bookbashuk Page 3
Page 3
Nero Chaos watched his movements expressionlessly for a long while before continuing, "You misunderstand. I didn't mean to kill you. Your bowl of noodles is up to standard."
Upon hearing this answer, Le Zhengling was stunned for a moment. The sudden ups and downs in such a short time caused him to faint.
Just before he fell to the ground, Nero Chaos appeared in front of him instantly, grabbed the bone-cutter that might have hurt Yue Zhengling, picked him up, and laid him flat on a dining table.
With the restlessness within him completely subsided and peace restored, Nero Chaos carefully examined the wondrous child.
Her slender figure was completely underdeveloped, her limbs looked as if they would break at the slightest touch, and her overly pale skin was so transparent that you could see the blue veins.
Her features were delicate and lovely, but she looked inexplicably tired. A layer of sweat clung to the tip of her nose, and with each soft breath, a drop fell onto her face.
Nero Chaos unbuttoned Yue Zhengling's shirt, revealing a youthful body, and then he reached out and slowly pressed his hand against Yue Zhengling's heart.
Just then, Yue Zhengling slowly opened his eyes, first meeting Nero Chaos's gaze, and then slowly looking down his hand at his bare chest.
Explode instantly!
He stared wide-eyed at Nero Chaos with disbelief, too terrified to utter a word.
“You’ve misunderstood. I have no ill intentions. I just want to check your body. And I advise you not to get too excited right now. There’s something wrong with your body,” Nero Chaos said calmly, without stopping what he was doing.
Le Zhengling was already in a state of utter confusion, and upon hearing those words, he couldn't help but want to shout "mmp!"
Imagine a burly man taking advantage of you while you're unconscious to undress you and touch your breasts. Even though you're a man, you're petite and beautiful with fair skin and red lips, and the man is British. What would you think?
“You’re going to die.” Nero Chaos withdrew his hand and pointed to his heart.
Seeing him withdraw his hand, Yue Zhengling breathed a sigh of relief, putting all her previous wild thoughts aside and calming down. Then, in a hoarse voice, she asked, "What do you mean?"
“You have congenital valvular heart failure. Your heart valves are as fragile as tofu, and you also have problems with your ventricular walls. It’s a miracle that you’ve lived to this age,” Nero Chaos said to Yue Zhengling in his unhurried tone.
Upon hearing this news, Yue Zhengling didn't doubt whether the other party was lying to him, because he knew there was no need to. He propped himself up and looked blankly at Nero Chaos, "How much time do I have left?"
"I could die at any moment."
Is there any hope for success in medicine in this era?
"Since you've asked this, I think you already know the answer."
Silence suddenly enveloped the small space.
Le Zhengling kept telling himself to calm down. First, he was almost killed, barely managed to survive, and thought he had made it through. Then he was given another scare. Finally, he made it through, but now he has been given a critical condition notice. The successive blows have brought him to the brink of a mental breakdown.
"Do you want to live?" Nero Chaos looked at the bewildered child. For him, helping this person was not a difficult task.
In response to Nero Chaos's question, he held up two fingers and said, "I have two ways to save you."
Le Zhengling looked at him with hopeful longing, as if grasping at a straw.
"First, become non-human."
"Second, implant it into my primordial soil."
Hearing these two options, Yue Zhengling wasn't too surprised. When he learned the identity of the "person" in front of him, he knew that the other party definitely had a way to save him. However, these two options were just too heavy.
"Do you have a way to definitively turn me into a rational non-human?" Yue Zhengling asked vaguely, carefully choosing his words.
"Heh!" Nero Chaos looked at Yue Zhengling with amusement as he looked at him with surprise at his question. "You know my true identity?"
Not wanting to reveal too much information, Yue Zhengling looked away. "You, you must be some kind of legendary vampire, right?"
Nero Chaos didn't speak, but pulled up a chair and sat down in front of him.
“That’s right, I am a Dead Apostle among the vampires.”
"Dead apostle?" Yue Zhengling repeated, feigning ignorance.
Then, Nero Chaos, who loved to teach, gave Yue Zhengling a detailed explanation.
Vampires in this world are divided into "True Ancestors" and "Dead Apostles".
In modern times, only the True Ancestor Princess known as Hakuhime remains; most of the existing vampires are Dead Apostles.
Dead Apostles are basically humans who have undergone some kind of transformation; they were originally food prepared by the "True Ancestors" for emergencies.
The True Ancestor prepared humans in advance in case he could not suppress his blood-sucking urge, and sucked their blood to prevent them from escaping, bringing them under his control.
Humans who are fed blood will also become vampires, just like the True Ancestors, and will be driven to serve as emergency food for the True Ancestors, remaining immortal. They can indeed be called "Dead Apostles." However, the Dead Apostles' blood-feeding behavior is for survival. In order to serve the long-lived "True Ancestors," the servants' lifespans must also be long.
The Dead Apostles, who drank the blood of others, began to experience the superiority of this act, strengthening their own consciousness. Breaking free from the control of the True Ancestors, they fled into human society, repeating the act of bloodsucking to perpetuate their identity. This is the origin of the Dead Apostles, the beginning of their transformation from humans into vampires.
The first group of dead who escaped the control of the True Ancestor were called the Twenty-Seven Ancestors. Some of these twenty-seven have gone through generations of change, while others still lead their tribes as ancestors.
After being fed by a vampire, a vampire typically goes through the stages of Ghoul, Living Dead, and eventually grows into a fully-fledged Vampire. Some Vampires will then defeat their blood relatives, the Dead Apostles, and become the new Dead Apostles themselves.
Those with higher innate physical potential have a greater chance of progressing to the later stages of this process. Some extremely rare humans possess the potential to skip this process and immediately become vampires. Furthermore, the abilities of Dead Apostles are influenced by the type of vampire they consume.
"In other words, you want to drink my blood and turn me into a vampire under your control." While comparing his memories from his previous life with Nero Chaos's narration, Yue Zhengling, based on the other party's explanation and what he knew, confirmed that the other party was not lying to him.
"And you can't be sure how long it will take me to evolve from the lowest level of ghoul to a Dead Apostle who has regained self-awareness, is that what you mean?"
Chapter Seven: The Choice of Dead Apostle
Upon hearing Yue Zhengling's words, Nero Chaos couldn't help but marvel at his comprehension. In his view, it was incredible that a child could be so calm and have such an ability to summarize information, which made him determined to save his life.
“Don’t worry, I have a way to shorten this process and I guarantee it will be successful,” Nero Chaos reassured him.
"But are you sure it was me who regained my sanity?"
Upon hearing Yue Zhengling's question, Nero Chaos fell silent, for even he had no answer to the question.
After all, the process of becoming a Dead Apostle involves first becoming a dead person, and then regaining sanity on that body. But at that time, is the personality that is restored really the same person?
Although Nero Chaos did not elaborate on the process of becoming a Dead Apostle, Yue Zhengling knew about it.
The process of a ghoul evolving into a Dead Apostle is extremely rare, occurring only once in ten thousand times. The Dead Apostle process requires a special physical adaptability from birth. In principle, the higher a person's potential, the higher the chance of remaining in the later stages of this process. Most people cannot even become ghouls; the vast majority of those people become another kind of "dead."
Those "dead" ignored the process of being resurrected as vampires after being sucked blood, and were manipulated as clones of the Dead Apostles. They were nothing more than puppets, not even true vampires, preying on humans to obtain the energy they needed to survive. However, because they were connected to the Dead Apostles, more than half of the energy they obtained from preying on humans flowed into the Dead Apostles.
Yumizuka Satsuki from the Tsukihime story is an exceptional case among exceptional cases. She may be the most adaptable person in all of humanity. She has the potential to skip the process and immediately become a vampire. She was resurrected as a vampire species in less than half a day after being bitten. Her vampire adaptability can be said to be comparable to the Twenty-Seven Ancestors in the distant past.
It is precisely because of this uniqueness that Yumizuka Satsuki was able to preserve her complete self and transform from a human into a Dead Apostle.
Le Zhengling doubted whether he had this constitution. Although Nero Chaos was probably not lying to him, he dared not gamble, and he did not want to become an anomaly who could not live in the sunlight.
“Your doubts are worth exploring.” As a scholar, Nero Chaos set another topic in his mind. “Then the second method is to implant my Creation Soil into your body.”
Upon hearing the second suggestion, Yue Zhengling pondered the pros and cons again, and feigned ignorance as he asked, "What is that?"
Nero Chaos's scholarly spirit erupted once again, living up to his nickname "Professor" from his previous life. He spoke eloquently, revealing his identity and abilities to Yue Zheng without reservation, seemingly unafraid that the other party would leak them.
After explaining everything clearly, Nero Chaos stopped to wait for Yue Zhengling's decision.
Based on the information he knew, Yue Zhengling filled in the gaps and clarified everything.
Leaving aside Nero Chaos's identity, which will not be elaborated upon further, the so-called Creation Earth is the vortex formed within his body by the 666 beast factors, simulating the most primordial chaos of the universe.
Le Zhengling felt this was a gross exaggeration.
Simulating the universe? Isn't it just a collection of genes from Earth life? And not even complete. Don't even compare it to Tiamat's Sea of Life; this thing is probably similar to the Holy Grail's black mud—both have strong side effects.
The combination of beast factors formed by magical means will take hundreds of years to sort out the chaos within the body into a system tree. Right now, this thing can only grant the user powerful immortality and the ability to recreate the beast within the body. Moreover, if you receive this thing, you might become the other party's clone.
Nero Chaos became unusually easy to talk to after finishing that bowl of noodles, so he didn't urge Yue Zhengling when he saw her deep in thought.
"Isn't there any other way?" The implication was that he didn't want to use either method. Le Zhengling sighed and asked cautiously.
“I only have these two methods.” Nero Chaos wasn’t angry. He took a small glass bottle out of his pocket, opened it, and then put his index finger to the mouth of the bottle. A clump of black, viscous liquid flowed into the bottle. After re-corking it with a cork, he handed the bottle to Yue Zhengling.
"It seems you're more opposed to the first method, so I'll choose the second one for you. I'll also give you the choice of which one to use. I hope I won't receive a dead letter from you next time I come, because I still want to eat that kind of noodle."
After saying that, he left under Yue Zhengling's conflicted gaze.
Long after Nero Chaos left, Yue Zhengling finally got up from the table. So much had happened that he was exhausted. After closing the shop and returning to his room, he clutched the bottle tightly, collapsed onto the bed, and fell into a deep sleep.
I woke up the next day at noon. Luckily, it was the weekend and I didn't have to go to school.
When he first woke up, his head was still groggy, but when he remembered what had happened last night, he hurriedly looked at his hand and was terrified when he found that the bottle was gone.
Fortunately, after searching for a while, we found that the bottle had just fallen to the ground and looked completely intact.
He breathed a sigh of relief and stared at the bottle for a long time before finally putting it in the drawer and locking it. The reason he didn't carry it with him was because he was afraid that something might happen and he would break it, and then who knew what would happen.
"Grandpa, although you told me to be a good person, the choice of whether or not I can be a good person is really putting me in a difficult position..."
From yesterday until now, his peaceful life has entered a turbulent phase as if by joke.
First, she realized she was in an unusual world, then she was nearly killed, and then, thinking everything was over, she was told she could die at any moment. She had just resolved to live a good life, but then…
Thinking about this, he placed his hand on his heart. Although Nero Chaos had said that, he still needed to consider how he would live his life from now on. With that in mind, he decided to take a shower first and then go to a hospital in Tokyo for a thorough full-body checkup.
After taking a shower and changing into his outdoor clothes, he put the seal (the most commonly used seal in Japanese life, used for simple household contracts, signing for letters and packages) into his small bag, and then took his birth certificate and other documents with him, before stepping out of the house into the not-too-strong sunlight.
Because they are foreign immigrants, and specifically immigrants from the mainland, there are still many inconveniences in living in this country.
Although his lifestyle is no different from that of the country's citizens, his contact with public facilities and the people and things he encounters will attract unnecessary attention.
Japan's transportation network was already very developed at that time, and transportation was very convenient. In addition to the very convenient airplanes, there was also a well-connected road network and railway branch lines.
Chapter 8: The Last Glimpse of the Showa Era
For ordinary students, the Japanese government encourages them to travel and broaden their horizons. Japan Railways issues special travel tickets three times a year, in spring, summer, and winter.
These tickets are called "Youthful Eighteen". As long as you are a student, whether you are a junior high school student, a high school student or a university student, you can buy a "Youthful Eighteen" ticket for 5,000 yen. Within the validity period, you can ride as far as you want on any train line without any problem and without additional charges.
Given Japan's land area, a single "Seishun 18" ticket is basically enough to travel from Okinawa to Aomori, crossing the north and south. Yue Zhengling was holding one of these tickets, preparing to board a rapid train to Tokyo.
As I stepped out of my house, I noticed two police cars parked in front of a house some distance away. A middle-aged woman dressed as a housewife was crying and complaining to one of the police officers, while two other officers were asking people nearby what was going on. The residents of the neighborhood, especially the housewives who didn't have to work, came out and started whispering among themselves.
When Yue Zhengling passed by those gossipy housewives, he also overheard some information. It turned out that the head of the family had suddenly disappeared last night. Considering that Nero Chaos had passed by here last night, he knew that the man probably would never appear in the world again.
Thinking of this, his expression turned a little unpleasant. A policeman noticed him and came over to ask, "Little girl, you don't look well. You'd better not wander around."
Hearing the term "little sister," he didn't object. Not wanting to cause any trouble, he said to the detective, who was around forty years old, "Thank you for your concern, officer. I'm on my way to the hospital for a checkup."
As he spoke, he took out the prepared train ticket and showed it to the police.
"Oh! I see. Where is your guardian?" The middle-aged policeman looked up and around, but did not see any accompanying adult.
Seeing this, Yue Zhengling couldn't help but exclaim in his heart: Oh no!
Sure enough, three housewives gossiping nearby saw this and the youngest hesitated for a moment before saying, "He's the kid from that Chinese restaurant up ahead. His original guardian passed away half a year ago. I heard that his new guardian works in Tokyo, but he hasn't appeared. This kid is living alone now."
Upon hearing the woman's words, the middle-aged police officer was stunned for a moment, then said angrily, "Leaving such a young child here all alone while you yourself have never shown up in Tokyo?! What kind of guardian is that! It's utterly outrageous!"
Putting aside various historical reasons and the foresight of the 21st century, Japanese men in the Showa era were very responsible, especially those who became police officers, and the man in front of me is one of the last people from the Showa era.
(As an aside: The Showa era ended in 1989, and the Heisei era, which we know as Japan, began in 1990. Now, the Heisei era is almost over.)
Looking at the righteous uncle in front of him, Le Zhengling felt a mix of emotions. In his previous life, Sino-Japanese relations were always full of friction. The saying that Meiji nurtured scholars, Taisho nurtured the nation, Showa nurtured demons, and Heisei nurtured pigs was very common in China.
The phrase "Showa-era demon raising" refers to the perspective of China, as the invaded party, on the largest world war in modern history, and Japan's generation from a firm standpoint.
But after being reincarnated into Japan in this era, Yue Zhengling felt more from the daily life of this country, so he preferred the nicer terms like "Showa men" and "Heisei slackers." Well, wouldn't it be more endearing to say "Showa men" and "Heisei otaku"?
In short, although you are a good person, my political stance must be correct. With these words in mind, Yue Zhengling pondered a way to escape.
At the same time, I regretted not telling the truth earlier. Wouldn't it have been better to just say I was going to visit a friend nearby?
"Little sister, are you going to the station? How about I take you there?" The middle-aged police officer asked with concern after scolding the guardian whom even Le Zhengling had never met.
"Um, no need, officer, I know the way." Yue Zhengling hurriedly shook her head and refused.
"Alright then, but if there are any special circumstances or you need any help, don't forget to ask the nearest police station for assistance." Seeing Yue Zhengling's resistant look, the middle-aged police officer didn't press the matter. Then, as if remembering something, he took out a pen and paper from his pocket and wrote down a phone number.
"Here's a piece of paper. It has the phone number of the small police station in charge of this area written on it. Keep it safe." After handing him a piece of paper with concern, the policeman watched Yue Zhengling walk away.
After confirming that the other party wouldn't see him, Le Zhengling wiped the sweat from his forehead. This kind of well-intentioned enthusiasm was really hard to resist. Looking at the note in his hand, he thought for a moment and then put it in his pocket.
Le Zhengling treated this as a minor incident and then successfully boarded a train bound for Tokyo. The journey from Yamagata to Tokyo takes about 3 hours, and the Yamagata Shinkansen would be at least half as fast. Unfortunately, that Shinkansen line did not open until 1992.
He didn't wear those glasses when he went out today. After all, he had to take off other things for the hospital check-up, and the lenses of those glasses were custom-made, so he didn't bring them with him to avoid damaging them.
She wore a light blue collarless T-shirt with a thin white jacket on top, and cropped skinny jeans that were not commonly worn at the time. Her hair was clipped to one side with three hairpins, and her long hair at the back of her head was tied up at the beginning and end, making her look incredibly refreshing.
Sitting in a hard seat, Le Zhengling took out a small pocket-sized novel to pass the time. Many of the other passengers on the train smiled knowingly when they saw him doing this.
A child who looked only twelve or thirteen years old sat quietly in the train, holding a book in both hands and reading it with great interest; the scene was quite pleasing to the eye.
After all, it's rare to see a cute child his age choosing to read a book. Of course, if those people could see the book title he was covering with his hand, they certainly wouldn't think that way—
"No Longer Human" is not a book for children.
When it comes to Japanese trains, what they are most famous for is not their speed and safety, but rather the groping of women, a subculture that has emerged in the extremely stressful Japanese society.