Chapter 33 – The little tentacles and shoulderblades must be touched

Editor: Xinghe

Translator: YuQiChen/Churen

After a moment of silence behind him, Jiang Que looked puzzled. He reached out his hand to shake in front of Shen Tazhi and asked, “Can you?”

“…Sure,” Shen Tazhi’s voice sounded unexpectedly hoarse. “Wait here, I’ll go get the medicine for you.”

He was referring to the green ointment he had applied before. Jiang Que asked curiously, “Could it be that the itching on my tentacle is because I got bitten by little bugs again?”

“No.”

Skillfully, Shen Tazhi found the medicine he had prepared from the medical box on the coffee table, unscrewed the cap, and the familiar herbal scent filled the air again.

Sitting back on the sofa, he dipped his fingertips into the ointment, carefully applying it in small circles on Jiang Que’s shoulder blade.

The cool ointment and the warm massaging of his hand effectively relieved the strange itch on Jiang Que’s shoulder blade. Even touching the base of his tentacle felt comfortable. Jiang Que hummed contentedly, almost like a satisfied little animal, on the verge of sprawling in Shen Tazhi’s arms.

“It’s because your tentacles are growing out.”

Shen Tazhi’s next words made Jiang Que sit up in surprise.

“My tentacles are growing out?” He asked incredulously, “But didn’t the people from the Anomaly Investigation Department say that the little tentacles are born—what about my dead tentacles? Did you remember to bring them back?”

This wasn’t the first time Jiang Que had suddenly jumped to a different topic mid-conversation. Shen Tazhi smoothly continued, “I’ve brought them all back, I’ve put them in the storage room for you to see later if you want.”

He took the opportunity to explain the recent misunderstanding, “Your tentacles will gradually grow out, not hatch from eggs. The itch you’re feeling is because they are growing. This ointment is to relieve the discomfort of tentacle growth. Maybe one day you’ll discover a small newly grown tentacle under your tentacles.”

Shen Tazhi couldn’t help but imagine the scene:

A tiny, freshly grown tentacle tip emerging on Jiang Que’s beautiful shoulder blade, beneath his fierce tentacles.

The newly grown tentacle tip should be very small and soft. During the growth period, it might even cause Jiang Que some itching. If at that time, Jiang Que came to him to apply medicine to his back due to discomfort…

Stop, can’t think about this anymore.

This scenario didn’t seem to be any safer than the scenario of laying eggs and giving birth to small tentacles. Shen Tazhi promptly interrupted his own thoughts.

“New tentacles.”

Jiang Que was clearly intrigued by Shen Tazhi’s words. He tried to reach back to touch his own back, but besides the original tentacles, it was still smooth. He only felt a handful of ointment, so he asked:

“Where is it? When will it grow out? Why do I grow tentacles now when they never grew out before?”

With three consecutive questions, it was evident that he was truly concerned about his tentacles.

Holding Jiang Que’s hand, Shen Tazhi gently brushed his fingertips over his own shoulder blade, patiently explaining, “It grows out from here. I’m not exactly sure how long it will take, but I know it will take quite some time. As for why it grows out… that’s a long story.”

“A long story?” Jiang Que asked.

“Yep,” Shen Tazhi lowered his gaze, holding Jiang Que close, “In fact, you’ve always been able to eat human food, but you couldn’t get a sense of fullness from it. Ultimately, what can give you a sense of fullness is emotions.”

A sense of fullness?

Jiang Que remembered the strange feeling he had after eating at the Anomaly Investigation Department, finally realizing that he had indeed not eaten enough.

“There are no humans underground, so you can only eat the tangible manifestations of malice condensed by the array. But now that you’re back in human society, surrounded by human emotions all the time, strictly speaking, you shouldn’t feel hungry.”

“That’s not right,” Jiang Que seriously refuted, “I was really hungry at night at the Anomaly Investigation Department. Although it was because I didn’t have dinner, I was also very hungry after lunch.”

Looking at the plate on the table, which he had cleaned up leaving only the crumbs of biscuits, he added, “But now I’m not hungry.”

Next to Shen Tazhi, he rarely felt hungry, more often craving delicious food.

Shen Tazhi furrowed his brows, “They didn’t give you dinner?”

“No, I just didn’t want to eat,” Jiang Que whispered.

He wanted to continue burrowing into Shen Tazhi’s embrace, but there was medicine on his back, and it would rub off on Shen Tazhi, so Jiang Que happily wrapped Shen Tazhi up in his tentacles, letting Shen Tazhi be nestled in his ‘embrace’, before contentedly saying, “I missed you at the Anomaly Investigation Department, didn’t feel like eating.”

“It’s okay, you’re back now, you can eat whatever you want in the future.”

Shen Tazhi’s expression softened before turning stern, and he continued to explain:

“In theory, as long as there are enough emotions, your tentacles can regenerate limitlessly. It’s just that there weren’t as many emotions underground, so now that you have come out, they will naturally grow out slowly.”

“So that’s how it is?” Jiang Que half-believed, “But I haven’t been consuming emotions like before either?”

“You don’t need to consume emotions. Emotions will naturally flow to you. Underground, only condensed malice is turned into tangible form because there is too much malice. They fear that your body will eventually reject any emotional input for self-preservation, so they compress it and make you ingest it passively.”

Shen Tazhi paused for a moment before adding, “So, in a sense, as long as there are emotions present, you are an immortal existence.”

The reason why the Anomaly Investigation Department treated Jiang Que with such caution was because of this.

In their eyes, Jiang Que was a detestable, immortal monster.

Immortality…

Thinking about this, Shen Tazhi’s mood became somewhat complicated. Ultimately, he was just an ordinary human who could, at most, accompany Jiang Que for a hundred years. But what about after those hundred years?

He was not someone who worried about an elusive and uncertain future. Such thoughts only lingered for an instant before disappearing.

Unaware of Shen Tazhi’s emotional fluctuations, Jiang Que listened attentively and then summarized, “So my tentacles are like little flowers? They can come to life with emotions watering them?”

“…No, I can’t blossom, so is it more like I’m a blade of grass?”

What strange metaphors.

Unable to hold back a smile, Shen Tazhi said, “You can interpret it that way. In any case, your tentacles cannot grow out of eggs. Just think, even if they did grow out, how would a single small tentacle attach itself to your body?”

“So, absolutely do not just find anyone to incubate your tentacles in order to make them grow out, understand?”

“Got it.”

In response to Shen Tazhi’s worried advice, Jiang Que obediently replied, “I won’t. You promised to incubate them for me, so I won’t look for other humans.”

Not every human was as clean as Shen Tazhi. What if another human, like Shen Liushi, dirtied his tentacles with their filth?

With these thoughts in mind, Jiang Que wrapped Shen Tazhi tighter with his tentacles.

Why couldn’t he let go of the idea of incubating his tentacles? What exactly did the Anomaly Investigation Department discover?

Since his return, Shen Tazhi had been too busy taking care of Jiang Que to open the medical examination report sent by the Anomaly Investigation Department.

Helplessly wrapped up in Jiang Que’s tentacles, Shen Tazhi watched as Jiang Que, even while entwined around him, raised the tentacle that had just touched Shen Liushi and held it high to avoid touching himself. He temporarily set aside the idea of checking the email from the Anomaly Investigation Department:

“Alright, lovely little flower, shall we go upstairs now and wash this tentacle again?”

“Okay.” Jiang Que raised the hand that had touched the medicine. “This needs to be washed too.”

The two of them then went upstairs again. Jiang Que had originally wanted to wash his tentacles by himself, but Shen Tazhi naturally began washing them for him with shower gel. Jiang Que didn’t insist and just muttered softly, “I’ve learned to do it myself too…”

He had just washed his eight tentacles so clean and beautiful!

“I know you’ve learned.” Shen Tazhi sighed, “Que Que, you’re very clever.”

So clever that Shen Tazhi was starting to worry if Jiang Que would soon no longer need his help.

“Yeah.” Jiang Que admitted unapologetically, “I am very clever.”

It wasn’t until both the tentacles and hands were cleaned again that Jiang Que realized something was off, “Shen Tazhi, how did you know my tentacles could grow out?”

He remembered the talismans Shen Tazhi had taken out earlier underground, and before waiting for a response, he asked, “You mentioned knowing Taoist priests before, were they the humans who sealed me underground? When I asked you that before, you didn’t directly answer me.”

Although the apocalypse had not arrived as expected, the peaceful human life now was indeed good. Jiang Que didn’t really want the end of the world, but he still wanted to find those people from back then for revenge.

“I know because I knew you in a past life.” Shen Tazhi said frankly, “But Que Que, you don’t understand what a past life is, so I can’t continue explaining it to you.”

“I did know a Taoist priest, from the Qishan sect. They were indeed the descendants of the people who originally sealed you underground…”

Before Shen Tazhi could finish, Jiang Que’s expression turned cold, and the tentacles that had been lying docile in Shen Tazhi’s hand stood up, but at least they didn’t attack him directly.

“The descendants of those people.” Shen Tazhi added to complete the sentence.

“The people who sealed you in the abyss back then are all dead, died quite tragically.”

Dead, they’re dead?

Jiang Que was stunned. Hearing this unexpected news, he didn’t know what to do with his tentacles that had stood up. He hesitated for a moment, and then laid them back in Shen Tazhi’s hand.

He had considered this possibility before, after all, humans were always very fragile, but he always felt that those people from back then were different, special humans.

How could they have died so easily?

He subconsciously asked, “Why?”

“I don’t know either.” Shen Tazhi spoke truthfully, “At least in my past life, I only saw their weathered white bones—on the cliff at the other end of the abyss.”

They walked towards the platform near the Stone Gate. In his previous life, he had initially taken the wrong path and climbed onto the platform only to be scared by the sight of countless bones, almost falling back down the cliff. This time, he was too busy guiding Jiang Que out of the abyss and didn’t have time to investigate whether those bones were still there.

But it wasn’t a big omission. After all, the people from the Anomaly Investigation Department should have arrived there by now. If those bones were still there, he should receive a call from Director Wu soon.

In his previous life, once again his previous life. Jiang Que was eager to know what Shen Tazhi had encountered in this so-called ‘previous life’ and what he had done. However, it was clear that without understanding the conceptual problem of “past lives”, he couldn’t fully comprehend what Shen Tazhi was talking about.

“Human concepts are too complicated, I hate these.” Jiang Que furrowed his brow, “Shen Tazhi, can’t you explain what a ‘past life’ is?”

Shen Tazhi led him out of the bathroom and walked downstairs, pondering, “Maybe there is a way? Wait for me to think about it.”

“Shen Tazhi…” Jiang Que wanted to say something more but looked up to see Shen Tazhi gazing thoughtfully at him.

“Que Que,” Shen Tazhi softly said, “Why did you start calling me by my full name?”

“Why aren’t you calling me ‘gege’ like you did just now?”

Jiang Que shifted his gaze uneasily, but the older man, who had completely emerged from the embarrassment and surprise, clearly wasn’t going to let him off the hook.

Shen Tazhi had obviously realized what was going on and continued firmly, pretending to be unaware:

“Is it because you feel it’s better to call me ‘gege’ when you’re interrogating me?”

“Who taught you that?”

Jiang Que was at a loss for words momentarily, as Shen Tazhi had seen through all his little schemes. He nervously retracted his tentacles, not daring to look at Shen Tazhi or respond. The tentacles that had been wrapped around Shen Tazhi cautiously loosened.

He hadn’t expected Shen Tazhi to discover it so quickly.

Wouldn’t a normal human be angry to find out they were being manipulated like this?

Was Shen Tazhi angry? Jiang Que didn’t know.

Because Shen Tazhi patiently led him downstairs, even covered him with a small blanket and poured a cup of hot tea for him. Just like always, Jiang Que couldn’t figure it out.

Shen Tazhi’s light eyes remained gentle, but Jiang Que was too afraid to pick up the tea cup. As he sat on the sofa, shrinking back while holding the cup, Shen Tazhi suddenly reached out and grabbed his tentacle.

Was he going to hit him? Jiang Que nervously closed his eyes.

He really did something wrong. Shen Tazhi had been so good to him, yet he was still trying to manipulate him into talking and even bullying Shen Tazhi. It would be understandable if Shen Tazhi got angry.

Anyway, he wasn’t afraid of pain. It would be fine if Shen Tazhi hit him.

… A couple of hits would be fine, as long as Shen Tazhi didn’t get angry.

In the midst of silence, Jiang Que heard Shen Tazhi’s breathing.

Then, a warm sensation fell on his forehead —

Shen Tazhi leaned in and kissed his forehead.

Jiang Que, who was already tense, was so startled that he almost dropped the tea cup.

Shen Tazhi’s warm breath reached his ear, and unknowingly, he had already been enveloped in the other’s embrace.

Jiang Que hesitated, curling his tentacles. In fact, he could easily use his tentacles to push Shen Tazhi away, but for some reason, he didn’t want to do that now.

He was afraid that Shen Tazhi might be angry, and he was also afraid that pushing him away might hurt Shen Tazhi’s feelings.

Feeling Shen Tazhi’s body heat through the blanket, Jiang Que heard him say:

“Que Que, human communication is a two-way street. It can’t be just you asking me and me answering. You should also tell me things, otherwise, it’s not fair.”

It was similar to their first conversation deep underground.

Jiang Que then understood. Shen Tazhi wasn’t angry.

He was patiently guiding him to speak, just like every other time.

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