Chapter 5: Pain

“Ming Ci, don’t, me, body… bad thing, uncomfortable, why?”

It was undoubtedly human language, but each syllable was so peculiar to the extreme, deliberately mimicking a tone of grievance and incomprehension, sounding even more sinister and terrifying.

Ming Ci couldn’t describe the sensation he felt in that moment. His brain buzzed, and amidst the intense ringing in his ears, its voice became even clearer.

“Save…”

His trembling lips moved slightly, barely uttering a sound.

But it heard it clearly, a strange word.

So it repeated it word by word: “Save, life?”

Thump, thump, thump… his heart raced wildly. Ming Ci clenched his teeth and suddenly stood up!

The overturned chair crashed to the ground with a loud bang, the commotion echoing out.

In the adjacent office, Officer Liang heard the noise and quickly approached, opening the door: “Ming Ci?”

He saw Ming Ci standing by the desk, the chair overturned beside him, and the water cup spilled on the table, water dripping down the edge.

Officer Liang entered the room. “Ming Ci, what happened?”

“It’s here.”

Ming Ci turned around, his black eyes wide with undisguised fear.

“It followed me, it’s hiding in this room!”

“What?” Officer Liang was taken aback. “You mean the monster?”

The small room only contained a table and two chairs, empty and devoid of any hiding spots, not even a mouse could hide there, so how could a monster bigger than a person?

He scanned the room, from the ceiling to the corners, but saw nothing strange.

“It’s a monster, I heard its voice, but I can’t find where it is. It must, it must be hiding here.”

Ming Ci’s face was pale, his lips bitten red, his words filled with nervous panic. “Can’t you hear it? It’s speaking, right here in the room, very close to me!”

Officer Liang’s expression became subtle. He approached a few steps, staring directly into his eyes. “Ming Ci, are you sure you heard a voice?”

“You… you can’t hear it?”

A sinister premonition rose in his heart, as if an invisible monster had grabbed his throat. His voice weakened. “I’m sure, it’s speaking, right now.”

Officer Liang asked, “What is it saying?”

“It’s calling my name, always calling my name.” Ming Ci’s Adam’s apple moved slightly, trying to mimic its tone. “Ming Ci… Ming Ci…”

Officer Liang listened with a shudder, unable to help but interject, “That’s enough! Calm down a bit!”

Ming Ci stared straight at him, the expression on his face quickly fading, all the panic emotions suppressed deep into the dark depths of his eyes.

“You don’t believe me.”

He stepped back, retreating until he was pressed against the cold tiles of the wall, as if seeking a bit of elusive safety in doing so.

Seeing Ming Ci like this, Officer Liang’s heart skipped a beat, involuntarily avoiding his gaze.

He bent down to pick up the chair, held the wet paper cup in his hand, then spoke solemnly, “Ming Ci, it’s not that I don’t believe you, but look at this room. Where could a monster hide? Even a mouse or a cockroach couldn’t hide here.”

Ming Ci remained silent.

Officer Liang paused for a moment before continuing, “Here’s the thing. There are cameras in this room. Come to the office, and I’ll show you the surveillance footage.”

The office was brightly lit. Officer Liang walked quickly to his desk and waved for Ming Ci to follow.

As Ming Ci approached, Officer Liang opened the surveillance footage on the computer screen and moved aside to let him see the playback.

“Look, from the moment you entered the room until we just came out, it’s been about 43 minutes in total. I’ll play it at double speed. Watch and listen carefully.”

The footage was in high definition, and the sound was clear. Played at double speed, all the details remained vivid.

Ming Ci stared at the screen intently, his handsome profile devoid of expression, but his teeth silently biting into his swollen lips.

As time passed, there was no sign of the monster in the footage, nor was there the voice he had heard.

His teeth inadvertently bit harder into his lips, breaking the skin inside, a faint taste of bloody sweetness spreading between his teeth.

“Blood, Ming Ci, blood, flowing.”

Its tone sounded dripping with desire.

Ming Ci pressed his lips together, suddenly remembering something else.

On the night he was scratched by Little Mimi, the monster must have been hiding in the house, which was why Little Mimi had reacted so strongly. The used alcohol cotton ball had suddenly lost its bloodstains the next day, probably sucked dry by it.

The footage had reached its end, showing him nervously saying, ‘Can’t you hear it? It’s speaking, right here…’.

However, the reality was that not only Officer Liang couldn’t hear it, but the surveillance cameras couldn’t either. In the footage, aside from the conversation between the two humans, there were no other voices.

Even more despairing was the fact that, at this moment, the voice of the monster still lingered in his ears, refusing to dissipate.

“Blood, Ming Ci’s blood, want… to eat, let me, like, Ming Ci’s… body.”

The disjointed words revealed a strong sense of greedy desire.

• It wants to suck me dry.

Just thinking about this, Ming Ci couldn’t stay calm. His heart felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand, making it hard to breathe.

Where could it be hiding?

Could it be invisible?

Was he really the only one who could hear its voice?

The video playback ended, and Officer Liang shrugged, speaking calmly, “See, I didn’t lie to you, there really is no monster.”

Ming Ci closed his eyes briefly, then stood up straight, scanning the entire office. His gaze slowly swept over the faces of several duty officers and dispatchers.

They were all so calm, occasionally glancing at him, their expressions calm and composed as usual.

Indeed, aside from him, no one else heard it.

A chill enveloped Ming Ci’s heart.

“You’re still young and haven’t experienced much. You got scared for a moment and started having wild thoughts. It’s getting late, I’ll get a folding bed for you later. Don’t think about anything, just have a good sleep here in our station. When it’s daylight, I’ll talk to the colleagues on the next shift, let them bring a police dog over, and then go check your house.”

With that, Officer Liang stood up and patted his shoulder, “Stop standing there, let’s go.”

“Okay.”

Ming Ci replied softly, his cheeks drooping, following behind him.

A few minutes later, Officer Liang set up a blue folding bed against the wall with steady hands.

“Alright, you rest first.”

With that said, he walked out of the small room and casually closed the door behind him.

Ming Ci sat on the folding bed, hugging his knees, his chin resting on them as he stared blankly at the snow-white tiled floor.

The light shining on the floor was glaring, revealing everything without a shadow of a doubt.

After a long silence, Ming Ci suddenly spoke up, “Aren’t you eager to devour me? Come on, don’t hide, show yourself and devour me.”

Before he finished speaking, he curled up a sarcastic smile at the corner of his lips, licking the blood seeping from the split in his lips, and said hoarsely, “Come on, monster, don’t you want to drink my blood?”

It heard him.

And it only understood the key words, taking them literally.

Come, drink, blood!

It immediately became excited. This was the first time the host had actively allowed it to do such a thing!

A red mole moved from Ming Ci’s chest, up his slightly protruding throat, across his fair chin, without hesitation, it slid into his lips, settling on the split in his lip.

It dispersed, growing larger, like a trace of crimson bloodstain.

The provocative challenge was thrown out, but there was no response, not even the incessant chatter, it all disappeared.

Ming Ci took a deep breath and loosened his tightly clenched fists, feeling a strange sensation in his heart.

He was both afraid of the monster appearing and afraid of it not appearing.

The former was the fear of death, while the latter was the fear of the unknown.

It’s hard to say which fear tormented him more.

Ming Ci buried his face in his arms, pursed his lips, and suddenly felt something wrong with the split in his lip.

It didn’t hurt.

Not only had it healed, but there also seemed to be a thin layer of new flesh, and the sensation when his tongue touched it was strange, with a distinct feeling of foreignness.

There was no mirror in the room, so he took out his phone, opened the front camera, and held it up to his lips, slightly pulling down the lower lip.

He saw a small piece of bright red film inside the pink lips.

Ming Ci’s eyelids twitched, and he tentatively pinched it with his fingertip.

Under his vigilant gaze, the thin red film slowly curled up, seeming to want to wrap around his fingertip.

“Ming Ci.”

It called softly.

Ming Ci’s pupils contracted instantly, and he withdrew his finger as if shocked.

Then he held his breath, leaning closer to the screen, staring at the image reflected on it in disbelief—the crimson film quickly flattened and tightly adhered to the lip.

Clang!

The phone slipped from his hand, hitting the side button as it fell, and the screen instantly went dark.

Ming Ci didn’t bother to pick up the phone, standing frozen in place like a statue.

As if a thunderbolt had struck his mind, all the strange occurrences that had happened came flooding back to him, linking together to form a bizarre and terrifying truth.

The continuously growing red mole, the sudden rapid healing, the whispering in his ear… Until last night, when the crimson on his body completely disappeared, and then the monster appeared.

That’s why they couldn’t find any traces of it.

That’s why only he could hear its voice.

That’s why it sounded so close.

—Because it was hiding inside his body.

Right now, at this moment, it was on his lips.

“…”

Ming Ci’s entire body erupted in goosebumps. He opened his mouth but couldn’t utter a word, his throat suddenly feeling nauseous, unable to suppress a dry cough.

His stomach was empty, and he couldn’t cough up anything, not even bitter bile.

An inexpressible panic surged into his heart like a dark tide. The air around him became incredibly stagnant, and the entire room felt like it was submerged in a silent abyss, suffocating him with a drowning sensation.

Thud!

Ming Ci fell off the folding bed and knelt on the cold floor, taking deep breaths. His face, hidden in the shadows, was clouded with gloom.

He fiercely bit his arm until his teeth pierced the skin, tasting the sweet tang of blood.

“Hmm? Ming Ci, blood, eat?”

It was indeed tempted. Sliding from his lip to the wound on his arm, it greedily licked up the fresh blood.

Ming Ci lifted his face, gazing at the bite mark on his arm for a few seconds, then stood up expressionlessly, opened the door, and walked straight to the adjacent office.

“Officer Liang,” Ming Ci called softly.

Officer Liang was dozing off at his desk. Upon hearing the voice, he raised his eyelids and looked at him, asking slowly, “Ming Ci, what’s wrong now?”

“I want to borrow a lighter.”

“What do you need a lighter for?”

Without blinking, Ming Ci replied, “Can’t sleep, want to smoke.”

At these words, Officer Liang’s brow furrowed slightly, not expecting this clean and handsome student to smoke. But considering his current mental state, it wasn’t surprising that he wanted a smoke.

“Fine,” he hesitated for a few seconds, then took out a lighter from his pocket. “No smoking in our station, got it? Go smoke outside, understand?”

Ming Ci’s injured left arm was at his side, and he took the lighter with his right hand. “I understand, thank you, Officer Liang.”

As he was about to turn away, Officer Liang suddenly said, “Hey, wait a minute. I didn’t see you bring cigarettes in.”

Ming Ci replied, “Yeah, I didn’t bring any. I’ll buy some at the nearby convenience store.”

“Don’t buy any. Young people should smoke less.” Officer Liang took out a cigarette pack from his pants pocket, pulled one out, and handed it to him. “Having one occasionally is okay, but don’t smoke a whole pack.”

Ming Ci was stunned for a moment, then accepted it graciously. “I understand, thank you, Officer Liang.”

In the dead of night, the streets outside the police station were deserted and silent.

Ming Ci stood under a street lamp, lit the cigarette with the lighter, and watched as the faint smoke dispersed in the night breeze. He looked down at the bite mark on his arm and pressed the glowing cigarette butt against it.

Sizzle—

The burning pain of flesh and blood instantly surged. Ming Ci’s arm spasmed, but he didn’t stop, finally hearing its scream as he had hoped.

“Ah! Stop it! It hurts… Ming Ci, it… hurts… wuwuwu…”

“Monster, this is pain. Do you feel it?”

A fierce sense of satisfaction flickered in his eyes as he flicked away the extinguished cigarette and directly used the flame from the lighter to burn the wound.

“You’re in pain, aren’t you? Come out, get out of my body!”