Chapter 16: Indulge

It didn’t answer, seeming to be in some strange state, only repeatedly chanting his name.

“Ming Ci, Ming Ci, Ming Ci…”

These two words seemed to be juicy and succulent delicacies, causing it to continuously chew and taste, to satisfy its unending hunger and desire.

Ming Ci’s pores exploded, staring at the monster perched on his left wrist. “Xiao Hong, stop calling.”

The monster seemed oblivious, even starting to heat up.

Its body temperature must have been above forty degrees Celsius, and in just half a minute, it had heated his wrist to a reddish hue.

Encountering this situation for the first time, Ming Ci hesitated for a few seconds and poked the scalding crimson mark with his fingertip.

“Xiao Hong, what’s wrong with you?”

“Ming Ci… Xiao Hong is here… Ming Ci…”

Meaningless responses, still calling his name with a voice that made one’s scalp tingle.

Meanwhile, the fever, far exceeding human body temperature, invaded the skin, from the wrist to the arm, and then to the whole body. It seemed that within a few seconds, the sticky heat had penetrated from the skin to every delicate and sensitive nerve.

An indescribable sense of unease surged, making Ming Ci start to feel anxious and disoriented.

He forcefully pinched the branding mark, attempting to pull it out of his skin, but not only did he fail, the tendrils it extended wrapped around his fingertips, urgently licking them a few times.

“Ming Ci…”

Accompanied by this sweet and murky low call, a hint of a fragrant smell gradually filled the air.

Ming Ci’s body temperature unknowingly rose, his originally pale and cold cheeks now slightly warm, tinged with a beautiful blush.

He struggled to untangle those fine tendrils, retracting his right hand, and then quickly walked into the bathroom, directly turning on the shower.

Cool water poured down, Ming Ci stripped off all his clothes, not hanging on to a single one. He stood under the cold water for several minutes, but it didn’t dispel the irritating heat.

During this process, he vaguely smelled a unique and fragrant scent, a scent that seemed familiar, but his increasingly confused mind couldn’t recall where he had smelled it before.

Something was wrong… What’s happening?

It felt like a fever, was he infected by it?

Wait, can monsters get a fever too?

Ming Ci thought in confusion, pressing his palm against the damp frosted glass door, struggling to support his weak and powerless body.

“Xiao Hong, come out… Come out quickly.”

As he spoke, his voice sounded strange, sticky, and hoarse, similar to the monster’s.

“Ming Ci… Ming Ci.”

It eagerly responded, falling from his wrist to the damp ground.

Ming Ci slid down to the floor, his burning cheeks pressed against the cold glass, trying to absorb a hint of coldness to alleviate the unbearable heat.

However, beneath him, the crimson spread like a gushing scarlet spring, gradually reaching his ankles, knees, and finally stopping at his shoulders.

Ming Ci’s eyes blurred, his vision filled with a swaying crimson.

His brain was almost shutting down, barely able to think. The increasingly intense fragrance he smelled made him dizzy as he lowered his head towards the crimson, seeming to want to immerse himself completely.

Plop.

A very gentle descent.

The warm blood fountain was not liquid but countless intertwining soft limbs, urgently and gently catching Ming Ci.

At this special moment, it subconsciously reverted to its original form.

The body had grown so large that it overflowed from the bathroom, like massive fleshy vines, densely entangled roots crowded the bathroom, countless branches squeezed out of the door, spreading across the ceiling, walls, and floor.

Deep within the roots of this fleshy vine, it enveloped the precious human host.

The monster had entered the second stage of growth, and its innate desire was so strong that it urged it to do what was natural, to extract more nutrients from the host.

“Ming Ci…”

It called him over and over again, licking his closed eyelashes, eagerly wanting him to open his eyes and look at it.

Actually, it didn’t matter, even if the host couldn’t see, they could still proceed.

But at this moment, it just wanted Ming Ci to look at it.

Ming Ci’s consciousness was confused and disoriented. In a haze, he heard its call and slowly opened his eyelids, but his blurry black pupils couldn’t see anything clearly.

“…”

His lips moved slightly, but no sound came out.

His sluggish brain, like rusted gears, turned slowly and sluggishly. After who knew how long, he barely regained some consciousness.

So hot… Want cold water.

Red, it’s the monster… What is it doing?

His vision blurred, Ming Ci wanted to rub his eyes, but he couldn’t move, not even his fingers.

Even though his consciousness was still unclear, he knew he was entangled by the monster again, and he could only struggle to utter a few words: “Xiao Hong… monster, let me go.”

The soft and hoarse voice, sweet and sticky, sounded strange even to himself.

His chaotic consciousness was trapped in an intoxicated and confused swamp, while his body fiercely resisted the invasion of the alien species, the instinct for survival constantly lamenting.

Ming Ci bit his tongue hard, the pain slightly clearing his mind, and his scattered vision slowly focused. He finally saw everything clearly in front of him.

At some point, he had been carried out of the narrow bathroom, and in the living room… he could hardly determine if it was indeed the living room.

This spacious place was completely occupied by it, with writhing crimson creatures all around, like blood-red vines spreading unchecked.

And at the tangled roots’ origin was him.

Ming Ci instantly sobered up, his eyes widening, pupils shrinking rapidly.

“No… No…” His body couldn’t stop convulsing, lips trembling, “What… What are you doing? Are you going to eat me now?”

The monster split out even longer and thinner limbs, touching his sweaty cheeks.

“Ming Ci, I want to enter your body.” It said bluntly, with vile and terrifying words, “Inside, I want to go inside.”

“No…”

Ming Ci’s heart raced in terror, his frightened brain desperately trying to think of how to escape.

“You will kill me, you will kill me!” he said urgently, “Monster, you haven’t fully grown yet, you still need me as your host, right?”

“Need… I need Ming Ci.”

“Yes, you need me, so you can’t suck me dry and kill me, you can’t let me die.” Ming Ci tried to speak as simply as possible, fearing it might not understand complex words, “I’m in great pain right now, I’m hurting. Do you understand what pain feels like? If you enter… enter my body, I will really die.”

The monster’s urgent and fervent emotions cooled slightly, asking in confusion, “Pain? No fire, no injury, why pain?”

Why pain?

Actually, Ming Ci wasn’t experiencing physical pain right now, but rather his mind oppressed by fear, almost suffocating and fainting.

“Because humans are very fragile, many things can cause me pain. Like you, you’re hurting me a lot right now, it hurts so much I feel like dying.”

At this point, Ming Ci suppressed his fear, making his voice as soft as possible, “Xiao Hong, you need me to stay alive, right?”

“I need Ming Ci, alive… Ming Ci is mine, want… Ming Ci…”

Its emotions were in extreme turmoil, torn between the urgent instinctual desire and the fear of losing the host.

At the same time, traces of a rich fragrance floated around Ming Ci’s nose, dragging his overburdened consciousness into further drowning.

After a brief moment of clarity, he once again felt dizzy and intoxicated, his thoughts becoming weak and feeble.

No… can’t faint… wake up…

His soul plunged into the sweet and intoxicating abyss, the last thought melting into the sea like a drop of water.

The light was dim, the indoor shadows dark, vaguely revealing a heavy blood-red hue.

Like a monster of flesh and blood tree, it occupied this set of houses, with its main trunk rooted in the living room, countless intertwining branches squeezing into every room, occupying every corner.

It even carefully turned off the lights, drew the curtains, and tightly pressed blackout fabrics against the sliding doors and windows.

The last ray of light disappeared completely, and this place turned into a dark and closed nest.

In the eyes of the monster, this was just a rudimentary temporary nest.

It hadn’t truly grown up yet, its unfolded body was too small, unable to occupy a large space, unable to permanently confine the host.

Thinking of this, the monster couldn’t help but feel restless. It wrapped its soft limbs around Ming Ci and began to squirm again, almost unable to restrain its burning and intolerable desire.

It rubbed against Ming Ci’s body back and forth, the split ends of its limbs teasing his lips, but it never pushed inside.

It was afraid that Ming Ci would really die.

Humans are very fragile, and if it entered directly, he might really not be able to bear it.

“No… no… Ming Ci will die, can’t… endure…”

“Ming Ci… wants…”

The low, distorted voice flowed in the darkness endlessly, as if it solidified into substance, touching every inch of Ming Ci’s skin, from the outside to the inside, penetrating into his bones and blood.

Unconsciously, Ming Ci sobbed a few times, his trembling body wanting to curl up, but he could only be trapped in the warm and soft crimson.

It was too hot, his porcelain-white skin flushed, the black hair damply stuck to his face, the fine beads of sweat oozing from his body were all licked away, yet the unbearable feeling of heat remained.

His consciousness was trapped in a hazy abyss, but his body honestly reacted.

“Ming Ci…”

After who knows how long, the monster emitted a greedy and insatiable hoarse call.

The next day.

The sky outside was bright, but the room was still dim. Ming Ci woke up drowsily.

His eyelids were heavy, his body uncomfortable, and his mind still fuzzy.

After a while, he finally opened his eyes and stared blankly upwards.

What time is it now?

This was his first thought, and then his sluggish brain recalled the fragments of memory before he fell asleep.

At this moment, a familiar voice came from his ear: “Ming Ci, you’re awake.”

Ming Ci’s breath stopped, fully awake now, those messy and terrifying scenes replayed in his mind one by one.

“You’ve slept for a long time.”

With its words, there was a faint movement in the darkness, like slippery crawling creatures rustling across the ground.

Ming Ci shuddered, and reluctantly called out: “Xiao Hong.”

“Ming Ci, are you hungry?”

The monster’s tone was not calm, filled with a disturbing eagerness, “I’ll feed you, okay?”