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Chapter 1207: A Kiss to Seal the Deal
Zhou Jing’s eyes flew open, red like blood amber. The patterns on her skin began to flow and flickered dark red light, as if vines sustained by blood had crawled all over her. Her hand shot out to seize Zhang Wei’s neck, lifting him off the ground slowly.
“Hm...ugh...”
Zhang Wei struggled futilely, while Zhou Jing breathed heavily with a pale face like a drowning woman finally getting herself out of the water.
With a deep frown, she stared at Zhang Wei and said, “Strange...power... I almost, almost died... Haha, no matter what trick you’re up to, it’s over—aghhh!!”
Right before suffocation would kill him, Zhang Wei felt the grip around his neck loosen, and he fell to the ground.
“Aghh!!”
Zhou Jing held her head with both hands, crying out in pain.
The red patterns on her skin dimmed and stopped flowing, clearly restrained by a rule-based force.
“Zhang Wei, hurry!”
Zhang Wei started. His surroundings had become an empty black. Vermilion Bird, Raven Shark, and White Dew were standing not far from him in the darkness.
Blood streaked down Vermilion Bird’s lips, the red contrasting starkly with her pale skin. “Hurry, kiss her!”
“Okay!”
Zhang Wei clenched his teeth and climbed to his feet, attempting to get close to Zhou Jing once more.
“Fuck off!” Zhou Jing growled, unleashing a powerful energy current that threw Zhang Wei off his feet. “Don’t even think about controlling me! You’re not changing me! All of you...die!”
Zhou Jing made a last resistance. Her body broke out of the restriction of the rule, turning into dark red liquid like flesh thrown into a blender.
“Ah—”
In her second form, Lust let out a strange scream, morphing into countless thin, sharp tentacles of blood that spread in all directions. They tried to find the edge of the Strage Rrealm to make an escape, but realm fought back like an invisible hand, gathering the tentacles and kneading them back into human form.
In the clash of the two powers, Lust was slowly gaining the upper hand despite the great pain she was under, and her head, the only human part still remaining, became covered in red cracks. She was about to turn into her second form fully.
There’s no time!
“Oh no you’re not!”
Zhang Wei shouted and rushed toward Zhou Jing’s head. Terrifying waves of blood crashed into him and engulfed him instantly.
...
Like being gently swayed in a crib, like a deep slumber in a warm blanket, like bathing in hot water.
Zhang Wei couldn’t put the heavy and hazy sort of comfort into words. He tried to open his eyes. It was all black around him. Still, it was warm, cozy, and safe.
He suddenly realized that he had turned into a fetus, inside his mother’s womb.
...
“Wah, wah, wah!”
Zhang Wei opened his eyes—for real this time. There was light, and so many different colors. The fresh stimuli hit him through his eyes and traveled to his brain, unlocking his cognitive functions.
“Wah, wah, wah!”
So noisy. Then Zhang Wei realized that it was his own wails.
After a while, a pair of hands lifted him. Scared, he cried even harder.
Slowly, his vision cleared. He realized that the pair of hands belonged to a middle-aged nurse. She had a satisfied smile on her face.
“It’s a boy. A healthy boy.”
...
Then suddenly, Zhang Wei was inside a large, brightly lit house with childish interior designs.
Ah, the kindergarten.
With the realization, Zhang Wei looked to his left, then his right. All around him were children. They were all seated on little stools. Some were quiet and obedient, others making a ruckus.
“Quiet! Everyone, listen to Auntie!”
The young kindergarten teacher addressed them at the front. “It’s impolite and wrong to lift someone’s skirt. You cannot do that in the future, or I’ll take away your little red flowers[1].”
“And you shouldn’t let anyone touch you where your clothes cover. If someone does, tell Teacher and your parents immediately. Do you understand?”
“Yeah!” The children responded in a chorus.
...
“There were ten people on the bus. Three got out. Then seven came in. How many people are still...”
Zhang Wei dozed off and woke up to find himself in an elementary school classroom. The math teacher was explaining a word problem at the front.
Math was boring. Zhang Wei’s thoughts strayed while propping his head on a hand.
Sitting in front of him was a girl with large braids. Her petite frame was straightened as she listened intently to the teacher. Every time the teacher asked a question, she was always the first to raise her hand.
She was their class representative, always getting the top grades. The teachers favored her, and the classmates admired her. She was always surrounded during breaks.
Looking at her back, Zhang Wei daydreamed, When I grew up, I would marry her. The others are going to be soooo jealous...
...
“Hahahaha!”
Laughter woke Zhang Wei to find himself on the concrete bleacher of a middle school track field. He and a few of his classmates had bought drinks at the campus store and sat down here for the “show”.
In today’s PE class, the girls were doing their 800-meter running test.
“Hahahaha! Look at her! Look!”
A boy pointed at a girl running in their direction and laughed.
The girl matured earlier than her peers, and she looked “lewd” when running. She lowered her head in shame, as if she had done something wrong. When she ran past the boys, she covered her chest with both hands unconsciously.
That only made the boys hackle harder.
“Hahaha...”
Zhang Wei was uncomfortable, but he still joined in with awkward laughter. If he didn’t, he would stand out, and he didn’t want to be marginalized.
...
“Zhang Wei! It’s late! Go to sleep already!”
Late at night, his mother’s voice came from the other side of the locked door of his bedroom.
“The exams are coming. I’ll go to bed after this part.”
Inside his room, Zhang Wei flipped through a manga on his bed, his face hot and mouth dry.
Since entering high school, he had come to love manga and had gone through most of the collections of the rental shops near the school. At first, he only went for the shonen manga, but after exhausting the collections, one of the shop owners recommended him shojo manga with delicately written romance.
He had picked up one recently. The cover would make it seem like a mundane story where a handsome man and a pretty girl fell in love, but the actual manga surprised him with its boldness. It was raunchy. While the actual deed was never depicted, the suggestions were enough to make the imagination run wild.
Zhang Wei felt like he had opened the door to a new world. He couldn’t help but read a little more of the manga every night, and he had to keep it from his parents, as if he were doing something bad.
1. In China, it’s common for kindergarten and elementary school students to be given red flowers to commend their good deeds. ☜
