UWP - Chapter 27 - I'm an Expert at Ruining the Mood

"Oh..."

After locking eyes with the face in the fridge for a second, Bai Zhi reached in and pulled out the poster bearing the offending visage.

"Goddamn, who's idea of a tasteless joke was it to put a poster of a giant face in the fridge? And how long has this watermelon been in here? Rotten watermelons smelled exactly like that famous canned herring from Sweden* with the legendary aroma.

Due to the lack of power to the house, the inside of the refrigerator was in a deplorable state. The half of a watermelon in there was fully decomposed, and wrapping it with that creepy poster had made it a pretty convincing human head.

Bai Zhi scanned the piece of paper in his hand and thought, This is actually some sort of supermarket ad from six months ago... Is this a place that actually exists in the real world? While he mulled it over, he folded up the poster and placed it nearly into the trashcan.

His movements, restrained as they were, still caused the figure with the tightly-closed eyes clinging to his arm to jump in a fright.

"...Are you really that spooked?" Bai Zhi scoffed at the scaredy-cat hanging on to him for dear life.

"Who, who says I am? I'm—I just, I..."

"Oh yeah? Then would you kindly let go of me? I can't move around very well like this." Bai Zhi cut her off unceremoniously.

Instead of letting go, she clung even tighter, and Bai Zhi rolled his eyes in exasperation. Turning his flashlight to the fridge, he mumbled to himself, "A great man once said, 'when come the hard times, let us not meet them with a groan of terror but a grin of hope! The best way to conquer fear is to face it head-on—through perseverance, victory! Take heart, Auli—'** …Hmm?"

Bai Zhi noticed something in the bottom compartment, and when he pulled it open to see, his face took on a grim character.

Lying in the compartment, staring back at him, was a pair of soulless craters where eyes should have been.

—There was a man's severed head in the fridge after all.

"Wh-What's going on?" asked Late Night Kitty, who was practically fuse

…

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Translator Notes

*Surströmming (Swedish for "sour herring"), a lightly salted fermented herring product traditional to Swedish cuisine since at least the 16th century. Stinks. Watch this reaction video
**Chinese meme. The final word is "Auliget", a transliteration of a nonsense word used as an exclamation (also a brand of kitchen decor products, presumably also referencing the meme). Check out the original here.
***In the raw, the specific comedy mentioned is 猪八戒背媳妇 (Zhu Bajie Gives His Bride a Piggyback Ride), omitted for brevity. The story originates from a TV adaptation of Journey to the West whereby Zhu Bajie is pranked by Sun Wukong.
^In China and other parts of Asia, there is a culture of organizing large group activities in public spaces, coordinated by music or instructions from a portable speaker. At one point, line dancing was a nationwide phenomenon, taken up en masse by women of a certain age, and the massive popularity of such activities made portable speakers a common sight.
^^From an EDM (?) track known as 凤凰传奇 (Legend of the Phoenix). A common style of music used in aforementioned public line dances. The lyrics have been translated to fit the rhythm and rhyme scheme, try singing along.

Novel Notes

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Underworld Player Chapter 27 - I'm an Expert at Ruining the Mood

Translator Notes

Novel Notes

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