The Monsters All Covet Him - Chapter 24

They held each other tightly, like two corpses that had been rotting for a thousand years after a lovers’ suicide pact, yet remained entangled until death. It was only when Lin sank to the very bottom of the blood pool that the chains finally detached from its flesh and retracted into the towering pillars.

As the corrosiveness of the blood-water subsided, Lin Yang lay draped over Lin’s body. Lin’s silver-white eyes remained fixed upon Lin Yang. Lin Yang looked like little more than a skeleton, weighing less than a feather in Lin’s arms. Slowly, this skeleton began to regrow a beating, crimson heart and tender, pale-pink flesh.

Lin’s bone-like fingers landed gently on Lin Yang’s cheek. Within Lin Yang’s hollow black eye sockets, dark pupils began to grow. The moment his vision was restored, Lin Yang met Lin’s silver-white eyes. He believed he had been bewitched by this evil creature; otherwise, there was no way to explain his action of lowering his head to kiss those eyes.

As his warm lips covered its eyes, Lin instinctively closed them. Lin Yang’s kiss landed on its thin eyelids. When Lin Yang’s lips pulled away, Lin’s eyelashes fluttered as it opened its eyes. It was as if it had been kissed awake by Lin Yang.

A wicked smile appeared on Lin Yang’s restored face. “Lin, are you some pampered princess in an ice coffin? Waiting for me to come and kiss you awake?”

“What kind of monster is a ‘pampered princess in an ice coffin’?” Lin’s voice was as light as snow basking in the winter sun, ready to melt at any moment. Its body felt heavy; too much blood had been drained for the magic circle’s consumption, and it was uncontrollably slipping into a deep sleep. Yet its silver-white eyes refused to close, staring obsessively at Lin Yang.

Thus, Lin Yang failed to notice anything unusual about Lin. The aching heart in Lin Yang’s chest calmed briefly. He used his pinky to entwine a strand of the evil creature’s silver-white hair and leaned down until his face was less than a centimeter away from the creature’s. As if he had never seen the creature before, he studied its face carefully, his voice drawing out the words: “A pampered princess in an ice coffin is… an evil creature with ice-white eyes, massive snow-white wings, and a magnificent fish tail.”

Lin Yang’s face became blurred in Lin’s vision. It struggled to keep its eyes open, its pale lips blowing bubbles in the water. “Then… has this evil creature obtained your love?”

Its eyelids felt incredibly heavy as an endless darkness pressed down. Lin lost consciousness and fell into a deep slumber.

Lin Yang lay prostrate on the evil creature’s body. He watched as the creature closed its eyes and ceased to make any sound. For several seconds, Lin Yang’s mind went blank; his body felt as if it had been frozen in place. Only after several seconds did Lin Yang’s perception return. His fingertips trembled as he bit Lin’s ear. “Wake up.”

The clean body beneath him in the blood pool gave no response.

Lin Yang sat up, his expression grim and his voice cold. “Lin, in our human world, it is extremely rude to ask a question and then not listen to the answer. That person will hold a grudge against you, loathe you, and hate you because of it.”

The evil creature won’t die, will it? 00 had said that the Evil God cannot be killed. Even after losing a pool’s worth of blood and being repeatedly corroded, it wouldn’t die, would it?

Lin Yang’s face showed no emotion, looking like a walking corpse whose soul had been drained. He stared at the silent Lin. Unlike that other time, Lin showed no sign of life—no heartbeat, no detectable breath. It lay in the blood pool like a fresh corpse that had just died.

Lin Yang’s eyes were dark as he gazed at this fresh corpse. He opened his lips: “You asked if that evil creature obtained love? I’m telling you, that creature can never obtain it. Because I hate it. I hate it to death. It destroyed my home and took my loved ones. Every day I think about how to kill it; one day, it will surely die by my blade. But not now, and not in this way. If you die like this, I will remember you forever. It is a very painful thing to remember one’s enemy. You cursed me with eternal life, so this pain will have no end. So…”

A single transparent tear slid from the corner of Lin Yang’s eye. He was expressionless, like a hollow abyss. “Do not die. Please do not die before hearing my answer. Let us love each other until the day we kill one another.”

The evil creature with closed eyes wept. Fresh red tears turned into blood-colored pearls and slid down its face. Lin Yang stared intently at the string of crimson pearls, his body suddenly going limp. He gasped for breath, his heart feeling as if it were about to explode. A piercing pain came from his wrist.

Lin Yang looked down to find his neat fingernails dug deep into his wrist. Unconsciously, he had rawly gouged out the flesh in the center of his wrist. That exact spot was where the chains had pierced through the evil creature’s wrist bones.

Lin Yang was dazed. After a long while, he covered his face with his hands and laughed softly, the laughter gradually growing louder until it became frantic and ear-piercing. Transparent liquid wetted Lin Yang’s fingers as the voice in his heart churned.

Shouldn’t the evil creature die? Did he fall in love with the creature on his journey to conquer it? Would a human truly be moved by a cruel, cold-blooded monster that views human life as nothing? Then, is he still human?

He actually, shamefully, felt the relief of a narrow escape regarding a monster’s survival.

Lin slept for half a month. When it opened its eyes, it was the only monster in the blood pool; Lin Yang was not there. It was as if Lin Yang jumping down with it that day had merely been a delusion of its near-death state.

Lin sat on the sacrificial altar and waited. This time, it did not rashly step out of the altar. Under the suppression of the magic circle, it would inevitably fall into a long slumber, and it did not want to close its eyes in front of Lin Yang again. The blood pool was cold and silent. Lin Yang would feel fear while guarding a sleeping monster, wouldn’t he?

However, Lin waited from dark until dawn and still did not see Lin Yang.

The garments in Lin Yang’s hands were all finished, waiting only to be delivered. Once the Giant Stone Monsters wore them, they would no longer need to worry about the evil creature’s nighttime disasters. Thinking of the creature, Lin Yang’s hands slowed for a moment while organizing the clothes.

Since leaving the blood pool that day, Lin Yang had not returned to the temple. Half a month had passed, and he didn’t know if the creature had woken up. It’s better if it doesn’t wake up—let it sleep in the blood pool forever. Once the danger of this world was resolved, Lin Yang could hide in the next one.

00 huffed and puffed as it pushed over a cardboard box. “Our mission is to reform the Evil God so the Evil God fragments will voluntarily submit to you, and then I can collect them back to the Ice Crystal Temple. We haven’t even gotten an Evil God fragment yet; how can we go to the next world?”

Lin Yang gave an expressionless “oh” and continued organizing the clothes. After a moment, he looked up. “Do you have any function that can wash away human emotions? Something like ‘Oblivious Water’?”

00 used its tail to bounce onto the table. “Of course not! The power of emotion is vast; even a god cannot manipulate it.”

Lin Yang was greatly disappointed. He looked coldly at 00 and spoke a single word: “Useless.”

00 was no longer afraid of Lin Yang at all. It had discovered that even though Lin Yang loathed monsters, he still viewed them as lives, and Lin Yang had very strong principles and boundaries when it came to life. He could say he’d kill it ten thousand times, but as long as it didn’t harm humans, Lin Yang wouldn’t truly act against it.

00 puffed out its belly and complained, “Yangyang, you’re becoming more and more like the Lord Evil God. You asking for Oblivious Water… you haven’t actually fallen for him, have you?”

Lin Yang flicked 00 away with two fingers. “In broad daylight, what kind of nonsense are you talking?”

He didn’t ‘like’ that evil creature; he just found it pitiful. But even just experiencing the emotion of ‘pity,’ Lin Yang already felt he had betrayed his identity as a human.

00’s head was spinning. True Lin Yang and the Lord Evil God had been enemies for so many years (mostly Lin Yang being unilaterally hostile). For Lin Yang to fall for the Evil God, unless one day the Evil God also went crazy and sacrificed himself for the world. Both were impossible; it was just its own wild imagination.

The Giant Stone Monsters on the ground were all willing to accept the clothes. They explained with difficulty that the humans and Silver Jiao were very resistant. Giant Stone Monsters were naturally mild-tempered; clearly, they were the ones protecting the humans and Silver Jiao, yet they still followed their opinions.

There was no other way; Lin Yang had to persuade the humans and Silver Jiao. Once the clothes were organized, Fubai and Zhuo brought the humans and Silver Jiao over.

Lin Yang brought a ladder and first put the finished clothes on Linlin. “These clothes are made from feathered arrows. They cannot be corroded by blood-water, nor can they be pierced by feathered arrows. Once the Giant Stone Monsters wear them, the nights will be safe.”

“But these are the Evil God’s things! What if the Evil God gets angry and sends down an even more horrific punishment?”

“Exactly! Previously, someone just touched a feathered arrow and their fingers rotted on the spot, and they were turned into a pincushion!”

The gathered humans and Silver Jiao voiced their doubts.

Lin Yang stood before Linlin, his voice steady and his words clear. “Humans and Silver Jiao cannot touch these clothes, but the Giant Stone Monsters can. As long as you ensure you don’t touch them after the Giant Stone Monsters put them on, there will absolutely be no danger.”

“Why should we believe your words?!”

The scene briefly became difficult to control. Fubai, who understood the pros and cons, said with difficulty, “It’s not that they don’t believe you; it’s just that their fear of the Evil God is too deep. This…” Fubai turned to the crowd. “Lin Yang sincerely wants to help you. He alone has spent so much effort for everyone’s safety; wouldn’t doing this make his heart go cold?”

“I guarantee it with my life.”

Fubai looked at Lin Yang abruptly and whispered, “Lin Yang, you can’t.”

Lin Yang signaled that it was fine. His dark eyes calmly swept over every living being present. Under their gaze, he said, “I, Lin Yang, hereby promise: if any human or Silver Jiao dies because of these feathered arrows without having touched the clothes, I am willing to be at your disposal.”

At these words, the expressions of the originally resistant audience became hesitant, as if they didn’t know whether to listen to Lin Yang or the doubters.

“I believe Lin Yang. I’m willing to take the clothes.” Xiang Sheng was the first to stand up, her smile bright. “I taught little Lin Yang how to make the clothes. I believe him. If anything goes wrong, I’ll take responsibility as well.”

“Count me in too.” Qi Xun’s voice was hoarse as he stood in front of Xiang Sheng, shielding her from the crowd’s gaze.

“I’m willing too.” “Me too.” Most of those who stood up were the girls who had helped Xiang Sheng make the clothes; they knew how hard Lin Yang had worked during this period.