Becoming an Evil God and Stealing His Wife - Chapter 5

Li Jiu replied instantly, “I’ll take you, I’ll take you! I know exactly where that address is. Shall we head out right now?”

The mysterious man tightly closed his eyes for a brief moment, and immediately after, his entire body went completely limp.

Li Jiu lunged forward to catch him. He was thoroughly surprised to find that despite the mysterious man’s impressive height he wasn’t particularly heavy.

Glancing around the dark perimeter, Li Jiu muttered under his breath, “If we don’t want to be spotted, we have to steer clear of well-lit main streets. But sticking entirely to the dark routes is incredibly risky. If we cross paths with an anomaly, you’ll still be able to handle it, right?”

The mysterious man offered no response.

Left with no alternative and desperate to preserve his own skin, Li Jiu could only hoist the man up and plunge deep into the shadows of the alleyways. Between a rogue monster and this silver-haired enigmatic savior, Li Jiu felt the mysterious man was still by far the more formidable option.

Before setting off, as a safety precaution, Li Jiu pulled up his own jacket hood. He then took a closer look at the unconscious figure leaning heavily against him.

“You’re exceptionally pale, and while your hair looks incredible, it’s a bit too eye-catching. Mind if I pull up your hood for you?”

“I’ll take your silence as a yes.”

With his right arm completely locked around the man’s frame to support his weight, Li Jiu had to rely entirely on his left hand to maneuver the hood over the man’s head. It was an awkward, grueling process, made worse by the man’s height and the fact that Li Jiu was still firmly gripping his paper bag of ten meat buns.

By the time he finally managed to secure the hood, Li Jiu was drenched in sweat, his right arm trembling from exhaustion. After all, his passenger was still a fully grown adult male; even if he was on the lighter side, it wasn’t a weight Li Jiu could comfortably support with a single arm for very long.

Li Jiu quickly adjusted his grip, wrapping both arms firmly around the man.

This intimate posture brought him face-to-face with the stranger at point-blank range. The sheer visual impact of the man’s breathtaking features, coupled with Li Jiu’s personal weakness for silver hair, delivered a profound shock to his system.

Li Jiu’s heart hammered violently against his ribs.

Good heavens, is this some kind of spiritual trial?

Form is emptiness, emptiness is form… Form is emptiness, emptiness is form…

After silently chanting the Heart Sutra like a mantra countless time, Li Jiu finally managed to steady his nerves and began navigating through the shadows.

He remained entirely oblivious to the fact that in the pitch-black corner of the alleyway they had just vacated, the carcass of the multi-legged abomination lay completely motionless cleaved so thoroughly that it was already as dead as dead could be.

Thanks to the original owner’s meticulous mental map of the district, Li Jiu knew these backstreets inside out. Miraculously, they encountered no further anomalies along the way, and he successfully delivered his passenger to the designated address.

The destination was a standalone, two-story small villa. At this hour, it was completely cloaked in darkness, looking entirely abandoned.

Li Jiu whispered into the gloom, “I’ve brought you all the way to your doorstep. Am I free to leave now?”

The mysterious man still gave absolutely no indication of consciousness.

Li Jiu peered closely at him. The man’s eyes were tightly shut, and if one overlooked the slight, painful furrow of his brow, he looked as though he had simply drifted off to sleep.

Left with no other choice, Li Jiu decided to see the task through to the absolute end, silently praying the man wouldn’t turn on him once he recovered.

Groping through the darkness at the front entrance, Li Jiu managed to locate a ring of keys on the mysterious man’s person. He unlocked the front door, stepped into the dark interior, and carefully guided the unconscious man down onto the living room sofa.

Deciding the sofa wasn’t ideal, he scouted the first floor until he located the master bedroom, finally transferring the man onto the expansive bed.

With the task complete, Li Jiu let out a massive sigh of relief and straightened his aching spine. Between the grueling shift at the noodle house and this midnight rescue operation, he was entirely running on fumes.

“Consider my moral debt paid. Thank you again for saving my life back in that basement. Goodbye.”

Li Jiu turned on his heel to exit the room, but before he could take a single step, a severe clamp locked onto his right ankle. Without warning, he lost his balance and pitched forward onto the thick, plush carpet. Before he could recover, an immense force began dragging him backward across the floor.

What on earth is happening?!

Panic surged through him. Li Jiu clawed frantically at the floorboards, trying to find an anchor to stabilize his body, but his fingers slipped against the bare surroundings. It was only then that he realized the sheer emptiness of the villa; aside from the bed and its linen, the room was entirely devoid of furniture or decor.

He twisted his body around to look back, and the sight left him thoroughly paralyzed.

The mysterious man, who had been completely catatonic just moments prior, was now levitating silently above the mattress. His long silver hair billowed wildly around him despite the complete lack of wind in the sealed room.

Even more terrifying, countless pitch-black, vascular patterns were erupting from beneath his clothing, rapidly webbing across his pale skin, crawling up his neck, and spreading over his face and hands.

And the force pinning Li Jiu’s ankle? It was a grotesque, writhing black appendage resembling a monstrous shadow tentacle sprouting directly from the mysterious man’s body. Within a fraction of a second, dozens of additional tentacles erupted into the air, weaving a dense canopy as they surged toward him.

Faced with an absolute crisis, an uncanny, icy calm washed over Li Jiu. He kicked out fiercely with his left leg and doubled over, frantically trying to pry the shadow appendage off his ankle. But the grip was like forged steel dense, unyielding, and completely impossible to break with mere human strength.

Realizing physical resistance was entirely futile, Li Jiu immediately pivoted to the only weapon he had left: his mouth.

“Brother! Big brother! I followed your instructions to the letter and brought you safely back to your place! I swear on my life no one saw us on the way here! You can’t just kill the messenger and burn the bridge after I helped you, right?”

“I carried you all the way here! Even if you don’t feel a shred of gratitude, surely you can respect the sheer manual labor it took! Just grant me a pass this once, please?!”

“I can swear an oath! I will never utter a single word about crossing paths with you tonight, nor will I ever reveal the location of this villa to anyone!”

The figure hovering above the bed offered no acknowledgment.

Li Jiu watched in absolute despair as the terrifying mass of shadow tentacles converged upon him, wrapping around his limbs, chest, and torso in a suffocating spiral until only his head was left exposed.

He was completely immobilized, pinned like an insect in amber.

The last time he had experienced this terrifying sense of powerlessness was in the syndicate’s basement, where he had nearly crossed death’s door before this very man intervened. Now, he found himself trapped in the exact same scenario except the architect of his impending doom was the very savior who had rescued him.

Would anyone break through that door to save him this time? If not, was this where his journey ended?

I don’t want to die.

Yet, in the face of such an insurmountable chasm in raw power, Li Jiu had exhausted every card in his hand, and it hadn’t changed the outcome by a single millimeter.

Why? Because I am weak.

In his previous world, living a quiet, ordinary life as a weak individual was perfectly acceptable because society offered a baseline of security for common citizens. But in this world, weakness was an open invitation to be slaughtered at the whim of the extraordinary.

If I somehow survive this night… Li Jiu grits his teeth, making a silent, fierce vow in the recesses of his mind. If I make it out alive, I will do whatever it takes to become strong. I will never allow myself to be cornered like this ever again.

Suddenly, the mass of tentacles shifted. Instead of crushing his ribs, the appendages hoisted Li Jiu off the carpet, suspending him horizontally in mid-air directly above the bed. The structure positioned him face-to-face with the silver-haired man, who had slowly drifted back down onto the mattress, appearing to fall back into a deep, troubled slumber.

Then, the tentacles went completely static.

Li Jiu blinked, thoroughly bewildered. He’s… not killing me? Then what is the point of all this?

Up close, the mysterious man’s current condition was profoundly alarming. While the external symptoms shared a superficial resemblance to the advanced stages of Black Mist Disease specifically the presence of dark markings on the skin the reality was vastly different.

The dark lesions on Li Mengmeng’s body were stagnant, dead matter. The obsidian veins mapping across the mysterious man’s skin, however, were unmistakably alive; Li Jiu could distinctly see the patterns pulsing and slithering beneath the surface like microscopic parasites, synchronized with the writhing mass of shadow tentacles.

Li Jiu couldn’t help but question the fundamental nature of the entity before him. Was he truly looking at a human being, or was he staring directly into the visage of a literal monster?

As the hours dragged on, the sheer physics of his suspension began to take a toll. Holding his head up against the relentless pull of gravity caused the muscles in his neck to burn with fatigue. Unable to bear the strain any longer, he tilted his head slightly to rest his neck.

The moment he shifted, the tentacles enclosing his torso immediately reacted.

One of the thick shadow bands wrapping from his ankle to his shoulder began to unravel, snaking its way up his chest, bypassing his throat, and hovering directly in front of his face.

Li Jiu’s pupils dilated in pure panic. He strained his neck backward as far as the restraints allowed, terrified that the anomaly was about to invade his sensory organs.

To his utter amazement, the tentacle didn’t strike. Instead, it began to coil upon itself in mid-air, looping round and round until it formed a smooth, compact, disk-like platform right beneath his chin.

Li Jiu stared at the bizarre construction, entirely at a loss for words. Yet, fear of what might happen if he dropped his guard kept him straining his head backward, refusing to let his face make contact with the dark mass.

As the deep state of the night settled over the villa, exhaustion began to take its toll. His eyelids grew impossibly heavy, and his conscious mind started to fracture under the weight of sheer fatigue.

Eventually, his strength gave out completely, and his head dropped, landing squarely onto the shadow disk.

Li Jiu’s eyes snapped wide open in an instant reflex, his body tensing for an attack but the platform remained entirely solid and perfectly still, supporting his weight without shifting an inch.

A sudden realization dawned on him. He looked down at the sleeping man beneath him, his expression an absolute picture of disbelief.

Don’t tell me… this thing constructed a literal chin rest just so I wouldn’t strain my neck?

By the time the second half of the night arrived, Li Jiu found it increasingly difficult to maintain any genuine sense of hostility or terror toward the surrounding tentacles.

With his face comfortably resting on the shadow platform, he spent the quiet hours gazing down at the sleeping beauty beneath him. Truth be told, now that the shadow appendages had relaxed their constriction, the material—while somewhat cool to the touch—was remarkably soft. Resting his face against it wasn’t a terrible experience at all.

“Hey, could you loosen up the band around my waist a bit? It’s pinching a little too tight,” Li Jiu murmured into the quiet room.

To his astonishment, the corresponding tentacle shifted obligingly, expanding its loop to afford him a more comfortable fit.

Li Jiu settled in. However, the man beneath him remained locked in a severe, agonizing grimace. To Li Jiu’s eyes, the stranger’s face was practically a canvas of pure physical torment.

“So… even though your eyes are closed, you can actually hear everything I’m saying, can’t you?”

Silence.

“Alright, or maybe I’m reading too much into it. It’s entirely possible these tentacles possess a basic intelligence of their own, capable of processing simple verbal commands provided it doesn’t conflict with your core subconscious desires, of course.”

“Put me down.”

The tentacles didn’t budge an inch.

“Yeah, thought so. No compliance on that one. But I’m still leaning toward the theory that you can hear me. Even if it’s just a passive, subconscious awareness, these things are clearly operating on your underlying impulses.”

“So, what exactly is the goal here? Why keep me suspended right above you like a human mobile?”

“Are you… waiting for me to sing you a bedtime story or something?”

Looking down at the completely unchanging, agonized expression on the silver-haired man’s face, Li Jiu let out a soft sigh.

“Fine. I guess I’ll spin you a tale to help you sleep.”

“Once upon a time, there was a little girl. Her name was Bai…” Li Jiu abruptly recalled the ominous inscription penned on the inside cover of the secret handbook. “Actually, let’s change that one.”

“Once upon a time, there was a young boy. He had no name, and he had no parents. He only had one living relative in the entire world, and they relied entirely on one another to survive…”

As the words drifted into the air, the deep furrow in the mysterious man’s brow visibly softened, the tension easing slightly from his features.

Li Jiu paused for a brief moment, observing the change, before continuing his soft narrative. “But they had no money. And in order to simply stay alive…”

As the story progressed into the late hours, sleep finally caught up with Li Jiu. His sentences became fragmented, the narrative structure dissolving into a series of incoherent thoughts. He began drifting between topics, occasionally looping back to repeat the same phrases in a drowsy murmur.

Right before his consciousness slipped away entirely, Li Jiu fought through the haze to mumble one last thought: “No… I can’t… so sleepy… I’m stopping here. I have a shift tomorrow, and I need to get back to check on my sister…”

“Make sure you wake me up in the morning.”

“By the way… I never got your name. What’s your name?”

With that, Li Jiu succumbed to exhaustion and fell fast asleep.

In the quiet, dark bedroom, a faint, almost imperceptible whisper echoed from the bed:

“My name is… Shen Guan.”

The following morning, Li Jiu was pulled from his deep slumber by the persistent, rhythmic sound of knocking.

He blinked his eyes open, a wave of profound disorientation washing over him. He found himself splayed out face-down on an incredibly soft, sprawling mattress inside an unfamiliar bedroom. The interior was illuminated by a soft, ambient light, and the dawn sky was just beginning to break outside the window.

Where am I? Why am I in this bed?

In a flash, the chaotic memories of the previous night flooded his mind. Li Jiu bolted upright, a sharp ache radiating through every muscle in his torso and limbs.

He remembered everything the alleyway, the tentacles, and the bizarre realization that he had literally fallen asleep suspended in mid-air.

This was the mysterious man’s master bedroom!

Li Jiu swept his gaze across the space, letting out a massive breath of relief when he confirmed that both the strange man and the terrifying shadow appendages were completely gone from the room. He stretched his limbs cautiously; given the absurd geometry his body had endured the night before, it would have been a miracle if he wasn’t aching all over.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Come out to the living room.”

Li Jiu froze instantly. He recognized that voice immediately it belonged to his enigmatic captor.

My name is… Shen Guan.

The faint memory of that whispered name, heard through the fog of his dreams right before he drifted off, flashed vividly across his mind. So, his name is Shen Guan?

Li Jiu gathered his composure and stepped out of the bedroom.

Shen Guan was seated gracefully on a gilded, single-seater sofa in the center of the living room. Hearing the sound of footsteps, he raised his eyes to meet Li Jiu’s gaze.

Under the soft morning light, Shen Guan had entirely reverted to his pristine, human appearance, the black lines vanished completely. He had traded his tactical black gear for a loose, flowing white robe, which only served to emphasize his immaculate, untouchable aesthetic.

He looked directly at Li Jiu and spoke a single, quiet phrase:

“I am sorry.”

Li Jiu stood entirely rooted to the spot, his mind going completely blank. The development was so profoundly outside the realm of his expectations that he instinctively reached up to scratch his ear, wondering if his ears were playing tricks on him.