This Damned Thirst for Survival
chapter-70

Jiang Luo’s face instantly clouded over, he sneered, but the smile tugged at the wound on his lip and he said grimly, “Bitten by a dog.”

Teng Bi : “……”

He sensed something was wrong after the question, because he smelled on Jiang Luo’s body the scent that belonged to his master.

Now that he thought about it, he also smelled the scent of a stranger on his master’s body.

Is this a fight they’ve had?

Master’s arm cut off by Jiang Luo, Jiang Luo’s …… lips injured by master?

The owner was also called a “dog”.

Teng Bi’s brow twitched, wondering what kind of fight could have gone this far. In order not to be exposed, he had to pretend not to know. But isn’t pretending not to know enough? Teng Bi said dryly, “Really, do we need to go to the hospital to get a rabies vaccination?”

Rabies vaccine, still a word he learned in human society.

Jiang Luo’s anger dissipated instantly and he said, smilingly, “Yes, a dog bite is not a rabies vaccination.

Teng Bi wonders why his mood has suddenly changed for the better as the two of them walk out of the building. On the way, Teng Bi uses Yu Guang to look at Jiang Luo in a casual way.

What does the master mean by “watching Jiang Luo”?

Jiang Luo asked, “What are you looking at me for, deadbeat?”

Teng Bi stiffened, withdrew his eyes and said vaguely, “Nothing.”

Jiang Luo didn’t ask any more questions, and after leaving the recording location, he called a car and went to the hospital to find Ye Xun and Lu Youyi.

Inside the ward, apart from the two of them, there were the police and the chief director and chief planner.

The director-in-chief is smiling at Ye Xun, who seems to be a bit afraid of him whenever he sees him.

The policeman looked familiar, and when he saw Jiang Luo, he smiled with big white teeth and waved, “Hi, hello again.”

Jiang Luo thought for a moment that this was the same police officer who was in charge of dealing with the sphinxes in Hotel 129, “Such a coincidence?”

“All the paranormal incidents in this area are under the responsibility of me and a few other colleagues,” the police officer smiled brightly and sunny, “Lu is in the operating room getting stitches, Jiang, I need to ask you a few more questions, is it convenient for you to answer now?”

Jiang Luo tugged at his lips, “Wait a minute, I’ll brush my teeth first.”

Looking at his swollen and torn lips, which looked like they had been torn by something, the police officer asked imploringly, “What’s wrong with you?”

Teng Bi looked at Jiang Luo’s face, coughed and said seriously, “He was bitten by a dog.”

The policeman boy snapped, “So.”

Ye Xun wondered, “Are there still dogs in the hostel building?”

Jiang Luo smiles and says, “Yes.”

He took a set of disposable toothbrushes out of the cupboard, nodded to them with an easy smile, and walked into the bathroom. He lifted his hand to brush his teeth, and the white bristles of the toothbrush accidentally touched his lips, and Jiang Luo hissed, his expression growing cold.

He approached the mirror and opened his lips. The inside of his lip was bruised, and there was even a bite on his tongue, not to mention a small but extraordinarily painful and extremely inconvenient gash.

Even if Jiang Luo’s excuse was that he had been bitten by a dog, an experienced person would have known.

Only a place like Ye Xun would believe the nonsense he says.

Jiang Luo closes his lips and the mirror reveals a dark-haired young man with an expressionless face, flying frost and snow.

The face is gone and so is the heart.

To say that this is a kiss would be an absolute impossibility. Doesn’t Jiang Luo know Chi You? Chi You said they were the same kind of person, and Jiang Luo could deduce how Chi You felt by putting himself in his shoes. Jiang Luo can only conclude one thing about Chi You kissing him.

Chi You just wanted to get back at him and embarrass him.

Maybe add another one to mock him and disgust him.

Mocking Jiang Luo for his futile efforts, the faceless monster was no match for Chi You. Disgusted, Jiang Luo kissed him, so the evil spirit returned the favour with an even more blistering kiss.

All negative emotions can be included in this “kiss”, but not love. Lust, love.

Jiang Luo can vouch for this with a pat on his back.

After this thought, the sense of oddity and crisis that seemed to be hovering in his heart disappeared. Jiang Luo finished brushing his teeth three times, but the more he brushed, the more the pain caused his anger to grow.

Chi You’s lips are hard as stone, and their kiss is a mixture of war and blood, where resentment and suppression meet fire, and one wants to burn the other to the ground.

Jiang Luo’s blood, and the black blood of the evil spirits that slid down his face to the corners of his lips, soaked up this smokeless struggle from beginning to end.

The evil spirits, however, are never in such a mess as Jiang Luo.

Jiang Luo picked up the cold water and poured it over his face.

The slightly cool water soothed his anger, and when he looked up from the sink, the dark-haired youth was already smiling again.

He walked out of the bathroom and was questioned by the police officer boy.

The police officer asks what the faceless monster is and how he got rid of it. Jiang Luo speaks with his eyes wide open, taking Chi You out of the story and adding some more twists and turns to it.

The police officer boy listened with a sigh of relief.

“That’s too menacing.”

“My God, it’s not easy or easy.”

“Oops, that was dangerous – luckily you dodged fast, Jiang!”

The two men were like a storyteller and a listener, one telling the story in a way that made it seem real, the other listening with great interest. When Jiang Luo had finished his story, the policeman put away his little book, “Don’t worry, Jiang. We will react to the top and give you more credits as appropriate.”

Jiang Luo smiled broadly: “Thank you.”

He asked, as if casually, “When we participated in the National Student Natural Science Competition, there were police officers involved throughout, was Officer Lam there?”

The police officer said, “It was to involve the police, and each district had to transfer people there, but I didn’t go, but my colleague was transferred.”

“Actually, I still have one more question about this game that I haven’t understood,” Jiang Luo smiled slightly and whispered, “Officer Lin, do you know where the bodies of the victims we found in the second level have gone?”

From the conversation just now, it was clear that this officer, Lin Qin, was very inquisitive and wanted to hear a story to the end, very much like Ye Xun’s gossip.

His colleague had been transferred to Yun Nan to maintain law and order at the competition, and Officer Lam must have asked a lot of questions from his colleague’s mouth.

Officer Lam followed and lowered his voice, “What about you guys not knowing?”

Jiang Luo shook his head, “The tournament management didn’t tell us.”

“I should think you don’t need to know,” said Inspector Lin, “the corpse of the victim of the second level of the competition, I heard that it has become a grievance spirit, didn’t she pull a lot of corpses into the wall with her after she died? An ordinary corpse wouldn’t be able to do that. She should have been very gifted when she was alive, a good student of metaphysics. I heard that the tournament party then sent the corpse to the Chi family, after all, such a special corpse can only be put to maximum use in the hands of the Chi family.”

Jiang Luo said with a start, “So that’s how it is.”

He smiled and thanked, “Thank you, Officer Lam, for telling me about this.”

Surely this is the way of the Chi family.

But the Chi family is too blatant, using Fu Yuaner against them, aren’t they afraid that things will be exposed?

Jiang Luo thought again, “Oh, if they were all dead, how could the story be revealed?

Another Qi family and the Chi family, why are they suddenly making moves?

After Jiang Luo and Officer Lin took their statements, Officer Lin took Jiang Luo to the director, “This is a special mission, we thought we could avoid leaking our identities if we kept a low profile, but I didn’t expect Jiang to be a famous …… director, as you know, both the metaphysical community or the state, they don’t want the general public to know about the existence of the metaphysical community.”

The director smiled bitterly and said, “Just say what you have to say, we have full cooperation with the state.”

Officer Lam shook his head, “We’ll sort out the rest. After all, a situation like this is not a picture we want to see either.”

After saying this, Officer Lin said goodbye to them. Jiang Luo and the others stayed with him in the ward. Lu Youyi was in a high class ward and it was the first time Jiang Luo had seen a sofa, a coffee table, a fridge and a small but fully equipped kitchen in the ward.

Jiang Luo simply rolled up his sleeves and looked in the fridge, ready to make a snack for them after a long day’s work.

Ye Xun’s eyes, which had been about to close, opened abruptly, and when she saw his movements, she immediately regained her energy and got up and walked over to Jiang Luo, “What are you making for dinner? Do you need help?”

Jiang Luo examines the contents of the fridge and muses, “It’s best not to eat too much oil at night before going to bed …… but once in a while it’s okay, pancetta, aubergine, eggs ……”

He went through the spices in the kitchen again, onions, ginger, garlic and the basics, and Jiang Luo said, “How about making an aubergine mince, a small stir-fry and an egg soup?”

Ye Xun’s eyes lit up and his voice soared, “Yes!”

Jiang Luo was panning for rice, “You two should watch and help.”

Teng Bi froze, placed the large knife in his hand outside the kitchen wall and hesitantly stepped into the kitchen.

Jiang Luo handed him an aubergine and asked Ye Xun to cut up the ingredients while he went to cook the rice.

Jiang Luo doesn’t like cooking much, but when he concentrates on one thing, it does help to clear his mind. Before he started working, he used cartography to immerse himself, but after he started working, his hobby turned into a career and his brain started to get tired from spending all day on the computer.

Jiang Luo then began to study cooking.

I say it’s a refresher course, but it’s just following a video and learning a bit. He was probably born with some talent in this matter, and from a young age, he turned a craft that could support him into an ability that he could speak of.

Jiang Luo poured out the rice water and when he heard the sound of a kitchen knife falling behind him three times, he looked back and saw a mess on the board.

After all, the living dead are knife-players, and an aubergine is peeled with uncanny skill. But Ye Xun’s skills were not up to the task, with onion leaves flying and garlic cloves turning to mush.

Jiang Luo : “…… Forget it, you guys do my dishes and brush them.”

Teng Bi rustily follows Ye Xun as he cleans the dishes.

Ye Xun whispered, ” Jiang Luo cooks very well.”

Teng Bi said, “The living dead don’t need to eat.”

Ye Xun smiled with relief, “Then I can have it for two.”

Teng Bi : “……” Humans can be really unpleasant.

Jiang Luo sets about preparing the food. The aromas in the kitchen are strong and fierce, and in no time at all the appetite is aroused.

Two dishes and a soup are quickly prepared and Ye Xun and Teng Bi carry the soup and dishes to the coffee table next to the bed.

Jiang Luo is sitting in the middle, about to eat a piece of stir-fried pork, but the dish hits his lips and there is a pain.

The rice is cooked but not eaten. Jiang Luo takes a deep breath and calmly serves himself a bowl of rice and pours some thick white egg soup over it.

Smiling at the two men looking at him, he said, “I’ll have some soup first, you guys eat first.”

Tempted by the smell, Lu Youyi woke up once, ate two bowls of rice and went back to sleep, as happy as a dead pig.

By the time everything had subsided, it was almost four in the morning and the sky was slightly lighter.

Teng Bi stands guard on the sofa, clutching his large sword, and even in his modern dress, he looks like an ancient general sitting on the sands, alone, guarding the battlefield.

There is something about him that seems to have come from an ancient time, a sternness with sand, and a sense of solitude.

Jiang Luo lies on the companion bed, watching his back with a slight twinkle in his eyes.

“Deadbeat,” he whispered, “your knife, from what follows you?”

Teng Bi shook his head, “I don’t remember.”

He fondled the hilt of the large knife wrapped in black cloth and really couldn’t remember when it had followed him. Teng Bi sat up straight and said, “It’s time for you to go to bed.”

Jiang Luo smiled, “Good night.”

*

Jiang Luo was a light sleeper and opened his eyes at the first sign of the ringing phone.

“Hello?” The dark-haired youth curled up on his side wrapped in the blanket, his whole body buried in the bedding and hair.

The voice is slightly muffled and laziness emerges.

Wen Renlian’s voice rang out with a smile, “Still awake?”

“Awake now,” Jiang Luo yawned, eyes closed, “what’s wrong?”

“The good news,” Wen Renlian said, “is that the state and Tian Shifu have stepped in together to squash the news about you.”

“Now, the entire Internet can’t find just a word about you, or even type your relevant words or name. Your photos have been completely destroyed, even if they were saved. …… The state has a guarantee that it will act swiftly,” Wen Renlian exclaimed. The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to the public.

And in the world of entertainment, Jiang Luo will soon disappear from sight, never to be seen again.

Jiang Luo searched the internet, and sure enough, the internet was quiet and he couldn’t find anything about himself.

He thought about it and clicked on Qin Fan’s Weibo account. The tweet Qin Fan had posted earlier had also disappeared, and there was peace and quiet below the comments.

Jiang Luo nodded in satisfaction and was about to log out when he watched Qin Fan’s Weibo feed update right under his nose.

[@ Qin Fan: A pleasant day.

With five simple words, the number of comments skyrocketed. Jiang Luo stared at the words, but had the feeling that they were addressed to him.

Shit.

Chi You’s smiling face flashed before his eyes as he spoke the words, the evil spirit smiling and poised, the handsome face but with only the word “owe” written on it. In Jiang Luo’s eyes, every single stroke of those five words was full of ridicule for him.

He registered a new account, returned to the comments section and typed two words, “Stupid.”

This comment was immediately followed by a flood of Qin Fan fans.

Jiang Luo didn’t bother with them, he grunted and laughed, feeling much better as he got up from the bed, “Where are you guys?”

“Kuang Zheng and I are on our way to find you,” Wen Renlian took off his sunglasses and looked out the car window at the passing street scene, “Ye Xun told me last night that Xiao Fen was out of control, Lu Youyi was injured and you were bitten by a dog, I was I’m here to comfort the wounded, and Kuang Zheng is here to fix Xiao Fen.”

He concluded, “Let’s talk about the rest at the hospital, do you guys have anything you want to eat?”

Jiang Luo told him to come over for lunch later and hung up.

He took the opportunity to take a shower and when he came out again, Ye Xun and Lu Youyi were sitting together watching TV.

Jiang Luo lay down on the sofa and rested for a while, Ye Xun came over and rubbed his hair, Jiang Luo enjoyed the relaxing feeling of his scalp being rubbed and said lazily, ” Ye Xun, I always feel that the director-in-chief is afraid of you and is always respectful when facing you.”

“I kind of feel the same way,” Ye Xun said seriously, “and yesterday, before you came to the hospital, I asked him why. He stammered and said he was afraid I’d eat his soul.”

Jiang Luo felt vaguely familiar with the words, “Why do you want to eat his soul?”

Ye Xun shook his head, “I don’t know, he also addressed me with respect as ‘your old man’.”

Jiang Luo : “……”

He suddenly remembered the nonsense he had once told the owner of Hotel 129 about “a 58-year-old college student who likes to eat the souls of the living and the dead and pretend to be young”.

He snorted, “Yeah hahaha.”

Where did this director-in-chief get all his rumours about the metaphysical world?