I hardly edit chapters because I don’t have time so if there are any good samaritans among my readers feel free to dm me on discord (Xena6760) or comment below chapters if you see any discrepancy, thank you~
As Jian Xie finished his words, all the passengers turned their eyes towards him.
Like an old circuit breaker flipped with a spark.
The atmosphere in the entire carriage seemed stagnant, and an indescribable burnt smell filled the air.
Just as Jian Xie stepped inside it, his ears which had been in an unknown silence heard a buzzing sound, as if his body had penetrated a layer of water film and all the sounds rushed in at once. The cold feeling of the subway’s electronic announcements drifted over the entire train.
“——Passengers who are getting off the train, please take your carry-on luggage with you and get off from the right door in turn. Thank you for your cooperation, wishing you a pleasant journey.”
He looked at the carriages on both sides and was unconsciously in a dilemma.
Jian Xie reached into his pocket and took out a coin.
Front left, back right.
So it was pleasantly decided.
He casually flicked the coin upwards, but it unexpectedly stopped at the highest point.
It floated helplessly in the air above the carriage, like a small silver fish swimming in the air, gliding nimbly to the right.
【It’s not me.】 Qin Zhuo said lazily, 【It’s the coin.】
Jian Xie: “…………”
It’s was like trying to cover up one’s own guilt and making far-fetched arguments.
Although It agreed beforehand not to interfere, It couldn’t help but worry that something would happen to It’s human.
But let’s just forget about this little thing and don’t bother with the other party.
Jian Xie raised his arm, grabbed the coin that had stopped moving in the air, and put it back into his pocket.
He walked towards the direction chosen by Qin Zhuo. The passengers in the left carriage were still staring at his back, observing his every move in an extremely strange way. As he entered the right side from the connection, there was a muffled buzz from sound from the figures whispering in the carriage.
They were talking about him as if he were the target of public criticism.
But it was not the threatened ordinary people who were speaking themselves. Jian Xie noticed that it was that one that was deliberately manipulating everything, making everyone try their best to maintain a normal performance.
That was why, in Jian Xie’s eyes, all the passengers present here were performing.
The fact that the subway train did not disappear instantly when he boarded could only mean that it had indeed hijacked the subway. Otherwise, all the pretense should have disappeared immediately when he touched it. After all, Jian Xie’s body could unconsciously and greedily absorb all energy.
At the same time, the deliberately created noisy environment was also a means of causing mental stress to investigators.
From this perspective, it was quite cautious, as if it was really afraid that he would come to it immediately.
But there must be flaws. After all, he came directly here, so quickly and decisively that he didn’t give it any buffer time at all. Even if it had arranged all this, it was just a hasty and pale defense.
Although the predation field meant that it could do whatever it wanted to a certain extent, transferring hundreds of people so quickly must’ve been a considerable burden for it who has only been born not too long ago.
In short, if it made the wrong judgment at this time and panicked, it would fall into a disadvantage and would be full of loopholes.
Jian Xie’s face was calm as he glanced at the passengers and walked forward. He took out the coin that he had put back into his pocket, rotated it on his fingertips, and then flicked it up, switching it between his left and right hands.
The movements were skillful and concise, as if he was performing tricks.
There was the sound of knuckles snapping and clinking in the air as the coin moved between his fingers.
This was a habit he had when thinking, just like how he liked to spin a pen when doing homework and toss a coin when his mind was empty. He couldn’t change it no matter what. Sometimes, if neither of them was at hand, he even liked to bite his nails.
It might be a little anxiety-inducing, but he couldn’t change it.
“I’m sorry, but I seem to have a pretty good memory. I probably remember everyone’s faces.” Jian Xie said expressionlessly, as if he was speaking to the air or to a certain existence. “…I was watching those ordinary people in the safe zone, even the interactions between them. You don’t seem to have sent any of the investigators over?”
“……”
Just like the information from the Bureau that Cheng Li sent to him, he only read it once and already memorized the general content, even further able to match it up immediately when encountering related things. Based on this, Jian Xie’s way of thinking and logic were far beyond that of ordinary people.
Just ten minutes ago, he was very interested in messy-tie’s prop, so he looked at the crowd a few more times during the few minutes when Yu Jinghe left.
Like what Yu Jinghe had said, messy-tie was like a social butterfly, soothing everyone in the crowd. Jian Xie also observed everyone he came into contact with.
The people sitting in the carriage in front of him were all familiar faces.
A father and daughter.
Sweethearts, married couples, a family of three…
“Pa-ta.”
The coin that bounced from his thumb to his right hand was caught, and the anxiety-inducing sound echoing in the air finally stopped.
If noise was the monster’s attempt to put psychological pressure on him, it has probably lost. After all, at this moment, the subtle sound of Jian Xie’s fingers throwing up the coin and catching it again was what really backfired on the monster and caused it a great deal of pressure.
Because when the sound coming from the coin stopped, a pause button seemed to have been pressed on the entire subway train in an instant like an extremely oppressive signal. All the performative pretense of normalcy froze in place, and every passenger seemed to have become puppets with stiff limbs. Countless pairs of eyes looked at him again, like a concentrated stage spotlight shining on him.
Jian Xie raised his eyes and said calmly, “Will you come out on your own, or should I make you?”
After he finished speaking, the train remained dead silent.
It seemed to think that Jian Xie was just swindling it, rather than having actually discovered its true form.
It was a bit like not crying until you see the coffin.
“You seem to like pairing up with each other.” Jian Xie finished the first half of the sentence without any ups and downs, and then continued in a somewhat puzzling tone, “Do you have an obsession with matchmaking? After all, no matter how you look at it, it’s impossible for that lady to be with a man like that and give birth to a child who is not of the right age, right?”
Everyone on Train 6 was in pairs.
As Jian Xie said, it was outrageous, after all, not everyone has to travel together.
Just ten meters in front of him, sat a family of three.
If Jian Xie remembered correctly, this woman, who looked like a white-collar office worker, had been chatting happily with messy-tie before and the two seemed to have exchanged contact information. As for the other sloppy-looking man, he and the woman were sitting about twenty meters apart in the safe zone. The two did not know each other at all.
Lastly, there was the little child in their midst, whose face was buried in the lady’s bosom but whose simple clothing made no impression.
This little guy just appeared out of nowhere.
“……”
Finally, the child slowly raised his head from the lady’s arms.
“Crack.”
A series of teeth-grinding squeaks were heard from the air. Although its petite body was still cuddled against the lady sleepily, its neck had turned a hundred eighty degrees out of thin air, and a pair of bottomless eyes looked straight at Jian Xie.
The skin on its cheeks, neck, and arms showed abnormal wrinkles, like dirty clothes that had been crumpled by washing. It seemed that it had put on this human skin in a hurry, just like wearing a size L by mistake when waking up from sleep, so the size was not suitable.
Under Jian Xie’s gaze, the wrinkles unfolded, revealing eyeballs with too much white and looking extremely unfriendly to people with trypophobia.
Just like the one he had seen on the plant stem on the way into the subway station, the monster in front of him seemed to be made up of eyeballs.
Jian Xie couldn’t remember where he had seen a statement that said human teeth were very important tools for eating, so above the original teeth, that was, in the cheeks, there were actually many replacement teeth waiting, so when x-rayed, they look densely packed throughout the cheeks.1This is common in children who doesn’t have their permanent teeth yet. Lol I thought “the whole cheek” was exaggerated at first but then if you take into account that it’s a little child’s skull, then yes, it’s not too far off.
Very SAN-reducing.2Just repeating this in case anyone forgot. SAN in horror games meant Sanity.
Judging from the feeling this monster gave people, the growth principles of its eyeballs and teeth were the same. Jian Xie has reason to believe that its human skin was filled with eyeballs. What kind of voyeurism would give birth to such an ugly and disgusting monster?
And these countless eyes were staring at Jian Xie without blinking, which was creepy.
Jian Xie: “…”
It was not that he was picky about food, he just really found it a bit hard to eat.
“I’ve heard your name.” Every time it uttered a word, its squeezed eyeballs made a greasy gurgling sound, and thick liquid dripped onto the ground, emitting a nauseating and disgusting smell. “I woke up under this subway. The train brought me food and news.”
During the rush hour in the early mornings and evenings every day, the air was filled with discussions, disputes and resentments, which were its favorite things.
Humans will ignorantly rush to board this death train, leaning tiredly against the side of the train, sitting on the seats, or standing in front of the railings.
During those times, they wouldn’t pay attention to what was happening around them. Even if the people around them disappeared out of thin air, they would just think that the other party got off the station without them knowing, and wouldn’t think that they have been digested and absorbed by it as food.
In a large city, hundreds or even thousands of people may go missing every day. No one would notice what was happening in a subway station.
Most police forces only focus on the route the missing person has taken or no one would call the police for people who came to a big city alone. Every time it heard people on the subway discussing the strange disappearances in the newspaper with fear and awe, it felt extremely satisfied.
Thinking of this, a look of satisfaction from having created chaos and successfully deceived others appeared on its face.
But Jian Xie interrupted it mercilessly.
“My name?”
The image of the teddy bear suddenly flashed through his mind. If he remembered correctly, it seemed to have said his name when he first appeared.
Before accepting the beating, it confidently claimed that its next target was originally Jian Xie and that it was a pleasant surprise that the class president was his classmate.
Why did it feel like these rational monsters not only knew about him, but were also talking about him behind his back?
Jian Xie thought about it and couldn’t help but sigh.
【Tch.】 Qin Zhuo did not try to hide the disdain in his tone as he said coldly,【A bunch of worms.】
“You’re asking me this question?” It smiled. “Don’t you know?”
It felt that not only itself, but other monsters would also definitely take action.
According to its point of view, it was simply a miracle that Jian Xie was still alive and fell into its hands.
“I am well-informed. After all, other comrades occasionally take the train and chat in my territory.”
The monster didn’t seem to think that this was something that couldn’t be said. Instead, its tone became increasingly excited, its breathing became rapid, and its greedy eyes fell on Jian Xie. “They mentioned you, and I thought I should give it a try. How lucky it is! You came to me on your own initiative.”
It licked its tongue and began to drool unconsciously.
A fishy yellow liquid was secreted from the eyeballs of its body. This should have been the tear gland, but now it seemed more like its mouthpart for hunting.
Jian Xie: “…”
He often heard some girls in his class say that their tear ducts were located in strange places, but he didn’t know what that meant. But now he seemed to understand.
Unaware that Jian Xie’s brain circuits had turned to strange places, it was still thinking freely about its prey.
Those comrades who were whispering and mixing in the crowd were not wrong. Jian Xie was really the sweetest human being it had ever seen. It even made it break its cautious principle of doing things, so much so that the moment it saw him appear, it couldn’t wait to open its predation field to let him in.
Even though the other was nearly ten meters away, it could still smell a special scent emanating from him. That was the fragrance of the living dead who had returned from hell. It even had a premonition that if it could really eat this human, it would become an existence beyond the Special A-level!
Monsters of its level, who have been fed with the various fears of humans on the subway every day and have grown rapidly to an immeasurable size, were still restricted by the rules and it couldn’t leave this subway station at all.
But if it managed to succeed today, then…
It seemed somewhat leisurely and complacent.
“I have another question.” Jian Xie interrupted it again and said, “Are you not afraid of me?”
At the moment, it looked as if the one who fled earlier was not itself.
Hearing this, it was startled, and its trembling eyes quickly swept over Jian Xie, as if it recalled the panic and fear it felt when the other party approached it earlier.
But soon, the expression on its face returned to calm.
It said to Jian Xie, “Well… I’ve thought about it, the reason you can get close to me is because that being3The monster referred to QZ as 位, which afaik could be an honorific. I’ve seen this in ancient times novels where the monarch/royal would refer to themselves as “This Seat”. is in you, right? Or maybe it was just luck. I heard that they can’t stand any monsters getting close to you, any monster that wanted to attack you will be instantly destroyed, and a Special A-level has already died.”
Maybe there were some skills involved, but it was nothing to be afraid of.
After all, the other was merely human. No matter how strong they are with some childish props, they were ultimately no match for monsters.
“But it appears to be just a rumor.” It stared at Jian Xie with a strange smile and deliberately said, “Look, I’m within ten meters of you now and nothing happened to me, right?”
So that was it. It wasn’t stupid enough to deliberately confront Jian Xie, who it considered a threat, but instead tested whether the latter really had the protection of the terrifying thing of the rumors. Knowing that the being was temperamental and unpredictable, the one it really didn’t want to provoke was actually that being.
And now, it believed it has reached a conclusion.
It will eat Jian Xie today and break through the limitations of Special A-level——!
Jian Xie: “…”
Wait a minute, it made it sound like he’s living off of someone, like he’s no different from a gigolo.
Jian Xie’s mouth twitched. “I’ll show you what I can do.”
Seeing the scene happening before It’s eyes, Qin Zhuo couldn’t help but laugh quietly in his mind, simply because he found it very amusing.
Even a little comical.
These monsters actually thought that it was Itself and not Jian Xie, who had the real power. They had mistaken the person they should be afraid of. This was an extremely stupid mistake.
【It doesn’t understand that it is still alive right now because I’m very obedient—very, very obedient.】 His voice was lazy, with a very obvious implication.【Also, I am now receiving very strict discipline.】
“……”
It shouldn’t be an illusion. Jian Xie felt that this sounded like a sign that It wanted to ask for a reward again.
Suddenly, a burst of hurried footsteps came from behind, breaking the atmosphere between the monster and Jian Xie.
A third person has appeared.
“——”
Yu Jinghe, who had just rushed in from an entrance, was stunned. He was fully armed and appeared out of the blue, but he never expected to see such a scene.
He blinked a little sluggishly.
This……
But he hardly had time to comprehend what was happening before his eyes as a tentacle suddenly stretched out from the gap between the train carriages like lightning and directly wrapped around his ankle. The wet and sticky touch made his heart skip a beat.
“What is this——”
His voice stopped abruptly.
The moment Jian Xie turned around and looked, Yu Jinghe’s figure had already vanished from the spot, having been almost immediately dragged under the railroad tracks by the tentacles.
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