Stranger Danger

Chapter 491: The Turtle of Sleep

Ye Qing thought for a moment before raising his hand and slapping Yi Pin across the face, leaving behind a bright red palm print. When Yi Pin didn’t wake up, he slapped his other cheek with the same amount of strength as before. Now this was what he called symmetry.

“Brother! Wake up!”

Slap!

“Wake up! Brother!”

Slap!

Every time Ye Qing called out to Yi Pin, he would slap him in the face. It was easily the most fun he had in a while.

“Ugh... whas goinon, rada...?”

A few breaths later, Yi Pin slowly opened his eyes. He flinched when he saw Ye Qing raising his hand as if he was going to slap him at any moment.

Ye Qing stopped hitting Yi Pin and tilted his head to one side. It took him a second to recognize that Yi Pin was saying, “What’s going on, brother?” because his face was swollen.

While he was talking, Yi Pin’s head and eyelids began drooping again.

Slap!

This time, Ye Qing didn’t hesitate to slap him to full wakefulness. By now, he could do this all day with eyes closed.

“What are you hitting me for?!” Yi Pin yelled angrily at Ye Qing.

“Get up, brother.” Ye Qing pulled Yi Pin to a sitting position before asking, “Don’t you realize yet? Something is off.”

Even as he said this, Ye Qing was forced to bite the tip of his tongue to chase away his drowsiness.

Yi Pin was a veteran of the jianghu. He too noticed that something was amiss and immediately produced a giant bell from his sleeves. There was a melodious ringing, and Ye Qing felt the drowsiness pressing down on his mind lifting a little.

“Do you know what this is, brother?” Ye Qing asked.

Yi Pin wore a severe expression as he looked left and right and sniffed the air. Then, the blood drained away from his face, “A creature that inflicts drowsiness and smells of flowers... Is it the Turtle of Sleep? Yes, it has to be!”

“The Turtle of Sleep?” Ye Qing was shocked to hear this. “But I thought this Stranger could only be found in the deep sea?”

He knew of the Turtle of Sleep, of course. The Turtle of Sleep was a Phenomenon-class Stranger that lived tens of thousands of meters underneath the sea. Shaped like a giant turtle, it had a shell that was covered in colorful, fragrant flowers.

The Turtle of Sleep enjoyed floating on the sea surface and exposing its flowers in the open. If a merchant ship or fisherman boat happened to be passing through the area, and its passengers saw its flower and smelled its scent, they would immediately fall aslumber.

The deeper one slept, the brighter and more fragrant the flowers would become. At a certain point, the Turtle of Sleep would consume the best flower on its back. When this happened, the most afflicted person would fall into eternal slumber, never to awaken again.

As if frozen in time, the victim would not perish even if they didn’t eat or drink, nor would they age like a normal human being. They just wouldn’t wake up, that’s all.

In fact, there were old people who were reluctant to die despite nearing the end of their lifespan who willingly subjected themselves to the Turtle of Sleep’s spell to delay their death indefinitely. They hoped that one day someone would be able to awaken them and increase their lifespan.

Unfortunately, no one had found a way to break the Turtle of Sleep’s spell to this day.

If someone were to run into the Turtle of Sleep, they must do everything in their power to resist falling asleep. If they failed, then their companions must wake them as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the victim would fall into an eternal slumber that was no different from death.

“Who knows? This is the Earthly Sovereign’s Coffin. Anything can happen in this place.”

Yi Pin said, “If one of us falls asleep, then the other person must wake them up at first notice. Otherwise, we will die.”

There were two ways to handle the Turtle of Sleep. The first was to kill the Turtle of Sleep and end the spell at its source. The second was to stay awake.

Killing the Turtle of Sleep was obviously the optimal solution, but it was one of the absolute strongest Phenomenon-class Strangers out there. It would take a not insignificant amount of effort to defeat it. Not only that, they were inside the Earthly Sovereign’s Coffin right now. If they caused too big a commotion or attracted the attention of a far greater danger such as the Soul Collector, then it would truly be over for them.

This meant that they could only weather the storm until the Turtle of Sleep was gone.

“Got it.” Ye Qing nodded solemnly.

“By the way, did you hit me just now?”

It was only now Yi Pin noticed the burning pain on his cheeks. They were as swollen as a bun.

“Hit you? No, I was saving your life.” Ye Qing defended himself, “If I haven’t smacked you awake, you might be dead already, don’t you agree?”

Yi Pin: “...” Yeah, I don’t think so.

As they were talking, a new wave of drowsiness assaulted Yi Pin’s eyelids and blurred his vision. Despite this, he could see a slap descending from above like the judgment of the heavens.

“I’m still awake!”

The shock was enough to jolt Yi Pin back to reality. When his eyes cleared, and he noticed that Ye Qing’s hand was inches away from his face, he couldn’t help but break out in cold sweat.

“Aw man...” Ye Qing withdrew his hand a little disappointedly.

Yi Pin was speechless for a moment. “Just how much do you want to slap me, you asshole?”

“What do you mean, brother? Do I look like that kind of person to you? I was saving your life!” Ye Qing said seriously, “You’re the one who said I should wake you at first notice if you fall asleep, right?”

“...” I can’t refute that, but there has to be a more civilized way to wake someone up!

Yi Pin ranted in his head before saying just as seriously, “In that case, you better not blame me for returning the favor if you fall asleep, alright?”

“Of course not!” Ye Qing nodded. You will never get the chance.

At first, the two men were able to stave away their sleepiness using the Hill Mover Bell. However, its effects kept diminishing until it eventually became completely useless. So, the duo began mutilating themselves.

Ye Qing bit his tongue to keep himself awake with pain, and at first, Yi Pin copied his tactic and also bit his tongue to stay awake. The problem was that Yi Pin couldn’t recover as quickly as Ye Qing even though the young man was injured, so it wasn’t long before he was forced to stop. If he kept going, he was going to bite off his own tongue for real.

That wasn’t the worst part of it. The drowsiness kept growing stronger—or maybe his body had adapted to the pain—but he discovered that the method’s effectiveness was diminishing over time anyway.

At some point, Yi Pin said while he was smacking his own head, “There has to be a better way to stay awake, brother.”

Ye Qing replied, “Is that so? Tell me.”

“We can use a Strange Artifact or an item that specifically clears the mind,” Yi Pin suggested meaningfully.

“Oh, that’s what you mean. But I’m a simple and honest man, you see. I’d rather stick to the lousier way,” Ye Qing replied indifferently.

The second Yi Pin opened his mouth, Ye Qing knew that he was coveting his limited supply of Qi of Ultimate Purity. The item gave its user absolute clarity of the mind, and it was definitely the perfect answer to their situation. Since Yi Pin was the one who gave him the Qi of Ultimate Purity in the first place, of course he was aware of its effects.

Simple and honest?! Have some shame, you shameless liar! Yi Pin cursed mentally.

In the old Taoist’s script, Ye Qing would ask him what item or Strange Artifact could possibly shield their mind from the Turtle of Sleep’s power, and he would reveal the answer. When that happened, Ye Qing would have no choice but to produce the Qi of Ultimate Purity. After all, the young man had promised to keep him alive for as long as they were stuck in this hellhole, and refusing to give him the Qi of Ultimate Purity would go against that promise.

Unfortunately, Ye Qing saw through his ploy and ended the conversation before it even began. He really was as cunning as a fox.

Luckily for himself, he was a worldly man. He still had plenty more tricks up his sleeves.

Yi Pin let out a cough and sighed deeply. “Oh, how I regret this life. If only I knew that I would be whisked away into the Earthly Sovereign’s Coffin and encounter the Turtle of Sleep, then I would have carried all my Qi of Ultimate Purity with me. I think I still have a couple dozen in my secret place?”

“A shame, man, a shame. If I die here, all that Qi of Ultimate Purity would go to waste. I was going to give them to you if I managed to survive this place, brother, but now, I guess they’ll just have to rot in my secret place for eternity.”

Ye Qing’s eyes lit up at that. Now we’re talking!

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