Chapter 45: Contact, Taking Root

Yu Sheng's mind was immersed in a vast and indescribable tide of darkness. The shadow cast by this hungry "entity" was far more colossal than he had imagined, and this colossal scale was precisely the form that "Hunger" should take—the greatest, most primitive terror suspended above all living beings, buried deep in the hearts of all living beings.

Then, in the depths of this shadow, he detected that slowly floating, writhing... "entity."

It was hard to say exactly what it was. It seemed to have countless tentacles and bloated, proliferating masses of flesh. Every part of its body was constantly changing shape, even seeming to collapse into new structures or gaps in real time as Yu Sheng watched. Its surface was pitch black, yet deep within the interwoven tentacles, shifting colors seemed to hide, carrying a chaotic texture that gradually made one's mind lose its way.

The moment Yu Sheng perceived that thing, it also perceived Yu Sheng's existence.

Before he could react, countless new tentacles and branch structures spread out from within that thing in the blink of an eye. The malevolent tentacles arrived in an instant, suddenly entwining Yu Sheng's mind.

Yu Sheng felt as if ten thousand voices had exploded in his "head." He had no way to resist or dodge. His mind had already established an irreversible connection with something far more massive. That thing roared in the depths of his consciousness, transmitting wild and terrifying thoughts. But in the next second, Yu Sheng realized that the thing seemed to have no true reason or thought—

It was merely a vast, wild "instinct." Those manic thoughts and temptations he sensed were only tools mimicked by this vast instinct for the sake of "hunting."

They came from the beings it had devoured in the past—their madness and despair at the end of hunger, the lingering echoes of the victims' dying wails. All of this had converged into the monster's full malice, allowing this thing, originally just an aggregate of instincts, to gradually grow to its present state, even becoming a powerful "entity" that actively "foraged," tempted, and forced its prey.

And it was still growing quickly. What had originally been only mimicked thinking ability was now gradually becoming its true "thought"!

Now, it began trying to dismantle Yu Sheng's mind, attempting to turn this uninvited guest into new "nourishment" for itself.

The feeling of his mind gradually "dissolving" came. Yu Sheng felt himself being rapidly "digested," becoming part of the monster. He struggled with all his might to break free from the tentacles entwining him, only to discover that the stronger he struggled, the stronger those tentacles became!

Just then, Yu Sheng suddenly sensed something.

He abruptly looked at the massive entity writhing in the darkness. In the next second, he saw countless pairs of eyes of various shapes suddenly emerge from the斑斓 colors deep in the darkness. Among them, one pair of eyes... was his.

Then his vision shook again. In the darkness, he saw countless tentacles extending forward. At the tips of the tentacles was a struggling humanoid phantom.

He felt the monster digesting and absorbing him.

He felt himself devouring something.

He was feeding.

He was feeding.

Just as Yu Sheng could no longer tell where his own perspective was, could no longer distinguish the boundary between himself and the monster, Ailin's startled cry suddenly came faintly from the depths of the darkness—

"What the hell?!"

In the next second, Yu Sheng felt a violent fall.

The last extremely unpleasant experience of a sudden awakening came to him once again in an instant.

Yu Sheng's eyes snapped open. The intense stabbing pain in his head, the roaring, and the aches all over his body instantly drowned out all perception. He turned over, braced himself against the bedside table, and dry-heaved violently, even wanting to throw up his own heart, but nothing came out. Only after a long ten-plus seconds did this terrible aftereffect finally begin to subside.

Yu Sheng propped himself up against the bedside table, struggling to get up. He saw the faint morning light spilling into the room through the curtains, and saw the doll carrying the painting frame sitting on his bed, her small face full of great unease and tension.

"Are you okay?! Is it still you?" Ailin crawled over on all fours, grabbing Yu Sheng's arm and shaking it hard. "Do you remember who I am?"

"Don't shake, don't shake, still dizzy... Damn it, why does everything hurt..." Yu Sheng interrupted the doll. "I'm awake, Ailin. I'm fine."

Ailin stared at Yu Sheng for several seconds, then finally let go. "You scared me to death! You, you, you... you suddenly went dead, even your mind's reactions disappeared! Then you suddenly came back to life, your whole mind in chaos. I didn't even know if what I woke up was a thing! You scared me! Scared me!"

Ailin repeated "scared me" several times, clearly frightened out of her wits. But Yu Sheng didn't have much extra energy to comfort the little doll. The tremendous impact of establishing a deep connection with "Hunger" still lingered in his heart, even seeming to leave a vast shadow behind. Yu Sheng struggled to shake off its influence. He leaned against the headboard and gasped for a long time before finally clearing his mind completely.

"Ailin, that thing is dangerous," he said.

The little doll stood on Yu Sheng's stomach. "Of course I know it's dangerous! I told you from the start that thing is dangerous!"

"No, I mean that thing is even more dangerous than you know—it's almost truly learning to think."

Ailin's eyes widened in shock, frozen.

"It originally only had instinct. Only after devouring countless minds did it learn the means of coercion and temptation," Yu Sheng said, leaning against the headboard, looking into Ailin's eyes. "Simple, crude killing only yields limited 'nourishment.' Pushing a mind to madness through coercion and temptation yields astonishing 'nutrition.' That thing didn't understand this from the start—it learned gradually. And now... it's practically on the verge of real thought activity."

A trace of fear gradually appeared on Ailin's face. But then, she suddenly realized something else.

"How do you know?!" The doll lunged forward, her face almost touching Yu Sheng's nose. "You..."

"...I established a deep link with that thing, deeper than we initially planned," Yu Sheng didn't hide it. "For a moment, I felt like I had even become part of that monster... And in the depths of the darkness, I saw its most primitive form and the secret of its continuous growth."

"What... what the hell!" Ailin nearly jumped up, then launched into a rapid-fire barrage of chatter. "I told you this wouldn't work! It's dangerous! No one knows what would happen, but you still had to try. What now, what now, what now... We're screwed! It's definitely taken root! It's not just that you've been targeted; you've been gnawed on! 'Hunger' has definitely taken root in your mind! Aaaaaah—We're done! It's-all-over!"

The little doll's fussing grew louder and louder. She crawled all over the bed and Yu Sheng's stomach. Yu Sheng tried to interrupt several times but failed. Finally, he had to pick her up in midair to get her to calm down. "Calm down, Ailin. Calm down."

"Calm down my ass! 'Hunger' has already taken root in your heart! Aren't you even a little tense?!" Ailin swayed in midair. "It will grow in your mind, bigger and bigger, and then 'bang'! You're done! Even if you hide in the real world, it's the same! Do you even understand your current situation... Don't tell me you can resurrect! This thing is rooted in your mind! Your body can regenerate, but can your mind? Are you sure that dying and coming back will shake off this 'rooting'?"

Yu Sheng knew all this, but he didn't know why there was no sense of urgency in his heart, as if his life was counting down. Even his recently more and more accurate "spiritual intuition" didn't warn him.

He only knew rationally that the situation was dangerous, but his heart was filled with an unusual calm.

But he knew he couldn't show that calm too obviously, or Ailin would freak out even more.

"As long as we destroy 'Hunger' before that... I mean, kill that 'entity instance' that's affecting me, there shouldn't be a problem, right?" Yu Sheng tried to divert Ailin's attention. "The 'rooted' part will take some time to erupt. We still have time."

"Time... Right, there's still time. Hurry, we have to hurry!" Ailin's attention was indeed immediately diverted. At the same time, she belatedly noticed that she was being held in midair. "Put me down! Put me down quickly! Let's set off right now and go kill that 'entity instance.' Yes, yes, right away, while you don't feel anything yet..."

Yu Sheng breathed a soft sigh, put Ailin down on the bed, and prepared to get up and stand on the floor.

But as soon as he made a big move, he immediately felt aches spreading from his limbs and bones. He sucked in a sharp breath.

"Hiss! Why does it hurt so much..." Yu Sheng looked down at himself in shock. "I clearly remember that the aftereffects of the last 'violent awakening' disappeared quickly... And at that time, my body didn't hurt either. How come I feel like I've been beaten up..."

As he spoke, the doll, who had been frantic a second ago, suddenly quieted down. Then Ailin, while unobtrusively crawling toward the foot of the bed, muttered quietly, "Some... sometimes 'violent awakenings' can also produce some physical aftereffects..."

"No!" Yu Sheng suddenly realized. He pulled up his sleeve. "I was beaten—there are even teeth marks on my arm!"

Ailin had already crawled to the foot of the bed. "You grind your teeth in your sleep. You bit yourself."

"Such small teeth marks, and you say I bit myself?"

"Wasn't I trying to wake you up! If normal methods couldn't wake you, I had to use unconventional ones, right?"

Ailin stood at the foot of the bed, hands on her hips, perfectly justified. Then she turned and jumped to the floor, scurrying out of the room!

(This chapter ends)