The one occupying his parents’ bodies was a monster with human intelligence.
He had been with it day and night for several days and couldn’t escape from its grasp. He only had a short respite when he went to school during the day.
It knew what he was thinking and what he was about to do. Moreover, it could hurt anyone.
This monster in the skin of a corpse seemed to know everything and was everywhere, wantonly playing with his fears as if they were a mouse.
For some reason, it was quite interested in Jian Xie and forced him to make the previous call.
Fortunately… Jian Xie saw through his lies.
He probably won’t come over. The class president thought with shame. He’s safe, the only one in danger was himself.
He shook his head and covered his mouth. He had to find a way to hide. He tiptoed and tried to crawl into the cabinet in the room, but his pupils trembled the moment he raised his head.
Less than a meter away from the class president, a familiar pale face was grinning in the darkness, staring at him for who knew how long now.
It’s always been there…!
It turned out that when a person was extremely frightened, it was as if their throat was being strangled making them unable to scream—
“Ahh—!!!!”
That wasn’t his scream.
But it allowed the class president to catch his breath from the almost suffocating situation.
Then, he opened his eyes wide and witnessed the unbelievable scene in front of him.
The monster, which had been appearing superior and seemed invincible during the past few days, was shrieking continuously. It seemed to be in unbearable pain. It stretched out its rotten fingers to cover its entire face, but he could still see the scarlet blood gushing out from between its fingers and cruelly spilling on the ground.
“My puppet was killed. Who was it? Who dared to…!!!”
The class president couldn’t believe his eyes.
Through his trembling pupils, one could see how this arrogant monster, who was wearing human skin and playing with people’s hearts, was unexpectedly frightened.
And he was not wrong, it was indeed afraid.
Afraid of some… unknown existence.
Since its birth as a Special A-level monster, it has never encountered a situation where its predation field has been intruded.
The tearing pain continued to grow from the blood gushing out of its eyes. Before the opponent actually made a move, their crushing level of power had actually caused its arrogance to retreat.
But it was clearly a monster of the highest level…
It was the predator at the top of the food chain!
At the same time, a “zzt zzt” sound akin to circulating electricity that would result in an electric shock was heard. In a moment less than the time it took to breathe, an extremely bright light suddenly filled the surrounding environment. Immediately after, all the lights in the villa went off all at once, while all the objects hidden in the darkness were illuminated clearly.
But what was extremely strange was that a more gloomy and eerie aura of oppression permeated the air.
The class president has always known that due to humans’ overly rich associative ability, darkness would cause them to imagine a more fearful atmosphere.
But he never would’ve thought that a deeper and indelible sense of fear could arise in humans under shining bright lights!
The top of his head felt numb.
“Knock, knock.”
There was an abrupt knock on the door, like a thunder exploding overhead. The class president and the monster were both startled and jolted on the spot, turning their heads to look at the door.
Apparently, it was just a subtle reminder because after a few seconds of silence, the door was opened directly by the other party from the outside, revealing a very familiar face.
“……”
When he saw the figure clearly, the class president subconsciously opened his eyes wide.
A thin and tall figure stood outside the door, with a pair of calm eyes staring at the chaotic villa. The owner of the scarlet eyes was his classmate.
How can it be… him?
In front, he could see Jian Xie wearing a sports jacket, seemingly alone and suddenly appearing in presence of the human and the monster.
For some reason, the air fell into deathly silence. Apart from slight noises, the people in the villa seemed to be frozen.
“Tick, tick.”
The blood seeping from between the fingers of the Special A-level monster continued to drip onto the floor, splashing clusters of blood.
The class president still maintained the posture of falling to the ground, leaning back helplessly and staring at everything in front of him with his mouth wide open.
There was no sound of talking.
Jian Xie blinked slowly. His black hair fell on both sides of his cheeks, and he raised his hand to push it behind his ears.
The adolescent high school student has not yet lost his baby fat, and it seems that because he was busy with his studies, there was a faint shadow under his eyes. The laces of his pair of high-top sneakers were even loose on one side. He was just like a male protagonist of a teen film who accidentally entered the scene of a horror movie, almost completely disconnected from the bloody style in the villa.
…But only almost.
Anyone present could clearly see that behind this human was a huge and terrifying mass of thick black fog.
The black fog was alive.
Even the Special A-level monster could not ignore the thick and sticky malice emanating from it, causing it to freeze in place and be terrified.
There was an unknown terrifying thing, was it the embodiment of all extreme negative emotions…?
It was seen very gently placing It’s black fog-like tentacle on one of the human’s shoulders. It was such a lazy movement but it perfectly displayed It’s beast-like desire for control.
At the same time, the black fog was also floating within a range of ten meters, harboring murderous intent, as if in the next moment, it would tear the human in front and devour it into its stomach.
The class president suppressed his fear and shouted, “Student Jian Xie, behind you!”
Upon hearing this, the monster came back to its senses from its daze and burst into laughter.
Jian Xie? Wasn’t this the prey it was looking for?
It had heard of him long ago; he was the most fragrant human the monsters had ever seen.
Half a day ago, it accidentally learned that he was a classmate of its target. It had been thinking of occupying the class president’s body to meet Jian Xie after playing with the former, but it didn’t expect that he would appear directly in front of it. It was really a pleasant surprise.
“I thought something was coming, but it wasn’t an annoying investigator?…He looks pretty good.” It examined Jian Xie from head to toe, licked its lips, and said with some pity, “It does smell very tempting…”
They were not exaggerating.
It was a pity that Jian Xie has already been taken into the hunting scope of another monster.
That’s also a Special A grade, right? No wonder they can enter its hunting ground. It was because they were monsters of the same level.
“This is my prey.” It pointed at the class president who was already petrified with fear, stared straight at Jian Xie, swallowed, and suggested to the black fog behind him, “Although I haven’t eaten flesh and blood for a long time… can we exchange?”
The class president who was pointed to by it trembled a little.
It thought that the conditions it offered were very generous. After all, few monsters would take the initiative to offer to share food.
But the black fog did not do as it expected and seemed to be unwilling to make any response. The contemptuous attitude immediately made it furious.
But it seemed like Jian Xie didn’t hear their voices and was unaware of the terrifying thing behind him. He just took a step and walked in from the door.
It was this action that presented the strange symbiotic relationship between the two beings.
The black fog was not completely separate from Jian Xie, nor did it simply float around him.
It could be seen that there was nothing where Jian Xie’s shadow was supposed to be. His shadow was gone. The two pairs of eyes in the villa could see a thin line connecting Jian Xie’s shoe soles and the black fog. In an instant, the relationship between them became obvious.
It was not Jian Xie’s controller.
Jian Xie was not It’s prey either.
On the contrary, they were the only predators at the top of the food chain in this villa at the moment.
The class president stood there in a daze, unable to believe his eyes. So far, his mouth had never closed.
“You’re Special A-level like me, right?” The monster seemed to have been confused by what it had witnessed. It looked at the tentacles that had been placed on Jian Xie’s shoulders. The gesture now had a different meaning, which was clearly protective. It said with a stupid expression, “But how could you… how could you…”
[Special A-level?] It sneered, It’s sarcasm nearly overflowing. It said lazily, [I’m not.]
Jian Xie: “…………”
If It knew how to play games, It would definitely be a strong player. Look how accurately It grasped the key points.
But it was true that Special A-level was the highest level classified by the Supernatural Management Bureau. It didn’t even take investigators seriously, let alone any level.
However, before Jian Xie could speak, the puzzled monster suddenly changed the subject and said to himself, “I see—”
It suddenly turned its head and looked at Jian Xie, who had an expressionless face.
Suddenly, a snigger came out of its mouth. “What deal did you make with It? You know, it’s absolutely impossible for It to help humans for no reason. You are not that naive, are you, little Jian Xie? Of course, if It didn’t tell you the details of the deal, the price might be higher than you thought—”
Hearing this, Jian Xie paused and his expression became somewhat subtle.
It was not wrong.
In fact, up ‘till now, he did not really believe that It had no purpose for him.
There was evil without reason in this world, but there was never good without reason.
Just when the monster’s voice quieted, his vision suddenly blurred. A black afterimage flashed by and he heard a few horrifying crashing sounds. The monster, who had been standing there complacently, was thrown away by a blow and crashed directly into the wall twenty meters away. The terrifying force broke all its limbs.
“Stop comparing me to you.”
“…..”
And this time, It’s voice not only rang in Jian Xie’s mind, but everyone present could hear it clearly.
Jian Xie was a little slow to react. It turned out that It had always been able to let other people hear him speak. The only difference was whether It was willing to do so or not.
“Trade?” With a cold snort, the temperature of the air around him suddenly dropped to zero, and he said in a disgusted tone, “Scram. Don’t taint my feelings for him.”
The class president was dumbstruck when he unexpectedly heard the explosive news: “…”
Jian Xie, who was once again suspecting a love confession: “…………”
The author has something to say:
Inspired by The Monkey’s Paw1If you haven’t heard of The Monkey’s Paw (I heard it’s usually made a homework or reading activity in English class), there’s an audio book in youtube that I really like. But you can also watch the summarized animated stories or read the book written by W.W. Jacobs. https://youtu.be/NmYDQcaB2c8?si=5YOcpouQ0ooBOuv0
Applause for a lovebrain gong2It means exactly as it’s worded; brain full of love. And gong as in the top in a relationship.
[ ] ：Encrypted conversation in the mind
” ” : Normal all-channel talk
