Chapter 5: Blood-Soaked Xuanwu

  "Ming'er, take off your clothes like me. The dark-colored mark on my chest is the unique birthmark of our Cui family, born with it inside."

  Choi Mu-bae's words revealed an attitude that brooked no argument, and I was taken aback by my own acquiescence, for I had not even a shred of resistance in mind. As if possessed, I nodded and began to unbutton the front of my shirt one button at a time.

  In the years after graduation, the hard life tempered me, a bookworm who was originally weak and frail, into someone with a robust physique. My chest is solid, my abdominal muscles are clear, and I have two deep grooves of obliques that attest to my growth and the hardships that life has imposed on me. For one second, I wondered if I wanted to show off my physique to the man in the wheelchair, to prove that I was no less impressive than him? Was it really at this strange moment that I thought of showing off my muscles to a disabled person?

  I put down my clothes and stared at Choi Mu-baek in front of me, waiting for the next action command. I looked at my empty chest and proudly said to Choi Mu-baek, "Uncle, did you see? There's nothing on my chest except muscles! I didn't see the mark you mentioned, unfortunately, I'm not the person you're looking for. However, even though I'm not the person you're looking for, I think you really don't deserve to be a father. Since you can send your own child to an orphanage with your own hands, I'm glad I'm not your son!"

  I don't know why, but after saying that, a faint sense of loss surged up in my heart. Could it be that deep down, I really hoped the absurd things this person said were true? And was my anger just like a child's complaint and tantrum towards their parents? I'd rather believe that I was driven by a craving for family and loved ones, and that's why I was so hungry. After saying that, I picked up my clothes and pretended to get dressed.

  Looking at Cui Mubai's calm and determined eyes, as well as the corners of his mouth rising, I suddenly remembered that many rich people have a lot of perverted hobbies. Suddenly, I felt a tightness in my chest, but my mouth said, "You won't kill me to silence me because I'm not the person you want, will you? I'll tell you, I was originally going to commit suicide anyway, so it doesn't matter if I die again." At this time, Cui Mubai opposite me actually burst out laughing.

  If they were showing a ferocious expression at this moment, I could still accept it, but this smile really made me feel bewildered. "Are you guys also asking me to get a tattoo like yours? Is this some kind of symbol for a criminal organization?" My voice was filled with a hint of uncertainty as I looked at the "vitiligo patient" behind Cui Mu Bai and Tie Yi's dull expression and stiff posture, my heart had already risen to my throat. I loathed getting tattoos on my body, even more so the disgusted looks from ordinary people, subconsciously using both hands to cover my chest, although I knew that facing this man called Tie Yi, I almost had no chance of fighting back, if he wanted to use force, then I would let him see my unyielding spirit - first castrate myself and then kill myself. However, it seemed like things were a bit more complicated than that...

  "Kid, those strange plots you imagined, probably won't even be written in movies. Don't be afraid, relax, follow me and recite. Fengdu is on the ground, Xuanwu is in heaven, true birth and growth are infinite, stirring up the original energy to open up all possibilities, taking fortune and disaster without distinction, determining it with a rule, ancestors above, Cui family's Xuanwu reveals its true form, decide!"

  Through Cui Mubai's unquestionable tone, with curiosity, I repeated his words, like him, but when I recited them, my right hand inexplicably drew strange patterns in the air, as if drawing talismans or pinching a very complex finger gesture. I didn't know what this strange behavior implied. I was also drunk, although my subconscious thought that following such a weird person to do such a bizarre action was extremely foolish, but I still uncontrollably continued to follow his example.

  When the last word "decide" came out, strange things finally happened. I felt my chest starting to heat up, and there seemed to be a sound of wind and thunder in my ears, until it was like a pot of boiling water, and my chest seemed to have some living thing moving inside, as if it was about to break out. From Cui Mubai's pupil reflection, I saw my own shadow image around me, like flames, as if I was self-immolating.

  I stared at my own hands, arms and the front of my chest which had all turned a deep red color. For what felt like several minutes, my mind was a complete blank, I was dazed and disoriented, with no sensation whatsoever. Time seemed to have stopped. As I continued to stretch out my dizzy gaze, that young man called Tie Yi still showed no expression, looking at me as if he were watching a boring soap opera, making me feel like punching him. I don't know how long it took, maybe it was long or short, but at this moment, I had lost all sense of time and space. I knelt down on the edge of the bed, the scorching sensation around my body slowly fading away, replaced by a very comfortable feeling, like having a bowel movement after being constipated for a long time.

  As my senses slowly returned, I took a few deep breaths and was about to ask loudly when I lowered my head and got a fright. At this moment, on my chest, a tattoo of the same shape as Cui Mubai's appeared, with a fiery color, not different in any way!

  Choi Mu-bae's tattoo was black, but mine was a deep crimson, as vibrant as blood, like the flames of a raging fire. Choi Mu-bae's chest tattoo seemed to have faded somewhat. What was different was that my arms and the back of my hands had also appeared with flame-like patterns, intricately intertwined on both arms, and on top of these flame patterns, there were dense scale-like designs that left me speechless.

  I rubbed it hard and found that the color didn't come off, staring at it carefully and finding that it wasn't a tattoo either. The feeling was as if it were a birthmark on my skin, as if it should have been there all along. Along with these few words, the pattern appeared out of thin air, filling my mind with shock and horror, leaving me speechless.

  I recalled those movie plots where people would occasionally turn into werewolves, apes or koalas due to some chemical agents. Thoughts of superpowers and treasure maps flooded my mind. I looked at the pattern on my chest, comparing it with Choi Mu-bae's, and they were exactly the same size. What was going on here?

  "The pattern on your chest is the protective Xuanwu mark of our Fengdu Cui family, not man-made, but a birthmark. Now you can believe what I'm going to say next, right? If DNA signatures can be forged, then this pattern should convince you."

  When Cui Mubai spoke, his pale blue eyes were clear and bright. I felt a little flustered as he gazed at the strange pattern on my chest. Cui Mubai smiled faintly at me, "The Xuanwu flames on your chest, hands, and arms are due to the ink-colored Xuanwu blood that was ignited when you unintentionally attempted suicide. If it weren't for this fiery blood of Xuanwu, we father and son would not have been able to meet in our lifetime, and would have lived in anger and longing. And my current appearance is what yours will be like in the future, enduring the pain of gnawing bones, lonely and depressed until the end. This is the punishment given to us Cui family by the curse of the Ten Thousand Souls under the protection of the ink-colored Xuanwu.

  At the same time, with the appearance of the Xuanwu pattern on your body, the descendants of the Cui family will no longer possess this ink-colored Xuanwu, because the only drop of Xuanwu blood has already been ignited in your body and become a part of you." A cough interrupted Cui Mubai's words.

  I was in a daze, listening to Cui Mubai's words, feeling as if I had fallen into a huge conspiracy. It was like being a monkey in a lab that had been injected with some kind of mysterious chemical substance and suddenly undergoing a massive mutation. I felt an unspeakable terror, and the most direct manifestation of this fear was that my carefully maintained calm emotions collapsed instantly: "What is this thing? What have you done to me? Is this a mental hospital or a Japanese pirate's chemical weapon?" At this moment, horror and anger occupied my heart.

  Those sci-fi blockbusters I've seen, with their bizarre and abnormal biological mutation experiments, make me shudder just thinking about them. These people in front of me won't treat me like some kind of test subject, will they? Biochemical mutations? Zombie monsters? Sweat began to trickle down my forehead, I don't know if it's from tension or fear. If I really become some kind of freak... that would be worse than death!

  After coughing for a while, Cui Mubai calmed down and continued to say: "Child, you really think too much. Those movie plots are just entertainment, they have nothing to do with your real life. Don't let fantasies blind your eyes. The mark on your chest is the unique Xuanwu blood seal of the Cui family. Whenever a member of the Cui family returns to their ancestral home and recites the incantation I just did, this Xuanwu diagram will appear. No need to be nervous, this can also serve as proof of your family identity. You wouldn't think that I got it tattooed ahead of time, would you? I'm not that capable, and you're also very clear that this isn't a tattoo."

  Cui Mubai finished speaking, glanced at Tie Yi beside him and nodded without saying a word. Tie Yi bent down again to help Cui Mubai put on his clothes. The arm that Tie Yi held in his palm was as soft as fallen leaves, which made my heart skip a beat. After buttoning up the last button, Tie Yi stood up with his hands hanging down. From start to finish, the leper patient didn't show any expression or movement, his stiff body looked like an ornament. This eerie silence made me involuntarily look in his direction. Because my consciousness told me that this "leper" seemed to have no vitality at all, but I clearly saw him pushing Cui Mubai into the room just now, which was very strange.