Chapter 45: Contact, Roots
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation
Yu Sheng’s thoughts were sinking into the depths of a vast, pitch-black tide—a darkness so deep and endless that it could swallow the entire world. It felt as if he were drifting inside the shadow of something enormous, an indescribable presence known as Hunger. This thing’s shadow stretched out far beyond anything he had ever imagined. It felt terribly natural, as though it belonged in the deepest corners of every living creature. Its ancient, colossal fear lay hidden in every beating heart.
As he floated in that darkness, Yu Sheng sensed something stirring inside the shadow. It was not a simple feeling, but rather the awareness of a strange, writhing “entity.” It defied ordinary explanation. It looked as if it were made of countless twisting tentacles and bloated lumps of flesh, all shifting and changing from one moment to the next. Its surface was inky black, but somewhere deep within it, colors shimmered and flickered. These colors never stayed still and seemed to dance before his eyes, threatening to drive him mad, to swallow his reason whole.
In that dreadful moment, as soon as Yu Sheng noticed this thing, it noticed him as well.
He had no chance to prepare. At once, countless new tendrils burst forth, each brimming with wicked intent. They wrapped around Yu Sheng’s mind, tightening their hold in a heartbeat. It felt as though ten thousand voices exploded inside his head, shrieking and howling. He could neither struggle nor flee. Some part of him had already been connected to something much larger. Now, that writhing, shapeless mass screamed inside his consciousness, hurling savage, terrifying ideas at him. Yet after a few moments, Yu Sheng realized this creature had no true mind of its own. It wasn’t truly thinking.
It was driven by a vast, ancient instinct—nothing more than raw hunger. The vicious thoughts and temptations it poured into him were merely tools, traps to trick its prey. These weren’t its own dreams, but rather echoes from all the minds it had devoured before. The mad whispers, the despairing cries of those it had eaten at their final moments, had merged into one terrible chorus of malice. This chorus had given the beast a cunning power it did not originally possess. It had begun as a simple predator, but now it knew how to lure, to break minds, and to savor the madness it created. With each victim, its intelligence grew more real and complete.
And now it wanted to break Yu Sheng, to reduce his mind to nothing more than another meal.
He could feel himself beginning to “melt,” as if his very thoughts were being digested. He was becoming part of that nightmarish creature. He tried desperately to tear himself free, fighting against the tightening coils, but the harder he struggled, the stronger they became.
Then, without warning, Yu Sheng felt a sudden jolt.
With trembling determination, he turned and looked more closely at that enormous entity twisting within the dark. As he did, he saw countless eyes of all shapes and sizes flicker to life among the shifting colors deep inside its form. One of those eyes, to his horror, was his own.
His vision blurred. He saw new tendrils writhing forward, tangling around a shape that looked just like him—a shadowy version of himself, helplessly struggling. He could feel the beast devouring him, and at the same time, he felt himself devouring something else. It was a strange, dizzying confusion of identities. He was both the victim and the creature. He was feeding and being fed upon.
He could no longer tell where he ended and the creature began. Was he gazing at the monster, or had he become the monster itself?
Suddenly, a startled shout echoed through the darkness.
“What the—?!”
In the next instant, Yu Sheng felt himself falling, violently and abruptly, as if torn free from that awful place. It was the jarring, sickening feeling of waking too fast from a nightmare.
Yu Sheng’s eyes flew open, and he gasped. Pain hammered inside his skull, and his entire body ached as though he had been beaten. He rolled over, grabbing at his bedside table, gagging as if he might cough up his very heart. Yet nothing came out. After several dreadful seconds, the horrible feeling began to ease. Breathing hard, he clung to the nightstand for support and tried to sit up.
Pale morning light slipped through the curtains, and he finally noticed Irene—the Doll who carried a frame upon her back—sitting on the bed. Her small face was scrunched in worry and fear, her eyes wide and watchful.
“Are you all right? Is it still you?” she asked, crawling closer and shaking his arm roughly. “Do you know who I am?”
Yu Sheng grimaced. “Stop… please stop shaking me. My head hurts… and everything aches…” He managed to cut off her frantic shaking. “I’m awake, Irene. I’m fine.”
Irene stared intently at him for a long moment before finally letting go. “You gave me such a fright! You looked like you were gone—like your mind had vanished! Then suddenly, you were back, and it was all chaos. I was terrified you weren’t really you anymore!” She repeated how frightened she was, stammering and stumbling over the words, still shaking from the experience.
Yu Sheng, too weary to comfort her, tried to steady his breathing. The memory of connecting with Hunger still hovered at the edges of his mind, a cold, enormous shadow he couldn’t push away. He leaned back against the headboard, taking deep, calming breaths.
“Irene,” he said quietly, “that creature… it’s even more dangerous than we thought.”
The little Doll planted her feet on Yu Sheng’s stomach, crossing her arms. “I know it’s dangerous! I told you that from the very start!”
“You don’t understand,” Yu Sheng insisted. “It’s not just dangerous—it’s learning how to truly think. At first, it was just instinct. Now, after devouring so many minds, it knows how to trick and tempt. It’s not just a mindless beast anymore. It’s turning into something that can think for real.”
Irene’s eyes went wide with dread. She opened her mouth, then shut it as if grappling with this new horror. After a moment, suspicion flashed across her face.
“How could you know all this?” she demanded, leaning in so close their noses almost touched. “You… you didn’t—”
“I did,” Yu Sheng said, voice heavy. “I linked with it more deeply than we ever intended. For a moment, I felt myself inside it. I saw its true shape and understood how it grows stronger.”
Irene practically jumped into the air at that. She began pacing on the bed, talking so fast the words tumbled over each other. “I told you! I told you it was too dangerous! Nobody knew what would happen! And now look! We’re done for! It’s taken root inside you! You’re not just some random target anymore—it’s tasted your mind! If it’s inside you, we’re doomed! All doomed!”
She grew louder and louder, stumbling around on the bed and on Yu Sheng’s stomach, rattling off her fears. Yu Sheng tried to interrupt several times, but she was too frantic. Finally, he had to catch her in mid-air and hold her still.
“Irene, please, calm down,” he said gently.
“Calm down?! Hunger is inside your mind! Don’t you realize what that means?” she yelled, flailing as she dangled. “It will grow and grow until it devours you completely! Even if you die and come back, who’s to say it won’t remain in your mind, waiting to eat you alive again and again? Your body might heal, but what about your mind? There’s no guarantee you can shake something that’s already rooted in your head!”
Yu Sheng knew perfectly well that Irene was right. He understood the danger. But strangely, deep inside, he felt oddly calm, as though a quiet, steady certainty had settled there. He didn’t want Irene to sense that calm though—it might only frighten her more.
“All right,” he said, trying to sound reassuring, “if we destroy the part of Hunger that’s connected to me before it fully grows, I should be fine. It takes time for that root to spread, right? We must act quickly, but we still have a chance.”
Irene stopped wriggling. She seemed to chew over his words, then nodded, her panic shifting into urgent determination. “Yes, time! We must hurry!” She realized she was still hanging in the air. “Put me down! Put me down this instant! We have to get rid of that thing before it gets any stronger!”
Yu Sheng let out a careful breath and lowered her back onto the bed. He tried to stand, but his body felt strangely sore, every muscle protesting. He let out a pained hiss. “Ouch! Why do I feel like I’ve been trampled?”
He glanced down at his arm and found small, sharp bite marks. “Wait… there are tiny bite marks on me! These didn’t come from me… What happened?”
Irene, who had only moments ago been rushing around, suddenly went very quiet. She edged toward the foot of the bed, speaking so softly he could barely hear her. “Well… sometimes waking someone up suddenly can cause… physical side effects.”
Yu Sheng stared at the marks. “No way! These bites are way too small for my teeth!”
Irene wouldn’t look at him. “You must grind your teeth in your sleep,” she said lamely. “You bit yourself.”
“I bit myself with a jaw that tiny? No, that’s impossible!” Yu Sheng exclaimed, glaring at her accusingly.
At last, Irene planted her hands on her hips and admitted, “I had to wake you somehow! The normal ways didn’t work! I had to try something… unusual.”
Yu Sheng blinked, startled. Irene let out a nervous laugh. Then, without another word, she spun around, hopped off the bed, and dashed straight out of the room as fast as her little legs could carry her!