Chapter 10: Tame/ Domesticate

“Restraint.”

The creature hoarsely repeated.

What is restraint?

Why should one restrain themselves?

The creature didn’t understand.

At this moment, it had only one thought.

“Ming Ci… can’t kill… mine, it’s mine… can’t take it away.”

The anger that couldn’t be vented was like surging molten lava, burning its soul and body from the inside out, turning its naive and simple thoughts into a boiling sea of blood.

And within the depths of the blood sea, the inherent nature of the non-human species awakened, grew, and began to reveal itself.

“Ming Ci, I want to grow, grow… engulf, engulf, engulf… everything…”

The creature naturally bred greedy desires, completely unaware of how terrifying its thoughts were to humans.

Countless tentacles broke and merged, layer upon layer, crowding around Ming Ci, almost completely submerging him from head to toe.

The iron door shut tightly, so it carried Ming Ci towards the balcony, trying to squeeze out into the outside world through the window.

Ming Ci struggled to push aside the crimson membrane covering his face, his black eyes gently rolling as he saw its reckless behavior, causing his heart to tighten.

Past experience had shown that simple words couldn’t control this creature at all. To stop it, one had to use flesh and blood as bait.

But he didn’t want to use this wrong shortcut anymore. In the process of taming it, when it wanted to defy the host, it shouldn’t be rewarded with food, but rather with intimidation and punishment.

Ming Ci was entangled and unable to move, his skin burning, his cheeks flushing abnormally, and his swollen lips slightly parted.

“Monster, you may not understand what patience is, but you certainly know what death is.”

His voice was hoarse, breath heavy and scorching.

“In your current state, if you run outside and let other humans see you, you will be killed, and I will be killed too. Completely dead, forever gone.”

Death, this cruel and cold word spoken from the host’s mouth, fell like a dreadful curse.

The monster stopped. “Killed… completely, death… forever, gone?”

“Now, if you leave from here, we will both die.”

The monster’s thoughts began to be eroded by fear and unease, like a freezing blizzard sweeping in, gradually cooling the burning impulse and rage.

“No, no…” It nervously wrapped around Ming Ci, panickedly shouting, “No, death gone!”

Ming Ci’s eyes flickered with an unusual expression, his tone becoming heavier. “Do you know what humans will use to deal with you? Fire. You’ve already tasted the pain of fire, haven’t you?”

“Of course, you can retreat back into my body. Then humans will directly burn me with fire, until we both turn into a handful of ashes.”

The monster was frightened by his words, frozen in place.

Ming Ci closed his eyes, his damp and dense eyelashes trembling gently like black butterflies resting on the sides of his nose.

“You and I will both die in the agony of being burned by fire.”

Splish-splash.

The grotesquely swollen and bizarre soft body directly melted in place, turning into a pool of warm crimson slime. Like blood gushing back, it flowed up Ming Ci’s legs, gathered and shrank at his chest, turning back into a red mole hidden inside his collar.

“No fire, no death…”

It panicked, incessantly muttering, “No death, no… Ming Ci and I, forever, together, can’t die…”

Ming Ci remained indifferent, lying on the balcony floor, his chest rising and falling with each deep breath.

The loud chirping of cicadas came from outside the window, calming the moment. He slowly opened his eyes.

The azure sky reflected through the window, with a dark cloud drifting closer in the distance. The hot summer breeze blew in, and a gray-black insect landed on the windowsill.

It was going to rain.

Ming Ci silently thought for a moment, then his thoughts returned to the matter at hand.

Luckily, it stopped, otherwise he really didn’t know how to end it.

The first step of walking on the tightrope of the abyss was successful, and next comes the obedience training.

It is not a pet like a cat or a dog, but a very dangerous unknown species, a monster that covets his flesh and blood, a time bomb lurking inside his body.

Attempting to tame it may lead to self-restraint and self-destruction.

Ming Ci looked up at the approaching dark clouds in the sky, his heart heavy with gloom.

Pitter-patter…

Large raindrops pounded on the windowsill, and in an instant, the sky darkened as the torrential rain poured down.

Rainwater flew diagonally onto the balcony, splashing incessantly onto Ming Ci.

He didn’t move, instead closing his eyes again, letting the icy rain fall on his hot and flushed skin, trying to make himself a little more awake.

There was simply no better way; he couldn’t hesitate anymore.

Under no circumstances could he just wait to die, he should at least give it a try… The monster’s intelligence was not high, and it had a fledgling affection for him; maybe he could really tame it.

This idea had been lingering in Ming Ci’s mind for a long time, and now he finally made up his mind.

He muttered two words hoarsely: “*Xiao Hong.”

*little red

The incessant murmurs stopped, and it repeated in confusion, “Xiao Hong?”

“Your name,” he explained, “this is the name I’ve given you, Xiao Hong.”

After saying this, Ming Ci nervously waited for its response.

Would the monster accept it?

Would it agree to the name he casually gave it?

“Name, Xiao Hong.”

Its speech was slow, and its peculiar tone revealed no emotions. “Xiao Hong, my, name… My name is Xiao Hong… I am Xiao Hong?”

Ming Ci covered half of his face with one hand, pressing his temple with his fingertips, and breathed out a long sigh of relief.

Then he raised the corners of his lips, trying hard to make his voice sound softer. “Yes, you are Xiao Hong.”

“I am Xiao Hong.”

The tone of the monster changed, seeming somewhat excited.

“I am raised by Ming Ci, Xiao Hong.” It continued, following its own logical thinking, “Ming Ci likes to raise little cats, Ming Ci raises Xiao Hong, and likes me!”

“…,” Ming Ci remained silent for a few seconds, pursing his lips and squeezing out a sound, “Hmm.”

According to the monster’s logic, raising and liking were equivalent, both meaning to feed.

Thinking this, he suddenly noticed a special situation.

The monster’s speech order and coherence were improving, and its ability to express itself was much better than it was two days ago.

This meant that it wouldn’t always be foolish, but would become smarter through imitation and learning.

Ming Ci knew this was unavoidable, as he was its repository of knowledge, and it could observe his words and actions at all times.

The rain outside weakened, and the raindrops drifting into the balcony gradually diminished.

Ming Ci sat on the damp floor, knees bent, chin against his knees, closed his eyes in thought for a moment, then suddenly called out, “Xiao Hong.”

“Xiao Hong is here.”

It immediately responded, growing a bit agitated and expanding by about the size of a palm, starting to wriggle upwards from Ming Ci’s chest.

Warm, soft, and smooth.

The sensation of the soft membrane gliding over his skin was akin to a human tongue licking the palm of one’s hand, and Ming Ci could feel it vividly.

Reason could only suppress fear, not eliminate resistance, so when it brushed over his neck and throat, he involuntarily shuddered.

Afraid that Ming Ci wouldn’t feel its presence, the monster quickly wriggled to his cheek, protruding thin tendrils from the smooth membrane to touch his eyelashes.

Then it repeated again, “Xiao Hong is here.”

Ming Ci abruptly opened his eyelids, the few thin blood-colored tendrils almost touching his eyeballs.

Without hesitation, he reached up and grabbed them, tearing the entire piece off his cheek and flinging it to the ground.

“Hmm?”

The monster lay in the pooled water on the ground, resembling a brightly colored jellyfish, its crimson tendrils gently swaying in the water.

After completing a series of actions, Ming Ci realized he had overreacted and turned his head stiffly to look at it.

Meeting the monster’s pair of pitch-black eyes, it immediately swam excitedly, gliding from the water to his feet, covering his pale instep with its soft and thin body.

“Xiao Hong is here.”

It repeated once again, simultaneously shrinking and becoming smaller, like a trace of cinnabar pigment imprinted on the skin.

Ming Ci slightly lowered his eyelids, calmly responding, “Hmm, I got it.”

Then he leaned against the wall and stood up, heading towards the kitchen.

One of the steps in taming: if the monster obediently responds to the call, it should be rewarded to establish positive feedback.

Ming Ci took the fruit knife and meticulously sharpened it with the whetstone, making a dozen or so strokes, then wiped the blade with alcohol cotton.

After the alcohol completely evaporated, he squatted down, pressing the sharp blade against his instep.

“Ming Ci?” The monster’s tone faintly revealed anticipation. “Knife, bleed?”

Ming Ci exerted a slight force, swiftly making a shallow cut on the delicate skin, instantly drawing a bloodline.

This time the scratch was relatively shallow; it took a second for the wound to slowly ooze out crimson blood droplets.

The monster was restless, and it eagerly said with drooling desire, “Blood, Ming Ci, I want to eat.”

“Eat, Xiao Hong.”

As soon as his voice fell, it eagerly shifted and elongated, like a new bloodline covering the real wound.

Ming Ci sat on the chair, gazing down at its greedy feasting on the fresh blood, surprisingly calm like stagnant water.

He had seen through the nature of this monster.

—The host is both a nest and food; it cannot tolerate others harming him but is delighted to see him injured and bleeding.

Whether it’s the furious protection at the slightest provocation or the seemingly obedient response, it’s all just a veil covering its inhuman nature.

The monster was oblivious to the host’s thoughts, sated with its meal, murmuring affectionately, “Ming Ci… loves Ming Ci…”

Ming Ci looked at it, a mocking chill in his eyes.

“Xiao Hong,” his tone was calm, pointing his right index finger at his left wrist, “stay here on the wrist.”

The wrist was a visible but inconspicuous location at all times, and he hoped the monster could settle there.

Reluctantly leaving the foot, it moved upwards. After a few seconds, it stopped at his wrist.

“Your current size will attract attention. Shrink even smaller than before.”

It reluctantly contracted, becoming the size of a cherry, like a glaring crimson brand.

Ming Ci’s tone grew heavier. “Shrink to the smallest size, like before.”

The monster hesitated for a moment, then excitedly said, “Now, the smallest, this small.”

Its tone gave Ming Ci a sense of foreboding.

Sure enough, the next moment it said, “Ming Ci, I’m growing up!”