The Monsters All Covet Him - Chapter 23

Over the next few days, Lin Yang spent his days busy weaving clothes and his nights dealing with the evil creature. Occasionally, while falling into a hazy sleep in the creature’s arms, Lin Yang would suddenly bolt awake. He did not trust the evil creature and worried that it would strike the surface during this time.

Throughout the entire night, from the fading of the light until its dawn return, Lin Yang ensured the evil creature could not spare a single thought for anything else. The consequence of this was that Lin could not bear to be half a step away from him. Its dark, distorted desire for control and possession was satisfied to an extreme degree, while Lin Yang was worked over so many times he felt like vomiting.

He lay limp at the bottom of the water, having learned Lin’s skill of blowing bubbles with an expressionless face. It felt good—a bit too good—urgh.

Lin popped the bubbles Lin Yang blew. When Lin Yang feigned a dry heave, its silver eyes stared sharply at his stomach. It was very white and flat, covered with a thin layer of muscle. Combined with his powerful, slender waist, it would bulge in certain moments.

But was it perhaps too flat?

Lin had seen pregnant women on the surface; their bellies were as swollen as giant spheres. However, the ugly snake on the ground was also very small; stuffing it into Lin Yang’s stomach didn’t seem like it would take up much space.

Lin withdrew its gaze from Lin Yang and stared at its own fish tail swaying in the water. Would the offspring he and Lin Yang produced be a little snake or a little fish? According to Lin’s observations, a mother possessed a natural love for the child she gestated. Many instances had occurred on the surface where a mother chose to kill her partner to protect her child from being eaten.

Lin’s swaying tail went limp. It had not yet obtained Lin Yang’s love, yet a loathsome fellow was already coming to compete for it. Lin’s gaze became ferocious; it wanted to rip open Lin Yang’s stomach. No—once this parasite was born, it would squeeze it to death.

Lin Yang noticed Lin’s strange gaze and returned the look. Lin quickly cleared the malice from its mind, its mouth rambling nonsense: “Lin Yang, did you pluck my fish tail bald?”

Lin Yang looked over. The tail wasn’t bald, though many scales were indeed missing near the waist and abdomen, with new ones slowly growing in. Lin Yang had no strength but spoke fiercely, “If you were a bit gentler, would I be like this?”

“I’m sorry.” Lin learned to apologize quickly. But after apologizing, it still wouldn’t change.

Lin Yang couldn’t be bothered with this evil creature and its track record. As the light gradually brightened, he needed to return to the surface to continue making clothes. If he knew what Lin was thinking, he would likely punch its head in and tell it, I’m a man; it’s impossible for me to get pregnant.

That night, just as it was getting dark, Fubai saw his students off and turned to find Lin in his room. He heard Lin say with an ambiguous tone, “Lin Yang is pregnant with my child.”

Fubai’s hand trembled. “That is… truly wonderful. Congratulations, Lord Evil God.”

“I do not like this child.”

“Uh,” Fubai followed his lead, “then what do you plan to do, Lord Evil God?”

Lin’s face was icy. “But Lin Yang will like this child very much.”

It didn’t say Lin Yang liked the child, but used the word “will.” As Fubai pondered the meaning, Lin began the next question: “How long does it take for a human to gestate a child?”

“Normally, it is ten months.”

Lin’s expression was unsightly. That little monster would stay in Lin Yang’s body for ten months, intimately fused with him. How envious. It forced the frantic malice in its mind to stop, frowning as it asked, “Will pregnancy be very hard on Lin Yang?”

Fubai nodded. “Nurturing life is an extremely painful thing. As the fetus grows, the gestator will experience symptoms like loss of appetite, dizziness, and nausea. After ten months of hardship, childbirth is like walking through the gates of hell. Many young mothers on the ground have died due to postpartum hemorrhage, with both mother and child perishing.”

Lin’s hand tightened.

Fubai offered comfort, “However, Lin Yang is different from ordinary people; he should be fine.”

Lin’s gaze was obscure. “Being unable to die does not mean he will not feel pain.” Lin looked down at Fubai, who had kept his head bowed. Its face was like frost. “To put it another way, his partner is a dangerous monster so dangerous that the monster’s former father didn’t even dare look it in the eye and always kept his head bowed. After all these years, do you even know what I look like now?”

Fubai’s body stiffened. He knelt, kowtowing to the ground, his voice calm: “Calling myself your father back then was my fault. A god should not have parents, relatives, friends, or lovers. Please, Lord Evil God, punish my presumption.”

Lin stared coldly at the prostrate Fubai, saying expressionlessly, “Hearing me say I don’t like that child, you are rejoicing in your heart, aren’t you? Because you fear that what is gestating in Lin Yang’s belly is a monster that will eat the mother’s flesh and tear open her stomach to crawl out. At that time, this land you want to protect will completely lose hope.”

“You are hoping that I can erase that monster before it takes shape and ideally, that the monster can kill me along with it.”

Fubai looked at the small patch of ground where he knelt and let out a sigh. “Indeed. Every word Lord Evil God has spoken is my true thought. I owe you; the humans and Silver Jiao of a hundred years ago also owe you. I know this is unfair to you, but I am human; I must defend human interests, whether right or wrong.”

Lin Yang worked on the clothes until his eyes were dry and sore. He went to the temple a bit later than usual. He climbed the chains and stepped into the temple gates, immediately falling into a cold, suffocating embrace. The evil creature’s hands circled his shoulders, tightening as if wanting to embed Lin Yang into its own body.

It had moved out of the sacrificial altar’s range. Chains extended from the eight pillars; each of Lin’s hands and feet was wrapped in two heavy chains. This was the first time Lin Yang clearly saw the shackles; they were nailed right into the center of Lin’s wrists and ankles, piercing bone and flesh, with fresh red blood dripping continuously.

These chains were constantly retracting into the altar, trying to drag the dangerous creature back into its cage. Lin stood at the spot where the temple doors opened—where it could reach Lin Yang—its body trembling but refusing to retreat a single step. Its voice was hoarse, like a bird with broken wings: “Lin Yang, you are 30 minutes and 47 seconds late today.”

Being held, Lin Yang couldn’t see the dripping blood; he could only see the savage chains trying to drag Lin back. His dark eyes suddenly throbbed with pain, as if a thorn were pressed against his pupils. His hand landed on the creature’s back, gently stroking its cool, long silver hair. “Have you been waiting for me here the whole time?”

“Yes. Lin Yang, I missed you so much.”

“I’m sorry,” Lin Yang said, “I promise I won’t be late next time. I’ll run to see you.”

Lin held Lin Yang tighter and tighter. This behavior made Lin Yang think of a dog—a dog that, after biting and losing a fight outside, returned home and lunged into its master’s arms. Even though human society wouldn’t keep such a ferocious beast.

Lin Yang walked forward, and Lin had no choice but to step back with him. They stumbled to the altar. The frantic, twisted chains had not yet subsided. The altar sank, and the golden magic circle on the dome appeared. Lin’s face suddenly became even paler.

A continuous stream of blood was draining from its body, flowing into the ten-meter-deep pool. The power of the chains grew stronger, and Lin could no longer resist; it was dragged down into the blood-water. Lin Yang was slowly pulled from its embrace. It became a lonely monster once again.

Long ago, when it sank into the blood pool, it thought it had become a person again. Gradually, it understood it wasn’t a person and had no right to be called one; it was a monster, and monsters were born to be at odds with humans. So how could a monster fall in love with a human?

Lin Yang crouched by the pool. His fingers would be corroded the moment they touched the water. He didn’t think this was Lin’s doing; he looked up at the golden circle on the dome. He remembered seeing a similar circle in Fubai’s ancient books that day, though its power was nowhere near as immense it could actually imprison a god.

How pitiful, Lin Yang thought.

He watched the blood-water corrode the evil creature’s skin, turning it into a tattered mess. A feeling of displeasure rose in Lin Yang’s heart. If there was to be a fight, let it be a fight; he didn’t like this cold, abusive method of torture. To be eaten away in lonely blood-water, sinking to the deepest part of the pool alone, repeatedly for a hundred years any normal person would be turned into a sinister villain, wouldn’t they?

No one had ever said where the evil god came from. What was the evil god before it became the evil god? Such a question flashed through Lin Yang’s mind, leaving a ripple.

The evil creature sank deeper and deeper. Its white wings were corroded to almost nothing, leaving only a few tattered feathers. Its magnificent silver-white fish tail was also torn with blood-holes, the scales completely gone, and the horrific red flesh turned inside out in some places, white bone was visible.

The damage to the torso was the most severe; human skin was fragile and could not withstand such abuse. Its chest was ripped open; the fresh red heart was corroded away only to grow back quickly. Thus, only white bone remained to encase the beating heart. On its face, only a pair of silver-white eyes remained, gazing calmly and tenderly at Lin Yang on the shore.

Lin Yang’s tears fell involuntarily under that gaze. His face was cold and glamorous, devoid of sorrow, yet tears seemed ready to swallow him.

He jumped in.

Just like the first time he had decided to seduce Lin, he jumped into the highly corrosive blood pool. This body died instantly, only to painfully grow new flesh. His eyes burned with pain; his pupils were lost and then regrew, his vision flickering between light and dark. He simply stopped using his eyes, letting himself fall. He knew the end of his fall must be the evil creature’s embrace.

When the pain of corrosion seeped through his whole body, Lin Yang knew what he was suffering for. He thought that the evil god in this world was not the ultimate evil; this creature should not be treated so cruelly.

Yet the part of him that was human questioned him: Lin Yang, are you going to defend an evil creature? He shouldn’t suffer for it. He shouldn’t weep for it. Lin Yang, are you human, or have you become a monster full of hatred during this long time?

He was caught.

The voice in Lin Yang’s heart vanished in an instant, leaving only this one thought. Two hands that were already white bone touched each other. He was held tenderly by the creature, sinking into an endless fall.