WangXian Forever Book 8

Chapter 77 Tally

Hui Gai was angry but he had to school his features to not show how he was feeling. This Sleeping Sickness Demon was a tyrant.

More than anything else, Hui Gai was incredibly glad that Rumi wasn't here, because this Demon was a culmination of all the bad words he knew.

From the moment they walked away from Cloud Recesses, this guy had yanked Rumi's little arm, pulling him along roughly with no accounting for Hui Gai's little legs, no match for the grown adult demon's gait. And when Hui Gai was running to keep up, he had stumbled and fallen down. The Sleeping Sickness Demon had just laughed and kicked him for good measure.

Then they had teleported back into the Nether World, and the place welcomed his return.

Hui Gai felt it in his very pores, a tingling that felt better than anything. He knew, were he to speak his given name, his power would grow again and this Demon would finally know what kind of fatal mistake he had made.

Up until now, Hui Gai hadn't really tested out how often he could recharge, as he called it. Every time he did it, he was more powerful than before, but it felt a little bit conceited to do it. To Hui Gai, accepting power without earning it felt dishonest, even if it was part of his heritage. So what if it was supposed to be his anyway? He was reluctant to keep doing it merely because he was supposed to.

Now he regretted his tardiness in experimenting with finding out exactly how much power was at his disposal, because this Sleeping Sickness Demon was way more powerful than they had assumed before.

He still hadn't noticed Zago, and that was a blessing. Plus, Zago had figured out how to talk to Hui Gai through their mental connection. Every time the Demon pushed him, or hit him, or kicked him, Zago let out a ton of expletives, the language to put any sailor to shame.

Some of those swear words were new even to Hui Gai and he was only now realising how innocent he was. Still, he'd figured that as Rumi, he could be as difficult as he liked, and while it got him punished, the evil Demon could not kill him, however much he wanted to.

So Hui Gai ran away, put obstacles in the path of the evil Demon so he would trip up, and other such trivial annoyances to disturb his agenda. Yes he was always caught, but it was worth it. These little acts of rebellion were the very thing stopping him from outright killing the evil Demon but they couldn't do anything to him just yet.

Hui Gai kept a record of how many times the evil Demon showed him cruelty.

And more than anything else, certain questions kept popping up in his head:

How did the Sleeping Sickness Demon or his Master know about Rumi?

What did they know?

Why did they want him?

This last question was the most worrisome, but as Rumi, Hui Gai could not find out by asking; he had to wait.

This was a part of the Nether World that Hui Gai had yet to explore. He was busy enough between his capital city and looking after everyone there, from the orphans to the general public, and spending the rest of the time in the human world. His assistants, Yezi and Haitch were extremely capable but they too were looking after their family and were busy with other duties.

Lor was indispensable as was Manu and Chicku looking after the other orphans. Venator came and went as he wished, and Hui Gai had thankfully not heard from Porta Daven. He shuddered at the memory. The last news he had been told of her whereabouts was that she had gone to "find herself" and he wasn't sure exactly what that meant. Still, he hoped she was happy wherever she was.

The Sleeping Sickness Demon came to a stop.

They were standing on the edge of a massive caldera filled with a noxious gas...Hui Gai wrinkled his nose at the putrid smell of sulphur and something else.

The evil Demon laughed at his face.

"My Master...and soon to be your Master, is beyond this landfill. Over there." He pointed to a dark cavernous hole on the furthest edge from them.

In his mind, Hui Gai scoffed at that. He had no Master and would not readily accept this one either. But let him have his stupid illusions.

"My Master is eager to meet you."

"Why?" Hui Gai had not spoken until now, but he thought it might be okay to do so now.

They had spent enough time together and maybe the evil Demon might be more forthcoming now. Besides, all that abuse should have earned him the right to ask at least one question.

"Oh ho ho ...that's a whole other story!" The evil Demon exclaimed. Then he gave Rumi/Hui Gai the strangest look. For one wildest second, Hui Gai thought his identity had been compromised; since Rumi wasn't prone to talking much...but surely one word wouldn't have ruined his cover, right?

"I bet you're really confused right now, huh?" The evil Demon put his face right next to Hui Gai, watching him with a smirk on his ugly face. That greediness was back, twisting his expression into something far worse.

Hui Gai could smell the disgusting odour of rotten flesh on his breath, and something else, foul and terrible. He fought hard not to gag but he could not stop himself and he dry heaved instead.

Lucky he hadn't actually eaten anything, Hui Gai thought with disgust. Maybe one of the new laws he could pass would be to do with personal hygiene, seeing as how unacceptable this one was.

The evil Demon just laughed and pinched his cheek obnoxiously.

HOW CAN YOU NOT JUST KILL HIM ALREADY?? Zago shouted in his head.

Wait, Hui Gai told her. He had the feeling that this Demon was about to reveal something incredibly important.

"You better be on your best behaviour from now on. My Master killed your parents, and he won't hesitate to kill you too, if you look at him wrong."