Chapter 75: Honesty
Large, fluffy snowflakes fell silently, gently, like white, ethereal spirits dancing in the wind outside. They were so light, so weightless, that the slightest breath of air could shatter them, sending them spiraling downwards.
The white blanket of snow covered the earth, the night almost over, the sun rising inexorably behind the veil of snow, its light unstoppable.
A new day had begun.
And in this crumbling building, on the top floor, in this precariously mended home…
No matter how frantically the evil god pleaded, how desperately it self-harmed, the frail yet resolute human remained unmoved.
It had been a night of agonizing regret for the god, a night of fury and madness, a night when all its powers had failed.
Shen Yuhe, holding one of her thin tentacles, stood humbly by Xiang Er’s chair, waiting, waiting…
There was no response. Xiang Er’s head rested against the back of the chair, her eyes closed.
She had fallen asleep, the carefully controlled thoughts in her mind now leaking out.
She was thinking: Akhe, disgusting. Deceit… disgusting.
Akhe’s tears of blood had dried on her face, forming a thick, crusty mask, a grotesque layer over the meticulously crafted human face.
No more tears could flow, the blood-red eyes completely sealed shut, seemingly blind.
But it still stood there, silently, like a withered tree trunk.
The morning light gradually filled the room, a fair and impartial light, shining equally on everyone, regardless of the world’s deceptions, its misunderstandings and betrayals.
After a while, Akhe stirred.
Akhe, using its human arms, gently lifted Xiang Er’s slender body, its tentacles, like countless legs, carrying her silently, smoothly, into the guest room, placing her gently on the bed, tucking her in.
Then It sat beside the bed, its gaze fixed on Xiang Er.
Xiang Er shifted slightly, settling into her usual sleeping position, and slept.
Having just died and been reborn, her body craved nourishment and rest, too exhausted even for dreams.
Akhe hesitated, then reached out and, from An Yue’s bag, took out a syringe and a large bottle of medicine.
An Yue, who had been dozing at the table, saw this and opened her mouth to speak, then hesitated, and finally said:
“…That’s a nutritional supplement, be careful, don’t inject too much at once.”
Akhe ignored her, carefully following the procedure it had observed, and began injecting Xiang Er.
An Yue yawned, thinking that she was probably stuck here for a while, she would just have to make the best of it. She looked at the food on the table… and cautiously reached for a piece of toast, waiting.
Good, no tentacles attacked her, it seemed she was allowed to eat.
While Akhe was occupied, An Yue quickly devoured the entire breakfast, both portions, then even took the dishes to the kitchen, not daring to wash them, afraid of making too much noise and disturbing Xiang Er.
She returned to the living room, unsure what to do, and sat at the table, watching the guest room door.
The tentacled Evil God was busy inside, injecting Xiang Er, then healing the injection site, tidying the room, rearranging things.
An Yue sighed, thinking: This Evil God, capable of destroying the world, yet clueless about how to appease its lover.
She muttered this thought to herself, and a tentacle immediately shot out from the guest room, slapping her on the shoulder.
“How do I appease my lover?”
The female voice echoed directly in An Yue’s mind.
Then, An Yue felt her memories being accessed, her entire life, good and bad, the Evil God rummaging through her mind like a dumpster diver.
An Yue quickly said:
“Wait! I’ll tell you, just don’t… do that! I’ve never been in a relationship, but I know a lot about relationships!”
The Evil God, its attention pulled away from a memory of An Yue being punished for wetting the bed at age nine, its tentacle hovering before her, like a small person, its suckers opening and closing, several eyes sprouting from its surface, staring at her, waiting for her to speak.
An Yue’s mind raced, and clearing her throat, she began:
“The first rule of appeasing a lover, and also the most important one: honesty! And by honesty, I don’t mean just…”
She talked and talked, from the first light of dawn to the sun high in the sky, the snow melting, human society rebuilding its order.
Perhaps… there was hope for a new beginning, the Evil God thought, taking notes as it listened.
When Xiang Er woke up, her throat was parched.
The next second, a glass of water was brought to her lips, and she instinctively opened her mouth, the warm liquid soothing her dry throat.
But she quickly came to her senses, closing her lips, turning her head away, and opening her eyes.
As expected… a tentacle, holding a glass of water, hovered before her, connected to Shen Yuhe’s arm.
Shen Yuhe was standing a short distance away, and seeing Xiang Er awake, she stepped back, the tentacle retracting, placing the glass on the table.
Xiang Er looked at the scene, her mind blank, having learned, since dying, to suppress her thoughts, thoughts were useless, they would only be heard by this grotesque monster.
“You’re awake? Are you feeling unwell anywhere? Do you need anything?”
Shen Yuhe’s voice, gentle and concerned, echoed.
The voice that had once filled Xiang Er’s heart with warmth now only evoked disgust and resentment.
But the emotions faded, dissolving into the sunlight streaming through the window.
Xiang Er, following her instincts, sat up and got out of bed. She hadn’t eaten, but she wasn’t hungry, and her body felt strangely strong, her movements steady, not giving the tentacles a chance to help her.
She glanced out the window. The sun was shining, a beautiful day, but it had nothing to do with her anymore.
She was just a ghost, a ghost forcibly brought back, unwilling to exist, and the fact that she had woken up today was already a disappointment, having to continue living in this body, a constant torment.
She entered the bathroom, not bothering to close the door, it was broken, beyond repair.
“Just bear with it for now, I’ll fix this room today, or we can move somewhere else, where do you want to go?”
Shen Yuhe’s voice followed her, but she didn’t enter the bathroom, no tentacles appeared at the door, not even a trace of black slime. Xiang Er used the toilet, then came out.
“We can move to a villa, or perhaps a penthouse apartment? A five-star hotel? By the sea? In the mountains? Anywhere you want.”
Shen Yuhe continued.
Xiang Er lay back on the bed, staring at the cracked ceiling, her mind blank.
She felt someone sit down beside the bed, but she didn’t look.
Shen Yuhe pulled up a chair and sat beside her, her voice soft and coaxing, like a mother to a child:
“If you want to stay here, that’s fine too, I know this is our home, I’ll fix it. And… I want to apologize, I’m sorry, I was wrong, I shouldn’t have lied to you. I’m truly sorry.”
She stood up and, imitating a human apology, bowed deeply, her hand placed over her heart, her posture contrite.
An Yue’s Rule Number One: Honesty. First point: Admit your mistakes, apologize sincerely.
She didn’t care if Xiang Er was looking at her, just continued speaking:
“I shouldn’t have created the persona of Shen Yuhe, I shouldn’t have lied to you about being an investigator, I was wrong, I’m sorry. I’m an unforgivable fool, I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I still have to say, I’m sorry.”
She bowed again, her posture humble, her gaze not meeting Xiang Er’s, fixed on the cracked floor.
Xiang Er remained unresponsive, lying still, her eyes slowly closing, as if asleep.
But Shen Yuhe knew she wasn’t asleep.
Shen Yuhe continued:
“I shouldn’t have kept so many things from you, so now, I’ll tell you everything, whether you want to hear it or not. And if I’m disturbing you, I apologize in advance.”
An Yue’s Rule Number One, second point: There should be no secrets between lovers, respect each other’s right to know, one party shouldn’t reveal everything while the other hides things.
Shen Yuhe knew she shouldn’t keep secrets, she had to tell her everything.
“In the beginning, I was just a sleeping Evil God. Of course, that title, Evil God, is something you humans gave me, I prefer to call myself… the Primordial Spirit of the Universe.
Beings like us, we existed since the beginning of the universe, we grew amidst the stars, our companions celestial bodies, feeding on radiation, killing each other, always alone. About a thousand years ago, I came to this planet and fell into a deep slumber, occasionally awakened by your human rituals, sometimes I would kill, sometimes I would grant your wishes, just for amusement. Until one day, I sensed a scent of blood that intrigued me, a scent that led me to a small wooden carving, and I saw you.”
Shen Yuhe took a deep breath, her voice filled with emotion:
“I don’t understand why, but the moment I saw you, something within me awakened, I didn’t know what was happening, it was as if… my entire existence had shifted, my form overflowing, my many eyes blinded to everything but you, my tentacles, as if with a mind of their own, reaching towards you… I was confused, I had to get closer to you, to observe you, I wanted to know what you had done to me, what had made me lose control.
Later, I learned that you humans call it love at first sight. I… I fell in love with you at first sight.”
Xiang Er lay still, her breathing hitching slightly, the steady rhythm disrupted.
Only for half a second, then her breathing returned to normal, only her eyelashes fluttering slightly.
Shen Yuhe’s words, like a rising tide, continued to flow, her gaze fixed on Xiang Er, as if looking back at their shared time, her expression distant:
“Just being near you, I felt something I hadn’t felt in millennia, my tentacles would turn red, my fluids would increase, a strange scent would emanate from me… did you know? My tentacles are always black, they never turn red, isn’t that strange? I thought something was wrong with me, I examined myself repeatedly, and finally, I realized, it was you, just being near you, I would change, I would become strange, not myself.
I understand now, in your human language, it’s called desire. A desire only felt for the one you love.”
As she spoke, tentacles, uncontrollably, sprouted from her body, blood-red tentacles, their suckers a vivid, dazzling red.
The tentacles writhed in the air, and her voice grew more fervent:
“At first, I tried to approach you in my true form, but you were terrified, and I didn’t know what to do, I thought you hated my true form, but I had to be near you… so I looked into your memories, your thoughts, and I crafted a human form, based on your preferences.
I thought that by becoming human, I could be with you, after all, you would surely like my human form, wouldn’t you? And it worked, you liked my human form very much.
But I couldn’t always resist using my true form, and every time I did, it only made you hate it more… then you wished for me to leave, and you know, I would grant any wish of yours, so I made my true form leave, and I stayed with you as a human, I thought… I thought I would be content with just being your Shen Yuhe.”
Shen Yuhe suddenly stopped, her gaze fixed on Xiang Er, a despairing smile curving her lips.
Her voice filled with self-mockery and despair, she said:
“But I didn’t understand love. I didn’t understand, love is such a terrifying thing, I couldn’t bear that you only loved Shen Yuhe, but not… the real me.”
Her tentacles gently caressed Xiang Er’s hair, a tender, loving touch.
A tentacle picked up a strand of Xiang Er’s hair, twining it around itself, a gesture of comfort, of self-soothing.
Xiang Er didn’t open her eyes.
She opened her mouth, her voice hoarse:
“But you know, I never loved you.”
Her voice rising, she suddenly opened her eyes, her gaze filled with a burning hatred, like a black lightning bolt, shattering the illusion of Shen Yuhe’s beautiful face:
“I only hate that I can’t kill you!”
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