Chapter 137: The Brat

"Heiwa, wake up..."

Li Changluo kicked Heiwa, who was snoring away in his sleep. The latter mumbled groggily, "Where are you running to, you fish demon?" before rolling over and falling back asleep.

"Damn it to hell."

Li Changluo cursed under his breath. He lay back on the sofa, pricking up his ears to listen for any movement in the living room. The room was vast, which meant the echoes were profound. He could hear a sound gradually moving toward the sofa where they were resting.

*Tap! Tap! Tap!*

The footsteps drew closer. Li Changluo squinted, scanning his surroundings. As the sound approached, his heart began to beat faster. Just then, he saw an antique vase floating in mid-air. Even in the darkness, Li Changluo could see it clearly—a long-necked vase, nearly as tall as a person, drifting through the air and moving forward.

Li Changluo narrowed his eyes, pretending not to notice. He wanted to see where the vase was headed. It drifted past him, only to return shortly after. As it moved back and forth, he could clearly hear the rhythm of footsteps, as if the vase itself had legs and was pacing the room. First, it walked back and forth; then, it began to hop past the sofa where Li Changluo lay.

It continued to pace... back and forth... back and forth.

Li Changluo had been intrigued at first, but since the vase did nothing but float by, he began to grow drowsy. The vase seemed to tire as well, hovering and swaying in place. Just as Li Changluo was losing interest, the vase suddenly plummeted to the floor and shattered.

Li Changluo leaped off the sofa in fright. As the vase shattered, a flurry of chaotic, hurried footsteps erupted right before him, and a series of footprints appeared on the floor. A pair of shoes stood directly in front of him, pointed right at him. When Li Changluo jumped up, the shoes immediately bolted.

"Heiwa, wake up! There's trouble! The demon has appeared!" Li Changluo shouted, kicking Heiwa awake before sprinting off in pursuit of the sound. Startled, Heiwa stumbled to his feet, grunting in acknowledgment.

***

It must be said that Mr. Zhang's living room was indeed massive. Li Changluo chased the footsteps around the room for a while until he was quite exhausted. He tried to find the light switches, but he wasn't familiar with the layout. The lights he managed to toggle on were merely decorative strips or small spotlights, which were useless for tracking the shoes; he could only catch blurred glimpses of their direction without ever seeing them clearly.

Sensing he was about to lose the trail, Li Changluo, breathless and hunched over, prepared to give up. Yet, the shoes seemed to be taunting him, slowly circling back to stand directly before him. Li Changluo, enraged, grabbed whatever was nearby and hurled it at the shoes, but they were far too agile, dodging every object he threw. Finally, in a frantic rush, the shoes fled into the living room bathroom.

Li Changluo reached the doorway and hid to one side of the wooden door, peering through the crack to observe the interior. It was pitch black inside, but the space was small. Panting, he whispered, "Heiwa, you go in and chase it, I’ll guard the door. We'll trap it inside and finish this, all right?"

He waited for a long time, but Heiwa didn't answer.

"Fine, I'll go in, you guard the door..." Li Changluo turned to discuss the plan, only to discover that Heiwa was gone. He had just kicked him awake, so where could he have vanished to? Li Changluo called out softly, but there was no reply. His heart filled with dread—had something happened to the guy?

With the shoes trapped, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go in alone. He drew his fruit knife, summoned his courage, and slowly pushed open the wooden bathroom door.

"AHHH!!!"

As the door swung open, he caught a glimpse of a ghastly, green-faced, fanged demon mask in the darkness, turning to stare at him. Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced his eyes.

"Argh! My eyes! I'm blinded!" Li Changluo clutched his face, howling in agony. A liquid trickled down from his fingertips—blood. He was blinded; he had surely been stabbed.

***

Suddenly, something felt wrong. He wiped his hand across his face and realized the liquid was cold—ice cold. Even though he was a demon, his blood should have been warm.

As he rubbed his eyes, he heard the sound of a child laughing. The bathroom light flickered on. Li Changluo squinted through the blur to see a young boy pointing a water gun at him, wearing the green-faced demon mask.

"Look at him, he was so scared he almost wet himself!"
"Did you see that? The Taoist priest was scared to tears!"
"The 'Fake Taoist Demon-Hunter' fails—non-stop entertainment!"
"To all the folks watching Xiao Xiao's prank stream, double-tap to follow, send a big plane, mwah!"
"Thanks to Big Boss Xiu Yue for the treasure sword, thank you, no problem!"

The boy was Wang Xiao, Mr. Zhang's son. He held the water gun in one hand and his phone in the other, evidently livestreaming on a short-video platform. He waved the phone in front of Li Changluo, who could see the barrage of comments flying across the screen:

"Little priest, roll back to Mount Mao!"
"Go watch 'Taoist Goes Up the Mountain' more often!"
"Can someone tell me how much it costs to hire a priest? My hen is having a difficult birth..."
"Wow, there's a pair of shoes behind the priest..."
"Holy..."

Li Changluo, though a demon himself, had truly been terrified. His eyes stung intensely from the water gun spray. He had hoped to complete his mission by catching a demon, never expecting to be tricked by a brat.

"Don't you try anything funny, this is my house," the boy, Wang Xiao, said with a look of disdain, basking in his triumph.

"How could I possibly try anything funny?" Li Changluo replied, flashing a grin.