Chapter 8- Kindness

As soon as their heated fight died down, the atmospher was once filled with thick air of awkwardness. Jinzian stole glances of the two, wondering if he should just bluntly question them or he have to take the longer route.

"It seems that the night is wearing out, perhaps you two would like to take a rest in an inn? And might as well change your robes to new ones," he gave them the biggest smile, but it only made him look like he's talking to the walls.

That vague persuasion didn't seem catch their attention, perhaps they have hearing damage that he has to shout for them. That random cricket sound started to fill the silent air. Jinzian's eyes irked from their lack of response, lifting up his leg to kick the little camp fire Shen Gui was trying to make.

Shen Gui's ocean eyes abruptly turned to Jinzian's presence, slowly turning his head. The other gave him a big smile, chuckling lightly as he spoke in a carefree tone, "Oops, it seems like nature has other plans."

"Hey, I was trying to light the fire," dejected, Shen Gui gawked right through the man's eyes. Jinzian felt his back run cold, as if though he had been struck with a lightning; he wiped off the cold sweat running down his temple, keeping his big grin.

"Well not anymore!" Jinzian spun him around, pulling Fuxiao who's in deep daze before grabbing Shen Gui back. "Tonight, you're gonna rest like you're heaven! Chief reserved a room with nice spot just for you two in a very, very nice inn."

Shen Gui could feel his stomach whirling inside, it seems that he was meant to be a wheel yet reincarnated as a human. Everyone appears to hate him in here, his own dream! Was it his appearance too foreign for their eyes to lay on? Or was he just looking like Aphrodite's son for them to be jealous of?

Ha! People back there are a lot more nicer than in this stupid dream!! Bet when I wake up and take a small jog to the city, everyone would take pictures of me! Hahah!!! (๑•̀д•́๑)

Shen Gui malfunctioned at the same time as the other snapped out of his thoughts, he felt an arm wrapped around his waist as his view became that of a chased rat. Muddled by the sudden event, Fuxiao raised his palm and waved at the moving ground, chuckling like a mad man.

"Heheh..."

Jinzian carried the two out of the scene, struggling to drag them back to the streets of the town, not to mention, their weights are double the size of an ancient, big rock. He took two glances at them just as he used up all of his legs' energies to bring them closer to that destined place.

Did we build the street this far?!?

After a while, he pushed them in their preserved room and shut the door loudly. His smile died down as he took deep breaths, well who couldn't? It took half of his life bringing them to the stairs!! The stairs!!!

If he had known who built this inn, he wouldn't hesitate bringing their life upside down!!

"Well, that was quick and hasty," Shen Gui tapped his foot while crossing his arms. When he sensed of Jinzian's absence, he began to examine Fuxiao's face.

The inn was spacious enough to fit a whole mammoth in it. The materials were clearly furnished carefully, they were also placed in places that doesn't seem suffocating for them. Such cleanliness would make Fuxiao's cheeks bloom begonia flowers. He was quite distracted  for a meanwhile, replying the idiot with a blunt response.

"Agree," Fuxiao nodded.

"Right?"

"Mhm..."

The air began to fill with silence once again, so Shen Gui opened his mouth to speak, but Fuxiao shoved his mouth with another scallions.

Shen Gui was left with no choice, he gnawed on it like a goat eating a grass. Though, where did all of those scallions came from? Under the creature's sleeves?

Fuxiao flipped over the blanket, trying to pat off the dusts that might've lurking beneath, "You should finish what you started, I'm gonna play along since it sounded like free food, bed and clothes."

A small smile crept up to his lips, staring at the bed with affectionate look. The idiot observed the room they were in, noticing how exquisite it looks like.

Unfortunately, the room that the cheif reserved them only had king-sized bed on the corner that fitted two people. There's no doubt Fuxiao would claim it all on his own. Maybe it's the right time that he should start sleeping on his handmade flower bed, that's probably better.

But, who would hang that fish in the middle of the room though? As if it it's a light bulb or something...? Who knows, maybe Sherlock do. But hey, these scallions tastes good when raw.

The blemished one tilted his head and saw the fish, "Oh, a fish."

No shit Sherlock. Shen Gui elicits a soft hum of agreement, leaning his head under the bed to find something.

As he saw a sushi-like material lying on the ground and begs to be saves, he rolled it over, spreading it on the ground. Who would want to sleep away from their homies when they are near by each other?

Seeing his thick quilt coated with dusts, Shen Gui glanced over to the window just as he jumped effortlessly. Fuxiao wondered why that idiot chose to exit through the window, but he was nicknamed an idiot for a reason.

Shen Gui went back to the forest to gather the flowers he utilized as his perfumes and other stuffs. Honestly, nobody would dare use plants to act as their cozy futon, that would be the dumbest shit they would ever do aside from poisoning and insects,

The night was truly wearing out, proving Jinzian's words, the street being so dark he could barely see. Yeah right, aside from his mere weakness, he could hear small, buzzing noises of what seemed like bees rushing towards his presence. Wondering if he had angered a queen bee's net, he wanted to run away, but the more the buzzing sounds got closer, the more his heart would fall.

Wanna know the best move to wake up from a dream? Of course!! It is to kill yourself and make sure it's not a failure because it's embarrassing ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ!!!

Shen Gui screamed silently, gritting his jaw tightly as he prepared for the worst. Never in his lifetime did he offend someone, especially those bees. He smiled painly, saying farewells to his artworks and Fuxiao for all the hard work.

Gomene, ojichan, obachan, my buddy, my flowers, my cows; everything, everyone!! We'll meet on the other side...

He slowly opened his eyes, waiting for that flashy white light whenever those mc's dies in a movie. Surprisingly, the "bees" surrounded him.

"Euh?" His weird noise startled the supposed bees.

Fireflies huddled around him, dancing in a way to attract his emotions, but also leading his pathway to the flowers. Though, they were strangely blue, yet he cares less about that as they lit up his path. Like a phosphorescent dust carpetting on the ground, the fireflies led Shen Gui to his usual spot. It makes him look like he was adored by fireflies ever since his arrival.

Amazed by this phenomenon, a big smiled appeared on his lips, skipping through his way as the fireflies followed along with him. The bugs were surprisingly intelligent, so just as he arrived on the spot and collected the flowers to his sleeves, they followed all of his movements as if though they'll eat him alive.

For a mere dream, how could it be so vivid and lively? Or maybe it's just one of the dreams' characteristics, always acting as if though it's real, luring the person into making them believe it's real. Too bad, Shen Gui wasn't convinced slightest bit.

Those transmigration or isekai and shits are just fantasies; there's no way he'd been pulled to a random, fantasy world to where that cliché system would always pop out of nowhere. Since there's no system, his body still intact, nobody knows him, it's probably just a dream. He'll have to wake up sooner or later.

As the blue phosphorescent bugs fluttered in the air, dancing around Shen Gui as if they're creating a ritual, he was extremely amused. Whether or not this is just a dream, it's quite lively, isn't it?

"You're my friends now," he murmured, swinging his arm freely in the air as the blue fireflies follows his motions.

The moment he giggled and stood up, neglecting his earlier contemplation, the world have to remind him again, sending out weird, sudden gush of wind that drove all the fireflies away, bringing back the darkness that enveloped the forest.

"Not again," Shen Gui rolled his eyes, stuffing the flowers in his hands to his chests, he stood up and covered himself with an arm. He can't make controversies in this dreamscape since the wind is tinted with green?

Like in those cliché type of shits, do I have to go over there to find out? Nah.. Worst case scenario, I'll get kidnapped by some low-ranked demon.

After a little hesitation, he followed that green wind and saw a ton of corpses walking to one direction. Amazed by it, he draw himself closer, but found a pair of glowing eyes.

***

Fuxiao played on his new set of clothes for the meanwhile, impressed by how soft and silky it felt under his calloused hands. Just then, his hair stood to their ends, an odd aura vibrated his senses just as Shen Gui emerged through the windows. Perhaps he was in a rush, but he recklessly fell on the ground and rolled towards Fuxiao.

Stopping the idiot, he wasn't even surprised by the sudden presence, he was rather surprised of seeing that face again. "What's the matter?" Even though he clearly disliked this idiot, his voice seemed patient overall.

Shen Gui raised his head, clinging onto the creature's clothes, "My flowers, they were ruined by some corpses or some sort!"

"Okay, and?" Fuxiao raised a brow.

"And?" The idiot gazed up at him, completely stunned, "What do you mean and?! You clearly have those powers something kind of stuff, j-just hurry up do something with it!!"

Irritated by Shen Gui's demand, Fuxiao rolled his eyes, "I thought you were the one who agreed to help the poor chief in need?"

Shen Gui was left speechless by Fuxiao's sassy answer. He knew he would only make this creature spout out more of those esassy comments he couldn't resist. To stop it, he avoided that question and bluntly asked with a frozen smile, "Are you hungry?"

"This is an inn."

That was the last sentence that got the whole place in an eerie silenece, it was unsettling and awkward enough to drive their bones out of their skin. Shen Gui stared at the creature heedlessly, his smile still plastered yet was more frozen than before. He placed his flowers down the ground, patting it gently.

"Wait for me here, I'll try and buy you the stuffs you needed," and with that, Shen Gui left the room with the creature's tummy grumbling in hunger.

The quilt on the floor was absurdly dirty, so tried to look for a stick to pat off the dusts on it. As soon as he found one, he didn't hesitate to smash it hardly enough to the quilt, the dusts spread everywhere, tickling his nose. He immediately raised his hand to cover his nose, slamming the stick on the quilt once again.

As soon as it was clean enough, he took the flowers and carefully laid it on the quilt, but when he noticed how ugly the flowers looked, he rushed to grab the vase filled with water on the table side. Drowning the flowers into the water, Fuxiao cleaned them.

"Tsk, even when you pick flowers, you couldn't even feel the quality of its petals?"

Shen Gui on the other side, sneezed. Someone must've been talking about him, so he shrugged it off and continued to find the worth of his stones.

Once the quilt was fully cleaned and adorned with flowers, Fuxiao couldn't help but be relieved, not until he saw the dirt on the corner of the roof. His face went beet red from either frustration or anger, clicking his tongue as the sweats all over his body continued to trickle down his skin.

Who on earth was assigned to clean that room?!? There are still dusts lingering around!! And to say, they did a pretty bad job in their work, thanks to them!!

Shen Gui came back after a meanwhile, seeing the whole room renovated after he had just gone out. That creature is not just a clean freak, he must be having some serious brain damage!!

That creature was nowhere to be found, not until he lifted up his head to see him reaching out for that little jar on the corner of the roof. His eyes widened by the absurdity of the situation, holding back his laughter by gritting his jaw, his jaw might fall off if he keeps on doing that.

What a pussy cat, Shen Gui let out a deep chuckle, grinning widely as he placed down the bag of materials he had brought, never taking his eyes off to that creature who's trying his best to reach that jar.

"Wow, what a hard worker."

Surprised by the sudden intrusion, Fuxiao flinched and he lost his balance, falling from that height as he forgot to scream out of fright.

Luckily, the idiot's reflex were unexpectedly fast enough to catch him before his bottoms would meet the hard ground. They say that being held like a princess would make one feel something different than they usually do, they are not wrong though. Three different emotions are creating a maelstrom upon Fuxiao's gut: shock, surprised, and especially disgust.

He managed to lock eyes with those embers under the deep sea, it has a lot of sparkles, as if he drew stars on his sea. Whether or not a faint, golden light passed through the idiot's eyes, but he can definitely sense that.

When they landed safely on the ground, clothes rustling together, Fuxiao pushed him off and fell on the ground; it's like he would still crash on the floor even if he's near and hurts a little.

"You little imbecile!! You could've killed me right on the spot!!!"

Shen Gui shrugged it off as if it was nothing at all, "Eyy, it was you who got in that position in the first place, you know well how awfully dangerous it is to randomly loiter around the place you've never been?"

The creature rolled off his eyes, crossing his arms. Being lectured by an idiot is more embarrassing than he'd ever thought, "Says the idiot who came out of nowhere!"

He was about to roast him back when Fuxiao was right on the point. Letting his guards down, this creature swayed his hand smoothly across Shen Gui's targeted cheek.

"Hey! What was that for?" Fighting the urge to slap back, he knew that he couldn't do that to his precious hands to look like they've beaten someone up.

"What else? Now what things have you stolen? Kinda curious."

Fuxiao rummaged on the bag of cloth that Shen Gui brought just as his hand caressed onto that material he long since wanted. He didn't even glimpse right back at the idiot, grabbing the bag to the bed and placing it gently.

Rubbing his nape, he avoided eye contacts from the idiot, "Thank you... I guess."

Shen Gui that was massaging his abused, pink cheek, was terribly dumbfounded by the sudden switch of the creature's heart, but honestly, who wouldn't be grateful for that sudden blessinh that came from a cold person? Probably not Shen Gui, he's built different ٩( ᐛ )و.

"I brought us food, let's eat it."

***

As the dimly lit room filled the air with silence, Fuxiao lied on his back, staring blankly at the ceiling. Who put up that jar up there? And why was it so high to the point his greatest fear is waving its hand at him?

Was it weird when their weird scriptures were engraved on the lid? Maybe that's why there were two dancing people on the lake carved upon that jar.

"Should I..." Fuxiao trailed off, lifting his gaze up to the jar on the table. His hand reaches up to caress its surface, but then it flinched in hesitation.

Should he open what's inside? Or should he just bring it back home and hang it on his vines?

Fuxiao's eyes flickered quietly, having second thoughts just as he retracted his hand back and decided to go back to the land of pure torture. It should be better to dream than think over a trifling matter.

They better hurry up and help Tianyu with the problems of his folks. They're only in shortage of water supply anyway, nothing more. The more they insert themselves with the others, the more they're pushing themselves within. He should find a solution quickly and leave this place.

Not after a second passed, Fuxiao is already sleeping like a vampire.

The next morning, he found himself waking with Shen Gui carrying a tray of food. It's quite unexpected to catch a little break from that idiot's foolish games for a bit, now even his peace was new to him, this idiot had done him really bad.

When the idiot strode closer to him, Shen Gui served the tray beside him, handing over the bowl of soup.

"What's this?" He asked.

Shen Gui fixed himself, looking at Fuxiao with puppy eyes yet was awfully ignored.

The new dish looks absolutely mesmerizing for Fuxiao to ignore, he momentarily forgot that despite the idiot's wack of knowledge, his hands were godly upon the presence of the kitchen. Perhaps no one in this would could beat this idiot's culinary skills, making odd dishes mouth watering.

"Egg drop soup, it's clearly obvious."

As soon as he took the bowl in his hands, the idiot was doing weird movements with his body,

"So? What do you want to talk about?"

Shen Gui lifted his head up, face filled with joy as he was finally noticed. A big grin broke between his pouting lips, taking his initiative to speak, "Well, about last night, I saw a crazy thing."

"And...?" He slurped the floating yellow egg on the soup, as soon as it popped in his mouth, leavimg his tongue with a temporary taste of an egg .

"The thing is, the wind was green, and right after that, two pair of glowing eyes appeared right before me!! Like I was haunted or something!!"

He stopped taking sips before finishing it in one go, Shen Gui gasped loudly, eyes widening as he hurried next to Fuxiao, hand instinctively patting his back lightly.

"Have you gone insane?!? That thing was still a lava!!"

Fuxiao coughed lightly, his tongue stinging badly from the hotness of the soup. Like fire, it travelled down from his esophagus to his stomach, and despite that, it warmed his cold body. He heaved out a deep sigh, contented by his action as he replied nonchalantly, "That's the person who controlled of what you called 'corpses' last night. Though I'm not sure if it's a real case or not, I haven't seen one in person."

Shen Gui grabbed his arm and pulled him closer, lowering the tone of his voice but kept it high, "Then you must see it with me!"