Two or Three Events in the Last Days 028
Chapter 28: Mosquito Bites
Duckie followed Jing Lin into the backyard and, as usual, excitedly charged toward the vegetable patch. But after rushing in, it discovered the area was empty, and all of its food was gone. It immediately froze in shock.
When Jing Lin saw Duckie standing there blankly, he finally remembered that all the food he had specially left for it had been cleared away by Yan Lu as weeds. The pile of weeds in the corner was all the same tender green color, making it difficult to identify Duckie’s preferred food. Jing Lin pulled out a handful and held it in front of Duckie for it to eat.
The goose hesitated, lowered its head, and took a bite. It quickly spat it out in disgust and gave Jing Lin two irritated honks.
Jing Lin carried it over to the weed pile and said, “I can’t tell which kind you used to eat. You’ll have to find it yourself.”
After patting the goose’s little head, he stood up and went into the kitchen. He still had to heat bathwater for himself and Le Le.
By the time Jing Lin finished heating the water, bathed with Le Le, and got ready for bed, he went to check on Duckie and discovered chewed-up grass leaves scattered all over the ground. The culprit was sprawled in the weed pile, panting heavily. A blade of grass still hung from the side of its beak as it continued eating. When it saw Jing Lin approaching with an oil lamp, it weakly grunted a couple of times, looking pitiful, both exhausted and starving.
Seeing that it was still eating, Jing Lin cut some grass and put it into the chicks’ feeding box before carrying the oil lamp back to the bedroom.
Afterward, Jing Lin let Le Le play by himself while he began cultivating as he had the previous nights. At first, there was no difference from usual when he circulated the cultivation technique—there was the same amount of spiritual qi and the same route of circulation. But later, the spiritual qi around him suddenly surged in greater quantities, crashing through his meridians and causing waves of sharp pain. Jing Lin endured the pain and focused even harder on the cultivation method. After a long time, he suddenly felt a loud boom in his mind, as if something had been broken through. The moment it happened, all the pain vanished. His entire body felt light and refreshed, and the fatigue from the day’s labor completely disappeared. The spiritual qi flowing through his meridians returned to its previous leisurely pace. The energy mass between his brows also seemed slightly denser than before.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Jing Lin realized that he had advanced to the second level of the Initial Movement stage.
A mosquito buzzed near his ear. A tiny black mosquito, no larger than the tip of a needle, drifted lazily in front of him as though searching for a place to bite. Although the mosquito was small, it appeared as a distinct black dot in Jing Lin’s vision. He could even clearly see the afterimages left by the movement of its wings. Jing Lin raised both hands and swiftly clapped them together around the mosquito. When he opened his hands again, the mosquito was already dead.
It was perfectly normal to encounter mosquitoes in summer. Jing Lin had hung a mosquito net around his bed, so mosquito bites rarely bothered him while he slept, and he paid little attention to it. After disposing of the mosquito, he sat quietly on the bed for a while. When no more mosquitoes appeared, he blew out the lamp and went to sleep.
As soon as he opened his eyes the next morning, Jing Lin heard frantic squawking coming from the storage room where the chickens were kept. Thinking that something had broken into the house, he hurried over, only to find nothing there. When the chicks saw him arrive, they became even more agitated. Several of them flapped their wings and tried to fly over the wooden enclosure. Looking inside, Jing Lin saw that the feeding box, which was usually empty by this time, still contained plenty of chopped grass. More was scattered on the ground, trampled beyond recognition. It looked as though they had barely touched it.
No wonder they were making such a racket. They were probably starving. He had assumed Duckie’s picky eating was because it had gained spiritual intelligence, but now even the chicks were refusing food. Could it be that they had all developed spiritual intelligence too?
Jing Lin looked more carefully and noticed a difference. Most of the chicks appeared listless from hunger, but a few were especially energetic and showed no signs of being hungry.
The flock continued squawking, giving Jing Lin a headache. He quickly said, “Stop shouting. I’ll get you something to eat right away.”
The chickens immediately quieted down a little.
That only made Jing Lin’s headache worse. After all, he had raised chickens so he could eventually eat their meat and eggs. If they behaved so much like people, how was he supposed to bring himself to do that in the future?
There were no suitable vegetable leaves in the house for the chicks. Jing Lin remembered the two patches of bok choy growing in the front yard, so he grabbed a knife and harvested two heads. He set aside the freshest and most tender leaves for vegetable porridge and finely chopped the rest.
The bok choy was exceptionally tender, and Jing Lin could even smell a faint fragrance while chopping it.
As soon as he placed the chopped bok choy into the feeding box, the starving chicks crowded together and jumped up to peck at it before he had even set the box down completely.
After watching the chicks eat for a while, Jing Lin, who had not cultivated that morning, realized he was hungry as well. He turned and went into the kitchen, washed the pot and rice, cleaned and chopped the bok choy, and added it to the pot. Once the water heated up, he added a little lard and salt and let it cook for a while longer. Soon, a fragrant pot of vegetable porridge was ready.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
While eating, Jing Lin remembered the toad. He looked toward the corner of the wall and saw it still squatting there motionlessly. When it noticed Jing Lin looking at it, it croaked once in greeting, proving that it was still alive.
Jing Lin had gotten up early, and there was still some time before everyone was due to gather after breakfast. Since Yan Fei had said the day before that he would come find him, Jing Lin was not in a hurry to go out. After tidying up the house, he drew three sets of Spirit-Locking Array talismans, specifically preparing a set for Yan Fei’s family as well.
Jing Lin had never intended to hide his ability to draw talismans and set up arrays from people close to him. There was no need to mention Zhao Zhiwen’s family—they had known from the beginning. As for Yan Fei’s family, based on their recent interactions, they were all upright and trustworthy people. Their families were already close within the village, and Yan Lu had helped out the previous day. Jing Lin therefore planned to briefly explain his talisman-drawing abilities, using it as an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the three families so they could support one another in the future.
The grass around the house had not yet been cleared away, so it was not a good time to set up the arrays. Just as Jing Lin finished drawing the three sets of array talismans, Yan Fei and Yan Lu arrived.
There were faint dark circles under Yan Fei’s eyes, making it obvious that he had not slept well. Jing Lin also noticed several red welts on his face and asked what had happened.
Yan Fei said, “Mosquito bites.” As he spoke, he could not help scratching at them because of the itch.
Jing Lin assumed Yan Fei’s family had returned in too much of a hurry to prepare mosquito nets. Since his household still had extras, he offered to lend them one.
Yan Fei smiled bitterly and said, “My family prepared more than a dozen mosquito nets back then. I got bitten awake in the middle of the night, but there wasn’t a single mosquito visible inside the net. It’s really strange.” He went on to explain that aside from Yan Lu, who had slept soundly through the night, his parents had also been tormented by mosquito bites. They all had dark circles under their eyes and looked exhausted.
At that point, Jing Lin felt that something was slightly off, but he did not think too deeply about it. He merely mentioned that Zhao Zhiwen’s family had dried mugwort and that they could ask for some to burn that night as mosquito repellent.
When they arrived at Zhao Zhiwen’s house, they found that everyone there also had red welts all over their arms and faces. Zhao Zhiwen rubbed his eyes and complained that he had been bitten throughout the night without ever seeing a mosquito. Mosquito coils, burning mugwort, and even rubbing floral water all over his body had been completely ineffective. It was bizarre. By then, everyone felt that something was definitely wrong.
When they gathered at Ma Renshan’s house, everyone present except Jing Lin and Yan Lu looked drained. Their faces and hands were covered with red welts, and they stood around yawning repeatedly. Several people looked so sleepy that Jing Lin felt they could fall asleep while standing.
When Jing Lin noticed that Yan Fei had scratched the welts on his face until they bled, he quickly stopped him. “The skin’s broken. Stop scratching.”
Yan Fei frowned. Since Jing Lin would not let him scratch, he rubbed the area with his palm instead. “It’s too itchy.”
Zhao Shaoqian had also been bitten badly. He wore long sleeves that day and rubbed his arms through the fabric as he said, “Let’s see if we can buy some medicine today. Once we get back, I’ll prepare some anti-itch solution, and everyone can come get some.”
Ma Chunzheng, Ma Renshan’s son, said, “We definitely need some medicine. Xinxin cried from the bites all night. Her whole back was covered in red welts. It broke my heart.”
His family had been awake since the middle of the night. Unable to find any mosquitoes, they had thought fleas had gotten into the house. They changed the bedsheets and pillowcases, but nothing helped. Watching his daughter wanting to sleep but being too afraid to do so, he sat beside her with a fan until dawn.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Jing Lin watched the group constantly fidgeting like restless monkeys, but he could not laugh. The welts that had appeared on Le Le before had been neat circles, while the ones on these people were irregularly shaped. There was still a difference between them.
Moreover, among all these people, only he, Le Le, and Yan Lu had not been bitten. He suddenly remembered the mosquito he had killed the previous night.
The mosquito had been tiny, no bigger than the tip of a needle. Logically, he should not have been able to see it under the dim light of a kerosene lamp. Yet he had seen it clearly and had managed to swat it dead.
Could it be because of his cultivation practice? Was Le Le immune to mosquito bites because of the strange bumps he had suffered before? And what about Yan Lu? Was it because of her unusual strength?
No matter how uncomfortable everyone felt, it was time to leave. Only eight people were making the trip. Some villagers liked to take advantage of others and figured there was no need to go themselves if someone else was already going. They could simply ask about the outside situation once the others returned.
The condition of the village made it obvious that the roads outside were in poor shape, so everyone traveled on foot. The previous day, everyone had been busy clearing the village’s main roads and had not paid attention to the surrounding area. As soon as they reached the village entrance, however, it felt as though they had stepped into another world.
Tall grass spread across the road. On both sides stood enormous trees that would take three or four people linking arms to encircle. Their dense branches formed a canopy overhead, blocking out the sky. Only a few sparse gaps allowed shafts of light through, making the surroundings dim. The air echoed with the calls of unknown animals, some high-pitched and some low, creating the illusion that they had entered a deep mountain jungle.
Li Feiyu stared at the endless sea of grass and said in astonishment, “If we go in there… won’t we get lost?”
“If we follow the road, we won’t,” Yan Fei replied.
The large trees lined both sides of the road, making reliable landmarks. As long as they used the trees as guides, getting lost would not be easy.
Among the group, Yan Fei was the tallest, followed by Zhao Zhiwen and Jing Lin. The three of them therefore took the lead, each carrying a wrist-thick wooden stick. They beat down the grass as they advanced, clearing a path for the others.
Their destination was Yellow Terrace Town, the closest town to the village.
When they reached the next village and saw that the grass covering the roads there had also been cleared away, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Walking through the dense grass had been exhausting. Even with the taller men clearing the way in front, it was still far more tiring than walking on an open road. Although the tree canopy blocked the direct sunlight, the grass-filled areas were stiflingly hot in the summer weather. By the time they finally emerged, everyone felt as though they could wring water out of their clothes.
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: Two of two for the week. Apologies if any errors. I’ve been correcting wrong impressions as I revisit the chapters after translating further. For example, yes, thanks to Le Le, Duckie is a not a duck.
Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomKnight73
Proofreader: Yume
Avid BL reader, editor, and translator with 1 story completed (CLWP) and 1 story in progress (TELD). Support this translation with a Ko-fi. Three Ko-fis will add an extra chapter from the stockpile to the next weekly release.
