Chapter 11

Draft

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It's 10:30 in the evening. This is a boring town, the neighbourhood where you live is filled with devout believers who lack nightlife. The doors and windows of every house are closed and the lights are off. No one will notice that your door is open and had a trembling demon on the floor entrance.

Therefore, 177's camouflage was quite successful, it was safely exposed on the floor and no one came to kick it.

Twenty-one minutes later, it slowly opened by itself, like a mimosa that no one had touched for a long time. It slowly touched the ground with its hands, fumbling around, and was scalded by the door frame. It turned to support the wall and stood up little by little.

The current 177 was no longer confused. The muscles in its jaw are bulging and its brows were frowning. It's hard to say whether it's because of patience or anger, it may be both. Its back wasn't straight, it was slightly arched, as if it was always ready to react. It seemed that something invisible was pressing on its body, making it difficult to progress. 177 moved, and for a moment, you almost thought it would retreat, but the tightly strung demon still took a step forward and walked out of the door.

It stayed at the door for a while, looking straight ahead, so stiff that it couldn't even turn its neck. Not wise enough, if soldiers stood still on the battlefield like this, they wouldn't be far from death. But on the other hand, there aren't many people who dared to take this step, you know that most people wouldn't be able to move forward, frightened, they will stay in place or simply turn around and run away. You think that even if 177 died on the battlefield, no wounds will land on its back.

You soon realize that this idea is meaningless: you can't judge demons with the standards of human beings. Few demons are deserters. This has nothing to do with bravery and was more because of its killer and combative instincts. Once again, blame 177 for being too human.

177 stands in front of your house, nothing happens. After dozens of seconds of silence, it began to look around. It looked at the empty street suspiciously, as if you will suddenly jump out of some corner. You will not, of course, you're going to let it go out for a stroll, breathe a sigh of relief, and catch it again before it leaves this uninhabited neighbourhood. The holy pigeon follows it, a silver chain hangs on it, and you are a few hundred meters behind it. It'll be easy to do so.

The demon left your yard and hid among the trees lining the streets. Following the dense green belt, it chose a direction and began to move forward.

The old street is already empty at 11 o'clock, no one saw a demon walking under the shadow of the trees. After a period of time, 177's actions became more organized again. It hid well, tiptoeing, and squatted to hide when it heard a sound. There were no signs of overreaction from when it started. It even slipped into a yard- the yard belongs to a careless old bachelor who didn't keep pets, has no wives or children, and never remembered to lock the doors and windows. You don't know how 177 found this weak point, in short, it scaled the wall and went in.

You aren't worried at all. The prayer on the silver chain will prevent 177 from hurting anyone. It'll only destroy some things at best, and you can always make up for it afterwards. You hope that 177's hands and feet will be blessed by luck, not to be caught by the owner. It didn't disappoint you. Four minutes later, 177 rolls out of the window, the black hole it jumped out of was still quiet. There's no need to look on with the holy pigeon, anyone can see at a glance what it has done: 177's now wearing clothes.

It didn't wear anything on the way out, this cannot be called streaking, would anyone think that a mouse scuttling on the road is naked? The devil doesn't wear clothes. You're used to the appearance of 177 naked, seeing him wearing clothes is surprising, it's as if you see a dog in a robe.

It's wearing ill-fitting trousers and a rumpled coat. The hem of the coat is too short, it wears it like a short jacket, with strong muscles supporting the original owner's position for the fat. The trouser legs were also too short and the waistband is too wide. 177 pulled out a rubber band at the waist, tied it with a knot, and turned it into a pair of low-rise trousers. It looked old-fashioned on short and fat bachelor, but it had a peculiar sense of beauty on the devil. If it went into a nightclub only a few blocks away, those young happy-go-lucky young adults will most likely think it's one of them.

177 didn't wear shoes, no pair of shoes can hold its paws. It grabbed a woollen hat and put it on its head. It couldn't wear it for a long time, and the hat was hooked by a corner of its horn. It took a few seconds before it realized that the hat wasn't made for creatures with horns, it abandoned it and shoved it into the bush next to it. It stands up, its back straight; it already looked much better than before. 177 seems like a soldier who had just equipped their battle armour, it gained some confidence and calmed down a lot. It's really odd, it's obviously just a set of ordinary clothing that cannot contribute a defence.

Footsteps.

177 immediately squatted down and hid behind the bushes. The scattered, dragging footsteps came from a distance, getting closer and closer.

She appeared under the light of a nearby street lamp, a girl in a fashionable dress wearing a pair of high heels. The typical nightclub enthusiast in this town has a good family background and a boring life, they have the money and time to hang around in a bar, and the cheques to support the clothes and cosmetics when they enter. However, the price of her cosmetics can't be gauged at this moment. She's choking up all the way and the makeup on her face was completely messed up. This somewhat explained why she would wander all the way here from a few blocks away.

Both you and 177 waited for her to pass by, but she happened to stop next to where 177 was hiding, shaking her head uncomfortably and covering her mouth. The girl had definitely drunk a lot, not so much that it would make you delirious, but enough for you to go find something to vomit on.

She walked into the green belt, retched a few times, turned her head, and saw 177 who was about to walk away.

You don't worry, this girl's drunk and her actual age is probably younger than her dress style, so she wouldn't be difficult to convince. You chose a time period where there would be the fewest people on the street. At the same time, you've planned for 177 to meet someone anyhow. You're the only priest in this town. No matter whoever meets or catches the devil, they'll ultimately have to give it to you to solve it, it'll be nothing more than returning something to its original owner.

And 177 looks extremely worried.

It was stunned for a moment, and backed away quickly, but the moment it hesitated before was enough for the girl to grab it. Her hand clamped on 177's arm, and she staggered into its arms. You don't know how strong those hands are, but 177 carefully supported her, stiffening into a stone statue, but not running away directly and letting the girl hit the ground face-first.

"Hey, handsome guy!" she said drunkenly, groping around 177's face and chuckling when she touched its horns, "It's so cool, like a real demon!"

177 was silent for a long time, you think it doesn't care about her, but then it speaks.

"You should go back," it said slowly, "it's too late, go home."

177's voice was a bit rough, when was the last time it had spoken? It was the day you fucked it for the first time. The girl didn't realize the preciousness of this short sentence, she complained: "Don't be like that, you sound like my father!"

"Your family will worry about you." 177 said.

Those words seem to have lit a fuse, the girl raised her head abruptly, pushing it away, and almost falling to the ground. 177 grabbed her arm and stabilized her. She let out a curse and kicked off her high heels. "They don't care about me!" she yelled, "They only care about work, work, work. Oooh, only Billy cares about me..."

Someone was woken up by her and turned on their lights, 177 hurriedly spirited her to a small park in the distance. The silver chain wasn't triggered, it seemed that it had no intention of killing the girl. As soon as it loosened its grip, the girl started a series of incoherent complaints.

She told it about how busy her parents are, how nice Billy is, how she didn't want to be a good daughter anymore and learn Billy's cool life for herself, how Billy cheated on her with a bitch... and so on. You've heard many of these typical plots in various confessions, you can tell many versions of persuasion and comfort within a breath. 177 must've had no experience unlike you, it's very quiet, just listening and occasionally helping the girl, so as not to let her lose her balance. You start to think up a plan to draw her away. 177's escape is stuck there, like a domino that glitched halfway through falling, something has a problem. You look at its silence and think that it's also pondering about a way out.

You seem to be wrong.

"Then he's not so good." It said, interrupting the girl's another round of "better with Billy" narration.

You're surprised and feel a little funny. If 177 interrupts you to discuss the plot of an eight o'clock soap opera, you'll probably be in the same mood as you are now- this was just for example, you don't watch the eight o'clock soap operas.

"Billy is-" the girl choked, "He's the best person in the world!"

"If he's so good, he should've loved you." 177 said.

You don't see the logic of this sentence, but the girl stopped, as if it some incredible truth was revealed. "Billy loves me, he said," she whispered as if to convince herself, "Only he will love me..."

"That's not true." 177 said, "You're... you're very cute, many people love you and there'll be more in the future."

You're really not used to hearing 177 say such things, and suspects that even it wasn't used to this. It speaks slowly, as if pondering the words to say to the girl about to slide down its arms, as careful like it's handling a bomb.

"If you're hurt, they'll be sad." It said, "Contact them and let them pick you up."

"I don't want to!" said the girl, "They'll be mad."

"They're just worried. They aren't really angry with you." 177 said, "Call them, you can't go back by yourself now. Drink some hot soup, take a bath, go to bed, everything will be fine tomorrow-even though you may get a headache. You've drunk too much alcohol throughout the day."

"I'm hungry." She stared at the ground and muttered nonchalantly.

"That's why you're so sad." 177 said, making the girl giggle. "Go home." It said again, "eat something sweet."

"Pumpkin pie," the girl said.

"Well, pumpkin pie." 177 said.

"I want a lot of cinnamon," the girl said, sniffing.

"A lot of cinnamon." 177 echoed, "Remember to tell them, don't get too busy arguing."

"Yeah." She sniffed again and wiped her face, only spreading the messy eyeliner even more. "But I can go home by myself."

"Can you find the way?" 177 said, "And it's not safe..."

"Safe, I have a gun!" The girl's voice rang again, making a gesture of shooting a gun. You saw 177 roll its eyes and say, "Well, you have a gun..." It said in a manner akin to coaxing a child, then it suddenly stopped and leapt forward. You think it finally endured to its limit, but then you saw it snatch the gun from the girl's hand.

She really did take out a gun. In this age when even three-year-olds can legally hold a gun, it isn't surprising that girls in their teens and 20s have guns.

"You treat a gun as a toy!" 177 said, its brows furrowed, its tone sounded harsh. The girl turn away and didn't look at it at first, it stretched out its hand to pull on the girl's shoulder, staring at her and saying: "Anyone can snatch a gun from your hand and use it as a tool to hurt you, you didn't even unlock the safety!"

"Of course I know how to unlock the safety, I'll open when I meet bad people!" the girl retorted.

"Then you should've unlocked it when you meet me!" 177 snapped.

When it scolded like this, it looked like a training officer for recruits and was very fierce. The girl pursed her lips and she started to cry again. 177's momentum was visibly weakened, he was stuck at a juncture, looking a little embarrassed. "You can't aim at anything like this now," it said dryly, "I bet you'll shoot yourself, and then the ass of a passing hapless ghost. Do you think we should fix your posture first?"

It said a very lame joke, the girl burst into laughter for a while and somehow suddenly started crying again, she threw herself into 177's arms. 177 hugged her carefully and patted her on the back gently. It straightened his fingers and patted her with its palm, so that its pointed claws wouldn't scratch the girl's clothes. You suddenly thought that if it hugged you, it would probably not be so kind.

You touched your arm and got goosebumps. Up to now, 177's inexplicable gentleness and patience with that girl was no longer the biggest problem, there were other things...something more wrong. This wasn't right, the devil shouldn't talk to her like this. You feel a strong discomfort, like something invisible, cold and slippery was lying on your back.

You vaguely feel that you've noticed some violations, and that the signs aren't obvious enough to make you clearly aware- or you're just subconsciously avoiding it.

They wasted nearly an hour in the small park, and the girl finally went to a nearby telephone booth to contact her parents. 177 took her to the end of the block and stopped by a nearly 24/7 supermarket. The girl already sobered by a lot and began to apologize for the tears on his chest.

"You're so nice." She said, "If you aren't as annoying as my dad, I would've dated you, I'm being serious!"

"I'm an adult, little girl," 177 said.

"It would be great if you were my brother. I've always wanted a brother." The girl said to herself, "You're so handsome, tall, muscular, and good-tempered, ah, so good."

"..."

"Amy isn't a bitch, Billy is. Amy was cheated like me. She became pregnant, so pathetic." She whispered, "If you were my brother, you would help me beat up Billy, won't you?"

"Yes... I will." 177 whispered, taking a trembling breath, "I have to...I have to go. Stay in the convenience store and wait for your parents to come and pick you up, don't go with strangers, okay?"

"You said it so many times!" The girl yawned, waving her hand, and walking into the convenience store crookedly.

177 watched her go in, stood there for a while, and turned around and walked quickly into the shadow of the trees. It walked faster and faster, gradually fleeing the street into a trot. You hide, waiting for it to run by you. Its footsteps and breathing became heavier, and the dragging silver chains began to collide with each other. You think that if this continues, it's likely to trip over itself, and it does fall.

The demon fell forward and lay down for a while. It didn't stand up, just maintained a kneeling position. Its shoulders collapsed, its head hung down, and it looked exhausted. 177 looked around and stopped suddenly, what a coincidence, it ran back to the door of your house.

This discovery made it struggle to get up, dragging heavy steps and then walking a few steps forward. It stopped again in the open space more than ten meters outside your porch, leaning against the street trees and slowly sliding down. A demon's physical stamina shouldn't be so weak, but it looks like it can't move even one step more. When you looked at its face, your heart burst.

You can recognize this expression, this expression was saying that all the words 177 had just said to encourage the girl was bullshit. Even if you drink hot soup, take a bath, and go to bed, everything won't suddenly get better tomorrow, and it will never get better again.

When it was wearing the stolen clothes just now, you saw it was looking at the road, as if thinking about some plan, as if it was ready to drag something on with its body for one last time. Now you see that no matter what the plan was, it had disappeared without a trace— you realize that perhaps it knew from the beginning how slim the chances of successful escape were, but still choose to move forward regardless because of recklessness. Now, for some unknown reason, the strength that supported it suddenly dried up.

It looked at the gun in its hand.

You aroused the prayer of bondage, 177 seemed to be pulled by an invisible thread, but only a few seconds later, it moved again. The craved prayer you left on the silver chain is more effective than the kind of chanted prayer. It shouldn't be able to move, and it's not a powerful breed, it's just a hybrid... You suddenly realize that you've made a mistake. You've taken an incorrect approach, its mixed blood was the reason. The higher the level of prayer, the more restrictive it is for demons. It has a limited effect on powerful demons and is completely ineffective on humans. The demon part of 177 was so small that it could hardly be controlled by this rune.

You start to run in 177's direction. The silver chain was only so big, and the prayers that can be imprinted were limited. It only prevents 177 from hurting people and doesn't prevent it from hurting itself. Suicide prevention facilities had been placed in the bathroom. This arrangement should've been foolproof. If it really wanted to die, it should've just committed suicide in your bathroom. Why bother to run out to commit suicide?

177 doesn't want to die.

It took the key, destroyed the camera, walked from the bathroom to the entrance, opened the door, gritted its teeth and stepped out with fear. It snuck under the green belt, climbed over the wall, stole clothes, avoided humans, and struggled with all its strength in this leaky "escape" activity, like a wild bird hitting an iron cage unyieldingly. Since you've bought it, it had never attempted suicide even once.

On the contrary, in order to survive, 177 had tried its best. Like a traveller clutching the edge of the cliff amongst the wind and snow, it finally let go not because it wished for death, but because it couldn't hold on anymore.

Everything has a limit.

You run to 177, 600 meters, it caressed its neckline tremblingly, and buttoned the last button of the coat; 300 meters, it loaded the gun and unlocked the safety, its actions affected by the prayer was slow but accurate. ; One hundred meters, it raised the gun.

The distance between you was only five meters left, 177 had the barrel inside its mouth. You are very close, you can see its curled hair and the slender fingers on the gun. It didn't look at you as it pulls the trigger.

Bang!

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PastTimer: Hey, I've finally decided to republish this. I've contacted the publishing house that published the title, but unfortunately, I was unable to contact the author.