Love in Cthulhu

I read Chapter 12 very clearly.

The hand gently caressed his shoulder, so slowly and softly, giving him a strange feeling, as if he were handling a precious, rare treasure that might slip from his grasp and shatter if he wasn't careful.

Although he couldn't actually feel it being touched, Zhou Nan could clearly see that it was a woman's hand, with obvious stitches on the wrist, as if the body had been forcibly pieced together. It constantly emitted dark wisps of mist from the inside out, as gray as faded paint.

It's definitely not a human.

But he remained completely calm. In the realm of horror films, he was an absolute master who had watched countless movies.

The terrifying thing about anything inhuman is that you can't defeat it. For example, Tomie is immortal; no matter how many parts are cut off, she will always become a new person. Another example is Sadako, who could destroy humanity with a single videotape, but in the end, she was only eliminated through the power of love.

But conversely, what if you had a weapon that could deal with them? The kind that kills with a single blow?
Then the horror story would instantly reverse, like a hunter excitedly chasing a rabbit, only for the rabbit to suddenly turn around, pull out a Barrett rifle, and point it at your forehead, saying, "Seid ihr das Essen? Nein, wir sind der Jger!"
At least that's true for Zhou Nan. He's not afraid of any demons or monsters; what he fears are those demons and monsters that he can't kill. If he had a knife specifically designed to deal with them, with his courage and boldness, he could probably cut his way from Kowloon Bay to Tsim Sha Tsui, becoming a fearsome figure.

He glanced at Jian Xi, who was biting her straw with a look of anticipation, and he immediately understood what was going on.

This is mostly a tactic to mess with him. He still knows nothing about the world she comes from. If she doesn't cause some trouble since she has this information advantage, then she wouldn't be herself.

After calming himself down, Zhou Nan was about to reach out to try and throw her over his shoulder when Jian Xi suddenly spoke up: "If you let it realize that you can see her, you really will die."

"..." His restless hand froze in mid-air. He remained stiff like a wooden puppet, giving her a look that said, "Get to the point."

That really suits her style. Whether in the past or now, she's always been a devil who loves to watch the drama unfold. Why not explain something so important right away? Why wait until a crucial moment? What if he's too quick to do it?
“Ignore it, don’t let it know you know about it,” Jianxi said.

Zhou Nan could only blink rapidly to indicate that he understood.

"That thing behind you could probably be called a vengeful spirit, a monster, or something like that. Don't think that I'm the same kind of thing as them. I'm obviously much more advanced. The difference between us is probably like the moon in the sky versus a speck of dust at your feet."

She spoke with a touch of pride, "This kind of thing is actually nothing to be afraid of. Your appearance reflects your heart. As long as you can't see it, it's hard for it to harm you. Even if it's just an act, it will retreat on its own. Otherwise, it will definitely come after you and take your life."

Zhou Nan thought to himself, "Isn't this simple? He's never been afraid of ghosts in his life, okay? It's said that when Jiang Wei was defeated, his chest was cut open and he was told that he was as brave as a bushel. So he must be on the same level as Zilong, full of courage!"
"But this seems to be quite interested in you?" Her smiling eyes held a sly glint, as if she had spotted something very amusing.

The hand on Zhou Nan's shoulder gradually moved towards his arm, followed by a face hanging upside down from above his head. An enormous basin completely blocked his vision. Where the eyes should have been, there was nothing but two dark holes, with crisscrossing cracks on the facial bones and the skull protruding outwards.

This thing was obviously much taller than a normal human, with slender limbs that could bend back easily as if they had no bones, and an astonishingly long and thin neck, practically a bamboo pole supporting a huge head, so that it could lower its head and stare at him while standing.

"Can you...see it?"

When the strange creature spoke, wisps of black mist spewed from its bottomless throat onto its face. It stared intently at the decaying, rotten face, its expression blank.

It's ridiculous. With that kind of appearance, they dare to come out and scare people. It's one thing to scare children, but they can't even scare the flowers and plants.
The only problem was that it maintained this posture, with its long, tangled hair hanging down to the ground, completely blocking his view. He couldn't see anything and could only face the grotesque face as if nothing was wrong, breathing in and out of each other's presence.

It felt like we were about to kiss if we got any closer. We were so close, I wondered if the reflection in our pupils would be noticeable.

He could only sit still, like a model student in class.

Just as he was filled with complaints and resentment, strange, slender hands and feet suddenly grabbed his arm, wrapping around him like an octopus, and even pressed their entire face against his arm, rubbing against him like a pet.

"I can't see... He can't see... Why can't he see... Eee ...

The repeated murmurs sounded like a kind of regret, like a fanatical female fan who finally got to meet her dream idol, only to find that the idol didn't even let her hold his hand, hence the frantic screaming.

It seemed that only he and Jian Xi could hear that sound; otherwise, that pig-like scream would probably shatter even glass.

After touching his left arm, the monster then hugged his right arm. Its movements were extremely swift and subtle. It was unclear whether it could even sense these things, but the bone-touching-like action was undeniably lewd. At the very least, it seemed to be enjoying the act, letting out a hoarse, chuckle from deep within its throat.

Zhou Nan was seething with resentment. "Damn it," he thought, "as a monster, as a female ghost, shouldn't your job be to test whether you can see me, then haunt me, eat my flesh, and drink my blood? Why are you taking advantage of me when no one can see? So, a lecherous ghost really is a kind of ghost?"

Jian Xi, sitting opposite her, burst out laughing. She really wanted to hold back her laughter but couldn't. Yogurt spilled from her mouth, and she coughed and covered it with her hand, hurriedly grabbing a tissue. But her eyes were reluctant to let go of this grand spectacle, and she kept them glued to the screen.

Zhou Nan's forehead veins throbbed; normally, he would have jumped up and retaliated long ago.

But the other party was an oddball, completely unafraid, and was so infatuated with the handsome man's face that he was infatuated with him. Whenever Zhou Nan tried to pretend to move unintentionally, the thing would twist its shoulders like crazy and make a sound that looked like a silly laugh, as if saying, "Hit me! Hit me!"

Zhou Nan had held onto his dream of marrying a literary girl for sixteen years. He never expected that he would be targeted by a female ghost. Although she could see her but couldn't touch her, and she had no real feeling about her, she was still so shameless, lewd, and infatuated. Even if she had been abandoned by a scumbag in her past life, she deserved it!
"Aren't you hungry right now? Don't want steak? Something else would be fine too." Zhou Nan was exhausted and fed up. He really couldn't stand this thing anymore, but he couldn't even punch it.

The female ghost probably wouldn't understand such a conversation; as long as it sounds like a normal conversation, it won't be able to detect it.

"Eating something so ugly might make you nauseous." Jian Xi sipped her yogurt with a contented expression. She was so happy that she couldn't help but kick him while he was down.

“Are we still good friends? Don’t be ungrateful, Jian—Xi.” He called her name deliberately, emphasizing the two words. “Hmm…” Jian Xi thought for a few seconds, then decided it was about time to have enough fun. “Okay, I’ll let you have your way since you’re so sincere.”

She raised her hand and clapped it heavily. An incomprehensible language overflowed from her lips, and those syllables seemed to contain a huge amount of information. When it entered Zhou Nan's ears, he began to feel his nerves throbbing again, and he forced himself to hold on.

The strange female ghost, who was engrossed in studying the human body, paused upon hearing these words. With a snap, her neck turned sharply backward, and her empty eye sockets bulged out of her facial bones. She had no eyes, but anyone could tell that it was an observation-like action.

After a moment of silence, the enormous, basin-like face let out a strange, grotesque laugh. Using both hands and feet, like a swift spider, it pounced on Jian Xi. Each time it touched the floor, it produced a dull thud, like a head hitting a wall.

"You saw it! Hehehe! You can see it!!"

The distance was only inches, and the female ghost's screaming mouth was about to bite Jian Xi's throat. She stretched out her hand, and chaotic black shadows clung to her arm. They wriggled and instantly split into thousands of slender snakes, baring their dagger-like teeth as they rammed into the monster.

It seemed there was no need for swallowing or tearing; the collision of the two was like the convergence of streams. The dark snake shadows swayed their bodies and swept past, devouring the monster. Zhou Nan could hear the chilling rustling sound, like a swarm of ants gnawing on the bones of a giant beast.

In the blink of an eye, the strange thing vanished before Jian Xi's eyes, as if Jian Xi were a wall of fire that annihilated evil spirits, and the strange thing had run into it and died.

"Ugh... This is awful." Jian Xi spat out her tongue. "It feels like I swallowed a pile of poop!"

As she did this, her own shadow wriggled and spat, as if she were spitting something out.

"You talk like you know what shit tastes like. Have you ever eaten it?" Zhou Nan sat up straight and straightened his collar.

Although he wasn't afraid of the supernatural, what he had just experienced was anything but easy. He had to pretend he couldn't see anything and endure being groped by a ghost. It was undoubtedly the worst day of his life.

"Can you please stop saying such disgusting things at the dinner table? You're going to completely ruin my already poor appetite!" Jian Xi glared at him angrily and pushed a slice of steak over to him.

"I haven't even complained yet, and you're already accusing me of being the villain. I'm not pure anymore... damn it, I'm not pure anymore, you know that!" Zhou Nan vented his anger by chewing on his steak. "My chastity... my bottom line! This is the first time in my life that a girl has pursued me, and it's actually a devil who's after my good looks?"

"It has nothing to do with chastity, it's just breaking the bottom line, but isn't the point of the bottom line to be broken?" Jian Xi handed over a carton of yogurt. "Besides, you can't even feel it, you can only see it, like the so-called sleep paralysis. Does that mean every time you have a nightmare you're being slept with by a ghost?"

"...I must be out of my mind to discuss this kind of thing with you." Zhou Nan was completely exasperated by her and had no choice but to change the subject. "Where were we? Why did I suddenly start seeing these things? Was it because of you?"

"They're discussing the possibility that Jian Xi was murdered."

Jian Xi rested her chin on her hand, slowly chewing the beef cubes in her mouth, her voice muffled.

"Although I'm not on the same level as that thing, I think we're both rather special. You've been too close to me, and you've been influenced more, so you've naturally been able to access things you couldn't access before, whether it's visible abilities or the ability to leak consciousness."

"Then, is it possible that..."

Zhou Nan thought for a moment and said, "Jian Xi just happened to walk near you and was influenced by you, so she developed the ability to see ghosts like me. But she didn't realize it. She greeted someone she met, but it was a monster, so she was killed? Later, you just happened to wander over and, out of instinct, ate the monster and then ate Jian Xi's food?"

"Coincidence, coincidence, and more coincidence? That sounds really mysterious."

Jian Xi thought about it seriously for a while, then shook her head.

"The chances are very low. Everyone's level of acceptance of me is different. My instincts tell me that even a normal person would need at least a few months to accept me. If it's too fast, like you said, their brain might just explode. Someone like you who can be lively and energetic in a day is probably one in a million. Even you can't touch me. Do you expect her to open up your meridians just by passing by?"

"But you still ate her food and imitated her, didn't you? That's a kind of talent, too."

"I can't even refute you... Fine, since you're so eager to figure this out, I can go with you to take a look."

"So generous?" Zhou Nan was secretly pleased. In fact, he had wanted to extend this invitation for a long time, but he had never been able to say it.

In his view, the monster Jian Xi must have some aversion to the real Jian Xi. After all, it was the real Jian Xi who died that gave her the opportunity to take advantage of her. It's quite normal for the replacement to have some resentment towards the original Jian Xi.

However, after the conversation, she seemed indifferent to all of this, truly inheriting Jian Xi's curious and childlike mentality.

"Of course I care about how I died. I inherited all of her feelings. If you were killed, and you still had the chance to find your enemy, would you be foolish enough to do nothing?"

"of course not."

Jian Xi shrugged. "That's more like it. Let's go to the back mountain together tomorrow and see where you found me."

Zhou Nan's heart skipped a beat; he hadn't expected her to be willing to bring up this matter on her own initiative.

(End of this chapter)