This Villain Ch.214

Chapter 214: Let Your Big Brother Experience It

Shi Bai stood in line, holding two bowls as he waited to get food. Seeing him, the boy ahead stepped aside to let him go first.

Noticing the two bowls in Shi Bai’s hands, someone teased, “Shi Bai, being such a good boy today! Volunteering to help your brother Yu Yin get food, huh?”

Shi Bai pursed his lips, looking a bit embarrassed as he lowered his head. Once his bowls were filled, he darted off without a word.

The others watched his small figure carrying the two full bowls. Despite his size, he walked steadily, clearly accustomed to physical tasks from an early age.

“It’s only been a few days, and Shi Bai’s already much better behaved. He doesn’t try to sneak off when no one’s looking anymore.”

“Yeah, and today he even took the initiative to get food for Yu Yin.”

They chuckled for a moment but then noticed the two kids were at it again.

Shi Bai was now dangling from a tree, swaying along with the unsteady branches under his weight.

“What’s going on? Is Yu Yin bullying the kid? Someone go check!”

“I’m not too keen on dealing with Yu Yin myself. Quick, call Big Brother!”

Not long after, Big Brother arrived, still holding his food bowl, crouching nearby with a carefree smile. “Relax, they’re just playing around.”

“Shi Bai secretly spat into the youngest’s bowl, and the youngest caught him. Hahaha!”

The group of teenagers: “…”

They had thought that Shi Bai had finally calmed down after being scared by Yu Yin for a few days. Unexpectedly, it turned out his courage had grown, and he had started secretly causing trouble.

Sigh, this kid—of all the people he could provoke, why did he have to mess with the one person here who absolutely shouldn’t be messed with?

Yu Yin was notoriously unpredictable. He even dared to fight with their big brother! And what’s more, the big brother would let him win!

There was nothing more to say. A group of people grabbed their bowls, squatted down next to their big brother, and watched the commotion from afar as they ate.

Shi Bai, who was hanging upside down from a tree, angrily kicked at the person standing below.

He couldn’t understand it. That guy was clearly blind, so how could he always catch him every time he tried to pull some stunt?

Could he be faking his blindness?

Over the past few days, Shi Bai had been feeling utterly hopeless.

At first, he couldn’t calm down. He didn’t think much of this group and just wanted to run back to Longshi Town.

He pretended to go relieve himself, but as soon as he slipped into the trees to escape, he got caught in some strange threads.

Tied up in the bushes, unable to move, he ended up feeding mosquitoes for hours. His whole body was itching like crazy, and he couldn’t even scratch.

Later, he tried sneaking away at night while everyone was asleep, but again, those weird threads snared him and left him dangling from a tree.

That night, two stray dogs circled beneath him, drooling as they stared at him.

Those beasts, when starving enough, would eat people. After that night, Shi Bai didn’t dare try sneaking away at night ever again.

…

After countless failed attempts, Shi Bai no longer dared to escape.

But to obediently follow orders? That was out of the question. He was still unwilling. Every day, he was forced to trail behind Yu Yin, constantly plotting how to deal with him.

Yet before he could even do anything, one little act of mischief meant to vent his frustration got him caught again.

Shi Bai became more and more convinced of one thing—this blind guy wasn’t human at all. He was a monster!

“Youngest! Let him down to eat something. We’re about ready to leave!”

Shi Bai heard the leader of the group shout, and soon he was let down.

The one called Yu Guang wasn’t the oldest among them, but everyone followed his lead—including Yu Yin.

It was said that Yu Yin was his younger brother, though the two looked nothing alike.

To Shi Bai, however, both of them were equally detestable.

Tears welled up in Shi Bai’s eyes as he ate from the bowl of rice he had earlier spit into. Suddenly, he felt a cold touch on his forehead.

The terrifying Yu Yin had pressed his finger against Shi Bai’s forehead. His lips didn’t move, but his voice resonated directly in Shi Bai’s mind.

“Stop the little tricks. My patience with you has run out.”

“It seems you still don’t understand the situation. Your body has my puppet threads planted in it. If I want, I can control your every action, know everything about you… even end your life at any moment.”

Shi Bai froze, a mouthful of rice still in his mouth, and looked up at Yu Yin. The sky behind him seemed to turn pitch black, pressing down so heavily that Shi Bai could barely breathe.

“Do you want to feel what it’s like to have countless tiny worms wriggling inside your body? It would itch so much you’d want to tear your skin and flesh apart, strip away your tendons. It would hurt so badly you’d bash your head in, over and over, until your brain splattered out.”

As Yu Yin spoke, Shi Bai truly felt something stirring deep within him. His eyes widened in sheer terror.

“If you provoke me again, you’ll fully experience that sensation.”

The itchiness lingered like a warning, then vanished.

The voice in his mind was slow and deliberate, filled with gloom and undisguised malice, tightening around his heart like invisible threads.

…

When they set off again, Yu Guang noticed that Shi Bai had become much more obedient.

Shi Bai wasn’t pretending to be obedient like before—this time, he was completely deflated. He sat on Wu Jin’s horse, head drooping, utterly withdrawn.

“Just scare him a little; don’t bully him too much,” Yu Guang reminded Yu Yin.

“As for the threads you planted in Shi Bai…” Yu Guang thought for a moment. “His constitution is special. Let him cultivate and dissolve them himself. It’ll serve as a form of training and be better for him in the long run.”

“In the meantime, you handle disciplining him, and let Ming Yu and Wu Jin teach him cultivation.”

Yu Yin turned his head to shoot him a displeased look.

Yu Guang grabbed his head and turned it back. “Don’t bother giving me that look. You don’t have time to teach him cultivation. Have you forgotten that you need to focus on your own training? Youngest, you’ve been slacking off lately.”

“Recently, everyone’s been busy traveling and fighting evil spirits. I haven’t been keeping an eye on you, and all you’ve done is sit around without moving. From now on, you’ll train alongside Shi Bai. You’ll make up for everything you’ve skipped.”

Yu Guang squeezed his younger brother’s leg. “Feel that for yourself. After these past few months of training, aren’t you much stronger than before? You need to keep it up—don’t quit halfway.”

Ban Ying, who had been riding his horse and listening to the brothers “talk,” couldn’t help but speak up. All this time, it had been Yu Guang doing the talking, while Yu Yin barely reacted. “Big Brother, how do you even know what Yu Yin means?”

The younger brother didn’t talk at all—how could they carry on a conversation like this?

“Of course, I just guess. Whatever he’s thinking, I can figure it out immediately,” Yu Guang replied proudly.

He was an expert at raising his younger brothers. And it wasn’t his first time looking after a quiet, reserved sibling. When his second brother first became part of the family, he didn’t like to talk either. Yu Guang just relied on his instincts to figure him out.

“Big Brother, that’s amazing! Do you always guess right?” Ban Ying’s admiration for Yu Guang grew as he watched his confident expression.

“Of course I do!” Yu Guang said without hesitation.

Yu Yin: “…” Of course, he doesn’t.

…

Shi Bai remained well-behaved for a while. Following the group, he witnessed firsthand how they vanquished malevolent spirits, unearthed the stories behind those spirits, and sought justice for the deceased.

They didn’t seem to gain anything from doing these things.

In Shi Bai’s short, narrow years of life, he had never encountered people like them.

He learned they were cultivators from the Divine Academy and just how incredible their leader, Yu Guang, truly was.

He also came to understand that they were genuinely good people.

They taught him martial arts and shared all sorts of strange and fascinating knowledge with him.

The older brothers took him horseback riding for fun, while the sisters bought him new clothes, fed him sweets, and even trimmed his ragged nails.

Unlike the people in Longshi Town, they didn’t look at him with disgust or fear.

Shi Bai couldn’t bring himself to hate them anymore.

Living like a wary little animal among this group of young men and women, Shi Bai finally, after carefully observing everyone, mustered the courage to approach Yu Guang in private.

Yu Guang, surprised to see Shi Bai come to him on his own, asked curiously, “Is there something you want to tell me?”

Shi Bai stared at him seriously, his expression as if he had just made a momentous decision. “Everyone says you’re the most trustworthy person. I have something to tell you.”

“All right, go ahead.”

“I’ve discovered that Yu Yin is a monster. He can grow black threads from his body out of nowhere. Those threads are like living worms—they can burrow into people’s bodies.”

Shi Bai watched Yu Guang’s face intently, studying his reaction.

“He put those threads in my body too. He threatened to kill me if I didn’t behave. He can even talk directly into my head, and none of you can hear him.”

“Is that so?” Yu Guang’s expression turned serious.

He hadn’t known that the youngest had this peculiar way of communicating with Shi Bai, using such loopholes to secretly frighten the boy.

“Anything else? Any other evidence?”

“And also, he has a cat. That cat is really strange. I secretly held it once, and it’s not alive. It doesn’t even eat food.”

“And another thing—once, Yu Yin was washing his face, and one of the brothers went to talk to him. After seeing his face, he suddenly started acting weird and even fell into the water. Yu Yin must have done something to him!”

Shi Bai anxiously shared every unusual detail he had observed about Yu Yin, piece by piece, afraid that Yu Guang wouldn’t believe him.

Yu Guang noticed the boy’s nervousness and thought to himself, Xiao Pei and the others are really mischievous.

These unspoken truths—no one had bothered to explain them to Shi Bai. They had just let him overthink and scare himself this whole time.

“I-I’ve finished,” Shi Bai said, looking at Yu Guang with hope. “Now you know he’s a monster and not really your younger brother. When are you going to deal with him?”

Yu Guang replied calmly, “Even if he’s a monster, he’s still my brother.”

Shi Bai’s hopeful expression froze, completely unprepared for that answer.

Yu Guang stood up, his tall figure casting a long shadow that loomed over Shi Bai.

“You’re telling me all this, aren’t you worried that I might actually be on his side?” Yu Guang asked in a deliberately low and ominous tone.

Shi Bai froze for a moment before abruptly turning and bolting away.

Yu Guang couldn’t hold back his laughter and took a few steps to catch up, scooping the boy up effortlessly.

“Don’t be scared. I was just joking with you.”

He carried the stiff and terrified boy over to where Yu Yin was sitting in the corner of the courtyard.

Grabbing Yu Yin’s hand with one of his own, he used the other to clasp Shi Bai’s rigid little hand and forced them into a handshake, giving it a firm shake.

“Shake hands and make up. No more misunderstandings. Get along from now on.”

“Youngest, stop secretly scaring him,” Yu Guang said to Yu Yin. “And Shi Bai, don’t be afraid. Youngest wouldn’t actually do anything bad.”

Yu Guang grabbed the ash-eyed cat, which was coldly observing at Yu Yin’s feet, and shoved it into Shi Bai’s arms. “Here, borrow Youngest’s cat for a bit. Cats are cute, not scary at all.”

“Go on, you still have a lot of questions, don’t you? You can ask Xiao Pei and Xiao Ban about them.”

After nudging the stiff Shi Bai away, Yu Guang fixed his sharp gaze on Yu Yin and sat across from him with arms crossed.

“Youngest, your big brother just realized something today. Do you not want to communicate with me?”

“…”

“Shi Bai told me you can talk to him in his head. How come you’ve never done that with your big brother?”

“…”

Yu Guang lectured his younger brother for quite a while before finally piecing together an explanation from Yu Yin’s half-hearted responses.

It turned out that the reason Yu Yin could speak in Shi Bai’s mind was the threads he had embedded in Shi Bai’s body.

Yu Yin used to create living puppets or simply wanted to control certain collaborators, so he would plant a small amount of spider silk in their bodies.

In Shi Bai’s case, as long as they were close enough, Yu Yin could convey his thoughts directly to him.

“So that’s how it works,” Yu Guang mused thoughtfully. “In other words, if you put a bit of that silk in me too, we could communicate like that as well.”

“That’s pretty convenient. Why don’t you try it on your big brother?”

Yu Yin abruptly turned toward him, his disbelief evident.

He couldn’t fathom why someone would voluntarily ask for such a dangerous thing to be implanted. Wasn’t he afraid he might take the chance to harm or control him?

—Are you serious?

Yu Yin scratched a few messy words on the ground, his uncertainty plain.

“Of course, I’m serious. Come on, let your big brother experience it.”

Yu Guang grabbed Yu Yin’s hand and pressed it firmly to his own forehead.

Feeling a spark of excitement, Yu Yin’s fingers twitched slightly before he unceremoniously embedded a strand of spider silk into the skin beneath his hand.

Moments later, Yu Yin withdrew his hand, his expression dark.

Yu Guang felt around for a moment. “Nothing happened?”

Of course, nothing happened—because the spider silk couldn’t penetrate.

Yu Yin’s face twisted in frustration and gloom. His threads were still too weak.

That blinding golden light around Yu Guang was utterly impenetrable. Yu Yin had no way to get past it.

Even though Yu Guang himself had agreed to it, Yu Yin’s weakness made it impossible to succeed. Damn it!

Yu Guang, unintentionally crushing his younger brother’s spirit, laughed for half an hour straight after figuring out the reason.

Finally, he patted Yu Yin on the shoulder and offered a genuine piece of encouragement: “Youngest, you’re not quite there yet. Keep at it.”

<< _ >>

**TN

I just finished watching Love Game in Eastern Fantasy, oh my gosh, it’s so good. >O< I’ll go back to watching “Bromance” now. I’m thinking of watching ‘Mysterious Lotus Casebook’. Hoping for a happy ending. Have you guys seen it? 😀