CH 126

Translated by Dust Bunny

Edited by Crooked 

CW: mention of suicide/suicidal ideation

Gu Ji Ji glanced at the numbers on the dice, the light in his eyes shifting slightly.

The next day, Gu Xizhou was woken up when a certain ghost pulled open his curtains. The sunlight penetrated the transparent glass window and slanted into the room. Gu Xizhou’s brows furrowed in displeasure. He turned over and went back to sleep, pulling the covers over his head.

Gu Xizhou was bewildered. He didn’t know what small thing had run excitedly into his room and jumped on the bed to lick him over and over. 

Lying in bed, Gu Xizhou raised his eyebrows slightly. Who stepped on him?

Pushing the covers away, Gu Xizhou saw his dog son stepping on his chest, sticking out his little tongue in an attempt to lick his face. Gu Xizhou quickly blocked his dog son who was getting more and more fat.

“Stop, stop, stop! Sit down!” Hearing Gu Xizhou’s words the dog son cocked his head looking at him blankly before continuing to crowd Gu Xizhou’s face to give him a good morning kiss.

What’s to be done about the stupid dog at home? Can I throw it out?

Gu Xizhou silently roasted in his heart. Looking out at the sunshine, he saw a note on his covers: Buy the stuff for today: pork chops, beef, potatoes, cowpeas… And don’t forget to order cakes. If you don’t go now, you’ll be the one to cook later.

Gu Xizhou saw the last line of the note and scratched his head, taking in a deep breath in an effort to drive away the drowsiness. Then he got out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash up.

Thirty minutes later, Gu Xizhou went to the supermarket with the note in hand and bought the items according to the note. Naturally some of the items were pre-prepared. At the same time he also ordered two pots of lobster to be delivered to his home at 12 o’clock.

After returning from buying all the things he was supposed to buy, Gu Xizhou immediately sat on the sofa with his legs folded under him like an old man and watched TV. 

Two hours later his phone rang and Wang Ao and his family were downstairs waiting to come up.

Gu Xizhou called out to Gu Ji Ji before opening the door and going down stairs to invite Wang Ao and his family up.

“Doggy, mama, look, it’s a little doggy.” As soon as Huo Xiaopang got through the door he stared intently at Gu Xizhou’s family’s dog son. Then he raised his hands, wiggling his fingers and petting him all over. The pitiful dog son yelped, not daring to protest further he could only endure Xia Pangzi’s pets.

“Don’t bully the puppy.” Wang Shu raised an eyebrow at Huo Xiaopang. Holding Gu Xizhou’s little golden retriever, Huo Xiaopang looked to his father for help, feeling very wronged. 

Huo Zheng caught his wife’s gaze and coughed lightly into his fist. Slightly sympathetic, he moved his gaze away and went to join Wang Ao and Kong Yue on the sofa.

“Uncle Wang, you wait here a minute. There are two more dishes. They’ll be ready soon!” Gu Xizhou said with a smile.

“I’ll come help you, ba!” Wang Ao offered.

Gu Xizhou immediately waved his hands, he absolutely could not let Wang Ao lend a hand, “No need, you sit here! It will be ready in just a minute!” 

After Gu Xizhou had settled Wang Ao’s family, he went into the kitchen and shut the door, leaning against the cupboard unhurriedly as he waited for Gu Ji Ji to cook. If he had let Wang Ao help, he wouldn’t be able to be so lazy!

Just as Gu Xizhou was thinking this, the ghost suddenly flicked his forehead and stuffed a handful of garlic into both hands simultaneously sticking a note to his forehead. Gu Xizhou took it down and looked at what was written on it: Hurry up.

Xe Wlhtbe: …P atbeuta kf jugffv sbe kfgf ublcu ab mbbx? Oljg!

Lbkfnfg Xe Al Al vlvc’a jrx Xe Wlhtbe ab vb jcsatlcu firf, joafgjii tf xcfk atja Xe Wlhtbe kjr abb ijhs ab mbbx. Lf jaf bea bg kjlafv obg tlw ab vb la. 

Xe Wlhtbe ygbeuta atf obbv bea bc agjsr bcf ys bcf. Ciatbeut atf vlrtfr tf wjvf kfgf rlwqif tbwf-mbbxfv vlrtfr, jcv tf’v ybeuta atf ibyrafg jr atf wjlc vlrt, tf tjv ab rjs atja Al Al kjr gfjiis nlgaeber. Fcobgaecjafis, Xe Al Al kjr cba jikjsr rb nlgaeber jcv ogfdefcais yfja tlw.

“Baba? Baba? I want to eat that!” Huo Xiaopang shouted, sitting next to Huo Zheng and straining to grab onto his father’s hem.

Huo Zheng glanced at him. “Get it yourself, don’t you have hands?”

Huo Xiaopang: “…oh.” 

Realizing he had little concern for him, Huo Xiaopang picked up a piece of meat and put it in his bowl feeling wronged and ate in silence.

“Laogong, help me peel this shrimp!” Wang Shu said crisply.

Huo Zheng: “Okay!”

Seeing his father’s actions, Hu Xiaopang questioned his life: “???” 

Gu Xizhou couldn’t help teasing, “What a big double standard. We even have to watch this display of affection while we eat.”

Wang Shu heard him and chuckled, “Who called you a single dog? Huo Zheng and I are dealing magic damage. You see, my son knows how to buy soy sauce, do you?”

Huo Xiaopang, who knows how to buy soy sauce, “…”

Gu Xizhou smiled and said nothing. 

It wasn’t until eight o’clock that Gu Xizhou saw Wang Ao and his family off.

“Bye Uncle Wang, drive safe.”

Wang Ao ‘en’ed and looked towards his family who were already in the car, pulling Gu Xizhou aside. “Xizhou, that one time…were you hiding something from me? You shouldn’t touch those strange things, ah.”

“Don’t worry, Uncle Wang,” Gu Xizhou said softly as he gave him a slight nod, “I am hiding something from you, but I haven’t broken the law. Don’t you see me at the police station and going home from work everyday? You see me everyday, right?” 

“En, that’s true,” Wang Ao nodded. Still feeling uneasy, he gave Gu Xizhou a few words of advice before leaving with his family.

Gu Xizhou let out a long breath, lifting his head to look up at the 7th floor. The lights in his apartment were still on.

When he pushed open the door, Gu Xizhou heard the sound of someone washing dishes coming from the kitchen. He leaned, bracing his hand against the kitchen door, and thought for a moment before asking, “Can I help?”

Gu Ji Ji: … 

Gu Xizhou: “If you don’t speak, I’ll take that as a yes.”

Gu Ji Ji: …

One human and one ghost cleaned up the house. As soon as Gu Xizhou sat down, he saw two words ‘thank you’ were written on the table.

Following those words, Gu Xizhou’s gaze strayed to the two dice sitting on the table. Seeing this Gu Xizhou remembered that today when he went out shopping, he sent a WeChat message to Fang Zhi and Ma Qi about testing the dice. Fang Zhi threw every number 1-6, and Ma Qi hadn’t responded yet. 

What was Ma Qi doing for so long?

Gu Xizhou picked up his phone to call Ma Qi. It rang for a long time before anyone answered.

Gu Xizhou: “Ma Ge?”

Ma Qi: “En, it’s me…” 

Ma Qi’s voice sounded choked up and was also very subdued. Gu Xizhou said subconsciously, “Ma Ge, have you been crying?”

“En…” When Ma Qi heard Gu Xizhou’s words he couldn’t help but cover his mouth. His nose suddenly went sour and tears slid from his eyes.

Gu Xizhou realized that Ma Qi was clearly not in a good state and asked softly, “What happened?”

“Today one of my teammates…died,” Ma Qi fell silent before he continued, “the four of us went in together… he… he died. I saw him jump out of a window with my own eyes. He committed suicide right in front of us. 

“I watched him. He jumped. His corpse was badly mutilated…”

Finally, Ma Qi was too choked up to go on.

Gu Xizhou consoled Ma Qi but suddenly a question came into his head. If Si Yu or Fang Zhi died in front of him one day, how would he feel?

Gu Xizhou suddenly felt a dull aching pain in his heart, as if he’d been stabbed there with a sharp knife. It hurt so bad that he couldn’t speak and his heart became all stuffed up. 

He could ignore other people, but Si Yu and Fang Zhi were special to him. Si Yu was reckless, and Gu Xizhou had to admit that his heart had been moved. As for Fang Zhi, in Gu Xizhou’s eyes, he was like a little brother to him. If either of them died, it would be very hard for him to bear.

It was funny, he’d always had pretty good luck in these mission worlds. With Si Yu to take them both with him and his own strength, these past few mission worlds could be regarded as smooth sailing.

But in the last world with the snowmen, Fu Yiran had nearly killed him. Without Li Yan’s prop, he would have died. Who knew if it was just his luck, but he was unexpectedly saved by this prop.

Ma Qi’s friend had died suddenly, which made Gu Xizhou realize one thing… 

It wasn’t that the mission world was without death, but that death had yet to fall on his head.

The friendship between people who lived together and died together naturally wasn’t the same. Gu Xizhou could fully understand why Ma Qi would cry so broken-heartedly. This kind of heartache was unimaginable.

Gu Xizhou didn’t go on to ask Ma Qi about the matter with the dice. It could wait until Ma Qi had calmed down, ba.

Thinking to this point, Gu Xizhou’s Adam’s apple bobbed and his eyes dropped slightly in a daze. 

In the mission world, death was eternal. Maybe one day he too would go cold, just like Gu Ji Ji.

Gu Ji Ji had also been listening to Ma Qi’s call and wrote down with a pen: You will be fine.

“One day is one day to live,” Gu Xizhou laughed, “Actually, I’ve taken advantage of you, hahaha.”

Gu Ji Ji lowered his gaze to look at Gu Xizhou before slowly moving it away. 

About two hours later Gu Xizhou’s rang unexpectedly. When Gu Xizhou looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Ma Qi, he was a little surprised. Did Ma Qi recover so quickly?

Gu Xizhou picked up the phone and a sharp female voice came from the other end saying, “Hey, hi, sorry to trouble you. Come to XXX road and pick up your friend, okay? He drank way too much. My shop is closing!”

“Oh, okay, I’ll be right there,” Gu Xizhou glanced at the time, it was now ten o’clock. It wasn’t too late. He drove to pick up Ma Qi right away.

“Wuwuwu…” Ma Qi was crumpled up on the corner of the street crying bitterly. His tears wouldn’t stop falling. This weak man and the narcotics officer were the same person. “I watched him die right in front of me. Why are people so weak? What’s the point of living? Every day, every hour, every second, we watch the countdown to our own deaths!” 

“Other people could die at any moment, but our deaths are counting down! We know exactly when we are going to die. Gu Xizhou,” Ma Qi cried, grabbing Gu Xizhou by the collar, his mood collapsing as he asked, “Tell me, why do we have to struggle constantly? We have to struggle all the time in the mission world, ah! Sooner or later we’re all going to die anyway! We’re all going to die!”

Gu Xizhou thought about it and said, “Maybe it’s because I’m afraid to die, ba.”

It was evident that the death of his mission world teammate had dealt Ma Qi a big blow. Gu Xizhou didn’t try to stop him and accompanied Ma Qi to try and find another bar to drink at.

Gu Xizhou sat at the bar and watched Ma Qi drink. 

“Honestly, I feel so tired, ah. I work so hard to stay alive, but I don’t know when I can be free…” Ma Qi said bitterly, “It’s like there’s a pair of invisible hands that control all of our fates.”

“Sometimes I really want to lose. That’s also very good. At the very least I wouldn’t have to live in constant fear of the task world. Actually, I’m very scared. Everytime I go in I don’t know if I will make it out.”

“I am… so tired.”

Gu Xizhou sat to the side, drinking his wine in silence and not speaking at all. At the moment his heart was also very heavy. 

Who could guarantee that he would never die? There was no such person, ba…

The 126 year-old Ye Shu let Ma Qi know that the mission world could let people live forever, with infinite possibilities, but the death of his teammate slapped him awake. The mission world wasn’t just eternal life, but also death.

Gu Xizhou’s phone vibrated on the table twice and Gu Xizhou looked down to glance at it—

Si Yu: What do you want to eat tomorrow? 

Gu Xizhou picked it up to reply: Whatever.

Si Yu: Your side is noisy, are you outside?

Gu Xizhou ‘en’ed: I’m outside drinking with Ma Qi, Ma Yu from the mission world, one of his teammates died.

Si Yu: Did you drive? 

Gu Xizhou was stunned when he saw Si Yu’s words. He couldn’t understand why he was asking: Yes, I’ll have to call a substitute driver later.

Si Yu: Send me your location, I’ll come right away.

Gu Xizhou: Why are you coming here?

Si Yu: I’ll drive for you. 

The author has something to say: Goodnight… writing in the middle of the night is truly exciting.