Chapter 6
To enter the area where the monster was being held, Tang Xiao had to pass through the decontamination zone.
Tang Xiao was fully geared up, wearing a gas mask. After being disinfected several times, he watched the last door finally open.
After 428 had escaped once before, it was moved from its original location to a more heavily secured room. Until they could determine the properties of the substance 428 secreted, the walls here were made of a different, sturdier material. The room was monitored around the clock, and every wall was fitted with high-temperature electrical currents. At the slightest sign of movement from the monster inside, the entire room could instantly become a microwave or an air fryer.
For some reason, the lights were off. The moment Tang Xiao stepped inside, the door behind him shut, plunging him into complete darkness.
Humans had an instinctive fear of the dark. Perhaps it came from the painful memories of their ancient ancestors being attacked by wild beasts at night. Just as now, Tang Xiao knew perfectly well that a monster lurked in this darkness, watching him.
Thump, thump...
His heart rate began to climb.
Tang Xiao stood motionless, hoping to give his eyes time to adjust to the darkness. But Babbit, who clearly intended to teach him a lesson from outside, wasn’t about to let him wait. He spoke over the room’s PA system: “What are you standing around for? Get to work. We’re waiting for you to bring back a biological sample.”
There seemed to be a few mocking laughs in the background.
Tang Xiao took a deep breath and walked into the darkness without changing expression. He thought he caught a faint whiff of rust.
He could barely see anything, so he didn’t notice that the cold cell had long since become the monster’s lair.
Overnight, the monster—which had originally been no bigger than a plate—had grown several times larger. Hyphae covered almost every corner. In the corner farthest from the exit lay the scattered white bones of large creatures. At the center of it all, the main fungal mass sprawled in an irregular shape, like a predator at the heart of a spiderweb. Multiple orange-yellow vertical pupils stared unblinkingly at the young man as he slowly approached the web’s center.
The blood-red hyphae stirred restlessly. Without a sound, they slipped past Tang Xiao and spread across the only exit, sealing off his last escape route.
Every strand of hyphae quivered with pleasure under the influence of the main body. The orange-yellow eyes fixed on Tang Xiao as he approached, straining to catch his scent.
The hunter had been outplayed by its prey, seriously wounded, and captured all over again.
428 ought to have hated Tang Xiao, but the young man’s irresistible allure made that impossible.
The little deer it thought it would never see again had come willingly into its embrace.
If 428 had a human body now, it probably wouldn’t be able to stop itself from smiling. But it had no such function, so its many eyes merely stared at Tang Xiao as its fine hyphae followed his steps. The young man walked to the very center of the cell, stopping just a meter from the main body.
428 had thought the reckless little deer would walk straight into the center of the web, where it could wrap him up snugly. Unfortunately, the little deer seemed to sense the danger and stopped.
But it was too late.
When he felt the familiar touch of hyphae creeping over his ankle, Tang Xiao shuddered and jerked his leg, trying to break free. But the sticky hyphae only crawled farther up his skin. Though he was wearing a protective suit, he could almost feel the threadlike strands searching for an opening to wriggle inside.
“Wait!” Tang Xiao grabbed the hyphae and tried to pull them off his calf, but they clung stubbornly to him, even attempting to climb his arm.
At the same time, he felt something cold brush against his left leg, the small of his back, and even the back of his head.
The hairs on his arms stood on end. Cold sweat beaded on the young man’s forehead beneath his protective suit. After spending some time adjusting to the darkness, his eyes had begun to make out vague shapes. Before, he’d only glimpsed a few gleaming eyes in the pitch-black, which was why he’d stopped. Now, at last, he could see a little more clearly.
He would have been better off not seeing.
Blood-red hyphae covered the entire room, like the stomach of some monstrous beast. And he was the food that had willingly walked inside.
The hyphae carefully encircled him, inch by inch, wrapping around their prey while he remained unaware.
The orange-yellow eyes stared fixedly at the young man. The moment his breathing grew hurried, the hyphae seemed to receive a signal. They tightened swiftly, trapping him firmly in the web, then sharpened from soft strands into keen points.
The moment his protective suit began to tear, Tang Xiao’s hand shot toward the heat-ray gun at his waist. But the hyphae were faster. A thin strand snatched the weapon in an instant, while the rest surged like a flood, about to engulf their prey.
At this critical moment, Tang Xiao remained calm. He tossed a round ball from the torn sleeve of his suit, straight toward the cluster of orange-yellow eyes.
The ball exploded, releasing an intense burst of heat. The nearby hyphae blackened and curled up, then dropped to the floor, lifeless. Tang Xiao immediately snatched back his heat-ray gun and aimed it at the orange-yellow eyes. Before 428 could recover, he spoke rapidly:
“Hear me out! I’m here to propose a partnership. I know you want my flesh and blood, but as long as you’re still in this laboratory, you can’t devour me quickly. The moment my vital signs disappear, this place will immediately switch to attack mode, and you’ll be done for!”
At that, the monster in the darkness paused, as if deep in thought.
Tang Xiao knew the creature was no less intelligent than a human. Seeing that he’d caught its attention, he continued, “But if you keep me alive, I’ll give you some of my blood every day. That way, you can achieve your goal gradually.”
The only cards in his hand right now were his ability to attract the monster and the armed forces of the Third Eye.
But if their relationship remained one of killing and being killed, he would never complete the game’s main quest. Even if he stirred the monster’s emotions, its favorability would surely be negative. And every time he came here, he’d have to risk being devoured and starting over.
If he wanted to advance the quest, he had to start with the monster—and with the relationship between them.
They couldn’t remain nothing more than hunter and prey. They had to become criminal and accomplice, experimenter and caretaker.
As long as the monster was intelligent enough, it should understand that it couldn’t simply eat him here. Given the monster’s strange behavior in the previous run, it clearly wouldn’t devour him in a dangerous area if it had a choice. That would keep it from consuming him completely, and this greedy monster didn’t want to leave behind even the tiniest bit.
Tang Xiao’s heart pounded like a drum. Countless compound eyes stared at him, then the hyphae rushed in!
The young man’s heart sank. Countless strands of hyphae coiled around his legs like ropes. Tang Xiao didn’t hesitate; he immediately pulled the trigger.
The lichen beneath his feet suddenly rose and rolled. The young man lost his balance, and the hyphae yanked hard. His gun barrel veered off target as he was dragged to the ground. Layer upon layer of hyphae rushed over him, wrapping around his arms and legs and even covering his mouth.
This all-too-familiar scene nearly scared the life out of Tang Xiao. For a moment, he thought the “Monster Tree” CG was about to happen again...
No. Maybe that really was what the monster intended!
Tang Xiao jerked his torso up and looked at 428, which loomed over him. Most of its clusters of grape-like eyes had already healed. They stared fixedly at the young man pinned to the ground, struggling to lift himself up.
In a flash, Tang Xiao realized what was wrong with the way he’d phrased things.
“The moment my vital signs disappear, this place will immediately switch to attack mode, and you’ll be done for!”
But the other way around—if his vital signs didn’t disappear...
Cold sweat trickled down Tang Xiao’s forehead.
How had he forgotten? If 428 really was a fungus, or even had some fungal traits...
Zombie ants. Cordyceps.
Any fungus would have some means of parasitizing a host.
At this desperate moment, Tang Xiao was almost ready to give up and start over. His limbs were being crushed beneath the monster’s weight, and he heard his bones crack.
He was about to be parasitized by this terrifying monster once again.
This strategy seemed to have failed. There was no way to cooperate with this monster. It was as intelligent as a human, but rather than trust a human, it seemed to trust itself more—believing it could fool the people outside, devour him overnight, evolve, and escape...
Wait. Evolve?
Tang Xiao bit down hard on a strand of hyphae that had wormed into his mouth. He spat it out with a “Ptooey!” and spoke hoarsely and quickly:
“I’ll... help you evolve into the King of Fungi.”
He closed his eyes. In the grip of extreme terror, two CGs he’d collected earlier flashed through his mind. In both, the monster’s form had changed dramatically. And when he considered the main quest, 428’s goal suddenly became clear.
The hyphae stopped at the surface of Tang Xiao’s skin instead of burrowing any deeper. For the first time in all his runs, the monster hesitated while devouring him.
Tang Xiao slowly drew a breath, halting the motion he’d begun to exit the game.
He felt as if he’d found the monster’s vital weakness.
A shiver ran through him, spreading from his heart to all four limbs. It was like the first time he’d figured out the attack pattern of a boss in an insanely difficult dungeon, then chipped away at the health bar of the monster that had killed him again and again.
The sense of accomplishment had stayed with him to this day.
Now, that same tension and excitement filled his mind once more. Tang Xiao arched his neck and stared intently at the orange-yellow eyes. His gaze was a sharp scalpel, cutting straight into the monster’s weakness.
“Once an experimental subject goes out of control, destruction is its only fate. Even if you devour me, that doesn’t mean you can stand against this organization.” Tang Xiao spoke calmly. “You’ve already experienced the power of their technological weapons. This place monitors both our vital signs in real time. In the worst-case scenario, the moment either your data or mine begins to fluctuate, armed forces will break in and interrupt you while you’re devouring me.”
“But if we work together, I’ll help you avoid being destroyed. I’ll protect you. I’ll help you grow, just as I saved you last time.”
As he spoke, the young man forcefully pulled one hand free of the hyphae. 428’s appearance was nothing like a human’s; from its eyes alone, he couldn’t tell what it was thinking. Only the hyphae, which had yielded so easily, showed that the monster wasn’t indifferent.
“So...” Tang Xiao flexed his only free arm, then bit down hard on his wrist.
He showed no mercy. His teeth immediately broke the blood vessels, and blood flowed like a winding red cord down his pale wrist.
He reached toward the monster. Blood still stained his lips, and his glasses had long since fallen somewhere out of sight. His peach-blossom eyes, usually so tender and affectionate, now blazed with a twisted fervor:
“Drink my blood, and evolve into a true ‘monster.’”
There it was again.
The orange-yellow vertical pupils contracted. Reflected in their depths was the young man, smiling with blood-red lips and a gaze glittering with cold light, breathtakingly beautiful.
428 couldn’t describe the scene before it. Only much, much later, after it had become “human” and begun to learn human culture, would it think back to this moment and find the right words for it.
Like a succubus from hell, or the serpent of Eden flicking its tongue, reaching out to offer it a deadly temptation.
That strange, disorienting feeling, which disrupted its nerves, surged uncontrollably within it. It made it restless and confused, yet in the midst of that nameless confusion, it found itself irresistibly drawn to the young man before it.
This monster, raised in a laboratory, had the nature of an infant, a young child. It possessed only animal instincts, with a soul devoid of humanity, and had no idea what this feeling was.
It simply obeyed its instincts.
A mass of intertwined hyphae took the shape of a tentacle and seized the young man’s bleeding arm.
Blood and blood-red hyphae intertwined, like a tangled skein of red thread.
At that moment, they officially became entwined.
In the darkness, someone curled their lips into a smile.
This would be the first step in putting a leash on this beautiful monster.