28 Dec 2018

Illusions, Lies, Truth V3C2: Practitioner Part 2—I’ll Help You See

by | posted in: Illusions-Lies-Truth | 3

Illusions, Lies, Truth Volume 3: In the Name of God, Part One

Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我 (Yu Wo)

Chapter 2: Practitioner, Part 2—I’ll Help You See—translated by lucathia (proofread by Lala Su)

This isn’t real. This isn’t real…

Jiang Ziya took several deep breaths and finally discovered what was wrong. What happened to the stench that’s so terrible that I was scared to even open my mouth? Even if I’m more used to it, I can’t possibly take several deep breaths here, right?

“This isn’t real.”

Jiang Ziya walked back and continued drawing the picture that was on the wall. The corpse actually stood up. First, it wandered all around the room it was in. Then, it even walked out of the room, circling around Jiang Ziya. However, there was no change in the smell. The closest the corpse got to him was twenty or so centimeters, and it looked like it was taking measure of Jiang Ziya.

After that, a strange, dragging sound came from behind him. Jiang Ziya froze. When he turned his head to look, an arm stretched out from the entrance of the dark staircase. Two rotting corpses crawled out and then stood up with the same stiff posture, slowly rocking back and forth while ambling to Jiang Ziya’s side.

Jiang Ziya sucked in a deep breath, reminding himself that “no stench meant it wasn’t real,” and then he stopped paying any attention to those three walking corpses. He earnestly continued drawing.

After he finally finished drawing the picture, Jiang Ziya closed the notebook and turned around, preparing to head downstairs. Suddenly, from behind him came hurried footsteps. He jerked his head back and saw that one of the corpses had rushed forward. What kind of rotting corpse has that kind of speed? You might as well call it a sprinter!

With the opponent’s attack came a strong wave of unease. Jiang Ziya felt that if he didn’t run, he would truly get killed. He hurried toward the stairs not caring that it was dark. He rushed right down them.

The moment he stepped into the darkness, light burst before his eyes. Lu Yang and the other two people were still standing in the staircase. When they saw him, Lu Yang smiled and said, “Done drawing? Then, let’s go.”

Jiang Ziya’s feet came to a stop. He halted a few steps down and looked at the three of them.

Continued

29 Nov 2018

Illusions, Lies, Truth V3C2: Practitioner Part 1—The First Mission

by | posted in: Illusions-Lies-Truth | 3

Illusions, Lies, Truth Volume 3: In the Name of God, Part One

Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我 (Yu Wo)

Chapter 2: Practitioner, Part 1—The First Mission—translated by lucathia (proofread by Trespasserby)

“Gēge, good morning!”

“Yaya-gēge, morning!”

Jiang Ziya lazily walked to the living room and got attacked by two girls’ morning greetings.

“Morning, Jiang Jiang, Xiao Xue.”

Jiang Yu blinked and glanced in puzzlement at the clock on the wall. It was currently only seven. She hadn’t thought she would see her brother up so early. She asked in curiosity, “Why are you up so early? Don’t you have afternoon classes today? Even your brother-in-law is still sleeping.”

“I’m heading out with Lu Yang.” Jiang Ziya yawned widely. Yesterday, just as he was about to sleep, he received a call from Lu Yang to check up on him. He had hesitantly told him that he had a morning mission and asked if Jiang Ziya wanted to go.

Of course, Jiang Ziya immediately answered in the affirmative. In fact, he was afraid he’d get ditched!

Jiang Yu nodded and didn’t ask anything more. After all, the boys were probably going to play some kind of sport.

“I’ll get some breakfast together for you.”

“Help prepare breakfast for Lu Yang too and put it in a paper bag. I’ll bring it and eat with him.”

“Okay, help me look after the girls for a bit.” Jiang Yu was immediately so excited that she almost rubbed her hands together. Two grown boys could eat quite a lot for breakfast. As a professional housewife, she was going to show off her skill!

Continued

29 Oct 2018

Illusions, Lies, Truth V3C1: College Life Part 3—It Was Destined

by | posted in: Illusions-Lies-Truth | 8

Illusions, Lies, Truth Volume 3: In the Name of God, Part One

Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我 (Yu Wo)

Chapter 1: College Life Part 3—It Was Destined—translated by lucathia (proofread by Trespasserby)

Lu Yang put away his cell phone and looked toward the person on the other side of the dining table, a bit happy and a bit frustrated.

“Is Classmate Jiang okay?” the man asked in concern.

“Yeah, he’s beyond okay. He even joined a supernatural studies society. I can’t believe him. Does he feel that there hasn’t been enough ‘supernatural’ stuff happening to him?”

The man smiled a bit, his green eyes and foreign face making him look rather charismatic, with features that were startling similar to Lu Yang’s, who sat across from him.

“Dad, tell me the truth. Will Mom really be able to return in the next few days?”

Lewis, whose Chinese name was Liu Yishi, was apologetic as he smiled and said, “Most likely not. I hear that the coffins in the tomb aren’t in good condition. Your mom will have to spend a lot of time just going over how to deal with that with the team on site. That’s not even considering how to actually solve the problem.”

Lu Yang stared at the roasted duck he had reserved as it sat on the table. Frustration simmered underneath his skin. He had originally thought that they would have a nice meal together as a whole family, so he had specifically made a reservation for a booth at this famous restaurant. He had been afraid they would sell out on the roasted duck, so he had reserved an entire duck, a huge one! And yet, his mom had not returned, and his grandpa had left in a fuss because of her ditching them, and his grandma could only follow after him to calm him down. He couldn’t return the duck he had already ordered, so now they could only eat an entire fat duck with just the two of them, filling his stomach with duck grease.

Continued

26 Sep 2018

Illusions, Lies, Truth V3C1: College Life Part 2—What Happened to the Promised Films Studies Society?

by | posted in: Illusions-Lies-Truth | 5

Illusions, Lies, Truth Volume 3: In the Name of God, Part One

Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我 (Yu Wo)

Chapter 1: College Life Part 2—What Happened to the Promised Films Studies Society?—translated by lucathia (proofread by Trespasserby)

In the end, Jiang Ziya didn’t give Jian Zhi a call beforehand. Who knows if making a call would be an invitation?

Even though he felt he was being too paranoid, the situation at home was complicated. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It wouldn’t be too late to enter Jian Zhi’s number under his contacts after Lu Yang had taken a look at him and made sure there was nothing iffy about him. Besides, he didn’t care whether or not he had a good seat to watch the movie.

He followed the directions on the flyer and arrived at the student union building. He hadn’t thought it would be so populated here. Several students had formed a crowd in their approach, and they greeted each other as they got on the elevator and even waved for Jiang Ziya to quickly get in.

Jiang Ziya shook his head and looked down at the flyer. On it was written: “Basement, level one. Please take a right turn at the elevators, walk to the end of the corridor, and use the stairs to go down.” Earlier, when he had read this, he hadn’t thought much of it, but now that he had seen all the students take the elevator up, he started to feel something was off.

But if the audio-visual room for watching the movie needs to be soundproof, it’s not odd for it to be in the basement? Jiang Ziya thought it over and felt he was worrying too much. The student union building was even livelier than the location of his classes. People came and went. Even standing in front of the elevator made him feel he was very much in the way. It would be too stupid to plan an ambush here.

After laughing at himself for jumping at nothing, Jiang Ziya walked directly to the end of the corridor indicated on the flyer. Looking at the deep staircase, he abruptly recalled when he had first discovered the strangeness of the twins and had wanted to get Xiao Xue out of there to throw her away. He had faced such a staircase then too…

But the situation was still rather different. At the time, the staircase had been so dark that he hadn’t been able to see the stairs past a few steps. On top of that, the darkness had absolutely no increments to it, as if it were a steep cliff. Any closer, and he would have fallen into a bottomless pit.

Continued

31 Aug 2018

Dominion’s End V3Epilogue: Afterword

by | posted in: Dominions End | 28

Dominion’s End Volume 3: Ice-Bound Splendor and Majesty

Original novel in Chinese by: 御我 (Yu Wo)

Epilogue: Afterword—translated by Elkin (proofread by Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia)

The afterword has spoilers, so please don’t read the afterword first!

I really want to discuss the plot, so please, everyone, don’t read the afterword before reading the book. The story won’t be as interesting if you know the spoilers, so please make sure to keep the book interesting. After all, the afterword isn’t going to run away if you read it later!

Continued