NHSDO Chapter 9: Dahei: I Kill Myself

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"Uwaaahhh! No, don’t eat me!!"

The little baby sat on the ground, bare-bottomed, crying loudly.

Yan Xuanjing frowned at the noise. With a simple lift of his paw, the baby's wailing was instantly cut off.

The ginseng baby felt utterly wronged.

He was about to be cooked, and now he wasn't even allowed to cry out loud.

He sniffled and whimpered softly, too afraid to move under the watchful gaze of the fluffy white creature nearby. He dared not cry too loudly, so he let out a few squeaky sobs, stopped to catch his breath, then cautiously glanced at Lin Mu before looking back at the fluffy creature blocking the door—then he started whimpering again.

Even though Lin Mu had already witnessed Dahei transforming right before his eyes, it was still quite a shock to see a ginseng suddenly turn into an adorable, snow-white baby again.

Lin Mu instantly recognized the little red fruits on top of the baby’s head.

He put down the vegetables he was holding and walked toward the sniffling, curled-up ginseng baby. "You..."

The ginseng baby looked up at him and wailed even more miserably.

"Uuuuuu, no, don’t eat me..."

Only then did Lin Mu realize how bad a place like a kitchen was for a ginseng.

"We’re not going to eat you," Lin Mu said.

The ginseng baby looked at him with teary eyes, sniffling. "Really?"

Lin Mu nodded. "Really."

The ginseng baby then turned to look at the fluffy creature at the door. Lin Mu blinked, then also turned to look at his dog.

Under their stares, Nai Tang (Milk Candy) slowly lay down, placing one paw neatly over the other in a very dignified manner.

"It won’t eat you either," Lin Mu reassured him. "How did it catch you, anyway?"

"I… I came to pledge allegiance," the ginseng baby sniffled, wiping away his tears. His chubby face was filled with grievance. "I used to hide in Qingyao Mountain, but recently, more and more demons have been coming and going. I had nowhere to hide anymore. Yesterday, I saw a lot of evil spirits and fierce ghosts being burned here, so I thought I could seek shelter."

"I see." Lin Mu suddenly understood—the baby was talking about the time when Chaomu set everything on fire.

"Can I stay?" The ginseng baby looked up at Lin Mu with hopeful eyes and spoke softly. "I... I won’t take up much space. I can even stay outside the courtyard. I… I can help take care of the plants in the yard. I know how to aerate and nourish the soil. I..."

"I’m really useful! QAQ" The ginseng baby started whimpering again. "I really am!"

"Don’t cry! No one’s driving you away," Lin Mu, who had no experience dealing with children, was at a loss. He quickly grabbed a tissue and wiped the baby’s tears away before standing up and swiftly changing the subject. "Do you like eating anything?"

"I don’t need to eat," the ginseng baby answered instinctively. Then he realized what Lin Mu had just said. He quickly scrambled to his feet—his little round bottom somehow free of dust—stood on tiptoe, and clung to Lin Mu’s leg with his tiny arms. In a soft, milky voice, he asked repeatedly, "Really? I can stay? You won’t drive me away or eat me?"

"Yes, you can stay. I won’t drive you away, and I won’t eat you," Lin Mu confirmed.

The little ginseng froze for a second, then broke into a big, silly grin. He let go of Lin Mu’s leg, bounced happily a few times, and rubbed his hands together. "Then I’ll help you take care of the flowers!"

Lin Mu glanced at the little ginseng and decided to prepare a few empty pots for him to experiment with. He then turned to the fridge, took out a few apples, and juiced them. After filtering out the pulp, he poured a cup and handed it to the little baby while introducing himself. "I’m Lin Mu."

The little demon seemed to freeze. He carefully cradled the cup, glanced up at Lin Mu, and suddenly looked like he was about to cry again. His baby voice was tinged with a slight nasal tone as he said, "Lin Mu!"

"Mhm." Lin Mu nodded, smiling at him.

"Lin Mu!" The little demon called again, sniffled hard, then hesitated as if he wanted to say something but got stuck. Feeling a little lost, he murmured, "But… I don’t have a name."

"Eh?" Lin Mu was slightly taken aback. He hadn’t thought about that.

Come to think of it, among the demons he knew, only Yan Xuanjing had a proper-sounding name. The other two had quite casual names.

The old turtle was simply called Wu Gui (a pun on "returning home").

Dahei’s name was given by an old lady.

"Then why not pick one for yourself?" Lin Mu suggested.

The little ginseng held his cup, fidgeted for a long while, then asked shyly, "C-Can I take your surname?"

"Sure." Lin Mu turned his head to wash the vegetables while the other person stammered. Hearing this, he nodded immediately.

"Then I'll call myself Lin Ginseng!" the little ginseng said crisply.

Lin Mu was stunned for a moment, then coughed lightly to suppress his laughter. Keeping a serious face, he nodded solemnly, "Okay, sounds great."

The little ginseng lowered his head, chuckled twice, and happily repeated his name a few times. Seeing that Lin Mu was busy, he looked around and slowly, cautiously shuffled towards the door.

Sitting at the doorway, Yan Xuanjing glanced at him lightly before shifting his gaze back to Lin Mu.

It wasn’t for any particular reason—rather, the faint and elusive scent that belonged to Lin Mu always made him feel inexplicably comfortable. Just watching this half-demon seemed to be a rather soothing activity.

Yan Xuanjing was genuinely curious about Lin Mu’s bloodline.

Unfortunately, before leaving Wu Gui’s place, he had a brief chat with the dog demon and found out that Lin Mu himself had no idea. Not only was he unaware of his bloodline, but before this, he didn't even know he was a half-demon.

Yan Xuanjing recalled the arrangement of Lin Mu's room, his desk with a photograph on it—most likely of him and his mother. The picture showed a young boy in what looked like a wild mountain field, being embraced by his mother, who smiled radiantly like a young girl. The boy, however, pouted slightly, looking reluctant.

There was no father in the picture.

Yan Xuanjing looked at Lin Mu, knowing that the demon blood in this young half-demon came from that unknown father.

Upon learning about this absent figure, he found himself unsure how to judge the man.

Abandoning his wife and never showing up was one thing, but leaving his son so ignorant that he didn’t even know he was a half-demon?

But if he was truly irresponsible, then how did he manage to conceal his child's celestial sign? That was by no means a simple feat.

As a great demon himself, Yan Xuanjing was well aware that Lin Mu had been able to live peacefully for so many years, free from the harassment of other demons, thanks to that hidden star sign—shielding not only others but also Lin Mu himself. If Lin Mu hadn’t applied to become a civil servant and walked straight into their world, he would have lived out his life as a human, never knowing otherwise.

Just like those animals who, despite having gained intelligence, never realize it and simply live and die as part of the natural world.

In a way, that wouldn’t have been a bad outcome.

After all, the chances of a half-demon dying young were far higher than the likelihood of them safely living to seventy or eighty.

With that thought, Yan Xuanjing found himself even more unsure of how to evaluate that unknown great demon.

He looked at Lin Mu, noticing the little ginseng cautiously approaching, and then turned his head.

The ginseng child was startled, clutching his cup tightly as he took a step back and asked in a small voice, "Wh-what's your name?"

Yan Xuanjing didn't answer, but Lin Mu, hearing the commotion, casually replied, "His name is Nai Tang."

Yan Xuanjing: "…"

Little Ginseng: "…"

The little ginseng was stunned for a long while before stammering, "N-n-nai Tang… th-that’s… nice."

"Right?" Lin Mu continued chopping vegetables with rhythmic thuds, cheerfully saying, "I think it fits him perfectly. All white, soft, fluffy, sweet, and adorable."

Little Ginseng: "…"

Yan Xuanjing's ears twitched. He didn’t want to listen anymore.

He got up and walked outside, circling the courtyard a few times, leaving his scent in various spots to mark the area and warn off any ill-intentioned demons.

The little ginseng glanced at the departing Yan Xuanjing, then at Lin Mu, who was now humming a tune. Silently, he hugged his cup and took small sips of juice.

After dinner, Lin Mu brought out a few empty flower pots for the ginseng child, transplanted some succulents into them, and let the little one plant them for fun.

Then, he trimmed some potted plants that were nearing their delivery date, moved them indoors, and carefully adjusted the lighting and angles to take a few photos. He sent them to his customers for confirmation and, with their permission, posted a set of pictures on his social media for promotion.

After that, he pulled up a stool, took out his little ledger, and started balancing his accounts.

Lin Mu had been planning to build a small glass greenhouse in his courtyard.

His mother had always admired other people's greenhouses, but back then, their financial situation wasn’t great. His mother had an unstable income and had to support him, so the greenhouse dream was never realized.

Now, Lin Mu was financially independent and had saved up quite a bit, so he was seriously considering making it happen.

Besides, with a greenhouse, taking care of his plants would require much less effort.

His courtyard was about 460 square meters, with the house sitting in the center, occupying only 160 square meters. The yard was spacious, covered in grass instead of cement. Apart from a designated area for potted plants, the only other structure was an old swing set that he and his mother had built together when he was a child.

With five days left before officially starting his new job, Lin Mu looked at his savings and decided to check out the costs and feasibility of building the greenhouse. If it was doable, he wanted to get it done quickly.

But then he realized that his dog was even busier than he was.

Every day after breakfast, it would disappear and only return by dusk.

That was one thing—but then, over the weekend, Nai Tang was gone for two whole days!

Lin Mu had to work today, so he got up early. After washing up, he found that his missing dog had finally returned and was now curled up comfortably in the new pet bed he had bought, sleeping soundly.

It actually knew to come back!

Lin Mu widened his eyes, wanting to shake the dog awake. But halfway through reaching out, he hesitated, then retracted his hand and stared at the peacefully sleeping dog for a long while.

The dog was in such a deep sleep that it didn’t notice Lin Mu’s murderous intent at all.

After a while, Lin Mu gave up, grumbling as he ruffled the dog’s head.

Maybe this was what raising a child felt like.

Lin Mu let out an old-man sigh, then stomped downstairs to make a meal for the dog.

"Little Ginseng?" Lin Mu pushed his electric scooter out of the house and called out, "I'm going to work! I left Nai Tang’s food in the pot—when it wakes up, help me feed it, okay?"

A soft, childish voice responded from somewhere in the yard. Lin Mu said goodbye to the little ginseng hiding in his courtyard, then rode off to work on his scooter. But the more he thought about it on the way, the more uneasy he felt.

He decided to find Dahei, a fellow dog demon, and ask what was going on with Nai Tang.

"Do you even need to ask?" Dahei looked surprised. "You've been made a backup!"

"What?" Lin Mu jolted. "Are you saying I’ve been… friend-zoned? By my own dog?"

"Even humans know not to put all their eggs in one basket. A stray dog—especially one that might have gained intelligence—choosing multiple people to take care of it isn’t strange at all. Even ordinary dogs do that sometimes." Dahei said. "It’s probably eating from multiple homes."

Lin Mu was stunned for a long moment. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, visibly deflating.

"…Should I just get another dog?" Lin Mu muttered under his breath.

"Then your Nai Tang might run away," Da Hei paused before adding, "Or it might just kill the new dog you bring home."

Lin Mu hesitated.

"How about this?" Dahei had an idea. "I'll go home with you this afternoon. If it runs away, you get a new dog. If it stays and wants to fight me, there's no way it'll win. I'll have a little talk with it. How about that?"

Lin Mu’s eyes lit up. That sounded like a plan.

____

Author’s Note:

Yan Xuanjing: Oh?

Da Hei: I just signed my own death sentence.

T/N: Please give support on my ko-fi page, thank you🍊🍊🍊