Chapter 5.2

“Kong Kong, I have chicken wings and hamburgers for tonight!” Cang Qiong exclaimed. He had secretly brought home the leftover food from his work.

“Wow! This is great!” Kong Kong was delighted. However, being clever, he always made a cup of green tea for Cang Qiong first. Because every day Qiong Qiong had to shout in the store: “Welcome to McDonald’s!” After a day, his voice would become hoarse.

“Kong Kong is getting better and better now!” Every day when Cang Qiong would return home, there was hot tea prepared for him and Kong Kong’s love supper, followed by Kong Kong’s massage! Now, as long as Cang Qiong thought of Kong Kong, he would feel incomparably comfortable!

Seeing Kong Kong happily nibbling on the hamburger, Cang Qiong called out to him with affection, “Kong Kong, come here.”

“Why?”

“The weather is a little hot.” Hearing this, Kong Kong hurriedly ran over and sat gently on Cang Qiong’s lap, with Cang Qiong’s warm arms hugging him. This was another seemingly perfect excuse that Cang Qiong came up with: Because the weather was hot and Kong Kong’s temperature was cold, holding Kong Kong could cool him down.

Of course, only “ghosts” believe that the weather in February and March was so hot that it was necessary to hold a cold object to cool the person down.

“Qiong Qiong, this hamburger is still a little hot. Do you want to take a bite?” Looking at the burger that Kong Kong had eaten, Cang Qiong took a big bite without hesitation.

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It had been raining for several days in a row; during the rare sunny day, a person could become a little more energetic. On this day, Cang Qiong had to work on the night shift and stayed at the store until it closed. He couldn’t return home until after ten o’clock in the evening. So Kong Kong quietly watched TV by himself.

It was raining again which seemed to be getting heavier. Kong Kong saw Cang Qiong’s umbrella was hanging behind the door…’Qiong Qiong didn’t bring an umbrella today, won’t he get wet? God, please stop the rain.’

But God didn’t listen to Kong Kong’s request; it continued pouring at nine o’clock! It was dark outside, the wind was blowing, and Kong Kong could hear the shrill screams of those wild ghosts… The night of QingMing Festival was horribly scary!

Kong Kong wanted to deliver the umbrella, but he didn’t know where the exact location of the McDonald’s was. He only knew that it was on Qinjiang Road. With his memory, Kong Kong briefly knew the location. Qiong Qiong’s mobile phone was charging on the table, so there was no way to contact him.

After deliberating about it, Kong Kong still didn’t dare to go out. Cang Qiong warned him not to wander around. If a ghost was walking outside with an umbrella, people would only see a floating umbrella. Kong Kong shouldn’t scare people.

After 10 o’clock, Kong Kong waited anxiously on the balcony, but still didn’t see Cang Qiong’s return. There were no pedestrians on the road outside, he finally couldn’t wait any longer! Picking up the umbrella and the amulet, he rushed into the night.

Kong Kong wasn’t afraid. He told himself: ‘They are ghosts, so am I! Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid… Qinjiang Road, McDonald’s… and Qiong…‘ This was how Kong Kong comforted himself while embarking on his journey…

“Damn it, it’s almost 12 o’clock!” Cang Qiong who was climbing upstairs of the apartment was soaking wet. ‘Kong Kong is probably asleep’ he thought because he didn’t see his little darling waiting for him on the balcony.

He gently opened the door and went in, turning on the lamp in the dark. Cang Qiong wanted to see Kong Kong’s sleeping face, but found that Kong Kong was not in the room!

“Kong Kong?” Cang Qiong turned on the fluorescent light. There wasn’t a Kong Kong in sight. Not in the kitchen, not in the bathroom, not even on the balcony! “Kong Kong!” His calling was in vain!

He glanced around the room and found that his umbrella was missing – ‘This kid…Could it be…’

Cang Qiong played the house’s memory and thoroughly investigated. Finally, he saw that an hour ago, Kong Kong was holding an umbrella and walked out in worry.

‘This fool! Didn’t I warn him not to go out these days!’ Cang Qiong came home late because there was a drunk man making trouble today, who was singing and shouting in the Mcdonalds, and even broke a glass window! The rest of the employees had to look after the lunatic and clean up the mess. In fact, Cang Qiong knew that the person wasn’t drunk, but that he was overtaken by a ghost…

 Cang Qiong didn’t expect that this fool would come out to find him.

Cang Qiong released the paper cranes; but they all fell to the ground, flapping their wings, “Master–master, to–today, the yin qi is very strong. As soon as we try flying out, our eyes would get blurry and our legs would cramp…” – Did they have legs?!

‘It  isn’t even the date of QingMing Festival, why is the yin qi so strong? Forget it, I’m going to find him by myself.’

There weren’t any extra umbrellas at home, so Cang Qiong locked the door and went out to find his little ghost under the pouring rain.

Cang Qiong took off his glasses and carefully searched for Kong Kong’s figure along the way to his work…

“Kong Kong!” He shouted, wishing he could hear Kong Kong’s answer, even the faintest voice.

Several street lamps on both sides of the road seemed to have been captured by a soul, orange-yellow rays were flickering from time to time. There were piles of paper money and tin foil burned to ashes at the roadside, and a few skinny wild ghosts searched in the ashes to see if there were any remaining ghost coins and ingots… Even if they found some, others would snatch it from them.

“Kong Kong…” Still no answer. McDonald’s was within sight, and Cang Qiong was starting to feel exhausted.

“Ah—!” A scream pierced the silent night. This was not a human’s cry!

Although this terrifying voice from the back alley didn’t feel like it was Kong Kong’s voice, Cang Qiong still rushed in! 

The alley was glowing with green light. Cang Qiong quickly determined that the huge long-horned monster in front of him was a Yaksha! And the one who just screamed should be the wild ghost lying at his feet. Yakshas would eat human flesh and ghosts’ spirits, and were generally confined in the underworld. Why did it suddenly appear in the human world?

The Yaksha picked up the wild ghost and sucked his whole body into his mouth.

Cang Qiong stared at the Yaksha, who had also noticed that there was a young human standing fearlessly before it.

“Have you seen a little ghost with an umbrella?” Cang Qiong asked calmly.

The Yaksha pointed to a dark corner, “You mean… this umbrella?”

Cang Qiong followed the direction it was pointing at and found his umbrella! But it was now broken and in shambles! Kong Kong!

“You bastard! Quickly spit out Kong Kong!” Cang Qiong immediately chanted a spell, ” Thunder and Lightning—”

In an instant, several thunderbolts fell straight down!

“Uh!” The Yaksha screamed when it was hit!

But that green light rushed towards Cang Qiong at a lightning speed! Cang Qiong tried to avoid the attack, but his movements were only a moment’s delay. The Yaksha’s sharp claws scratched his chest, tearing off his nylon coat and leaving five paw prints…

“Hey hey hey…”The Yaksha laughed horribly, “It turns out you’re a little Taoist. You are quite fast! Do you want to find your little ghost in my stomach?”

“You’re not bad as well! The bolts only hit your arm. This time, I’ll rip your belly! Thunder and lightning!”

The summoned thunderbolts ruthlessly slashed towards the Yaksha even more. However, the Yaksha’s movements have become swifter than before. It seemed that the arm that just got hit was because it was caught off guard!

“Hehehe…Little Taoist, do you only know one trick? That won’t be enough to hurt me, hahaha…” The Yaksha cunningly smiled. Cang Qiong could only think of Kong Kong at the moment. He must rescue Kong Kong within 12 hours, or Kong Kong would be finished!

“Was that it? No more? Then come into my stomach!” The Yaksha revealed its weapon – a typical Yaksha-style trident.

The Yaksha aimed at Cang Qiong while it quickly attacked. Simultaneously, Cang Qiong dodged sideways. The Yaksha immediately raised its trident again and continued its onslaught. Cang Qiong only now understood why his godfather said that boxing and kung fu were relevant and crucial.

“Blast!” Cang Qiong called out a gust of wind. Immediately, grains of sand, stones, and even the leaves and garbage flew towards the Yaksha.

 Gravels dropped into the Yaksha’s eyes. While it couldn’t open its eyes for a second, Cang Qiong threw out several immobilization charms to lock the Yaksha’s movements!

“Argh!” It roared and struggled frantically.

“Thunderbolt!” Cang Qiong summoned a strong and brilliant land thunder this time – which directly hit the Yaksha – penetrating it from head to toe. ‘I would be in disbelief if this beast can’t be killed this time!’

“Clang-crack–“ The trident in the Yaksha’s hand fell to the ground. With a “bang!”, the Yaksha’s cumbersome body also fell to the ground…

‘Was it over?’ Cang Qiong breathed heavily and was nearing exhaustion. He took a few steps closer and saw that the Yaksha seemed to have fallen. He picked up the trident beside it and was going to stab a big hole in its stomach… Just as he was about to strike, the Yaksha suddenly opened its eyes and kicked him.

“Uh…” Cang Qiong was sent flying by the Yaksha’s kick, slamming heavily into the wall  more than 10 meters, he slowly slid down the wall… The trident has been lost somewhere.

‘It hurts…’ Cang Qiong’s body began to tremble. The wound on his chest was bleeding. The Yaksha also staggered to stand up. With green, viscous slurries flowing from its body and head, giving off a scorched stench. It seemed that this bastard was also badly injured…

“Little bastard, I’m going to eat your bones!”

Raindrops floated in the air. It was just a normal night summer rain. Cang Qiong’s hair was plastered on his face, obscuring his vision. ‘Calm down… Calm down… Kong Kong is waiting for me to save him. Calm down…’

“What’s the matter? Are you dead?” The Yaksha slowly approached Cang Qiong, who was still rooted in place…

The Yaksha lifted its injured claws and grabbed Cang Qiong’s shoulders. Its sharp claws then pierced deeply into Cang Qiong’s flesh and blood immediately poured out. The Yaksha lifted him up, “Ahahaha… “

Suddenly, a red light flashed from the darkness…

“Uh…uh…” The Yaksha immediately started to feel wretched. Its arrogant gaze had become extremely frightened…

“It’s obvious. You’re a Yaksha, not a ghost… so you have a heart…” Cang Qiong slowly raised his weakly lowered head, showing an uncannied smile, “You can report to King Yama now… Don’t be a truant and don’t wander again in the future!”

“Snapped!” Cang Qiong’s right hand pulled out the Yaksha’s heart. It was ugly and huge, with green liquid dripping and had an unpleasant smell…

“My Kong Kong would be quite embarrassed to stay in such a smelly place. I’m going to take him back to take a bath… Let go!” the Yaksha’s right hand was still tightly clasped on Cang Qiong’s left shoulder.

But it was already dead so there was no response…

Cang Qiong threw away the heart and silently chanted a mantra. His right hand immediately flashed out a pink light. Cang Qiong raised his hand and sliced fiercely; the Yaksha’s right arm was cut off…

Then, he cut open the Yaksha’s belly. He used a spell that was taught by his godfather in order to turn a certain part of his body into a weapon when he couldn’t find a weapon. This was the first time he was using it, and it came in handy.

A faint blue light floated out from the Yaksha’s belly. After it landed, it turned into an old man. Once he saw the Yaksha’s body and Cang Qiong, he cried out, “Oh my mother!”, and then escaped, crawling…

The second ghost, the third ghost… All of them fled like they saw a ghost…

The last two ghosts were two middle-aged couples. The husband was the wild ghost who had just been swallowed by the Yaksha.

“Wait a minute, is there a 16 or 17-year-old boy inside?” Cang Qiong couldn’t help but ask.

The female ghost gave an “oh” and asked, “Is it the kid with an umbrella?”

“Yes!”

“He was here a while ago and asked us where the McDonald’s was, and then this monster rushed over. After defending against the Yaksha with an umbrella a few times, the kid ran away in that direction. Ah, it’s so good to be young…you can even run away faster……”

Cang Qiong promptly left the female ghost who wouldn’t stop talking and immediately ran toward the direction she pointed at… ‘It turned out that Kong Kong wasn’t eaten. That’s great! That little idiot was quite clever!’

The night rain enshrouded the whole area. As if no confrontation had occurred. As for Cang Qiong, he was already exhausted, dragged his heavy feet into every dark street and alley to look for Kong Kong.

“Kong Kong… Where are you? Kong Kong…”

The wounds on his shoulders and chest soaked by the rain were red and swollen. Cang Qiong was in extreme pain. His vision began to blur and his steps started to become unsteady. With one stumble, Cang Qiong fell to the ground… He had no strength to get up… ‘Kong Kong, where are you? Answer me……’

“Meow…” A tabby cat jumped off of the wall and licked Cang Qiong’s fingers. Cang Qiong weakly raised his head as the cat meowed a few more times. It turned around, hooked its tail, and walked towards a small alley…

Cang Qiong saw a glimmer of hope. With a strength he gathered from out of nowhere, he got up and quickly followed the tabby cat.

The cat turned around and walked into another alley. Cang Qiong finally saw – under a broken street lamp – a small figure who was crouched down and crying…

“Kong Kong…” Cang Qiong was finally relieved, tears surging from the sockets of his eyes…

When Kong Kong heard someone calling him, he looked up and saw that it was Qiong Qiong! But why would Qiong Qiong have bruises and wounds all over his body? “Qiong Qiong!” Kong Kong couldn’t think too much. He rushed up, and hugged the soaked Cang Qiong. “Qiong Qiong, I got lost and saw a monster. I was so afraid… Wooo…” Kong Kong hadn’t cried for a long time. But this time, he couldn’t help it since he was terrified. As soon as he threw himself into those dependable arms, he began to cry louder…

Cang Qiong hugged Kong Kong tightly. As if he wanted to embed him in his body for the rest of their lives. “Okay, okay, it’s alright. Kong Kong, let’s go home…” Cang Qiong’s elated tears slid down his face, mixing with the rain… ‘As long as Kong Kong is safe…’

“Hey, why do you have wounds and bruises all over your body…”

“I’ll tell you when we get home…”

Cang Qiong didn’t have enough energy to walk home so he had to be supported by Kong Kong all the way. The two finally returned home, tired. As soon as Cang Qiong entered the house, he fell down.

“Qiong Qiong! Qiong Qiong!” Kong Kong frantically yelled! He carried Cang Qiong onto the bed with all his remaining strength; took off Cang Qiong’s tattered, blood-stained clothes; wiped his wounds and hair with a towel.

“Qiong Qiong, Qiong Qiong…” Kong Kong called out over and over to Cang Qiong who was unconscious. Meanwhile, Cang Qiong’s body temperature was getting higher and higher… Kong Kong turned over the boxes and cabinets in search of any medicine to reduce the inflammation and fever. But how come the normally healthy Cang Qiong would experience such difficulty?!

‘What should I do? Who can save Qiong Qiong? There should be antipyretics in the 24-hour convenience store. But how can I go out and buy them?’ Kong Kong had no other choice but to pick up Cang Qiong’s cell phone. He found the phone number of Cang Qiong’s family and dialed it…

“Beep…beep…” Cang Qiong’s family should also be able to hear his voice!

“Hey, who is it?” A woman’s voice was heard amidst the noise on the other line. It was like they were playing mahjong.

“Hello? Hello!”

“Hello? Who is this? Anyone there?”

“Hey, I’m Cang Qiong’s…”

“Why aren’t you talking? Freak!”

Kong Kong was awfully disappointed. Cang Qiong’s mother couldn’t hear a ghost’s voice…

The call had been cut off, but Kong Kong didn’t give up, he dialed again. But his call was still dropped this time. ‘Try again. There should be someone else in Cang Qiong’s family!’

Finally, a gentle voice came on: “Hello, hello, who are you looking for?”

“Hey, can you hear me?” Kong Kong dejectedly replied, crying.

“Yes, who are you?”

“My name is Kong Ru, I am Cang Qiong’s friend…”

“Oh, you are Kong Kong! I’m Qiong Qiong’s godfather. What’s the matter?” Kong Kong was quite ecstatic that Cang Qiong had mentioned him to his godfather.

“Qiong Qiong is injured. He is suffering from a high fever and is unconscious. I can’t go out to buy medicine or take him to the hospital either… Please hurry and save him… wooo…”

“What happened?! Don’t cry, speak slowly!”

“He ran out to find me. When I saw him, there was blood all over his chest and shoulders, as if he was scratched by a monster. Now it turns out…”

“Okay, stay there and wait. I’ll bring the medicine right away.”

“How long will it take? Doesn’t Qiong Qiong’s family live very far away?”

“One minute!” After the godfather replied, he quickly hung up the phone. Kong Kong was melancholic.

Kong Kong looked at Cang Qiong and put his hand on Cang Qiong’s forehead to cool him down. After less than a minute, there was a knock on the glass window from the balcony.

Kong Kong opened the curtains——

“Ah—!” What a big bird! Kong Kong was startled by this huge silver bird. The bird seemed a little dissatisfied and its beak kept pecking the glass window a few more times.

Kong Kong understood its meaning when he saw a bag heaped with medicine hanging around its neck.

“I’m sorry. I’m opening the door right away!” Kong Kong opened the door on the balcony, but the bird didn’t come in. It lowered its head, removing the bag from its neck. It then turned into a silver light, flying out of the sky…

Kong Kong picked up the bag when the phone rang…

“Hey, Kong Kong, have you received the medicine?” It was the godfather.

“Got it!”

“Listen, there’s a green porcelain bottle in it, which is the ointment that you will put on Qiong Qiong’s wounds; and a black porcelain bottle with some small black pills in it, you let Qiong Qiong eat six of those pills. The rest are some normal antipyretics, just in case he may need them. You can follow the instructions written on them and give them to Qiong Qiong!”

“Understood!”

“Okay, I’ll call you again tomorrow morning!”

“Thank you!”

After the call, Kong Kong found the green porcelain bottle, which contained some transparent ointment. Kong Kong used his index finger to poke out some of it and carefully smeared it on the wound… He planned to grab a glass of water before he fed Cang Qiong the pills. The effect of the ointment was impressively extraordinary. By the time he poured a glass of water, the wounds were no longer swollen and purulent…

“Qiong Qiong… Qiong Qiong, wake up, take the medicine…” There was no response. Kong Kong decided to put the pills into Cang Qiong’s mouth, then he drank the water, and slowly fed the water directly into Cang Qiong’s mouth…

Cang Qiong was awakened by the cold water and cool lips. He slowly opened his heavy eyelids and saw Kong Kong feeding him with water with his eyes closed… So, Cang Qiong shut his eyes again.

“There are these black pills, and the white ones should be antipyretic pills. But they are big in size! Can Qiong Qiong swallow it?” Indeed, the black pills were as small as half a rice, but the antipyretic pill was quite large to be swallowed by Cang Qiong. Kong Kong got up and went to the kitchen.

‘What is he going to do?’ Cang Qiong glanced secretly…

Kong Kong took a spoon and a chopstick. He put the tablet onto the spoon, poured a small amount of water, and crushed the tablet into pieces with the chopsticks…

‘Don’t do it, Kong Kong! The medicine will become bitter when eaten like that…’

After Kong Kong finished pounding the medicine, he wanted to open Cang Qiong’s mouth but couldn’t. With no other choice, he put the crushed tablet into his own mouth and lowered his head…

‘Ugh… It’s so bitter!’

——This was called asking for something bitter!

Cang Qiong felt that Kong Kong’s lips left for a while and immediately a sweet spring of water entered his mouth… ‘Is it my illusion? Or did Kong Kong prepare sugar water?’

Cang Qiong greedily sucked the sweet and clear spring. He couldn’t help but swipe over Kong Kong’s lips and overbearingly invaded Kong Kong’s cold lips…

Instead of escaping, Kong Kong lowered his head a little more, allowing Cang Qiong to plunder…

Although Cang Qiong was sick and confused, he could feel Kong Kong’s response. He worked hard to prolong the kiss. Trying his best to suppress the ecstasy in his heart was quite hard for him… Suddenly, Cang Qiong felt two ice-cold droplets dribble down his face…

‘Where did the water come from? Is Kong Kong crying…