Pitch black, small and smoothly rounded, if that wasn’t a black pearl, then what was? No one knew what that little mouse had been thinking. Even the monsters outside were afraid of black pearls yet it had gone and swallowed one straight into its belly.
“This is… a black pearl, right? How did a little mouse end up eating it? This isn’t something you can just swallow casually, is it?”
Li Xianguan was the first to voice his doubts. Everyone present had already seen firsthand what kind of sinister object a black pearl was. If it hadn’t been for survival, none of them would have wanted to carry a bunch of black pearls around with them. It was terrifying. If one ignited by accident, they would all be finished.
At this moment, Lu Xiao was actually the braver one. He took a handkerchief and wrapped up the black pearl, wiped away the filth clinging to its surface and placed it back where the other black pearls had been stored earlier. He didn’t care at all about the strange looks the others were giving him.
Lu Xiao found it odd. What was the big deal? Wasn’t this just putting waste to use? A perfectly good pearl, something that, outside, only the emperor was allowed to use.
Just because it rolled around on the ground once, did that mean it couldn’t be used anymore? Tossing it around carelessly would be even more dangerous, wouldn’t it?
“Brother, was there only this one? Was there anything else?”
While Lu Xiao was picking up the pearl, Qian Shengke was still carefully examining the little mouse with a serious expression. Seeing his brother look like this, Qian Jinye immediately sensed that something was wrong and stepped forward to ask.
Qian Shengke was born with gentle features. Now that he wasn’t smiling and had put on a stern expression, there was an unexpected hint of coldness to him.
He covered the mouse’s corpse with a piece of white cloth, wiped his hands clean and shook his head.
“There was nothing else. Just that black pearl.”
By now, it wasn’t strange for all kinds of ghosts and monsters to appear in the Qian residence and Lu Xiao had long since grown used to it.
Creatures they had never seen before popping up from time to time were almost normal but this time, neither Qian Jinye nor Qian Shengke was smiling, which made it rather unusual.
It seemed that even in the Qian household, something like this had never happened before.
“Everyone, this time it’s not a small matter. I’ll handle it alone. Please… do your best to stay alive. Jinye, don’t speak. Stay with them. Do you still remember proper hospitality? Protect them well. People from outside won’t survive here.”
As he spoke, he even smiled at Qian Jinye. Qian Jinye unconsciously took a step back, feeling as though his brother was about to set a trap for him.
“This mess was caused by our father. A father’s debt should be paid by his son, it’s only right. Make yourselves at home. I’m already involved and can’t escape. Jinye is innocent. If you survive this calamity, please take him out with you.”
Something truly seemed to have happened. Along the way, Qian Shengke had joked with them plenty, always appearing relaxed and in control but now he was so serious, as if a blade were hanging above his head, not daring to relax for even a moment.
“Brother! This is a Tracing Pearl! We’ve never faced one head on before. I won’t allow you to go alone!”
As he spoke, he rushed forward to grab Qian Shengke. Without saying a word, Qian Shengke darted out of the kitchen and lightly slapped the door shut behind him. It wouldn’t open. It simply wouldn’t open.
No one knew what method Qian Shengke had used but no matter how much Qian Jinye kicked and pounded on it, the door didn’t budge an inch.
“Brother, brother! At least take me with you! What can you do all by yourself?”
He was genuinely anxious now. Though he and Qian Shengke always bickered, when something really happened, he was fiercely protective of his brother.
Lu Xiao could tell, Qian Jinye was the type who defended his own without reservation. If you were classified as family by him, that was it.
Because of his slight fondness for Lu Xiao, Qian Jinye had already been treating their group quite well but compared to his real family, Lu Xiao and the others were nothing. At this moment, there was only his brother left in Qian Jinye’s mind.
Qian Shengke left with effortless composure, leaving Qian Jinye behind to throw a tantrum. The door wouldn’t open no matter what he did. With no other choice, he squatted down, looking as though he was about to cry.
Lu Xiao walked over, just about to comfort him, when Qian Jinye suddenly burst out cursing.
“I’ll fuck you, Qian Shengke! You really think you’re some kind of fucking god?! Playing the hero like this, when you die ugly, don’t expect me to collect your corpse!”
Lu Xiao froze where he stood. Qian Jinye had gone from a carefree young master of a wealthy family, to a martial arts expert living in seclusion and now he looked like nothing more than a kid arguing with his older brother.
“Ahem. Brother, that language is really dirty. Watch your influence, I don’t think it’d pass review. By the way, why was Brother Qian in such a rush to leave? The mouse eating the black pearl might’ve been an accident. Those black pearls are weird, mutating after eating one seems normal enough.”
He tried to joke around but got no response. Qian Jinye was very quiet now. Just moments ago he’d been shouting curses and now he was as still as a beautiful doll, which made Lu Xiao uneasy.
“Brother? What’s wrong?”
“That wasn’t a black pearl, Lu Xiao. Take another look.”
Qian Jinye’s eyes were hollow, as if he no longer wanted to explain anything to them. His soul seemed to have followed Qian Shengke away and now even speaking took effort. He looked like a wilted little cabbage hit by frost, pitiful and weak.
At this point, it was hard to persuade him. After all, this was a matter between the two brothers and Lu Xiao didn’t know what to say either. Thinking about it now, maybe they had all been too rash.
Two people meeting for the first time and suddenly claiming to like each other, it was a bit ridiculous.
Wasn’t it too childish?
With his mind wandering through all sorts of random thoughts, his hand reached for the black pearls he had just hidden away. Looking at that pile of black pearls, Lu Xiao hesitated. Didn’t they all look the same? How was he supposed to find which one had been swallowed just now…
No, something was different. He saw it.
The other black pearls all carried, to varying degrees, a faint greenish sheen, a subtle iridescence but that one was not the same. The moment Lu Xiao looked closely, he could tell, it was red. From the inside out, it emitted a kind of presence that made one instinctively afraid.
Seeing his reaction, Chen Yue’er and Li Xianguan also gathered around. As long as one wasn’t color blind, it was obvious at a glance now, this pearl was unlike any they had seen before.
“Little Brother Jinye… this, what exactly is this thing?”
Everyone from the Bright Pearl Court was seeing this pearl for the first time but based on their many years of experience, this was clearly no simple mutation. The red glow alone was enough to set it apart.
“This is a Tracing Pearl. It used to be a black pearl and before that, it was once a white pearl but not anymore. Now it exists somewhere between a white pearl and a black pearl. It’s a very dangerous existence.”
Qian Jinye still looked dejected, answering only when asked, reacting sluggishly to everything. Lu Xiao was worried about him but he couldn’t drop what he was doing to focus on comforting him. With both brothers reacting this way, it was clear this was no good thing. It needed to be dealt with quickly.
Lu Xiao sat down and began to organize his thoughts.
What they knew so far was that the Tracing Pearl existed between a black pearl and a white pearl. It had once been a black pearl, then transformed into a white pearl and finally turned into something akin to a black pearl again.
Judging from how anxious Qian Shengke had been, it was obvious they didn’t understand the transformation process of a Tracing Pearl. If it were controllable, there would have been no need for such urgency.
Dangerous and uncontrollable, this meant that when this thing had appeared in the Qian family before, the casualties must have been severe. The Qian family had always suffered losses but at its core, the issue lay in damage to their interests.
This kind of dangerous object originated from a white pearl. If the safety of white pearls couldn’t be guaranteed, then funds from the imperial palace would never be released.
They would definitely do everything possible to eliminate something like this. As for why they still didn’t know how to deal with it even now, there was only one explanation: the probability of mutation was extremely low. So low that it might not appear even once in several decades, so rare it could practically be treated as zero.
That explained why the appearance of a Tracing Pearl threw the Qian family into panic. Since both Qian Jinye and Qian Shengke recognized it, Lu Xiao dared to guess that this was what had appeared when their mother had lost her life.
They weren’t certain what effects this thing had but there was one thing they could be sure of.
This thing was extremely dangerous.
“Brother… we can’t keep this thing, can we? How are we supposed to deal with it?”
When Lu Xiao said this, his hands were shaking. If he wasn’t careful and dropped it on the ground where it couldn’t be found or if it somehow contaminated his own body, if he ended up mutating like that little mouse… Lu Xiao would rather die than become such a monster.
“This door has a talisman my brother left behind. It was placed by that master back then and it works on this house. It won’t last too long, by tomorrow night at the latest, the door will open. As for the Tracing Pearl… hold onto it for now, Lu Xiao.”
“To be honest, we don’t really know what a Tracing Pearl will do either. Back then, once this pearl appeared, everything changed. Our family started becoming stranger and stranger and in the end, we threw the Tracing Pearl into a space time rift.”
The Qian family had tried to end the chaos by dealing with the Tracing Pearl. Clearly, they had failed. Not only did the disorder fail to stop, it intensified and strange things began appearing more and more frequently.
Such actions only demonstrated humanity’s ignorance and arrogance. They were wildly overconfident, completely unaware of what they were truly facing and evidently, it had been amused.
Trying to end everything in one stroke only dragged them deeper in. Like someone trapped in a swamp, the more they struggled, the faster they were swallowed. Again and again, sinking into despair, unable to control themselves.
In that case, keeping the pearl close was probably the best option. If it were discarded carelessly and drew its attention again, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Since the house would eventually open anyway, Lu Xiao wasn’t in a rush. Comforting Qian Jinye was the most important thing right now, after all, he was still his so called contractual partner.
The relationship might have been contractual but his feelings were genuine. Lu Xiao didn’t want Qian Jinye to be so miserable. Ever since arriving at the Qian residence, Lu Xiao had felt a strange sense of déjà vu. He began to suspect that perhaps his own memories had been altered as well.
Maybe this wasn’t his first time here.
Perhaps he and Qian Jinye weren’t signing a contract for the first time either.
“Brother, get some sleep first. Even though there’s no daytime here, we haven’t rested in a long time. It’s relatively safe right now, let’s recover our strength and then go look for Brother Qian, alright? You just woke up and already fought with a giant clam. I’m worried your body won’t hold up.”
Li Xianguan and Chen Yue’er had already spread out bamboo mats and lay down to rest. They looked quite unconcerned. Since they couldn’t get out, they might as well rest properly. The Bright Pearl Court had seen every kind of storm there was.
Qian Jinye agreed with Lu Xiao’s suggestion but he was still in a daze, sitting on the mat Lu Xiao had laid out, staring blankly ahead.
But how could he be someone willing to remain passive?
He flicked a talisman paper toward the door. Even without paste, it stuck firmly in place. Qian Jinye then delivered another kick to that same spot on the door.
“Break!”
✦ ✧ ✦
Nycreth
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
The translator has been bribed with exactly zero coffees so far. Fix this. 😭
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
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ChaptersChapter 1 · The beginning of the tragedyChapter 2 · Don’t forgetChapter 3 · Look at it directlyChapter 4 · Whom are you trying to seduce?Chapter 5 · TeaseChapter 6 · Sleeping in the same bedChapter 7 · Internal locksChapter 8 · Tampering The rules…Chapter 9 · Black LotusChapter 10 · FledglingChapter 11 · There are no horses in the stable.Chapter 12 · Water-oil separationChapter 13 · The cost of backtrackingChapter 14 · It got biggerChapter 15 · Was it a mouse?Chapter 16 · Too fieryChapter 17 · Administer medicineChapter 18 · Tracing the PearlChapter 19 · A KissChapter 20 · Ge, Kiss meChapter 21 · Ten Thousand Deaths Without RegretChapter 22 · Endless CorridorChapter 23 · CowardChapter 24 · GoodbyeChapter 25 · Back toChapter 26 · It’s is me, Not MeChapter 27 · VictimChapter 28 · Crossed CupsChapter 29 · IntuitionChapter 30 · ChangeChapter 31 · DifferentChapter 32 · ErrorChapter 33 · Mind Your Own BusinessChapter 34 · WanderingChapter 35 · EmbraceChapter 36 · LoveChapter 37 · UnrestrainedChapter 38 · Asking Over a DrinkChapter 39 · As BeforeChapter 40 · SatiatedChapter 41 · A Change in the WindsChapter 42 · A’SuChapter 43 · Welcoming the BrideChapter 44 · GossipChapter 45 · WeaknessChapter 46 · Wedding NightChapter 47 · Brother QingChapter 48 · FadingChapter 49 · Lying LowChapter 50 · CaressChapter 51 · OnceChapter 52 · The Hidden PassageChapter 53 · MotherChapter 54 · FlawlessChapter 55 · ProphecyChapter 56 · EtherealChapter 57 · DecipheringChapter 58 · The TrapChapter 59 · Stone StatueChapter 60 · ChessChapter 61 · AssassinsChapter 62 · The National Preceptor?Chapter 63 · Please return my belongings to me.Chapter 64 · I’m not that desperate.Chapter 65 · No wayChapter 66 · No turning backChapter 67 · I told you, get out of the wayChapter 68 · Still became a monsterChapter 69 · Let’s end thisChapter 70 · Why do you look so much like him?Chapter 71 · One wanted to kill, two stopped himChapter 72 · Unless, the people at Mingzhu Academy are keeping it from himChapter 73 · FraudChapter 74 · Don’t look back, Lu XiaoChapter 75 · It’s coldChapter 76 · Kill MeChapter 77 · We are even marriedChapter 78 · Gege… I Love YouChapter 79 · “It” had arrivedChapter 80 · Wake Up!Chapter 81 · How Nostalgic….Chapter 82 · You already Promised meChapter 83 · Their TerritoryChapter 84 · Jokes were JokesChapter 85 · What you dream was realChapter 86 · Did you cry?Chapter 87 · What’s wrong, young Master?Chapter 88 · No, I only ever said it to youChapter 89 · Honey, Please let me go.Chapter 90 · What are you pretending to be, a gentleman?Chapter 91 · It’s just a shoddy trick to fool people, but I like it anywayChapter 92 · Ge, I did it voluntarily, it’s no useChapter 93 · You little BratChapter 94 · Gege~ please have mercyChapter 95 · Hearing Lu Xiao come in, he patted the seat next to himChapter 96 · Stop fooling around, let me kiss youChapter 97 · “I want…” “Want what?”Chapter 98 · Gege, watch closely how I get youChapter 99 · Little Eleven, how about we talk to ‘it’ first?Chapter 100 · Had it gone mad?Chapter 101 · I will make my decisionChapter 102 · Tsk, how indecentChapter 103 · You are the creator of my original worldChapter 104 · The world is not your toy, go back to where you came fromChapter 105 · He was a boy with snow-white hair and a handsome faceChapter 106 · Haven’t seen you for a long timeChapter 107 · TYRBL Extra: 1Chapter 108 · TYRBL Extra: 2Chapter 109 · TYRBL Extra: 3Chapter 110 · TYRBL Extra: 4