CH 1.1

Chapter 1.1 – Little Monster

The bright moon was shining directly, and the forest wind was bleak.

The man was lying on the stone, covered with blood and scattered tree shadows. From his cheeks to his neck were translucent blisters, and worm-shaped black shadows were swimming in them. He stretched out his hand and tried to speak: “You…you…”

Shi Yuan was stunned for a moment, threw the flashlight aside, and jumped up to hold his hand.

The man’s hands were cold, like the dead, trembling with pain. Shi Yuan leaned down, put his ear to the man’s lips, and said, “What do you want to say? I’m here, I’m here.”

The man made a “hoh-hoh” sound. Shi Yuan couldn’t hear clearly: “What did you say? Do you want to drink water or eat? I, I have it here.”

He put down his backpack and rummaged through it, but the man jerked up and grabbed his wrist, staring at him with a deadly glare, his eyes bloodshot and eyes wide open: “You lied to me… You are also a damn monster… !”

The sound stopped abruptly.

He died with his eyes open.

Shi Yuan stopped, sat in the moonlight, and looked at him.

The blisters on the man’s face cracked one by one, and the larvae, with their newborn wings, stretched freely in the wind.

One, two, three…

The bugs had luminous sacs on their tails, shining with a magnificent purple light, and when they flew in groups, they looked like jewels passing through the air, which was very beautiful.

The insect eggs were broken, and the corpse was already riddled with holes.

Shi Yuan slowly released the man’s hand, closed his eyes for him, and picked up the flashlight that rolled aside.

The insects continued flying. This infected creature is called “purple light bug” and is extremely aggressive toward humans.

But they didn’t get close to Shi Yuan.

Even if the insects were flying wildly, the two or three meters around Shi Yuan were empty.

Shi Yuan didn’t notice this, so he stood in place for a while, picked up stones, and simply buried the man’s body. Five days ago, he met this man by chance and they walked together for a while, but death quickly separated the two of them.

He didn’t feel sad, just a little sorry.

There was a stream nearby.

Shi Yuan turned his head and stared at himself in the water.

His skin was white and delicate under the moon, almost transparent, but his eyes were pure black, with a few black scales spreading from the end of his right eye to his temples.

The scales on his face, the sharp, demon-like double horns on his head, and a long black tail.

He looked at it carefully for a long time, curled his tail in confusion, thinking that he was quite human-like, didn’t he have two eyes and one mouth, and could walk upright, so why did the man scold him like that?

Shi Yuan sighed in annoyance, washed his face with a handful of water, and decided to continue the journey.

He adjusted his cloak and stepped into the woods with a flashlight.

Shi Yuan had been wandering like this for several months, with no purpose, no direction, and only the vaguest idea: he wanted to go where there were many people, he wanted to find human gathering places, like those fortified fortresses called cities.

He was looking for someone.

He was a little monster who had lost his human and was full of nothing but the desire to get that person back.

The trees were dappled with shadows, and the purple light bugs followed him silently not far behind, with their light illuminating the surroundings.

There were few visitors to the forest, and Shi Yuan woke up quite a few things.

The eight-legged deer stood in the canopy, half of their bodies intact, half of them white bones; the rocks showed their huge mouths, chewing the dead bones in their mouths; occasionally, the mushrooms singing could be heard, the white umbrella mushrooms singing high notes, the brown porous mushrooms singing low, but soon, the songs faded away; there was always a rustling sound behind the trees, and when Shi Yuan shone his light through, sometimes he saw translucent monkeys, sometimes a few human-faced fish, sometimes a fir whose branches were hung with eyeballs, and after meeting his eyes, twisted the roots and fled quickly.

He saw beings of all shapes and sizes, and the forest was livelier than a party at night.

And they all looked at him from afar and did not approach.

Little did he know that these infected creatures were deadly, that any one of them could put a man to death. No one could do what he did, walking through the interlocking trees bare-handed.

When crossing the third stream, Shi Yuan accidentally fell, and his calf was cut into a narrow slit by a stone.

It hurts.

He pursed his lips slightly, took out the bandage in his bag, wrapped it clumsily, and continued his trek.

The purple light bugs followed him silently.

Everything was eerie and calm until a shadow descended and enveloped him. When Shi Yuan turned back, he saw countless numbers of himself in the thousands of compound eyes.

It was a giant queen bee.

It was two or three people tall, with a black body and a bright purple tail. The purple light bugs flew around it, rejoicing. The queen bee stared at Shi Yuan, slowly approaching until Shi Yuan could clearly see every single one of its fluffy hairs.

“…Hello?” Shi Yuan said tentatively, “Are you lost?”

The queen bee was silent, her wings fluttering at high speed.

“My name is Shi Yuan, how about you?”

Silence.

“If you are lost, we can walk out together, and get out of this wasteland together.”

The monster said nothing. Its shriveled body hung in the wind like an ancient dead tree.

“Come with me.” Shi Yuan no longer hesitated, “I have no more companion, maybe we can be very good friends.” He extended his hands to the queen bee, his fingers long and white.

The golden compound eyes of the queen bee looked at him.

After a long time, it lowered its head and opened its six feet to Shi Yuan. The tips of its feet were so sharp that they could easily pierce a person, it seems to be hunting for food, and it also seems to hug him—

“Bang!” The cold blood splashed all over Shi Yuan.

There was a bullet hole in the center of the queen bee’s head. It was still alive, and emitting a high-frequency scream inaudible to human ears. The purple light bugs instantly rioted and pounced on the enemy like an overwhelming sea!

What greeted them was a hail of bullets, machine guns spewing flames, incendiary/bomb explosions in the air, and swathes of brilliant red. Dozens of armed warriors leapt up with their guns. Everything happened so suddenly that Shi Yuan instinctively fell to the ground, clutching his head, the tip of his tail tense to curl into a ball.

Fire, explosions, screams.

Groups of purple light swirled like a hurricane.

After a long time, there were few insects left in the swarm. The queen bee was covered in bullet holes, and her wings burned with a blazing fire.

It spread its wings with the flames and fell heavily to the ground.

It crashed down beside Shi Yuan.

The surroundings quieted down, the golden compound eyes of the queen bee slowly lost their luster, and the ashes of the wings fell on Shi Yuan’s shoulders.

Shi Yuan looked at it and said, “Good night.”