Chapter 2 (2/2)
“No, I’m not.” His face felt like it was on fire.
A corner of the man’s lips quirked upwards. “Then your life here will be very boring.”
“Why?”
“Because there are no females here.”
Hughes frowned disapprovingly. “Gin, don’t scare him.”
“I’m just telling him the truth as it is.” Gin shrugged, then sidled up close enough to touch his thigh to Hughes’.
Hughes gave Gin a look. “It’s only a year, not everyone needs to date.”
“Oh? Are you sure you can manage a year?” Gin licked his lips.
Embarrassed, Hughes turned his head away. “Stop playing around, there are people watching.”
In response, Gin pressed his body up against Hughes, licking at his earlobe. “Don’t worry, I’m not playing around. In fact, I’m very serious about this…”
Despite feeling a little weak, Hughes assertively insisted, “There are other people watching.”
Gin’s other hand snaked itself around Hughes’ waist, leaning in slowly as he breathed into Hughes’ ear, “I like it when people watch. It’s more exciting.”
Asa looked sympathetically at Feisha, who looked too overwhelmed to do anything, and decided to give him some helpful advice. “You’ll get used to it.”
Feisha abruptly pushed away from the table, and made a run for the door. He’d go insane just by spending a day here, never-mind a full year! Titans were from Greek mythology, whereas invisible people were from sci-fi… How are these two things meant to be put together!? He couldn’t make heads or tails of this bizarre situation.
He wanted to go home, not stay with a band of weird monsters. What if this place was the laboratory of some mad scientist? If he knew this was how he was going to end up, then he would’ve preferred to be drowned in spit by Zhenjian Wu and his old hag, then stepped on. Even that would’ve been a better outcome than becoming insane in the middle of nowhere.
The doors were still wide open. Feisha leaped towards the freedom that was so close he could almost taste it.
“All that lies outside is a fracture in space and time. Humans that go into it will be ripped into shreds.”
A cool voice sounded from behind him.
Feisha stopped in his tracks and turned around with a face full of suspicion. “You think I’m going to listen to your lies…” His words trailed off.
A man wearing a black shirt and white jacket was descending down the stairs. His long, ink-black hair flowed behind like water, contrasting with a pale face that gave off a holy aura. Handsome doesn’t even come close to describing his appearance, for it was a perfect assortment of features.
As Feisha’s eyes met with twin orbs of obsidian, he felt his breath catch in his throat and heartbeat speed up.
The man stopped about three steps away from Feisha, ruby earrings twinkling.
“Are you…one of my people?” Feisha suddenly realized that ever since he entered this hotel, no one in here had spoken any alien languages.
“No.” His voice was cold, but very pleasant to listen to.
“Did you get kidnapped here as well?”
“No.”
Feisha came to a conclusion, softly asking, “Then…what are you?”
The man narrowed his eyes. Just as Feisha braced himself for the man to explode at him, he suddenly took off the white jacket.
Feisha unconsciously took half a step back, nervously saying, “You- you want a one-on-one? You need to think carefully about whether or not you want to do this, I know kung-fu, you know, the really deadly type. Have you heard of White Bone Nonuple Claw? There’ll be stuff stabbed into your skull like incense sticks. What about Heaven and Earth Great Shift, and the Li Flying Dagger…”
The man looked at him with a blank expression.
Suddenly, an enormous pair of black wings spread out behind him, blocking all light reaching Feisha like a blackout curtain.
“I am Isefel, the CEO of Noah’s Ark.” His tone was cold to the point of chilling.
Feisha stared at the crisscrossing feathers, mesmerized.
“Bird man?”
Translator’s notes
Asakritos
Our loveable loaf’s name comes from Kritos, with an Asa added to the front.
“I’m very impressed with how humans can always find some explanation for any problems they encounter.”
This phrase originally used a Chinese saying, 天上一天，地上一年 (lit. one day in heaven, one year on Earth), followed up by Hughes expressing his awe at how Chinese people can find an explanation for anything in their history and literature, except translating it straight wouldn’t work because there is no such saying in English. The closest English counterpart to this would be 2 Peter 3:8 (With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day), but the next exchange with Hughes wouldn’t work because it draws on Feisha’s unfamiliarity with the bible.
Gin
Gin’s name in Chinese is 金 (jīn), meaning gold (likely a reference the color of his hair). The alternate spelling Gin was chosen to reference his role in the hotel.
“Are you…one of my people?”
What Feisha actually said here was “Are you…Chinese?” followed by his realization that everyone in the hotel spoke Chinese.
I know kung-fu, you know, the really deadly type. Have you heard of White Bone Nonuple Claw? There’ll be stuff stabbed into your skull like incense sticks. What about Heaven and Earth Great Shift, and the Li Flying Dagger…”
These weird kung-fu names are all from well-known Chinese novels.
White bone Nonuple Claw – 九阴白骨爪 (jiǔ yīn bái gǔ zhǎo)
Heaven and Earth Great Shift – 乾坤大挪移 (qián kūn dà nuó yí)
Li Flying Dagger – 小李飞刀 (xiǎo lǐ fēi dāo)