Chapter 67: Feeling Dizzy

Following behind him, his tall frame blocked others from seeing me—and of course, it blocked my view as well.

“Ouch! My head!”

Without paying attention, I walked straight into a lamppost. A crisp *clink* rang out, and my head started buzzing as if 100 little bees had flown inside.

“…You really are something. You can’t even walk in a straight line.”

“Eh? Clearly, there’s something wrong with the way you’re leading me.” A bit angry, I wobbled as I tried to stand up.

I crashed into the lamppost again.

“Waaaah… it hurts so much…”

Lu Xiu was completely speechless. He stood there, his eyes filled with disdain and helplessness. “This time it wasn’t my fault, right? I was standing right here, I didn’t even move. You walked into it yourself.”

“I’ve been possessed by an aberration! Save me, Lu Xiu, I don’t know how to walk anymore!”

I stood up, only to wobble and fall again. My head was spinning. Many bubbles appeared in the sky, and there were candies inside them.

“Why is your face so red?”

He stepped closer, and that crisp scent of grass made me feel a little more sober.

“Red… Th-this is called being healthy! *Hic*!”

Eh?

How strange.

My body.

It’s so hot.

“The way you look… it’s like you’re drunk.”

“Drunk? What’s that?”

“Something adults drink.” He gave me a pull, and I went completely limp. He propped me up like a lump of mud. “Did you eat something you weren’t supposed to?”

“No… I just… I ate a grotesque core… Hehe, it was sweet… and now, I feel so hot…”

“…I think I know what the problem is.” He sighed.

“Lu Xiu… I have no strength left… Can you fly me to the Response Division?”

“Starting to talk nonsense… Good grief.” Lu Xiu tugged at me, and I let out another full burp, squinting my eyes.

“Lu Xiu, I feel so comfortable.”

“You’re drunk and confused.”

“I’m very sober, I’ve never been this sober. You’re a big stupid pig.”

The grip on my wrist tightened a bit.

Lu Xiu simply squatted down to steady me. As soon as he let go, I began to topple to the side again.

“Wooohooo!”

My head almost shared an intimate kiss with the ground, but Lu Xiu caught me just in time.

“Seriously… why am I stuck with you…” Finally, he turned his back to me. “Can you move? Crawl onto my back, and I’ll carry you.”

“Mmm…” I tried hard to open my eyes, but the world had turned into an upside-down floating city.

Rainbow ponies were crashing into cars on the road, and in the far distance, a giant candied hawthorn demon was fighting a bowl of spicy turkey noodles.

“I need to stay calm. Lu Xiu, do you think I should stay calm?”

“Just get on first.”

“But I… Hehe, I don’t want to. I want to be a bad person, and then you won’t be able to catch me.”

“Check out my Bad Person Flying Kick!”

With that, I took a running start, but then my left foot tripped over my right. I literally took flight and slammed into his back with a *thud*, nearly knocking him over.

“Hehe… Target hit! 100 points…”

“…Hiss…” Lu Xiu rubbed his lower back while his other hand supported me. He stood up shakily. “Fine. I’ll remember this. Just wait until you’re sober to see how I’ll give you your Punishment.”

Even though he said that, he still tucked me in securely and began walking forward with a slightly awkward gait.

I circled my arms around his neck and pressed my small face into the crook of his shoulder, sniffing.

“Ugh… Lu Xiu, you smell so bad…”

“Shut up.”

“No, you just… uh… you’re like a giant pile of rotten mud. Smelly, even smellier than poop…”

“Ow! Hey! You’re pinching me!” A sting of pain from his waist made him jerk forward, trying to dodge the attack.

“Stop shaking! So many people are looking!”

“Oh… what does that have to do with me… I only need you…” I hugged him tighter. “Just you… don’t leave me, okay? Lu Xiu… I’m very obedient… don’t abandon me.”

“…Let go first, I’m being strangled to death by you.”

“No, no… I want to hear you say it… that you’ll never leave me…”

“Fine, fine, I won’t leave you. Is that enough?”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Hehe… I really like you! Lu Xiu!”

I hugged him with all my might. He stumbled, nearly falling into the roadside greenery.

“Let—let go… otherwise, I won’t live to see tomorrow’s sun…”

“Mm-hmm…” I rubbed my face against his neck.

“Whew… I survived.” Lu Xiu breathed a sigh of relief. He wanted to look back at me, but he stopped and instead gave me a little hop to settle me better on his broad back. “You…”

“Hmm… what is it?”

I was feeling a bit sleepy.

“No, it’s nothing…”

I could feel that he had a lot to say, but in the end, it was all kept inside his heart. What came instead was a warmer body temperature and his heartbeat, which pulsed through his thin clothes and into me.

“Lu Xiu… your heart is beating…”

“…If it didn’t beat, I’d be dead.”

“I don’t want you to die.”

“Yeah, I know. I won’t die.”

“Hehe, you’re so obedient.”

His steps were steady, and I couldn’t feel any bumping. In my world, those candy bubbles had all disappeared.

Everyone had turned into white rice cakes, except for Lu Xiu. He carried me, walking through the sea of rice cakes, always heading forward.

I secretly peeked through a slit of my eyes at his profile. I saw the stubble on his chin, the few strands of white hair mixed in his messy black hair, and his scarred ear.

This was the first time I had looked at him from so close. Before, he always looked like a bad person, teasing me and correcting me…

But today, looking from behind, it was a different Lu Xiu.

Bad person Lu Xiu, good person Lu Xiu, and Haicao Tuan Lu Xiu…

They were all Lu Xiu.

‘I really want to taste Lu Xiu’s flavor.’

I swallowed hard and looked at his neck. There was a lot of blood in there, and it was the most vulnerable spot.

If I bit down, Lu Xiu would spray blood.

Hehe.

I opened my mouth.

“Nom!”

“Hiss! Why are you biting my ear?!”

“Mmph mmph” (I was muffled).

I covered my teeth with my lips and nibbled gently.

“Pah, pah… so salty…”

“Ow!” He pinched me again!

“If you mess around anymore, I’m dropping you!”

“Don’t drop me…” I held him tight.

“You’re strangling me again! Let go, you idiot!”

Suddenly, I felt a bit nauseous… my stomach…

“Lu Xiu… I’m going to throw up…”

“???” His whole body froze. “Wait! Don’t—!”

“Bleargh!!!”

Ah… much better.

“You two… is this some kind of performance art?”

Qu Le looked at Lu Xiu, who was wrapped in white plastic bags, and me, who was slumped over his shoulder.

“Just a small problem.”

Lu Xiu’s voice was a bit raspy.

“Yeah… Lu Xiu, I’m hungry… my stomach is empty… I want to eat… My head is still spinning, hehe… I’m a big butterfly…”

Qu Le looked at Lu Xiu with an indescribable expression, and the latter returned the look.

“You’ve had a hard time.” In the end, that was all Qu Le could say.

“It wasn’t hard…”

I answered for Lu Xiu.

Eventually, Lu Xiu couldn’t be bothered to argue with me anymore and told Qu Le about what had happened on the street.

After listening, Qu Le nodded and took a file from his drawer.

“This is?”

“The lab report on the human-snake.”

“Didn’t you say it was human?”

“That’s right, it’s human tissue. But clearly, the activity of the tissue is completely different from a human’s—it’s nearly dozens of times higher.”

Lu Xiu tossed me onto a chair and reached out to open the file.

“Moreover, these tissues have some kind of mimicry mechanism. The White Tower staff discovered this during testing.”

“They simulate the substances they come into contact with and then begin to assimilate them—or rather, they read the information of the contacted substance and then change their own structure.”

Qu Le held up two fingers.

“To put it simply, it’s assimilation and fusion.”

“Inside the entire human-snake, we found a few different sets of DNA, and this DNA is inevitably being assimilated, or rather, returning to one.”

“Assimilation… Returning to one…” Lu Xiu rubbed his chin. “The Heavenly Kingdom?”

“Exactly.” Qu Le nodded. “Literally returning to one, where everything merges with each other… flesh, biological information… even inorganic matter.”

“Like a tumor growing wildly without any restraint.”

“This is likely the truth of the Heavenly Kingdom.”