Chapter 3 – Don’t cry… don’t cry

Editor: Xinghe

Translator: YuQiChen/Churen

Tears couldn’t be stopped at all.

This was very wrong. Humans were dangerous; he shouldn’t be crying in front of this suddenly appearing human, nor should he call him “gege”.

Jiang Que’s heart suddenly became alert, trying to stop the tears that welled up inexplicably. This alertness reached its peak when the other person attempted to wipe away the tears from his eyes.

*Swish—*

The tentacles that had been poised in an attack position behind him didn’t give the stranger in front of him a chance to touch his body. They, like enraged snakes, began to coil and entwine from the arm the man reached out, swiftly enveloping their prey.

The thickest one even coiled directly from the man’s thin waist all the way up to his vulnerable neck, threateningly pressing against his throat.

Before the man could even let out a cry, he was entwined layer by layer by the tentacles, hanging suspended in mid-air.

The black tentacles moved like they were strangling their prey, tightly constricting around the man’s body. The densely packed white suction cups on them occasionally brushed against his clothes, sending strange sensations to the entity connected to the tentacles.

Jiang Que wiped away his tears with the back of his hand, suppressing the strange emotions in his heart. He stood up slowly and approached the “uninvited guest”, discreetly separating out a small tentacle to firmly cover the corner where he hid his severed limbs and the book.

“Who are you?”

He controlled the tentacles to press the man down, keeping him in a half-kneeling position, and asked from a high vantage point.

The human gripped by his tentacles did not panic or scream as he expected, nor did he plead for mercy in a way that matched Jiang Que’s stereotypical image. Instead, as the tentacles wrapped around him, a faint blush spread on his ears. After taking a deep breath, he spoke slowly:

“My name is Shen Tazhi. I accidentally stumbled in here while being chased. I mean no harm.”

“Shen… Ta… Zhi.”

Jiang Que repeated the syllables Shen Tazhi uttered, imitating his manner and said:

“My name is Jiang Que.”

According to his original plan, he should have directly twisted the fragile head of this human with his strong tentacles, then thrown him aside. However, due to the strange feeling in his chest earlier, Jiang Que decided to speak a few words with this human. Humans were cunning, evil. Maybe this person carried something that could affect his heart. He would first draw out some information before killing this person.

Jiang Que squatted down, propping his chin up, and gazed at Shen Tazhi carefully.

Shen Tazhi was undeniably good-looking. Even now, kneeling in a sorry state on the ground, his heroic face and sharp eyebrows were impossible to conceal.

Jiang Que had no concept of “beauty” or “ugliness.” He just found Shen Tazhi pleasing to the eye, from his physique to his facial features. He even thought the way he was entwined by the tentacles unexpectedly looked good.

This undoubtedly made Jiang Que more alert.

He detested humans the most; how could he find a human pleasing to the eye? It must be because there was something peculiar about this human.

Just as Jiang Que was preparing to interrogate Shen Tazhi, imitating the appearance of humans he had encountered before, the man kneeling on the ground suddenly spoke again.

“I really have no ill intentions. Can you please release me?”

“No.”

Jiang Que answered quickly.

He leaned in closer, almost touching noses with Shen Tazhi, intentionally threatening, “Humans are very dangerous, so you must die.”

His words were disjointed, and any normal person should have been unable to understand what he was saying. However, the other party naturally continued the conversation.

“I’m not dangerous. I was also thrown in here by humans. Besides my backpack, I have nothing on me.”

[Don’t trust him, Jiang Que. He’s definitely lying. Humans are the best liars.]

[Just kill him first. I want to go back and reread the novel.]

[Why doesn’t that book have a sequel? QAQ]

The tentacles entwined around Shen Tazhi, fearing that Jiang Que might be deceived, murmured softly. They completely ignored Shen Tazhi’s subtle change in expression, which should have made them inaudible, and continued speaking:

“Oh, by the way, when I fell just now, I accidentally dropped a book. Did you see it?”

A book?

Jiang Que precisely caught the keyword and asked vigilantly:

“What kind of book?”

Shen Tazhi put on a look of recollection:

“It’s a book with a pink cover, decorated with many rose petals. It has ‘Revenge of the Three Princesses vs. The Three Icy Princes’ written on it. Have you seen it?”

Jiang Que quietly retracted another tentacle, firmly hugging his book with two tentacles, becoming even more vigilant:

“What do you want with that book?”

Regardless of who the book belonged to before, since it had fallen in here and he had picked it up, it was now his, and he wouldn’t give it up to anyone.

“That’s a book I wrote. Since you want to kill me, I think it’s a reasonable request to want to die with my own work, right?”

Jiang Que was stunned.

Although he couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong, the thought of the novel he had just seen with its pink cover and shiny floral characters coming from the hands of this man, who was at least one meter eighty, muscular, handsome, and strong, made him feel that something was off.

“…You wrote it?” It took him a while to find his voice.

“Yes, I wrote it.”

Shen Tazhi nodded confidently. “There should be my name written on the cover of that book. If you don’t believe me, you can take a look.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Que directly took out the novel from the shadows and carefully examined the cover once again in front of Shen Tazhi. Finally, in the most inconspicuous corner at the bottom of the cover, he successfully found the words “Written by Shen Tazhi.”

Jiang Que fell silent.

He estimated the level of danger Shen Tazhi posed.

With a sudden “swish,” Jiang Que released all six tentacles at once.

Without the restraint of the tentacles, Shen Tazhi fell to the ground due to unstable balance. Luckily, he had a large backpack on his back, which cushioned his fall, allowing him to quickly stand up. Even after being dropped, he didn’t seem to mind and spoke gently to Jiang Que:

“Yes, that’s the book. Can you please return it to me?”

“No.” Jiang Que directly hugged the book to his chest.

The surrounding tentacles once again menacingly pressed against the man’s lower back, threatening with bared teeth and claws. The slender, icy fingertips of the young man lightly tapped Shen Tazhi’s shoulder:

“I’ve changed my mind. If you can tell me what happens next in this book, I might consider letting you live a little longer.”

[After hearing the continuation, kill him. I am a vengeful entity without emotions.]

The tentacles quietly finished Jiang Que’s unfinished words for him.

Normally, Jiang Que would directly brag about himself non-stop, but with Shen Tazhi in front of him now, he didn’t want to do it in his presence. So, he let his tentacles, which Shen Tazhi couldn’t hear, do the job for him.

Jiang Que felt like he caught a glimpse of a faint smile in Shen Tazhi’s eyes, but it quickly turned back into a gentle and harmless look:

“Thank you very much. I know the continuation of this book, but I was betrayed by my own relatives, abandoned by my loved ones, and fell into here while fleeing from pursuers. I am very exhausted now and might need a rest before I can tell you the rest of the story.”

Jiang Que pinpointed the key words accurately.

[Betrayal? Was he betrayed too?]

[Then he’s in a bad situation too.]

[He can write books too. Can we keep him a little longer?]

The tentacles that had been holding Shen Tazhi’s vital parts were already entangled and ready for action, with Jiang Que’s cold expression showing no signs of letting Shen Tazhi off the hook.

He wasn’t like those naive tentacles that could be swayed by just any novel.

Just then, the thickest tentacle that was initially wrapping around Shen Tazhi suddenly said:

[Wait a minute! Isn’t this Su Mo? Su Mo who is with Ye Bingli.]

Jiang Que: …!

The small tentacles chattered:

[That’s right! This is the destined Su Mo for Ye Bingli!]

[Let’s keep him a little longer after we hear the continuation. I want to talk to someone else.]

[I like him, he looks really good. Que Que, can we keep him?]

Although Jiang Que was reluctant to admit it, the consciousness in the tentacles was a part of himself created to keep him company in conversation, so their thoughts were essentially his own.

From a medical point of view, this was called dissociative identity disorder, but Jiang Que was unaware. The words of the small tentacles hit the nail on the head, and he once again released the tentacles, squatting directly in front of Shen Tazhi and saying:

“I promise.”

He didn’t have the awareness to maintain a safe social distance from others, getting too close. While Shen Tazhi was still stunned by his sudden approach, he continued on his own:

“You should rest quickly, and I want to hear the rest of the story.”

A normal person might have thought Jiang Que, with his erratic behaviour, was crazy, but Shen Tazhi smiled calmly and gently, completely different from his appearance, showing no signs of disturbance:

“Sure, may I sit down and have something to eat first?”

He had been running around for three days to find this place, climbed down a cliff alone into the abyss, and for the upcoming work, even if he was excited to reunite with Jiang Que, he needed to eat to replenish his strength.

Eating? What’s good about eating? It will only make you uncomfortable.

Jiang Que gave Shen Tazhi a strange look and casually wrapped up the resentment he hadn’t moved since a few days ago with his tentacles, directly handing the sticky, black mass in front of Shen Tazhi.

“Here, food, for you.”

The large tentacle wrapped around the disgusting black unidentified object, and the beautiful non-human monster looked at him as if it was only natural, clearly thinking the thing it was carrying was “food.”

But this was not something a person should eat at all.

Shen Tazhi lowered his eyes, hiding the sorrow that shouldn’t have appeared at this moment in his eyes, and placed down the huge camping bag he had been carrying.

As the bag hit the ground, he didn’t even have time to unzip it, directly taking out a pack of chocolates from the side pocket, saying softly:

“We won’t eat that.”

He naturally included Jiang Que in the realm of sharing a meal, tore open the chocolate packaging, and the scent of milk chocolate filled the air, causing Jiang Que, who was still wrapped in malevolence, to sit bewildered on the spot.

What is this? Why does it smell so good, even though it’s also black?

*Crack.*

The sound of the chocolate being broken apart. Shen Tazhi said to Jiang Que:

“Jiang Que, from now on, we won’t eat that. Try the chocolate, you should like sweet things.”

Choco-late.

In Jiang Que’s mind appeared a rainy night, an expressionless man putting an overdose of sleeping pills in hot chocolate, creating a scene where his wife could never wake up again. While he was contemplating the differences between “chocolate” and “hot chocolate,” his long-starved body was already moving instinctively towards the enticing smell.

He bit into the chocolate in Shen Tazhi’s hand with a soft “ah” sound, inadvertently taking his fingers as well.

The rich and intense flavour of chocolate burst on his taste buds, that taste of cocoa butter, inferior but sweet enough. Jiang Que had never tasted this kind of flavour before.

There were no strange odours, no sourness, no bitterness.

Jiang Que was stunned.

The scene before him slowly blurred until tears uncontrollably rolled down his cheeks, and only then did Jiang Que realize that he was crying again.

“Don’t… don’t cry…”

Shen Tazhi was completely caught off guard by Jiang Que’s reaction, panicked, and clumsily wiped away the tears.

Although he had known for a long time that Jiang Que had been living in an inhumane underground existence for the past eighteen years, seeing the beautiful child in front of him crying over half a piece of chocolate, Shen Tazhi couldn’t help but feel a surge of bitterness in his heart.

He wiped off the stickiness on his hand, gently patting Jiang Que’s back, giving the little monster with tentacles a hug.

“Don’t cry… don’t cry, there’s plenty more, you can eat slowly.”

Shen Tazhi’s embrace was warm, the chocolate rich and sweet. Jiang Que, for a moment, forgot about the dangers of humans and allowed Shen Tazhi to hold him. It was a completely unfamiliar experience, yet a familiar bitterness surged in his heart.

Perhaps this emotion could be called a long-lost reunion, but Jiang Que was unaware of the existence of such a term. He was surprised to find himself wanting to raise his hand to hug Shen Tazhi back.

If Jiang Que had a bit of common sense, he would have noticed the flaws in Shen Tazhi’s words. No normal human would carry such a large bag while on the run, nor would anyone purposely run into the desert. But he didn’t know, only puzzled as to why he felt so strange after meeting Shen Tazhi.

Due to being held by Shen Tazhi, Jiang Que did not see the almost tangible heartache in the other’s eyes. Even if he had seen it, he wouldn’t have been able to understand this emotion that was beyond his cognition. He would just find Shen Tazhi strange.

Shen Tazhi was well aware of this, sighing silently.

He hadn’t lied. He had indeed unintentionally entered here amidst rebellion and disloyalty, but it was all from the previous life.

In the previous life’s apocalypse, he had also encountered Jiang Que, but at that time, Jiang Que was already very weak, nothing like his lively self now. He even had the strength to threaten him but couldn’t survive beyond the second year of the apocalypse.

But it didn’t matter. He had returned, back to before everything began.

This time, he was prepared enough to protect Jiang Que as he grew slowly.

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