Category: My Cthulhu Girlfriend (gl)

Chapter 4: The Gaze

The sliver of dawn on the horizon had begun to blend with orange-red, the morning glow about to paint the sky, the whole world about to awaken.

But the living room was still dark. Even with the lights on, the light seemed to filter through water, weak and yellow, unable to illuminate much.

A girl in white lay twisted on the floor, completely unconscious, motionless. Her slender wrist, like a trembling lily, reached out towards the seemingly unattainable morning glow.

And beside her, a dark shadow was watching.

The shadow wasn’t tall, and its specific form was indiscernible, like some wriggling thing beyond time and space, not of this world. Although it stood still, its edges were blurred, as if it could melt into the air at any moment, dissipating with the faint morning light.

It had no eyes, no discernible limbs, and its height was unclear. But it was… watching the girl on the floor.

Watching the girl’s soft body, her slender, white neck and wrists, the air exhaled from her delicate nostrils. Watching the girl’s bright, beautiful light, and the soul that it couldn’t comprehend, the soul that had summoned it. That soul tumbled and swirled within her body, a unique sight only it could see.

The girl’s clothes were slightly pulled open, revealing her waist. There were bruises on her ankles, contrasting with the unique pink of her skin. Although her posture was twisted, her face was like a blooming flower, with a hint of melancholy. She looked like she was merely asleep.

The shadow watched her, and gradually, something extended, covering the girl.

Those strange tentacles, a mix of dark red and black, with suckers and gazes, enveloped the girl from her waist. Soft, viscous tentacles, able to change shape at will, passed beneath the girl’s slender, white waist.

A “Tssss—” a harsh, flesh-tearing sound, emanated from where the tentacles passed.

Many tentacles stretched out viscously. Waist, neck, legs, ankles… from top to bottom, the girl was wrapped in dozens of tentacles, the clinging sound of tearing flesh continuing.

The morning light finally struggled in through the window, entering the hall filled with a peculiar fishy smell and strange black liquid.

But the living room, at this moment, was empty.

***

Xiang Er woke up in her own small bed.

She blinked, unable to recall what had happened. She searched for her phone, finally finding it in front of the sculpture on the table.

She deliberately avoided the sculpture, unlocked her phone, checked the time, and couldn’t help but sigh. She was late. Her supervisor had already messaged her, asking why she hadn’t arrived at work yet.

Xiang Er dragged herself out of bed. It was another overcast day, the light hazy, and she felt hazy too. She touched her body, a lingering feeling that something terrifying had happened, but… now wasn’t the time to reminisce.

Besides, there were no injuries on her body, everything seemed normal, even the bruises on her calves were gone. Perhaps those bruises were just from bumping into something, appearing and disappearing quickly.

After getting ready, she casually threw on a jacket, grabbed her phone, keys, and bus card, and immediately headed out. While walking, she replied to her supervisor’s message, lying that she was sick and had overslept, and that she was almost at the company now.

Her supervisor didn’t reply. She reached the entrance. The mud stains from yesterday were still damp. She put on the small heels she had bought specifically for work, then hesitated, changing into flat shoes instead.

She rushed all the way to catch the bus, then hurriedly found a shared bike to ride to work. The reality of her daily life left her no time to think about anything else. As soon as she arrived at the company, her supervisor, with a grim expression, called her to a meeting.

“The meeting was supposed to start at nine. Because you weren’t here, everyone has been waiting for you until now.”

Xiang Er lowered her head, looking at her white flat shoes, her voice soft:

“I’m sorry.”

However, there wasn’t anything she needed to do in the meeting. She was just an operations manager, listening to the product manager’s grandiloquent talk, watching the programmers and product manager argue, then the designers saying “this can’t be done” and “there are no resources for that.” She remained silent throughout, not affecting the progress of the meeting.

Finally, after setting some schedules, Xiang Er returned to her workstation and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She liked her workstation. It was by the window, with small potted plants, no difficult colleagues around, and quite far from her supervisor. She began her daily work. Being busy actually calmed her down.

It was just… occasionally, when she looked up and out the window to rest her eyes, she always seemed to… feel a gaze upon her.

A prickling sensation on her back, a dense, pervasive gaze that made her tense up.

She looked around. Everyone was busy with their own work. The supervisor was fawning over the newly arrived young male general manager. No one paid attention to her in the corner, let alone stared at her.

But that feeling lingered.

Xiang Er looked out the window. The office environment wasn’t very good either. It was in an industrial park, newly renovated, and they, the employees, were human formaldehyde removal devices. The smell wasn’t pleasant.

Outside the window was a noisy construction site. The next phase of the industrial park was being built, but due to the rainy season, the construction was intermittent. Construction workers in yellow hats chatted and idled by the roadside, none of them even glancing up at the building.

No one was watching her.

Xiang Er slowly exhaled, telling herself she was overthinking. No one cared about her, no one would notice her, and no one would… stare at her all the way from home to work.

Besides, from the moment she woke up until she left the house, she hadn’t looked at the sculpture once, deliberately avoiding any eye contact with it.

There was no reason. It couldn’t be that the sculpture had followed her to work, right? Haha. Wasn’t it said that offices were full of yang energy? That kind of sculpture… would be driven away by yang energy. It definitely would, it was impossible, she must be too sensitive, thinking too much.

While thinking about these things, trying to comfort herself, Xiang Er rubbed her arm. Goosebumps had appeared on her arm, dense and small.

She stared at the goosebumps on her arm.

Suddenly, a tentacle appeared on her arm!

Clearly visible, as slender as her forearm, dark red on the surface, black inside, with strange black suckers wriggling… a tentacle!

In that moment, she felt it. The feeling of the suckers gripping her skin, the inescapable fear, the cold, elastic yet incredibly soft touch… that gaze!

“Ahhhh!”

Xiang Er screamed, her other hand slapping hard at her left arm!

With a slap, she felt solid skin. She had hit her own arm; the tentacle wasn’t there.

Or rather… it had disappeared, hidden itself.

Xiang Er felt every hair on her body stand on end, the roots of her hair at her temples and forehead standing straight up. She was still under that gaze! She couldn’t escape, there was nowhere to go!

Her breathing grew rapid, she gradually gasped for air, like a dying fish thrown onto the shore. Her eardrums pounded, her lips cracked, her vision blurred, her eyes wide.

She mustered her courage and looked in the direction of the gaze.

There was nothing there. Her colleagues had all stopped working, staring at her in shock. The new general manager was also looking at her, with curiosity and a certain uncomfortable feeling, but… it wasn’t that gaze.

The supervisor stood beside the general manager, frowning disapprovingly at her. Not that gaze either.

There was no source for the gaze. Xiang Er’s hair slowly settled down. For the moment, she couldn’t feel the gaze. Her legs felt weak, and the arm she had just hit was red and swollen.

Someone asked her:

“What’s wrong?”

Someone else said:

“Are you sick? You look so pale.”

Another kind person said:

“Do you want to take a leave and go home to rest? I’ll write a leave slip for you.”

Go home? To that home with mushrooms and tentacles?

Xiang Er finally came to her senses, meeting her colleagues’ gazes.

“No… no, I won’t take leave, I won’t go home… not going home.”

Her eyes were red-rimmed, her lips bleeding, making her face even paler, as white as a sheet. Her black hair cascaded over her shoulders, her slender body trembling. Her swollen arm pressed against the desk, her white fingers gripping the edge, as if trying to dig holes into the metal surface.

Seeing her like this, everyone looked at her with sympathy. She was clearly sick, she should take a leave.

The supervisor’s face darkened, about to speak, but the new male general manager raised his hand to stop her.

The general manager, young and capable, in a suit, tall and imposing, walked over to Xiang Er.

He looked at Xiang Er’s face, his eyes kind and sincere:

“Don’t push yourself if you’re not feeling well. Our company doesn’t advocate this kind of work ethic that damages your health. You can take leave anytime, I’ll personally approve it.”

Xiang Er looked up, weak but firm:

“Thank you, I won’t take leave, I’ll work normally.”

The general manager said:

“Very good, we need loyal employees like you. Everyone should learn from you.”

Xiang Er’s lips trembled as she sat down. The general manager left. A few colleagues beside her still looked at her with concern, saying something, but Xiang Er couldn’t hear anything.

She faced the computer, her body shivering. The feeling of being watched… hadn’t disappeared, hadn’t left.

Only she knew, only she was being watched.

Her stiff fingers pressed the keyboard, staring at her arm. Fortunately, no more tentacles appeared.

Unconsciously, her lips suddenly touched lightly, murmuring a soft name:

“Akhe…”

She abruptly shook her head. What? What was that, why did she say that?

Someone next to her asked:

“What did you say? Akhe, is that a name?”

Xiang Er turned, her pale face and dark eyes causing the person opposite her to recoil, feeling a chill.

Xiang Er said:

“Don’t say it.”

Colleague:

“Huh?”

Xiang Er murmured, her gaze seemingly passing through her colleague’s face, looking at something far away:

“Don’t say “Its” name.”

She remembered, the scene in the living room, in the endless darkness, she had uttered the name of the Evil God. The memories related to the Evil God reappeared, her pain and madness vivid in her mind. The giant blood-red eye would cover her world, the tentacles would break her body, the black river would devour her fragile, pale soul.

So, don’t say “Its” name.

“It” will hear, “It” will respond, “It” will fixate on you and follow you, and “It” will… devour you.

Chapter 3: “Its” Name

The downpour was always accompanied by strong winds. The large trees swayed like the wild hair of a young girl, dancing their remnants in the dark night.

The world trembled outside the window, while Xiang Er stood frozen by the bed, staring at those translucent, plump, blood-filled, eerily swaying mushrooms.

Her roommate outside the door grew impatient:

“Are you coming out or not? If you don’t, I’m coming in.”

Xiang Er’s head turned towards the door. She couldn’t let her roommate in; this was her own little sanctuary.

But… something had already entered. That thing hadn’t even asked for her permission before scattering these mushrooms on her wall, and even invading her dreams.

Xiang Er moved her limbs, walked to the door, and opened it.

The living room light was slightly brighter than her room’s, but still dim and yellow. Her roommate, wearing the same clothes as before, stood with her hands on her hips, scowling at her, nostrils flaring:

“What were you doing? Didn’t move for ages.”

Xiang Er almost wanted to cry. Her roommate and the living room were so normal. After experiencing a whole day of supernatural events, this ordinary normalcy was precious and touching.

Her voice hoarse, she asked:

“What… what’s the matter?”

Her roommate frowned, a puzzled expression on her face, tinged with fear:

“Didn’t I knock on your door this morning? What happened afterwards? I slept in my room until just now. Why don’t I remember anything?”

Xiang Er said:

“Your… your high heels, they got a little mud on them. I said I could brush them for you, and then you turned and left.”

Her roommate, Li Wan, whose personality wasn’t gentle at all, had graduated two years ago and often bullied Xiang Er, taking advantage of her slightly greater experience. This time, she had come to find fault, already assuming a confrontational posture with her arms crossed, but she paused.

She looked at the girl in front of her. Xiang Er was usually pale as a ghost, with a slender and delicate figure, but today… she looked particularly different.

Xiang Er seemed to possess a unique aura. Under the dim light, she just stood quietly, her dark eyes staring unblinkingly, dark circles beneath them, her skin pale and bloodless, her limbs stiff like pillars. Her long hair cascaded down, covering her pointed chin and her bloodless, bluish lips.

Her clothes were plain white cotton pajamas, embroidered with a red rose. Usually, Li Wan would mock these clothes as tacky, but tonight, the rose was red like blood, like a pair of red lips mocking her.

Extremely creepy.

In the middle of the night, with heavy rain outside, the air damp, cold, and stale, the pale girl standing in front of her, staring intently, was scarier than a horror movie.

The rebuke on the tip of Li Wan’s tongue, for some reason, took a turn:

“Oh, is that so? Alright then…”

After she finished speaking, her gaze involuntarily shifted towards the space behind Xiang Er, her whole body tensing up as she made this movement, as if purely from muscle memory.

A gust of wind from nowhere suddenly blew across Li Wan’s neck. She looked behind Xiang Er, where there was clearly nothing, only the indigo windowpane, the protruding iron bars on the window, the rustling trees, and the rain…

She saw nothing. But Li Wan’s neck felt icy cold. Her gaze grew fearful, then lowered, summoning immense courage to glance at Xiang Er’s feet.

There was a shadow. Good… there was a shadow, a living being.

Li Wan blurted out:

“I’m going back to my room!”

Then, as if fleeing, she shuffled back to her room in her slippers, slamming the door shut with a bang.

Xiang Er watched her retreating figure, bewilderment in her eyes.

She felt a little regretful. She had hesitated for a while, wanting to ask Li Wan if she could sleep in her room tonight, but before she could speak, Li Wan had run off, missing the opportunity.

There were four hours until dawn. What should she do?

She didn’t dare to sleep, afraid of seeing those things in her dreams again, but she couldn’t not rest either. Time was precious for a worker; she had to go to work tomorrow.

Xiang Er thought for a moment, carefully walked back to her room, picked up her quilt from the bed, and carried it along with her laptop to the living room.

The living room light was brighter than the guest room’s.

She placed the quilt on the old sofa in the living room, set her laptop on the coffee table, and looked back at the empty guest room.

Hmm… if she wasn’t mistaken, with just a glance, her gaze met the eyes of the sculpture again.

Her bed and the door were in different directions. Yet the eyes of the sculpture, no matter where she was, seemed to meet hers.

As if… it really wanted Xiang Er to notice its abnormality.

It wanted Xiang Er to see it.

Xiang Er numbly averted her gaze, steeling herself as she walked over, her slender, pale hand resting on the guest room doorknob, gently closing the door, shutting out that wooden gaze.

Tonight… let it be like this. Tomorrow, she would get rid of the sculpture, and everything should be fine.

Xiang Er opened her laptop to work. She was a product operations manager, and there were always some odds and ends to do during every holiday, just like catching up on homework during school breaks. She had to finish it all tonight.

A mediocre life, a mediocre job, days slipping away through her fingers, living life adrift.

Sometimes Xiang Er wondered, would she continue living like this? But she had no other options or paths. The paths belonged to those with money and resources, and had nothing to do with a speck of dust like her, casually tossed into the world.

Xiang Er finished her work restlessly. After restraining herself for a long time, she “accidentally” turned her head and looked at the guest room door.

The door was quietly closed. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Staring at the computer screen, Xiang Er almost instinctively started a search.

She typed in the name of the city she had travelled to, followed by “folklore,” and a bunch of travel ads popped up. She tried to filter the information, finally finding an ethnic minority whose clothing resembled the old woman who sold the sculpture. Xiang Er noted the name of this ethnic group, then typed in the name followed by “mythology,” searching through the vast sea of pages.

Outside the living room was the balcony. The rain had gradually subsided, and dawn was approaching, a sliver of light appearing on the horizon. A cool breeze blew in from the balcony, not cold, like a lover’s hand, gently stroking the back of Xiang Er’s neck.

Xiang Er stared intently at the laptop screen. She found a travel blog that mentioned the myths of this ethnic group.

“Regarding the god of this unique ethnic group, I have learned some information through my research. This group has lived in the deep mountains for generations, worshipping a peculiar deity. This deity doesn’t have a familiar form and has never been seen by anyone, but for this ethnic group, it represents an extremely powerful and mighty force, the two sides of desire and reason, and the capriciousness capable of destroying the world at will.

Different tribes are scattered throughout the mountains, but this deity doesn’t favor any particular tribe. It is said that it spends most of its time sleeping, and humans must never disturb it with trivial matters. When a tribe’s priest offers a human head, heart, and fresh flesh, and summons it with a special incantation, it may awaken, but the consequences are unpredictable. It’s highly possible that the moment the deity awakens is the moment the tribe is completely annihilated.

Therefore, although this ethnic group collectively believes in this deity, they are all extremely secretive about its name, power, and summoning method. Only the high priests of each tribe know this top-secret information. Despairingly, those high priests who know too much information all go mad early, running into the deep mountains and becoming wild beasts, never living past thirty.

Truly a terrifying deity. Fortunately, in modern society, people no longer hold such peculiar beliefs. A god without offerings has probably long since departed.”

The travel blog was very clear. The more Xiang Er read, the more her heart sank, until it felt like it was being pulled down, unable to beat.

Could this be the thing she had provoked?

Was this what the sculpture represented?

A nameless, formless deity, powerful yet capricious…

A deity that could crush her with a flick of its finger.

Hiding in her small room?

Xiang Er’s head felt very heavy, like a ruminating cow, slowly chewing on this thought, over and over again.

She seemed to understand it, but also… didn’t understand it at all.

A god? Really a god? Then what was this god… doing in front of her?

Or was this so-called god just a more powerful ghost or monster? This was easier to understand. Xiang Er had read Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio and some infinite flow novels, and knew about the existence of “false gods.”

Moreover, based on the travel blog’s description, this so-called god… was hard to believe in. It felt like some kind of mountain spirit or monster, putting on an act to scare people.

But even a mountain spirit or monster would be difficult to deal with.

Xiang Er’s neck was extremely stiff. The gentle, cool breeze blew on her feverish face, bringing a bit of clarity. She slowly turned her head, looking at her small bedroom door, thinking: If it’s ghost-catching, should she go to a Taoist temple, or find a Buddhist monk?

The next second, her vision went completely black!

She seemed to be on a dark, thick, endless river. A gigantic shadow suddenly rose in the darkness ahead. Just one glance at it caused a splitting headache and weakness throughout her body!

She could hardly discern the giant shadow’s form, but several thick, dark red tentacles stretched out, waving frantically and angrily in the air, filling the sky in front of Xiang Er. Her eyes began to bleed tears, her brain felt like it was being pierced by an electric drill, her nose and ears began to bleed, and she opened her mouth, an endless stream of dark, viscous, fishy-smelling substance pouring out!

“Akhe… Akhe!”

The words echoed throughout the world, a howling wind whipping up waves. The voice was reverberating, androgynous, seemingly close at hand, yet also far away! Those dark red tentacles lashed out fiercely, suddenly coiling tightly around Xiang Er’s neck, waist, and legs, lifting her high into the air!

In the chaotic darkness, Xiang Er’s gaze suddenly met a giant eye, as red as blood, as large as the sun.

A vast amount of knowledge and endless madness, along with the whispers, flooded her mind. Xiang Er screamed uncontrollably, but her throat could no longer produce a normal sound. In the chaos that filled the world, she could only utter a few broken syllables:

“You… what… do you… want…”

Her slender, white throat was almost crushed by the thick tentacles, her delicate waist about to snap. In the capricious, maddening world of darkness, she was like the most insignificant white moth, about to be crushed into dust!

Xiang Er closed her eyes, but it was useless. That blood-red eye was still staring at her. Even if she gouged out her own eyes, it would be useless!

The tentacles thrashed her wildly in the air. This was the wrath of an Evil God, no human could withstand it!

A massive amount of information was forcibly poured into Xiang Er’s brain, and she finally understood everything.

She knew the name of the sculpture, the name of the true god worshipped by the tribe. Her lips trembling, she whispered in a hoarse voice:

“Akhe… let… me… go…”

Akhe, that was “Its” name.

The tentacles abruptly stopped.

Xiang Er completely lost consciousness.

Like a white leaf, in the howling wind of the dark world, under the gaze of the giant, blood-red eye… she fell powerlessly into the sea.

Chapter 2: The Sound of Rain

It had been raining in Lǜ’è City since the beginning of autumn. The drizzle covered the damp and bustling city, as if sealing off people’s five senses, even making their perceptions duller than on sunny days.

Beneath the sound of rain, Xiang Er raised her eyes, her eyelashes trembling slightly. The tip of her nose caught that clinging, peculiar fishy smell, unlike the smell of any kind of food.

And at this moment, she was pondering a question:

Was this sculpture facing her before?

Was it really such a coincidence that the sculpture happened to meet her gaze?

Xiang Er couldn’t understand.

She wanted to raise her hand, but found her arms heavy, unable to lift them at all. Oh, right, after dragging the suitcase for so long, it was normal that she couldn’t raise her arms now.

She propped herself up on the bed and moved downwards, her legs numb and heavy, a tingling electric current running through them… suddenly, reminding her of the feeling in her dream, of being entangled by that thing.

It was cold, the dark red suckers clinging tightly to her skin, the suffocating, viscous liquid almost pouring into every pore. A feeling that even now, recalling it, made her shudder with fear.

Her gaze fell on her legs. There were several purplish bruises on her calves, like jade adorned with emerald green, beautiful yet searing to the eye.

Had she… really bumped herself like this? When kicking the suitcase, or climbing the stairs?

But the purplish marks didn’t look like bruises from bumping; they looked more like… long, streak-like marks left by something tightly wrapped around her, coil after coil, layer after layer.

Xiang Er frowned, then turned her head again. The eyes of the sculpture were still fixed on her, but they no longer emitted that eerie glow, returning to their original, dull wooden state.

She lifted her heavy hand, picked up the sculpture, and examined it carefully for a long while. There was nothing unusual.

She must be stressed. She put down the sculpture, tidied herself up, slid off the bed, and started cooking instant noodles on a small electric stove on the floor.

The trip had cost a lot of money, and she would have to be frugal for the next six months.

Xiang Er had just turned twenty-one and had graduated less than six months ago. An orphan since childhood, she had studied very hard and attended a good university. However, it was difficult to find a job with a liberal arts degree. She had finally found her current job, and only after securing a permanent position did she dare to travel.

She chose an off-the-beaten-path tourist destination, saw the autumn mountains and rivers, met many ethnic minority people, was ripped off two or three times, and also saw some unforgettable scenery.

She thought about the legends she had heard along the way. The elderly ethnic minority women selling goods, each one had countless stories, fantastical and exaggerated, of unknown truth, mostly to promote the souvenirs in their hands.

Xiang Er stirred the instant noodles while glancing at the sculpture. The old woman had remained silent about the legends related to this sculpture, only saying that it was a symbolic object of an unseen god, sold only to those who were destined for it.

Xiang Er had bought it for only thirteen yuan at the time. A sinister smile appeared beneath the old woman’s layers of wrinkles. She had said something to Xiang Er, but Xiang Er was in a hurry to leave and hadn’t heard clearly.

What exactly had she said?

As Xiang Er pondered this, the noodles overcooked, and she quickly turned off the heat.

She brought the noodles to the desk to eat, casually turning the sculpture so that it faced away from her.

After she finished eating, sleepiness washed over her again, and she lay down on the bed and fell asleep.

Her dreams were chaotic and confusing. She was lying down, but it felt like she was floating in a river, surrounded by thick, black, viscous river water, effortlessly supporting her, slowly surging beneath her like ocean waves.

Xiang Er asked:

“Where is this?”

She didn’t know who she was asking. She just wanted to make a sound to ease the panic in her heart.

Suddenly, rain began to fall on the river, large, red raindrops, falling into the black river water and disappearing instantly.

Those red raindrops also fell on Xiang Er. She raised her hand to block them, but found that the back of her hand, her head, her shoulders, were all covered in red… blood.

Those weren’t raindrops, they were blood.

“Ah!”

She screamed, frantically slapping at the river water, just wanting to leave this terrifying place!

At that moment, a dark red tentacle with suckers rose from the river below.

The suckers opened and closed, as if breathing, coming straight towards Xiang Er. Xiang Er reached out to push it away, but had no strength. She could only let the tentacle approach her as she slapped the river water even more frantically.

However, the tentacle slowed down the moment it neared Xiang Er’s chest. Then, it lifted, slowly, softly, gently and intimately, pressing lightly against Xiang Er’s heart.

Its tip tapped lightly against her chest, following a certain rhythm.

Under this strange tapping, Xiang Er actually calmed down quite a bit.

Above the dark, swirling river, beneath the torrential downpour of blood…

The girl and the tentacle seemed intertwined.

***

She woke up in the dead of night.

The night was like a waterfall pouring into her eyes. In the dark room, Xiang Er sat on the bed, panting heavily, looking out the window in bewilderment. The old residential compound used dark blue glass panes, adding an indigo tint to the night, like blue ink swirling and swaying in black ink.

The rain seemed to have stopped, and some indigo light filtered in through the window.

Xiang Er felt utterly exhausted. Why did she keep having such dreams? It was so uncomfortable, she couldn’t sleep properly.

She switched on the dim light in her room, carried the instant noodle pot and bowl out of the room, washed them in the kitchen, and returned to her room.

She hadn’t slept well or eaten well all day. Her heart was pounding, and she felt utterly unwell.

Afraid of having that dream again, she didn’t even want to sleep, but in the middle of the night, there was nothing else to do but sleep.

Sitting on the bed, Xiang Er’s gaze couldn’t help but turn towards the sculpture again.

Her heart jolted.

The sculpture… was facing her again.

That eye was watching her.

“Hmm?”

An involuntary sound escaped her throat, startling her in the silent night.

Her body stiffened, her back straightening. She forced herself not to overthink. She must have turned the sculpture around again after eating. It must be that…

But the fishy smell in the room lingered.

She had eaten instant noodles, without even an egg. There shouldn’t be such a persistent fishy smell.

Xiang Er carefully sat up and peered out the window. Outside was a large camphor tree, its dense, dark green leaves holding rainwater, shimmering faintly.

The surroundings were eerily quiet. The old residential compound had only a few privately installed streetlights, emitting weak light, illuminating only a small area. The other buildings, the stone paths, the large trees, and the moss were all swallowed by darkness.

Xiang Er’s heart pounded. She raised her hand and pressed it against her chest, feeling a tightness in her heart. Looking down…

On her chest, right where her heart was, there was a sucker-shaped mark.

Her heartbeat abruptly skipped several beats. For a moment, the only sound between heaven and earth was Xiang Er’s heavy breathing, the world shrinking down to just that sucker mark, stubbornly refusing to disappear from her bloodshot vision!

A pain stabbed at the corner of Xiang Er’s eyes. When she came to her senses, her teeth were chattering, her lips bitten until they bled, the taste of blood filling her mouth.

And the sucker mark was still there, exactly the same as when she first discovered it, fresh, reddish-purple, slightly painful to the touch.

It was real, this mark was real!

Who left it? This unusual, circular mark with slightly serrated edges, how was it made, and with what?

Xiang Er’s throat felt like it was stuffed with cotton. She wanted to scream, but no sound came out. She wanted to stand up and leave this place, but… where could she go?

An orphan, a young girl drifting insignificantly in the provincial capital, she had no home; this was her home.

Xiang Er wanted to turn around, but if she did, she would inevitably bump into the sculpture.

Bump into that terrifying, intently calm eye, and those strange tentacles fluttering around it.

Her body extremely stiff, her hand on her chest falling limply, she dragged her heavy body backwards, without turning her head, her calf hitting the bed, causing her to fall onto it.

She stared at the ceiling, feeling herself tremble all over. The bizarre dreams, the bruises on her legs, the mark on her chest… what was going on?

Although she hadn’t always slept well in the past, she had never had dreams like this before, dreams whose content she could remember so clearly upon waking, still retaining the eerie sensations from within the dream.

What exactly… was it?

An answer was rising in her heart, but she dared not acknowledge it. It felt like, instinctively, that once she acknowledged “it,” something even more terrifying would happen.

But what else could she do?

Her breathing gradually evened out, and she slowly calmed down. She recalled the scene in her dream, the strange, dark red tentacle…

“Ah! It hurts…”

A sudden, needle-like pain shot through her head. What a terrifying pain! As if an electric drill was boring directly into her brain. But actually, she could sense that this pain wasn’t real, partly a product of her own psychological state.

She was too panicked now, and just thinking about it caused a sympathetic pain in her chest.

She rolled over, covering her head, deliberately turning away from the sculpture. She saw the frame of her wooden bed.

There seemed to be something on the wall behind the bed frame.

She pressed her hand to her head, trying to move closer to see clearly.

Just then, a sound came from the living room, someone moving around, the distinct plop plop of footsteps.

Xiang Er stared at the bedroom door. It was so fragile, so old, she hadn’t changed the lock, and she couldn’t remember if she had locked it.

The security here was very poor. The old residential compound had no property management, and it was mostly occupied by elderly people. Thefts occurred frequently.

It was three o’clock in the morning, and the moon outside was dark.

Fresh from such a terrifying dream, she was extremely panicked, fearing that outside the door was…

“Xiang Er? Are you asleep?”

It was her roommate! Her roommate’s normal, clear voice!

When her roommate’s voice rang out, she genuinely, deeply sighed in relief!

This was practically the only normal thing that had happened to her all day!

Xiang Er responded eagerly:

“What’s up? I’m not asleep.”

Her roommate said:

“Then come out, I have something to ask you.”

A “Whoosh—” sound filled the air. Outside, the downpour started again.

Xiang Er quickly turned towards the bed. Her gaze landed on the large-eyed sculpture, and she quickly turned away as if burned, not daring to look again, and slipped on her slippers.

Before opening the door, she couldn’t suppress her curiosity and went to the head of the bed to look.

On the damp wall behind the wooden bed frame, there grew clusters of plump, beautiful mushrooms, vibrant and swaying.

The first thing Xiang Er realized: there are no blood-red, translucent mushrooms in the world.

The next thing she realized: the mushrooms were swaying, but there was no wind in the room.

Chapter 1: The Sculpture

Autumn was rainy, the air muggy, and the city shrouded in a vast expanse of rain and fog.

In the drizzling rain, Xiang Er dragged a huge suitcase, trudging along the stone-paved road, her steps heavy and uneven. The suitcase, splashed with mud and water, rolled sluggishly, emitting a dull dragging sound.

The old residential compound was filled with grey and black apartment buildings left over from more than two decades ago. Moss grew thick on the roofs, and the slippery stone paths twisted and turned. No cars could enter, forcing everyone to walk.

The old buildings of a bygone era faced each other, enclosing a few small paths, forming a world of their own. Compared to the bustling, high-rise CBD(Central Business District) just a wall away, time here seemed almost stagnant, frozen in the blurred vision of the elderly people in front of the buildings.

Xiang Er’s skin was pale, her wet, long hair framing a pair of dark eyes that always seemed bewildered. A brown cotton dress hung on her slender frame. She tried to take large strides, but she still couldn’t avoid the muddy water. The hem of her dress was soaked through, weighing heavily on her thin calves.

In front of every apartment building she passed, three or five elderly people sat or squatted. They didn’t talk, nor did they move. They just watched Xiang Er walk by, their gazes like a heavier, more oppressive rain, falling upon her head and body.

The rain gradually intensified, and the courtyard, abandoned by time, became even quieter.

Finally, she arrived. There was a cement threshold in front of the building. Xiang Er hugged the suitcase; her slender arms were truly not strong enough. But she gritted her teeth and kicked hard. The back half of the suitcase was kicked forward, while her upper body pulled with all its might.

With a thud, the suitcase landed on the ground. The threshold was cleared, but the wheel at the bottom of the suitcase was completely wrecked, rolling away.

Xiang Er had no time to care. She dragged the suitcase into the building first, placing it under the eaves to avoid the rain. Then, holding her head, she ran out to retrieve the wheel, clutching it tightly in her palm, and returned to the building entrance, braving the raindrops that had suddenly intensified like exploding firecrackers.

She exhaled and looked up at the floors. She lived on the sixth floor, with no elevator. She had to do it in one go, no resting. The more she rested, the less strength she would have.

In order to catch the cheapest flight, she hadn’t eaten breakfast. The small bread roll from the in-flight meal wasn’t filling at all. Xiang Er thought about eating instant noodles when she got home, giving herself a pep talk, whispering:

“Go!”

Her wet hand gripped the suitcase, bumping it against the steps all the way up to the sixth floor. She collapsed heavily onto the suitcase, gasping for breath.

The cramped and narrow corridor was plastered with various small advertisements, dampness seeping from every crack in the walls. Much of the paint on the walls had peeled off.

Panting, Xiang Er knocked on the door. No one answered. She reached into her pocket, pulled out the key, stood up with difficulty, and opened the door.

The sound of the television came from the old living room. Xiang Er glanced over. Her roommate was clearly on the sofa, yet hadn’t opened the door for her.

Too exhausted to speak, she dragged her suitcase towards her room. Her roommate glanced back at her, saying indifferently:

“You’re back.”

Xiang Er gave a barely audible “Mm-hmm,” found her key, opened her door, and finally stepped into her own small world.

She rented a two-bedroom apartment, and this was the guest room, old and cramped, dimly lit. The room contained only a bed, a wardrobe, and a desk, with no space for anything else. The walls and desk were bare, devoid of any decorations or ornaments, but it was relatively clean and tidy.

Xiang Er’s legs were so weak she could barely stand, and her vision darkened. But she couldn’t get into bed soaking wet. She squatted down, opened her suitcase, and rummaged inside for her pajamas.

The air was damp, Xiang Er’s body and hands were wet, and she sneezed. Suddenly, her hand grasped a cold, hard object.

What was this?

She pulled the object out and glanced at it. It was a strangely shaped sculpture. She remembered it was a small souvenir she had bought, casually placed on the table.

Having found her pajamas, Xiang Er stood by the bed and took off her wet, heavy dress.

A graceful figure, tender skin, a slender waist like a willow, long legs like a Chinese parasol tree, droplets of rain falling on her swan-like neck. Her water-beaded hair cascaded down her back, yet fine beads of sweat seeped from the dimples of her waist. It was hard to distinguish between rain and sweat, the droplets softly scattered across her snow-white skin.

Xiang Er usually covered herself in layers of clothing. No one knew that her body was so beautiful, like a lotus bud just beginning to unfurl. Although timid and tense, a captivating blush still emanated from the insides of her joints.

Still wet, Xiang Er reached for the towel on the rack.

“Ouch!”

She let out a soft cry.

Something on the rack pricked the tip of her finger, right in the middle of her index finger. Beads of blood welled up.

A soft “plop” sounded, barely audible.

A drop of blood from her fingertip landed on the sculpture.

Xiang Er withdrew her hand. It hurt. She put her fingertip in her mouth to suck, staining her lips with blood, a dazzling scarlet that made her skin appear even paler.

She put on her pajamas and walked to the desk, picking up the sculpture to examine it closely. She could have sworn she saw a drop of blood land on it just now… but now it was gone.

The sculpture was quite unique. Xiang Er had bought it from an elderly minority woman selling goods down the mountain. According to the old woman, it was a statue of their tribe’s god, and bringing it home could protect the house.

However, this so-called god statue looked quite eerie. It wasn’t humanoid; its body was a serpent, coiled and looped into a columnar shape, painted a dark red. At the top was a huge eye, surrounded by more than ten tentacles that seemed to float and sway. No matter how one looked at it, it only appeared grotesque and terrifying, not at all like a god.

The statue was made of some kind of cold, jade-like wood. Holding it in her hand didn’t impart any warmth, only making her palm gradually grow cold.

Xiang Er placed the sculpture on the table, thinking wistfully:

“I wish someone were with me. Then I’d have someone to admire the little things I buy.”

This thought, once it appeared, lingered. Xiang Er chuckled self-deprecatingly. In her current state, she could barely take care of herself, let alone have company. Companionship was a luxury in today’s society, and the kind of companionship she longed for was simply impossible.

Anyway… sleep first.

Xiang Er lay down on the bed, glancing at the sculpture one last time. The dark red paint on the sculpture was flowing, as if melted by something, moving slowly and viscously. The eyes of the sculpture seemed to gleam with an unnatural light.

However, Xiang Er had already fallen asleep.

In the small, old bedroom, the sound of the rain gradually intensified, as if the rain had soaked the entire room, or as if something enveloped in rain had entered through the window, landing on the cracked tile floor.

Amidst the sound of the rain, an invisible, imperceptible gaze fell upon Xiang Er on the bed.

Xiang Er’s well-structured face creased in discomfort, her eyebrows knitted together, her skin pale and bloodless. Her beautifully shaped lips were tightly pursed, as if she were having a bad dream. She hugged the blanket, curling herself into a ball, the posture of a fetus in the womb. She was a person who lacked a sense of security.

A black, viscous substance appeared on the floor, accumulating more and more. The sound of the rain grew rapid, frantic, and powerful, like a drumbeat, like a madman’s ritual.

The thick black liquid increased, gradually covering the entire floor, climbing up the walls and towards the ceiling.

The liquid made a rustling sound, not very noticeable amidst the drumbeat-like intensity of the rain. Eyes appeared in the black liquid, opening one after another, like those realistic toy eyes children play with, soaking in a black pool, opening, blinking, flowing along with the black liquid.

Like newborn children, the eyes looked around randomly. Some eyes moved to Xiang Er’s suitcase, filling it with the black liquid, the eyes falling inside.

More eyes appeared on the walls, the floor, the ceiling, all fixed on Xiang Er, countless eyes all staring intently at the slender girl sleeping on the bed.

The girl’s brows furrowed tightly, a whimper of discomfort escaping her lips. The eyes climbed up the bed, the black liquid spreading onto the sheets… one eye approached the girl’s pale foot.

The drumbeat grew frantically rapid, the sound intense and violent, reaching a crescendo…

“Xiang Er! Come out!”

Someone banged heavily on the door.

Xiang Er opened her eyes.

In that instant, the drumbeat of rain, the black liquid, the eyes, all vanished, as if they had never existed.

The room was as cramped and damp as usual. Xiang Er coughed, her eardrums buzzing.

Being woken up right after falling asleep wasn’t a pleasant experience. Xiang Er dragged herself out of bed, opened the door, and saw her roommate’s furious face.

Her roommate held up a high heel:

“What’s wrong with you? Didn’t you know to wipe the mud off before coming in? Now there’s mud and water everywhere you’ve walked, even on my high heels! Those are brand name, over two hundred kuai a pair. You have to pay for them, you know!”

Xiang Er dully glanced at the high heels. There were indeed some mud spots on the sides. Her voice hoarse, she said:

“I… cough, cough, I’ll brush them clean for you…”

Her roommate’s nostrils flared:

“I knew it, you’re not raised with parents, no common sense at all. These shoes need to be dry-cleaned. You think you can just brush them…”

Xiang Er felt as if she’d been pricked by a needle, a sudden pang in her heart. She was an orphan, but she had only told her roommate this to befriend her. She never imagined it would become ammunition for insults.

But something was wrong with her roommate. Her words seemed to be abruptly cut off. Her eyes widened, staring at something behind Xiang Er, an indescribable terror and shock in her eyes, as if she had seen the most terrifying thing in her life.

Her roommate’s lips trembled uncontrollably, the high heel falling from her hand. A strange gurgling sound came from her throat:

“Gurgle… you… gurgle…”

Her roommate’s eyes remained wide, but her body turned and she walked away step by step, like a marionette, her movements stiff and unnatural.

Xiang Er looked at the high heels on the floor:

“Your shoes…”

She received no answer. Her roommate had disappeared from her sight, the strange “gurgling” sound echoing from a distance.

So strange… perhaps this kind of weather made people irritable. Xiang Er closed the door, kicked off her slippers, and lay back on the bed. Almost the instant her eyes closed, she fell back into a dream.

She was clearly aware that she was dreaming.

Dark, sticky liquid surged from all directions, like a never-ending river, a pool whose source was indescribable. The stuff appeared from nowhere, seeping into the floor and walls, permeating every crack, extending out from under the door, reaching towards places unknown.

Countless eyes opened, looking around in confused bewilderment. Xiang Er looked at those eyes, their dark red pupils clearly holding an inhuman, cold scrutiny.

She looked at the eyes. The eyes looked back at her, dozens of them at once, their gazes inhuman, viscous, wanting to flay her skin, crush her bones, and suck her marrow.

Xiang Er sat on the bed. She saw some of the black liquid flow to the edge of the bed and transform into a tentacle. The thing was rough and uneven, with suspicious dark red suckers, stretching longer and longer.

Like the tentacle of an octopus, or the tail of a serpent, smooth-surfaced, swimming towards her from the viscous blackness.

Under Xiang Er’s terrified gaze…

The tentacle-like thing, slowly, inexorably, beginning at her ankle, wrapped around her body, coil by coil, inch by inch.

From her feet to her head, tightly bound, airtight like a dark red mummy, as Xiang Er’s consciousness was submerged in the cold, viscous blackness…

“Ah!”

She screamed and woke up, gasping for breath.

The room was clean and tidy, as usual.

Was it… really just a dream?

Xiang Er gasped like a drowning person, her chest heaving like a bellows, causing a dull ache. She smelled a fishy odor, a damp, clinging, bewildering stench.

She looked at the sculpture. Its eyes were fixed on her, and in those wooden, dark red eyes, there flickered an inhuman light.