Chapter 39

The air felt a little strange.

Just when Shiyu felt uncomfortable, he quickly thought it over.

No, why should he feel uneasy? What kind of look is that person giving him?

He’s just a bit fat, with a bigger belly — so what?

Haven’t they ever seen a guy with a big belly?

His face darkened. He tried to scare the little monster like he usually does, using his strong presence.

He thought: if he didn’t want to know what kind of little monster the leader of “Gu Jin” saw through the monitoring stone, he wouldn’t have come out at all.

Right now, even the medical robot couldn’t detect the little monster’s exact shape. Shiyu could only guess based on the occasional sensations and the feeling of his hand on his belly.

But nobody knew what that strange little creature really looked like.

Anyway, as the little monster grows, they had to prepare early.

He took a deep breath, touched his face, checked that his mask and hood were still on properly, then walked over.

“What are you looking at? Keep staring and I’ll slap you again.”

Hearing that, Ma Wuyang’s eyes cleared a bit, full of hate.

But he was still cautious looking at Shiyu.

“Who are you?”

“Do I know you?”

“You’re hiding your face, pretending to be a pregnant woman.”

He looked at Shiyu with a poisonous glare, guessing again and again. He thought Shiyu was some fusion user he knew, so he disguised himself and didn’t show his true face.

Clearly, this guy was not from the psychic association.

Ma Wuyang was sure of this.

Shiyu: ???

What do you mean “hiding face” and “pretending to be pregnant”?

He’s clearly a real pregnant woman — no, a pregnant man!

Shiyu’s eyes grew more dangerous.

Not wanting to waste time with this harmful trash, he tightened the mental threads around Ma Wuyang and ordered:

“Shut up.”

“You’re in my hands now. When I tell you to do something, you do it.”

After speaking, Shiyu steadied himself and sneered:

“Now, look at my belly.”

Ma Wuyang was about to sneer, wondering why he should obey, but controlled by the mental threads, he couldn’t move. He only glared fiercely at Shiyu.

After a while, his mind became fuzzy.

He instinctively felt a strange pull coming from the mysterious person’s belly — like something was calling him.

His brain and body felt split, out of control.

Through the clothes, Ma Wuyang resisted for a long time, but finally his eyes moved and looked over.

The next second, he opened his eyes wide in terror!

He thought he must be mistaken.

No, no, no!

How could that familiar feeling of being watched come from this person’s belly?

No, it must be an illusion.

An illusion…

But he didn’t move his head. Through the dark raincoat, it felt like the strange aura they once accidentally shared locked onto him again.

Something terrible and weird, impossible to describe, was awakened by him…

The other side woke up!

Ma Wuyang suddenly struggled violently.

The little monster really felt someone was watching it and slowly woke up.

“Uproar.”

Is that rotten human?

Curious, it looked again like before, then suddenly saw that human scream madly:

“Ahhhh, don’t look at me!”

“What is that? Don’t look at me!”

“Get away! Get away!”

Shiyu: ???

Weren’t you the one who kept wanting to find it?

Why don’t you want to look now?

He was speechless. He spent half the night searching and now the guy didn’t want to look.

The little monster tilted its head, confused. At this time, its “mom” instinctively cuddled it.

“Uproar”

Maybe that rotten human’s screaming was too scary.

Mom gently said to it, “It’s okay.”

The little monster, loving mom the most, got excited and even blushed.

The result — Ma Wuyang screamed even louder.

In the quiet park, the heartbreaking echoes could be heard.

Shiyu didn’t expect that just one look at the little monster could scare this guy so much — making him go crazy like that.

Such a weak mind.

He frowned, about to interrogate before Ma Wuyang fainted, when Ma Wuyang’s voice suddenly stopped, his eyes rolled back, as if trying to escape reality like the others before.

Shiyu quickly tightened the mental threads to stop him from fully fainting.

“Don’t faint! Tell me what you saw! Then you can faint.”

Ma Wuyang trembled all over. Shiyu had no choice and said firmly:

“If you don’t say, I’ll make you see it again.”

“No no!”

Ma Wuyang opened his eyes immediately, his face full of horror. It was hard to imagine such a demon existed in the world.

Yes, he was a demon.

Otherwise, how could he have that thing inside his belly?

His pupils shrank sharply, trying to stay awake. The last image in his mind:

“Tentacles… I saw many tentacles.”

“Ahhhh, don’t look into the eyes!”

After that, Ma Wuyang couldn’t hold on and completely lost consciousness.

Tentacles?

Shi Yu kept thinking about this sentence in his mind and guessed:

Could the little monster be a tentacle monster?

So… what kind of strange creature is it?

He quickly recalled the strange creatures that appeared in the original story but couldn’t match this one yet.

Most strange creatures in the story came from everyday objects changing weirdly. And among the strongest SSS-level creatures, there were no tentacle monsters.

Then what exactly is this thing?

Shi Yu originally thought that when he first entered the book world, he might have accidentally gotten infected with something, which is why he suddenly became pregnant with this little monster.

But from Ma Wuyang’s description, if the little monster really looks like tentacles…

Shi Yu was sure he had never encountered any tentacle-shaped strange creature before.

B City is inland, so sea-related things are very rare. He never saw one, and if he had, he would definitely remember.

He looked down and couldn’t help staring at his belly.

The little guy looked up innocently and “wa la wa la” (making sounds), completely unaware that his mom was thinking about serious problems.

Shi Yu: …

Forget it.

It’s clear the little monster knows nothing.

Shi Yu twitched his mouth. Now that he roughly knew the little monster’s shape, he looked at the man opposite him and had to think about how to handle the situation.

This guy was the only one who saw his belly.

But judging by how tightly Shi Yu wrapped himself, plus how crazy this guy looked before fainting, he probably wouldn’t remember much after waking up.

Shi Yu relaxed a little at this thought. This time, he didn’t plan to send the guy to the Psychics Association. Instead, he tied him up near the supermarket where Ma Wuyang usually met contacts during the day, according to some intelligence.

Yeah, this should be fine.

After making sure the guy was tied up tightly and couldn’t cause trouble, Shi Yu stopped, looked at the man’s swollen face (like a pig’s), and couldn’t help… slapping him again.

Little monster: ???

Learning… next time!

Protecting mom… hitting the strange creature… slap.

The little monster, secretly hiding its eyes under its tentacles, saw this scene and immediately copied it, wanting to learn from mom.

After finishing, Shi Yu clapped his hands, finally relaxed, and left the west district holding his belly.

…

The next morning, members of the Psychics Association waited near the Xilai store for Ma Wuyang. They were hiding, pretending to be ordinary people, when they saw a tied-up man on a big tree not far from some bushes.

The man was ragged and bruised, which startled them at first. When Wang Shan got closer, he noticed…

Wait.

This man had the aura of a strange creature!

“Be careful!”

Minutes later, the Psychics Association members quickly arrived.

Fu Nanyao grabbed the man, frowned, then suddenly looked aside.

“Send the photo over. Check carefully if it’s Ma Wuyang.”

“Ma Wuyang?”

Wang Shan was surprised.

Isn’t he the leader of “Gu Jin”?

But why is he here? Didn’t they say they hadn’t acted yet?

They were all confused but quickly checked.

The device confirmed the identity.

“It’s really Ma Wuyang.”

It was really him!

Fu Nanyao controlled the man and was about to put him in a car, but Ma Wuyang’s muscle memory woke up when he heard the noise. He suddenly opened his eyes.

His own strange creature’s backlash was severe. The moment he opened his eyes, the Psychics Association people became alert.

Luckily, it was early morning and a remote corner. No one else noticed what was happening.

Ma Wuyang’s face twisted as he muttered to himself.

Fu Nanyao listened carefully and realized he was saying, “I was wrong.”

“I was wrong.”

“I was wrong.”

He shouldn’t have looked for it.

As he spoke, the strange creature’s influence on him grew worse. The strange thing inside him retaliated fiercely.

The two-headed doll fused in his brain went out of control and started to devour him.

In just a few minutes after Ma Wuyang was put into the car, he was laughing wildly as his own strange creature devoured him completely.

Silence fell.

No one expected the leader of “Gu Jin” to end like this.

This dangerous man, who disturbed B City and escaped many times, died like this?

Easily killed by his own strange creature’s backlash?

The two-headed doll crawled out, covered in blood.

“Back off!”

Fu Nanyao quickly stepped back and sliced the doll with a mutated sword.

The mutated sword controlled the doll and prevented it from fusing with other life forms.

After the doll screamed and lost its breath, Fu Nanyao put it into an isolation box quickly.

“This doll is SS-level, with a chance to upgrade to SSS.”

“It must be destroyed immediately.”

Fu Nanyao’s voice was serious. Based on Wang Chenghe’s previous intelligence, they expected “Gu Jin”’s leader to be SS-level. They had prepared for this, and it was true.

They just didn’t expect the strange creature he fused with to be so violent. After Ma Wuyang lost control, it devoured him completely in just a few minutes, and no one could stop it.

“Those ‘Gu Jin’ guys are crazy, daring to fuse with such strange creatures.”

Wang Shan shuddered.

Many people who joined the Psychics Association had accidentally fused with strange creatures and couldn’t live normal lives. Hearing about this group gave them a way to work and get paid, so they joined.

Others, like Han Chuyi, were attracted by the Association and fused voluntarily.

But everyone agreed to choose mild strange creatures to avoid backlash like this.

Among them, the worst backlash was probably Captain Fu himself.

Wang Shan glanced at Fu and wondered if he felt the same every time his mutation increased.

Fu Nanyao didn’t answer. His mutation was different from Ma Wuyang’s.

He noticed Ma Wuyang lost control because he used up the strange creature’s energy multiple times. The creature then fought back.

When Fu’s mutation rose, he could still control the creature, though the result was the same: total transformation into a strange creature.

Fu remembered the incident at Beishan Hospital, where he almost lost control too. But how did he recover? He still didn’t know. It felt familiar, like forgetting something, especially after seeing Ma Wuyang.

The two-headed doll was soon sent back to the Psychics Association for destruction.

Previously, the Association had no way to destroy strange creatures. It was Mr. Sang who pointed out a substance that could counter them, allowing them to make devices to capture and destroy these things.

So, whether they met Mr. Sang or not, people who knew how scary these creatures were were grateful to Sang Huaiyu.

Fu snapped back to reality and focused on the urgent task.

“Search the area and check the surveillance. See if we can find anything.”

“Yes, Captain Fu.”

The team nodded and spread out toward the Xilai supermarket, clearing strange influences as they went.

---

Meanwhile, Shi Yu went home and fell asleep. He woke up at noon, yawned, and grabbed paper and a pen. He drew the image of the little monster in his mind.

Hmm.

Maybe because he just woke up and was a little dazed, he thought for sure:

Why did he draw a chubby, cute little cartoon octopus?

His mind cleared instantly.

Looking at the cute octopus on the paper, Shi Yu felt embarrassed and covered his face, thinking he made it up.

Step back, the little monster can’t be that cute!

That thing always “wa la wa la” all day, ugly enough to scare people.

He put down the pen, took a deep breath, looked seriously, and was about to erase the ugly cute octopus.

But after looking a bit more and holding the pen, he hesitated and didn’t fully destroy it.

After thinking for a long time, he grit his teeth and shoved the ugly cute octopus drawing into a drawer.

Forget it, keep it for now. Even though it’s impossible, what if…

What if it’s not that scary after all?

The little monster didn’t know his mom’s thoughts and curiously pressed its eyes against the paper. But the paper was soon put away, so the little monster didn’t see it.

After writing and drawing for a while, Shi Yu marked the “Deep Sea Division” as important and looked down to ask:

“Since it’s from the Deep Sea Division, do you usually feel thirsty?”

Thirsty…?

The little monster tilted its head, not understanding.

“Wa la.”

Mom’s not thirsty… so I’m not thirsty.

Shi Yu: …Okay, at least it’s easier to take care of if it’s not picky about food and water.

He rubbed his slightly sore lower back. Ever since the little monster inside him had grown a bit, his pregnancy symptoms had gotten worse. Just sitting for a while made his waist ache and feel weak.

No, he couldn’t just lie in bed anymore!

Holding his waist, he sat up and decided to check the fridge for something to eat and move around a bit.

Just then, his phone buzzed again.

The strange “ding” sound made Shi Yu open his phone without thinking. What he saw surprised him — a message from the big boss, sent like it was on schedule.

“I ordered breakfast this morning.”

“If you’re sick, you don’t need to push yourself so hard.”

Very standard, boss-like words of concern, but Shi Yu was a bit shocked.

Was the big boss this free? Why was he ordering breakfast for his employees?

Shi Yu had thought the medicine from last night was already very generous. He didn’t expect breakfast on top of that.

Feeling a bit suspicious, he opened the door — and saw a beautifully packed takeout bag sitting outside. He didn’t know when it had been delivered.

“Uproar?” the little monster tilted its head curiously.

“Don’t make noise,” Shi Yu scolded gently, then picked up the bag.

This time, the portion looked normal. He opened it, expecting simple porridge and side dishes — but to his surprise, it was a deluxe seafood porridge with some ingredients he didn’t even recognize.

Shocked, he looked at the packaging and quickly searched the restaurant on an app.

He found out it was a high-end place — and that this breakfast set cost 5,000 yuan.

What kind of heavenly food is this to be that expensive?

Shi Yu was stunned.

“Isn’t this too extravagant?” He sent the price to the boss, hesitating.

Sang Huaiyu glanced at it.

Extravagant?

He had just randomly picked a place.

His platinum curls gently fell as he rested his chin on his hand and typed:

“It’s fine.”

“If you like it, I can order another set in the afternoon.”

Such casual words made Shi Yu feel what a real rich person was like.

So this was what being rich meant!

Wasn’t this the legendary “money means nothing” attitude?

He took a deep breath and looked at the food box next to him. He was determined to find out what made it worth that price.

He opened the lid, ready to nitpick.

On the first look, he was skeptical.

On the second look, he thought the plating looked nice. On the third, he took a small bite.

Next second: Damn!

It was delicious.

So fresh.

The unknown fish was incredibly tender and tasty. One bite made his eyebrows nearly fall off from the flavor. After a couple more bites, Shi Yu mentally slapped himself.

So… expensive food can be worth it.

Maybe 5,000 yuan wasn’t a waste after all — maybe it was smart spending.

“It’s really so good,” he sighed for who-knows-how-many-times. Rubbing his stomach, he finished his meal seriously, then turned to his phone with a slightly warm ear.

Cough. He had thought the boss was over-the-top, but now… not at all.

Still, maybe he should say something?

Just eating and saying nothing felt a bit rude.

Now fully convinced, Shi Yu thought for a moment, looked at the empty but pretty food container, and picked up his phone.

“Thanks, Boss. I just finished eating.”

“It was really tasty.”

The clean bowls and utensils were placed neatly on the coffee table, with just one hand still holding the spoon. Anyone could tell how satisfied the person was with the meal.

Sang Huaiyu had only ordered the food based on online reviews but was now surprised it looked that good.

The ancient god who rarely touched human food suddenly felt a bit hungry. Maybe he could try it at lunch. After all, he sometimes pretended to be human too.

Looking at Shi Yu’s message, Sang Huaiyu raised his brows slightly.

“It’s nothing.”

He paused, then typed:

“You look very happy when you eat. I like watching you eat.”

He wasn’t lying.

Shi Yu was surprised by the compliment from his boss and suddenly understood.

So the boss was his eating fan too? That made more sense.

Still, he felt a bit regretful:

“If Boss has time, you could watch my livestream next time.”

“Too bad I was so hungry just now and ate quickly. I didn’t record it. Otherwise, I could’ve sent it to you.”

Too bad?

Sang Huaiyu thought of the food box and squinted slightly.

“It’s not a shame.”

The fact that Shi Yu could move him emotionally at all was already surprising.

He really was different from other humans.

Huh???

Shi Yu didn’t understand the meaning behind that, thinking he was just talking about the seafood porridge, and subconsciously touched his ear.

Talking to the big boss was actually kind of fun?

Not as hard or formal as he imagined. Aside from the weird snake-raising hobby, the boss seemed like a perfect employer. And since the snakes weren’t kept at his place, it didn’t really matter.

Shi Yu nodded to himself, starting to feel a bit more fond of the guy across from him.

Sang Huaiyu didn’t know what Shi Yu was thinking. At lunch, when ordering food, he naturally picked the same place Shi Yu had eaten from that morning.

“Mr. Sang, you’re ordering from that place?” the receptionist Wen Jingjing asked in surprise.

Sang Huaiyu walked out, took the takeout bag, and smiled a little when he heard her.

“Someone recommended it, so I wanted to try.”

Someone recommended?

Who?

Her gossip radar lit up immediately. Holding hands with a coworker, she asked curiously:

“A friend?”

“Do we know them, Mr. Sang?”

Just then, Fu Nanyao and Shen Yan came back. Hearing the conversation, they looked over. Sang Huaiyu paused, looked back, and said:

“Maybe you do.”

“I mentioned before — the person I like.”

His voice was gentle:

“Shi Yu said the porridge here is good.”

Such a casual sentence made it sound like they were already close. He didn’t say more, just took his food and left.

In the lobby, Shen Yan ignored it and went upstairs.

Wen Jingjing could barely contain her excitement. When everyone was gone, she and her coworker clutched each other and screamed:

“Ahhh!”

“Did you see how gently Mr. Sang smiled just now?”

“He’s definitely in love!”

“Anyone who said ‘no way’ before needs to take a look now!”

“My favorite couple is definitely going to happen!”

Her coworker was just as excited. It was like they had discovered a huge breakthrough. They took a deep breath and rushed to share the news in the group chat.

Back in his office, Sang Huaiyu knew the humans misunderstood but didn’t bother correcting them. Glancing at the food container, he thought of Shi Yu’s morning message and smiled with interest… before sending a pop-up message to see how Shi Yu would respond.

Shi Yu had just opened his camera to prepare for livestreaming when he saw the message notification.

The big boss?

He turned and tapped on it.

After being fed breakfast, lunch, and dinner, his attitude toward the big boss was very positive. He wanted to see what the boss needed.

But when he opened it, it was a photo.

A hand he didn’t expect appeared in the photo, opening a takeout box.

That hand…

Was it the boss’s?

Shi Yu paused. In the next photo, the same hand picked up a spoon, ready to eat porridge.

The fingers briefly appeared in the shot. Shi Yu blinked and saw a message come through:

“Is this how you eat it?”

“Just tried a bite. It tastes pretty good.”

Like a buyer who ordered something based on a recommendation, the conversation was totally normal — but the boss’s hand, so elegant and strong, made it feel… weird.

That hand looked like a piece of art. It didn’t feel right holding cutlery.

Shi Yu was about to type a reply, but then — out of nowhere — he went back and looked at the picture again.

And then something clicked.

Wait a minute…

The way the boss was holding the spoon looked exactly like his own pose in the photo he sent earlier.

Even down to the position of his pinky finger.

Almost like… they were holding the same spoon.

Strangely intimate — and hard to explain.