Edited and Proofread by kokkosan
Warning: Blood, suicide attempt, death, mention of vomiting, urination and LOTS of Footnotes!
Chapter 3: On The Day Of Death (2)
*Please read the footnotes for better understanding of the chapter
“This handsome man[1], please get in line,” someone spoke in a disgruntled voice.
Chi Jiayan showed a constipated smile[2], the words “What are you gonna do if I don’t?” written on his face.
The man continued to grumble that he was a human but behaved like a dog[3], did not have the quality to cut in line and so on. Chi Jiayan didn’t care about any of it at all and it seemed that he couldn’t hear other people’s negative evaluation of him, continuing to do as he pleased[4]. The giant hammer swing ride[5] was a must-play item in the amusement park and it was a newly opened park so there were a lot of people queuing.
Soon, along with Chi Jiayan, all the tourists behind him were coincidentally[6] the same as those who had been inextricably linked with him a moment ago.
Apart from the pregnant woman, everyone chose to go on this ride.
There were shrieks high up in the sky, some people were crying in fear, others were screaming in excitement and the people in line raised their heads. What a thrill, everyone thought.
Half an hour later, it was finally their turn.
Everyone got on the ship-style hammer swing in order and the staff member fastened the safety buckles one by one.
The parent of the child whose candyfloss was snatched by Chi Jiayan was also on the hammer swing, waving happily at the child outside the fence. That young couple was in the row behind Chi Jiayan. The girl was acting like a spoiled child to the boy, saying that she was scared and the boy was patiently consoling her, they seemed to have reconciled. The pregnant woman’s daughter and husband were right next to Chi Jiayan. On the contrary, the man who was the father was frightened, while the daughter had an exuberant look on her face. The middle-aged woman with split pants was in the front row and after seeing Chi Jiayan’s sunken complexion, she became very upset.
From front and rear, a total of twenty-four people were seated.
Deadly qi skyrocketed.
The Grim Reaper had long since stealthily hidden his figure and blended in among them.
He remained silent, watching the final moments of these dying people with dull eyes.
None of these people knew that the long life they thought they had would cease with a grunting sound[7] this afternoon.
After a short beep, the giant hammer swing slowly began to move.
Some people were so nervous that they gripped onto the handrails before they even started and closed their eyes in fright.
Nevertheless, Chi Jiayan’s expression was one of contentment.
His profile was exquisite, along with the movement of the giant hammer swing he would gaze at the blue sky and look down at the ground from time to time as if his eyes could see nothing worthwhile all around[8] and ignorant of fear. Perhaps, he needed this kind of stimulation, otherwise, he was no different from a puppet without a heart.
The giant hammer swing was getting more and more rapid, and the arc was getting wider. As the adrenaline soared, the majority of people in the front like the previous few groups, began to rip apart in screams.
At that moment, there was a loud “click” that everyone could hear clearly.
“The card groove is broken!” someone shouted, it was the boy from the young couple.
Everyone looked up and sure enough, the card groove at the top of the giant hammer swing was breaking apart at a rate visible to a layman’s eyes.
“Ah——”
“Help!!”
“Hurry up and stop it!! Help!!”
The people below didn’t even know that something was wrong, and some laughed at the tourists who went up there, for being timid.
As the giant hammer swing rocked at a high level, another section of the card groove broke off. Everyone’s complexion went pale, some people almost fainted in fright and others had sweat as big as a soybean[9] and acted like a dumb fish[10].
Death was so close to them, as long as it disconnected a bit more, they would all die for sure.
“Dad…Dad!” The little girl pulled her father’s hand, “Dad Ahhh~”
The father’s face was as white as paper and his body trembled from head to foot, unable to speak.
The girl among the young couple also cried out during the deadly oscillation of the giant hammer swing, “Help! I don’t want to die, Ah!!! ——”
Chi Jiayan’s complexion was also quite unsightly.
“Ahhhh….”
“Help!! Hurry up and stop it!”
“I don’t want to die, help!!”
The parent was so scared that he unlocked the safety buckle and tried to jump off from the giant hammer swing!
“Stop! Don’t be stupid! We’re not going to die!” He cried out all of a sudden, but no one could hear him, “You will definitely die if you jump now!”
Some people couldn’t endure such a situation and began to vomit violently. Vomit mixed with the foul smell of urine spilt downwards from high above.
Amidst the mixture of ghost-like wails and howling of wolves[11], Chi Jiayan closed his eyes.
“The card groove will not be disconnected,” he said softly.
“Click”, the card groove severed again and the iron sheet was dangling.
At the same time, a tube of blood immediately came out of Chi Jiayan’s nose, frighteningly.
Grim Reaper looked at him coldly.
Nobody in the world can change the natal chart.
It was a useless effort.
“The card groove must not be disconnected,” Chi Jiayan spoke a little louder.
Shortly after that, he made a louder cry and by the end, his mouth was full of blood almost spurting out; if he continued any longer then he would be killed by the counterattack of the speech spirit.
Shouldn’t a person like him have to cherish his life?
No one noticed his abnormality.
Chi Jiayan was already an arrow at the end of its flight[12], his eyes were closed and his ears began to bleed.
An intangible force was vying with him in the dark.
“Forget it,” Chi Jiayan said, a look akin to mockery appearing on his face.
It wasn’t clear whether he was laughing at himself or sneering at those who fear death.
A low, exuberant wolf howl came from the violently agitated golden thread totem[13] moving up on the Grim Reaper.
It was the last moment.
Just at this moment, the Grim Reaper heard a voice—”Press the stop button.”
It was Chi Jiayan. He already understood that he could not control the card groove that was destined to be disconnected, however—he could control the person operating the machine below.
Chi Jiayan murmured, “Press the stop button immediately if you discover anything unusual here. Please.”
More blood was spilling over from his nose and mouth and his spiritual power was surging crazily, on the verge of exploding. Yet, he didn’t stop talking and kept repeating unceasingly. Even though he was marching alone to the brink of death, he wanted the people on the giant hammer swing to live.
“Blood! So much blood! I’m going to die, I’m going to die…!!!”
Chi Jiayan’s blood splattered on the body of the parent who had scolded him. The man thought it was his own blood and immediately started crying out loud.
“Don’t make a noise,” Chi Jiayan tried his best, “If you want to survive, don’t make a damn noise!”
An almost sincere look appeared on his face at that moment, his lips were still muttering.
The Grim Reaper descended in front of him and said coldly: “Speak anymore and you will die.”
Chi Jiayan opened his eyes that were smeared with blood and was stunned to see the Grim Reaper, then he smiled nonchalantly: “Yes. I’ll die.”
“Not willing to drag other people to the grave[14] with you?” Grim Reaper’s voice transmitted into his mind, “Anyway, they’re all going to die.”
Chi Jiayan’s head drooped.
“One to twenty-three, that’s a deal I won’t lose.”
More than ten seconds later, the movement of the giant hammer swing stopped.
A loud, ear-piercing “squeak” was the epilogue to the end of the death call.
The manager ran out to look at them high up in the air, equally so scared that his three souls and seven spirits[15] almost ceased to exist. In a split second, these people would have died in his hands! Instead of sticking to his job, he started the machine then played the Gluttonous Snake game on his phone. At the last moment, he didn’t know why he suddenly heard the wails on the giant hammer swing and by the doings of ghosts and gods[16], he pressed the stop button.
The Grim Reaper floated in the air, the golden thread totem on his black coat leapt up and rushed into mid-air. In an instant, a huge ink coloured wolf emerged and it roared in a low voice. Those deadly qi entwined with Chi Jiayan immediately condensed into an orb that was rapidly held in its mouth.
All the people went down the giant hammer swing with weak, shaking legs, crying. They were so shocked that they could barely walk steadily.
All twenty-three people were saved.
“There is one more person who hasn’t come down!” Someone from the onlookers yelled.
“Did he faint from fear?” Another person said.
As everyone was babbling[17], the manager stepped forward and lifted Chi Jiayan’s weak and drooping head, but he was frightened enough to wet his pants in terror[18]and lingered far away.
The manager sat on the ground, paralyzed: “Dead, dead!”
Someone was daring enough to walk over and held Chi Jiayan’s head to look at it, only to be surprised that the seven apertures[19] of his pretty face were shedding blood. His complexion looks purplish and terrible, obviously no longer depicting any signs of life.
“Dead!!”
Screams sprang up from everywhere, the scene was extremely chaotic.
Chi Jiayan was dead.
Despite being aware that he would be devoured and killed if he fought back and could only save others but not himself, he still chose to utter those words.
So the spirit of those words chose his own death.
“Blue Wind.”
When the Grim Reaper held out his hand, the gigantic wolf crept down and lowered his head, obediently spitting out Chi Jiayan’s spirit orb.
The black orb was heavy and darker than anyone’s spirit orb that the Grim Reaper had ever seen.
It is often said that the purer and cleaner the soul, the more transparent it is. Indeed, this is the case. When a person dies, the soul will naturally form a spiritual orb and will be placed into the natal chart to start the next reincarnation. The Grim Reaper had seen spirit orbs of many great evildoers, most of which were just grey or almost black, not pure black.
The spirit orb of this speech spirit was even darker than that of the great evil ones.
However, there was a faint light hidden amidst the blackness.
In this chaotic and woeful world, those happiness, joy, anger and grief[20] of the mortal’s renewed life after the calamity[21] had nothing to do with the Grim Reaper.
The young couple turned their heads and saw Chi Jiayan who was still on the giant hammer swing. Witnessing the death of someone with their own eyes made them weep in each other’s arms[22], but they didn’t know that it was this annoying young man who had saved them.
Grim Reaper’s gaze was drawn to this light within the blackness. In an instant, he split the spirit orb into two halves with a little effort. His pupils immediately dilated uncontrollably, because even the Grim Reaper had never seen such a clean and pure internal space of a spirit orb!
The inside of the spirit orb of this speech spirit turned out to be transparent!
What a strange soul, the likes of which have never been seen before!
Below, Chi Jiayan’s body was being untied from his seat, people still called an ambulance that was carrying him on a stretcher. The parent covered the child’s eyes, the young couple was no longer present and the middle-aged woman with her clothes wrapped around her waist to block the split plants was looking in disbelief.
When Chi Jiayan’s head tilted, only then did the Grim Reaper notice that there was a cloud-like tattoo behind Chi Jiayan’s white ear, which was very familiar.
The watch on the Grim Reaper’s wrist beeped.
The natal chart had issued a new order that the Grim Reaper must return to the past this instant and choose the moment of death that will have the least impact on the future, and erase Chi Jiayan’s existence in advance.
Please read here at Silver Fortress TL website
Footnotes:
[1]shuài gē(帅哥)– literally translates to “handsome guy” or “handsome.” Used to address a person you don’t know, to show respect or be polite. Don’t take it in a flirtatious way!!!
[2]pǐ xiào(痞笑)– literally translates to “constipation laugh.” Like expressing dry/half-forced, mocking humour
[3]rénmúgǒuyàng(人模狗样)– idiom, literally translates to “human mould dog appearance,” which means a person of little morality dressed in an elegant way.
[4]jìxù wǒxíngwǒsù(继续我行我素)– jìxù(继) literally translates “to continue” and wǒxíngwǒsù(续我行我素) – idiom, literally translates to “to continue in one’s own way”, meaning—to do whatever one wants to
[5]dà bǎi chuí(大摆锤)– literally translates to “big pendulum hammer”, amusement parks have rides like giant pendulum swing or hammer swing.
[6]bùyuē’értóng(不约而同)– idiom, literally translates to “to agree by chance”, meaning—taking the same action without prior consultation
[7]jiáránérzhǐ(戛然而止)– idiom, literally translates to “with a grunting sound it stops,” meaning—to come to an abrupt end
[8]mùkōngyīqiè(目空一切)– idiom, literally translates to “nothing is in sight”, meaning—extreme arrogance
[9]hàn rú dòu dà(汗如豆大)– literally translates to “sweat like bean big” meaning— having large drops of sweat
[10]yǎkǒuwúshēng(哑口无声)– yǎkǒu(哑口) means as if dumb, wúshēng(无声) means—silent(This was author’s original words in site), here, yǎkǒu-wúyán(哑口无言)- idiom, literally translated to “mute mouth without speech” which means— rendered speechless. shēng(声) means—voice and yán(言) means—speech so they are quite similar
[11]guǐkū-lángháo(鬼哭狼嚎)– idiom, literally translates to “ghost cry wolf howl”, i.e to “to wail like ghost and howl like wolves,” meaning—to cry and shriek like mad
[12]qiángnǔzhīmò(强弩之末)– idiom, literally translates to “an arrow at the end of its flight,” meaning—spent force or at the end of a battle
[13]jīn xiàn túténg(金线图腾)– CORRECTION ↪literal translation will be “golden thread totem”, previously I translated this as golden beast totem which is not accurate. I did a bit of research and found out that xiàn(线) literally means “thread or wire” not beast. I corrected this in previous chapters now
A golden beast totem should look like this. Not the accurate image of the one mentioned in this novel. ↓
[14]péizàng(陪葬)– literally translates to “to be buried with or next to a dead person”, meaning—accompany the dead
[15]sānhún qīpò(三魂 七魄)– a figurative speech, literally translates to “three immortal souls and seven mortal forms in Daoism”, the ‘three hun’ also make up a person’s soul/spirit. méile(没了)- means to be dead/cease to exist. So the original phrase sānhún méile qīpò(三魂 没了 七魄) is similar to the English phrase ‘almost frightened to death’
[16]guǐshǐshénchāi(鬼使神差)– idiom, literally translates to “demons and gods at work”, meaning—unexpected happenings/coincidence that cries out for a supernatural explanation
[17]qīzuǐbāshé(七嘴八舌)– phrase, literally translates to “lively discussion with everyone talking at once”
[18]pìgǔnniàoliú(屁滚尿流)– idiom, literally translates “to wet one’s pants in terror”, meaning—scared witless
[19]qīqiào(七窍)– “seven apertures of the human head”, that is – 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 nostrils and 1 mouth
[20]xǐ-nù-āi-lè(喜怒哀乐)– idiom, means” four types of human emotions”—happiness(喜), anger(怒), grief(哀) and joy(乐)
[21]jiéhòu-yúshēng(劫后余生)– idiom, literally translates to “after the calamity, renewed life”, meaning—survive a disaster
[22]bàotóu-tòngkū(抱头痛哭)– idiom, literally translates to “crying on each other’s shoulders”, meaning—crying disconsolately
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This chapter took me forever to tl due to LOTS of idioms, phrases but I love learning new idioms \^o^/. I have a low grade fever so couldn’t proofread properly. Point out mistakes in comments below. Please support the author in original website and if a manual translator wants to pick up this project do inform me!
I made an announcement page and twitter for updates. If I’m not updating any week then I’ll inform there.
⁓kokkosan