Chasing You (Arc 8+)

Arc 9: Beneath the Heavens (I)

A/N: Based on the results from the pole I had asked on 28/12/2018, I will be using English terms instead of pinyin in this arc~ Such as 'big  brother' instead of 'dage'. There will be some terms that are impossible to translate and will be left in pinyin such as the names of the organizations. As for what kind of world this is? It will be revealed in the next chapter~

In hopes of making things easier for you guys, I will be writing character introductions for each new and important character that comes along~ Enjoy!

---

Instead of the regular confetti shower that welcomed him upon getting back into their personal space, loud head splitting noise came from above. Bright ostentatious lights illuminated the space and cause the two of them to go blind.

Bao Bao: Σヾ(＋Θ＋;) ﾂ

Ains: (⁎×ㅂ×⁎)༘

(Yui: ( ✖ ਊ ✖) )

Both Ains and Bao Bao seemed to have suffered from tinnitus even after the long absence from the fireworks. They rubbed their aching ears, one at lost and the other one was lamenting on buying such a thing. Had he known that they would cause him to age from being so shocked, he would have never bought them. Now he was contemplating on how to complain and get a refund from the store.

Bao Bao looked at Ains with puppy eyes.

[Wuuu~ Host, they lied! They said that it would be good to use for celebrations. (๑⁺᷄д⁺᷅๑)◞՞]

Ains paused for a moment and looked at Bao Bao, and then sighed. There was no helping him, his brain was wired a little bit differently than most and he had gotten used to their oddness already. He gave them a consoling smile, "It's alright, Bao Bao."

His face brightened immediately and he had on a big grin.

[Hehe~ of course, host loves Bao Bao~]

He cheerfully nodded his head and proceeded to read out the results.

[Congratulations on completing your ninth world, host~! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و ✧

You have completed a A difficulty world and have been awarded with 75,000 points for completing the main tasks. For completing the three side missions given you have been allotted with 125,000 points. Completing two out of the six hidden missions, host has been given 75,000 points. In all, host has gained a total 275,000 points. Added all together is 1,658,000 points.

Would you like to open the store?]

Ains shook his head, he only had about twenty three percent of was needed. Looking at his system, he couldn't help but ask, "Can you choose the difficulty of the next world?"

Bao Bao frowned.

[Unfortunately, Bao Bao has no control over these things. The worlds are sent to me and Bao Bao just receives what is given.]

It was understandable that these options weren't available for them and Ains didn't make a large fuss about it, letting Bao Bao continue.

[Here are the skills that you can choose from, host.]

{Skills:

Acting

Singing

Dancing

Divination

Art of Seduction}

Holding his hand up, he pressed on 'divination'. The translucent screen disappeared and a warm light enveloped Ains' figure. He waved to Bao Bao with the corner of his lips faintly hooking up, "Wait for me."

Opening his eyes, he saw many different items before him: books on palm, face reading, and Four Pillars of Destiny¹, fortune sticks², astrology charts, and trigrams.

A mechanical voice greeted him, "Welcome, otherworlder. During your time here, you will be honing your skills on divination. Only upon completing the course, you may leave the space."

"Let the training begin."

All of the items in the space becomes illuminated but instead of having holographic figures for his practice, he has to predict the futures of those who have already passed already.

---

Nearly after twenty years, Ains finally exited the training area. Rubbing his head, he felt like he would never be able to see things the same way again. After predicting time again and again, it was almost automatic for him to keep on predicting subconsciously. Taking a deep breath, he recollected himself. Learning how to divine had been very intriguing for him as he hadn't done this before or had it be done for him. The only bad thing was that he was not able to foretell his own future.

Bao Bao shly pointed out the large bouquet of flowers lying on the table.

[For you, host~]

Ains glanced at the flowers and then back to Bao Bao, "Thank you."

Seeing that he hadn't given anything to Bao Bao before... Ains decided to give something back in return. There wasn't anything in the store that he thought would be meaningful to his system, so he picked something of his own. Rummaging through, he found a painting of the five of them from the seventh world and handed it to Bao Bao.

Ains, "This is a gift for you. I haven't been able to thank you for all of your hard work."

Bao Bao's eyes reddened, he sniffled as he wiped his now runny nose.

[Wuuu~ Host is so nice! (ಥ‿ʖಥ)]

He looked at the painting and smiled, it was them picnicking inside of a peach blossom valley. With shining bright eyes, he bowed in front of his host.

[Thank you, host!]

Accidentally being too excited... He activated his passive with a '囧' after realizing his mistake. The two of them stared at each other in silence. Bao Bao became so depressed and embarrassed that he went and squat down at a corner of the room and faced the wall. He was going to grow mushrooms until time was up.

Two hours quickly went by. Bao Bao cleared his throat and tried to regain his face in front of his baby.

[Are you ready to depart, host?]

Ains nodded, "En."

Bao Bao started the transfer process.

[Initializing transfer... 45 seconds until transfer... 30 seconds... 20... 10... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.]

---

Once the transfer had been complete and Ains could feel his surrounding once again. There was an eerie and dangerous feeling around him. His eyes snapped open and looked around. The environment around them was entirely pitch black but his trained senses knew that he was not alone in here, there were others around him.

Not even being given another second, something shout out at him. The stench of rotting flesh filled his nostrils, making his lips press into a thin line. The first thing that came to his mind was; zombie apocalypse but even though what was chasing after him was indeed a corpse, it did not give off the same feeling. In here felt more sinister, it made the hairs on the back of his neck raised at the surging malevolent yin energy that was encompassing his body.

Dodging their attacks, he continued to move back as he did not have any weapons with him and did not know of what kind of monstrosity he was dealing with.

Paying attention to his surrounding, he found out that there was at least four other humans in the area with him. The other sixty were nonliving beings.

---

¹Four Pillars of Destiny: Very popular method of fortune telling where your four times (year, month, day, and hour when you were born) are looked at to determine fortune.

²Fortune sticks: Known as 'Kau Cim', where you shake a cylindrical bamboo container that is filled with incense stick. After one of the stick falls out, it would foretell your future.