Chapter 7 – Are you willing to go out?

Editor: Xinghe

Translator: YuQiChen/Churen

Jiang Que slept for a long time.

He had never experienced the warm feeling of falling asleep after being full. So as his vision darkened and Shen Tazhi’s storytelling voice grew fainter, Jiang Que was still puzzled about what was happening until the next moment when he fell into a deep sleep.

When his consciousness slowly returned, and he opened his eyes again, the first thing Jiang Que saw was Shen Tazhi’s back.

Why was there a human here?

Jiang Que’s thoughts stalled for a few seconds before he remembered everything that happened yesterday:

A novel and a human had fallen in, the human was very strange, the novel was very interesting, the human gave him food, told him bedtime stories, and then he slept until now.

Jiang Que recalled the first time he and Shen Tazhi met eyes yesterday, the uncontrollable feeling of his heart beating, he reached out to touch his chest, and found the usual silence which finally put his heart at ease.

He should be back to normal now, surely he wouldn’t shed tears in front of this human again.

Thinking this, Jiang Que softly warned his tentacle, “Shut up today, don’t say anything nice to Shen Tazhi in my ear again.”

He had wanted his chatty tentacle to shut up yesterday, but had never found the chance to avoid talking to Shen Tazhi and secretly with the tentacle.

He would not develop feelings for humans, nor would his tentacle!

The little tentacle nodded somewhat dejectedly, retracted slowly behind Jiang Que, hanging its tentacle tip.

They had enough cuddling last night, hmph.

Shen Tazhi was already awake, sitting in front heating something up, lighting an alcohol lamp. Jiang Que imitated Shen Tazhi from last night pulling up the sleeping bag, using his tentacle to pull down the zipper of the sleeping bag, silently walking to Shen Tazhi’s side and curiously poking his head out.

“What are you doing?”

Accustomed to moving lightly due to long periods in the silent darkness, Jiang Que’s movements were habitual and gentle. Shen Tazhi didn’t notice his approach at all, so when he suddenly spoke, he was startled and turned to see Jiang Que who had almost silently approached him from behind.

The just-awakened Jiang Que still had a slight sleepy blush on his face, his non-human pretty face full of curiosity, completely unaware of what might be wrong with his actions of almost bumping into Shen Tazhi.

Shen Tazhi’s breath paused for a second.

Not getting a response from the other, Jiang Que grew more puzzled, lifting his head to look at the bewildered Shen Tazhi, and asked again, “What is this?”

“…It’s toast and jam. The pot is heating water, and in a while, I can give you a cup of honey water.”

The man above’s Adam’s apple rolled imperceptibly, his voice somewhat low.

“Oh.”

Jiang Que didn’t quite understand, but obediently agreed, sitting quietly beside Shen Tazhi, waiting for him to feed him.

After being fed twice yesterday, he had a basic understanding of human food and knew that Shen Tazhi wouldn’t harm him, only bring him delicious things. Therefore, he wouldn’t cause trouble at this time, just that he couldn’t help but curiously ask Shen Tazhi:

“Do you humans usually eat these things?”

“Not really, we usually eat other dishes that are even tastier than these, but it’s inconvenient to make them here. When you leave, I can make them for you.”

Jiang Que moved behind Shen Tazhi to avoid the glaring light, and calmly raised his head to look at the darkness above the abyss where his head couldn’t be seen, saying, “I can’t leave.”

On the stone slab beneath him were faintly glowing runes, he couldn’t even reach the end at the bottom, let alone walk out of this abyss of unknown depth.

Jiang Que said this without any fluctuations in his heart, after all, he had been aware of this fact since he had memories. He even had the leisure to think about how to handle Shen Tazhi’s body if he were to naturally die at the bottom of the earth.

A soft sigh came from ahead, and Jiang Que saw Shen Tazhi turning around, his eyes showing unclear emotions, then he raised his hand and patted his own head.

Shen Tazhi asked, “If, I mean if, there was a chance to leave now, would you want to go out?”

“Not willing,” Jiang Que blurted out.

He was always particularly sensitive about the questions regarding “humans” and the “outside world,” babbling on with his fingers intertwined:

“First of all, I’m not human, and if I go out, I’ll be hunted by humans. Then, humans are a boring, passive bunch. Only a very few are interesting, the rest are either on the path to death or already dead. It’s pointless to go out.”

“Lastly…” Jiang Que revealed a somewhat carefree and innocent smile.

“Now isn’t the outside full of natural disasters? Humans are going to be extinct anyway. There’s no difference between here and outside. It will all end up in silence. Isn’t it better to stay here?”

He had never been outside, but he wasn’t really stupid. Just glimpses of the outside world through malice were enough for him to infer what kind of world it was. So Jiang Que had only ever considered replacing humans, not escaping from this abyss.

He was a monster anyway, it would be the same wherever he was. It was better to stay in the abyss than go to the boring and malicious human world.

Jiang Que realized something was off as he spoke, his smile fading, looking steadily at Shen Tazhi. “Do you really want to go back?”

He may not be human, but Shen Tazhi was a genuine human.

Jiang Que narrowed his eyes, threateningly wrapping his tentacles around Shen Tazhi’s neck. He could clearly hear the sound of blood flowing through Shen Tazhi’s neck. With just a twist, this fragile human would lose his life instantly.

“Do you want to return to the world of humans?” Jiang Que asked again.

His voice was soft, with a hint of a smile that hadn’t completely disappeared from his face, but the threatening movement of his tentacles left no room for doubt.

He wouldn’t allow someone who could potentially expose him to leave, no matter how interesting they may be.

If it were anyone else in this situation, they would probably have started to panic, but not Shen Tazhi. Jiang Que could even sense the steady flow of his blood, as calm as ever, as if completely unaware of the deadly threat to his neck.

“I really want to go back,” Shen Tazhi’s voice was calm.

According to Jiang Que’s initial thought, when Shen Tazhi said he wanted to go back, Jiang Que should have already snapped his neck. However, because of Shen Tazhi’s overly calm demeanor, Jiang Que did nothing, just quietly waiting for him to continue.

He was curious about Shen Tazhi’s reasons.

“After all, in the world of humans, there are many novels and foods. If I could go back, life would be much more interesting than it is here.”

“Many…?” Jiang Que was puzzled.

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