So hungry, so hungry, so unbearably hungry,
His pupils tightened into a thin, excited slit. Yi Fengchu’s entire body thrummed with an uncontrollable urge to hunt, to chase the source of that intoxicating scent, to swallow it whole and let it sit in his stomach for a long, slow digestion.
But just then, from the very depths of the pitch black space, a familiar voice called out to him.
“Narrator… sir…”
Who was calling him?
Yi Fengchu paused instinctively. His movements stalled and a thin thread of clarity returned to his mind, though only in comparison to the state of being completely driven by hunger he had just been in.
He still felt as though he were trapped deep inside a dream. He could vaguely sense that something was off about his current state but he couldn’t fully awaken. His actions always leapt ahead of his thoughts, as if he acted first and only considered things afterward.
In the span of what felt like a single fleeting thought, Yi Fengchu arrived at the source of the voice. He saw the silhouette of a person walking hesitantly through the darkness.
There was almost no light here at all yet Yi Fengchu could perfectly outline the shape of things. He could see every strand of the person’s hair, every twitching nerve, every living cell. He recognized the figure as someone he knew, his schoolmate, the neighbor who lived right across from his room.
Most importantly, he could not eat her.
And she was not the source of the scent that had made him so ravenous.
Thus, Yi Fengchu suppressed his desire to feed. Forcing himself to be patient, he answered, “I’m here.”
Luo Shengyue’s entire body went rigid.
She heard a strange voice respond to her, a voice like countless throats opening at once, overlapping and resonating as layers of chaotic echoes swam into her ears, scratching and scraping along her ear canal.
Yes. Swam.
It was the first time Luo Shengyue realized that a sound could actually be described with such a word. It didn’t feel like mere sound waves. It was something else, something tangible, perceptible, moving.
Something alive.
Beyond the strange chorus of echoes, the clearest, most central part of the voice was the crisp, cool tone of a young man.
Objectively speaking, it wasn’t unpleasant at all. One could even call it beautiful but Luo Shengyue felt that it was absolutely not something a mere ordinary human like her was meant to appreciate.
Yi Fengchu stared at her tense, unmoving back, watching her freeze like a cornered prey. After a moment, he realized something that irritated him even more, he needed to lift his gaze slightly to see the top of her head.
What? Was he that short?
He vaguely remembered being at least half a head taller than Luo Shengyue.
Immediately, Yi Fengchu refocused himself and stretched his body upward with force,
Upward. Higher and higher. Stretching endlessly, as though there were no limit to how far he could extend. Before long, he had to lower his head to look down on her.
Because they were standing so close, Luo Shengyue could clearly sense the rustling movements behind her. She heard countless scales sliding against one another, cold, frictional sounds that spread upward into the air, a repeating ka cha, ka cha that climbed and climbed, making it impossible for her to imagine what kind of colossal creature now towered behind her.
In the darkness, Luo Shengyue could see nothing but she could almost picture it. If there were light here, she would surely be standing beneath an impossibly vast shadow, completely enveloped by it.
“N–Narrator… sir…?”
Even though Luo Shengyue felt she had become somewhat familiar with this higher being, her voice still trembled despite her best efforts, revealing a faint thread of fear.
Yi Fengchu looked down at her from above, faintly puzzled.
Why was she afraid?
Was there something wrong with how he looked right now?
Still, faced with a senior who was inexplicably terrified, Yi Fengchu decided he should at least say something to calm her down.
“Don’t be afraid.” The overlapping echoes sounded again, even closer to her than before. “…And don’t turn around.”
“Don’t look at me. Don’t try to imagine what I look like.”
Luo Shengyue swallowed hard and nodded with a violent shiver.
How could she not be afraid?!
Right now, she could clearly feel many cold, slender things dangling down from above her, like ancient, tangled vines, drifting and swaying above her head…
They felt like snakes.
Countless thin, cold scaled serpents.
Could it be that the Narrator’s true form was an enormous mass of snakes?
Could he be revered as the “King of Serpents”?
No, no, she must not imagine it! Calm down, calm down. Rein in your thoughts…
Following the Narrator’s warning with the utmost seriousness, Luo Shengyue locked her neck in place. She forced herself not to turn even a fraction, flinging every intrusive thought out of her mind with desperate discipline.
Just then, she sensed the serpents above her still themselves, then, all at once, turn toward the same direction.
“Listen,” the Narrator said, amusement lacing his tone, as if teasing her, “there’s a little creature crying.”
The serpents’ soft hissing slithered around her ears. She felt those vine like, cold scaled beings gliding behind her, sometimes brushing the top of her hair with a chilling scrape. She didn’t dare look back. Her whole neck was locked stiff, eyes fixed straight ahead into the endless darkness.
Luo Shengyue did not dare to contemplate what form the Narrator’s true body might take. She could only try to shift her attention elsewhere, forcing a shaky smile in an attempt to respond. “Crying? …I’m sorry, I can’t hear anything.”
In her senses, this place was nothing but boundless darkness. The only companions she had were two beings who spoke to her and one of them now lingered behind her in a form far, far more terrifying than anything she could ever have imagined.
Her scalp prickled as though it might burst open. The fact that she was still standing upright, not collapsing to her knees, was already an impressive show of willpower.
She even found herself thinking:
Goodness. Her mother would never have imagined that the little girl who used to shriek and cry at the sight of a horror movie would one day grow up and pretend to be calm while talking to…
To a being who might very well be a god and who looked like a demon.
Yi Fengchu gazed down at her from above. Confusion colored his voice. “You really can’t hear anything?”
Sir, perhaps you don’t fully understand human sensory limits…
Grumbling silently in her heart, Luo Shengyue explained, “Yes. I can only hear something like… the howl of sea wind rushing through a maze of caves.”
“Perhaps, to someone like you, that might be the sound of a creature crying?”
Yi Fengchu still felt half dreaming, half awake. Once again, in his not so clearheaded state, he listened closely. The sobbing was unmistakably distinct, echoing all around them. It was threaded with the faintest hint of crashing waves, distant, lingering, ethereal.
And at the end of that sobbing… lay the very source of the scent that was making him hungry.
Yi Fengchu flicked out his forked tongue, feeling a faint itch along the venomous fangs concealed in his mouth. Hunger tightened in his chest again. He wanted, truly wanted, to hunt.
But in a situation like this, leaving Senior Luo alone here did not match the “good young man” ideals instilled in him since childhood. That was not the kind of moral standard he believed he should meet.
So, relying purely on willpower, Yi Fengchu forcibly suppressed his growing appetite. A look of pity crossed his gaze as he glanced down at Luo Shengyue, sighing inwardly without a sound.
How pitiful… So young and yet her ears can’t hear well and her eyes can’t see.
“?”
Luo Shengyue felt the serpents above her shifting slightly, shaking their bodies as though… shaking their heads. Instinctively, she began to lift her chin in confusion but halfway up she slammed the motion to a stop.
No lifting your head. No looking…
She reminded herself once again, sternly. Then she heard the Narrator’s layered voice echo:
“You’ve been standing here this whole time. It seems you cannot see properly.”
“Yes. Humans generally cannot see in environments without light.” She corrected herself with scholarly seriousness. “Those high ranking ability users might be exceptions, they no longer fall within the category of normal humans but I am obviously not one of them.”
Yi Fengchu fell silent.
A faint dissatisfaction rose within him.
What did she mean, humans generally cannot see?
He could see perfectly well, couldn’t he?
But he was in a hurry to hunt and he didn’t want to waste time arguing with her. Acting purely on instinct, he severed a small portion of himself, like casually plucking off a strand of hair, effortless and painless and let it drift toward Luo Shengyue.
“Then I’ll let you ‘see.’ ”
✦ ✧ ✦
Nycreth
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
This chapter was powered by questionable decisions. The next one may require coffee.
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
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ChaptersChapter 1 · Mysterious letterChapter 2 · Divine MessagesChapter 3 · Gamer ForumChapter 4 · Invitation from GodChapter 5 · JudgeChapter 6 · TerminalChapter 7 · Destruction of recordsChapter 8 · Whale Bone Aquarium (1)Chapter 9 · Whale Bone Aquarium (2)Chapter 10 · Whale Bone Aquarium (3)Chapter 11 · Whale Bone Aquarium (4)Chapter 12 · Whale Bone Aquarium (5)Chapter 13 · Whale Bone Aquarium (6)Chapter 14 · Whale Bone Aquarium (7)Chapter 15 · Whale Bone Aquarium (8)Chapter 16 · Whale Bone Aquarium (9)Chapter 17 · Whale Bone Aquarium (10)Chapter 18 · Whale Bone Aquarium (11)Chapter 19 Part 1 · Whale Bone Aquarium (12)Chapter 19 Part 2 · Whale Bone Aquarium (12)Chapter 20 · Interlude: His ApostlesChapter 21 · Echoes in the pupa (1)Chapter 22 · Echoes in the pupa (2)Chapter 23 · Echoes in the Pupa (3)Chapter 24 · Echoes in the Pupa (4)Chapter 25 · Echoes in the Pupa (5)Chapter 26 · Echoes in the Pupa (6)Chapter 27 · Echoes in the Pupa (7)Chapter 28 · Echoes in the Pupa (8)Chapter 29 · Echoes in the Pupa (9)Chapter 30 · Echoes in the Pupa (10)Chapter 31 · Echoes in the Pupa (11)Chapter 32 · Echoes in the Pupa (12)Chapter 33 · Echoes in the Pupa (13)Chapter 34 · Interlude: Investigation by the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs (1)Chapter 35 · Interlude: Investigation by the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs (2)Chapter 36 · Interlude: Investigation by the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs (3)Chapter 37 · Small World: God’s Chessboard (1)Chapter 38 · Small World: God’s Chessboard (2)Chapter 39 · Small World: God’s Chessboard (3)Chapter 40 · Small World: God’s Chessboard (4)Chapter 41 · Advertisement Coming Soon (1)Chapter 42 · Advertisement Coming Soon (2)Chapter 43 · Advertisement Coming Soon (3)Chapter 44 · Advertisement Coming Soon (4)Chapter 45 · Advertisement Coming Soon (5)Chapter 46 · Advertisement Coming Soon (6)Chapter 47 · Advertisement Coming Soon (7)Chapter 48 · Advertisement Coming Soon (8)Chapter 49 · Advertisement Coming Soon (9)Chapter 50 · Advertisement Coming Soon (10)Chapter 51 · Advertisement Coming Soon (11)Chapter 52 · Advertisement Coming Soon (12)Chapter 53 · Advertisement Coming Soon to EndChapter 54 · Interlude – Tonight No One Sleeps (1)Chapter 55 · Interlude – Tonight No One Sleeps (2)Chapter 56 · Interlude – Tonight No One Sleeps (3)Chapter 57 · Interlude – Tonight No One Sleeps (4)Chapter 58 · Childhood Ghost Stories (1)Chapter 59 · Childhood Ghost Stories (2)Chapter 60 · Childhood Ghost Stories (3)Chapter 61 · Childhood Ghost Stories (4)Chapter 62 · Childhood Ghost Stories (5)Chapter 63 · Childhood Ghost Stories (6)Chapter 64 · Childhood Ghost Stories (7)Chapter 65 · Childhood Ghost Stories (8)Chapter 66 · Childhood Ghost Stories (9)Chapter 67 · Childhood Ghost Stories (10)Chapter 68 · Childhood Ghost Stories (11)Chapter 69 · Childhood Ghost Stories (12)Chapter 70 · Childhood Ghost Stories (13)Chapter 71 · Childhood Ghost Stories (14)Chapter 72 · Childhood Ghost Stories (15)Chapter 73 · Childhood Ghost Stories (16)Chapter 74 · Childhood Ghost Stories (17)Chapter 75 · Childhood Ghost Stories (18)Chapter 76 · Childhood Ghost Stories (19)Chapter 77 · Childhood Ghost Stories (20)Chapter 78 · Childhood Ghost Stories (Complete)Chapter 79 · Interlude: His Kingdom (1)Chapter 80 · Interlude: His Kingdom (2)Chapter 81 · Interlude: An Epic of Faith (1)Chapter 82 · Interlude: An Epic of Faith (2)Chapter 83 · Interlude: An Epic of Faith (3)Chapter 84 · Interlude: An Epic of Faith (4)Chapter 85 · Interlude: An Epic of Faith (5)Chapter 86 · Interlude: An Epic of Faith (Complete)Chapter 87 · Fate casually rolls the dice (1)Chapter 88 · Fate Casually rolls the dice (2)Chapter 89 · Fate Casually rolls the dice (3)Chapter 90 · Fate Casually rolls the dice (4)Chapter 91 · Fate casually tosses the dice (5)Chapter 92 · Fate casually tosses the dice (6)Chapter 93 · Fate casually tosses the dice (7)Chapter 94 · Fate casually tosses the dice (8)Chapter 95 · Fate casually tosses the dice (9)Chapter 96 · Fate casually tosses the dice (10)Chapter 97 · Fate Casually tosses the dice (11)Chapter 98 · Fate casually tosses the dice (12)Chapter 99 · Fate casually tosses the dice (13)Chapter 100 · Fate casually tosses the dice (14)Chapter 101 · Fate casually tosses the dice (15)Chapter 102 · Fate casually tosses the dice (16)Chapter 103 · Fate casually tosses the dice (17)Chapter 104 · Fate casually tosses the dice (18)Chapter 105 · Fate casually tosses the dice (19)Chapter 106 · Fate casually tosses the dice (20)Chapter 107 · Fate casually tosses the dice (21)Chapter 108 · Fate casually tosses the dice (The End)Chapter 109 · Interlude