaction was far slower than that of the monsters. When Naji was surrounded, Ji Huan was still frantically trying to figure out a solution, but Adan had already leaped out, stealthily whisking Naji away!

"Did… all of you see it?" He hadn't seen anything himself. In the blink of an eye, Naji was gone.

"No," Abu replied promptly. "But it probably happened like that."

"I caught a glimpse of it," the little Grey Demon tugged at Ji Huan's hand.

Ji Huan nodded in response.

He felt something subtle in his heart.

It was probably similar to playing basketball back then? When the ball, which was originally held by the opponent, suddenly came flying towards him, he might not have known how it got there or even seen it, but he only needed to seize the opportunity, grab the ball, attempt a shot, or pass it to a teammate who might score.

This feeling was called rapport.

Although they were still running, Ji Huan suddenly found himself in a good mood at this moment.

Companion - Glancing at Abu beside him and then at the dust, he also pushed himself to run forward.

At least, he couldn't hold back his companion.

Ji Huan had been left behind long before Abu and the others slowed down to a normal pace. However, Mr. Nibro was still held under Abu's arm until they reached the spot where they had parked. The moment he was let down, Mr. Nibro nearly vomited.

"How long has it been since you took a bath?!" It wasn't ordinary motion sickness; Mr. Nibro was overwhelmed by the stench.

Abu laughed heartily.

They were already quite a distance away from the area swarming with arenas. Seeing the large stone that Abu was holding up, the surrounding monsters were somewhat curious. But whenever they looked over, Abu would glare fiercely at them, and soon, no one dared to glance in their direction anymore.

It took a while before they caught sight of Adan and Naji.

"After circling around a few times, we finally lost them." Upon seeing them, Adan simply said, "Hurry up and drive away."

"Sto- stone..." It was clear that Naji was still reluctant to part with it.

"Stone your head!" Adan promptly gave him a head-butt.

Naji instantly fell silent.

Next to him, Nibro's expression became rather nuanced:

Glancing at Naji and then at Adan, his actions involuntarily became cautious. He had tried his best to behave naturally, but he obviously spoke less along the way.

It wasn't his fault. The previously perceived weaker monster had suddenly transformed into an incredibly powerful one; he needed time to adjust.

After delivering Ji Huan and the others to their original large house, they made three more trips at Adan's request, bringing back a total of five enormous boulders.

"We picked them up while we were on the run," Adan said calmly.

True to his heritage as a Ye Falar monster, his thoughts were aligned.

"I'll... need to make a call to Sir about this." Glancing in Naji's direction, Nibro felt Naji's gaze and gradually averted his eyes.

Although he tried not to show it, his every move betrayed his fear of Naji.

Well, perhaps 'a bit' was an understatement.

The combat zones were now under strict lockdown.

On one hand, it was due to the devastating clashes among the major arenas. On the other hand, it was because of Naji.

Countless fragments of the stone that Naji had shattered flew out in all directions. The injured monsters could be set aside for now; up until this point, thirteen monsters had already been killed by the debris alone!

Thirteen monsters! Crushed to death!

Naji stood before him, still looking like an ordinary, thin bean sprout. But in Nibro's eyes, he was no longer just an ordinary monster – he possessed extremely vicious abilities!

"I...," Naji scratched his head.

"Count on you," Ji Huan bid farewell to Nibro.

Then—

"We should have something to eat first." Glancing at the few monsters standing in the courtyard, Ji Huan headed towards the kitchen.

"I'm waiting for my meal. Call me when it's time to eat," Adan said as he took the lead and trudged upstairs.

Several young Grey Demons were left behind to start preparing dinner under Ji Huan's guidance.

The ingredients for the dinner were still those Nibro had brought earlier, an abundance of various meats. Knowing the approximate appetites of the demonic creatures, Ji Huan pulled out roughly equivalent amounts of food.

Little Grey was in charge of setting up pots, pans, and utensils, while Ji Huan took care of the food preparation. Abu, on the other hand, was responsible for... watching television.

=-=

There was nothing to be done about it; he was clumsy and had shattered three bowls within a minute in the kitchen. Ji Huan simply sent him out.

When Little Grey carried a plate taller than himself with one hand out of the kitchen, only Ji Huan and Naji were left inside.

Ji Huan assigned Naji the task of peeling garlic.

It was actually a local spice that looked quite different from garlic but served a similar purpose. Hence, Ji Huan simply referred to it as garlic.

Naji was diligently peeling the garlic.

He was already trying his best to handle the garlic delicately, but his strength was just too great. Before long, the garlic in his hands turned into a paste.

What Ji Huan needed were the individual "garlic cloves," not a paste. Naji rubbed his eyes and picked up another garlic bulb to try again, but before long, it too became a paste in his palms.

After repeating the process several times, Ji Huan's garlic was completely ruined.

Naji glanced at Ji Huan's back as he cooked at the stove and, stealthily, took two more cloves from where Ji Huan had kept them.

Soon, those two cloves also turned into garlic paste.

The garlic here was red, and its juice stained Naji's palms, the backs of his hands, and even the crevices of his nails, resembling blood.

Naji sniffled and stood up, reaching out towards the previous spot once more. However, this time, it was empty.

Naji froze in astonishment.

Thus, when Ji Huan was about to use the garlic, what he saw was a bowl of red garlic paste and Naji, with tears and snot streaming down his face.

"Oh, this stuff is quite pungent. You shouldn't touch your eyes while peeling garlic," Ji Huan quickly approached, washed his hands, and fished out a handkerchief from his pocket—only Ji Huan would carry such an item, considering that he had a drooling baby at home who required constant wiping of hands and mouth; it was rather uncommon for young men his age to carry handkerchiefs.

Ji Huan brought over the small handkerchief belonging to Hei Dan. With his other hand, he hesitated slightly before gently sweeping aside Naji's thick bangs.

Beneath was a pair of exceptionally beautiful eyes.

The hue resembled that of a moonlit purple, but at this moment, those moon-like eyes were submerged in a watery veil.

"I-I ruined the garlic...," he stammered, more tears streaming down Naji's face.

His fingers clutched tightly together, making his hands appear even dirtier.

Ji Huan offered his handkerchief, gently wiping away the tears from Naji's eyes.

The handkerchief soon grew heavy with moisture.

Leading Naji to the water basin, Ji Huan rinsed it and continued wiping, first his eyes then his nose. By the time all the tears and snot on Naji's face were wiped clean, his cheeks had turned as white as a peeled egg.

A stark contrast to his neck.

How long had it been since this child last washed his face?

Ji Huan began washing Naji's hands.

In no time, Naji's hands were as different in color from his arms as day and night.

"I'll teach you." Ji Huan didn't spare Naji a second glance, instead retrieving a spare bulb of garlic from the fridge before positioning himself behind Naji.

Naji's height only reached up to Ji Huan's chin, allowing Ji Huan to wrap his arms around him perfectly, holding Naji's hands in his own. He began to guide Naji through peeling the garlic, step by step.

"The force should be applied to the outer skin, not the inner cloves. Just grasp it lightly and pull."

Naji's hands were stiff; they moved entirely under Ji Huan's guidance.

"See, that's it."

A perfect circle emerged, but Naji's trembling hand caused a third of it to crumble back into minced garlic. Ji Huan promptly grabbed a bowl from the side to catch it.

"That's fine too, saves us the trouble of mashing it."

"Take your time, you're doing well." With these words, Ji Huan reached out to pat Naji's fluffy head affectionately.

Then, Ji Huan returned to the stove.

Five pots were arranged neatly on the countertop. He added salt to one, meat to another, water to a third... and simply lifted the lid of the last pot for a brief inspection.

Naji was also not afraid of the heat as he watched on foolishly.

Then, Ji Huan assigned him some simple tasks to do.

Although there were a few mishaps, Naji performed them admirably.

Together, they transferred the food from all the pots onto plates that had been prepared beforehand. After tasting it, Ji Huan gave Naji a thumbs up in the end.

Naji beamed foolishly.

After that, Ji Huan watched as he eagerly took charge, fearlessly carrying all the hot plates out.

In the spacious house, the monsters enjoyed a lively dinner together.

The first floor of the house had a relatively small bathtub. After Abu filled it with water, they all took a bath together.

Due to how dirty Naji was, they had scrubbed his back collectively. Clean and sleek, Naji soaked comfortably in the water. When all five monsters squeezed into the small bathtub, half of the water was almost gone. With flesh pressed against flesh, they could barely feel the embrace of the water. Naji felt slightly uncomfortable, but—

Looking around at the monsters who showed no intention of distancing themselves and were pressed tightly against him, Naji made an effort to shrink his body.

At this moment, his heart felt as if it were submerged in water.

That was probably the sensation of joy.

Author's Note:

Pink Ashes

Naji can be somewhat emotionally detached in a certain sense.

He doesn't exhibit many emotions or reactions.

He is incredibly strong, so much so that anyone who becomes aware of his strength would fear and distance themselves from him.

Although this chapter focuses on Naji, it also weaves in the story of Ajin on a parallel thread.

Both Naji and Ash embody certain aspects of Ajin's character.

Ji Huan is already destined to be excluded from Ajin's past, something which no one else can know. However, glimpses of it can be seen through Naji and Ash.

Regrettably, at that time, Ajin did not have another Ji Huan by his side.

^^