TANH Chapter 34.2: Seminary 10.2

9TH JUL 2023~SV

How pitiful

Hearing what Oz said, Teacher Chen’s cheeks slightly spasmed.

Half of his face was illuminated by the light from the High Priest’s building, and Wen Qing could clearly see that there was something slowly fluctuating from his cheek to his temple. Like a tendon, yet also like something else.

Teacher Chen didn’t speak. Oz’s hand that was covering Wen Qing’s mouth slowly fell on his shoulder, pretending to be intimate. He repeated clearly, “We are having an affair.”

Wen Qing gaped. He hesitated for a while, and didn’t deny it.

Oz should also know the true meaning about paying attention to the school rules, so he appeared in this place.

He just so happened to need a reason, so he merely nodded.

Teacher Chen coldly stared at Oz.

Oz calmly raised his chin a little and lightly said, “It’s more exciting here.”

Wen Qing: “……”

Hearing this, Teacher Chen’s face darkened further. He turned to face Bai Tong and Li Jingjing on the other side.

When Bai Tong noticed that Wen Qing hadn’t followed, he reacted and immediately turned around, seeing Wen Qing being pressed against the tree by someone.

He had just taken a step, but before he had time to do anything, Teacher Chen unexpectedly walked out from the darkness behind the building.

Teacher Chen’s gaze slowly shifted from Bai Tong to Li Jingjing. He asked in a deep voice, “Are you two also here to have an affair?”

Bai Tong stared at Oz and said with a cold smile, “We’re both here to catch adultery.”

Wen Qing: “……”

Li Jingjing looked at Bai Tong, then looked at Oz, and dryly echoed, “That’s right.”

Teacher Chen stood at the intersection of light and shadow. He slowly said, “Oz, Bai Tong, Li Jingjing and Wen Qing. The four have violated the third rule of the school rules, and each of them will be locked up for six hours.”

After those words fell, several people in black clothes suddenly came out from the High Priest’s building.

Wen Qing looked at their hands vigilantly. Both of their hands were empty, and they didn’t take anything.

He leaned against the tree and cautiously told Teacher Chen, “I- I can walk over by myself.”

Teacher Chen gazed and him, then responded,

Wen Qing cautiously looked at the people beside him.

This time, he finally saw their faces clearly. Their facial features all looked somewhat similar, as if they were processed in a production line. They were expressionless, as if they were puppets carrying out instructions. After looking closer, they looked a bit like the expressions of Teacher Chen and Teacher Sun in the evening.

Wen Qing was considering the people around him, and didn’t notice Teacher Chen’s gaze not far away.

When Teacher Chen’s cold face looked at Wen Qing, it softened by two points. “Take them away.”

Oz noticed this. He tilted his head and looked Wen Qing over.

*****

The confinement room wasn’t somewhere else, it was in the High Priest’s building’s basement.

After walking downstairs, there was an idol two meters tall at the intersection, which was no different from the idol in the temple, with its eyes closed and naked.

Wen Qing’s eyelids twitched. He lowered his head and his sense of existence.

After walking past the idol, the four of them were taken in two directions. Wen Qing and Oz went one way, Bai Tong and Li Jingjing went the other way.

Wen Qing paused and glanced at Bai Tong. Suddenly, the man in black stood before him, looking at him without any emotion.

Wen Qing hurriedly withdrew his gaze and continued walking forwards.

Suddenly, Oz spoke, “What prop did you use on them?”

Wen Qing was stunned for a moment. Subconsciously, he looked at the big men beside him. These people didn’t blink, as if they didn’t hear their conversation. They were only ordinary tool people, responsible for taking them to the confinement room.

Oz: “Hm?”

Wen Qing came back to his senses, looked at Oz, and shook his head. “None.”

Oz turned his head to look at him. The ceiling light in the basement shone on Wen Qing’s hair. His soft black hair was covered with a faint halo, and his beautiful eyebrows were drooping, like an oil painting.

Oz: “Their attitude towards you is different.”

Wen Qing lowered his eyes and inwardly thought, isn’t it because of what happened during enrolment day.

Was it also possible that he saw Yu Xing because of the previous instance?

All in all…

Wen Qing pursed his lips. “I’m unlucky.”

Oz stared at his side profile. Wen Qing was good-looking, but there were many people who were more beautiful and weaker than him. Yet, none of them had a complex disposition like Wen Qing.

Weak yet strong, pitiful yet cute.

He looked like a delicate flower, yet also seemed to have good endurance.

Oz had an inexplicable affection and desire for Wen Qing, which had never appeared before in these years.

He licked his lips and asked, “What props did you use on me?”

Wen Qing looked at him strangely. “None.”

Suspecting that Oz didn’t understand the meaning of his words, Wen Qing spoke again, “What I mean is that I don’t have any props, not that I didn’t use any props.”

Oz lowered his eyelids. “You smell very nice.”

Wen Qing: ???

He silently widened the distance between the two of them and stammered, “We- we use the same shower gel.”

Thinking, Wen Qing told him, “You, you also smell very nice.”

Oz sniffed the light fragrance in the air, pursed his lips and said, “It’s the scent on your body.”

He suddenly raised his right hand, brought it to the tip of his nose and sniffed. He slowly said, “My hands smell sweet because of you.”

It was a very simple action, but Wen Qing saw through the obscure meaning. It was the hand that had just touched him.

Wen Qing’s cheeks were hot. He stared at Oz in shock. “You, you…”

Oz’s eyes went half-lidded, and his nose slightly twitched. “Smells very sweet.”

“The taste of it… should be very delicious.”

Wen Qing was too shocked to speak. This foreigner doesn’t know shame!

He turned his head, pretending he didn’t hear anything.

The latter half of the trip was very silent. No matter what Oz said, Wen Qing ignored him.

It wasn’t until the tool men beside him stopped, pushed an iron door open and signalled for Wen Qing to go in, that he raised his head and glanced at Oz.

Oz’s green eyes stared at him, like a beast hiding in the dark and waiting for an opportunity to act.

A chill ran down Wen Qing’s spine. He rushed into the confinement room and closed the door properly for himself.

The moment the door closed, Wen Qing’s heart began beating rapidly as he started feeling scared.

This was the confinement room.

After a while, he cautiously turned around. There was a wall three steps away.

The confinement room was extremely narrow and grasped. There were walls on all three sides. There were no windows, tables, chairs or beds. There was only a small yellow book lying quietly on the ground. It was exactly the same as the confinement rooms in those prison films and television dramas.

The only thing that can let people breathe was a crack under the door, which passed through the outside world and allowed light to enter.

Wen Qing leaned against the wall and sat on the ground. He needed to hold something in his hands to feel safe, so he simply grabbed the little yellow book tightly.

The sound insulation effect of the confinement room was extraordinary. Wen Qing couldn’t hear any sound from outside, and he didn’t know how much time had passed.

A person alone in the darkness couldn’t help but think wildly. 

Snakes, spiders, cockroaches, centipedes…

Wen Qing shivered and didn’t dare to think more. He stammered out a call, “Sy- System.”

“Are you there?”

001 coldly responded.

Wen Qing closed his eyes and sighed in relief.

He wasn’t alone.[1]

001: 【 You are human. 】

001:【 I am not human. 】

Wen Qing: “……”

“You, can you talk to me for a while?”

001:【 Talk about what? 】

Wen Qing quietly said, “Anything is okay.”

“You can say whatever, I’ll listen to whatever.”

After staying in a quiet environment for a long time, his ears seemed to be ringing, and he always felt that he could hear the sound of insects crawling around.

001 was silent for a while, then spat out two words: 【 Then sleep. 】

Wen Qing was also silent. He slowly said, “I can’t sleep.”

“Won’t something appear in this place? I- I’m scared…”

“I’m scared of so many things. There’s only six hours in total, it shouldn’t be that everything will come and take a turn, right…”

While talking, Wen Qing yawned and widened his eyes blankly.

He seemed to be a little sleepy.

It wasn’t a natural drowsiness, but rather a heavy, groggy feeling, as if sleeping pills were taking effect.

Wen Qing’s upper and lower eyelids began to fight, and his eyes slowly closed.

He fell asleep, but not fully.

Wen Qing’s hands and feet were extremely heavy, as if they were filled with lead. His mind was hazy, yet with a trace of consciousness, he could vaguely feel external things.

Suddenly, there was a sound of rustling in the silent basement.

The sound grew closer and clearer.

There was the sound of a clatter, as if something had hit the iron door, then crawled in through the gap in the door.

Wen Qing heard the sound of the iron door rubbing against something else.

In a daze, he felt a wisp of light coolness covering his ankles. It was a little wet and sticky, and it turned around and around his ankles. His shoes were taken off, his socks were also taken off.

The cold and moist thing licked the bottom of his feet, touched his toes and the soles of his feet, leaving a wet trace, which had an ambiguous lustre under the dim light.

The soles of his feet were itchy and numb. Wen Qing’s body shivered slightly, and a whimper unconsciously escaped from his throat.

He struggled free from the restraints on the soles of his feet, but he still couldn’t do anything, he didn’t even have the strength to open his eyes. He could only let it play with him.

After an unknown amount of time, the thing seemed to have played with his feet enough. It slowly and familiarly climbed up his calf.

This time, it didn’t want to be as restrained as it was in the temple, and easily pulled off Wen Qing’s trouser chain.

Wen Qing’s body trembled. The corners of his clothes slid up, revealing his slender and delicate waist,

Suddenly, another thin thing brushed against his cheek and scraped his chin.

It wasn’t until his lips were wet and slightly swollen that it went down the chin, twirled around the Adam’s apple, crawled to his chest and unbuttoned the buttons one by one.

Wen Qing’s eyelashes trembled. His pale cheeks gradually reddened, and tears slowly flowed out.

Don’t want…

Go away…

He crooked his index finger and felt the little yellow book under his hand.

Wen Qing thought in a daze, Yu Xing, God…

Prayer.

Right, he had to pray.

Dear God, please have mercy on me……

Wen Qing’s body was uncomfortable. His mind was in a mess, and he didn’t know what prayer he was thinking of either. Suddenly, there was a sound outside, as if something heavy had fallen onto the ground.

Then came the sound of heavy footsteps.

“Boom, boom, boom—”

Like a monster, yet also like the armour of a knight, heavily walking over.

With a click, the door to the confinement room opened.

An icy cold hand loosened the things wrapped around Wen Qing’s body bit by bit.

Wen Qing tightly pressed his lips together. His eyelashes were soaked with tears, drooping weakly, looking pitiful.

The man stared at him and sneered. “How pitiful.”

The next second, Wen Qing felt an extra hand on his chest. It pinched him viciously.

Footnotes

[1] – [WQ] 不是一个人 generally means “not alone” but taken literally, it can mean “not human/a person”, which is what 001 is doing (taking it literally)