Chapter 22

Xie Xishu had once believed that after experiencing so many upheavals, his tolerance for the grotesque had increased significantly. At the very least, he thought, he would no longer be terrified by the ugly appearance and horrific behavior of a monster.

Yet, when that monster smiled at him and called his name, he was still, quite spinelessly, frozen in terror, his entire body chilled to the bone.

"Xie Xishu—"

Why... why did a monster act as if it were so familiar with him? Why did it seem to retain a trace of human consciousness, yet evoke such deep disgust and repulsion in him?

"Who... who are you?" Xie Xishu managed to stammer out, his voice trembling with fear. As he spoke, he uncontrollably recoiled, wishing he could melt directly into the backrest of the old car.

"Who am I? Who am I, who am I, who am I? Do you not recognize me anymore?"

No sooner had the boy spoken than the monster tilted its head, seemingly dissatisfied, and raised its hand to smash heavily against the car's windshield.

"How hateful, how heartbreaking, waaah..." The monster even let out a long, wailing cry. "Aren't we friends?"

Then, its neck twisted at a bizarre angle, and the dense cluster of eyes on its face stared unblinkingly at Xie Xishu, murmuring. A large amount of viscous saliva leaked from its split lips; the acidic liquid quickly left fine, etched lines across the windshield.

"...I regret it so much, Xie Xishu. You smell so good... but you were clearly so close to me, so fragrant, so delicious, and yet I didn't notice at all. That’s why I let you escape. I regret it, I regret it so much."

As the monster spoke, it greedily licked the glass. As if it had caught Xie Xishu’s scent through the cracks in the glass, its body began to heave, and a chilling expression of ecstasy appeared on its deformed face.

"Every time I think of you, I can't help but drool. I should have eaten you back then. Damn it, damn it! In the end, you were snatched away, snatched away—aaah—"

Xie Xishu looked at the deformed monster in terror. Upon hearing that string of incoherent, rambling whispers, he thought of someone with a jolt of horror.

"Cheng An?" Xie Xishu’s eyes widened in shock. "You... you are Cheng An! How did you become like this?"

It felt as though an invisible hand were strangling his stomach. Even breathing became difficult. Once the words were out, Xie Xishu knew his question was redundant—in that narrow, dark alleyway, the one who had followed and attacked him at the very beginning wasn't Qi Wu; it was Cheng An.

Qi Wu had indeed been acting strangely for months, constantly staring at him, but what about earlier? Even before that, Cheng An had caught the flu. Perhaps as early as then, his desk-mate had already begun to mutate in silence.

"Cheng An..." Xie Xishu covered his mouth with his hand. It was hard to say how much of Cheng An’s soul remained within the monster currently acting with such madness on the other side of the glass. Yet, looking at it now, Xie Xishu felt an ache so profound he could barely breathe.

"…That I’ve become like this is all because of you. I like you too much, you’re too fragrant, you’re too sweet, baby... Why wouldn't you let me have a taste? Why didn't you give me a choice before choosing the thing beside you... Strange, aren't we the same? We are both monsters, so why didn't you choose me? Xie Xishu, tell me, why? Why!"

Glimpsing the mix of terror, worry, and sorrow in Xie Xishu’s eyes, the deformed monster on the hood became even more agitated and manic. The countless filthy, turbid eyes suddenly focused in unison on the pale boy inside the car, as if they could physically envelop his body with their viscous gaze.

The scales on Cheng An’s body stood on end, and vaguely, one could see vibrant, garish spots shifting across its skin.

"Whatever Qi Wu can do, I can do too. We were clearly friends. I will do better than Qi Wu..."

"Just let me have a taste, Xie Xishu. Let me taste your flavor."

"I’ll be very capable, Xie Xishu."

"Just a little, I only need to taste a tiny bit..."

As Cheng An spoke, it let out a stream of thick, turbid drool, staring greedily at Xie Xishu.

"Tsk—"

At that moment, Qi Wu, sitting in the driver's seat, curled the corner of his mouth into a cold sneer. Unlike Xie Xishu, upon smelling the familiar stench on Cheng An, he had immediately identified the monster's true identity. He could have easily crushed this piece of trash that dared to covet Xie Xishu, but in a sudden flash of emotional turbulence, he remembered the bitter, fragrant scent Xie Xishu had emitted when witnessing the monster.

Of course, Xie Xishu, shivering in terror and resistance, was still fragrant; fear imbued the boy's scent with a unique, dry quality. But just a short while ago, Qi Wu had tasted a different side of Xie Xishu. That fragrance, mixed with worry, trust, and a kind of self-sacrificial despair, was so sweet and moving that Qi Wu inexplicably began to resist the overwhelming scent of fear on Xie Xishu.

Even if someone were to scare Xie Xishu until he couldn't move, it should be him.

That fleeting thought effectively suppressed the killing instinct within Qi Wu. However, just watching the monster outside the window acting smug and ignorant of its own impending doom, Qi Wu realized that his inexplicable mercy was meaningless.

Qi Wu’s foot pressed the accelerator almost to the floor, and the car's engine began to let out an unbearable roar.

Following that, Xie Xishu heard Qi Wu’s indifferent question: "Are you done catching up with this thing?"

"Huh?"

"If you're done, hold onto your seatbelt."

The moment the words fell, Xie Xishu felt a sudden sense of dread. He grabbed the seatbelt by reflex. At the same time, Qi Wu slammed on the brakes.

A piercing screech of tires erupted from the high-speed wheels, and the entire car began to shake violently. A pungent smell of burning rubber surged through the ventilation system. The whole world seemed to be trembling frantically at that moment.

Xie Xishu bit back a low cry, his hands gripping the belt so tightly his knuckles turned white. The belt felt as if it were about to snap his ribs. For a second, Xie Xishu felt as if he were about to be flung out of the car by the immense inertia.

But in the end, he was held firmly in his seat by the belt. Someone else was the one flung out...

It was Cheng An.

The massive inertia from the emergency brake sent the monster plastered to the windshield flying like a cannonball. It soared at least five or six meters through the air before slamming into the ground, sliding a great distance before its rolling body finally came to a stop.

A long, bloody trail was suddenly etched into the rough asphalt.

"Is it... dead?" Xie Xishu sat in his seat, his heart still pounding as if it might leap out of his throat, staring unblinkingly at the bloodied, mangled shadow on the ground in the distance.

Qi Wu gave a cold snort. "Cockroaches don't die that easily."

As if in response to Qi Wu's assessment, no sooner had the boy spoken than Cheng An's body gave a twitch.

The next second, the monster braced its single hand against the ground and, swaying, steadily stood up from the pool of blood.

"..."

Xie Xishu’s breath hitched. He could see clearly that nearly half of Cheng An’s flesh and skin had been torn away, revealing raw, red muscles beneath the scales. Its most severe injury was its right limb; the deformed organ hung limply against its chest, connected to the shoulder only by a thin, translucent layer of skin that held the clawed, sucker-covered "hand" in place.

For a normal person, this would be a fatal wound. But Xie Xishu didn't see a shred of weakness in Cheng An. On the contrary, stimulated by the intense pain and the blood, the monster looked even more manic than before.

"Cheng An" let out an incoherent grunt in its throat. Yet, eerily, Xie Xishu could understand it perfectly.

"So painful... Qi Wu, you son of a bitch... I wanted to settle scores with you before. I swear I will make it up to you properly. I will make you die a miserable death... I will tear open your fragile, soft skin piece by piece, and then slowly gnaw your flesh off, hee hee hee hee. But don't worry, I'll keep your eyes. I'll make you watch, watch how I savor Xie Xishu..."

"He is mine... so fragrant, so delicious, he was clearly mine..."

It shook its head, then yanked off its own severed right limb and shoved it into its gaping, blood-red maw.

*Crunch.*

*Crunch.*

The sound of chewing echoed. Under Xie Xishu’s horrified gaze, "Cheng An" swallowed its own arm in large gulps.

Grey-green saliva, stained deep red by blood, dripped continuously from the monster's split lips. A long tongue flicked out repeatedly, licking the dense cluster of tiny eyes on its face until they glistened. And where its arm had been severed, a small bit of pink flesh was wriggling and growing back at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"So delicious, hee hee hee, so fragrant. Xie Xishu, just smelling your scent makes me feel wonderful. So, let me taste your flavor; I’ve missed you so much, hiss—"

Following a piercing howl, "Cheng An" lunged forward, charging toward them.

In contrast to the deformity and distortion of its body, its movements were remarkably agile. It seemed to take only an instant for the monster, which had been knocked far away, to be right in front of the car again.

"Qi Wu!" he screamed uncontrollably.

"Damn it, so disgusting."

He heard a curse from Qi Wu.

"Seatbelt."

The familiar warning followed. There was no time to think; survival instinct made Xie Xishu instantly grip the belt again—at the same moment, the car roared with immense power.

Qi Wu did not hesitate, pressing the accelerator to the max and smashing directly into Cheng An.