Chapter 40 Suspended Animation

Liang Kaifeng’s father was lying in bed. His face was as pale as a corpse, and his glabella was as black as ink. What was more terrifying was that there was something black growing on his face and hands, which looked similar to something you would see on rotten bread…

“It’s mold.”

Before I could open my mouth, Liang Kaifeng answered it for me.

“You’re right, the black thing that’s growing on my dad is mold.” Liang Kaifeng’s numb face showed that he already was used to it, and he just went forward and uncovered the quilt on his father. Everyone gasped after seeing what was beneath the quilt.

His torso, arms, legs…there was mold growing all over his body. There was also a thick layer of mold on the quilt that covered him.

“Ew…” I couldn’t help but mutter.

“But this doesn’t make sense.” Zhu Xuan, standing next to me, knitted his brows and pinched his nose. “Since your father’s condition looks like this, he should’ve died long ago.”

“Yeah.” Liang Kaifeng put the quilt back on his father again. “We went to the hospital to see the doctors, but no one can explain this. Everyone said that they couldn’t save my dad. It’s a miracle that he’s still breathing. But I know this is not a miracle; it’s a curse. My dad said that he can’t die right now, he won’t be freed from his suffering until the demon comes for him.”

“Did your father mention when the demon would come?” Zhu Xuan looked up at him.

“…Tomorrow, at midnight,” Liang Kaifeng clenched his jaw and said.

“That means we have a day.” Zhu Xuan frowned.

Looking at this moldy man lying in bed, I really did not know how Zhu Xuan and I could solve this case. But after I told my concerns to Zhu Xuan, he sighed and said that we had to try no matter what.

“This is your father’s fault. He was too ignorant at the time when he made an unbreakable contract with something he didn’t understand,” Zhu Xuan said. “Demons are different from human beings. They never lie and they never violate a contract. No matter how evil they are, for them, a deal is a deal, nothing can change it. Therefore, any contract made with a demon is inviolable, even if you have a good excuse. Demons don’t care about your excuses, they just follow the contract.”

“Are you saying that there is no hope for my father?” Liang Kai said angrily.

“I didn’t say that. Can’t you just listen first?” Zhu Xuan did not know whether to laugh or cry. “However, since the way those demons deal with the contract is quite straightforward, we can deceive them with some furtive methods.”

“How?” Liang Kaifeng’s tone was softened slightly.

“Well, we should act according to the different types of demons we deal with,” Zhu Xuan thought for a moment before saying.”Some demons are stupid. You can just tell him that you’re not the one they signed the contract with because low-level demons can’t distinguish human appearances, they recognize people by their smell. But things get troublesome if we face the higher-level demons, because you have to give them a reason why the contract cannot be executed.”

I looked at Zhu Xuan in doubt. “Are you sure you are not fooling us right now?”

“Wait, can you explain it to me first?” Liang Kaifeng interrupted impatiently. “Your tone suggests that you already know what kind of demon my dad encountered.”

“No, just speculation, that’s all.” Zhu Xuan said. “It’s a very tricky one. It’s really rare to encounter this demon, and your father was ‘extremely lucky’ to meet it. The one we have to face is very evil and sly, and it almost fooled me once.”

Liang Kaifeng sneezed to show his disdain. He muttered, “Who the hell do you think you are?”

“Do you want to listen to my plan or not?” Zhu Xuan glanced at Liang Kaifeng, displeased.

Liang Kaifeng shrugged his shoulders.

“The demon your father made a contract with will come to visit at midnight tomorrow. Our time is tight. We only have one shot. As I just said, we have to give this demon a reason, a reason why we can’t execute the contract,” saying that, Zhu Xuan suddenly walked to the coffee table. He picked up an orange and played with it in his hand. “Imagine this, if all of you want to eat this orange so much that you’re ready to fight each other for it, what will make you give up on eating it?”

I can’t help but roast, “What a poor metaphor!”

“Just answer my question.” Zhu Xuan waved the orange in his hand.

“Um… I don’t know?” I confusedly looked at him and the orange. “Maybe I’m not hungry.”

Zhu Xuan shook his head. “As I said, you want to eat this orange.”

All of a sudden, Xu Yingchen broke in, “If you’ve already eaten this orange before I can have it, then I would give up.”

Zhu Xuan’s eyes lit up. He looked at Xu Yingchen. “That’s right, Mr. Xu! If I’ve already eaten this orange, then there’s no reason for you to fight for it, right?”

Then Zhu Xuan peeled the orange and put it in his mouth, “Em, it’s pretty sweet.”

Liang Kaifeng immediately complained, “That’s my orange!”

Liang Kaifeng had such an annoying character and really low IQ, which made me understand why Shi Yitong and Su Xiaoyun did not want me to get involved in his family’s business.

“It’s not about the orange,” I forced myself not to roll my eyes at him and said. “Zhu Xuan is saying that if you make the Jade Ruyi——no, that demon believe that Liang Kaifeng’s father is dead, then he will not bother him again, am I correct?”

Liang Kaifeng’s mouth was wide open. “I see!”

“Umm, but… can we do that?” Xu Yingchen obviously did not understand the situation, but somehow he asked hesitantly. “Although I’m not sure if there are real demons in the world or not; it sounds so scary. But if we’re going to deal with demons…well, are they easy to fool? After all, Liang Youhua is still breathing.”

The name Xu Yingchen mentioned was Liang Kaifeng’s father’s name. I look at Zhu Xuan since I was wondering the same thing. After all, he was the one who proposed this plan, then he should have a way to execute it.