Chapter 35

Did Qi Wu hear his pleas? Xie Xishu did not know.

He had no time to ponder such things.

A monster that has lost control and is gripped by extreme hunger is always cunning and vicious when hunting. From its gaping, hideous maw and the tentacles coiled around Xie Xishu’s entire body, a massive amount of toxic mucus began to secrete. Xie Xishu quickly realized that his mind was becoming chaotic, his thoughts turning blurred and incredibly sluggish. The toxin affected more than just his brain, of course; it also dulled his senses—a truly peculiar sensation.

No, the toxin did not render him completely numb.

The monster, now out of control, would not treat its food with such kindness.

This numbness served only to make his limbs soft and weak, leaving him utterly unable to escape or resist. Thus, Xie Xishu could feel exactly how the barbed tongues carved one swollen wound after another into his flesh, and how they probed the hair-thin tendrils into his wounds, bit by agonizing bit.

Those things moved and writhed beneath his skin like parasites.

They brought wave after wave of surging, stinging pain.

Xie Xishu let out a faint cry, feeling his body throbbing uncontrollably.

He called out "Qi Wu" again, but the monster before him still offered no response.

Yes, it was too hungry.

At this moment, its entire focus was fixed upon this exceptionally sweet and delicious meal. Even having devolved into a monster driven by nothing but base instincts, it still instinctively abandoned the crude and hasty feeding methods it had used on other creatures.

It chose to "chew slowly and swallow carefully."

And so, those thin tendrils, like the roots of some aquatic plant, densely invaded Xie Xishu’s body. Encased within the soft, fair skin of a human, there would be no messy spray of fluids as one might see when a corpse is torn apart—not even a monster could tolerate such an extravagant waste.

For the prey being consumed, however, this was undoubtedly a terrifying experience.

He could feel that, beyond the invasion through the wounds all over his body, something had landed directly on his abdomen.

Several tentacles followed his navel, beginning to probe deep into his torso.

Ah, his internal organs.

Xie Xishu thought of the corpses in the villa district that had been found with their organs completely devoured.

Perhaps, to a monster, human viscera truly possessed a unique flavor.

The only good news, perhaps, was that the toxins secreted by the tentacles prevented him from feeling the full extent of the agony. He could only feel those things constantly churning within the crevices of his organs.

Thick tentacles occupied the space where his chest cavity should expand. Xie Xishu gasped for air, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not draw in enough oxygen.

As the fat and muscle beneath his skin were eaten away bit by bit, his vision began to blur. Hot liquids—perhaps tears, perhaps sweat, or perhaps blood—seeped from his nostrils and ear canals.

The liquid trickled into the corners of his lips, and his tongue caught a faint, salty taste.

But soon, the fleshy tendrils followed in pursuit.

They did not spare the fluids seeping from Xie Xishu’s body, nor did they pass over his saliva.

In the sweltering summer noon, amidst the enclosed thicket, the thick air was filled with the scent of grass and the stench of the monster. Everything around him became increasingly distorted and scorching as Xie Xishu breathed heavily. His skin turned slick, sweat and tears constantly seeping from his pores, only to be meticulously licked clean by the "tongues" sweeping over him.

Even after finishing the licking, they showed no intention of leaving. An unprecedented hunger compelled the monster to wrap its precious "food" even tighter.

"Qi Wu’s" body gradually began to swell.

Finally, it could no longer suppress the greedy nature in its blood. The once thin and slender human was swallowed into its mouth, bit by bit.

And Xie Xishu fell back into the nightmares of his past.

The dream of being slowly enveloped, gradually digested, and finally absorbed by the "sea anemone" in the seawater tank.

He could no longer tell if he was still breathing. His remaining brain function allowed him to faintly perceive a trace of stinging pain and slight numbness transmitted through his nerves.

He was melting.

[So fragrant...]

Qi Wu’s voice seemed to come from very far away.

[I like you.]

Was this a memory of the past, or a whisper from reality?

[I like you so much...]

Something warm reached out, its flexible and dexterous tip piercing into Xie Xishu’s body, now half-dissolved by the monster’s digestive juices.

It poked at the fragments of soft organs that had been reduced to mere bits. The movements were exceptionally gentle, yet filled with longing. The rough tongue coating licked over Xie Xishu’s remaining blood vessels and fascia, occasionally pausing for a moment on nerve-dense areas, as if carefully savoring the texture of the flesh.

Finally...

*

Xie Xishu felt a ripple pass through his body.

He shuddered.

A burst of white light suddenly erupted in his chaotic vision.

And then, amidst a tide of hot, crimson red, he fell into a dark, deep dream.

*

Once again, he dreamt of a younger version of himself.

The surroundings were silent, save for the rhythmic, characteristic hum of some pump-like equipment at work.

The entire space was bathed in a shimmering blue light.

The light emanated from a water tank in front of him, reaching as high as the wall.

The massive tank made the place look almost like an aquarium, with the difference being that while aquariums house brilliant, colorful schools of fish, the things writhing in this tank were terrifying creatures that seemed to have come from another world—perhaps hell itself.

They clung tightly to the cold, thick glass wall. Pale blue and purple vascular networks, like intricate tree roots, were faintly visible beneath their pale, translucent skin. Dense clusters of suckers allowed their bloated, distended bodies to remain pressed against the glass, even finding ways to wave their tentacles and rotting flesh at the human child on the other side.

They writhed gently against the glass, occasionally bumping it softly. The glimmering ripples seemed to allow the space beyond the glass to sink, bit by bit, into the deep water.

They were so deformed and ugly, yet they possessed an indescribable, strange beauty.

Xie Xishu was the one drawn to that hideous splendor.

He walked forward uncontrollably, pressing his forehead against the glass.

He was almost embracing the monster.

"Shh..."

He murmured to the monster.

"Be good."

...

Then, he heard a trembling question: "What... what are you doing?"

The child turned abruptly, coming face-to-face with his mother, who had appeared behind him at some point.

"Mom!"

The child version of "Xie Xishu" didn't even bother to answer her; he let out a small cheer and lunged toward his beloved mother.

But to his surprise, in the next second, the woman’s expression changed, and she suddenly recoiled to the side.

Xie Xishu missed his target and nearly fell, only to be steadily caught by another hand, helping him regain his balance.

"Dad?"

Xie Xishu turned to look at the man who had quietly appeared in the air, his expression as happy and cheerful as always.

"Little Shu is so cute."

The man reached out to stroke Xie Xishu’s head, then looked at his wife with a hint of reproach.

"You really... didn't need to do that just now."

The man lowered his voice, murmuring deliberately.

"He is our child, after all."

The woman’s expression changed drastically at that moment: "I do not have a child like this."

She retreated slowly, darkness spreading like ink across her white lab coat.

She turned deathly pale in the gloom, her pupils gradually covered by the white film seen only in the dead.

"I... I do not have a... child who can... associate with monsters..."

The woman’s voice became increasingly robotic.

Large patches of lividity began to appear on the skin exposed outside her clothes at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Xie Xishu let out a cry of alarm, and in that instant, the woman vanished, as if she were a small stone cast into a pitch-black pond.

In the dream, only Xie Xishu and the man holding his hand remained.

His father.

"Mom? What happened to her... did I do something wrong?"

The child looked ignorantly in the direction where his mother had disappeared, his voice filled with intense unease.

Xie Xishu felt the hand his "father" was holding tighten at that moment.

"You didn't do anything wrong."

The man looked down, smiling at him.

"In fact, Little Shu is doing great. You haven't been sick and made Mom and me worry for a long time, have you?"

"Mm."

"Your schoolwork is all done very well, too. The teacher said you get a little red flower every time."

"I, I just listened to the teacher..." the child stammered.

The smile on the man’s lips deepened.

"Listening is what makes a good child, Little Shu. By the way, you aren't as afraid of them as you were before, are you?"

As he spoke, the man shifted his gaze to the monster in the tank.

His voice grew deep.

This time, the child hesitated for a long while before nodding cautiously.

"...They said... they all like me very much."

"That’s good, Little Shu."

Seen from his upward angle, his father’s smile became somewhat strange.

"The fact that they like you proves..."

The man murmured to Xie Xishu.

But the whisper was drowned out by a conversation that seemed to be coming from very, very far away.

*

"Hey, is classmate Xie... okay?"

"I’m just asking, just asking. No hidden meaning, I just saw him sweating cold sweat the whole time."

"...Look, he’s not going to wake up anytime soon. How about I eat the instant noodles in that bag?"

"Oh, no, no, no, I was just joking, ha, ha ha. I brought my own dry rations. It would be a waste not to eat these compressed biscuits I spent real money on, ha ha ha..."

...

It was called a conversation, but in reality, there was only one voice prattling on incessantly, driving one to distraction.