Chapter 2: Are You Here to Make Friends With Me?
Bai Xuci didn’t have time to chat with Qu San. He yawned, stretching languidly as he walked up the mountain.
Yes.
The Great Demon Lord lived… up there.
When he had first transmigrated, he had been very depressed.
Firstly, he had to accept the fact that he was a rabbit; secondly, he had to adapt to the strange creatures around him; and thirdly, he had to accept the pain of working for a superior even as a yokai.
Bai Xuci understood his current situation perfectly. The Great Demon Lord was like the Golden Horned King from the Journey to the West he watched as a child, and he was one of the nameless little yokai who helped carry Tang Sanzang.
A low-level minion.
“I’ll leave it here!” Bai Xuci said to the side, his voice clear.
As soon as he finished speaking, a large piece of prime pork was placed on a nearby banana leaf.
Two strange creatures stood guard nearby.
While waiting for them to inspect the offering, Bai Xuci stole a glance at the “strange creatures.”
This was, in fact, one of the less pleasant aspects of this world.
Not all yokai had the ability to transform into human form, and not all yokai possessed normal “aesthetic sensibilities.”
Like the two… um… horned horse brothers in front of him.
Their appearance was rather… unique.
“Hmm, acceptable. Go, go!” The horned horse guards crouched down and sniffed for a long time, then looked up at Bai Xuci with unfriendly eyes.
His fair, translucent skin, a pair of captivating ruby eyes, and the human-style white clothes he wore made him look—
Unbelievably ugly!
What was wrong with the yokai world lately? Everywhere, they were imitating human appearances.
It was truly degenerate! What was so good about those inferior beings… spits… food, to imitate?
The esteemed one should severely punish them.
They were corrupting the next generation.
The horned horse guards waved their hooves, their expressions filled with impatience, signaling for Bai Xuci to leave.
They muttered things like, “How did this rabbit grow into this awful form?”
Bai Xuci had been waiting for this moment and slipped away immediately.
Only when he was a little further from the cave entrance did he relax slightly.
He had delivered “food” so many times, why was he still so nervous?
Bai Xuci looked around the forest and saw a small stream in a hidden place below; the sound of the water was crisp.
He could faintly see a few small fish.
He looked back to check; no one was coming after him, everything was normal.
…
So,
A rabbit plopped onto a stone by the stream and intently watched the small fish in the river.
He extended a white paw, but due to the moss, he almost slipped.
He hastily retreated.
Bai Xuci crouched there watching the fish. He liked watching fish, they were beautiful.
Multicolored, it improved his mood.
Perhaps it was the absurdity of his transmigration; he actually felt very insecure.
More than once, he had dreamt of returning to his original world, the excitement, joy, and elation almost overwhelming him.
He remembered excitedly telling his parents, “I’m telling you, it’s unbelievable, I transmigrated into a book!! You wouldn’t believe…”
He wanted to continue talking.
But then he suddenly realized something was wrong, because his parents had no expression, as if they couldn’t hear him at all.
They were just staring…
A strange feeling surged through Bai Xuci, and he glanced around, only to suddenly realize that he had been in a cage all along.
Panicked, he retreated, realizing that he had no hands, only rabbit legs.
“!!!”
Then
He saw himself as a dish in his dream.
Spicy Rabbit Head.
His parents ate it with gusto, even sucking his skull clean.
“…”
Because of this, Bai Xuci fell into the longest period of depression since becoming a yokai.
…
Perhaps out of frustration, the rabbit on the stone “bang!” transformed into a young man.
His silver hair scattered freely, his calves immersed in the stream, letting the water gently caress them.
Bai Xuci scratched at the moss on the stone, his brows slightly furrowed in annoyance.
What rotten luck! He knew the development of the entire story, equivalent to having a god’s-eye view.
But what good was it?
A cannon fodder character didn’t need to know too much.
Bai Xuci propped his chin and looked into the stream; the aquatic plants swayed back and forth.
Like dancing maidens.
Perhaps driven by animal instinct, Bai Xuci involuntarily bent down, his slender fingers reaching into the water.
Closer and closer…
At this moment, a goldfish swam by, passing through the swaying aquatic plants.
It completely disarranged the neatly arranged plants into a tangled mess.
Bai Xuci frowned and stopped his hand.
The goldfish seemed to realize someone was watching it, slowing down its movements and looking up.
Bai Xuci found the scene odd and retracted his foot from the stream.
Why wasn’t the fish leaving?
The goldfish rolled its eyes, and swam towards him again.
It hovered in place, continuing to look up.
Bai Xuci inexplicably felt goosebumps on his back, feeling uncomfortable all over.
But he continued to stare at the little goldfish.
You stared at me, and I stared at you.
A rabbit and a fish gazed at each other.
“Are you here to make friends with me?” A voice, excited and curious.
A splashing sound, the goldfish suddenly transformed into a human form, leaning forward, hands supporting the stone where Bai Xuci was sitting.
Bai Xuci closed his eyes; his hair was drenched by the suddenly mutated fish.
He looked like a drowned chicken.
“Bang!” A strange sound effect, and the young man on the stone disappeared, replaced by a water-soaked white rabbit.
Bai Xuci: “…”
He still couldn’t overcome his habit of reverting to his rabbit form when startled, could he?
The goldfish blinked, not quite understanding why his newly made “friend” had suddenly shrunk.
“You’re a rabbit.” A matter-of-fact statement.
He slowly poked Bai Xuci with his finger; the other party had already been startled, and now almost fell into the stream.
His rabbit legs barely stopped him.
“You’re a fish, why are you transforming? Don’t you know it’s scary?!” Bai Xuci felt like he was experiencing an unlucky streak. Already nervous about his “selling dog meat under a sheep’s head” job, a goldfish-person suddenly appeared.
“You also suddenly turned into a rabbit?” A somewhat aggrieved voice, its large tail swaying in the stream.
He didn’t understand why the other party was so agitated.
Bai Xuci: “…”
Fine, the other party had a point.
He immediately transformed back into human form, facing the fish.
“Could you please step back?” Bai Xuci still felt this posture was inappropriate; a fish was actually surrounding him.
The goldfish looked down, its golden eyes full of confusion, water droplets falling from its chin.
It obediently stepped back.
Bai Xuci felt the air less stuffy and lightly patted his chest.
“Are you here to make friends with me?” He repeated the question, his tone unchanged.
“…”
Silence.
Although he wasn’t averse to making friends, the current situation was a bit too absurd.
Why did everything in this world suddenly transform?
It was really scary!
Bai Xuci swallowed, and sincerely said, “I was just looking at the scenery.”
The goldfish’s tail wagged; it didn’t quite understand this sentence, so it asked again:
“So you’re here to make friends with me?”
It asked again, tilting its head.
Bai Xuci gasped slightly, remembering that yokai’s way of thinking was different from humans’; the other party couldn’t understand his subtle hints.
So he had to say:
“No.”
Fish looked at rabbit, rabbit looked back at fish.
“Why won’t you be friends with me?” Its tail flicked, conveying its displeasure.
Its body also moved closer.
Bai Xuci felt a headache coming on. He shouldn’t have come here to relax; he should have gone back to his rabbit burrow.
Were all yokai this stubborn?
“I don’t have that intention right now.” Bai Xuci honestly replied.
Although Bai Xuci had been slowly adapting to his yokai identity, subconsciously, he was still human and couldn’t understand the yokai’s behavioral patterns and principles.
He also couldn’t accept some…
Anyway, he thought, once the main characters came to assassinate the Great Demon Lord.
Once these key plot points were over, he would leave this mountain.
Go anywhere, after all, he was a yokai, he didn’t have to worry about getting sick or encountering disasters.
At least he would be free.
But now—
Bai Xuci sighed inwardly, feeling that he could not escape the fate of working for others.
The difference was that in his past life, he worked for humans; in this life, he worked for yokai.
And he dared not quit.
Sigh, same thing.
He still didn’t know if the pork he had delivered could fool the other party.
“Why aren’t you looking at me?” The originally childish voice suddenly deepened, seemingly unhappy.
Bai Xuci finally snapped back to reality, realizing he had been lost in thought for a while.
The goldfish swam around him, its tail splashing water on the stones.
“Sorry.” Bai Xuci didn’t intend to continue chatting with this goldfish yokai; he had only come down to relax.
Since there was an owner here, he should leave quickly.
Yokai were really incomprehensible.
But just as he was about to leave, the fish behind him suddenly became unhappy, and the water in the entire stream stopped flowing.
The fish’s tail suddenly wrapped around Bai Xuci, pulling him down.
The force was so great that he couldn’t react.
…
After a long while—
“Okay, okay, I’ll come.” Bai Xuci weakly promised.
Damn it, was this how you made friends?
Didn’t it know that rabbits couldn’t swim??
Bai Xuci looked down at the stream and was truly grateful that it was just a small stream.
He looked up at the… uh, “merman” in front of him and felt a headache coming on.
“Hmm, I’m happy.”
“You have to come to see me again tomorrow.” Very serious words, not feeling anything was wrong.
Bai Xuci was really tired. Seeing that the “merman” didn’t intend to drag him underwater again, he turned to leave.
But just as he was about to leave, the fish’s tail suddenly flipped up.
Trying to use the same trick to keep him.
“Get away!” A cold voice sounded; the person who had been speaking softly suddenly changed his expression.
He used his yokai power to push the goldfish several meters away, his fair hands trembling.
Then nervously washing with stream water…
Trying to wash away the sticky, bumpy feeling of scales.
Bai Xuci ignored the “enthusiastic” fish yokai, concentrating on washing his hands.
Uncomfortable.
Uncomfortable.
So disgusting.
After washing his hands, he hurried away, forgetting his initial principle of “don’t offend real yokai.”
…
After a long time
The pushed-away goldfish swam to the empty space.
He looked down at the moss on the stone.
Then looked up—large and small tree crowns intertwined, almost obscuring the sky.
Only scattered sunlight came through.
“I haven’t told him my name yet.” The goldfish’s face was expressionless, speaking to himself.
He seemed a little bored; he had waited so long, yet the other party had escaped.
His amber pupils showed no emotional fluctuation.
He looked down at his tail; the golden scales gleamed in the sunlight, very beautiful.
But his master didn’t think so; he just irritably flicked it around.
Feeling that it had ruined his plans.
“Next time, I’ll definitely catch him.” A flat tone.
Transforming back into a small goldfish, he swam into the depths of the stream, gradually disappearing from sight.
…
Bai Xuci originally wanted to go straight back to his rabbit burrow; after all, he had already delivered the meat.
Logically speaking, there was nothing else to do.
As for whether the difference in the pork could be tasted… he didn’t know.
But yokai were so unrefined, they probably couldn’t tell the difference.
While wiping his hands, he thought carefully.
After wiping his hands, seeing his clean fingers, Bai Xuci felt a little more relieved.
He wasn’t particularly averse to fish, just disliked the cold, scaly feeling; it looked like a cold-blooded animal.
He felt a wave of revulsion.
If he really had to trace the reason, Bai Xuci thought it was related to his father.
When his father was young, he liked to go to the countryside to hunt game with professionals and often brought back small animals.
Rabbits were the most common, often given to Bai Xuci to raise.
At the time, he was overjoyed, feeding the brown rabbit until it was plump. His father more than once mentioned in front of him, “It’s quite plump.”
Bai Xuci was very wary, repeatedly emphasizing in a childish voice, “The rabbit is mine.”
But eventually, the rabbit was gone, because the “professionals” rescued an injured python.
It was midnight, and the nearby rescue center was closed. A group of adults simply treated the wound, and one of them saw the plump rabbit in the cage.
“Yo, Lao Bai, isn’t this perfect? Feed it to it.”
He directly reached into the cage, picked up the rabbit, and turned towards the dying python.
“Hey, no, that’s my son…”
Bai Xuci lived in his old home when he was a child; he vaguely heard a lot of noise in the yard, so he rubbed his eyes and went out.
“Dad… you…”
The python crawled on the ground, its mouth still stained with brown rabbit fur. Its scales, perhaps due to injury, opened and closed.
Some were falling off, revealing red flesh.
Looking further, a small pool of blood, and obvious signs of struggle.
Bai Xuci stared blankly at his rabbit cage, empty.
…
Bai Xuci couldn’t remember the details of that night; anyway, the adults were scared.
Because he vomited for a long time.
Later, they explained that it was to rescue wildlife and told him about the rabbit overpopulation in the area.
If they weren’t killed, they would eat the villagers’ vegetables and fruits.
In short, since then, he had hated anything with scales.
________
Translator’s note: Yokai means monsters, beasts, spirits, demons.