Zheng fell asleep in the second floor bedroom that same day. He slept peacefully, sweeping away the pain and fatigue accumulated over all these days. Zheng did not wake up until LiuYu came to know on the door morning of the second day. He walked out of the room refreshed.
LiuYu asked in a cautious tone, “Did you sleep well last night? Was there…”
Zheng laughed. “Yes. It was very quiet and I slept well. You here to call me down for breakfast?”
LiuYu nodded. He glanced at the sides then said, “Did you… did you see anything paranormal last night? I heard ChengXiao said that ghosts have no forms. They can appear as anything. Their forms are given by our minds. Ghosts can be scary, exotic, or beautiful. They are the materialization of a person’s desires. He said…”
Zheng didn’t know whether to laugh or not as he interrupted LiuYu. “Did he say the reason I came up here is because I haven’t tapped in over ten days and couldn’t hold it anymore? So I used my lust to conjure a female ghost?”
LiuYu instantly nodded. “Yes. He was moving his hands furiously as he spoke. So did you see the ghosts?”
Zheng rubbed LiuYu’s head and said, “Don’t listen to that pervert’s nonsense. Ghosts come from your desire, but they come from your violent and evil desires. When your mind is filled with the fear of ghosts, how could they come in the forms of women? They will be the most popular existence if that can be true. Pretend you never heard him said anything. Speaking of which… that is probably what he is lusting to try.”
Zheng saved LiuYu from the corrupted training of ChengXiao. They headed down stairs to the living room. Zheng continued to give LiuYu advices. “You have to be extra careful of that being. Stay as far away from him as possible. If that isn’t physically possible, stay firm within your heart. I really fear that he taints you.”
“Taint?” LiuYu’s face turned pale. He instinctively reaches for his butt and then laughed awkwardly.
By the time Zheng enlightened LiuYu to stay aware of ChengXiao, they had come into the living room. There were five people already inside. Counting LiuYu and him, that made it seven people. The team split up last night but no one disappeared. He had won half of this bet!
Zheng let out a sigh of relief. He sat down by the dining table. Everyone had been eating convenient food from the supermarket these days. Nearly twenty continuous days of canned food made them want to throw up at the sight of another can. However, the situation did not allow them any other choices. Furthermore, their minds were tied to figuring a way to leave this world, so the food wasn’t as important.
Zheng meditated on the sofa after breakfast. He seemed to be ignoring the rest of the team. The others also did their own things. Xuan was reading. Kampa, TengYi, ChengXiao and LiuYu were chatting. YinKong was resting with her eyes closed. Time slowly passed by. Kampa exited the four men group at 3pm.
“I am going to the toilet.” Kampa gave Zheng a heads up and headed to the toilet.
Zheng’s hands trembled. He wanted to open his mouth but in the end, he simply nodded and continued meditating.
(No use trying to stop it. Believe in the team. Believe that they will never give up when confronted with their weaknesses. We have all been through the edge of hell many times. We have our weaknesses but our hearts also grew tougher… Stay strong, everyone!)
Kampa did not know the fighting Zheng was going through in his mind. He walked toward the toilet as he hummed a song. He pushed the half broken door open, his hand reached for his pants, then suddenly he heard the same tune he was humming. The two voices overlapped.
kampa’s mind paused for an instant. Without thinking, he gathered his strength. Black hair grew from his body. His muscles expanded. He didn’t turn into a complete werewolf but he was much bigger than a normal person. He struck his fist to the side.
Just then, an arm passed over a bottle of cheap vodka. Kampa’s claw halted 10 centimeters before the bottle.
“Mate… We promised to finish this vodka the next time we meet. How have you been?”
The arm and voice came from the cubicle to his side. The man didn’t come out from the cubicle.
Kampa’s fist was shaking. He was hesitating whether he should punch ahead. As the vodka reached closer and closer to him, he finally opened his palm and grabbed the bottle.
Battlefield, fire, comrades… Kampa’s life was spent in a complex yet pure world. He came from a place of wars. His country abandoned him but he never left the battlefield. The journey he walked was difficult. Two things accompanied him through his journey, weapons and comrades.
“O bella, ciao! Bella, ciao! Bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!
E se io muoio da partigiano, tu mi devi seppellir.”
The song started again from the cubicle. The deep and coarse voice gave the song a hint of melancholy and boldness.
Kampa’s heart tightened. He popped open the vodka and binged it in one go. Then he howled and punched the cubicle’s wall. His fist struck a hole on the wall. Through the hole, he saw a man dressed in a black and white striped shirt, wearing a black hat and a pair of scissor like gloves. The man’s face was burned.
The people in the living room heard the sound of impact on the wall. YinKong was the first to rush toward the source of the sound. ChengXiao followed right behind her. Then TengYi and LiuYu. Zheng got up the moment he heard the sound but he hesitated. By the time he got himself together, there were only Xuan and him left in the room. Xuan seemed to be slow. He just put down the book by this time.
Zheng gave a good look at Xuan before he ran toward the toilet. YinKong was running so fast that she had passed through the hallway and made a turn when the others just arrived at the hallway. She disappeared from everyone’s sights.
ChengXiao, Tengyi and LiuYu came to the door of the toilet. ChengXiao gave it a hard push. The already broken door collapsed and exposed the room behind it. There was nothing.
Zheng arrived at the scene right after the other three people. They looked at each other baffled. ChengXiao said, “You did hear sound coming from this way right? Like something smashed a wall or a rock. But the toilet looks perfectly intact, aside from this door.”
“Yes… Kampa is no longer in my dream.” Zheng sighed then muttered.
The three people looked at him confused. ChengXiao asked, “Who’s Kampa? And what does it mean by no longer in your dream?”
Zheng didn’t reply. He looked over the three of them then to the sides as though he was searching for something. After being unable to find it, he sighed again. “YinKong has also… left my dream.”