This Damned Thirst for Survival

Can he still stop Chi You from getting stronger?

Jiang Luo doesn’t think he’s any less of a fighter than Chi You. He has a gift that the original doesn’t have, and it’s an extraordinary one. Fortunately, he found a way to defend himself before Chi You’s first seven days.

He turned and walked to the wardrobe, his fingers skipping over the brightly coloured clothes and landing on the black garments.

Jiang Luo politely changed into black trousers, found a leather band and tied up his shoulder-length hair, two strands falling from his temples and scattering messily and handsomely on the sides of his face.

He didn’t look the least bit shy, not just not shy, but vaguely goofy.

It’s also true that Jiang Luo wouldn’t have sought out the book “Evil Dead” and fallen in love with the character of Chi You if he didn’t like excitement and horror.

He also remembered the eighteen times he had been killed by Chi You, and Jiang Luo could not wait to take his revenge.

He is desperate to fuck Chi You, and he believes Chi You is desperate to fuck him too.

Jiang Luo ties his hair back and looks up at the mirror. The young man in the mirror seems to have sparks burning in his eyes, glowing.

In the original text, Chi You’s soul was so weak after his death that he could not even show up on the seventh day of his life when his soul was invoked. But after all these days of encounters, Jiang Luo sensed that something was wrong.

Chi You is frail, but not so frail.

He can even manipulate dead souls, and even manipulate living souls, even if all he manipulates are small things like birds and finches, which already confirms that he is different from what is described in the original text.

What does this mean?

Representing a likely deliberate show of weakness in the pre-Chi You in Evil Dead.

He already has the strength to take revenge on the original master, but he pretends he doesn’t. Nonetheless, he uses his resentment to attract Feng Li, the first master in the text, so that Feng Li can help him cultivate revenge.

Why did he do it?

Jiang Luo’s brow furrowed.

The original body is a son of the Feng family, which is one of the six great sects of the Heavenly Masters, and Feng Li is now the First Master.

The original owner dared to be jealous of Chi You and hit him hard because he was deceived by Chi You’s hypocritical appearance.

But with Feng Li, the original owner didn’t even dare to get close.

Feng Li is not as gifted as Chi You, but he is also a natural talent, not far behind Chi You.

Jiang Luo pondered these doubts and came downstairs just in time to meet some other people.

Today is the 7th day of Chi You’s death, so the group is going to report to the school after class and go out to pay respect to Chi You.

At the end of the school day in the evening, Jiang Luo prepared all his things and followed them out of the school. But as he walked, he came into a funeral shop.

The shop sells not only supplies for the dead, but also supplies such as yellow paper and vermilion compasses. Wen Renlian, in a black dress, walks familiarly at the front, smiling, “Hurry up if you want to buy anything, we’d better get there before it gets dark.”

As Lu Youyi and the others scattered, Jiang Luo looked at the wreaths and paper houses on the roadside of the shop and moved his eyes to the counter top.

A middle-aged man was sitting in a rocking chair with his eyes closed, coiling his flowing beads, and didn’t open his eyes for a moment when he heard someone enter.

“Feel free to look, feel free to buy ……” the boss greeted lazily, “If you touch it, buy it, bad one pays ten.”

“This is where I told you we could buy good materials,” Wen Renlian smiled as he walked over to Jiang Luo, “We’re missing a lot of things, so we’ll go to the cemetery after we’ve replenished them, and you can see what you want.”

Jiang Luo nodded his head, thinking that Fu Lu was not enough.

He slowly made his way around the inside of the shop. The shop was not large, the ground floor was a tiny thirty square metres or so, with dark wooden shelves piled high with clutter and a wooden staircase nailed to the wall without guard rails on the side near the north wall.

Jiang Luo’s eyes swept over the various objects, most of which he did not recognise as odd and strange, and because of an occupational hazard he was always attentive to the corners of detail, until he reached the deepest corner and spotted a nondescript wooden box in an out-of-the-way corner.

The good things are put in places where they can be easily seen, and this one is buried so deep that even the owner might forget what it is. Jiang Luo’s curiosity got the better of him and he took the box out.

A thick layer of dust has accumulated on the box, and when Jiang Luo blows on it, the dust flies around.

Once the dust was gone, Jiang Luo touched the box a few times and felt something was wrong.

The texture of this hand is definitely not an ordinary box. Jiang Luo overturned his previous belief that this was clearly a box that someone had taken a fancy to and had hidden away for fear that someone else would buy it.

His interest intensified, he gingerly opened the box, and inside lay a bracelet.

The bracelet looks old, with a circle of golden runes engraved on the top, the contents of which Jiang Luo cannot read, and he holds it up wrapped in the corner of his shirt, slightly amazed that it looks like wood but has the weight of jade in his hand, and that the quality is warm and delicate to the naked eye, not unlike the finest sheep’s fat jade.

Jiang Luo didn’t know what the bracelet was for and took it out to the owner, “Boss, what is this?”

The boss opened one eye and let out an “eek”, slightly regaining his energy, “Oh, the Yin Yang ring, you’re lucky, it’s a good item.”

He held out a palm and wagged five fingers, “That’s the number one price, no haggling.”

Jiang Luo said, “The Yin Yang Ring?”

The boss closed his eyes again, “Yin and Yang Ring, engraved with thirteen golden secret incantations, wear it for effective defence against a hundred evils.”

Jiang Luo’s heart moved him to put the Yin-Yang ring on his right hand. Coincidentally, the yin and yang ring fits Jiang Luo’s wrist perfectly. The jade-like wooden bracelet glows quietly in the dark light, and the dark-haired young man’s porcelain-like skin, which is as white as porcelain, matches it harmoniously without being mutually exclusive.

Jiang Luo paid his bill with satisfaction when he suddenly saw that one of the beads on the plate in the owner’s hand was unusually different.

In a group of beads made of wood, this one bead seemed to be of a transparent texture, with a white cold aura faintly emerging.

He pressed his right eyelid and asked, “Boss, can I have a look at the flowing beads in your hand?”

The boss suddenly opened his eyes and looked meaningfully at Jiang Luo , “You want to see my flowing beads?”

Jiang Luo smiled, “No?”

The owner gave him a deep look and handed him the flowing beads, “Yes.”

But before the beads could reach Jiang Luo, the string that was holding them up suddenly broke. The beads fell to the ground and rolled all over the place.

No one expected the flowing beads to break so suddenly. Ye Xun and the others heard the noise and rushed over to help find the beads, but in the end one of the beads recovered was less than the original one.

The one missing is the one that Jiang Luo sees as very different.

Jiang Luo couldn’t tell what his expression meant, but it seemed to hide fear and a sense of relief and melancholy. After a long time, the boss waved his hand away, “Forget it, it’s not important, so don’t look for it.”

“Hurry up and pay, I’m closing up here.”

Such shops never do business after dark, so the group hastily paid and took a taxi to the cemetery.

The eight men arrived at Chi You’s gravesite in two separate vehicles. Chi You was the ruler of the Chi family and the grave site is in a feng shui location. When they arrived, there were many traces of flowers and burnt paper on Chi You’s grave, which must have been worshipped by many people during the day.

The group, all professionals, quickly set up the things for invoking the spirits, and Ye Xun did the invoking.

Jiang Luo is secretly on alert, ready for Chi You to appear.

He is protected by Lu Youyi’s men, who are afraid that Chi You will not listen to them and will take Jiang Luo away tonight.

But in the end nothing happened.

Ye Xun opened his eyes with a frown, “I can’t invoke Chi You’s spirit back.”

Ge Zhu said solemnly, “I’ll try.”

However, one by one, Chi You did not appear. Lu Youyi was puzzled, “Is it not Chi You’s first day tonight?”

“How is it possible,” Zhuo Zhongqiu retorted, “that there is no mistaking that tonight is the seventh day of Chi You’s life. It’s really strange that the soul can’t be recruited ……”

Jiang Luo could not tell whether he was relieved or more wary, but he frowned at the tombstone in the darkness of the night, his eyes dropping in silent contemplation.

This look in the eyes of others, can not help but cloak a layer of sad sad colour. Zhuo Zhongqiu suddenly threw the peach wood sword in his hand and lazily found his mobile phone to call a taxi, “Let’s go, no more messing around, I’ll take you guys to a bar for a drink.”

Wen Renlian also put down her hands and gracefully straightened her skirt, “It’s Chi You’s first seven days and no one is feeling too well, so it’s a good idea to drink away your sorrows.”

Lu Youyi stole a few glances at Jiang Luo, “Yes, yes, yes.”

The group just went from the cemetery to the bar. Zhuo Zhongqiu knows how to have fun and takes them to a very large bar in the city centre, a venue with brilliant neon lights and a cacophony of people.

As soon as they entered, Zhuo Zhongqiu took Lu Youyi, Sai Liaoer and Ge Zhu straight to the dance floor. Ge Zhu, who had changed into casual clothes to go out, kept saying “no, no, no”, but once he was on the dance floor, he danced harder than anyone else.

Jiang Luo watched the commotion, went to the bar and tapped on the table, telling the bartender, “Give me a cold beer.”

The bar is dimly lit, with only a few extremely low-level downlights where the wine is kept.

The bartender’s face is hidden in the darkness, and at his words, he neither asks Jiang Luo which brand of beer he wants, nor does he joke and flirt, but turns around in silence and skilfully brings out the mixing glasses.

Ye Xun is sitting on Jiang Luo’s left, Wen Renlian and Kuang Zheng on Jiang Luo’s right. Wen Renlian took out a packet of cigarettes and placed them on the table, took one out and handed it to Jiang Luo, then put a cigarette into his red lips and lit it with a smile.

Without the knot in his throat, Wen Renlian’s every movement is a charmingly feminine, sophisticated and elegant one. Next to him, Jiang Luo is not at all overshadowed by his glow, his eyebrows clouded in a hazy ambiguity by the multicoloured light, the dark-haired young man’s beautiful eyes narrowed in a brushed manner as he smokes, and the crowd around him looks at the two of them as if they were not there.

“I was expecting to see Chi You today,” Wen Renlian whispered sideways, “and I’ve already worked out how to persuade him to let go of you.”

Jiang Luo laughed bitterly and smoked absentmindedly, “I thought I would see him too.”

“If he wants to take you away, he won’t let this opportunity pass,” Wen Renlian said, “unless he’s had his wish and figured out he wants to let you go.”

How is it possible.

Jiang Luo mentally snorted, he sighed and rested one hand on his cheek, his eyes confused, ” Wen Ren , do you think, is it possible that Chi You is actually not dead?”

Ye Xun, who was listening to their conversation from the sidelines, frowned, ” Jiang Luo , Chi You is dead.”

In a stern tone, “You saw it with your own eyes, didn’t you?”

Like a blow from a hammer, Jiang Luo’s face went white and he slowly lowered his head, pressed his cigarette out and murmured, “Yes, I saw him lying in the coffin with my own eyes.”

In the silence, the bartender brings the finished drink to Jiang Luo.

The wine ripples as the blood-like liquid slides off the walls of the glass, pulling down long, sticky, bloody strands.

Jiang Luo has ordered a cold beer, but the drink in his glass is red as blood. He raises his head sharply and his stern eyes pierce Jiu Bao.

Jiu Bao polishes his glass in silence, and when Jiang Luo looks at him, he gives him a standard service smile, polite and courteous, but there’s something imperceptibly stiff in his gestures.

It is like a puppet controlled by a silk thread.

The corners of Jiang Luo’s mouth pulled away as he picked up his glass and shook it in his hand, and Wen Renlian suddenly asked, “The shop from before, you can also take your Fu Lu and exchange it for something.”

Jiang Luo said, “No, I can only draw seven talismans a day, each one is very precious and tonight is Chi You’s first seven days …… I dare not use them casually.”

“Seven sheets is already a lot,” Wen Renlian seemed to sigh, “and rightly so, it’s better to be careful.”

Jiu Bao suddenly said, “Guest, is the drink not to your liking?”

Jiang Luo looked back at Jiu Bao and unceremoniously pushed his glass away from him, standing up, “I don’t want to drink, I’m going to check out the dance floor.”

The dance floor was very crowded, with people crowding in. As soon as Jiang Luo entered, he was accosted by several people. He kindly turned people away and looked for Lu Youyi’s few people in the crowd, but didn’t see a familiar face.

The blue light hit the people around him, and each face became strange and grim, as if covered in a layer of eerie ghosts.

Jiang Luo took a step back when someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder.

He turned to look and a melancholy, handsome face broke into his eyes.

The man, dressed in a suit out of place in the bar, with a look of sadness in his eyes and an extraordinarily affectionate look in his eyes, smiled at Jiang Luo and said, “May I invite you to dance, beautiful sir?”

Jiang Luo raised his eyebrows and looked at him steadily for a long time, giving him a flamboyant smile as he said in a longer tone, “Of course.”