PTGWD Chapter 5: Hunger

The police car left quietly and inconspicuously. The frightened neighbor couldn’t fall asleep, hugging his dog and carefully stepping onto the balcony to see if that haunting figure was still lingering downstairs. As soon as he looked down, he met a pair of familiar eyes.

Lu Jianchuan was still sitting by the flowerbed, nodding politely at him with a courteous smile on his lips.

Neighbor: “…..”

Terrified, he immediately rushed back inside, locked the balcony door, pulled the curtains, turned off the lights, and pretended nothing had ever happened.

The surroundings returned to silence, just like many ordinary nights before. Humans retreated to their nests, enjoying the warmth and safety brought by their dens during the winter night. Only Lu Jianchuan remained sitting by the street, discerning his lover’s breathing amid the noisy wind.

Such a cold night reminded him of the days he had spent soaked in seawater – cold, long, boring, until Fang Xingzhou, with his tiny hands, scooped him out of the water, placed him in a jar, and brought him to the warm southern spring.

Lu Jianchuan propped his chin up, his smile deepening.

Listening to the breathing of the person upstairs, he began to idly flip through the “Queen Ant” documents Li Xuan had left him.

Many gory and bizarre photos met his eyes, spanning five years from the first case file to the most recent one. The details of each case related to the Queen Ant were meticulously recorded, even more bizarre and incomprehensible than typical criminal cases, like a cruel history of conflict between the Research Institute and the “Queen Ant.”

It started with the “Serial Bride Disappearance Case.”

Then there were the “Bloody Weddings” that lasted for months.

The Research Institute initially realized there were supernatural factors involved, and it took them three years to gradually lock down the identity and behavioral patterns of the “Queen Ant” and successfully predict her whereabouts. They had a direct confrontation with her, which almost resulted in their annihilation, while the “Queen Ant” escaped unscathed from the encirclement.

Since then, she became aware of the complexity of human society, acting much more discreetly, and her reproduction methods became even more secretive.

She no longer directly devoured human couples; instead, she would consume one of them and then disguise herself as their appearance. She lived day and night with the victim’s partner, relishing their affection before using them as nourishment for reproduction in an exceedingly cruel manner after satiating herself with love and desire. She maintained her human disguise throughout the murders, enjoying watching the victims’ shock, despair, and transition from love to hatred.

Almost all victims died believing their murderer was their beloved.

Because her methods were very secretive, it was difficult to distinguish them from normal crimes of passion, and the monsters she reproduced also shared consciousness with her, mostly disguising themselves as humans in society. Thus, for a whole year, the Research Institute was unable to find any trace of her.

It was only four months ago, when a target sensed something was wrong during a hunt and put up a fierce resistance, that she slipped up again.

The Research Institute didn’t mobilize a large-scale encirclement but instead used a lure to leave a tracking device inside her, silently observing her movements, and thus forming a cooperation with Lu Jianchuan.

Lu Jianchuan leisurely finished reading all the documents.

Humans… in some ways, are truly a great collective, he thought.

He had always detested this Queen Ant, wanting to devour her to acquire her reproductive abilities, but she was cunning and cautious, hiding among the sea of people. Even though he had faintly sensed her presence a few times, he could never pinpoint her exact location.

The Research Institute, despite the vast difference in strength, managed to catch her tail.

In this regard, Lu Jianchuan had to admit his sincere admiration.

He stared at the blood-soaked disgusting photos in the documents, a strong sense of hunger welling up in his stomach, and couldn’t help but swallow saliva lightly.

The taste of the Queen Ant seemed very appealing.

He hadn’t eaten a “proper meal” for a long, long time.

Lu Jianchuan licked his lips, his eyes curving up in anticipation.

…

The next day.

An ordinary weekday. After finishing his night shift, Fang Xingzhou didn’t drive but walked home from the hospital, from 11 PM until late into the night, letting the cold wind completely extinguish the dark thoughts sprouting in his mind.

He was listening to the news through his earphones.

The news was still unremarkable. Another war had broken out abroad. Gold prices had risen. Stocks had fallen. The government was about to tighten monetary policy. A bizarre murder case had occurred in the neighboring city, the suspect believed to be the victim’s boyfriend. The city’s wealthiest second son had set a wedding date for the end of this month…

Fang Xingzhou listened silently, seemingly uninterested in all of it.

But the hand in his pocket slowly clenched, gripping the handle of the scalpel, a cold smile creeping onto his lips.

After returning home, that familiar figure was nowhere to be seen downstairs. He went to the flowerbed, looked down at the “I love you” on the concrete floor for a long time.

The handle of the knife was sweaty, and dark thoughts grew wildly. He pulled up the surveillance on his phone and saw Lu Jianchuan getting into a license plate-less black sedan around 10AM, along with the cardboard box, and had not returned since.

10AM was precisely the time he left for work.

Was this the choice Lu Jianchuan ultimately made?

Fang Xingzhou felt he was still calm, not experiencing much emotional turmoil, yet for some reason, he subconsciously ran his finger across the blade, allowing blood to flow, savoring the brief pain of the moment.

He didn’t continue standing there but opened the door, calmly returned inside, and took a week off from the hospital.

The next day, Lu Jianchuan still hadn’t returned.

Fang Xingzhou didn’t go to work either. He didn’t go anywhere, just stayed at home watching the news, scrolling through social media, and then came across an engagement party invitation posted by Lu Jianchuan’s elder brother. The names “Lu Jianchuan” and “Wang Fei” were written on it.

After seeing the invitation, he sent Lu Jianchuan a message with the last hope.

“Are you still breaking off the engagement?”

Quickly, the other side sent him a long message with several crying emojis.

“Wife, the breakup isn’t going as smoothly as I imagined, involving many complex issues, but I’m still trying, can you give me a little more time? Don’t worry, I absolutely won’t end up with her, even if the breakup fails, I’ll eat her at the engagement party! Then there won’t be any other fiancée, I promise. [Crying] [Sobbing] Wife, trust me one more time, I really love you, forever and ever, one day I will marry you and have lots of children with you, and be with you till we’re old!”

Fang Xingzhou slumped on the sofa, not turning on the light, his face illuminated by the glow of the phone screen, reading Lu Jianchuan’s reply word by word, his expression as pale as a cold scalpel blade.

He put the finger he cut yesterday into his mouth, coldly smiled, and replied: “Okay.”

The third day, Lu Jianchuan finally came back.

He was still holding the box, spirited, sitting by the flowerbed, seemingly not intending to discuss the breakup with Fang Xingzhou, but instead took out the old telescope and aimed it at the second-floor bedroom, then met Fang Xingzhou’s gaze directly.

The two looked at each other.

Lu Jianchuan’s lips moved, and even though no sound was heard, the tenderness of his tone could be felt from the curve of his mouth.

He said, “Baby.”

Fang Xingzhou abruptly pulled the curtains shut.

He didn’t go downstairs but curled up on the sofa and watched Lu Jianchuan’s movements through surveillance, seeing him neither eat nor sleep, sitting from 8 AM until 7 PM, intently reading the notes he once wrote.

At 7:30 PM, that license plate-less pure black sedan appeared again.

Lu Jianchuan hesitated for a moment but still got into the car.

Fang Xingzhou’s expression darkened, switched apps, connected to the tracker he had hidden in the cardboard box earlier, and saw the red dot representing Lu Jianchuan moving towards the city center, finally stopping at a high-end private dining restaurant.

He got up, changed into new clothes he bought recently, sprayed perfume to cover his scent, put on a hat, mask, and sunglasses, drove towards the location.

He only took half the time for a twenty-minute journey. Fang Xingzhou walked to the library across the street from the location, stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, and saw Lu Jianchuan sitting in the second-floor outdoor restaurant, a table set with soft scented candles and delicate red roses. Opposite him sat a beautifully dressed woman.

Lu Jianchuan was smiling warmly at her.

The woman stared at him intently, undoubtedly is his fiancée, Wang Fei, from her features. But upon closer inspection, there were differences from the public photos, her eyes and eyebrows seemingly carrying a hint of Fang Xingzhou’s shadow.

Too far away, Fang Xingzhou didn’t notice this detail.

He stared straight at their date, the pain in his cut finger returning.

The food was served slowly, and they appeared like a real couple, chatting and waiting without a hint of impatience. Midway, the woman got up to go to the restroom, and Lu Jianchuan’s smile finally dimmed a bit, tapping his ear and murmuring to himself.

Fang Xingzhou was all too familiar with every microexpression of his.

His pupils contracted, focusing intensely to read the lip language.

Lu Jianchuan was saying:

“Why can’t I eat him (her) now?”

After speaking, the surroundings were empty except for their table, no one responded.

However, Lu Jianchuan seemed to have received an unsatisfactory answer, slowly frowning, showing a bit of displeasure, and drained the red wine in his glass.

And just a second before Wang Fei returned, he put on his smile again, tenderly arranging her fork for her.

Everything seemed to become clear.

Fang Xingzhou no longer wanted to watch, his breathing became heavy, painfully withdrawing his gaze, and turned away expressionlessly, his steps quickening almost to the point of fleeing.

…

Dinner ended at 10 PM.

Wang Fei, or rather the “Queen Ant,” was still sitting in her chair like a beautiful robot, obsessed with looking at Lu Jianchuan’s face without any intention of leaving.

They had ordered eight dishes, all of which were now empty, but Wang Fei seemed still ravenous, continuously swallowing saliva as if Lu Jianchuan across from her was the most delicious yet unattainable meal of the night.

“I love you.” She expressed her love for the eighty-fourth time in a dreamy tone, “I can’t wait to become one with you, to welcome and nurture a new life that belongs to you with the warmest part inside my body… Tonight, I’ve booked a room at the Changzhou Hotel…”

Lu Jianchuan looked into her eyes.

Undoubtedly, her appearance was becoming more and more like Fang Xingzhou, and her eyes were almost identical to his.

This was a small trick of the Queen Ant’s hunting, making the prey see the lover of their dreams, luring them step by step towards hell.

And Lu Jianchuan had been able to endure until now solely because of these eyes.

He said tenderly to these pair of eyes, “No, we should wait until after we are engaged to do such intimate things.”

Wang Fei’s pupils dilated, her lips parted slightly, her body trembling as if she had tasted something extremely delicious, reaching the pinnacle of ecstasy merely with his few sweet words.

Lu Jianchuan added, “It’s getting late, why don’t you go back and sleep nicely? Our engagement party is coming up, and you need to be the most beautiful bride.”

Wang Fei was still trembling, capturing the passion and love emanating from Lu Jianchuan, thicker than any prey she had ever devoured.

She, or it, was experiencing unprecedented excitement.

Wang Fei curled up a smile, showing two rows of neat white teeth.

“Okay,” she complied, “We will become one on our engagement night, never to be separated.”

Lu Jianchuan smiled slightly, escorted her to the parking lot, and as the Queen Ant’s presence completely disappeared, the expressions on his face vanished as well.

The unlicensed black sedan quietly approached, stopping in front of him. Li Xuan opened the car door for him.

“Thanks,” Li Xuan said, “The Queen Ant completely didn’t suspect your human identity and is already immersed in the upcoming hunt. Our operation will surely be very smooth.”

Lu Jianchuan got into the car, pressing down on his stomach.

He is very, very, very hungry now.

The presence of his kind was also an extreme temptation for him, he had been so hungry that he had digested his own stomach, but it was still of no avail.

He wanted to eat egg fried rice, beef noodles, braised pork, cola chicken wings, stewed chicken, beer duck, steamed fish… made by Fang Xingzhou.

He also wanted to eat…

Lu Jianchuan glanced at his pants and took a deep breath.

The car headed back to Xiangxing Street, and he couldn’t even wait for the car to stop before he eagerly opened the door, wanting to rush straight to the second-floor bedroom.

As soon as he got out of the car, his movement suddenly stopped.

His pupils instantly became dangerously alert, staring straight ahead, his cheeks twitching lightly as if he saw a scene that only appears in nightmares—

Fang Xingzhou was drunkenly getting out of the previous car, from afar, he seemed to have seen Lu Jianchuan, his eyes narrowed slightly, his figure swaying, supported by a strange man next to him.

In that instant, all the human expressions vanished from Lu Jianchuan’s face, the temperature around plummeted below zero, and the rainwater accumulated on the leaves quickly turned into ice.

Li Xuan, who followed him out of the car, even saw a familiar, horrifying tentacle.

His heart sank, following Lu Jianchuan’s gaze, his limbs turned ice cold.

Oh, no,

Author’s note:

The kind colleague who drove the drunk Fang home:

What did I do wrong.jpg (ps: Let’s issue a warning for the next chapter too, bizarre plot incoming)