The Monsters All Covet Him - Chapter 20

The source of pain is the betrayal of a sincere heart.

Lin Yang had no sincerity toward Lin, so naturally, he felt no lynching-like sensation of being betrayed. From beginning to end, he held nothing but naked killing intent toward the evil creature—perhaps a sliver of subtle surprise and pity had surfaced in this world?

But that sliver of subtle emotion was not enough to sway Lin Yang. If the interests of humanity and the evil creature clashed, he would stand with the humans without hesitation. Regardless of right or wrong, humans had to survive first.

Mentioning survival, the image of the women in this place involuntarily surfaced in Lin Yang’s mind: their withered limbs, their protruding bellies, and their unceasing bouts of childbearing. Is such a form of continuity fair?

Lin Yang had asked Lü He if she needed his help—if he should help all the women here escape such a predicament. Lü He shook her head; her chin grew increasingly pointed and thin, and her face was filled with sorrow. Her voice was tiny.

“Humans and Silver Merfolk cannot vanish from this land. The Evil God descends disaster; grain, food, and prey are not enough. Therefore, the girls born become new breeding machines, and if the boys born are thin and small, they lose the qualification to be ‘people.’ They are food.”

Lü He’s voice trembled. “Many of my children have become food. The offspring nurtured are as if cursed more boys and fewer girls.”

Humans and Silver Merfolk are already on the brink of death.

Lü He had said this with a sigh.

In the pitch-black sky, the interior of Lin Lin’s belly was equally dark. The blood-water and feathered arrows outside never ceased; Lin Yang leaned against the stone wall, listening to the screams outside.

He closed his eyes. He believed that such a form of continuity was meaningless. Offspring obtained through the sacrifice of life and happiness were meaningless. Everyone lived in the agony of purgatory. Furthermore, those offspring nurtured with such hardship became the food in their mouths.

What difference was there between such humans and monsters?

Lin Yang couldn’t think straight; his temples began to throb with pain. Sometimes, he felt the evil creature in this world was more like a human, while the humans were more like monsters.

When light broke, Lin Yang, who had stood the entire night, walked out of Lin Lin’s belly. The light struggled through the flowing sea, casting a dim gray over this inverted world. There wasn’t a single corpse on the silt ground—only the white feathered arrows Lin Yang hadn’t finished picking up. Those who died had turned into blood-water and flowed into the silt.

Lin Yang bent down and continued picking up the arrows. Since feathered arrows were not corroded by blood-water, if he could weave them into massive coats for the giant rock monsters to wear, the monsters would no longer suffer damage, and the humans hiding inside them wouldn’t die.

He heard several men discussing.

“Sigh, last night’s disaster came so suddenly. My big brother didn’t make it back.”

“My old man too.”

“If you ask me, dying in the blood-water is worse than letting us eat them; at least then we could fill our stomachs. Now, we have nothing.”

Lin Yang tossed a feathered arrow over; it stabbed straight into the ground by a man’s foot, giving him a fright. Even with a fishtail, he couldn’t hide the smell of urine. Lin Yang’s eyes were dark and cold. “Get out.”

The men dragged their fishtails and fled in a panic, their mouths still spewing filth. “He’s just a whore who pleases the Evil God, isn’t he? If I were the Evil God, I’d f*ck him until he cried every day!”

The profanity drifted into Lin Yang’s ears without missing a word. He ignored it, repeating the motion of bending down to pick up arrows from the ground. The number of arrows that fell in a single night was vast; if they could all be collected, it should be enough for Lin Yang to make clothes for every giant rock monster here. However, even if Lin Yang picked them up from morning till night without a moment’s pause, he couldn’t do it alone.

But every extra arrow picked up meant one more shred of hope.

“Brother Lin Yang,” Little Ya’er’s crisp voice rang out. She looked at Lin Yang curiously. “Brother Lin Yang, why are you picking these up? Little Ya’er will help you.”

“Don’t touch them!” Lin Yang’s tone sharpened, his heart racing wildly. Little Ya’er’s hand hung in mid-air, her large eyes looking at Lin Yang as if she might cry at any moment. Lin Yang was at a loss.

“It’s okay, Little Ya’er,” a bright female voice rang out. “Lin Yang is just worried you might get hurt.”

The woman wore white cloth clothes; her features were regular and her expression dignified and beautiful. Qi Xun followed behind her.

“Hello, my name is Xiang Sheng. I am Qi Xun’s wife. Thank you for your help that night.”

With Xiang Sheng smoothing things over, a smile returned to Little Ya’er’s face. Lin Yang cradled a large armful of arrows. “Hello, my name is Lin Yang. Thank you as well.”

Xiang Sheng let out a giggle. She turned to Qi Xun and said, “You didn’t mention that Lord Lin Yang was so cute.”

Qi Xun, who had been standing behind Xiang Sheng, immediately stepped in front of her, blocking the line of sight between Lin Yang and his wife. “She is my wife. We are already married.”

Lin Yang would kill heaven, earth, and gods, but he held a form of respect for women and children. He loved life, so he liked children, and he also felt that women who nurtured life were great. Therefore, he didn’t detect Qi Xun’s hostility. He offered a sincere compliment without any ulterior motive: “You are also very beautiful.”

Xiang Sheng beamed. “Not only cute, but he knows how to talk!”

Qi Xun, treated as if he were thin air, pressed his lips into a straight line. He turned to leave, and Xiang Sheng immediately grabbed his hand. Qi Xun averted his face; he was a large, imposing man, yet there was a hint of moisture in his dark eyes and his voice was choked with emotion.

“Sister, you said you wouldn’t abandon me, yet now you’re praising some other pretty boy! And you, Lin Yang—you already have the Evil God, yet you’re pulling and tugging at others, being ambiguous! I’m going to tell the Evil God right now that you’re cheating, and then none of us will live!”

Lin Yang was dumbfounded. When did I ever “pull and tug” or be “ambiguous” with anyone?! Besides, had he even established a relationship with that evil creature? That creature had said he, Lin Yang, was merely its “object.”

Xiang Sheng patted Qi Xun’s head. “Alright, alright, it was my fault. but I don’t have those kinds of thoughts toward Lin Yang. You can’t get angry just because I talk to someone of the opposite sex.”

Qi Xun buried his head in Xiang Sheng’s neck, his arms circling her waist, and his slimy fishtail winding around her as well. Lin Yang found this novel; he had never seen this side of Qi Xun, whose emotional shifts were held tightly in Xiang Sheng’s grasp.

Is this the power of love? Has that big, serious, cold team leader Qi Xun been eaten? Lin Yang wondered if the creature’s feelings for him could reach this level—if he told the creature to die, would it immediately go and do it?

Xiang Sheng pushed Qi Xun away, a bit of embarrassment on her cheeks. She looked at the arrows Lin Yang had collected. “I heard the Grand Ritualist mention your idea. Logically, it’s feasible, but the Evil God doesn’t let us touch its things. How will you use them after picking them up?”

“I plan to make these arrows into clothes for the giant rock monsters. As for how to wear them without being cursed, I’ll find a way.”

“Wow, Lin Yang, you know how to make clothes?”

Lin Yang felt bashful. “Actually, not really.”

Xiang Sheng’s eyes lit up. “I know how. Let me teach you.”

Lin Yang indeed needed someone to teach him. His original plan was to weave them into nets to throw over the monsters, but nets certainly wouldn’t be as form-fitting as clothes. The matter was settled, despite Qi Xun being somewhat morose.

Little Ya’er’s mother was about to give birth; during this time, she was staying at Xiang Sheng and Qi Xun’s home. She said a sweet goodbye to Lin Yang.

Lin Yang’s Good Mood +1.

No one could help Lin Yang pick up the arrows. He spent the day in the silt alone until dusk; his waist was nearly broken. He left the arrows outside Lin Lin’s belly; the curse issue wasn’t solved yet, so he couldn’t let Lin Lin take the risk.

Seeing the sky about to turn dark, Lin Yang instructed 00 not to leave the house and climbed the chain alone. He was going to see the evil creature.

Ever since its consciousness returned last night, Lin had been sitting cross-legged on the spot without moving. Amidst the endless malice, its thoughts were knotted like a spiderweb. A white mist descended, and those chaotic thoughts could not be resolved.

It hadn’t harmed Lin Yang, yet Lin Yang was still very angry—angry enough to kill its duplicate. That sharp killing intent had surged from those dark eyes again, just as it had when they first met.

In Lin’s palm was a pair of frozen eyes. The eyes were frozen at the moment before they were gouged out, their gaze soft, pupils filled with a joyous looking-at-Lin. It liked the way Lin Yang had looked at it then, not now.

Lin Yang cared about humanity more than it. After gaining this realization, Lin’s desire to slaughter humanity grew even stronger. It didn’t like Lin Yang looking elsewhere, yet the more it intensely craved Lin Yang’s gaze, the further it pushed him away.

Lin Yang hadn’t come to see it during the day today; he likely wouldn’t come for a long time. It didn’t matter. Lin’s expression was cold. It would accelerate its plan. Once the array dissipated and every living creature on the ground died, the entire world would be a cage it wove for Lin Yang. Lin Yang wouldn’t escape.

If it couldn’t obtain love, obtaining intense hatred was also excellent. As for this period, it would use duplicates to see Lin Yang—it didn’t matter if Lin Yang killed them. The moment its heart beat wildly only to be suddenly stabbed to a pulp could be considered Lin Yang’s “love” for it.

The malice in Lin’s heart grew even stronger. it was almost falling into a state of frenzy. The blood-water on the sacrificial altar froze into ice, and frost spread through the temple.

Lin began to hallucinate. It saw the temple doors open and Lin Yang walk out from behind them. With a smile on his lips, he walked to it, looking down at it. Then, he knelt down and gazed at it with a shimmering smile: “Great Evil God, good evening.”

The hallucination was so vivid. Lin reached out a hand, but retracted it just as it was about to touch Lin Yang. I can’t touch him. If I touch him, he’ll vanish.

Lin Yang held onto his patience. What does this mean? Am I no longer attractive to this evil creature? He told himself to endure; the humans, the Silver Merfolk, and those giant rock monsters on the ground were all waiting for him to save them. He grabbed the creature’s wrist and pressed his face into its palm: “Are you angry?”

Lin’s white lashes trembled. It’s warm. It’s not a hallucination. Lin Yang has come to see me.