My Cthulhu Girlfriend (gl) 6

Chapter 6: Eye Contact

The moon was silver-yellow, the city lights golden-red, interweaving and blending together, a dreamy and frivolous world.

Xiang Er sat on the bus, feeling deeply relaxed. The sense of being watched was gone; she had, at least temporarily, escaped.

She even boldly got off the bus midway and ate a bowl of rice noodles at a small roadside shop. The steaming hot rice noodles, with their heavy sense of reality, gave her twenty minutes of almost moving tranquility.

After eating her fill, she swayed on the bus, enjoying the scenery all the way back to the residential compound. Getting off the bus—Xiang Er’s steps stopped.

She looked at the grey and black apartment buildings, their walls covered in moss. Occasionally, a building was draped in ivy, the green leaves shimmering coldly in the moonlight like layers of dense skin.

Inside the last building was the statue of that “Akhe.” She could almost see that blood-red eye, gazing at her through the window, watching her, waiting for her to return to the nest woven with mushrooms, waiting for her to deliver herself to its doorstep once more.

She didn’t really want to go in, so she wandered around the small shops, the vegetable market, and the fruit stands outside, buying a few things.

But the longer she stayed outside, the later it got. The later it got, the more likely something would happen.

Xiang Er’s mood darkened again. Carrying her bags full of groceries, she reluctantly entered the residential compound, leaving the reassuring bustle of the city behind.

She slowly unlocked the door with her key, standing at the entrance for a moment, mentally preparing herself.

Entering the apartment, she placed the plastic bags on the shoe cabinet in the entranceway and turned on the living room light. The bright yellow light spilled down, as if through a glass cover, never quite illuminating things clearly.

It was time to change the lightbulb… to a bright white one. Xiang Er thought, squatting down to change her shoes, then padding into the living room in her slippers.

Her first glance involuntarily fell on the sofa. Early this morning, she had lost consciousness on this very sofa. But now the sofa looked perfectly normal, still its old, worn self, the cushions dented.

Just as Xiang Er was about to head to her room, her roommate, Li Wan, suddenly emerged from the master bedroom. Seeing her, an undisguised look of annoyance appeared on her face.

Li Wan snorted casually, about to leave, when she noticed the shopping bag in Xiang Er’s hand:

“Did you buy oranges? I was just craving some.”

She walked over and took four oranges from Xiang Er’s bag, leaving her with only two, finally giving a small smile:

“You’re back so late today. Did you get paid or get a bonus? Going out to enjoy yourself without me?”

Xiang Er hesitated, wanting to speak, then shook her head after a while:

“I didn’t get paid, and it wasn’t like I didn’t take you…”

Li Wan waved her hand dismissively:

“Hmph, fine, no need to explain. Oh, remember to buy shampoo when it runs out in the bathroom, and the toilet paper is almost gone too.”

Saying this, holding two oranges in each hand, she turned and walked towards the master bedroom. Xiang Er wanted to say something, hesitated again, and by the time she came to her senses, Li Wan had already gone back into her room.

This was their usual interaction. Living in the same apartment made them roommates, if not friends. She would do her best to take care of Li Wan, hoping for a similar response.

But there wasn’t one. Li Wan never reciprocated, only becoming increasingly demanding. She used to at least ask before using Xiang Er’s shampoo. Now she just used it all up and, without a hint of embarrassment, told Xiang Er to buy more.

But now, Xiang Er had no time to worry about these things. Her mind was full of the sculpture in her room.

She stood there for a moment, holding the deflated shopping bag, dragging her feet as she slowly walked towards her room.

Her cold fingers touched the even colder doorknob, the metal sending a shiver down her spine. She turned the doorknob extremely slowly, a long drawn-out “creak—” as the small room behind the door came into view.

The sculpture was indeed facing her. But the eye, surrounded by tentacles, no longer had that suspicious glow, looking like an ordinary wooden carving.

Xiang Er stood at the doorway, staring at the sculpture for a long time, before averting her gaze, entering the room, and starting to settle in.

When it was time to change into her pajamas, she reached out with her left hand, the hand that had crushed the eyeball, her slender, pale fingertips pressing against the eye of the sculpture, lifting it and turning it around, so that the eye faced the window.

After changing, Xiang Er glanced at the sculpture, a slight sense of relief washing over her. It hadn’t turned back.

Xiang Er sat on the bed, picked up her phone, aimed it at the back of the sculpture, and took a picture. She posted the picture in the comments section of the travel blog, asking:

“Does anyone recognize this? I bought it from an ethnic minority vendor. Has anyone else bought something similar?”

She refreshed the page repeatedly, but no one replied. The travel blog itself was quite old, so it was normal for no one to see the new comment. After thinking for a moment, Xiang Er posted the picture on the platform where the travel blog was hosted, tagging it with the name of the ethnic group and the location, hoping to attract more views.

She really wanted to know if she had any companions in this experience.

She really wanted a companion.

After posting the picture, she waited, but there was no response for a long time. It seemed she wouldn’t get an answer tonight. Xiang Er was a little disappointed, but it was also expected.

She had been scrolling through her phone for over an hour, her eyes aching. She looked up at the window and suddenly noticed… the angle of the sculpture seemed to have changed.

It had been facing completely away from her, but now it seemed to have… turned about thirty degrees.

Comparing it to the picture she had just taken, it was true. The small sculpture had turned slightly, revealing the corner of its eye, as if peeking at her.

Xiang Er stared at the picture in astonishment. As she was comparing, the small sculpture slowly turned back, returning to the angle in the photo.

The eerie wooden base, with its coiled serpent tail, slid slowly on the table, giving off a sneaky vibe.

…She almost wanted to laugh.

Xiang Er realized that since crushing the so-called god’s eyeball, her mental state had improved considerably. She could even find the sculpture amusing.

She pursed her lips, pretending to look at her phone, but the corner of her eye kept glancing at the sculpture.

After patiently waiting for about ten minutes, the base of the sculpture indeed started to rotate slowly again, like a stuck revolving door, inching along until the corner of the eye could clearly see Xiang Er…

Xiang Er abruptly looked up, her gaze fixed on it.

The sculpture immediately froze, as if its acupuncture points had been pressed, the tentacles and snake-like body at an awkward angle, only a small part of the white of its eye visible.

Truly comical.

Xiang Er felt a mixture of amusement and exasperation. What was this, a game now?

A mischievous thought suddenly occurred to her: If she threw it in the trash can, would it jump out to look at her?

As soon as this thought appeared, she narrowed her eyes, looking at the still-frozen sculpture. But she quickly shook her head.

No. This morning, this god had nearly killed her for looking up monks and Taoist priests. If she did anything bad to the sculpture, she definitely wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.

What a nuisance… Xiang Er’s briefly lightened heart instantly plummeted.

She was just a small toy in the god’s hands, and she was actually playing games with its statue… she really didn’t know what was good for her.

Dejected, she lowered her head, focusing her gaze on her phone. She needed to find someone with a similar experience as soon as possible…

The sound of running water came from the bathroom next door; Li Wan was taking a shower. She showered every night from eleven to twelve. Xiang Er usually showered before her, but she had forgotten tonight and would have to shower afterwards.

The thought of staying up late again tonight made Xiang Er feel utterly exhausted. She sighed.

Her gaze drifted to the sculpture again. It was still in the same position, the corner of its white eye looking at her. Of course, the white of the eye was wooden, not the blood-red, terrifying kind.

Xiang Er lowered her head, a thought popping into her mind: If the god behind the sculpture truly existed… could It help her take a shower earlier?

As soon as this thought appeared, almost in the next second…

“Aaaaaaaaaaah—”

A scream suddenly erupted from the bathroom, like a clap of thunder!

Xiang Er jumped, immediately standing up and shouting:

“Li Wan? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Her only reply was a continuous, almost breathless scream. Li Wan seemed to be in extreme terror, her voice completely broken, incredibly shrill:

“Aaaaaah—blood, there’s blood aaaaaaaaaah—uwaaaaaah—”

Xiang Er frowned and walked towards the door. As she opened it, she subconsciously glanced back at the sculpture.

She saw that now, the sculpture’s eye was facing her!

The elegant silver moonlight streamed in through the window, the leaves of the camphor tree casting flickering shadows on the table. The sculpture’s eye flickered along with the shadows, like a real… Evil God, staring at Its prey.

Capricious, unpredictable, an aura of eerie danger washed over her.

Xiang Er’s heart pounded against her ribs. She swallowed, quickly stepped out, and slammed the door shut behind her.

In the living room, the intermittent, broken screams were even more terrifying. Braving the assaulting noise, Xiang Er opened the bathroom door. In an instant… her own breath caught in her throat.

Li Wan was collapsed in the middle of the bathroom, covered in blood!

Her mouth was choked with bloody foam, her hair and body drenched in blood, the floor awash with blood, almost overflowing the entire bathroom, a scene more horrifying than a murder scene!

Li Wan was somehow still conscious. She raised her head, her lifeless eyes turning towards Xiang Er, her broken voice a bloody cry for help:

“Help… help me… help…”

She crawled towards Xiang Er, a bloody hand clutching Xiang Er’s leg, her face covered in blood that continued to flow down.

Her voice was barely a whisper:

“Help me…”

Xiang Er looked down at her leg dully. Bloody handprints stained her pajama pants. How would she ever wash this out?

Her mind drifted, her nose catching a strange fishy smell.

Amidst the overwhelmingly strong scent of blood, she distinguished a faint… familiar fishy odor.

Damp, salty, eerie, and unique.

Its scent.