Chapter 2. Desire
It was a pair of white sneakers.
The soles and edges were caked with dirt, and the shoelaces hung loosely like earthworms, the edges severely worn, as if they could break into several pieces at any moment.
Jiang Yan silently stared at the shoes, guessing that they might take further action, but they did not.
Those feet, along with their owner—the man—quickly disappeared from her sight.
Gradually, even the sounds of conversation faded away completely.
Jiang Yan lowered her gaze, her expression somewhat inexplicable, but she soon pursed her lips and smiled, reaching for the curtain, the heavy black fabric gripped tightly in her hand.
She was getting ready to sleep.
Just then, two dull sounds of marbles suddenly rang out in front of the window.
Thud, thud!
This sound was hard to describe; marble sounds should be crisp, especially when striking against a glass window, it should be clear enough to seem like it could squeeze out water…
But this sound was not.
It was dull, muffled, and had a fleshy elasticity. The source of this sound clearly possessed a moderate elasticity, akin to the sound of pork hitting a cutting board, but because the area of force was small, it resembled a piece of meat cut into balls, lightly flicked by someone’s thumb and index finger, bouncing against the glass in front of Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan quickly raised her eyes.
Almost in an instant, she locked eyes with a pair of eyeballs.
These eyeballs were the size of normal human eyes, making the scene resemble a transparent person staring at Jiang Yan, except for the eyes.
But they were definitely abnormal; after all, human pupils do not expand infinitely, nor do they possess such blatant and sticky malice.
Outside the eyeballs, there are blood-red threads like umbilical cords.
Dense blood vessels wrapped around the eyeball, spraying out from its interior, with the other end of the vessels extending infinitely toward the garden outside. It was as if a person had dug their own eyeball out of its socket without severing any of the capillaries connected to it, and then threw it directly onto Jiang Yan’s window.
Thus, the blood vessels were continuously pulled out from the eye socket, countless tiny red threads intertwining in the air.
Strange and beautiful.
Jiang Yan took a deep breath, and this action clearly pleased the eyeball. It pushed even harder against the window, the glass creaking as it approached its breaking point.
"Very beautiful," Jiang Yan murmured softly.
"Your sclera is one of the best I've ever seen; it looks so easy to pinch."
This comment caused the eyeball's movement to suddenly freeze, followed by a visible anger. Unwilling to be reduced to a low-quality object of criticism, the eyeball began to slam against the window with increasing force.
"Let me in... let me in..."
A flood of whispering voices surged into the room through the window cracks, as if earthworms were breaking through the soil. The slimy tones intertwined with the earthworms, attempting to gnaw away at Jiang Yan's eardrums.
Just because I like to look doesn’t mean I like to listen.
Jiang Yan felt a bit uncomfortable. She walked to the window and, after locking eyes with the eyeball for a few seconds, directly pulled the window open. The eyeball outside clearly paused in its movements, but soon, its eyes filled with a venomous and mocking intent, and it quickly lunged into the room. The moment it rushed in, Jiang Yan swiftly slammed the window shut.
Bang!
Before it could struggle, the eyeball was crushed in two. One half was inside the room, the other half outside.
About ten meters away from the garden, a man suddenly cried out in pain, covering his eyes and crouching on the ground. His girlfriend beside him thought he was just joking again and laughed as she pulled his hand away. “Stop messing around, don’t think you can skip out on the promised crayfish midnight snack…” Before she could finish her sentence, a look of terror appeared on her face.
“What... what’s happening??”
The man shook his head in pain. Chen He truly did not know what was happening; he had just been picturing the beautiful figure by the curtain in his mind, regretting not having looked a few more times. As he thought about it, his eyeball suddenly throbbed with intense pain, as if it had been violently torn apart.
It must have been a small bug that flew into my eye, Chen He thought.
After the sharp pain subsided, Chen He was supported by his girlfriend as they walked back home.
**
After dawn, everything returned to normal.
Upon getting up, Jiang Yan first glanced at the balcony. The half of the eyeball that had fallen on the floor last night had vanished without a trace. The ground was relatively clean, except for some spots resembling water or oil stains, giving off a greasy aroma reminiscent of roasted pork.
It was quite disgusting.
Jiang Yan took out an air freshener and sprayed half a bottle on the floor, then grabbed some change from the entrance and headed out to buy breakfast.
The breakfast stall at the entrance of the community was bustling with business, and since it was a weekday morning, there were many people in line. Just as Jiang Yan reached the end of the queue, a mother and daughter pair lined up behind her.
The little girl, about in the first or second grade, wore a pink puffy dress and held a budgerigar she had just bought from the flower and bird market. Her shoulder-length, smooth black hair swayed back and forth, and she was lively as could be.
“Mommy, mommy, mommy?”
“What’s wrong?” The mother’s voice was gentle and indulgent.
“Mommy, isn’t my little bird the cutest parrot in the world?”
“Zhi Zhi’s favorite is the cutest.”
“Hehe, then mommy is the cutest because Zhi Zhi likes mommy the most!” The little girl’s mouth was like honey, her cheeks rosy as she twirled with the birdcage, but she lost her balance and stumbled into Jiang Yan’s arm.
Jiang Yan instantly raised her arm.
Without support, the little girl fell backward due to inertia, and her mother hurriedly stepped forward to steady her.
“Zhi Zhi?” The woman’s voice was noticeably tense.
“Um, mommy, I’m fine…”
“That’s good. Quickly tell the sister you’re sorry; you bumped into her.”
The girl’s mother looked at Jiang Yan, her face full of apologies, and didn’t seem angry at Jiang Yan’s somewhat indifferent reaction. The little girl blinked her eyes, hugged the birdcage tightly, and softly said to Jiang Yan, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright, kids will be kids.” Jiang Yan smiled, her lips curving up.
After a few minutes, it was finally Jiang Yan’s turn. She ordered a basket of soup dumplings and a bag of soy milk.
“That will be 12 yuan.”
Just as Jiang Yan was about to count her change, the boss’s phone suddenly chimed with a notification—“Ding dong! WeChat payment of 12 yuan received.”
“I’ll treat you; Zhi Zhi really did bump into you just now, I’m so sorry.”
Jiang Yan turned around with her breakfast in hand. The woman had a sincere expression, and the little girl she was holding, chubby and cute, tilted her head and pouted at her: “Sister, does your arm hurt, let me rub it for you?"
Jiang Yan stared at the little girl for a few seconds, then extended her arm and shook it at her, “It doesn’t hurt.”
“Really?”
“Of course it’s true.”
“That’s great!” The little girl jumped up excitedly, “Goodbye, sister!”
As she watched Jiang Yan leave, Zhi Zhi happily lifted the birdcage again to play with the bird, only to find the little parrot huddled in the corner of the cage, its head buried deep in its chest feathers.
“Eh?” The little girl poked at it.
The bird slowly lifted its head, looked around, and quickly returned to normal.
When Jiang Yan got home, the daylight was already bright. Outside, the sound of honking cars occasionally pierced the air. Jiang Yan sat on the sofa eating breakfast when her phone suddenly flickered.
On the screen was a freshly received text message.
This phone was given to Jiang Yan by the man in the Daoist robe, along with her ID, a house, and several thousand yuan in cash, all provided by him.
So, the only people who could have her contact information were him and the program he helped her sign up for.
Jiang Yan unlocked her phone, and sure enough, it was a message from the "Red Pillow" program group.
【Hello, Ms. Jiang Yan. The location for the first episode of the competition is in the Silkworm village of X City, X County. At 8 PM tonight, the program group will send a car to pick you up at the entrance of the community. The license plate number is Jiang F17995. Please prepare a week's worth of clothing and toiletries, and try to depart on time.】
Jiang Yan: 【I will.】
**
Meanwhile, in the mountain Daoist temple of Jiangcheng, an old man dressed in a Daoist robe was staring intently at the message on his phone that read "I will."
Beside him stood a young man in his twenties, dressed in a plain white T-shirt and jeans, constantly peeking at the message. “Master, is that her reply?”
The old man nodded.
“That’s good, that’s good. I thought she might turn her back on us,” the young man sighed in relief, but soon he shifted his tone and looked at the old man. “Master, I’ve been thinking for a week and still can’t figure out why you would go to such great lengths to help her take form. She’s a demon over two thousand years old; we can’t control her at all.”
“And her ability—”
“Her ability is too targeted at humans, isn’t it?”
He Qingyuan looked at his disciple, “Why do you think that?”
Cheng Guang anxiously replied, “Because she can see ‘desire.’”
“That’s ‘desire,’” Cheng Guang gestured, “Is that something a normal person can see?”
“Moreover, Jiang Yan not only can see it, but she can also touch it. Being able to touch it means she can attack. Everyone has desires; this ability is too lethal and invisible.”
Cheng Guang casually gave an example: “Think about it, a person walking down the street, lively and full of energy, suddenly has their desire to ‘eat’ hinder Jiang Yan’s sight. She could just extinguish that desire from afar, and that person would collapse dead, but everyone would think he died of a sudden heart attack!”
“And the books say that demons have no empathy at all; they inherently disregard life. They only learn to mimic human social etiquette when they are happy, and once they are unhappy, they could erupt into violence at any moment. If Jiang Yan goes on a killing spree, we…”
“Won’t,” He Qingyuan suddenly interjected, “She won’t harm people for no reason.”
The certainty in his tone made Cheng Guang stop mid-sentence, and he cautiously glanced at his master. “Master, you... you knew her before, didn’t you?”
“Of course not.” He Qingyuan looked at his somewhat dim-witted disciple and patiently said, “I taught you about the time limits for demons taking form. Do you remember?”
“I remember, I remember,” Cheng Guang replied. “You said that if a demon has deep enough opportunities, they can take form in eight hundred years. For demons over two thousand years old, it’s only a matter of whether they want to take form, not whether they can.”
He Qingyuan continued, “Let me ask you again, how many years has Jiang Yan lived?”
Cheng Guang had done quite a bit of research in recent days and immediately answered, “At least two thousand three hundred years! They were even talking about it on TV yesterday.”
He Qingyuan said, “Good, since Jiang Yan has long been able to take form, why did she wait until now to do so?”
Cheng Guang was momentarily stunned.
After a while, he said in disbelief, “You mean... she chose not to take form on purpose?”
He Qingyuan nodded, “Taking form for a demon is irreversible. Once they take form, they can no longer maintain their original body for long, and they need oxygen and food. As a burial item of the Red Creek Empress, once Jiang Yan takes form, she wouldn’t be able to survive in the royal tomb; it’s better for her to maintain the form of a wedding dress.”
Cheng Guang was confused again, “But she can leave, right? A demon must have a way to leave the royal tomb. It would be easy to take form after leaving, unless... unless she doesn’t want to leave.”
He Qingyuan confirmed this line of thought.
“I have a guess, though I don’t know if it’s accurate, but it seems highly likely now.”
Cheng Guang asked, “What is it?”
He Qingyuan slowly said, “She is guarding the tomb.”
Cheng Guang’s expression froze, feeling it was absurd. He Qingyuan continued, “At that time, the wedding dress had passed through several dynasties and was just a severely damaged piece of old cloth when it fell into the hands of the Red Creek Empress. Its original form was damaged, and it couldn’t become a demon at all, so how could it take form? It was the Empress who hired the most famous weavers from six nations to repair it at a high price. It is rumored that they even used a piece of silk left over from the time of Leizu [1], which is extremely precious. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for any demon.”
Cheng Guang shook his head, trying to think, “So she sees the Empress as a benefactor?”
“And so she guarded it until the rules of heaven changed, missing the opportunity to take form,” He Qingyuan sighed, “That’s my guess.”
“It’s also the reason I believe she will repay me.”
Notes:
[1] 嫘祖 (Leizu) - a historical figure in Chinese mythology known as the Empress of Silk or Mother of Silk for her discovery of silk and pioneering silk production and silk weaving
