Unique Legend Volume 13 Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Late Night Agreement

Location: Taiwan Time: 7:20 PM

“Please do not panic, everyone!”

The tremors lasted only a few seconds, and the staff holding broadcasting equipment quickly started to move around, “According to the reports, it was only a big wave just now. Please do not worry, everyone. I repeat, the wave was merely too big just now. Do not panic, everything is fine now. If a soup has been overturned on your seat, please notify the nearest attendant to help you handle it—-”

I held the bowl in my hands. Just now it had been shaking until even the satay sauce on our side was overturned. The whole table had a circle drawn out on it. Fortunately, the five-colored rooster head ate quickly, and there was only half of the soup left, so it didn't splash out.

The attendants quickly came over to help us clear away the mess on the table, and the table was suddenly clean again, as if the disturbance just now hadn't existed at all.

“Aiya, what a frightening wave. Thank goodness we weren't eating on the deck, or else we definitely would have been in for a ride.” My mom patted her sleeve that had one or two drops of the sauce splashed on it, half rejoicing as she said.

“Continue, continue.” The five-colored rooster head, whose appet.i.te wasn't disturbed by the tremors at all, flipped another heap of ingredients into the pot in the blink of an eye. The entire pot began to boil, and the dumplings, hot pot ingredients, and pieces of meat and whatnot tumbled about all over.

I glanced at Senior beside me. He had put his chopsticks down and seemed to be thinking about something. His expression became very serious.

Could it be it really wasn't a wave just now?

The legendary iceberg and the beautiful t.i.tanic appeared in my mind.

“You think there are that many icebergs in the world for s.h.i.+ps to crash into?” Black eyes coldly peered over from the side, making me feel a chill.

It, it was just an a.n.a.logy, don't take it that seriously…really, it'd be better to loosen up a bit.

“Yang~you want to crash into an iceberg?” The five-colored rooster head leaned over, and said with a smile.

“No I don't, thank you.”

If I said I did, were you planning to get an iceberg for the s.h.i.+p to crash into, huh!?

“What iceberg are you guys talking about? If you don't hurry up, the ingredients are going to be over-boiled.” Mom picked up a bunch of meat from the pot and put them into a little plate nearby, which was immediately robbed clean.

Time pa.s.sed rather quickly. It was probably when the ingredients provided in the self-serving area gradually ran out that it was almost already eleven o'clock.

I glanced at my watch, a bit anxious to leave.

It's almost time for the appointment with the half-snake person. Hopefully I don't exceed the time limit. If I exceed it, who knows what the other person will do…

Just when I was eating and was a bit absentminded, a red thing appeared before my eyes.

Raising my head, I just happened to see Mom's big smile: “Yang Yang, Happy New Year.”

I widened my eyes and stared at the red envelope in front of me and suddenly had a moving feeling from my heart. Who would've thought that after leaving the school, I would even be able to survive to receive a red envelope…

“Otherwise, you really wanted to get a *white envelope, huh.” Senior's cold words came beside me.

[T/N: A white envelope is money given to the family of the decreased to pay for the funeral, the opposite of the red envelope]

“Ahaha…Of course a red envelope is better.” I immediately took the big red envelope Mom and Dad gave me, blissfully putting it in my pocket, “Thank you, Mom, Dad.” Sneaking a glance, my sister was coincidentally putting away the New Year's red envelope she just got as well.

“You have to save some up. Don't waste it.” Mom said this.

I frantically nodded right away. Don't worry, Dad and Mom, even if I wanted to waste it, I still have to first waste all that blood-sweat-and-tears money in the post office before I waste this!

Sitting next to me, Senior let out a very contradictory cold laugh.

I'm really sorry, compared to your super treasury, having just this bit is enough for me. Too much money can scare you to death instead. I'm very satisfied with using the amount of money I have.

“Yang Yang's senior and Ziray, these are yours.” My dad took out two other red envelopes and handed them over. Probably not expecting that my dad would even prepare their share, Senior seemed to be stunned for a while.

The five-colored rooster head's eyes lit up completely: “Is this the legendary red envelope that you sleep with under the pillow?” He happily accepted it at once, looking at that red envelope with flowers blooming over his head.

In fact, you don't care about the money inside at all; you just want that envelope, right…it'd be fine to just give you fake money, is that it!?

“Thank you.” After thinking it over for a while, Senior accepted the red envelope and very politely thanked them.

“I originally wanted to say that I was going to give you guys them at twelve, but everyone has their own thing to do later, so I did it ahead of time.” My mom winked and smilingly explained.

“Red envelopes are good. Today I have been bestowed with favor. This uncle will definitely repay you in the days to come!” Looking over that red envelope that could have several twenty bills (~3 USD each), the five-colored rooster head broke into a big, big smile and said in a vague way.

You want to pay a debt of grat.i.tude because of a red envelope, huh?

The event onstage came to a close, and it was only then that I noticed it wasn't just us; the parents at several tables publicly gave red envelopes to their children. All around was the sound of cheering and happy new years one after the other.

And so, in order for tonight to reach its climax, the host on the stage took out a large bamboo box and suddenly shook it. Hundreds of big red envelopes that were specially prepared onboard flew everywhere. The people in front of the stage immediately cl.u.s.tered together to s.n.a.t.c.h them, and after s.n.a.t.c.hing and opening one, there was another burst of exclamation.

“I heard the biggest prize seems to be a free seven-day cruise trip.” Looking at the red envelopes flying in the air, my sister, who had no interest in catching them, bit her chopsticks, then watched as a red envelope flying over slowly landed in front of her table, “What the h.e.l.l?”

Having no excuse to not open a red envelope that came right to her hands, she pulled off the transparent tape on it and turned the envelope upside down–

With a “kou” sound, a beautiful silver necklace fell out.

Turns out a red envelope can be packaged like this!

I suddenly had the realization that if the five-colored rooster head comes next time and madly wanted to play the red envelope game, I definitely have to stay away from him. If he gets another piece of gold called the “death-exemption gold plate” and throws it around, it might break open someone's head and cause them to bleed!

“It's sterling silver! Xiao Yue, you're so lucky!” After seeing that a factory-warranted brand fell out as well, my mom very happily rubbed her daughter's cheeks.

…My sister really is so lucky that it's absurd.

After the whole entertainment ended, there were people beginning to leave.

Sitting beside me, Senior was the first to stand up: “Excuse me, I have to go out for a walk first.” Saying that, he politely pushed his chair in before leaving.

“It's almost time for us to head up the deck to see the fireworks too. Yang Yang and Ziray, you guys have to be careful strolling around in the s.h.i.+p on your own. Don't go anywhere you shouldn't go to, and don't randomly walk off with strangers.” The second ones to stand up were my dad and mom. Before leaving, they didn't forget to earnestly tell us this.

If the five-colored rooster head walked off with a stranger, I think you should be worried for that stranger instead!

After Dad and Mom left, I also hurriedly said goodbye to the five-colored rooster head and my sister, pa.s.sing the dense crowds as I went out.

It was close to eleven o'clock. There were fireworks on the s.h.i.+p's deck to celebrate the New Year, so a lot of people single-mindedly wanted to leave the restaurant and head upstairs. It really wasn't easy when you needed to dodge.

Fortunately, the further down you go, the less people there are.

Up until I reached the cabin area downstairs, the whole stairs and corridor didn't even have half a person there.

It was very quiet below.

The lights in the corridor still flickered a bit. The cabin where the half-snake person was staying at still gave me a not-so-good feeling as usual.

After letting out the Old Man and setting up a simple barrier at the stairs in case someone accidentally came in, I took a deep breath, and bit the bullet as I walked toward the room where we met them when I came with Senior last time.

The surroundings were silent.

I stood in front of that room. Stretching my hand out, when I was just about to muster up my maximum amount of courage to knock on the door—-

The door opened.

“He's here! The guest is here!”

Before entering, I had already made three hundred preparations. For example, if there's a mouth and sharp teeth pouncing toward me as soon as I open the door, I'd fire a shot at him first. If a big group of things charged over to drag me inside and cut my body into pieces, I'd directly use that uncontrollable explosive charm to deal with them–Although it'd probably end pretty badly for me as well.

But what I didn't expect at all was that as soon as the door opened, a party popper's confetti directly flew over with a boom, hit my face, then got tangled together and rolled down to the ground.

What the h.e.l.l is going on!?

Once the door opened, what greeted my eyes wasn't that small room in my memory; instead, it strangely became a super-big room that had already been expanded by who knows how many times. The room had a huge bed that could accommodate several people. That snake-bodied youth was lying on it with his eyes half closed as if sleeping, his long snake tail occupying the s.p.a.ce of the entire bed.

“Yuli, he's here!” The dog-eared kid, who ran over to find me before, was holding an empty party popper in one hand, then bounced onto the bed, jumping several times to wake that snake-bodied youth.

I really have the urge to take a step back, then turn my head and run away.

It can't be that this really is the legendary *Hongmen banquet?

[T/N: It means a trap/scheme set up to kill the guests]

Slightly opening his narrow eyes, before I could even escape, that snake-bodied youth called Yuli was already looking over at me. For a second, I actually experienced how a frog being stared at by snake eyes felt like: with a head full of cold sweat plus being unable to escape, it really is miserable.

“Nn…invite him in.” The snake-bodied youth whispered, then fell back onto the bed.

“Oh, okay.” The dog-eared kid ran over, and grabbed my sleeve: “Come in quickly.”

Can I just stand over here!?

Completely not giving me a choice, that kid's brute strength was unexpectedly strong, directly pulling me in with a tug, almost making me fall forward.

With a boom, without turning my head, I already knew that the door behind me was closed.

The enlarged version of the room had a lot more people inside…That's not right, it should be that there were a lot more things. There were those weird people I saw last time, with dog ears, cat heads and whatnot, and there were also some that resembled animals, like how a big rodent that I have no idea if it was a guinea pig or some other thing just ran past my feet.

Wait a minute! It's probably not a field mouse, right!

I keep feeling as if I saw a lot of mystifying things after coming onboard.

“Uh…May I ask why you were looking for me?” Looking at the full room that looked very much like the product of a petting zoo and fantasy world, I bit the bullet and started to ask.

The snake-bodied youth lied down on the bed, lazily narrowing his eyes as he gave me a glance: “Cook the hot pot.”

“Ah?” For two seconds, I thought my ears might have cramps and I misheard it.

He reached his hand out and pointed at that dog-eared kid who was bouncing back and forth: “The little imps want hot pot, and asked me if they could find a human to cook it.”

…Meaning that you guys looked for me to cook hot pot?

I had the feeling of joking about this with Senior and then having it come true.

Don't you guys hate humans!? What's with looking for a human to cook hot pot!?

“If you don't want to, it's fine. I originally planned that if you didn't come, I would randomly grab someone on the road, and erase his memory after cooking.” The snake-bodied person said something scary in a very steady tone.

Don't just casually disregard a person's safety!

“I, I'm not that good at it, but doesn't the restaurant have ready-made soup and pots? I think you just put in ingredients yourself and that'll be it.”

Right after I finished speaking, that dog-eared kid and a cat-eared big sister looked at me as they carried a big still-steaming pot. Next to it was even a gas stove, and a big pile of hot pot ingredients that you could tell without thinking was probably stolen from the kitchen.

It's so complete that you guys should be able to cook it very quickly on your own!

I had a why-was-I-called-over-here kind of feeling.

“We have everything. What's next?” The human snake lying on the bed…Correction, the snake-bodied person was still asking in a very lazy tone.

Next is throwing them in and then eating; does that even have to be taught?

“Uh, light it up and boil the soup, then put in the things you want to eat and cook it until they can be eaten.” I used a very euphemistic way to tell the dog-eared kid who opened the safety stove.

Why do I have to make two rounds of hot pot twice in a row on New Year's Eve?

“Come cook, come cook.” The dog-eared kid dragged me away from the bedside as he ran to the other end of the room. Then the cat big sister moved the hot pot to a table on another side, and a bunch of cute country pets followed over: “Oh right, my name is Buda.”

“Oh…h.e.l.lo.” Looking at the pets and various strange things surrounding them, I bit the bullet and said h.e.l.lo.

“Lizzie Acker.” The cat-eared big sister said.

“h.e.l.lo.”

…Wait, Acker?

“Do you know someone called *Lily Acker?” How come I remember a certain person who manages the library has a similar name?

[T/N: Introduced back in V2C10]

The cat-eared big sister looked at me for a moment: “We come from the same place. You could say we're related. Do you know her?”

“Oh, I met her at school before. She's our librarian.” In fact, I've only seen her one or two times. The administrative staff in the school always stroll around when they have nothing to do, so I occasionally encounter them.

“A librarian…” The cat big sister seem to mutter to herself, then suddenly curved into a smile: “That's good then.”

I keep feeling as if her expression had relaxed to some degree.

The dog-eared Buda threw everything into the hot pot, and after boiling it, a fragrance started to drift out. The bunch of strange creatures nearby also began to stir. The field mouse I just saw was actually leaning over the table with a small bowl on its nose.

“Um…isn't Yuli coming?” Sneaking a peak at that huge bed, the half-snake person was lying on it as if he wasn't going to join in on the hot pot. I could only ask Buda in a low voice.

The dog kid raised his head to look at me: “Yuli hasn't eaten for a long time.”

Hasn't eaten?

What does that mean?

“Time is running out for Yuli. He's been here for much longer than any one of us. It's already the last time, which is why he agreed to Buda's request to cook hot pot together here.” The cat big sister looked at me then said: “Isn't it a must for you humans to eat hot pot on New Year's Eve? It's that reason.”

We eat hot pot on New Year's Eve because we're having a family reunion…

I guess, I can probably understand why I was called here.

“The soda is coming!”

Just when the hot pot was boiled to the point where I had no choice but to turn the safety stove down a little, Buda suddenly shouted this cheerfully. It was only then that I noticed, at some point, a whole box of family-sized soda had appeared five steps away from me at 11 o'clock (direction). A few little animals pounced over, biting and licking the paper box. Completely unable to withstand their attacks, the box became a broken piece of trash a few seconds later. The soda bottles inside rolled onto the ground, plinking and plunking.

“Hey! Don't drink soda like this!” Before a foxlike creature could charge over to bite the soda bottle apart, I immediately lifted it up: “Please use cups, okay, you have to use cups for soda!”

That foxlike creature with five tails blinked its big green eyes at me for a while before twisting to break free, and jumping on the ground; but this time it didn't rush over to bite the soda. Instead, a few creatures rolled out a bunch of plastic cups from who knows where.

I suddenly felt that maybe you guys called me here to tell me to be a temporary zoo volunteer…That's not right, I simply am one, and I don't even have minimum wage!

Looking at the locked door, I resigned myself to my fate as I crouched down to take out that bunch of plastic cups, then poured the soda to the brim one cup at a time, before putting them on the ground. Seconds later, the strange scene of a bunch of weird animals huddling next to the cups and drinking soda appeared all over the ground. I bet that if this was uploaded to the Internet, it'll soon break the most hits per pet video for sure.

Buda and the cat big sister scooped up all of the ingredients that had rolled around in the hot pot for a long time and put them on a large plate. I was originally going to tell them to just pick them up when they eat, but as soon as the food was placed there, it was immediately divided by several people who weren't human. This made me think that scooping it up first wasn't such a bad thing to do in fact…

Having already eaten earlier, I slightly backed out of the range of that closely surrounded table…When I saw a pig and mouse squeezing over to get on the table, not leaving was no longer an option.

“Hey, you!”

While I was seriously pondering that since there was nothing else they needed me for, it'd be better if I escape soon, someone suddenly smacked my shoulder.

As soon as I turned my head, I saw a pair of green eyes.

It was a big guy, maybe a bit older than me, who was completely dressed in white clothes with a blue flower pattern on top. He held a full cup of soda and gave it to me: “This is yours.” When I accepted it, he suddenly took out an extra large bowl out of thin air again, stuffed with hot pot ingredients inside.

It's not like I really want to say this, but the whole bowl looks like a mess. If it wasn't for the hot steam, for a second I would've thought he gave me the kitchen leftovers.

“Uh, thank you.” I took the big bowl that was still quite hot, and found it a bit strange how the s.h.i.+p's kitchen has a huge bowl like this. Grayish-white, the bottom was even sleek and looked very unusual…

…Wait a minute!

I abruptly realized that this doesn't seem to be a bowl.

The grayish-white hemispheric container also had a grainy texture and felt as if it had been polished before. Overall, this object and material seem to remind me of one thing.

No…please tell me it's what I'm thinking of…

My heart won't be able to take it.

“Can I ask you something?” Gulping, right now it's no longer the issue of hot pot ingredients being piled up like kitchen leftovers, but rather, the safety issue of whether or not I would suffer an unknown curse in the next half of my life: “Is this a bowl?” Slightly peeking, at the same time, I also noticed that among all the animals and creatures etc. that were in the middle of eating, apart from plastic bowls and ceramic bowls, there were a few that had the same bowl as the one in my hands.

Hemispheric, grayish-white.

“This is the bowl that this boss personally uses. You won't eat it!?” The green-eyed guy suddenly opened his mouth wide, and I saw teeth that looked like they were a close relative of a wild wolf's inside.

“N, no, you misunderstood, thank you for your bowl.” The other person was full of dissatisfaction. I hastily lowered my head, picked up a piece of taro and put it in my mouth to show that I didn't have any problem with the bowl.

Speaking of which, why is your personal bowl so ambiguous…

“This is the symbol of defeating a mountain demon. You should know that it's d.a.m.n hard to grind a mountain demon's head and bones into a bowl!”

“Pfft!” I spurted out the soup that just entered my mouth.

You gave me a person's skull as a bowl!

In that instant, I really wanted to fling the bowl away, but due to fear of the bowl's manufacturer next to me, I didn't do it, “This, this is a sku…” I felt as if I was drinking sulfuric acid.

“It's not popular over at your side? If you defeat a strong opponent, you can grind his head into a bowl.” The green-eyed guy blinked that pair of beast eyes and spoke in a tone as if I was making a big fuss over nothing.

Basically, we don't use human skulls as bowls at our side!

“U, um, since this bowl is so important, I'll just use an ordinary bowl.” Looking at the skull bowl in my hands, I felt like I was completely losing my appet.i.te.

Guessing can still let me pretend to overthink, but after it was confirmed, I felt like drinking another sip will curse me even more.

“Are you looking down on a mountain demon's head?” That pair of green eyes narrowed, glaring at me.

“No, defeating a mountain demon is great…” It's just that my stomach and gallbladder are those of an ordinary little human's and can't use it.

“Then eat it!”

I looked at the skull bowl in my hands and felt like I was being forced to jump over a cliff. But, compared to using a skull to eat, I think choosing to jump over a cliff would be more straightforward.

“This is *Yu ManMan's fish.” Hearing our discussion about the skull, a girl with rabbit ears immediately ran over, holding up the bowl in her hands.

[T/N: 鱼蛮蛮 Not sure if that's her name or something else]

“This is the Water Demons' bowl!” Buda bounced over, and pushed a second skull in front of me.

“This is the Snake King's…”

“I have a.s.sisi's…”

Instantly, I saw a large amount of skull bowls crowding over here.

What's with this!?

Don't bring your skulls to me!

l once again shed tears over my urge to escape for who knows how many times it's been tonight.

Mom, your son is going to use a head to eat for the first time in his life…

“Alright alright, you guys hurry and eat. The meat's going to become well-done.” When I was about to be buried by a bunch of skull bowls, the cat big sister came over and sent away those with the terrifying bowls, dispelling my dilemma: “Yǔ lǐ*, you should go eat first too.” She patted the green-eyed boy, and the latter nodded and stood up.

[T/N: A different Yuli from the snake-bodied one]

And the moment he turned to leave, I thought I saw five tails swaying in front of my eyes.

“I'm sorry they scared you.” The cat big sister smilingly looked at me: “When we meet a friendly guest, they always take out their best bowls to entertain the guest.”

Your best bowls are skull bowls…

I suddenly felt that being a guest wasn't such a good thing.

“I, I'm just not that used to this.” There probably isn't anyone who gets used to receiving skull bowls, I think.

The cat sister smiled again, then took a tray from a few kittens that were carrying them at the side. There was a medium-sized bowl on it, white like the texture of jade, with a light green pattern. It felt very elegant and beautiful. And placed beside the bowl was a small plate, chopsticks and spoon, which was part of the same set. Neatly arranged in the bowl were hot pot ingredients and soup, a huge contrast from that bowl of leftover-like things I received.

“Can I trouble you to bring this tray to Yuli?” The cat big sister held the tray as she looked at me.

“Eh? Me?” You're telling a pa.s.serby to bring it?

“I think I should look after here for the time being.” Just as she finished saying that, we immediately heard a scream coming from the stoves. A kitten was somehow blasted into midair by a big gust of white smoke, almost falling into the hot pot and becoming cat pot. Thankfully, that green-eyed guy moved quickly and immediately intercepted her.

“Okay.” Taking the tray, I looked over to the other side. It was still very quiet there; no one went over to make a racket. Only the snake-bodied person was lying on the bed sleeping. It felt like this was two different worlds.

“Then thank you.” The cat big sister smiled very brightly.

In fact, I think they're not as bad as I thought.