Chapter 00006: Brother, You Smell So Good (Seeking Readers!)
# Brother, You Smell So Good (Seeking Readers!)
Chapter 6
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 6: Brother, You Smell So Good (Seeking Readers!)
"What in the world?"
In a moment of confusion, Ji Jue's heart tightened, and he couldn't help but feel anxious.
Is there a thief?
That would be quite a rarity!
After all, his family was so poor that if a thief came, they'd probably leave with two bags of tears.
If the thief had any conscience, they might even leave two hundred coins on the table for the kid to study hard.
The North District was located on the outskirts of Cliff City, and it was neither high-end nor refined.
It was a mess, notorious for its dirt and disorder.
Illegal immigrants, gangs, smuggling, and even murders plagued the area...
With chaos reigning, the number of homicides consistently ranked at the top in all areas of Cliff City, a position so steady that even the governor must call it an old ghost when he arrives!
As for Ji Jue's old house, calling it weathered would be an understatement.
It leaked on rainy days, let in drafts in summer, and dripped water during the day and leaked electricity at night.
It was full of problems that never seemed to resolve.
Even looking at it closely with his heel, it didn't resemble the home of any wealthy family.
Over the years, even if someone stumbled upon a petty thief, they'd take one look at the bare walls inside and, with a sympathetic sigh, turn around and leave.
Ji Jue bent down, pulling half a steel bar from under his bed, carefully stepping on the creaky floor as he headed downstairs, peeking around anxiously, feeling more guilty than a thief.
However, aside from the broken doorknob and a line of footprints leading from the living room to the kitchen, there was nothing else in sight.
"Hey! Come out! Bro, you're at the wrong place; my house is broke!"
There was nothing here besides a lazy college student like him who could eat and sleep all day!
Peeking into the kitchen, he saw only the fridge, its doors ajar, revealing leftover food that could bring tears to one's eyes.
The light behind it flickered weakly, as tired as the thirty-plus-year-old refrigerator itself.
Ji Jue felt as if struck by lightning!
Tears nearly escaped.
It was one thing for a thief not to leave empty-handed, but how dare they take the plate of cold chicken he'd brought back from Aunt Lu's just two days ago?! He had plans to add it to the birthday feast soon!
"What a heartless cruel old fiend!"
He stared at the plate, with the lingering black fingerprints, and couldn't help but curse.
But looking at the empty kitchen and the open window facing the street, how could he not know that the thief had long since escaped? Anger began to bubble within him.
If he had known the sinister forces were after his cold chicken, he wouldn't have remained scared for this long!
Now his fridge was a wreck!
Just then, as he reached for the fridge door, a voice came out of nowhere amidst the buzzing motor sounds: "Be careful behind you."
In that instant, Ji Jue whipped around.
In the gust of stinky wind that hit him, he spotted a pair of crimson eyes staring right at him.
Hungry...
There, above the kitchen doorway, in the gap between the ceiling and walls, there was a figure hunched like a spider, chewing on the last remnants of a bone.
Its sharp teeth gleamed, sending chills down one’s spine.
The moment Ji Jue recognized the figure, he couldn't suppress the scream that erupted from his throat.
"You... You're that old man from yesterday!!!"
Wasn't it so?
That old face was etched in his memory! It was undoubtedly the crazy old man who nearly caused him to accidentally transmigrate to another world with his reckless antics.
The situation had been so chaotic that no one realized when he slipped away.
Ji Jue hadn’t thought much of it, yet he never expected that he would dare invade his home!
But now, that figure looked eerily different, much more sinister than before.
What a frightening transformation!
"Good grief, you have the guts to show up again! So you really think you’ve got a hold on me, huh?!" Ji Jue shouted in anger, "If you don’t pay me back, you think you’re leaving today? Get off my wall!"
Old Deng seemed to be quite accommodating.
He responded promptly.
As soon as Ji Jue urged him off the wall, he *leapt! Pounced! Right! Over!*
So fast!
It was akin to a spider or mantis striking at its prey, and the rancid wind enveloped Ji Jue in an instant.
Reflexively, he stepped back, using the fridge door to shield himself.
But in a split second, he saw his fridge, bulky and useless, being torn open by Old Deng’s sharp fingers.
Those nails grazed Ji Jue's face, leaving a slice behind.
In a rush, Ji Jue kicked out only to find himself pushed back by the recoil, stumbling away as he quickly dashed past the dining table and reached the kitchen door.
He watched as that old man completely ripped the door off his fridge.
The hunched figure, looking like a twisted monkey, rummaged through the ruins of the fridge, grabbing whatever remnants he could find, even the porcelain plate Ji Jue had dropped earlier, and crushed it with ghastly crunches.
His blood-red eyes were filled with chaos.
"Eat, eat, eat... I'm so hungry..."
With his mouth torn open by the shattered plate, blood oozed out, only to be licked back by a long tongue.
The old man looked up with drool dripping, staring hungrily at Ji Jue, "You smell so good..."
“Okay, okay! Just stop talking! A friend in need is a friend indeed, right?”
Ji Jue, desperate, pulled out his cash—a measly forty-eight coins—and slapped it on the table, “Old man, this is all I’ve got. Go get yourself some dim sum... I recommend the shop north of Six-Paved Street, their dumplings are cheap and tasty...”
Boom!
The dining table splintered under the screaming fury of the old man, bringing down the kitchen cabinet behind where Ji Jue stood, broken pots and shattered dishes flying everywhere, echoing with a sound that broke Ji Jue's heart.
Oh no, does this old man not like dumplings?
Ji Jue scrambled out of the kitchen, his mind racing: If he doesn’t eat dumplings, then how about some pickled noodles?!
But even if he was frantic, Ji Jue soon realized that the old man wasn’t after dumplings, pan-fried buns, or rice dishes… he wanted to eat him!!
As the wave of stench hit him again, Ji Jue gritted his teeth, clutching the steel bar tightly, and swung with all his might toward the old man’s head!
Respect for the elderly was out the window now!
A thunderous crash erupted.
The steel bar slipped from his hand and recoiled, striking like it had smashed into a concrete pillar.
A rod strong enough to crush multiple skulls merely left a scratch on the old man’s forehead, while Ji Jue’s arm bore the brunt and was slashed deep.
Blood flowed, splattering down.
The old man’s face was soon drenched in Ji Jue's blood, greedily lapped up by that long tongue, sending him into a frenzy of excitement, making him tremble all over with joy.
"You smell good! You smell good!!!"
"To hell with your smell!"
While stumbling back, Ji Jue grabbed a water bottle from the cabinet and hurled it at the old man’s head before darting towards the door.
Having tasted the flavor of Ji Jue’s blood, the old man chased after him, crazed and ecstatic, wriggling like a mad beast.
But as he passed the staircase, Ji Jue suddenly came to a halt.
He reached for the fancy stairs’ railing he had just repaired days ago, yanked the sharp rod from the freshly patched cement, and turned to strike toward the old man's face!
In a moment, the iron rod embedded into the old man’s eye socket, causing him to stagger.
Then, Ji Jue launched a kick that sent him flying out the door like a rolling gourd, landing in the muddy yard.
Before the old man could recover from his tumble, Ji Jue leaped up, channeling all his strength and weight down onto the old man’s neck!
Crack!
The sound was like thunder in Ji Jue’s ears, so clear and vivid.
He didn’t even have time to breathe a sigh of relief.
Then he heard a piercing scream from below him.
It was like the dying wail of some beast, a desperate roar and cry of hunger.
Even with a half-broken railing embedded in the old man's eye socket, he thrashed and struggled, even flipping over a nearby electric bike.
Though his neck was undoubtedly broken, the twisted face still bore an unsettling crimson hue.
His mouth gaped open, clawing at the air for a taste.
All Ji Jue could do was hold on with all his might, pinning the old man's head against the ground.
Yet he felt like he was losing control.
The strength was overwhelming!
He sensed he wasn’t subduing an old man who looked feeble but rather some grotesque monster in human guise.
If he let go, he’d be torn apart in an instant.
He could feel the thick, nauseating stench radiating from the old man’s mouth and body, even an ominous red glimmer faintly emanating.
His severe injuries seemed irrelevant.
He was still kicking!
Incredibly, the neck that should have been broken began to realign...
Ignoring the iron rod lodged in his eye, he persistently edged forward...
Yet, there was a momentary slack in the old man’s strength, only to be followed by a surge of rage.
During his constant biting, only thick, viscous blood spewed forth from his mouth, splashing onto Ji Jue's hands.
So cold.
【Detecting external active distorted spiritual essence.
Do you wish to absorb it?】
From the depths of his soul and consciousness, a prompt from his watch suddenly emerged, causing Ji Jue to feel ecstatic.
Fearing the watch didn't understand, he shouted with all his might:
"Yes! Yes! Yes! YES! YES!! YES!!!"
Before his words faded,
In that moment, just as he had no time to even smile, a crisp voice emerged from the watch—tick!
Then, a faint glow appeared on the dial, extending along Ji Jue's palm and fingers, tracing an intricate pattern like circuitry, flowing down into his fingertips, down the iron rod.
In that instant, flesh transformed, his palm turned into something new, a tool of sorts that even Ji Jue couldn’t control.
He thrust the iron pole into the old fiend’s skull!
Then—mysterious gears began to turn, a terrifying force like a black hole’s gravity spread, capable of suppressing all distorted spiritual essences, beginning!!!
The shrill screams came to an abrupt halt.
Instead, a boiling roar emerged, it was like a kettle shrieking over the fire, thick blood surged from the old man's eye sockets, drawn toward the watch through the matrix.
The old man, who had been convulsing, began to wither rapidly.
Only the viscous, crimson matter thrashed about as if it were a frenzied worm, being forcefully drawn from his body, drained entirely by the watch!
The numbers on the watch dial skyrocketed, reaching a level of 59 in a split second.
In mere seconds, it nearly matched the spiritual essence Ji Jue had accumulated over many years!
And at last, the writhing old man collapsed onto the ground, unable to move again.
No, it was more like… he had reverted to his original form.
Without that eerie power, he appeared on the brink of death.
In his mingled eyes filled with chaos and hunger, a glimmer of clarity emerged.
As if awakening from a long nightmare, he stared blankly at his surroundings, lost and confused.
For a moment, it seemed he recalled something, his lips parted slightly, as if whispering a name.
Murky tears slowly slid down from the corners of his eyes.
Tumbling into the mud.
Gradually, he collapsed, turning into ash.
Except for his ragged clothes, there was nothing left.
Ah, a new week began, it just hit me.
Please follow, save, vote for me, I seek everything!
Also, the usual(?), the long and unwieldy new book notes have been uploaded in the related works section.
Friends interested can take a look.
(End of this chapter)