My Cthulhu Girlfriend (gl) 17

Chapter 17: The Embrace

This was truly…

Xiang Er couldn’t understand. A mixture of exasperation and amusement filled her, and she simply plopped down on the bed, looking at the sulking sculpture.

Was it really angry? She wanted to ask, but it felt wrong.

Wasn’t that a bit too intimate? She didn’t want to be so close to a Evil God.

Xiang Er hesitated, then realized that it was better for the Evil God to ignore her; it gave her some peace. The most pressing issue now was… Remembering the blood splattered on the shoe cabinet, her face darkened.

She had been in a state of utter chaos, driven mad by the Evil God, striking the man’s head, face, and hands with the high heel, holding nothing back. Blood had splattered everywhere; the scene had been horrifying.

If the man was sane, he would definitely call the police. And she wouldn’t be able to explain herself. There were no security cameras in the apartment, she couldn’t claim that the man had sexually harassed her… This was a serious problem.

Xiang Er’s understanding of the world was still based on strict social order and normalcy. What she had done was clearly beyond the bounds of acceptable behavior.

She waited for the police cars to arrive, for the police to knock on her door, or for Li Wan to return with her boyfriend and yell at her.

She waited anxiously, waited… then closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

She woke up once in the middle of the night. The light in the room had been turned off, the entire room was dark, the lake-blue window rippled like waves, and within those rippling waves, she vaguely saw a dark red tentacle… covering her with her quilt.

She came to her senses and focused her gaze.

But the tentacle was gone, the quilt falling onto the bed with a “whoosh,” stirring a cool breeze. Drowsily, Xiang Er reached out, pulled the quilt over herself, and quickly fell back asleep.

Beneath the window, a thin tentacle was curled up quietly on the bookshelf. Seeing the even breathing of the person on the bed, it lifted slightly.

It slowly, hesitantly, crawled along the damp, old wall, carefully picking up the corner of the quilt and pulling it over the exposed, pale foot on the bed.

After covering the foot, the tentacle patted the quilt lightly, then slowly retreated to the bookshelf.

But it didn’t disappear.

The thin tentacle, like a vine, climbed out through the half-open, lake-blue window, leaving barely visible trails of slime on the metal window frame.

Once outside the wall, it moved quickly, growing larger and thicker, like a giant python under the moonlight, crawling and extending along countless walls and rooftops…

It, or rather She, with its tentacles as threads, wove a dense web within a radius of several thousand feet, every sucker, every spine on its tentacles, sniffing, sensing, searching for one person.

A thin man whose blood It had tasted.

The network of tentacles spread silently around the sleeping, unaware people. A surging wave of polluting miasma emanated outwards, the world beneath the moon becoming dark and distorted. Many people began to have nightmares, or woke up with a start, unable to identify the source of their fear.

Like geese awaiting slaughter, they looked out the window.

And in a small hotel, a few hundred meters away from the residential compound, the tentacles found their target. Numerous tentacles quickly retreated, converging on the hotel room, hanging and swaying outside the window, looking at the couple on the bed.

It was Li Wan and her injured boyfriend, sleeping back to back.

After being injured, the boyfriend had called Li Wan. Li Wan had wanted to call the police, but the boyfriend, with his criminal record, had strongly resisted. They had gone to the hospital to have his injuries examined, and then rented a room in a small hotel, planning to deal with the situation the next day.

In any case, now Li Wan and her boyfriend were lying on the small bed, fast asleep, their snores rising and falling.

The tentacles rustled, extending through the window frame, their thin tips swaying excitedly, like blades of grass dancing in a meadow, delighted by the small morsels of flesh and blood before them.

Rejected by Xiang Er, “It” needed this now.

Several tentacles slowly stretched along the walls and floor, graceful like snakes hunting in the night. They climbed the bedposts, the man on the bed stirring uneasily, and the tentacles paused, waiting. When the man fell back asleep, the tentacles continued to climb, reaching for the sheets…

But just then, all the tentacles abruptly froze, their tips turning in unison towards a distant point.

In the old apartment, deep within the residential compound, Xiang Er tossed and turned in her sleep, kicking off the covers as if she were hot, then muttering as if arguing with someone in her dream. Soon, she whimpered again, burying her face in the pillow, tears soaking the fabric.

“Wuwuwu… mm… don’t touch me…”

The thick tentacles that had been active outside suddenly vanished. The meticulously woven giant web rapidly dissipated, the dark fog and distorted light disappearing, the countless spiderweb-like tentacles vanishing on the spot, too late to retreat.

The tentacles that had been reaching for the sheets in the small hotel room instantly vanished without a moment’s hesitation, no longer paying attention to their previous target, their power rapidly returning to their source.

The remaining nearby tentacles quickly retreated, squeezing themselves back into the small window of the top-floor apartment in the residential compound, jostling and scrambling, almost crushing the window frame.

Then, the hundreds of thick tentacles coalesced into a single, incredibly thick rope.

It stretched and stretched, until finally, a thin, soft, fingertip-sized, dark red tip extended.

The tip of the tentacle, with extreme lightness and care, reached out and gently touched Xiang Er’s cheek.

Her tears were absorbed, her face clean and delicate. Xiang Er murmured a few more times.

She turned slightly, reaching out with both hands, groping blindly, as if trying to grasp something.

The tentacle, unable to retreat in time, was caught and held tightly in her embrace. Her legs wrapped around the middle section of the thick tentacle, holding it between her knees like a pillow.

The thick, massive tentacle was now completely rigid, motionless, like a cold, elastic baseball bat.

Xiang Er, hugging the tentacle, quickly fell into a deeper sleep. In her dream, she nuzzled her warm cheek against the surface of the tentacle, her tears and breath lingering on its cold surface.

“Mm…”

Her cheeks flushed, she sighed contentedly in her sleep.

The tentacle remained quietly by the bed, no longer attempting to extend outwards.

The sculpture silently turned, looking at the girl sleeping on the bed, hugging the tentacle, its eye shimmering.

Peace returned to the world, the moonlight gentle and soft, burying all that hadn’t transpired, deep within the night.

Xiang Er didn’t expect to sleep so well. She woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and alert.

All she remembered from last night was feeling hot, then cold, and seeming to hug something in her sleep. It must have been her quilt.

She looked towards the bookshelf, wondering if the angry Evil God had changed its mind overnight.

The sculpture on the shelf wasn’t facing the wall like yesterday. Instead, it had turned completely around, its eerie eye meeting hers.

The wooden eye was filled with light, a fervent light.

This was strange… Wasn’t It angry last night? What had happened? It not only seemed to have stopped being angry, but It almost seemed happy?

Xiang Er frowned. She felt like the sculpture was expecting her to say something, or do something.

She sighed, grabbed her clothes, and went to the bathroom to wash up and change.

As she moved, changing her angle, the sculpture immediately turned, its base scraping against the old bookshelf with a “creak.”

It wasn’t even bothering to pretend anymore? Before, It would at least try to conceal it…

Xiang Er pretended not to notice, walking towards the door, the scraping sound behind her continuing.

She opened the door and, as she stepped out, glanced back.

As expected… the sculpture was staring directly at her, its angle perfect, the light in its eye almost tangible.

Xiang Er closed the door, her brow furrowed deeply.

What was going on?

This Evil God… wasn’t even pretending anymore…

It was openly using the sculpture as a vehicle, what was It planning?

Could It be planning to… consume her early?

The more Xiang Er thought about it, the more certain she became. Perhaps danger was imminent, and she hadn’t even realized it!

While washing her face, Xiang Er plunged her face deep into the water. She knew the Evil Godcould peer into her thoughts, so she wasn’t going to think at home, she would go to work… unfortunately, today was Saturday, she didn’t have to work!

Xiang Er exhaled sharply, a large bubble rising to the surface and bursting. She pulled her head out of the water, gasping for air, looking at her pale, slightly flushed face in the mirror, bewildered and lost.

Where could she hide? Wherever she went, It would follow… Not to mention last night’s incident; she didn’t know how to deal with it. She lacked experience; she needed to ask someone with experience… Ask whom?

A name surfaced in Xiang Er’s mind, a name she had repeated silently many times. The woman had been helping her. Although they had only met a few times, she seemed more genuine than anyone Xiang Er knew, helping her without any ulterior motives.

At least, that’s what she believed.

Shen Yuhe!

Xiang Er decided to go to work, to the industrial park. There were coffee shops there. She could spend the entire day there, waiting for Shen Yuhe to appear, like a unexpected rain shower, and she would grasp onto this lifeline.

She got dressed, returned to her room to get her things, and carefully applied light makeup, looking at herself in the small mirror.

During this time, she deliberately avoided looking at the sculpture.

But the sculpture tumbled from the bookshelf with a series of creaks, its tentacles sprawled across the desk, lying on its side, its eye still facing her direction.

Xiang Er’s pale hand reached for her jewelry box, and the sculpture, lying beside it, its large eye upside down, looked at her, its gaze seeming slightly disappointed.

Xiang Er bit her lip, gently reached out, and set the sculpture upright on the table.

She exhaled, about to withdraw her hand.

Two tiny tentacles, as thin and delicate as newly sprouted willow leaves, extended from the sculpture and wrapped around her finger.

The two translucent red tendrils coiled around her finger several times, holding it tightly, reluctantly. One of the tentacles stretched out, its tip lifting, pressing a sucker against the tip of her finger, then slowly pulling away.

The sucker tugged at her skin, making a soft “pop” sound.

It was incredibly ticklish, a deep, tingling itch that made her chest tremble.

Xiang Er froze.

Was that… a kiss?