My Cthulhu Girlfriend (gl) 7

Chapter 7: The Price

It was almost midnight.

Under Li Wan’s pained and shocked gaze, Xiang Er didn’t reach out to her, but instead retreated a few steps.

Standing by the door, the smell of blood overwhelming, Xiang Er trembled all over, every inch of her skin, every joint, shaking uncontrollably, as if about to fall apart.

She stumbled, her slender, white legs bending as she leaned against the wall, raising a hand to cover her chest, like a fragile, fish-white porcelain vase about to shatter. All the color drained from her face, leaving her pale as a ghost, her eyes wide, resembling a fish.

A cool breeze blew in from the high window in the bathroom, chilling Li Wan to the bone. She was encased in a hard shell of viscous blood, unable to see any hope of rescue.

Gritting her teeth, she said:

“Come here! Help me… up…”

Xiang Er paused for a moment, then seemed to take a deep breath, facing the balcony in the living room, away from the smell of blood.

She slowly took a few steps forward.

Unexpectedly, she stepped over Li Wan, her foot landing in the pool of blood on the floor with a “splatter.”

She winced, holding her breath. She was wearing slippers, but the feeling of something sticky and slimy on her feet almost suffocated her. Trying to ignore the strange sensation, she reached for the shower faucet.

Seeing her about to turn on the shower, Li Wan’s eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. She lunged forward, screaming incoherently:

“No… don’t! The shower is full of blood… it’s all blood aaaaaaa!!! Don’t turn it on!!!”

Xiang Er looked down at her, her eyes filled with panic, finally understanding:

“The blood is… coming from the shower?”

Li Wan nodded and shook her head, then shook and nodded again, frozen in place.

But Xiang Er gritted her teeth and turned on the shower with a “click.” She wanted to see for herself.

The sound of the shower water made Li Wan flinch, and she quickly retreated:

“No… don’t…”

However, after a moment of panic, she suddenly realized… clear water was flowing from the showerhead.

Clean, clear water, with warm steam, just like a normal shower.

Xiang Er’s chest heaved violently. Trembling, she reached her soft, tofu-like wrist into the water. The warm water soothed her skin, easing her tension and pain.

She exhaled and whispered:

“It’s okay.”

She stiffly turned her head, looking at Li Wan’s face, her gaze carrying an unfamiliar quality that made Li Wan afraid to meet her eyes.

Xiang Er said calmly:

“You can continue your shower.”

After she finished speaking, she took the showerhead and rinsed her feet and slippers.

Warm, clear water flowed steadily from the showerhead, sparkling, diligently washing away the bloodstains on her feet, revealing her translucently white skin. The water washed away the nearby pool of blood, revealing a patch of clean floor, exposing the broken grey tiles underneath.

The clear water washed away the mess of blood, flowing smoothly into the drain. Everything became normal.

So normal that… Li Wan began to wonder if she was crazy to have seen blood spraying from the showerhead.

After cleaning up most of the blood, Xiang Er handed the showerhead to Li Wan.

Li Wan frantically waved her hands, refusing to take it. Xiang Er stood on tiptoe, her wrist weak, and with difficulty, placed the showerhead back in its holder.

She turned around, her face flushed from the hot water, her eyes sparkling, tiny beads of water clinging to her hair like pearls. She gave Li Wan a gentle smile:

“Alright.”

Li Wan, watching this scene, felt her heart skip a beat. She felt a shadow looming over her, as if watching Xiang Er with her. The shadow emanated a strong aura of terror, choking her, suppressing her senses!

She wanted to say no, don’t go, she didn’t want to shower anymore… but she couldn’t say anything, her expression frozen.

Xiang Er walked out, closing the bathroom door behind her.

She stood outside, exhaling softly. Even after experiencing so many supernatural events these past few days, the scene of the bloodbath still made her feel uneasy. She stood by the sink, turning on the faucet to wash her hands, thinking about what had just happened.

This was obviously another one of the Evil God’s games. For some reason, the Evil God had chosen Li Wan as a new toy, but seemed to be… crueler to Li Wan than to her, playing in this very direct and physical way.

Was it because Li Wan was stronger and seemed more capable of enduring it?

Just then, she heard another broken scream from the bathroom:

“Aaaaaaaaaah—it’s happening again, blood!!! Aaaaaah!!!”

Xiang Er paused, a puzzled look on her face. She didn’t really want to intervene. If this was the Evil God’s game, what right did she have to interfere?

But she looked up at herself in the mirror, and a sudden realization struck her like lightning. She remembered what she had said to the Evil God sculpture.

She had made a wish to the sculpture!

What if… this game was caused by her?

Perhaps, this god enjoyed fulfilling people’s wishes, taking pleasure in it? So it was because she made a wish that Li Wan was enduring all of this?

Thinking this, she pushed open the bathroom door again.

This time, Li Wan hadn’t turned off the shower. Xiang Er saw with her own eyes that what was falling from the showerhead, like beaded chains, was blood.

Streams of thick, viscous blood, falling from the sky, drenching Li Wan’s head and body, splattering on the floor, flowing into the drain. The drain was already clogged, the black-red blood accumulating in the room, like some horrifying structure rapidly taking shape.

Li Wan, utterly terrified, huddled in the corner, covering her head, muttering:

“Why is this happening… why… it was already fine… it was fine…”

Xiang Er closed her eyes, holding her breath. The strong smell of blood was suffocating, and with the steam, the bathroom resembled a blood-red hell.

She no longer felt the initial shock, nor did she tremble. She simply said:

“Turn off the shower first.”

Li Wan was completely petrified, unable to comprehend, looking up at her.

Xiang Er’s face was pale, her expression calm. She extended her jade-like fingers, pointing towards the shower switch beneath the curtain of blood.

Li Wan understood. Her eyes, like a frightened child’s, were filled with fear and anxiety, but she was obedient. She moved, struggling to stand up, her hands against the wall, her feet slipping. She managed to steady herself against the blood-smeared wall, carefully maintaining her balance. After a long while, she reached the shower and, with one hand, pressed the switch. The shower stopped.

Li Wan froze, then after a while, took a breath and turned to ask Xiang Er:

“Is this… is this okay now…?”

Xiang Er shook her head, her face weary:

“I don’t know.”

She didn’t know when this god’s game would end.

She just wanted to stop this farce now, no matter who was being tormented. She just wanted it to stop. She was too tired, she just wanted to rest.

She also wanted to conduct an experiment, so she turned to look at her room.

In the dark living room, her bedroom door was half-open, a steady, yellowish light spilling out, forming a fan-shaped, warm patch on the floor.

She didn’t know if the god was listening.

But, panting, she suppressed her hoarse voice and, facing the half-open door, said loudly:

“I hope this will end.”

After she finished speaking, the living room and bedroom fell silent. Except for her own panting and Li Wan’s sobs, there was no other sound.

Li Wan sat in the pool of blood and, for some reason, burst into loud sobs, her tears carving paths through the blood on her face.

So… had the god heard this new wish?

Would the god fulfill her wish?

Xiang Er looked at her bedroom, then back at the bathroom.

Fatigue slowed her thoughts. Her body acted before her mind could catch up. She leaned forward, her fingers lightly touching the shower faucet, her weak fingers struggling to exert force.

Gritting her teeth, her body pressed against the wall outside the bathroom, she finally managed to turn on the shower again.

“Whoosh—” clean, hot water flowed from the showerhead, sparkling brightly, perfectly normal, nothing unusual.

Li Wan stared with her red, swollen eyes, dumbfounded:

“Huh?”

Xiang Er said softly, wearily:

“It’s okay now, hurry up and clean yourself.”

After she finished speaking, she pressed against the wall, dragging her legs, and stepped out of the bathroom. She reached for the door to close it, but heard a scream from behind:

“Don’t close the door! Don’t…”

She let go of the doorknob and slowly walked back to her room, step by step.

Reaching her door, Xiang Er paused for a moment, her gaze slowly moving upwards from the old, yellow light… upwards.

When her gaze reached the level of her desk, she saw it. As expected.

The god statue was staring intently at her with its blood-red eye.

Through the dim, yellow light, the eye seemed to emit a bright fluorescence, like the clean water from the shower, and also like… the eye of a god residing within the sculpture.

Silent, sinister, carrying an aura of evil and otherworldliness, watching her, as she teetered on the edge of collapse.

Xiang Er finally entered her room. She had no choice, like prey walking into a spiderweb, delivering herself into the yellowish light.

With a “bang,” she closed the door.

Only she and the sculpture remained in the small room, staring at each other. A thought surfaced in her mind:

Would such an evil god fulfill the wishes of its believers for free? Besides, she wasn’t even a believer. She had crushed one of the god’s eyeballs this afternoon.

Perhaps… when the god accepted her wish, it had already set a price for her to pay.

So, what price could she pay?

She looked around. There was practically nothing of value in this room. The most valuable thing, her laptop, was probably something the god wouldn’t even glance at.

A chill ran down Xiang Er’s spine, her gaze… slowly turning towards herself.

Besides herself, she had nothing.

So, the god wanted… her.