Chapter 33: Lingering

I walk down the street, my umbrella like a huge thin film, separating me from the sky, yet constantly flowing.

People avoid me, making detours around me.

Some even pull out their phones, as if they’re about to call the Yingdui Si.

I have no choice but to hide in a small alley, finding a deserted corner.

So cold, so hungry.

I kind of want to eat Apple Pie.

I sit under the awning window, hiding from the rain.

I can’t go out yet, I have to wait until there are fewer people before I can leave.

Otherwise, I’ll get caught and taken back.

I hug my knees, and the Changshe at my belly stretches out, wrapping tightly around me, as if this can bring a hint of warmth.

“Eh? What’s that?”

“I don’t know, is it a monster?”

“Should we call the police?”

“Wait, let me see if it reacts.”

A muddled noise comes from nearby, and I slowly open my eyes. Suddenly, a dull thud comes from outside the Changshe.

A small stone falls at my feet.

So annoying.

Tap tap.

Two more.

So annoying.

“Looks like it’s dead.”

“Should we sell it to the demon hunters?”

“This thing isn’t worth much, right?”

“Even a mosquito’s leg is still meat.”

Chattering, so noisy.

Hiss—

The Changshe writhes, revealing my eyes.

Two men stand before me, holding umbrellas, discussing what to do with me.

“Eh? Is there someone in there?”

One of them seems to notice me.

“Is it a normal person who got devoured?”

The other immediately moves closer.

“Hey, hey, can you hear me? If you’re alive, say something.”

“You’re being too noisy.”

I complain.

“Uh?” He doesn’t seem to understand what I’m saying.

The Changshe slowly wriggles, curling back into my body. This scene makes the two men stumble back several steps, “M-monster.”

“I’m not a monster, I’m a person, a good person.”

“It can even talk! What the hell is this thing?”

You’re the monster. Your whole family are monsters.

Being disturbed by them, I’m quite unhappy and decide to find another place.

But a stick blocks my path.

“Wang, what are you doing?”

The stick-holder’s companion hurriedly shouts.

“Shut up, this guy can talk, it must be some kind of high-level thing! If we sell it, we won’t have to worry about food and clothes for the rest of our lives!”

This guy is really annoying.

“Move aside, I’m leaving now.”

I repeat myself again—this is courtesy.

But not only does he not reply, he even swings the stick at my head.

Pa━

The Changshe easily coils around the stick, then flings it up and down, tossing the man aside.

Weakling.

“Hiss… damn it.”

He rubs his waist, while his companion hurriedly supports him, “Maybe we shouldn’t get involved, he doesn’t even care about us, let’s just go.”

“No way! I have to get rich! Even if it kills me!”

His face twists, pushing his companion away and charging at me.

So annoying.

Pa—

The Changshe smacks him away, slamming him into the wall.

Pa——

Once more, smacks him to the ground.

Pa——

Crashes into and breaks the window awning.

“Cough, cough, cough…”

Blood bubbles out of his mouth, making me swallow unconsciously.

Gurgle—

Hunger wells up again.

So hungry.

Can I eat him?

He tried to hurt me.

Can I eat him?

Because he’s not a good person.

As long as they’re not good people, I can eat them.

My mind grows more and more chaotic, a drop of drool sliding from the corner of my mouth.

He climbs up again, rushing at me.

Still immersed in my hunger, I keep thinking about whether I should eat him.

In this moment of distraction, pain flashes through me.

A long cut appears on the Changshe—at some point, he pulled out a small knife from behind his waist and stabbed toward my heart.

Boom—

Thump thump——Thump thump

The Changshe swells, contracts.

I look at him.

“Die.”

You should die.

You hurt me.

You are the enemy.

So I have to eat you.

All enemies must be eaten.

The Changshe tightens, and I can even hear his bones creaking and snapping.

His screams, for some reason, bring me a strange sense of satisfaction.

[That’s right, eat him, eat these weak little creatures, eat everything.]

Eat…

My huge mouth slowly opens, revealing a pitch-black maw, and the Changshe drags him toward it.

Eat him.

Then I won’t be hungry.

And I’ll be punishing evil for the world.

I’m a good person.

Pa——

My head gets hit by something.

I pause, and see his companion throwing an empty plastic bottle at me.

Pa——

The plastic bottle lands at my feet this time.

“M-monster! Let go of my friend!”

Monster?

I shake my head, “I’m not a monster.”

“You still say you’re not a monster!”

“He tried to hurt me, I was protecting myself. He’s the bad one, I’m the good one, he’s the real monster.”

He’s choked by my words, unable to say a thing.

Standing there, neither moving forward nor back.

I ignore him, continuing what I was doing.

“You, you’re a demon! I-I’m reporting you to the Yingdui Si! They’ll kill you!”

My movements suddenly halt.

Yingdui Si…

Yingdui Si……Lu Xiu……

Can’t eat people…

But I’m so hungry……he’s a bad person……

Can’t eat people.

“Not even bad people?”

“Sui, remember, bad people deserve punishment, but you must understand—don’t let punishing the bad turn you into the person you hate most.”

“Once you start eating people, you’ll stand forever against the Yingdui Si, and that makes us enemies. It’s not worth it, they’re not worth you falling that far.”

The Changshe loosens, dropping the man with broken bones to the ground.

I turn away and slowly disappear at the end of the alley.

Hungry.

So hungry.

I want to eat Apple Pie, want to drink Kuyan Fire Village.

I want to eat the food Lu Xiu made.

But……all of that is gone now.

I can’t eat people.

Then what can I eat?

I want to eat the fancy little cakes in the bakery window.

But I have no money.

Can’t steal.

That’s what Lu Xiu said.

I want to eat the delicious food laid out at the street stalls.

Can’t steal.

Lu Xiu said that too.

He said a lot, so many things.

I can’t remember them all.

But it feels like every single rule just makes me even hungrier.

Wandering, I leave the city and return to the small park where I once dealt with the Super Haicao Tuan.

There’s no fish in the river, only grass I can gnaw on.

I find the ant nest I remembered, and eat some ants.

But I’m still hungry.

I arrive at the Happy Residential District, the building where I once dealt with the Hanging Man Demon—my temporary home.

I wander the city, drift through the world.

But I find nothing.

Can’t find myself, can’t find that happiness I once had.

Only now do I realize.

My freedom has long since been lost.

And the one who chained me—is myself.

“So hungry, so hungry, so hungry, so hungry…”

I return to the trash bin where I once escaped, hugging myself.

I want to eat something…

I’m a little scared, my body’s instincts are endlessly destroying my reason.

I’m afraid I can’t control myself.

Afraid I’ll eat someone.

What should I do…

Will someone save me?