Chapter 74: Snowfall
Through a shining white gate, Xiang Er’s soul floated, weightless and free, in a place beyond boundaries, shedding its earthly form, merging with the infinite white mist.
Memories, emotions, all were burdens to the soul, and she, now free of desires, of joy and sorrow, unburdened by memories and attachments, her very existence no longer necessary.
She wanted to sleep, to sleep eternally.
Like the morning dew on a flower petal, trembling, then vanishing into the air… but a lingering sense of unease remained.
She was still… unwilling.
Although she couldn’t remember the source of her unwillingness.
Suddenly, a force, a pull, drew her soul back, then another.
Countless forces tugged at her, pulling her back, back… she was pulled through the white gate, a sudden weight returning.
Memories, emotions, sensations, thoughts, flooded her, weighing down her once-light soul, overwhelming her, her soul sinking into a mire, struggling…
After an unknown amount of time, the chaos subsided.
Her soul returned to her body, she felt her limbs, her torso, her head, her fingers and toes twitching involuntarily.
But she didn’t want to come back, her eyelashes fluttering, light filtering through her eyelids, but she didn’t want to return.
Her soul was filled with despair, terror, the nightmarish betrayal and deceit… why had she come back?
The dim light beneath her eyelids was uncomfortable. Her body instinctively wanted to open her eyes, but her soul, her mind, resisted.
But… she was awake, her senses returning, she could hear a strange gurgling sound nearby, and the soft rhythm of human breathing.
Her body felt heavy, but not painful, she was even strangely energized.
She cautiously opened her eyes and saw… Shen Yuhe.
Her eyes immediately closed again, this time, determined not to open them.
After a long moment, a hesitant voice whispered:
“Xiang Er? Little… Little Ears?”
Xiang Er didn’t answer, her eyelashes still.
Shen Yuhe’s voice came again:
“You’re awake, aren’t you? Can you hear me?”
Xiang Er remained unresponsive.
A faint, human chuckle echoed from somewhere nearby, and Xiang Er’s eyelashes fluttered: Was there someone else here?
Why? Had Shen Yuhe captured someone to threaten her? No… it was Akhe.
Shen Yuhe’s voice, soft and plaintive, said:
“If you don’t wake up, I’ll kill An Yue.”
Xiang Er:
“…”
An Yue, watching the scene unfold from a distance, a hidden smile on her face:
“Haha… what?”
Why was she dragged into this?!
Beside the sofa, Shen Yuhe’s… Akhe’s voice grew increasingly desperate:
“Wake up, Little Ears… open your eyes and look at me…”
She even started sobbing, soft, human-like sobs.
Something warm and wet dripped onto Xiang Er’s face.
Xiang Er finally opened her eyes, the blurry image of jade-like skin so familiar, Shen Yuhe’s face.
After a moment, her vision cleared, and she could see Shen Yuhe clearly.
Shen Yuhe looked… as beautiful as ever, but her eyes were now blood red, like pools of pure blood, and from those eyes, bright red tears flowed.
The bloody tears landed on Xiang Er’s face, a strange scent, a mixture of blood and a sweet fragrance, like some exotic, otherworldly perfume.
Her blood-red eyes were fixed on Xiang Er’s face, and the moment Xiang Er opened her eyes, a sweet smile appeared on her lips, a delirious, almost dreamlike happiness.
She leaned closer and gently kissed Xiang Er’s cheek, her tongue extending, licking away the bloody tears.
Throughout this, she carefully avoided Xiang Er’s lips, not even coming close, as if she had developed an aversion to them.
Xiang Er didn’t resist. She opened her eyes with effort, looking around, finally noticing An Yue huddled in a corner.
She opened her mouth, her throat too dry to speak, and after a long moment, she finally whispered:
“Let… her go.”
Shen Yuhe seemed reluctant, her hands cupping Xiang Er’s face, kissing her skin, words occasionally escaping her lips:
“No… she brought back… your soul… I… I can still use her to threaten you… if you ignore me… I’ll kill her…”
An Yue, huddled in the corner like a quail:
“???”
This Evil God was way too straightforward!
Xiang Er was weak, gasping for air after speaking those few words, and at Shen Yuhe’s reply, her breathing grew even more labored, a rattling sound in her chest.
She couldn’t speak, she didn’t want to look at Shen Yuhe, her gaze fixed on the ceiling.
Shen Yuhe suddenly leaned closer to her stomach.
Xiang Er was only covered by a thin blanket, barely enough to keep her warm, and Shen Yuhe lifted it, pressing her ear against Xiang Er’s stomach, a happy, blissful smile on her face.
An Yue, watching this scene, felt a growing unease. It looked like… a husband listening to his wife’s pregnant belly…
Fortunately, Shen Yuhe spoke, her voice filled with delight:
“You’re hungry!”
Xiang Er didn’t answer, her eyes closed, letting Shen Yuhe do as she pleased.
Shen Yuhe, however, was overjoyed. She carefully replaced the blanket, then flew into the kitchen, unhesitatingly unleashing a multitude of tentacles, the sounds of clattering pots and pans echoing from within.
Xiang Er remained motionless on the sofa, her breathing shallow.
She looked less like someone who was hungry, and more like… a corpse.
An Yue, seeing the room momentarily empty, started to speak:
“Hey…”
A tentacle suddenly shot out from the kitchen, accurately and forcefully stuffing itself into her mouth.
An Yue, her mouth full of slimy, foul-smelling tentacles and suckers:
“…”
Silence fell upon the room.
The black slime on the floor churned and pulsed, tentacles cautiously yet boldly reaching towards Xiang Er, yet not daring to touch her.
The only two living humans in the room were motionless, silent, not a single movement, not a single sound.
The contrast was stark, unsettling. The humans, who should have been alive, seemed almost dead, while the grotesque tentacles, which should have been inanimate, were strangely vibrant.
The sounds from the kitchen intensified, the clatter of cooking utensils, the tentacles apparently wielding pots and pans with surprising dexterity.
After about twenty minutes, Shen Yuhe emerged.
Behind her, like a shower of flower petals, numerous tentacles, each holding a plate, carefully carried the dishes out of the kitchen and placed them on the table.
This strangely elegant, yet grotesque, scene was lost on Xiang Er, her eyes still closed.
Shen Yuhe, having set the table, glanced at Xiang Er, and seeing her eyes closed, her own expression remained neutral as she extended her tentacles, gently wrapping them around Xiang Er’s shoulders, waist, and legs, lifting her, blanket and all, and carrying her to the table, carefully placing her in a chair.
Xiang Er, her eyes still closed, her hair and hands limp and dangling, remained passive throughout.
Even after being placed in the chair, she didn’t open her eyes.
Shen Yuhe’s cold hand gently touched the newly healed wound on Xiang Er’s neck, her voice a mixture of sadness and relief:
“I’m so glad you’re back… I’m glad you’re still here. Eat something, I made your favorites.”
Xiang Er didn’t open her eyes.
But a thin tentacle, gently yet firmly, pried her eyelids open, the dryness and the sudden light making her eyes sting. She was forced to look at the table.
A plate of American scrambled eggs, a cup of coffee, slices of ham and toast, and a neatly arranged plate of strawberries.
It looked familiar.
Shen Yuhe’s hands rested on her shoulders, pulling the blanket higher, then she leaned closer to Xiang Er’s ear, her voice soft:
“Do you remember? You liked my scrambled eggs.”
Xiang Er didn’t speak, didn’t move.
Shen Yuhe’s voice gradually distorted, a frantic edge creeping in:
“Eat something! Try it! Aren’t you hungry? I heard you were hungry… be good, try my cooking, aaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!”
Facing the unresponsive Xiang Er, she suddenly screamed, red, fleshy buds sprouting on her face, almost touching Xiang Er’s skin!
But Xiang Er seemed unaffected by the noise, by the grotesque sight, her gaze fixed on the table, or perhaps at nothing at all.
She was completely still, not even moving a finger.
But it was as if she held Akhe’s only heart in her hand, crushing it mercilessly.
Akhe’s screams, the distortions, the fleshy buds, it was all useless. After a few seconds, Akhe’s form returned to normal, the buds retracting, the screams ceasing, her voice once again soft and gentle, as she said:
“You don’t like this? Then I’ll make something else, okay?”
Xiang Er didn’t react.
The next second, tentacles shot out, grabbing An Yue and throwing her onto the chair beside Xiang Er!
Xiang Er finally moved, her head turning slightly towards An Yue.
Before An Yue could react, her hand was pinned to the table by a tentacle.
Shen Yuhe chuckled:
“How about… you eat her hand?”
The next second, the tentacle transformed into a blood-red blade, slicing downwards!
An Yue’s body went cold, but she shouted to Xiang Er:
“Don’t waver!”
Before she could finish, a “thud,” and blood splattered across the table! An Yue cried out involuntarily, then gritted her teeth, looking at her bleeding hand, and shouted again:
“Don’t give in!”
Shen Yuhe, enraged, raised the blade again!
But it froze in mid-air.
Xiang Er had placed her hand beneath the blade.
Her pale, slender hand, its bones almost protruding through the skin, its blue veins prominent, resting in An Yue’s blood.
Then, with a swift movement, she grabbed the tentacle blade, slicing her own palm against its sharp edge.
Shen Yuhe immediately softened the tentacle, but it was… too late.
A thin trickle of blood flowed from Xiang Er’s pale hand.
Xiang Er’s deep amber eyes, for the first time, looked directly at Shen Yuhe.
At the person who didn’t exist.
Her gaze was icy, as if all the world’s snow and ice had gathered in her pupils, the whites of her eyes startlingly bright, her pupils dark and deep as an abyss.
There was no emotion in her eyes, none of the warmth and affection Shen Yuhe had grown accustomed to.
Only ice, endless, overwhelming ice, suppressing everything.
It killed with tentacles, but she killed with her gaze.
Shen Yuhe cried out, like a wounded animal, and fled, escaping Xiang Er’s sight!
It severed the tentacle that held the blade, leaving it writhing uselessly on the table.
Useless! It was all useless!
But then, Xiang Er spoke, her voice colder than ice:
“Heal her.”
Akhe wailed, its form twisting, its tentacles writhing, It couldn’t believe it!
She wouldn’t even speak to It directly, only uttering words that had nothing to do with them! Only willing to help an outsider, a stranger…
Akhe, a puddle of black slime, collapsed, the room shaking, a high-pitched, ear-piercing scream echoing from somewhere within It.
It begged, it pleaded, It just wanted to hear her voice, even if it was an insult, a curse, as long as she spoke, as long as she responded…
But Xiang Er remained silent, her mind blank, even Its ability to read her thoughts useless. She didn’t even look at An Yue, pale and bleeding, just sat there, motionless, like an immovable mountain.
Like the shackles that had bound Akhe since the dawn of time, like an inescapable curse.
Outside, the moon was hidden behind clouds, the world a cold, chaotic landscape, and it began to snow.
The long-awaited snow came too late, no longer a welcome gift for the new year. In this strange, distorted world, its power was too small, unable to soothe the madness.
And in this small, crumbling room, a supreme deity, trapped and helpless, was enslaved by emotion.
After a while, black slime crept onto the table.
Some of the slime flowed towards the cut on Xiang Er’s palm, and Xiang Er didn’t resist, letting it heal the wound.
More slime flowed towards An Yue, reattaching her severed hand, and within minutes, she was completely healed.
The black slime flowed over her body, healing all her old wounds, the new injuries from today’s battle, every scar and bruise disappearing.
An Yue raised an eyebrow, feeling the renewed vigor in her body, thinking that, as far as being a plaything went, this wasn’t so bad.
The black slime rose and coalesced into a human form, Shen Yuhe, in a white dress, beautiful and gentle, her head bowed humbly as she stood beside Xiang Er.
Her voice calm and soft, she said:
“I… lost control earlier. What do you want to eat? I’ll get it for you. Or I can make you something. Anything at all. Do you want to eat my tentacles? Grilled, stir-fried, barbecued, anything you like.”
As she spoke, she pulled out a few long, thin, red tentacles from behind her back:
“These are quite tender, perfect for eating. I’ll remove the pollution, of course. You must hate me very much, right? Then eat me, please.”
Tears of blood streamed down her face, dripping onto the chair, the carpet, onto Xiang Er’s body, as she looked at the unresponsive Xiang Er.
Her voice broke as she sobbed:
“Eat me… please…”
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