It was not until he finished taking a shower, changed into pajamas and lay back in bed that Jian Xie heard his stomach growl.
“……”
Oh, I seem to have forgotten to have dinner.
The main reason was that tonight was too thrilling and exciting. Only when he lay down securely did he realize the most basic problem of filling his stomach.
Jian Xie took out his mobile phone from under the pillow and glanced at the screen.
For someone who goes to bed at ten o’clock, this was the longest night he had ever experienced. It was already two o’clock in the morning.
But Jian Xie was so hungry that he couldn’t sleep.
Thus, he could only crawl out of bed with a fearless look on his face and go to the living room. Too lazy to cook, he simply took out the cake from the refrigerator and started eating it.
It turned out that being a bit more expensive did have its advantages. At least after being kept in the refrigerator for an afternoon, its taste has not been affected.
…It was even his favorite flavor.
“Did you give this?”
Jian Xie picked up the fruit on the top of the cake and ate it first, then put down the spoon and asked casually, “Where did you get the money?”
“How did you know today was my birthday?”
“Have you been following me all this time?”
“…..”
He asked Cheng Li about it today, but the latter obviously didn’t think monsters would do such a thing and teased him in response.
But Jian Xie was the person involved, and no one knew better than him whether the other party was protecting him or not.
This kind of thing couldn’t be explained in a few words.
Although Jian Xie has lost his strong emotional fluctuations since the car accident, he could now perceive other people’s good and evil emotions more clearly.
Even if it was a classmate who never showed his emotions on his face, or a passerby who just passed by, as long as Jian Xie spoke to them, he could immediately feel the other person’s true mood at the moment.
This ability caused him a lot of trouble at first, but now he has gotten used to it.
He did not tell Cheng Li where the two monsters that tried to attack him had gone, nor about his “auditory hallucination” problem, because he felt the strong disgust and rejection that Cheng Li had when mentioning monsters.
But it was quite normal. The monsters that Jian Xie met didn’t leave a good impression on him. Each one was uglier than the other.
Now that he was inexplicably being protected by a monster, what if he was accidentally accused of being a traitor?
What was even funnier was what if he was recognized as a monster with intelligence and the ability to disguise himself? This possibility couldn’t be ruled out, right?
He didn’t want to be dealt with for no apparent reason.
Jian Xie’s expression was indifferent. He held a spoon in his mouth and fell into deep thought.
…Still need to figure out what’s following him.
“You really don’t intend to pay attention to me? Even if you gave me a birthday present?” He took out the spoon and joked nonchalantly, “So you’re pursuing me? I’m going to have to pronounce you unqualified.”
After he finished speaking, Jian Xie waited quietly for a while.
He was gambling.
Betting on whether the other party would show up because of this jest.
Under the cover of dark clouds in the middle of the night, the cold moonlight cast into the house through the windows with no curtains drawn. Jian Xie did not turn on the lights, so the room was dark. Only this pale color illuminated half of the living room and stretched the boy’s shadow onto the white wall.
He stared at the wall that cast his shadow.
…Something was wrong.
Jian Xie’s hands clenched subconsciously.
As he watched, the shadow elongated by the moonlight, which originally only covered a family photo of him and his parents hanging on the wall, gradually spread upwards.
Like a rising tide hitting a reef, his shadow gradually expanded until it blocked out the moonlight and shrouded the entire room in bottomless darkness.
The walls, the floor, the ceiling were all slowly swallowed by darkness as the entire room—even as far as all of reality—gradually disappeared.
He seemed to be trapped in an endless pool of black sea water where the surroundings were eerily quiet.
But everything was obviously not so peaceful. He could smell the faint smell of blood coming from his nose.
The exposed white bones and floating organs in the black sea not far away further confirmed his idea… This might be the other party’s predation field.
Jian Xie tensed up with vigilance.
He could clearly feel that this was not at the same level as that A-level monster he had encountered before.
The enormous malice and resentment that emanated from the A-level monster was like an ant in front of the other party; not worth mentioning. No wonder It treated them with such disdain.
In just a few seconds, everything was plunged into thick darkness.
All that was left was Jian Xie standing there in his pajamas, and the table closest to him.
—and on it still lay his half-eaten cake.
Jian Xie: “…” That’s quite thoughtful.
He subconsciously scooped another spoonful of cake.
【Unqualified?】
The next second, Jian Xie suddenly felt the elbow of his arm that was holding the spoon being lifted up from behind.
He immediately got goosebumps. An extremely cold body that resembled a human was pressed tightly against Jian Xie’s back. One of the other party’s arms was across his waist, binding his entire upper body in its arms.
“Wait……”
Jian Xie instantly realized what the other party was going to do, but before he could even say anything, he was picked up effortlessly by the being behind him in that posture.
The other person sat on the table, and Jian Xie was brought to sit on the other’s legs and was completely embraced in their arms.
Such terrible posture…
Compared to Jian Xie’s stiff body, It seemed unconcerned and instead rested It’s chin on his shoulder. Then, It suddenly reached out, grabbed his wrist, and put the spoon with unfinished cake in his mouth and ate it.
Then, It licked clean the cream that accidentally got on Jian Xie’s wrist. The strange sensation made his scalp tingle.
【Why not wear the watch?】 It withdrew its body and said slowly, 【Not fond of it?】
Jian Xie frowned. “I never asked for it, don’t get me wrong.”
【You seem troubled.】
Whether intentionally or not, It said this while close to Jian Xie, which made his earlobe slightly itchy.
His body tensed, his subconscious telling himself not to act rashly.
Monster—perhaps this word was not accurate because the extreme malice emanating from It has become so tangible that it caused dizziness, with tinnitus and blurred vision altogether. The word “monster” can no longer be used to simply describe It’s identity.
Jian Xie has only encountered an A-level monster so far, and from what Cheng Li told him, it could be said that A-level monsters were already extremely dangerous.
However, whether in terms of strength, intelligence or predation field, it was inferior to the one behind him now.
It attacked his own kind, recognized jokes, and appeared based on its mood.
If Jian Xie had to make an evaluation, he would say that the other party was even somewhat cunning, close to that of humans.
…It also has bad taste1By bad taste, it means malicious preferences or tendencies, or pervert for short kekeke.
Having said that, It did not let go of Jian Xie. Instead, It continued to rest It’s chin on his shoulder and wrap It’s arms around his waist possessively. It said lazily, 【”Ask. A question.”】
Jian Xie paused, and chose to ask the most critical question, “What are you?”
If he knew what It was, the rest of the problems would be solved.
The other party was silent for a moment after this question. Just when Jian Xie could no longer hold back and wanted to struggle to turn around and look at the figure behind him, It reached out and turned Jian Xie’s head back, and finally condescended to utter a few words.
【Take a guess?】
Jian Xie, who was waiting for an answer: “…………”
Noticing his stiffness, It’s tone was filled with joy. It stroked his earlobe and chuckled lazily in his ear. 【You’ve already used up the chance I gave you.】
Hearing this, Jian Xie was stunned.
…Used it up?
When did he ask the other person a question?
Hold on a minute. As if a flash of lightning, the first question flashed through his mind.
——”Did you send this?”
Oh, it was true.
He even answered suggestively with “why not wear the watch?”.
Jian Xie with a cold face: “…”
Although he knew that the other party would most likely not tell the truth even if he still had the right to ask questions, why did he still feel like he had suffered a great loss?
No one enjoyed being deliberately teased.
“I’ll find out for myself.” Jian Xie said, “It doesn’t matter if you don’t answer.”
【I’m looking forward to it.】
As if satisfied with the influence he had on Jian Xie, It chuckled a few times. Then, something behind him suddenly fell into the air.
He didn’t know when the darkness faded away from him, or when the feeling of something wrapped around Jian Xie’s waist disappeared, but after a while, the cold moonlight fell on him again, and the room returned to its original state.
It disappeared.
Or maybe It was still watching him playfully in the darkness.
Only Jian Xie was left sitting at the table in the living room with a frown on his face, clutching a spoon and still worried about this matter.
So is It always by his side, or does It just help him whenever It wants?
Next time he talks to It, he must be alert.
But It also indirectly confirmed one thing; that It really had no intention of hurting him.
…and even deliberately protected him.
Why?
There is no free lunch in the world. Jian Xie understood this simple truth.
So, what does It want from himself?
When he thought of this, Jian Xie subconsciously glanced at the spoon in his hand, seemingly still able to recall the wet sensation on his wrist.
Only now did he realize that there were bite marks on his wrist, and the purple fingerprints were particularly conspicuous on his fair skin.
…It was almost like a mark.
Before he knew it, Jian Xie’s earlobe suddenly felt hot. He put down his wrist and frowned.
It was hard to understand. In It’s presence, the intense emotions that were originally absent from him seem to fluctuate.
Jian Xie tried hard to calm his heart, which was beating incredibly fast, and stop having wild thoughts.
His concern was indeed irrational.
After all, It’s strength was clearly enough to crush his wrist easily and break every bone in his chest. His resistance would be totally insignificant in It’s eyes.
But on the contrary, It just allowed Jian Xie to sit comfortably on It’s legs, then rested It’s chin on his shoulder and hooked a few strands of his hair with It’s fingers.
An extremely strange thought flashed through Jian Xie’s mind.
It couldn’t be that It was really pursuing him, right?
“……” Jian Xie slapped himself. The blush faded, and he turned around expressionlessly, preparing to go back to his room to sleep.
Look what happened to the child, he’s starting to have all kind of wild thoughts.2Idk if this was said by “It” or just the author putting it out there as a third person POV…
The author has something to say:
Jian Xie: Perfectly avoided the correct answer
Translator Xena’s other works: https://ko-fi.com/xenatl/gallery
– Just click the pictures and the link will show <3
