Chapter 12: Is There Someone Here?!
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation
The night wind whispered through the valley as Yu Sheng prepared to log off. He had just said goodbye to Irene, but something held him back from disconnecting right away. It wasn’t that the hideous creature before him had suddenly decided to nibble on lettuce and spare his life. No, the monster still stood there, all its strange, overlapping eyes staring at him. But it looked—well, confused. There was a vacant sort of look in its many eyes, as though its mind couldn’t settle on what it was supposed to be doing. Yu Sheng almost sensed a dull puzzle in those eyes, like the creature’s stomach and mouth were having a very unpleasant argument about what it was meant to eat.
Irene’s voice, anxious and urgent, echoed in his mind, but it seemed distant, as if coming from behind a thick, heavy curtain. Yu Sheng couldn’t pull his attention away from the monstrous thing before him. His body tensed, every muscle stretched to the limit, heart pounding as if it were trying to leap out of his chest. He could see every ripple of the creature’s muscles and the throbbing of its blood vessels. Although he’d tried to ready himself for such a threat after “reviving” in that ruin of a temple, standing beneath death’s looming shadow once again tightened his nerves like old ropes about to snap.
Yet this time, there was something strange mingling with the fear. He was trembling, but not only from terror. The sheer panic had lessened compared to before. Now, what he felt was something different, something he could hardly name—a sort of wild excitement, a twisted thrill that set every nerve in his body tingling.
Suddenly, everything shifted. He felt it before he saw it—the creature’s muscles coiling, the foul blood surging through its veins, the hunger simmering beneath its skin. In that electrifying instant, Yu Sheng’s instincts roared a warning. He could almost see the attack play out in his mind: a cunning feint from the left, the real strike snapping in from behind with that wicked, bladed tail.
The creature lunged. One of its huge, limb-like mouths gaped wide, trying to swallow him whole from the left. But Yu Sheng had already moved—he darted aside, then rolled forward, acting on pure instinct, no time to think. To his astonishment, he moved far faster and more gracefully than he ever imagined he could. Even the lingering pain from his previous injuries was gone. Ever since he had “revived,” his body felt unbelievably strong and swift.
The monster’s aim was off. Its dreadful tail, spiked and deadly, lashed out at an awkward angle and barely grazed Yu Sheng’s back. He felt a gust of wind brush past him—the near-miss of certain death. Even as terror hammered at his heart, disbelief surged within him. He had dodged it. He had truly avoided that horrific blow. How had he done that?
There was no time to question it. Another wave of danger rushed at him from behind. He flung himself into a desperate, clumsy tumble, and as he scrambled to his feet, he saw a giant claw crashing down. There was nowhere to run. Panicked, he crossed his arms in front of his face, as if his thin human limbs could hold back a falling boulder.
A deafening crash shook the ground. A shockwave of force blew dirt and grass away for meters all around. Pain exploded through Yu Sheng’s body—he felt as if a dozen bones had snapped at once. He staggered, forced back two steps, and gritted his teeth to keep from screaming.
Yet somehow, he had blocked it. He stood there, stunned, staring at his trembling hands. His left arm was bent hideously—the bones clearly broken. But even as he looked, the pain began to fade, and he felt the bones shifting back into place. They were resetting themselves. He remembered how easily this creature had destroyed him the first time. He knew that if it had hit him at full strength, he would have been smashed into pulp. Something was different now, though he had no idea what.
He didn’t have time to figure it out. The monstrous beast gathered itself for another attack, letting out a roar that sounded both puzzled and furious, as though it couldn’t understand why its prey was so annoyingly sturdy.
It rushed at him again, the night air howling around its hulking form. Yu Sheng rolled aside once more, then jumped up, dodging the tail that lashed out like a whip strong enough to shatter solid stone. He landed, still off-balance, and in that moment, the creature’s tail swung back from the other side and struck him, sending him sprawling to the ground. Before he could even think, the monster’s body split open in a nauseating way, revealing a writhing, pulsing tongue that shot forward, wrapped around Yu Sheng’s waist, and began dragging him closer.
He clawed desperately at the slick surface, straining with all his might to keep that slimy tongue from crushing his chest. He couldn’t let it fold him in half. As he was hauled toward the creature’s monstrous, gaping maw, he realized with rising horror that he was only moments away from being devoured again.
Just before he was pulled into those countless rows of razor-sharp teeth, Yu Sheng kicked out furiously. His foot struck the ground so hard it shattered the stone beneath him. The recoil jolted the creature’s body enough that it staggered ever so slightly. Yu Sheng used that tiny advantage to twist himself free. He screamed in fury and tore the long, slithering tongue away. With no time to marvel at his own strength, he snatched up a jagged rock from the ground and, without hesitation, hurled himself at one of the monster’s murky, trembling eyes.
The beast shrieked in pain as its tongue was ripped apart, spraying thick, dark blood into the night air. It thrashed and stumbled, dozens of eyes fixing on Yu Sheng with an even more desperate hunger. The smell of that dark blood hung heavy around them, sinking into Yu Sheng’s lungs, firing off strange sparks in his mind—sparks that ignited a deeply buried, primal hunger.
It smelled so very good.
His heart pounded, molten heat coursing through his veins. A wild joy surged within him. He couldn’t believe how it felt—like a starving animal about to feast after a lifetime of famine. In that moment, he realized the truth of his feelings: the beast was food. Its flesh, its blood—he wanted it more than anything.
The sharp rock he held crumbled into dust under his gripping fingers, and his breath came quick and heavy. Time slowed, and he and the creature collided. Predator and prey tangled into one savage knot. Yu Sheng felt as if he had never truly eaten until now. With a snarl, he flung himself onto one of the creature’s limbs. It responded by crushing him in its relentless grip, snapping bones as if they were twigs.
But Yu Sheng hardly felt the pain. He sank his teeth into the monster’s foul flesh—not a desperate act like last time, when he’d done it just before death took him. Now, he bit down with raw determination. He refused to give in. He would come back if he died, he was sure of it. This creature could kill him countless times, but he would return each time a bit wiser, a bit stronger, and one day, he would win.
It might take a very long time. But he would savor every second.
The monster’s eyes shook violently, and some of them seemed to focus on Yu Sheng in a new way, as if finally recognizing that something was terribly wrong. Its enormous jaws clamped down on him, and Yu Sheng felt his body tear apart. He knew this was the end again. He would be devoured, chewed up, and cast into darkness. But this time, he had held out longer. He had fought back, shown resistance. He had done more than he ever dared dream possible.
“Irene…” he called silently, as his mind slipped toward that familiar dark void.
Irene’s voice answered at once, urgent and frightened. “Yu Sheng! Yu Sheng, are you all right?! I’ve been calling out to you—”
“I’m fine…” he replied calmly, though he knew it wasn’t true. “Guess I spoke too soon. Looks like I’m about to log off again…”
He ignored her panicked shouts, letting the gathering darkness wrap around him. Yet just before his consciousness faded, he heard another voice. This one was real, coming from the valley, crystal clear.
“Don’t be afraid! I’m here to save you!”
At that sound, Yu Sheng’s dulled senses sparked back to life for a brief moment. A person? Here? In this terrible place?
He forced his eyes open, searching through the haze. There was a figure rushing toward him—a girl, from what he could make out, wearing ragged clothes. Behind her, there were other shapes, strange silhouettes moving in the gloom. Could that be a tail swishing behind her? A fox tail, maybe? Or was his vision playing tricks?
He couldn’t tell. The figure shouted again and dashed straight for him, head lowered, speeding up like a fired bullet. The creature biting him seemed to shift aside deliberately, leaving Yu Sheng right in the girl’s path.
“Oh, shi—” Yu Sheng began, but he only got two syllables out before the girl slammed headfirst into him with unbelievable force.
She hadn’t realized he was right there. She crashed into his chest so powerfully that, in an instant, everything below his neck simply vanished. He disintegrated from the shoulders down, as if he had never existed. His torso was just gone. And so, he was “rescued” to death, of all things.
“Lady… you hit the wrong target…” he thought weakly as his world dissolved once more.
And that was how Yu Sheng’s would-be savior managed to finish him off in her attempt to save him.