The Monsters All Covet Him - Chapter 11

Lin Yang lay flat on the ground, the smile vanishing from his vividly colored lips. He looked at Lin without making a sound. Lin met Lin Yang’s gaze calmly, with no intention of compromising.

After a long while, Lin straightened its body. “You cannot do it. You wish to protect the humans and the Silver Merfolk; you are in the same camp as them. Yet, both humans and Silver Merfolk fear and loathe me, wishing only to kill me.”

Its indifferent pupils passed judgment on Lin Yang. “You are very strange. You clearly hate me to the point of death, yet you demand my love. It is illogical. Would a human ever hope to be loved by an existence they detest?”

“Would that not be a revolting thing?” Lin spoke with cold articulation. “Especially when the object of that love has transformed into a terrifying existence like me.”

Lin Yang inhaled sharply. This evil creature’s intuition was terrifyingly sharp. He had hidden that inextinguishable hatred in the deepest depths of his emotions, yet it was still detected.

Was it because his killing intent was too sharp when they first met?

Lin Yang smiled. Even after being exposed, he could still manage a smile, though as he did, his dark eyes were filled with hatred. “I do indeed hate you. Because you abandoned me and were unfaithful. A thousand years ago, our camps were enemies; you lied and said you liked me. I believed you, and the result was the loss of my friends and family, and being imprisoned by you in a cage for a thousand years.”

Lin Yang tried hard to recall the “Scumbag Alpha and Tragic Submissive” tropes 00 had told him about, fitting them into a template of fabrications. He couldn’t cry, so he squeezed his own arm with his nails until he forced out a few pitiful teardrops. “I hate you, but I also love you.”

Intuition told Lin that Lin Yang was lying, but seeing the teardrops hanging from the youth’s lashes, it wavered in its judgment.

“If that is the case, you should be even more inclined to kill me with your own hands. The shame of your family, the hatred of a destroyed race—which of these is not more important than your love?”

Lin Yang thought the same. The shame of the family and the hatred of the race were indeed more important than love. Besides, between him and this evil creature, there was only pure killing intent; there was no love now, and none would bloom in the future.

What surprised Lin Yang slightly was that although this creature was “evil,” its values weren’t too warped.

Suddenly, Lin spoke: “The sky is turning dark.”

Lin Yang was instantly alert. A darkening horizon meant the arrival of disaster. The source of that disaster stood right in front of him.

Lin Yang could almost not suppress the urge to rest his blade against Lin’s neck; he could not stand by and watch humans die before him. He asked, “Why is the night a time for slaughter? You are not afraid of light.”

Lin’s loathing for this world was distinct, and its intent to erase all living beings was obvious. After confirming that the Evil God fragments in this world were not light-sensitive, Lin Yang had speculated on the reason why disaster only fell at night.

He had assumed the creature was malicious, taking pleasure in torturing humans and Silver Merfolk, enjoying the sight of their anxiety during the safe daylight hours as they waited for the dark.

But after these few days of contact, Lin Yang realized that this evil creature had no interest in torturing others or enjoying their pain. Its methods of taking lives were always direct and lethal, aimed simply at making all living things vanish from this world—it wouldn’t even spare the grass and trees.

Even if it were trapped in this temple and unable to leave, given the creature’s cold and decisive nature regarding slaughter, it would never let the living things on the ground off during the day. If it killed by day and night alike, this world wouldn’t have lasted until today.

Lin Yang naturally did not believe the creature was kind enough to grant them time to draw breath. “You made a deal with Fu Bai. One of the terms was that you promised him you wouldn’t conduct slaughters during the day.”

“So, what about Fu Bai? What did he promise you? Whatever he promised, I can do as well. Would the Great Evil God consider changing the person he deals with?”

Fu Bai’s complexion this morning was even worse than yesterday. He had remained ageless for a century, appearing similar to Lin Yang’s situation, but Fu Bai’s health was terrible, as if he were constantly enduring a powerful backlash. Lin Yang was sensitive to the scent of death; at this rate, Fu Bai likely wouldn’t survive another year.

At the mention of Fu Bai’s name, Lin’s expression became strange. Just as it had been when Fu Bai appeared in the temple that day, its indifferent expression cracked, and an obscure, difficult-to-understand emotion leaked out. But in a mere instant, Lin returned to being an ice block that even a sledgehammer would struggle to chip.

“That is a matter between him and me.”

Lin Yang’s eyes narrowed. That feeling of being unable to wake Lin no matter what in the blood-water returned.

Lin’s patience was exhausted. It gestured, and several humans and Silver Merfolk suddenly appeared in the temple. Among them were old and young, men and women; without exception, their eyes were covered with black cloth. They had no idea what had happened, but every one of them looked terrified.

Lin Yang realized what was happening and moved to stop it. “Lin, you can’t…”

Before Lin Yang could finish, it was already too late. Those concealing black cloths were all severed in half a second.

Lin Yang roared, “Don’t open your eyes!”

Some instinctively opened them. They saw the face of the Evil God—the most hideous face in the world, and also the most beautiful. Their eyes turned pure black in an instant. The moment they met those ice-white pupils, their eyeballs burst, and blood surged forth. It was as if countless wooden stakes were being driven into their eyes and daggers were stabbing their pupils.

Those who kept their eyes closed were not spared. They heard the voice of the Evil God. It felt as if a thousand catties of silt were being poured into their ears, and dense swarms of insects and ants were gnawing at the exterior. They clawed at their own ears, their fingers digging deeper and deeper, pulling out blood and brain matter; their hands never ceased.

In just a few seconds, there were no living beings left in the temple except for Lin Yang and Lin.

Lin Yang’s eyes were bloodshot. His fists were clenched so tightly that the skin of his palms split, and blood slowly seeped from between his fingers. In an instant, dozens of lives had been erased before him, and he could do nothing.

The culprit behind all this misery looked down at everything with an indifferent expression, as if what it had taken away were not precious lives, but rather a pile of meticulously carved puppets.

Lin watched Lin Yang’s crimson eyes, which were burning with hatred, and said apathetically: “Should I continue? Can you still say you love me with such nonchalance? Do you finally know what kind of monster I am?”

Squelch—!

The long blade in Lin Yang’s hand stabbed into the location of Lin’s heart, piercing through its body. Lin’s indifferent expression did not change. “Do you still wish to remain in the temple?”

Lin Yang’s mouth tasted of blood. He was so provoked that his whole body trembled. He withdrew the blade and stabbed it in again, repeating the action. Red liquid flowed from Lin Yang’s eyes, snaking down his fair face and dripping onto the blade, being sent into Lin’s ravaged heart.

“You beast!”

Lin Yang turned and left the temple. He could not stay a moment longer; he could not endure Lin’s aura for even one more second.

New flesh had just grown only to be stabbed into a mess again, yet Lin’s lashes did not even quiver. However, as that drop of blood was stabbed into its heart along with the hilt, a sudden scorching pain flared there.

It watched Lin Yang’s retreating back, its mind filled with the image of Lin Yang’s bloody tears. Within Lin’s endless malice, a few thoughts drifted out.

Lin Yang cried.

The bloodstains on my chest are so filthy.

Lin Yang cried.

I don’t want to waste effort cutting each other with Lin Yang; besides pain, it’s useless.

Lin Yang cried.

Lin was irritable. It sank face-down into the blood-water, its tail splashing wildly as it expressionlessly watched the bubbles it blew at the bottom. The human called Lin Yang was so troublesome.

Lin Yang returned to Lin Lin’s belly with a face full of bloody tears. Once inside, his eyes landed on the “Lin” figurine standing by the bed. Countless dense silver needles surged from Lin Yang’s palm, piercing every inch of the figurine’s body.

Lin Yang could not quell his anger. His mind was filled with the images of those humans and Silver Merfolk dying tragic deaths. He was truly out of his mind to have ever dreamed of “reforming” a monster whose heart was as replaceable as a wholesale commodity!

Lin Yang gnashed his teeth. He was pushed by sharp hatred until his vision went dark. A sweet, metallic taste rose in his throat, and his stomach churned with waves of nausea.

He wanted to kill that beast! Killing wasn’t enough; he wanted to tear it into ten thousand pieces! Even ten thousand pieces wouldn’t satisfy his rage! Lin Yang’s limbs shook incessantly in the collision of violent emotions. He spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted from sheer rage.

00 shrank outside Lin Lin’s belly, not daring to go in. The Great Evil God had gone too far this time! Even 00 felt indignant, wanting to spring up with its tail and slap the Evil God to death!

But 00 only dared to think it. It didn’t think the Evil God was wrong for killing those humans and Silver Merfolk—it thought the Evil God shouldn’t have killed them in front of Lin Yang.

Monsters lived by the law of the jungle; if they couldn’t win a fight, they naturally deserved to die. Even those whom humans called “family”—if they were weaker than the monsters, they would be eaten. This was the survival rule monsters had always followed. Therefore, they could not understand human tears.

But as 00 huddled at Lin Lin’s feet, fearing that Lin Yang might be angry with it by association, it seemed to understand just a little bit. To 00, Lin Yang seemed to be more than just “Lin Yang.” He was as precious as the sweets it loved to eat, yet more special than sweets. What exactly was it? 00 racked its brain but couldn’t figure it out.

Lin Lin, listening to 00’s tale, patted its head with a rough palm. “If you can’t figure it out, then don’t. Lin Lin doesn’t understand humans either, and those Silver Merfolk can’t understand them either.”

“But Lin Lin thinks Lord Lin Yang is still special to the Evil God. Ever since Lord Lin Yang started going to the temple, no blood-water or feathered arrows have fallen at night. Lin Lin doesn’t have to sleep in pain anymore.”

00 leaned against Lin Lin’s foot and looked up at the horizon. The sky had been replaced by inverted seawater. As the tails of the juvenile Silver Merfolk swept past with shimmering light, the horizon looked like a woven painting. “This is the first time 00 realized the night sky was this beautiful.”

The next morning, at the moment light broke, an ice-white pupil appeared beneath the floating tower. The eye looked at the empty chains. It waited until high noon, but no troublesome human appeared at the chains.

In the temple’s blood pool, Lin flipped itself over to soak. Good. The troublesome Lin Yang has finally realized his own bothersomeness and hasn’t come to the temple to harass me. I can finally have some peace.

Lin closed its eyes in satisfaction. Three seconds later, Lin’s eyes snapped open. “Go and investigate what he is doing.”

The black silk threads hidden beneath the silt received the command. Their main body usually detested them, yet it had given them commands twice in a row this was very rare.

However, the human called Lin Yang was truly delicious.