Seeing that she remained silent for too long, “Xie Yuezhe’s” expression grew increasingly rigid. The force with which he was pinching her chin intensified. “Answer me.”
The flame of the lighter wavered. He looked like a barely assembled skeleton, ready to collapse at any moment from excessive agitation.
Zhou Jiao knew full well that she should be feeling fear.
She knew almost nothing about “Xie Yuezhe”—what he was, where he came from, whether he was truly a mutant species, whether he would kill her.
If he intended to kill her, how could she escape?
But when she met his inorganic, ice-cold gaze, the only thing she felt was—excitement.
Her life was too calm.
So calm that it was dull.
Her biggest worries each day were what to wear to work, what to order for takeout, how good the shopping festival discounts were, and how to perfectly combine deals for maximum savings.
She never told anyone that the first time she used a scalpel to dissect a mutant species, her entire body trembled—not from fear, but from excitement.
But as time passed, even that excitement quickly faded.
Dissecting mutant species became as routine as ordering takeout.
Someone like her should have been classified as a “high-priority surveillance target,” just like Jiang Lian had been in the past.
Fortunately, she had parents who could distinguish right from wrong. When they were alive, they had always taught her to be a good person.
So, even though she was emotionally detached, unable to discern the boundary between good and evil, and found excitement and stimulation as enticing as raw meat was to a wild beast, she would never touch anything that would disappoint her parents.
However—this “mutant species” before her was an exception.
He was not human. He had no emotions, no morality, existing outside of good and evil, beyond human social rules.
Most importantly, though he spoke human language, his actions bore none of the traits of a human being. He was a true and absolute monster.
He could hurt her.
But she could also hurt him in return—without the constraints of law or morality.
…In a way, he was the best “playmate” she could possibly find at the moment.
Excitement—or safety?
Zhou Jiao suppressed the restless excitement in her heart, slightly tilted her head up, and gave him a smile. Her eyes lifted at the corners, charming yet malicious.
“Of course, it’s because I like you,” she said. “You’re gentle, considerate, polite, and you don’t say strange things that might offend me. Why wouldn’t I like you?”
“Xie Yuezhe” moved his eyes, his cold and sticky gaze returning to her face.
Zhou Jiao raised her hand and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He stiffened slightly.
Curious, Zhou Jiao leaned closer. As expected, the closer she got, the more rigid he became, and the fractured feeling in his expression grew even more pronounced. It seemed that if she moved just a little closer, he would shatter with a bang.
Thinking back to his earlier reactions, Zhou Jiao was thoughtful.
She seemed to have discovered something… quite interesting.
“Xie Yuezhe” didn’t realize he had accidentally exposed a weakness and coldly said, “I am not worthy of your affection.”
Zhou Jiao raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“Xie Yuezhe” said, “I don’t believe you haven’t noticed. My body is weak, my intelligence is average, and my reproductive ability is low. If you and I were to mate, at most, we could only produce two offspring.”
“…” Zhou Jiao’s smile gradually faded. “You even want me to have two? Thanks, but no thanks—I don’t want to have even one.”
“Xie Yuezhe” frowned slightly. “Why would you assume that I would make you bear offspring? Your body is even weaker than mine. Forget two, even a single offspring would cause irreversible damage to your body.”
He paused for a moment and said in an even tone, “Of course, I will be the one to bear them.”
Zhou Jiao: “…………”
Wait a minute—why were they suddenly discussing reproductive issues?
“Stop talking about who’s giving birth,” Zhou Jiao said coldly. “What the hell are you trying to say?”
“I am not worthy of your affection.” He stared at her and slowly spoke, his eyes filled with an obsessive determination that wouldn’t rest until his goal was achieved. “I can’t even help you escape from danger.”
“Then who do you think I should like? Who can help me escape from danger?”
“Xie Yuezhe” remained silent.
Zhou Jiao thought about it for a moment and roughly understood what he meant.
This thing had gone through such great lengths—mutating corpses, parasitizing Xie Yuezhe—all just to stop her from liking Xie Yuezhe?
What the hell?
If he were human, she would have assumed he was doing this because he liked her. But he wasn’t. So what exactly was he trying to do?
Zhou Jiao lowered her eyelashes and carefully replayed their conversation in her mind, going back to the first question he had asked her—
“Was it because he was parasitized that you didn’t seek his help?”
She understood now.
He simply believed that Xie Yuezhe was weak and that she shouldn’t bypass a strong person like him to seek help from a weakling.
That was why he had been completely disparaging Xie Yuezhe’s abilities in front of her—even bringing up reproductive capability.
After figuring it out, she smiled at him once again. “Do you know why I like Xie Yuezhe?”
“Xie Yuezhe’s” gaze lowered, landing on her lips.
He didn’t notice that the way she addressed him had changed.
“Because he is a living, breathing human, whereas when you pretend to be human, you are stiff, fake, and affected.” Zhou Jiao placed her hand on the back of his head, while her other hand tightened around the scalpel. “When normal people encounter danger, they will always choose their own kind over a monster—”
“Xie Yuezhe’s” eyeballs suddenly rolled back like a doll’s, the arc terrifyingly exaggerated. Sensing something was wrong, he tried to break free from her grip.
But Zhou Jiao grabbed his hair, tilted her head up, and kissed him, extending the tip of her tongue to moisten the seam of his lips.
“Xie Yuezhe” froze, his Adam’s apple bobbing, instinctively swallowing against her lips.
At the same time, a flash of cold light flickered in Zhou Jiao’s hand as she fiercely stabbed toward the back of his head.
However, nothing happened.
The scalpel seemed to sink into a sticky quagmire, unable to be pulled out, unable to be driven in.
Without hesitation, Zhou Jiao forcefully shoved “Xie Yuezhe’s” head away, snatched his lighter, and took three steps back.
With a sharp “click,” the lighter’s flame flared up, and the scene before her made her draw in a sharp breath.
The reason she couldn’t stab the scalpel into “Xie Yuezhe’s” head was that a crimson fissure had suddenly split open on the back of his skull. Two purplish-black tentacles burst out, wrapping around the scalpel with a sickeningly wet sound.
In less than a tenth of a second, the scalpel was completely corroded.
It was the first time she had seen such a mutant species.
…No, when the mutation outbreak first occurred, she had participated in rescue operations. Most mutant species had escaped from laboratories.
How could an experimental organism possess such overwhelming power?
Jiang Lian was likely not a mutant species at all—but an unheard-of monster.
“Xie Yuezhe” stood up, the fissure on the back of his head closing. His face still bore that stiff, fragmented quality, but his eyes revealed a hint of confusion.
He said, “You shouldn’t have attacked me.”
Zhou Jiao ignored his words, glancing around for an escape route.
Unfortunately, everything around her was pitch black, like an endless ocean at night, vast and oppressive with an overwhelming sense of terror.
Just then, footsteps suddenly sounded ahead, accompanied by a faint blue glow.
In the darkness, humans instinctively move toward light—it was almost a biological reflex.
Halfway into her sprint, Zhou Jiao suddenly realized—darkness, light, just like some predatory creatures that hunt by phototaxis.
Her hair stood on end. She immediately turned to run in the opposite direction, but the moment her foot landed, it sank downward.
She flicked the lighter back on—and saw that the ground was covered in writhing, sticky, fleshy tentacles.
The cold, slippery sensation slithered up her ankles, climbing slowly like the touch of some cold-blooded creature.
A chill spread through her chest, and her ears were filled with a dizzying, low-frequency hum emitted by the tentacles.
The human auditory system was completely incapable of withstanding such low-frequency vibrations. Zhou Jiao immediately felt her mind grow hazy. She bit down hard on the tip of her tongue, barely managing to regain her clarity.
Though she couldn’t understand what the tentacles were saying, she could feel their overwhelming, frenzied excitement—an emotion so eerie and alien that no human could possibly comprehend it.
A shudder ran through Zhou Jiao’s body. A piercing chill shot up from the base of her spine, and she had absolutely no desire to find out what they were so ecstatic about.
She felt her consciousness slipping away, and it was purely on instinct—the primal drive to resist danger—that she used every last ounce of strength to struggle.
In the next second, a slick tentacle pressed against her chin, forcing her to lift her head and look forward.
Jiang Lian stood before her, wearing a knee-length white lab coat. Behind the gold-rimmed glasses, his gaze was calm and deep, his demeanor as cold and pristine as ever—if not for the writhing, restless tentacles behind him.
He said, “You should seek my help.”
Zhou Jiao thought, Get lost.
She forcefully turned her head away—only to meet “Xie Yuezhe’s” face.
He stared at her motionlessly, his handsome features slightly distorted, his voice chillingly cold, bordering on deranged:
“‘I’ am not worthy of your help.”
—Get lost!
Zhou Jiao pressed her lips tightly together and suddenly kicked to the side—only to strike something ice-cold and rigid.
It was the corpse with its face hollowed out.
Even though its eyes, nose, and mouth had been gouged away, leaving only a dense mass of green algae, she could still feel its tangible gaze, still hear its rasping voice.
Its breath was colder than ice, spraying against her ear, sending a violent physiological shudder through her body:
“Seek our help. Become one of us.”
“We will protect you.”