Evil As Humans - CH 62

“…?!”

The wings on the ball drooped a bit. Yin Ren even forgot to retract them, as his eyes were full of shock.

This wasn’t the development he had expected.

They should have had a quick and calm negotiation… But the situation now…

In more than three hundred years of his consciousness, Yin Ren had come into contact with many humans and even more evil things. He had never become anyone’s “beloved”.

Yin Ren quickly grew another brain in his chest cavity and thought with all his strength.

Zhong Chengshuo was the perfect partner. He was strong, calm, and had a deep understanding of the metaphysical world, but had difficulties detecting anomalies such as Evil Spirits. Even better, he had a secret that couldn’t be exposed to Shian.

Knowing that the other party had doubts about him, Yin Ren set the bait.

From “the cultivator of unknown details” to “an evil being himself”, Yin Ren progressed step by step. He demonstrated sufficient sincerity and bound enough benefits. As long as Zhong Chengshuo was lured to his side, they could become true partners.

There shouldn’t be a problem with the process itself.

“You know that I am an evil being, and this may not be my true appearance.” Yin Ren tried to regain dominance.

“Nn.”

A few strands of hair touched Zhong Chengshuo’s pocket and found the glasses case. They hauled out the glasses and put them back on Zhong Chengshuo’s face.

The wing ball had scattered, and the two of them were completely exposed under the moonlight.

“You said you liked me,” Yin Ren reconfirmed.

“This is an objective fact.” Behind the lenses, Zhong Chengshuo’s black hole-like eyes had a hint of a smile.

Yin Ren was stuck in a rare situation.

For a moment, he wasn’t sure whether the phrase “I kind of like you” was either as a “love object” or a “hunting object”.

…No, they didn’t have time to linger, and they had to act quickly.

Yin Ren’s gaze stopped on the handle of the Evil Fruit that was flashing meaningfully.

Perhaps this was some kind of fate.

He ignored the blade, and his expression of ease recovered a little.

Zhong Chengshuo was quite cute. At least when he put away his sharp claws, he looked straightforward and was funny. He had never experienced such intimate feelings… and if things went well, his cooperation with Zhong Chengshuo would be more stable.

“Honestly speaking, I admire you very much.” After a while, Yin Ren responded hesitantly. “Even though I’m not experienced in this area, it’s not like we can’t give it a try…”

He stretched out a strand of long hair and tentatively wrapped it around Zhong Chengshuo’s wrist.

Zhong Chengshuo slowly and rationally retracted the Evil Fruit. He politely picked up the long strands of hair and put them back in place, then patted them smoothly.

“But I don’t want to,” he said.

Yin Ren: “……?”

Spare Lord Ghost King, who was excellent in all things, but was now completely down at this moment. What was going on? Did he just get dumped?

“Depending on your attitude, we can still coexist peacefully for the time being, so let’s finish things up, quickly.”

Zhong Chengshuo patiently broke up the cartilage and flesh and straightened out his baggy clothes.

Yin Ren hugged his half-drawn wings numbly, and looked at Zhong Chengshuo with an indescribable expression.

“Bai Yongji had a physical change. It takes about 10 minutes for Shian to find out the readings are abnormal, and most likely another 15 minutes for them to gather troops and cordon off the area. Considering the time for communication and reporting, we have 8 minutes left to collude and act.”

Zhong Chengshuo carefully adjusted the position of his glasses and didn’t forget to pick up the rabbit mask.

Yin Ren: “You…”

“Now is not the time to talk in detail.” Zhong Chengshuo opened his arms to Yin Ren.

“You want a hug?” Yin Ren asked in a daze.

After his identity as King Yama had been exposed, Comrade Zhong Chengshuo didn’t seem to bother hiding his strange thoughts. Yin Ren had a faint premonition that he was being played. His hundreds of years of experience weren’t enough to deal with this strange guy standing in front of him.

“No, I shouldn’t be here. Before Shian blocks the area, you have to fly me away and come back by yourself.”

Zhong Chengshuo shook his head. His ears were still red, but his expression was calmer than before.

“Don’t forget your phone. Let it go back to where it was dropped. I didn’t come with it tonight, and I don’t know anything.”

“Zhong Chengshuo, you—”

“The situation is too complicated, so you’d better not lie,” Zhong Chengshuo said solemnly. “Just distort the details… I don’t need to elaborate on how you need to do it.”

Yin Ren was silent for half a minute.

“Forget it.” Lord Ghost King sighed resignedly. He hugged Zhong Chengshuo’s waist tightly. “I hope you don’t faint.”

……

About five minutes later.

Layers upon layers of encircling nets were erected, and all kinds of detectors were ready to go. The highly sophisticated metaphysical team from Shian that was fully armed stepped into Xinxin Amusement Park like sharp knives.

They found a dilapidated bean bag, a headless, naked male corpse, a rookie colleague in a daze, and unexplained craters all over the ground.

There were some remnants of Evil Force on the corpse, but the nearby space was stable. According to Minister Jiao’s feedback, the rookie on the “other side” was completely silent.

Fu Xingchuan slowly turned his head and patted Xiang Jiang. “Am I dying? Is this a hallucination I’m seeing right now before the end of my life?”

Xiang Jiang ignored him and just pointed perfunctorily at Yin Ren. “Isn’t that our observation target? What should I do with it?”

Yin Ren was collapsed behind a bush. His clothes were in tatters, and his limbs had multiple shallow and deep abrasions and bruises. When a few people approached, he seemed to hear their movements and turned his face in their direction.

Even if Fu Xingchuan’s ability to read others wasn’t as good as Professor Li’s, he could see that the other party was collapsed at this moment—Yin Ren seemed to be stimulated by a lot of energy as he looked confused and at complete loss, as if his face was full of question marks.

Comrade Yin Ren looked like he had been run over by a car, and such shock emotion was difficult to fake.

Until he was wrapped in a blanket and had some honey water, Yin Ren’s expression of horror didn’t dissipate.

“What’s wrong?” Fu Xingchuan took a can of coffee and sat down beside Yin Ren.

Around them, the staff of Shian were busy everywhere. The traces were partitioned, the body was sampled, and various lights lit up again in the quiet amusement park.

Yin Ren glanced at Fu Xingchuan faintly. He gulped down half a glass of honey water and began to talk about his “tragic experience”.

In a sense, Yin Ren didn’t lie…

“I was kidnapped by Bai Yongji. When I woke up, I saw a weirdo in a goat costume… He also called an accomplice and said he was going to turn me into a bean bag, but they suddenly clashed… I heard the goat say that he was going to melt his accomplice into the sewer…”

There were traces of three people on the scene. Yin Ren looked at the small canal next to the pirate ship.

“While they were fighting, I fled to the back door, but—but I was caught by the goat again. I could only use all my heart and recruit Grandpa Lu… Maybe it was just after the fight with the accomplice, but the goat was in a bad state. He was seriously injured by Grandpa Lu, who went crazy…”

“Finding that he was in a bad situation, he swallowed something… Then he had a weird ability, and his body quickly recovered…”

Yin Ren trembled dutifully and glanced at the bloody bean bag at the back door.

On his arm was a ghost-summoning talisman that had dried bloodstains on it.

“The goat’s doll costume fell off, and I recognized him as Bai Yongji… I thought I was dead… but as soon as he was about to hurt me, his head was blown up by a shot from nowhere. The attacker kept shooting, so I immediately hid in the bushes and barely escaped…”

Finally, Yin Ren’s gaze turned to Bai Yongji’s body and the weird craters.

His long hair was covered in dirt, cobwebs, and dead leaves from the bushes, giving him quite a miserable look.

Yin Ren did give Shian the facts and only concealed a few trivial details—for example, the accomplice’s name was Zhong Chengshuo, who was a part-time Nightwalker under the alias of “King Yama”; for example, during the hiding process, King Yama had confessed to him even knowing that he was an evil being and then unmercifully dumped him.

Thanks to Zhong Chengshuo, Yin Ren’s current confusion and doubt didn’t need to be faked. He could act in his true colors that even 100,000 lie detectors wouldn’t find anything wrong.

Fu Xingchuan, who had listened to the entire story: “……”

Fu Xingchuan declined to comment. “Where is that accomplice?”

“I don’t know.” Yin Ren looked at the ground. “When they fought, Bai Yongji used some kind of smokescreen prop… After the smoke dissipated, only Bai Yongji chased me to the back door.”

Fu Xingchuan asked Yin Ren to tell the story again. After multiple inquiries, he finally let Yin Ren go.

“Except for some anesthetic ingredients in your body, there are no other serious issues, and your wounds are minor.”

Fu Xingchuan patted Yin Ren on the back.

“We’ll carefully investigate the scene and compare it to your statement. Do you want to go to the hospital or…?”

“I want to go home,” Yin Ren said.

“Okay, okay, we’ll send a special team to guard the outside,” Fu Xingchuan said meaningfully. “Go back and get some rest. Zhong Chengshuo doesn’t need to come either. You two can take a good break.”

At around 5 in the morning, under the escort of the staff, Yin Ren returned to Ping’an Manor.

He gently opened the door.

He didn’t know if it was due to his state of mind, but the usually familiar living room seemed a little strange. The sky was a little brighter as green trees outside the window swayed, accompanied by faint birdsong.

As usual, there was a fresh apple on the table. Zhong Chengshuo had put away the computer and cleaned the dining table. Yin Ren’s snacks were neatly stacked next to the sofa, and the light on the game console was still slowly flickering. His tablet was buckled on the sofa, giving off a quaint and peaceful atmosphere in the room.

Lu Tanfei had returned to his normal appearance and hurriedly rushed forward. Yin Ren waved his hand wearily. “Don’t worry. I can find him without Bai Yongji now.”

He had absorbed part of the Evil Force in the coin and was busy savoring and digesting it. It was extremely pure, without the craziness; perfect and stable.

After gaining new knowledge, Yin Ren could use a little more Evil Force and he became more familiar with the scent of this Evil Spirit. When Shian’s security dispersed outside, he could search for the victims.

Although he had originally planned to rewrite Bai Yongji’s memories and also dig out the location of the victims…

Yin Ren looked melancholy at Zhong Chengshuo’s bedroom, recalling his original plan.

The bedroom door was still firmly closed.

On the other side of the door, Zhong Chengshuo’s breathing was calm and long, as he was sleeping soundly. Yin Ren could almost imagine the head wearing a nightcap shrinking in his blanket.

…So much happened tonight, yet this kid can actually still sleep!

Yin Ren stared at the door speechlessly for a while. Unfortunately, the bedroom door was just a lifeless thing that couldn’t give him any answers.

Yin Ren couldn’t help but walk to the door of Zhong Chengshuo’s bedroom. It was easy for him to open the door as an evil being. He really wanted to get Zhong Chengshuo out of bed and continue the “negotiations” that they had failed to complete normally.

But the sound of breathing in the room was gentle and gratifying.

Yin Ren stood there for a while, discouraged. He sighed heavily and laid back on the sofa.

He had thrown Dog Thing back near the trashcan and ordered it to climb back into it obediently until Shian came and rescued it, along with finding his keys. Now he wanted to find someone to tell them about the weird sniper, but he couldn’t do it.

So Lord Ghost King buried his face down on the sofa like a dumbfounded corpse.

The sky outside the window was getting brighter. The clock in the living room was ticking as the hour hand gradually went to the position of seven. The breathing in the bedroom was still peaceful and calm. Yin Ren couldn’t bear it and walked to the bedroom door again.

He first turned the door handle hopelessly. Who knew that Zhong Chengshuo had left the door unlocked? Yin Ren was unprepared and almost fell forward.

Zhong Chengshuo had closed the curtains, so the bedroom was dark. The window wasn’t open, so the smell that belonged to only Zhong Chengshuo was still fresh, smelling like a deep forest off the beaten track.

Just as Yin Ren imagined, Zhong Chengshuo had put on his nightcap and was sleeping comfortably in the center of the big bed. He was lying sideways, and his body was rising and falling with his breathing.

Yin Ren walked silently to Zhong Chengshuo’s bed and leaned over to look at him.

“What biological clock?” He muttered softly. “We have to make our position clear first, and the victims need to be rescued as soon as possible…”

There was still no response from Zhong Chengshuo. As if in deep sleep, he rolled over, revealing a harmless face that only irritated Yin Ren. Yin Ren gently pressed one leg against the edge of the bed and leaned forward, carefully looking at the side of Zhong Chengshuo’s face. He could feel the heat radiating from the other’s body from this distance.

Whether it was an innocent passerby, a science post of Shian, or King Yama of the Nightwalkers, Yin Ren didn’t think Zhong Chengshuo could pose any threat to him.

But the world had become a little strange.

The source of the mysterious Evil Force, the sniper of unknown strength, and the accomplice that had broken away from his own expectations; his originally smooth journey in life had gradually become turbulent.

“I don’t understand.” Yin Ren sighed softly. “Forget about those things in the shadows… What exactly are you thinking?”

He stretched out a hand towards Zhong Chengshuo’s shoulder but stopped in the process.

Forget it. It’s not too late. If he ruined this man’s sleep again, he would probably have to buy another pot of stewed pears.

“Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding—!” The phone next to Zhong Chengshuo’s pillow suddenly rang.

Zhong Chengshuo suddenly opened his eyes and saw Yin Ren beside his bed, who had his hand stretched out towards him.

Yin Ren: “……”

Yin Ren: “…I have no other intention besides just waking you up.”

Zhong Chengshuo gave him a light glance and answered the call on speakerphone. “Hello, how are you?”

“Xiao Zhong, it’s Lu Xiaohe!” Lu Xiaohe’s voice sounded excited.

“We’ve located the victims! Hey, also, you’re on break right now, so you don’t have to come into work.”

“Yin Ren should already be back, right? A lot of things have happened to him, so let him take a good rest and remember to submit a report after he recovers.”

“…Xiao Zhong?”

Seeing that Zhong Chengshuo hadn’t replied, Lu Xiaohe asked in confusion.

“I see. Thank you, Lu Jie.” Zhong Chengshuo returned to his usual tone. “I’ll learn more about the situation from Yin Ren.”

With a beep, the call was terminated.

“With Shian handling the victims, there’s no need to worry about anything.” Yin Ren smiled embarrassedly as he withdrew his knees that were pressing against the side of the bed. “Then we’re not in a hurry to talk. You can go back to sleep first. I’ll go…”

“If you want to know what I’m thinking, you can ask me directly.”

Zhong Chengshuo leaned against the head of the bed and spoke to him in an extremely calm tone.

Yin Ren froze.

“If it’s the ‘I like you’ thing… Whether it’s pretending or sincere, you’re nice to everyone. I’m not good at distinguishing those things, but so far, it seems that I’m not so special.”

Zhong Chengshuo leaned against a soft pillow while still dressed in his soft pajamas. There wasn’t a single speck of dust on his body, and the Evil Fruit was nowhere in sight, but the faint sense of oppression hadn’t disappeared.

“Your ‘try it out’—I’m not sure if there’s any other purpose. For example, it’ll be easier to maintain the status quo or control me better. I want to maintain the purity of this relationship—it’s enough for me to experience the thrill of ‘liking’. You don’t need to do anything extra.”

Yin Ren: “……” He felt a little guilty.

No, shouldn’t there be more issues to consider? For example, shouldn’t he ask what kind of evil thing I am?

Yin Ren couldn’t control his expression. “According to your theory, if I really like you in the future, you won’t be able to judge.”

“I can judge.”

Zhong Chengshuo touched his red ears and took the initiative to get closer.

“When you lose more control, become more embarrassed… Showing an expression I haven’t seen before and saying you ‘want to give it a try’.”

……

Time returned to 4:00 a.m..

Shian Campus, temporary room for dangerous people.

“No, it’s still not right.” Huang Jin watched in despair as conjectures were crossed out one by one.

Fu Xingchuan asked him to provide “possible thoughts” Ding Lizi would have, saying that he could find people using a special method, so Huang Jin racked his brains and wrote all those things in the “thought tornado”.

However, none of them were right.

He knew better than anyone that as long as people were awake, they would be wrapped in their own thoughts. Whether it was subconsciously or thinking about things, they would stack up in layers. Huang Jin could only distinguish a small part of them with his eyes—after all, his attention was ultimately limited.

Perhaps he didn’t know her well enough. At least he couldn’t guess what Ding Lizi would be thinking two weeks after becoming a “dead thing”.

After all, in his memory, the girl didn’t always smile.

It would be great… if he had looked at her more in the beginning. If he knew a little more about her thoughts and grasped them, he would have a greater chance of rescuing her. He seemed to be unable to do anything smoothly and would never be able to step out of that vortex of despair.

Huang Jin pulled his hair desperately as a bloody smell filled his mouth.

At this moment, there was a soft creak, and the door to the temporary room slowly opened.

The author has something to say:

Xiao Yin: In case I really like you in the future.

Not in case! Not in case! It’s for sure!

Xiao Zhong: I’m happy. This time someone can write their own report (×

Xiao Yin: ……