Chapter 28: End

In September, the early autumn in Nanzhou was still hot, with the blazing sun scorching the earth.

The freshmen undergoing military training were suffering miserably, sweating profusely, their clothes half-wet and half-dry, like wilted little trees standing under the sun.

Miao Nianchun stood behind Ming Ci, looking at his dry shirt, and whispered, “Ming Ci, aren’t you hot? How come you’re not sweating?”

“Who’s talking?” The instructor heard the noise and immediately rebuked loudly, “Stand at attention and no talking! Anyone caught whispering will add three minutes to the training for the entire group!”

Miao Nianchun had to shut his mouth and silently stared at Ming Ci’s dark hair.

As time passed slowly, everyone was tired, hot, thirsty, and hungry. The wait felt like an eternity.

After what seemed like an eternity, the instructor finally started counting down: “Five, four, three, two, one, dismissed!”

A weak cheer erupted, signaling the end of the morning session.

It was the fifth day of military training, and the thought of nine more days ahead weighed heavily on everyone’s hearts.

“Ming Ci, I’m going to buy some iced milk tea at the east gate, do you want some? Shall I get you a cup?”

Miao Nianchun walked to Ming Ci’s side as he spoke, noticing his slightly reddened cheeks from the sun and the fine beads of sweat on his forehead.

“No, thanks.”

Ming Ci walked to the shade of the trees and headed towards the dormitory area at an unhurried pace.

It was mealtime now, and most of the boys who had finished military training hadn’t returned to their rooms, leaving the entire building quiet.

Ming Ci walked back to Room 606 and entered, closing the door behind him.

With a soft click, the door locked, as if signaling some kind of release, and a drop of crimson fell to the ground, quickly spreading and coalescing into a tall figure.

As soon as Ming Ci turned around, it was already embracing him.

“Ming Ci, it’s mealtime now.”

The monster licked down his forehead, not missing a single spot, using its soft and flexible red tongue to meticulously “wash” his face.

Ming Ci’s cheeks flushed, but he didn’t avoid it.

Next was feeding each other, as they had agreed.

“Ming Ci, open your mouth,” the monster’s lips brushed against his, whispering softly, “Don’t be afraid, I won’t go deep, it won’t hurt.”

Ming Ci lowered his eyelashes, hesitating for a second, then slightly parted his lips.

In the next instant, the deep kiss entwined their senses, sending shivers down his nerves, causing every pore to explode, his heart to beat rapidly, and his blood to rush.

The dual stimulation of physiology and psychology made it difficult for him to control his reaction.

I’m kissing a monster disguised as a human.

He thought dazedly, but his hands involuntarily tightened around its arms.

The monster was extremely excited, tightly holding him in its embrace. While passionately kissing, it repeatedly asked him, “Do you like it? Am I doing well?”

At first, it could maintain the structure of a human mouth, but within ten seconds, fine tentacles emerged from its mouth, gently and eagerly invading his throat.

Moist mucous membranes, sweet saliva, trembling skin… it wanted to greedily plunder everything.

Ming Ci couldn’t make a sound, his breath hot and rapid, his snowy white neck turning red layer by layer.

Amidst the confusion, a piece of fragrant and slippery substance slid into his throat, melting into warm mucus and flowing deep into his body.

Finally, the monster parted slightly, rubbing against his ear, “Ming Ci, how am I doing? Do you like it?”

“…” Ming Ci’s cheeks were crimson, his breath erratic, and he didn’t speak for a while.

“I really like it, Ming Ci, I really like feeding you like this.”

The monster lifted its hand, palm resting on his slightly raised Adam’s apple, feeling the tremors with each breath he took.

“Let’s do it again,” it lowered its head, kissing his slightly moist eyelashes, “Ming Ci, let’s do it again, okay?”

“No.”

Ming Ci seemed to still be recovering, his voice slightly hoarse, with a subtle nasal tone, “Feeding time for today is over.”

“Okay, then until tomorrow.”

Although it said that, the monster still clung to him, picking him up and sticking to him, asking in a sticky manner, “Ming Ci, you haven’t answered me yet, how did I do? Was it good? Did you like it?”

Ming Ci turned his face away, looking at the snow-white wall, and pushed it away forcefully, “Stop messing around, let go of me quickly, someone will be back soon.”

“You have to answer me first.”

Ming Ci pursed his lips, silent.

The monster said earnestly, “I’m still learning to be human, you have to tell me if I’m doing well or not.”

Ming Ci remained silent for a dozen seconds, his lips moved slightly, softly uttering two words: “Just okay.”

“Just okay?” The monster took it seriously, feeling a little dejected, but quickly perked up, “I’ll do better tomorrow to make you more comfortable.”

It paused for a moment, then asked again, “Ming Ci, how do normal humans bind? If it can’t enter your body through your throat, where should it go? What should it do to make you feel comfortable?”

The monster lacked human morals and shame, unaware that each of its words was challenging Ming Ci’s psychological endurance.

Born single and untouched for eighteen and a half years, not even having watched a romantic movie, and now facing a relationship of this scale for the first time, it was a bit overwhelming.

Even when he was entangled by the monster in its primal form before, the psychological impact he received wasn’t as great.

Because back then, in his eyes, the monster was a predator, and he was prey. All the physical entanglement was a dangerous and cruel hunting behavior.

But now, their relationship had twisted into interspecies love.

Intense feelings of betrayal intertwined with indulgent desire, every intimate contact making his mind tremble, unable to articulate his physiological responses.

Gradually sinking, slowly letting go of his boundaries, willingly being invaded by this alien creature, turning a blind eye to survival instincts.

Even as his body trembled and his heart raced, he still sank completely into it.

Ming Ci knew he was truly done for.

He might have become perverse.

“Ming Ci,” the monster dropped gentle kisses on his neck, “Someone is approaching the door, I’ll hide first.”

“Mm.”

Ming Ci responded softly, but before he could finish speaking, there was a commotion outside the door.

Turning his head to look, he saw the door opening, with Miao Nianchun holding cold noodles in his left hand and iced milk tea in his right, casually walking in.

Miao Nianchun tilted his head, looking at Ming Ci with some surprise. “It’s cooler inside than outside, why is your face so red? Is it hot? Turn on the air conditioner.”

As he spoke, he turned on the air conditioner and lazily sat down on a chair, ready to have lunch.

“Have you had lunch?”

Miao Nianchun casually asked while picking up his noodles. When he didn’t hear a response, he looked up, only to see Ming Ci had already walked into the bathroom.

The sound of rushing water faintly came, and Miao Nianchun swallowed his noodles, then shouted, “It’s so hot today, sweating all over, I’ll take a shower later too.”

“I checked the weather forecast, and it’s sunny for the next few days. It’ll cause somebody’s death ah! Praying for rain online, God, please let it rain soon!”

No matter how much Miao Nianchun hoped for rain, the heavens didn’t listen to him, and the scorching sunny weather continued until the end of military training.

What’s even more annoying was that it started raining after classes officially started.

“What kind of weather is this? It didn’t rain during military training, and now it won’t stop raining.”

Miao Nianchun stood at the entrance of the teaching building, cursing angrily, then turned to ask Ming Ci, “Do you have an umbrella? I didn’t bring one.”

Ming Ci shook his head, about to walk directly into the rain curtain, when suddenly a familiar voice came from behind.

“Ming Ci! Miao Nianchun!”

He turned his head and saw Wei Yuheng and her roommate walking side by side, holding a folding umbrella in their hands.

“You two didn’t bring umbrellas?” Wei Yuheng opened the umbrella and raised an eyebrow. “Both Lu Lu and I have umbrellas. We can give you a ride back.”

“Uh…” Miao Nianchun hesitated for a moment, then slowly walked over to her.

Wei Yuheng looked at Ming Ci. “Then let Lu Lu walk with you.”

“No need, thank you.”

With that said, Ming Ci walked out of the gate, his figure disappearing into the hazy rain.

The three people at the door looked at each other. After a few seconds, Wei Yuheng couldn’t help but ask, “Does he have haphephobia?”

With her mention, Miao Nianchun realized that he had indeed never seen Ming Ci touch anyone else.

He suddenly realized and immediately agreed, “Exactly, 99% chance!”

The two walked into the rain together. Wei Yuheng said as they walked, “Hmm, case closed. Let’s be careful in the future and avoid touching his skin. I heard that when this condition flares up, the physiological reactions are severe…”

The continuous autumn rain lasted until the end of September, and the sky cleared up the day before National Day, with the weather in Nanzhou turning hot again.

On the evening before the holiday, Ming Ci was packing his things when Miao Nianchun looked at him and asked, “Do you have any plans for National Day? A few classmates and I are going to the beach. Do you want to come?”

Without lifting his head, Ming Ci replied, “No, I’m going home.”

After a pause, he added, “Wish you all have a great time.”

Miao Nianchun said excitedly, “Of course, there are two girls among the six of us!”

In a physics department where the gender ratio was severely imbalanced, having a group outing with a 1/3 female ratio was something to be proud of!

“I wonder if there’s a chance to find a partner…”

Miao Nianchun chuckled twice and then stared at Ming Ci. “Ming Ci, are you dating?”

He asked, but he guessed that Ming Ci probably hadn’t dated before, after all, with haphephobia, holding hands and kissing were out of the question, so how could he date?

“I do.”

“I knew it—huh? You do?” Miao Nianchun widened his eyes, suspecting he misheard, and couldn’t help but ask again, “You actually have one? Wait, how did you manage that? Was it a platonic relationship? Online dating?”

Ming Ci glanced at him expressionlessly.

Miao Nianchun was really curious, enduring his icy gaze, and continued asking, “It’s not online dating? Is the other person from our school? How did you meet? Um, have you… you know?”

His voice grew quieter as he spoke, and finally, under Ming Ci’s cold gaze, he awkwardly closed his mouth.

“Ming Ci, I want to be with you,” the monster said nonchalantly.

Ming Ci’s breath paused, a wave of heat spreading from within, his earlobes tinged with a faint red.

“I want to unite with you, enter your body in a way you can endure.”

The tender whisper, the urgent burning desire, were not hidden.

“I want to make you happy, comfortable, excited.”

It uttered embarrassing words, ending with a newly learned term: “climax.”

Ming Ci pressed his lips together, stood up, and walked to the balcony, closing the sliding door behind him.

“Stop talking,” he squeezed out the words from between his teeth. “There’s someone here. Don’t say such things to me.”

The monster didn’t understand. “He can’t hear my voice; only you can.”

Ming Ci gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and after a while, he suppressed his voice: “Anyway, it’s not allowed.”

“I want—”

It had just uttered two words when he interrupted: “Tomorrow, after we get home.”

“Tomorrow night, I’ll teach you.”

He said slowly.

The next evening, at half-past nine.

In the dimly lit bedroom with closed doors and windows, the laptop screen glowed, playing an R-rated BL anime.

Ming Ci said he would teach the monster, but he himself had no experience.

After some thought, he decided to watch some videos online. After finally finding some resources, he saw the real person on the cover and felt uneasy, so he quickly exited the DJ.

In the end, he switched to anime. The two-dimensional images made him feel a little better.

Well, paper people are still people, as long as the steps are correct.

Ming Ci comforted himself, his fingers trembling as he clicked on the video.

Soon, he regretted it.

Terrible, extremely terrible, the content of this anime was too much, definitely not a good teaching video!

But it was too late, the monster was completely excited.

It imprisoned his entire being, pressing him against the wall, onto the floor… Front, back… Various positions.

Until finally, Ming Ci couldn’t take it anymore, unconsciously crying out, and the monster calmed down slightly.

It kissed his moist eyes, gently asking him, “What’s wrong? Are you uncomfortable? Why are you crying?”

“Would it be more comfortable if we changed positions?”

Contrary to its gentle words, its actions were extremely fierce.

The taste of soul and flesh merging made the monster ecstatic.

With the surge of love in the soul, the body was almost unable to control its form, no longer resembling a human, yet still joining together.

The second day of the holiday, when Ming Ci woke up, it was already afternoon.

He lay in bed, his mind groggy, until the sun set before he reluctantly got up.

“Ming Ci, let’s do it again tonight,” the monster followed him eagerly, clinging to his waist, “Let’s continue tonight, okay?”

“No, we’re not doing it tonight, forget about it.”

Ming Ci pushed away its arms, took the vacuum cleaner, and opened the small room that had been closed for years.

“Stay here and don’t interfere with me cleaning.”

“Then let’s do it tomorrow night.” The monster took the buzzing vacuum cleaner from his hand. “I’ll clean, you go rest.”

Leaning against the door frame, Ming Ci watched it hold the vacuum cleaner and clean the dust, realizing it was doing quite well.

Just as he was about to turn around and leave, there was a loud noise, and a thick notebook fell out of the stacked clutter, landing on the ground.

Ming Ci crouched down to pick it up, but before his fingers touched the notebook, several delicate lines of black characters on the open paper caught his eye.

————

August 25th

I noticed that Xiao Ci has a red mole in the palm of his hand, it looks quite nice.

August 29th

Xiao Ci has been acting a little strange lately. Today, when I touched his face, he seemed very averse and immediately ran away.

Is it because he’s going through puberty? I need to be more careful next time.

————

The handwriting is very familiar; this is obviously the mother’s diary.

Ming Ci’s eyelids twitched, silently picking up the notebook.

He silently apologized in his heart, then continued to flip through it, hastily scanning, his gaze pausing briefly only where it mentioned him.

————

September 7th

Xiao Ci has been coming home very late lately, and I don’t know what’s going on. When I asked him, he said he was staying late at school for self-study.

I’m so worried. I’ll ask his homeroom teacher tomorrow.

·

September 21st

Scared to death!

Yesterday, Xiao Ci fell into the lake in Fenghua City, but thankfully he’s okay!

When I asked him how he fell in, he said he didn’t remember, probably because it was dark and he couldn’t see clearly, slipping and falling in.

·

September 23rd

I noticed that the red mole in Xiao Ci’s palm disappeared. Strange, I searched online, and it seems like it’s not a big deal.

————

“Ming Ci, what’s this?”

After finishing cleaning, the monster leaned over and asked beside him.

Ming Ci lowered his eyelashes, closed the diary, and whispered, “It’s a memento from my mother.”

He turned around and stuffed the notebook into the bottom of the cluttered box.

I’m sorry, Mom.

That wasn’t a mole, it was a terrifying monster.

I’ve fallen in love with it.

I don’t remember what happened before, and I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I’m sure of one thing: I love it, and I want to be with it forever.

Forgive me, bless me.

————————

Author’s Note:

The End! The unresolved suspense (from two years ago) and the sweet daily life I wanted to write, I plan to put them in the bonus welfare section and give them away for free to everyone.

TN:

Done. That was a weird ride but we saw it through! I’m not sure when the author will post the extras or where they’ll be posted but will try to follow up on it from time to time. There are a ton of questions left unanswered, like Xiao Hong’s origin, how long it’s been on Ming Ci or what it actually is. This detracts from fully enjoying the ending. Let’s just wait for the extras. Although from the welfare section in other novels I’ve seen, they’re posted on the app and I currently don’t have a mobile phone. If anyone has access to the raws, hit me up and I’ll edit and post them!