NHSDO Chapter 6: Heh, Half-Demon.

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The fire and the rain outside stopped at the same time.

The rain had lasted quite a while, and by the time it ceased, the sky had already turned completely dark.

Lin Mu glanced at the dog sleeping soundly on an old fleece blanket that had been folded several times, then pulled open the front door, intending to check on the situation outside.

The clouds had dispersed, and a brilliant river of stars stretched across the night sky, which had been washed unusually clear.

The Chaomu plants that had burned for so long had turned to ashes, scattered both inside and outside the courtyard—only to sprout anew. Tiny white flowers bloomed under the night sky, emitting a cool, white glow.

Lin Mu switched on the courtyard lights and carefully stepped toward the perimeter, cautiously peering outside.

The ordinary plants and grasses remained untouched by the flames, yet in the areas where the Chaomu grew thickest, piles of black ash had accumulated. As the wind blew, the ashes drifted and scattered into the air.

These ashes were probably what Dahei had described—remnants of the demons and spirits who had done evil deeds.

There was quite a bit left behind. Lin Mu hesitated to think about just how many had been burned, and he couldn’t understand why so many demons and ghosts had suddenly appeared.

For the past twenty years of his life, he had lived peacefully and had never encountered anything like this before.

As some of the weightless ash floated toward his face, Lin Mu instinctively felt that it looked familiar. Upon closer inspection, he realized that it bore an uncanny resemblance to the bag of seeds Da Hei had given him earlier.

Lin Mu: "……"

So I Carried a Bag of Ashes All the Way Home and Buried It in My Yard, Huh?

Lin Mu sucked in a sharp breath, staring at the pile of ashes outside the house. After some thought, he figured it would be a waste to just leave it there.

Since it was still early, he simply went back inside, grabbed a small brush and a handheld dustpan, then returned to the courtyard. Rolling up his sleeves, he started sweeping up the ashes.

He didn’t intend to keep them. Instead, he swept the ashes into a pile, then walked around the perimeter of his circular courtyard, using them to draw a rough, wobbly sun shape along the edge.

Once he finished his "sun," Lin Mu looked at the newly sprouted white flowers, feeling satisfied. He then carefully picked up the sleeping dog and said, “Let’s go! Taking you to the hospital!”

Yan Xuanjing jolted awake. His first reaction was to swipe a claw at Lin Mu’s face, but upon realizing that the half-demon had no ill intentions, he quickly retracted his sharp claws. Instead, he pressed the soft pad of his paw against Lin Mu’s cheek and began struggling.

Lin Mu, completely unaware of how close he had come to being disfigured, instinctively leaned his head back as soon as he felt the paw on his face. He quickly set the struggling dog down and took a closer look at its front paws, letting out a surprised sound.

The swelling on the right paw had gone down, and the frightening reddish-purple color had faded. The left paw, which had previously been a bloody mess, was now scabbed over after being carefully cleaned. Overall, the condition looked much better.

Seeing this, Lin Mu let out a small sigh of relief.

At least he hadn’t accidentally made things worse by moving it around.

“But we’re still going to the hospital,” Lin Mu said firmly.

No matter how well he treated the wounds, he wasn’t a doctor. The dog still needed a full check-up, internal and external deworming, vaccinations, and all that. In the countryside, people didn’t usually fuss over these things when raising dogs, but this dog definitely didn’t seem like the type that could be treated roughly like a mutt.

It looked like a young Samoyed—its ears were slightly pointed, and its black eyes were full of intelligence. Even though Lin Mu had butchered its fur with his haphazard trimming, its good looks still shone through.

From its appearance, it was clearly a well-bred, high-quality purebred. Dogs like this were usually quite delicate, nothing like the big, sturdy guard dogs like Da Hei that could withstand rough handling and serve as protectors.

Lin Mu had even seen news stories about pet dogs like this warmly welcoming burglars into houses, fetching them slippers and wagging their tails. With that kind of temperament, there was no way this dog could be relied on to guard the house. It could only be spoiled like a child and kept as a companion to make life a little sweeter.

Lin Mu leaned in again to check the dog’s remaining visible wounds. After confirming their condition, he repeated, “We’re going to the hospital.”

Yan Xuanjing wasn’t too familiar with the ways of the Central Plains, but he did understand the word “hospital.”

He lifted his paw and pressed it against Lin Mu’s face again in refusal.

He was a dignified nine-tailed fox, a great demon! These minor external injuries would heal in a day or two—why on earth would he need a hospital?

Any internal injuries that wouldn’t heal on their own required quiet rest. A human hospital wouldn’t be able to help him anyway.

Lin Mu felt the cool touch of the paw on his face, carefully grabbed the dog’s paw, and met its gaze. Blinking, he tentatively asked, “You don’t want to go?”

Yan Xuanjing pulled his paw back, then pressed it onto Lin Mu’s face again.

Lin Mu paused, then asked, “You do want to go?”

The dog retracted its paw.

Lin Mu stared at it for a moment, suddenly feeling that something was really off.

He could swear this dog was actually communicating with him.

Wait—when he picked it up yesterday, it had already seemed pretty intelligent.

Lin Mu furrowed his brows, sensing that this was no simple matter.

He studied the dog for a while but ultimately decided to respect its wishes. The hospital could wait—tomorrow, he would ask Da Hei about this dog.

“Alright then.” Lin Mu straightened up and glanced at the time—it was getting late. “Let’s sleep for now.”

Yan Xuanjing watched as Lin Mu shut the main door, then turned back around and, with a firm “heave-ho,” lifted him up—blanket and all. With brisk steps, he carried him upstairs.

Lin Mu took the dog straight to his bedroom.

His room was spacious, more than enough to accommodate an extra dog.

Watching the dog curiously scan its surroundings after being placed on the floor, Lin Mu hesitated for a moment before explaining, “I’m a light sleeper. If anything happens at night, I’ll wake up immediately.”

After all, this was an injured animal—it needed extra care.

Besides, the dog hadn’t been burned by the Chaomu flames, so Lin Mu figured it was probably fine.

After settling the dog in, Lin Mu took a shower, dried his hair, and lay down on his bed. He turned to the dog and said, “Good night.”

Then he froze.

Tilting his head, he stared at the fluffy white dog on the blanket for a long moment before suddenly chuckling. When the dog turned to look at him, he switched off the light.

Lin Mu found joy in the simplest things.

Just having someone to say good night to made him happy.

Ever since his mother passed away, no one had made the effort to say good night to him before bed. In college, when he lived in the dorms, his roommates had joked that saying “good night” every night felt kind of “gay,” so Lin Mu had stopped.

Now, after living alone for so long, even a dog looked handsome to him. Just saying good night to a dog made him feel at peace.

Sprawled on the bed, Lin Mu gazed at the dog, which was still stark white even in the darkness of the room. Smiling to himself, he closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep to the sounds of insects chirping and frogs croaking outside.

Not long after Lin Mu fell asleep, Yan Xuanjing, who had been resting on the blanket with his eyes closed, suddenly perked up his ears and lifted his head. His dark eyes glowed with an eerie green light in the dim room.

Lin Mu’s bed was near the window.

At that moment, a chubby little hand reached up onto the windowsill, its tiny red fingertips swaying in the faint light. Soon, another small hand grabbed the edge.

Then, a tiny head peeked up over the sill. It was a child with a string of bright red berries adorning their head. Their face was plump with baby fat, their features were adorably delicate, and they had a beautiful flower stem dangling from their mouth.

At this moment, he was struggling to cling to the edge of the window sill, craning his neck to peer into the room.

That one peek put him in direct eye contact with the nine-tailed fox inside.

Yan Xuanjing gazed silently and imposingly at the little child climbing the window, releasing just a slight trace of the aura he had carefully restrained.

The little one instantly shivered in fright, lost his grip with his short hands, and tumbled down from the second-floor window sill. He landed on the rain canopy that Lin Mu had built before, rolled off, and hit the ground with a muffled thud.

Yan Xuanjing recognized this scent—it was the scent of a ginseng doll.

This place was home to the Zhaomu plant, so it was completely normal for well-informed little demons to seek refuge here.

After all, these weak little demons had hardly any ability to cause harm and were often treated as nourishing delicacies by vicious, ferocious demons. For them, running into Zhaomu’s protection circle was all benefit and no harm.

Yan Xuanjing slowly withdrew his gaze from the window sill and glanced at Lin Mu—the half-demon who claimed to be a light sleeper. Yet, during the entire process of the ginseng doll climbing up and then falling down, he hadn’t moved a muscle. Even his breathing remained steady, as if he were sleeping soundly.

Yan Xuanjing: "…"

Heh, half-demon.

He withdrew his gaze and lay back down again.

The next morning, Lin Mu got up, washed up, and cooked a pot of bone broth. He also steamed some buns and rice. With a bun in his mouth, he carried a bowl of bone broth rice upstairs for the dog, carefully checking its still-exposed wounds.

The swelling on the right foreleg had completely subsided, and the blood scab on the left paw had long since dried, making it look much less gruesome.

The speed and extent of recovery were surprisingly good.

"Looks like there's really no need to go to the hospital," Lin Mu muttered, withdrawing his hand after examining the wounds. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "I have things to do today and will be heading out. I’ll leave a small door open for you—if you want to leave, go out through the door at the far left end of the first floor."

After saying this, Lin Mu looked at the dog, pressed his lips together, and added, "But I still hope you’ll stay."

Yan Xuanjing sat with his front paws crossed in a dignified posture, watching Lin Mu turn away to pack his things after speaking. His ears twitched slightly.

As Lin Mu passed his mother’s studio, he glanced at the notebooks he had placed on the table the day before but hadn’t touched since. He paused briefly, then quietly closed the door before heading downstairs.

The weather was nice today. Lin Mu opened the main door, pushed his electric scooter out, and left home.

He was planning to visit the office again today. Although it wasn’t officially time to return to work, Lin Mu felt that maintaining good relations was important.

For example, helping fix doors and windows where needed—and for things he couldn’t fix, like the outer walls, he could at least plant some greenery to cover the defects.

At the very least, he wanted it to look less rundown.

After Lin Mu left, Yan Xuanjing leisurely finished the bowl of bone broth rice. He stood up, shook his left paw to shed the dried scab, and also went downstairs, walking out through the door Lin Mu had mentioned.

As he passed the main entrance of the courtyard, he glanced to the side and noticed a flower branch inserted into the wooden gate, along with a few plump, white ginseng roots placed on it.

This was the ginseng doll’s tribute—a clear sign that it wanted protection.

A nine-tailed fox who understood the rules of the demon world could see that immediately.

But Lin Mu had left in a hurry and completely failed to notice the new addition to his door.

Yan Xuanjing gave it a casual glance but acted as if he had seen nothing, turning away and leaving.

He had his own matters to attend to—regarding the passage between Zhongyuan and the Great Wilderness.

There were demons responsible for guarding the passage on this side of Zhongyuan, and before coming here, Yan Xuanjing had obtained an address from his father.

A City, Zhongyuan District, Qingyao Road, No. 404, Qingyao Street Office.

That was where the demon guarding the passage in Zhongyuan resided.

Man and fox left without a backward glance. The wind swept through the now-empty courtyard, brushing against a small cluster of bright red ginseng berries hidden beneath the vines on the fence—carrying away a soft, pitiful whimper.

_____

Author’s Note:

Ginseng Doll: Kudabulu kou! (Unintelligible English sounds)

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