Dark Blood Age

Translator: Doggotranslation

Editor: Doggotranslation

A man lay under his quilt, his eyes shut tight. The only movements came from the occasional twisting of his eyebrows, the only sounds coming from his rapid and restless breathing.

The rain outside pitter-pattered on the window and cracks of lightning could be seen jumping between the high-rise buildings. Peals of thunder cracked from the faraway skies, but they boomed in people’s ears as though they descended from right above their heads.

Under the cracking thunder, the man suddenly woke up. He was swallowing very hard to help his dry throat. In a flash of lightning, the touch of panic in his eyes quickly faded as his breathing pattern also slowly calmed down.

“That nightmare again…” Pressing the dry lips, the man reached out his hand to touch the white bedside cabinet, which had a cup of cold boiled water he poured last night.

“Crack!”

It was another thunderclap, rumbling above the roof.

The man’s hand instinctively trembled and knocked over the cup by accident. The cup rolled to the edge of the bedside table and fell to the floor with a sharp crack. A cup of cold boiled water was spilled everywhere. The residual water flowed along with the edge of the table down to the floor, making quiet tapping noises.

“Shit!”

The man cursed irritably, lifted the quilt, found the slippers with help of the flash from the lightning outside. Moving against the wall, he walked out of the bedroom, crossed the living room and walked into the bathroom.

After feeling around for the switch on the bathroom wall, the man switched on the light. Then he switched on the tab, put his both hands closer, waited until the water filled his hands and quickly washed his face with the cold water. After rubbing his face with the cold water a few times, his rapid heartbeats gradually slowed down.

Raising his head, he looked at himself in the mirror and said, “Chu Yunsheng, the senior practitioner said that Tian Gui has not recovered. So don’t panic, and don’t scare yourself!”

He swallowed another mouthful of nonexistent saliva, filled a hand full of water and prepared to pour it on his face again. Just as he lowered his head, another lightning crack opened in the sky, then the corner of his eyes glimpsed a shadow suddenly flashed across the living room in the mirror.

“WHO IS IT?!”

Chu Yunsheng suddenly turned his head, with his both eyes nervously glancing around. His right hand quietly extended to the back of the bathroom door, grabbed the mop and quickly held it before his body.

The light of the living room was switched not on, so the light of the bathroom made his shadow seem unusually long. It was looming with the lightning outside, seemingly ghastly and hair-raising.

And in every lightning, the living room wall, which he could see from the bathroom, was lit up. The shadows of the table and chairs, especially the fridge would also appear and disappear with the lighting, each time, its shape, and length would be different, and shaking in a strange pattern.

Chu Yunsheng took a deep breath, as his nerve was stretched to the limit. Tightly holding the mop while leaning on the wall, he carefully moved out of the bathroom. As soon as he walked out of the bathroom, he instantly lifted the mop and held it firmly before him.

“WHO IS IT!?”

There was no other sound apart from thunder.

Chu Yunsheng slowly moved to the left side to get near the light switch, while his eyes were still staring at all the dark rooms, including the bedroom he had just walked out as if there would be someone rushed out at any time.

His left hand groped around the wall, turned on the light, and then the living room was quickly lit up.

Nothing.

Chu Yunsheng heaved a sigh of relief and wondered if it was a hallucination.

At this moment, the sound of someone walking on the floor with slippers appeared from upstairs, after a short while, the toilet above appeared a sound of someone flushing the toilet.

Chu Yunsheng’s tense nerve finally became loose a little, and he also restored a little courage. With a mop as a weapon, he first checked the kitchen. After he came out of the kitchen, the mop was already changed to a kitchen knife. Then he began to check every room and every corner, including the wardrobe in the corner of the bedroom and the balcony.

Still nothing!

Chu Yunsheng laughed at himself. Since when did he become this timid? Why was he scared by some lightning?

The sense of security, which was brought by light, eased Chu Yunsheng’s tense nerve even more. He returned to the bathroom with the kitchen knife and put it on the washbasin. After closing the tap, he subconsciously looked at the mirror again.

“Ah! ～”

Chu Yunsheng screamed in fear, moved backward a few steps, and hit the tile wall of the bathroom as his chest was moving up and down rapidly.

He stared at the bloody face in the mirror in horror. It was his own face! Both of his eyes in the mirror were full of scary hatred and despair. His body and his face were covered with red blood and big scars.

“Clang!”

The kitchen knife fell to the floor, making a clatter of noises.

Chu Yunsheng instinctively looked at the kitchen knife on the ground, but quickly looked back at the mirror again. Strangely, this time, inside the mirror, it just displayed his terrified look, there was no blood and scars at all.

“It’s okay! It’s okay! It is just an Illusion, illusion… ”

Chu Yunsheng’s heart was still thumping rapidly. Pressing his chest, he was panting heavily, as he flurried out of the bathroom. This time, he did not dare to switch off the light anymore. He just hurriedly turned on the TV and the laptop.

He needed noises. He needed to calm down.

　　…

　　…

“That’s right, It only costs 988 Chinese Yuan! Only 988 Chinese Yuan! You can have a European pure handcraft gold watch that tens and thousands of people want to have! What are you waiting for?? Pick up the phone and order it now!”

Chu Yunsheng’s head was still in a muddle. He needed something to divert his attention. This commercial was definitely not going to work. Therefore, he quickly switched to another channel.

“Wukong… Sister-in-law, you look so beautiful, sister-in-law, don’t go! …”

Chu Yunsheng cursed and quickly switched the channel again.

“I want to save Qingchuan. Do you know what Qingchuan means to me? Without Qingchuan, what is the purpose of my life?”

“… The eighth prince! The eighth prince”

‘Fuck…’ Chu Yunsheng did not hesitate to press the remote control again. But this time it was even worse.

“The bathing pharmacy, the conscience medicine, the… ”

However, Chu Yunsheng did not change the channel this time. While switching the channel, he was already slightly distracted. Now that he had restored his composure slightly, he lit a cigarette and sat on the sofa. And because he was fully awake now, he also did not want to go back to his room anymore.

It seemed that recently he was really too nervous, and he even started to have illusions.

In terms of that shadow, if he remembered it correctly when he was young, he often felt that there was a dark human shadow behind him. Later after he lived in the school dormitory and heard many ghost stories, he simply regarded it as Diplopia.

But that bloody face…

Perhaps he had been watching too many American movies recently.

Chu Yunsheng blew out a cloud of smoke and tried to come up with a possible explanation.

He did not believe that there were ghosts in the world, at most, it was just an illusion. After smoking a cigarette, he also gradually calmed down. The TV commercial also ended at this moment and started to go back to its original program. “Alas, Katie, no one wants this kind of thing to happen. But life is all about happiness, right?…”

Chu Yunsheng shook his head and sighed. How could he be happy now? It was only less than three months until the date that he calculated using the method in the ancient book. Time was pressing, and he needed to speed up preparing all the things he needed for the future.

With his laptop on his lap, Chu Yunsheng was searching the various versions of survival manuals on the internet while opening an EXCEL spreadsheet to continue listing the things he needed.

Food, vitamins, medicines, tools, clothes, maps, etc., anything that he could think of, and anything that he might need in the future, he had to get them all.

…

Unknowingly, on the road outside came the sound of a cleaner sweeping the road, and his coughs. Chu Yunsheng closed the laptop and went to the balcony. The sky already revealed a glimmer of light, but the sun was still not out yet.

After the heavy rain, the air was very refreshing, on the ground or near the tree, it was much cleaner now. In this city where the polluted air could almost kill people, this moment was very rare.

After changing his clothes, Chu Yunsheng hurried down the stairs while eating the bread he took from the fridge. Today, he was going to handle the resignation letter to his company, and in the afternoon, he also had an appointment with an estate agent, and then he would need to rent new flats. With this and that, his schedule was very tight.

At the moment, it was just slightly past 4 o ‘clock, because he didn’t go back to sleep, he left home much earlier than usual. The subway has not opened yet, but there were still busses. Waiting at the bus stop for a while, an orange Lamborghini drove past him quickly. Lack of sleep made Chu Yunsheng feel very sleepy. Unable to dodge it in time, the car ran over a puddle of water and splashed it all over his body.

“Fuck!”

Just when Chu Yunsheng was about to get angry, he heard an ear-piercing Lamborghini braking noise. It quickly followed by a “Bang!” Then all Chu Yunsheng could see was, a broom was sent flying in the air very high.

‘It’s a car accident!’

Chu Yunsheng’s heart instantly tightened. He quickly ran toward the place where the noise came from. There were often minor car accidents at this intersection. Sometimes, when he was sitting at home, he could hear the fierce crash on the road. The most serious one was when a truck hit a scooter driver, who ignored the red light, and it killed the scooter driver instantly.

The front cover of the beautiful sports car was badly damaged, with white smoke coming out of it. Opposite it was a mini cleaning car, which was already overturned on the side. With the rubbish strewn all over the ground, the scene was very frightening.

There was a broom in the distance but no one on the ground. There was a small bridge before the car, so probably the person in the small cleaning car was already sent flying during the crash and fell into the river. The speed of that Lamborghini was too fast earlier, it was definitely more than 70 miles per hour.

Chu Yunsheng glanced back at the Lamborghini. Behind the windshield, a girl with a delicate face was pale-faced and motionless. She seemed to be still in shock.

No one else was on the street, at this time, the vast majority of people in this city were still lying in bed. If it had not been for that same nightmare, and the visual confusion last night, Chu Yunsheng would not have left home so early.

The silence made the tragic scene even scarier. There were no moans or cries for help, suggesting that the person, who had been hit by the car, was either unconscious or dead!

Chu Yunsheng had heard the cleaner coughing earlier on the street near his home, so the mini cleaning car definitely had someone in there. He looked around again, still didn’t find anyone. Most likely, the cleaner fell into the river.

That river was very dirty because a lot of sewage was released into the river. Unable to see anything, Chu Yunsheng wanted to call the police immediately. Maybe the police would get here in time to save the cleaner. But when he took out the phone, and his eyes glanced over that luxury Lamborghini, he hesitated.

In China, this ‘harmonious’ society, not every good deed would end up good. Twenty years ago, children would fight each other to help old people, twenty years later, people would stay far away, even if an old lady was just tripped over and fell to the ground. Chu Yunsheng was just an ordinary man. When facing a society like this, he could only despise it privately with his family and friends. He was not a child, he knew clearly what kind of risk was involved in this.

A Lamborghini, a special Shanghai license plate, what kind of family backgrounds the girl had, Chu Yunsheng was very clear. There were only less than three months until the date that Tian Gui would be recovered. If he had unnecessary trouble at this time, the consequence would be unimaginable.

He, who was always a cautious person, rubbed his nose, eventually, put the phone back in his pocket. He chose a safe alternative and walked toward the Lamborghini.

The girl in the car saw Chu Yunsheng come over, her eyes quickly filled with panic, and subconsciously she groped around, seemingly wanting to find something.

Chu Yunsheng went to the car and tapped on the glass.

The girl did not look like the despicable rich second generation or the third generation. Maybe she was really scared. The tapping noises Chu Yunsheng made, made her shiver uncontrollably for a few times, then she hurriedly rolled down the window.

“Call the police! Now!” Chu Yunsheng pointed to the iPhone that was next to the LV bag, on the front passenger seat and said.

The girl was very beautiful, especially her skin. It was very smooth and exquisite. Hearing what Chu Yunsheng said, she immediately picked up the phone and hurriedly dialed a number. But it was not the emergency number.

“Dad, I just hit someone!”

Right after she said, the girl couldn’t help but start to cry in the car.

From the other end of the phone came a middle-aged man’s voice, very calm, Chu Yunsheng could only hear the last sentence, Yingying (TL: nickname, means Shadow), don’t be afraid, call the police first, and then wait at the scene, don’t run away, cooperate with the police fully and do not mention father’s name. Father will let the secretary Yang get there as soon as possible.”

“So it is an offspring of some government officials.”

Chu Yunsheng murmured. Seeing the girl begin to dial the emergency number shakingly, he decided that it was time to leave now.

But unexpectedly that girl hurriedly came out of the car, and begged, “please, could you stay here with me?”

There was no one on the street, and the girl was looking at the messy scene nervously. Probably, she was scared to face the accident alone. She didn’t even know if the person was still alive or not. At least, Chu Yunsheng was still alive and he was also a man.

At this time, No. 966 bus slowly appeared in Chu Yunsheng’s sight like a sleepy lazy man, Chu Yunsheng immediately speeded up his pace, as if he wanted to run away from this place and said, “I’m late for work.”

The girl looked at Chu Yunsheng with pleading eyes, until the bus he got on, slowly drove past her.

On the bus, Chu Yunsheng saw the girl standing next to the messy accident scene, looking around nervously while shaking uncontrollably, looking very pitiful.

…

Sitting on the bus, Chu Yunsheng secretly thought that today was really a strange day. First, it was the nightmare, then the black shadow, and when he left home, he even encountered a car accident. A series of strange events happened one after another, making him feel very anxious. At the same time, he always had a feeling that something was not right.

There were only two people on the bus, from time to time, the driver would ask Chu Yunsheng a few questions about the accident.

Chu Yunsheng only responded to him some times. He was thinking about his own problem all the way to his company’s building.

He came too early today, no one was in the office yet. Waiting in the hall for a while, after about 7 o ‘clock, more and more people started to show up. Around 8 o ‘clock, from afar, he saw Yu Xiaohai rush in hurriedly with a briefcase.

“Xiaohai, this way!” Chu Yunsheng waved to him. Only

Yu Xiaohai was surprised, quickly ran over, and said while having a smirk smile on his face, “Brother Chu, you also came this early? Do you also want to impress the new boss? I heard that it’s a pretty girl, and she graduated overseas. Haha…”

“Not that.” Chu Yunsheng put the briefcase on the other side to make space for Yu Xiaohai and said sternly, “Xiaohai, I came to give the resignation letter, The thing, I told you last time…”

Yu Xiaohai’s eyes were filled with surprises, “wait, wait, brother Chu, you are not joking? I thought you were joking! Brother Chu, big brother, boss! It’s a made-up story. It can’t be true. I even dare to make a bet on it. Don’t trust those rumors.”

“When have I ever made this kind of joke?” Chu Yunsheng raised his head, looked at Yu Xiaohai and said sternly.

Seeing Chu Yunsheng’s serious expression, Yu Xiaohai was dazed for a second, “Brother Chu… you made me very confused… regarding this matter, I have also thought about it. But I always feel that it is not real, besides, there are so many people around the world, if they are not afraid, why do we worry about it?”

“If you don’t prepare now, it will be too late!” Chu Yunsheng stood up and walked towards the elevator. He knew that he could not convince Yu Xiaohai, no one believed him now, even his auntie also worried. She thought that it was because his work was too stressful, that it made him think that way.

Yu Xiaohai also did not understand Chu Yunsheng. However, he simply shook his head to stop thinking about it, followed Chu Yunsheng and whispered, “Brother Chu, I heard that that oversea graduate wants to implement the international standards, and the first department, that will be affected, will be the engineering department. Things like procedures, designs, drawings, will be standardized, modularized, I heard a gossip, saying that in order to get the performance as soon as possible, she is willing to fire some of the stubborn senior employees. You are led by the manager Zhao, that stubborn man, so you have to be careful, don’t let her catch you.”

“Didn’t I say that I am here to quit my job, she can do whatever she likes.” Chu Yunsheng pressed the button 21 and said indifferently.