As expected, Dong Zheng became interested. For him, Cui Zuojing was the epitome of the word “mystery.” There were too many secrets that he didn’t know hidden in the boy’s body. “Come, I’ll listen carefully.”
“You already know that when I entered the Pure White Realm, I was 16 years old. People don’t grow physically in the Pure White Realm, and I stayed here for three years so I always look 16 years old. Then, I was cursed to stay that way forever.”
Dong Zheng nodded. When they first met Fu Zhe, they learned a lot, including this.
“Actually, on the day I died in the real world, it was my sixteenth birthday. That night I rushed home from school and took a shortcut through an alley. The result was particularly unlucky. I ran into a serial killer who’d escaped from prison and was unfortunately murdered.”
Dong Zheng was a little surprised. In the real world, the main cause of death was usually due to various diseases or accidents. Just like Victor’s sudden death, his and Dong Linhai’s car accident, and Allen’s drug allergy.
Cui Zuojing was actually murdered.
Cui Zuojing shrugged and said, “Isn’t it super unlucky?”
Dong Zheng nodded and then grasped a strange point. “Wouldn’t everyday now be your birthday?”
“Yes, my 16th birthday has been going on for a full 11 years. It’s been a really unforgettable birthday.”
Dong Zheng pondered for a moment. “Once you undo the curse, will your time begin to flow again? Aside from you leaving this place, is there no way to escape this day?”
Cui Zuojing was also stumped by this question. “I don’t know. Let’s talk about it when the time comes.”
Dong Zheng was silent, as if this issue also had something to do with him.
“Before I came here, I was an ordinary second-year high school student. My mind could be regarded as comparatively useful. Ever since I was a child, I’d always done well in school and, in the eyes of my family and my teachers, I was a very well-behaved child. Now that I think about it, it’s hard to believe how obedient I used to be, always doing what others tell me to do.”
Dong Zheng tried to imagined it and couldn’t help but smile. “Sorry, but I can’t imagine you like that.”
“Not just you. Even I couldn’t imagine it now.” Cuo Zuojing paused and said in a low voice, “In the first few months after entering this place, I spent almost every day in fear. In the Pure White Realm, only people who are strong can survive successfully. At that time, my physical strength was quite bad, and I also found it difficult to accept the things that happened in the box.”
“Fortunately, I had Fu Zhe and Henry to guide me. Do you remember Henry? He was the iron hooped knight in Hamelin.”
Dong Zheng certainly remembered. That zombie knight had almost killed him and Linhai.
“Didn’t you kill him?”
“Yes, but he’d become a monster, without memories of being a human. So, I helped him free himself.”
Dong Zheng: “…….”
“I know that right now you might find it difficult to accept, but the fact is that it’s already very difficult to survive in this world. If, after death, you change into one of those inhuman monsters who will kill your former teammates, it’s better to be eliminated. If, one day, someone in our team becomes a monster, I will also do the same thing.”
Cui Zuojing continued, “After that, I awakened my ability and began to understand that I could still live in a completely different way. There was no need to be a good boy all the time. Here, only I can control my life and destiny.”
“The final result is as you can see, I became what I am now.”
“Similarly, here you can also be yourself that belongs to the Pure White Realm. You don’t have to worry about your life in the real world and hold on to those images and relationships that you had carefully maintained. In a world where danger lurks at every side, you can magnify all your needs and desires. Do what you want. After all…you don’t know how many more days you have left to live, right?”
Dong Zheng said, “I’m actually already died–”
“Don’t quibble. You’ve been too tense. Although other people may not see it, you can’t hide it from me.”
Dong Zheng was silent.
After a long time, he slowly said, “After so many years, it’d become a kind of habit.”
“The best way to break a habit is to replace it with another habit. You can also start trying to become accustomed to being who you truly are.” Cui Zuojing didn’t plan to continue this topic anymore. He’d said enough. The rest would depend on Dong Zheng.
He climbed to the foot of the bed and reached out to press the switch. The bedroom lit up, and both of them saw the hour hand on the clock on the wall was pointing to the ninth position.
It was nine in the morning?
“Huh?” Cui Zuojing immediately looked out the window. It was still pitch black outside, as if sunlight had been completely driven out from this small world.
There was no daylight.
Meanwhile, Lin Hangzhi, Dong Linhai and Victor had returned to the castle in the center of the town and were protecting Agatha with Mickey. Ever since she’d been frightened by the rat’s carcass at the dinner table, the little girl was in bad spirit.
The urine kept coming down, and the ground was full of the light yellow liquid. There was no place to go and the air was filled with a lingering and overwhelming fishy odor, which was utterly disgusting.
When they realized that the sky was not lighting up on time, they didn’t think it was a crisis until Mickey hurriedly found them and said that he would go to the front line.
“Everyone is made of cloth so they can’t get wet at all. I hope the sun will come out in the morning. After a long time of this, they will definitely get sick!”
Mickey told told the Gray Wolf Leader and his small team to protect Agatha before he rushed out to the front line. Dong Linhai and a maid went to check in on Agatha. Meanwhile, Lin Hangzhi stood in front of the window in the hallway and looked out for a while. There was no sign that daylight would come.
Victor jumped on the window sill and asked, “Do you have any ideas?”
Lin Hangzhi and Victor were both doctors and naturally had a sense of closeness. Lin Hangzhi exhaled a long breath, which released the frustration that he’d felt. After a while, a great deal of it faded away, and he said in a low voice, “Everything that this town experienced were sins that the little girl had suffered.”
Victor looked at the white cat reflected on the rain-stained glass window and nodded.
If they were not wrong, this night might last for two whole days and two nights.
That weekend, when locked in the empty and dark auditorium, were her most desperate times.
“I don’t know what’s going on at the captain’s side.” Lin Hangzhi touched Victor’s back idly for a while and suddenly wanted to count cards.
But he didn’t bring his Tarot cards with him so he would have to wait until he went out.
“A’Zuo is over there so don’t worry.” As Victor said this, his ear trembled when he caught an abnormal roar in the distance, and his back arched vigilantly.
“What?”
“I heard a bit of a bad sound, something like…an earthquake?”
They didn’t have to wait long before the guards outside the castle hurried in and shouted, “Part of the town suddenly collapsed!”
Lin Hangzhi and Victor thought of the giant earthworm they’d seen outside the city.
Wang Que said that many of them were underground. If they broke through the line of defense and entered the town, even one was enough to cause complete and utter chaos.
Hearing the news of the collapse, Dong Linhai hurried over. He’d stayed with Agatha in her bedroom for a while. The little girl didn’t seem to be as nervous and scared as she was at the beginning, and even asked him some question about Victor. It could be seen that she liked this white cat very much.
“Earthworms have come in? Is the damage serious?”
“I don’t know yet. The news just arrived, and we still haven’t had a chance to go out and check it. I always feel…If something bad happens, we must protect Agatha. That’s the most important thing.”
Victor said suddenly, “Does this collapse refer to the collapse of the mine in the town?”
“That place?” Dong Linhai felt like Victor was vaguely prompting him and suddenly he understood. “Ah, then this rain…means someone peed on her?”
Lin Hangzhi gave him a look of “you finally figured it out” and said, “I don’t know, but there are two clues about the mine collapse in the school. This will definitely not be useless news.”
Dong Linhai said in admiration, “Wow, Brother Hangzhi, you are so smart.”
Lin Hangzhi immediately puffed up his chest and said proudly, “Naturally. I graduated honorably with a 985 in the Master of Medicine degree. Can my brain not work?”
Victor laughed and teased him, “It’s a pity that the luck is too bad.”
As the three of them chatted, they suddenly saw a figure walking in the distance outside the window.
“What’s that?”
The eyesight of cats was among the best among mammals. Victor saw far more clearly than the two of them. He stared at the black figure and said, “It’s a man, coming towards the castle gate. Go, let’s go and see.”
By the time they rushed to the entrance, the man had already entered. The guard at the entrance did not stop him for some reason and respectfully took the raincoat he’d just taken off.
The visitor was a middle-aged man. Like most greasy men of this age, he was not tall and was slightly fat. He seemed to be in a hurry and wore a pair of glasses as he stood talking to the guard.
Under Agatha’s order, the dolls in the castle had been kind to them. Dong Linhai poked the arm of a doll behind and asked in a low voice, “Who is that man?”
“He is master’s friend.”
“Agatha’s friend?” Dong Linhai was dumbfounded. In his impression, Agatha’s only friend was the little girl in the school who didn’t dislike her. How could she have anything to do with this middle-aged person?
Moreover, the dolls in the entire town had a strong hostility and hatred towards men. As a result, they’d suffered a bit when they came in. Why was this man okay? He absolutely wasn’t even as handsome as anyone in the team.
The man also saw them and immediately smiled kindly. He stretched out his hand to Lin Hangzhi, “Hello, my name is Pan Chuangen. If you don’t mind, just call me Uncle Pan. I heard that you also came to help the little girl protect this place?”
Lin Hangzhi’s hand was held by him, and a polite smile was pasted on his face. He warmly said, “Hello, hello, my name is Lin Hangzhi. This is my partner Dong Linhai. We haven’t been here for long when the town happened to be in crisis, so we stayed to help.”
Pan Chuangen let go and said, “I heard about it, so I came here quickly. I hope it’s not too late.”
Lin Hangzhi wiped his hands on his trousers where he couldn’t see and smiled, “No, no, at this moment, everyone can still hold it back. Uncle Pan came here alone so he must have very good methods.”
“You’re too kind. I don’t deserve so much praise, I don’t deserve it.”
Dong Linhai was embarrassed by the conversation between these two people. He picked up Victor, brushed his fur, and whispered, “Wow, is this the adult world? This fakeness is terrible.”
—————————-
Xixi: Of course, Dong Zheng has a vested interest in Cui Zuojing’s underaged body’s ability to get older. I’m also looking forward to it….Hehe.
I feel so bad for Agatha. Poor kid.
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Thank you for the chapter~
I wonder how all the pieces will connect to reveal the complete picture of Agatha's past. It seems that poor Dong Zheng will have to wait at least until Cui Zuojing's curse is gone plus a few more years before he can legally have a taste XD He better work hard on winning his heart till then. I wonder if the new arrival is truly trustworthy…
Honestly I figured out that what was happening was what Agatha had experienced but someone peed on her? Jeez poor girl.
When the mine collapsed… Was Agatha in there as well? And encountered earthworms while trying to escape?
DZ be yourself and slowly become unhinged asdfghjkl
Also yes please, get CZJ out of that underaged body! We get some tofu touching here and there but… What about more intimate actions like kissing?
+1 looking forward to Cui Zuojing growing up owo
Didn’t Victor’s aging cat body become more nimble/younger when he re-entered the White Realm? Maybe CZ is already growing out of the curse but nobody can tell?
i hope to God that Agatha wasn’t sexually assaulted ……………. Idk why but some parts in the previous chapters have been giving me a vague feeling and I didn’t want to concretize this thought…….. but uncle Pan…. giving me tricking little girls vibe … please i hope I’m wrong
I am getting bad vibes from this damn old man, there was that nagging feeling in the back of my head of the things the poor Agatha may have suffered since the doll suggestive placement of door and the vulgar things the monster would scream, although the kids were bullies they would just call her monster and etc, not things like Sl*t and B*tch, that’s adult cursing and both have a way too sexual connotation for a child.
Mom pick me up I am scared.
I don’t know why I feel that man is suspicious. But the paradise residents welcomed him. So… 🤷
I’m glad CZ and DZ have been open with each other o(≧▽≦)o