CH 10.2

Chapter 10.2 – Wolf Tooth Pendant

When Shi Yuan finished changing into his pajamas, the clock just pointed to ten o’clock sharp, and he heard a low sound.

“Duh–“

“Duh–“

“Duh–“

A total of three sounds resounded through the city, more majestic and mighty than the sound of any monster. If he had enough common sense, it would sound a lot like the whistle of a freighter.

Lu Tinghan was sitting on the sofa in the living room reading a book, holding the tea made by Broken Iron in his hand.

Shi Yuan asked, “What is that sound?”

“The whistle of the curfew,” Lu Tinghan said. “The power is cut off, the hot water is cut off, and you can’t go out unless it is an emergency until six in the morning.”

Shi Yuan looked up at the hanging lamp in the living room: “But the lights are still on.”

“Because this is my home.” Lu Tinghan took a sip of tea slowly.

A reasonable explanation.

Shi Yuan went to the window to look.

The lights that were not bright were being extinguished in large areas, there were no pedestrians on the streets, and the emergency lights were on alone. The whole city was quiet, returning to silence and darkness.

This feeling was quite amazing.

It was as if all the buzz and life had come to an end in a matter of seconds, leaving only the cold reality. The strong lights on the walls lit up one by one, shining into the wasteland. Squads of soldiers patrolled with guns, while the wind carried the whispers of monsters.

“It’s time to go to bed.” Lu Tinghan closed the book. “Shi Yuan, good night.”

“Good night,” Shi Yuan said. “Thank you for inviting me to eat noodles, I will invite you back next time.”

“What are you going to treat me to?”

Shi Yuan thought for a while: “Anyway, nothing spicy.”

Lu Tinghan smiled.

Shi Yuan said, “If you have nightmares at night and are afraid, you can come to me.”

Lu Tinghan asked, “Why would I have nightmares?”

“I don’t know, but everyone has nightmares. I’ve been woken up scared before,” Shi Yuan replied. “When I’m scared, I hold my tail, but you don’t have a tail.” He sincerely invited, “It feels very comfortable to hold my tail, oh.”

Lu Tinghan just said: “…Go to sleep.”

The temptation was unsuccessful and Shi Yuan’s tail drooped down.

When Lu Tinghan went upstairs, Shi Yuan returned to his room.

He recalled the new things he saw today, hugged the quilt and rolled twice, but the bed was too soft, and he fell asleep before the third roll was finished.

*

When Shi Yuan woke up the next day, Lu Tinghan had already left.

Broken Copper put bread and milk on the table again, and said to Shi Yuan: [Please give me the mobile terminal with an independent operating system.]

Shi Yuan: “What?”

Broken Copper: [Mobile phone.]

Shi Yuan said, “You’re not smarter than me.”

Broken Copper: […]

Shi Yuan handed over his phone.

Broken Copper stretched out the robotic arm to catch it, inserted the data cable, and returned it to Shi Yuan after a few seconds: [The bus ticket has been updated, the map data has been uploaded, destination: Garcia Grand Theater]

This is where the Wild Rose Theatre Company is located.

Shi Yuan left after eating breakfast.

The navigation was very clear, even he successfully found the bus stop outside the community and waited for the No. 3 bus. He learned from other passengers, swiped the bus ticket on his mobile phone at the toll machine, and got on the bus smoothly.

The bus was like a big tin box, rattling, loaded with early risers going to faraway places.

The car was crowded. Shi Yuan grabbed the armrest and curled his tail nervously, almost knotting it again. The gray buildings and ruins outside the window slowly regressed. At the red light, another bus stopped opposite, and the two cars were very close. The little boy in the bus saw Shi Yuan and smiled and waved hello. Shi Yuan also waved to him.

Half an hour later, the bus arrived at the “Garcia Theater Station”.

Shi Yuan got off the bus, walked for five minutes, and came to a huge building.

The whole building was white and had a great sense of design. The curves were intertwined to form smooth lines, like continuous mountains, undulating but integrated.

Above the main entrance was a marble statue, and in the center was a figure of a man with deep eyebrows, a velvet hat with feathers, and the muslin around his neck was buckled with lace ribbons, forming a gorgeous collar. On his left and right were women wearing jewelry and silk, hands raised high, as if dancing and cheering. Clouds of white doves flocked around them.

When the sun broke through the clouds and shone up, the sense of power from marble and steel almost flowed under the golden light. They were alive, the elegant man threw his cane and strode forward, the women’s skirts were like clouds, gorgeous and flamboyant, winning the applause from the audience.

Shi Yuan stopped and looked at it for a long time.

There were still several posters hanging on the door of the theater. He thought it was a painting, and when he got closer, he saw the words on the left:

[Huwei brand aphrodisiac oil, a man’s gas station, a woman’s beauty salon, use to make her say yes all night (love) (red lips) (high heels)]

On the right reads:

[Do you like to play with water? Then come wash the dishes! Call xx vegetarian restaurant, you can wash the dirtiest bowl today!]

In the middle was white text on a black background:

[Advertising space for rent

For details, please consult Mr. Wolfgang Berger 220-xxxx-0877]

Before Shi Yuan could look carefully, a lazy voice sounded beside him: “Are you here to apply for a job as an actor?”

Shi Yuan turned around and saw a young woman. Her dark circles were particularly heavy, and she was listless, as if she could fall asleep in the next second.

“Yeah… sort of,” Shi Yuan said.

“Me too.” The woman spoke slowly, “My name is Emma.”

“I am Shi Yuan.”

Emma yawned: “Your name is so strange.”

Shi Yuan and Emma walked into the door together. The theater was dark and cold, with a long table in front of the door, and a pale man sitting at the back: “Here for the audition? Fill out this form.”

When Shi Yuan was filling in his personal information, he saw that there were advertisements standing in front of and behind the table, from “Sunshine Good Pot” to “Papaw Brand Compressed Can”, from “Star Children’s Toys” to “Wind Chill Medicine Wine”, colorful and lively, and couldn’t wait to fill every corner. There was still an empty place at the end, and “Advertising Space for Rent” was also written.

“The form is filled out.” Shi Yuan returned the form to the pale man.

The man glanced at it: “You didn’t fill in what you were going to play.”

Shi Yuan said honestly, “I don’t know what role there is.”

“You haven’t read the script?”

Shi Yuan shook his head.

“Have you ever acted in a stage play before?”

Shi Yuan shook his head.

The man stared at him for a few seconds, turned his head and coughed, then said, “You look pretty good, let’s give you a simple one to try.” He wrote on the form and returned it to Shi Yuan. “Go forward, the second room on the left.”

The [role] column was written “tree demon”.

Shi Yuan took the form, walked through the empty corridor, and entered the room. Three or four people sat on the folding chairs, they all looked up at him when they heard the sound, and then lowered their heads to read the notebook.

Shi Yuan didn’t even have a script, so he could only be in a daze.

He actually didn’t know what the stage play was. Xie Qianming asked him to come, and he came.

Shi Yuan subconsciously touched the wolf tooth pendant.

He thought of the look on Xie Qianming’s face when he gave him the pendant by the bonfire – the stars in the sky were shining brightly. Xie Qianming was calm and relieved, he had accepted the imminent death.

He thought of Xie Qianming before he died, when he grabbed his hand tightly, and said hoarsely “you lied to me, you are also a damn monster”, he was almost hideous.

Shi Yuan quite liked Xie Qianming very much. Xie Qianming was the first human he met after he got a human form. He took him into the car and gave him food and drink.

Shi Yuan killed the empress bee, thinking that he could save Xie Qianming, but all he got in return was death and hatred.

He would sometimes think, would Xie Qianming regret it? Regret walking with him, regret keeping vigil for him, regret giving him the pendant to this monster?

He had no way of knowing the answer, nor who to give the pendant to. So he went into the city wearing the pendant, and as promised, came to the Wild Rose Theater.

He just sat there for a while until the corner of his clothes was pulled.

The little girl with cat ears stood behind him and asked in a low voice, “Are you the one who auditioned for the ‘tree demon’?”

“I am,” Shi Yuan replied.

“Then come with me.” The girl shook her ears and smiled with her green eyes bent. “I’ll take you to get the costume.”

The two of them left the room. The little girl turned back and said, “My name is Tricia, how about you?”

“My name is Shi Yuan.”

“You look so young, younger than everyone else here. I’m 11 years old, how about you?”

Shi Yuan thought for a while, he estimated that he was at least 2,000 years old, but he decided to report his age a little bit younger.

He said, “20.”