The Real Awakening

Time to update the death counter again.

The night fell quietly like a shroud.

The wind slowly flowed through the mountain, caressing the trees.

The distant villa in the middle of the mountain was covered in ivy, covertly hidden under the clear and cold moonlight. At first glance, it looked like an ancient castle, standing tall and straight with accumulated overgrowth after many centuries as it braved the gloomy evening winds alone.

Everything was deathly silent.

Suddenly, an ear-piercing scream cut through the entire forest, alarming the few resting crows. With a flutter of wings, they flew up far into the sky while letting out flustered caws.

It had begun again. Yu Zhi De glanced at the wall clock; midnight exactly.

He had long since grown accustomed to this over the past few years, getting used to the shrill screams that would always come from the basement at midnight every day. It sounded like a woman’s shrieking in uncontrollable fear, frantic as well as hysteric.

Yu Zhi De slowly closed his eyes, distant memories flashing brightly through his mind. In that instant, scenes from the past appeared one after another.

He had only been twelve years old that year. He had gone out to sea with his father to fish, but they had unfortunately encountered a tempest. Before retiring, his father had once been an experienced sailor. Amidst the strong winds and heavy rain, the two had worked together to just barely keep the boat from capsizing. But once the wind and waves had calmed down, they found that they had ended up entering a completely foreign territory of waters.

He clearly remembered how exceptionally clear and beautiful the ocean waters had been. The sea had been such a dark blue that it had looked like a pure reflection of the sky. A few waterbirds he did not know the names of had flitted by at low altitudes, lightly touching the surface of the water like fairies tiptoeing across, forming ripples.

After the calamity had passed, he had leaned out against the railings to stare at the intoxicating scene, completely forgetting the fact that he and his father had already lost all boat markers. It was possible that they might never be able to return home again.

Just like this, father and son had lasted through three days and three nights with just the bit of clean water on their boat and fish they caught from the ocean. During these three days, they had tried every method possible to find their way back. However, no matter where they’d steered, they had just kept going in circles around the same spot the entire time. They could not escape this unnatural yet beautiful territory, nor could they connect to any communication with the outside world.

On the fourth night, while he had been at his wits’ end while sitting out on the deck to gaze up at the stars, he had suddenly heard a shriek passing through the serene ocean waters. It had been loud and clear, very sharp, carrying a panic-stricken fear and desperation.

His instincts had told him: Someone’s fallen into the water! And it’s a female! She needs to be rescued!

Rolling over, he’d crawled up from the deck and raced over to the railings. With the help of the bright moonlight, he had spotted a woman sinking underneath the waters. She’d struggled to wave at him, screaming in extreme terror. It had been evident that she’d seen their boat.

However, they had never seen a second boat appear in this section of water. Where had this woman fallen from? Obviously, he had not thought of this question at the time. He had instead immediately turned to shout at his father in the cabin. “Dad! Someone’s fallen into the water!”

Thus, his father had come out and glanced at the direction his son was pointing towards in the distance. Without a second thought, his father had taken off his jacket and shoes, jumped heavily into the ocean with a splash, then swiftly swim towards the shrieking.

He had stood next to the railings the entire time, anxiously watching his father while also glancing at that woman again.

The woman’s loose hair had been a mess, some floating on the water and some submerged underneath.

The sea at night had seemed to be covered by a gloomy veil. He hadn’t been able to clearly see the woman’s physical face, only hearing her intermittent screams.

His father had gradually swum closer and closer to the woman’s direction, reaching an arm’s length distance away within thirty seconds. With just a stretch of the hand, his father would be able to save the drowning woman.

The instant his father had arrived face-to-face with the woman, he saw his father seem to hesitate for a moment. Then, seemingly receiving some kind of shock or fright, his father had immediately turned to charge backwards, striving to swim back. However, the next second, his father’s body had submerged underneath, as if something in the ocean below had pulled his father’s legs. In the blink of an eye, his father had disappeared along with the fallen woman, vanishing from the water’s surface.

The night stretched endlessly like before, the waves of the mirror-like ocean serene as though asleep.

Everything had returned to the calm and quiet from earlier. Yet his father had never returned.

He had stood on the deck, dumbly dropping his jaw as he’d watched the unfathomable scene in shock.

What had he just seen? He seemed to have spotted something just now?

He had seen the fallen woman grab his father, then flip over to dive down to the bottom of the sea. However, before the woman had gone under, he had glimpsed a tail.

A…fish’s tail.

Yes, he had not seen incorrectly. It had definitely been a fish tail, fanning open distinctly under the moon’s illumination, carrying a dim lustre with cold hues. With a flash, it had hidden itself in the vast sea.

Mer-mermaid? He had frozen dumbly in fright and doubt.

Not long afterwards, a white bone covered in bloody, mutilated flesh that had been mostly gnawed off slowly floated up to the surface of the dark-coloured waters. It looked like a human thigh bone. It rocked from side to side with the waves of the peaceful ocean…

“D-Dad—”

He had cradled his head and let out a piercing scream before fainting dead away.

“Dad? Dad? Dad!”

Yu Zhi De abruptly jolted awake out from his distant memories. He wiped his face to gather his thoughts then turned to look at Yu Xiao Yu, who had been calling him the entire time.

“Dad, what are you so engrossed in thinking about?”

“Ah, no, it’s nothing.” Yu Zhi De pushed his glasses up.

The screams from the basement were still going. They sounded like the howling wails of a ghost, repeatedly shattering the silence of the late night.

“That voice is so disruptive and painful to the ear. Dad, hurry up and go feed it.”

Yu Xiao Yu pointed at the black plastic bag on the floor.

The bag was very large and sturdy. It was also bulging, though it was unclear what was stuffed inside.

“What’s the food for today?” Yu Zhi De had to use quite a bit of strength to pick up the plastic bag.

“A girl in junior high. She got into a car accident this morning and had already stopped breathing by the time she had been delivered to the hospital.”

“Oh, looks pretty fresh. Weight?”

“The entire body is around 41 kg. But I already cut off a calf for Zhu Nan.”

“Oh, I went down to check on him this afternoon. He seems to not have eaten anything.”

“Perhaps he doesn’t have much appetite. After all, it’s not his original source of food,” Yu Xiao Yu murmured.

“It’s fine, he’ll eat eventually. It’s just a period of resistance.”

Yu Zhi De smiled and patted his daughter’s shoulder as he said, “Come, give me a hand. This child is too heavy.”

Yu Xiao Yu looked down then bent over to grab the other end of the black plastic bag. Together with Yu Zhi De, they picked up the bag with the girl’s corpse and carefully walked down to the basement.

“Mister, Mister, wake up. It’s the last station.”

Ye Xiao was forcefully shaken by the shoulders. He awoke with a start and hazily glanced around to see a vacant bus where he was the sole passenger left. Even Su Mu, who had been sitting next to him, had already left without a word.

“Damn it to hell, that guy didn’t even let me know when he got off?”

Ye Xiao scratched his bedhead and yawned, then awkwardly smiled at the driver. As he massaged his numbed knees, he slowly left the bus.

The frigid midnight wind sent chills straight to his bones. Ye Xiao quivered from the freezing [temperature], the remnants of his sleepiness instantly vanishing entirely. He tightened his jacket around him and looked up to see a familiar back currently about to enter a cab not too far away.

“Ah! Oi! Wait! Wait a second!”

He hastily waved as he bounded over as quickly as possible to pull open the opposite door of the car and slide inside in a single breath.

“What are you doing?” Su Mu stormily glared at him.

“He, hehe.”

Ye Xiao shamelessly chuckled and tugged at his hair as he said, “Um, last time you broke in, you destroyed the lock on my door. I couldn’t pay for it, so the landlord blew up in a rage and cut my electricity as well as my water and gas…hehe. So, could you let me borrow your place for a night today?”

“No.”

Without hesitating for even a tenth of a second, Su Mu firmly rejected.

“Oi, don’t be so stingy! It’s just lending me a place to sleep for one night. It’s not like you’ll lose anything!” Ye Xiao mumbled to himself, “Besides, you’re the culprit that led to me being homeless in the first place. Who asked you to break my door!”

“What did you say?” Su Mu shot him a chilling glance from the corner of his eyes.

“Er, no-nothing…I said that worst case, I’ll just pay you a night’s worth of rent after we get paid next month!”

As he replied with a chuckle, he turned to tell the driver, “Mister, please head out.”

Immediately, Su Mu’s face darkened significantly.

He had seen thick-skinned [people] before, but he had never met someone as shameless as Ye Xiao! Seriously a special snowflake!

Thus, the next time was spent with this special snowflake sticking to him tightly like mud that couldn’t be wiped off. It followed him off the car, followed him into the apartment complex, followed him onto the elevator.

The entire way, Ye Xiao had been looking left and right and talking non-stop.

“Hey, just a bit further in front is the city centre!”

“Ah, what a luxurious apartment!”

“Holy crap, so you were living in such a high-class place!”

While they were inside the elevator, Ye Xiao tidied up his birds-nest hair using his reflection from the shiny metal walls as he happily studied Su Mu from the mirrored surface. The latter had not uttered a single word, maintaining his foul expression from beginning to end.

Upon arriving at the front door, Su Mu entered the password to the digital lock with a series of beeps, and then automatically changed his shoes to walk in. He turned on the lights then collapsed onto the sofa in exhaustion. Ye Xiao lingered around at the front entrance, curiously playing around with the digital lock.

“Huh, this thing is so advanced. How do you play with it? Teach me~”

As he muttered this, he raised his head and his eyes instantly lit up. “Wow, your home is so big!”

He smacked his lips and clicked his tongue in amazement. This apartment had a total of four rooms and two common areas. It was a split-level design, with the total surface area surpassing sixty ping. It had a neat and tidy style, though the cold colours that covered everything the eye could see matched the owner: despite being beautiful, the feeling it gave off was too cold, to the point where it wasn’t like a home at all.

“You stay in such a large place alone? What a waste!” Ye Xiao did not restrain himself as all as he casually looked around and commented, “Hey, you’re not some second-generation ancestor of a wealthy family, are you?”

“Could you shut up?” Su Mu sank into the sofa while holding his forehead as he stated in annoyance, “If you say one more word, you’d better get out of my sight immediately.”

“Hmph, the second-generation ancestor has such a bad temper…”

Ye Xiao muttered, stuck out his tongue, then silently went over to the nearest bedroom.

“Oi, stop right there. Where are you going?”

“To sleep.” Ye Xiao glanced at his watch. “It’s already one. Unless you want to treat me to eat a midnight snack?”

Su Mu rolled his eyes, then used his chin to point to a small sofa in the corner of the living room. “Who gave you permission to go into a bedroom? Sleep there.”

“Oi, am I a stray dog to you?! You have four bedrooms, yet you can’t leave one for me to sleep?”

“Don’t complain. Either get lost or sleep on the sofa. You choose.”

“You…”

Ye Xiao furiously glared at Su Mu, but after a stifling second, he ultimately went over to lie down on the sofa dejectedly. He flipped onto his side so that his back faced Su Mu and did not say another word. He knew better than to fight when he was at a disadvantage; this was someone else’s territory, so they had the final say.

Su Mu shot him a glance, then exhaustedly rested his forehead in his hand with a sombre face.

The two were tacitly cursing at each other internally: Damn it, how did I run into this kind of partner? What bad luck!

Like this, Ye Xiao soon began to let out light snores. Despite the fact that he was sleeping on the sofa, this sofa was even softer than his bed at his own home. He slept deeply and comfortably until he was awoken by the urge to pee.

He had no idea what time it was as he hazily stood up. Without even turning on the lights, he probed through the darkness to the bathroom. Through the glass sliding door, he heard the pattering of water from the shower on the other side of the wall.

“Someone’s showering?” Ye Xiao blearily opened his drowsy eyes and murmured to himself, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if a beautiful woman was in the shower…”

As he pervertedly thought this, he went forwards to peek through the finger-wide gap in the door. All he saw was the steamy bathroom with Su Mu’s back currently facing from inside the shower.

Then, Ye Xiao was instantly dumbstruck. It wasn’t because of the luxurious and extravagant shower facilities nor the perfect figure that would any man envious, but rather…but rather, the fact that there was a vivid and lifelike black dragon on Su Mu’s back!

Heavens! This guy actually has a tattoo!

Ye Xiao was astonished. He gently rubbed his eyes and refocused them. It was true, it really was a dragon! A coiled, enormous black dragon with its head bowed down as if asleep!

Why? Why does he have this kind of tattoo?

Could Su Mu actually be from a crime syndicate? A spy sent by a criminal organisation to infiltrate the police?

Various thoughts flashed through his mind. Honestly, Ye Xiao was quite shocked. As he dumbly stared, he suddenly felt his brain go blank—

Because he had just seen that black dragon move!

At first, he thought he had imagined it. However, when he took a closer look, he was astonished to discover that the coiled black dragon was now slowly raising its head and extending its sharp front talons. Its eyes then snapped open as fierce as thunder, shooting an imposing glare of anger at the person peeping on it!

Ye Xiao inhaled sharply in alarm and unconsciously stumbled backwards before falling onto his butt. His heart continued to race in lingering trepidation.

Heavens! What in the world did I just see? How did the tattoo move?

No, that’s not a tattoo at all! What-what the heck is that?

At that moment, the pattering of the water coming from the shower head came to an abrupt stop.

The bathroom’s glass door slid open to reveal Su Mu wearing a white bathrobe, his pitch-black hair still dripping with water. He looked down at Ye Xiao on the ground, his eyes narrowed and his expression terrifyingly chilling.

The two remained in silent confrontation for three seconds.

Su Mu frigidly asked, “You saw it?”

Perhaps because of the invisible yet indescribably intimidating and intense atmosphere, Ye Xiao couldn’t help but retreat backwards a bit as he stared at Su Mu in terror and stammered, “Did-did-didn’t see anything…I’m near-sighted, I didn’t see anything just now…”

After saying this, he gulped and tried his best to calm down. Feeling unreconciled upon further thought, he openly looked up to loudly ask, “What exactly is that thing on your back? Who in the world are you?”

The instant his voice stopped, his vision suddenly went black.

His eyes were covered by ice-cold palms. A low and emotionless voice rang next to his ear.

“It isn’t something you should have seen.”

Then, a pain stabbed through his head, like it was being sliced in half by a sword.

“Ahhh—”

Ye Xiao screamed from behind the hands, then fainted.

The screams still had not stopped in the dim basement.

The father and daughter pair, Yu Zhi De and Yu Xiao Yu, had finally managed to move the heavy bag in.

“You guys are finally here. It’s been so noisy that I can’t sleep.”

The splashes of water echoed through the bathroom space as Zhu Nan shifted his long tail that was similar to legs yet not at the same time. He slowly swam over to press up against the glass walls of the tank and look at the Yu family’s father and daughter.

This decently sized basement was extremely dark and humid. It hadn’t ever been renovated, and only had crudely plastered wallpaper. Water pipelines covered the ceiling, and there were two naked lightbulbs hanging down to weakly give off a dim yellow light. Under the illumination, there were two huge transparent glass tanks, each mostly filled with fishy-smelling saltwater.

Zhu Nan was only in one of the water tanks. He glanced at the one next to him and said, “Its temper has been super violent recently.”

“Because it’s nearly winter. It has the habit of going into hibernation.”

Yu Xiao Yu took two steps forward to get a closer inspection. “Before hibernating, it needs a large amount of food. If it doesn’t eat its fill, it’ll become irritable.”

“What about me then? Will I hibernate too?” Zhu Nan asked in a mocking tone.

Yu Zhi De looked at him, then at the still completely intact calf that had been tossed to the side. “How have you been feeling recently? Why aren’t you eating?”

“I…don’t want to eat.” Zhu Nan swallowed hard, as if trying his best to suppress his hunger. “Professor, tell me honestly, can I still be cured?”

“Theoretically speaking, you still have a chance to be cured. I just researched a new formulation yesterday that I can try giving to you.” Yui Zhi De pushed his glasses as he said, “As long as you’re willing to cooperate with the treatment.”

“Cooperate? Hah.” Zhu Nan suddenly sneered, “From beginning to end, I’ve always been cooperating with you. But why is there still not a single hint of signs for improvement and it’s worsening instead? Just look at my body, look at my face. Can you still tell I’m a human? Do I…still count as a human or not?”

Zhu Nan grew more emotional as he spoke. He slammed his fists against the glass walls, leaning forward to glare at Yu Zhi De.

Yu Zhi De shot him a sideways look as he coldly replied, “Please don’t be mistaken. At the beginning, I only said that I’d try my best to help you. I never gave an 100% guarantee of being able to completely cure you.”

“What did you say? Try saying it again!”

Zhu Nan let out a furious roar and reached his hands out—ah, no, accurately speaking, a deformed pair of curved talons—and grabbed Yu Zhi De’s clothes. “Back then, you clearly told me you had a way to cure me, which is why I’m still willingly staying here and following your arrangements! Have you been deceiving me this entire time? Did you have any intention from the start to help me recover my original appearance? You’re clearly just using me as an experiment, treating me as a research subject, isn’t that right? Answer me!”

“Let go.”

Yu Zhi De stepped back and stared at the scale-covered talons that also had some sticky green fluid on them. “Zhu Nan, don’t bite the hand that feeds you. If it weren’t for me, do you think you’d have lived until this day, this moment? Among the six people from that year, you’re the only remaining survivor. This is all thanks to me. And yet you don’t know to appreciate it, yelling me like this instead—”

“Shut up!”

The muscles on Zhu Nan’s face twisted together as he bared his fangs and resentfully shouted, “If I had known ages ago that you couldn’t cure me, I would’ve rather died! It’s better than being this thing that’s neither human nor demon!”

“Fine, you want to die?”

Yu Zhi De pulled out a syringe from his pocket and stated, “With your current condition, a single injection into the carotid artery will stop your breathing and heartbeat within two minutes. Go on, do it yourself.”

As he spoke, he passed the syringe over to Zhu Nan while looking at him in disdain, as if certain that the other party would not commit suicide.

As expected, when forced to directly face death, Zhu Nan still cowered back. He stared at the syringe for a long time but did not have the courage to reach out and take it. Two drops of clear fluid gradually welled up in his sunken eyes.

“What’s wrong, scared? Ah, I knew that you were just being stubborn.”

Yu Zhi De shot him a sideways look in contempt as he sneered, “Even if you were struggling on death’s door, you would still want to continue living. That’s the ugly instinct of a human being. There’s no need to feel ashamed. As long as you obediently cooperate with my research from now on, I can guarantee your life will be taken care of.”

As these casual words fell, Zhu Nan’s tears poured out from his eyes and he furiously punched the glass tank. Refusing to concede, his mouth opened to reveal the rows of sharp teeth as he howled out in grief and anguish.

Midway through this mournful cry, there was suddenly a clear crack of glass shattering. With a whoosh, all of the powerful saltwater gushed out, instantly submerging the basement floor like a flood from a torrent of rain.

Before anyone realised what was going on, they shockingly saw a black figure lunge out and pounce onto Yu Zhi De like lightning. They only heard a scream before crimson blood instantly began to spurt out furiously like an uncontrollable stream of high-pressure water, splashing onto Zhu Nan’s face.

Everything had happened in an instant. Yu Xiao Yu was stunned, standing there dumbly with her mouth dropped wide open. She had forgotten how to scream and could only let out a mechanical choking cough from her throat.

And Zhu Nan, after a few seconds of being in a daze, let out an abrupt shout of terror.

The creature that had broken through the glass was still sprawled across the water-covered floor as it slowly pulled its sharp fangs out from Yu Zhi De’s throat. It lifted its head, a fierce glint showing on its sinister face.

Its eyes were unwaveringly locked onto Zhu Nan, who was still inside the glass tank.

Yu Xiao Yu was so terrified that she did not dare to even take a deep breath as she shrank back into a corner.

“No, no, don’t come! Don’t come!”

Zhu Nan stuttered in terror as he spotted the creature’s ruthless and avaricious gaze. Sensing that things were not looking good, he let out a strange cry and hurriedly turned with a flutter of his “tail” to swim to the opposite end of the glass tank.

The instant he turned around, the black figure slid over with a whoosh.

A terrified scream immediately ripped out from his lungs. He glanced backwards to discover that the creature had bitten his “tail” and it would not let go no matter how he shook his tail.

“No, don’t…don’t eat me! You monster!”

When he said this, he forgot he was not actually much better than the monster in front of him. The moment he was attacked, he instinctively curled his body up before revealing his own fangs and biting back.

“Gah—”

When the creature suffered the painful bite, it increased the force of its teeth to tear off Zhu Nan’s “tail”. At the same time, green blood dyed the tank of seawater, the dark green fluid blocking the visibility.

Yu Xiao Yu only saw a dripping thing jump out from the water with a tail covered in green blood in its mouth. The next moment, it escaped without a trace.

She was completely at a loss now, taking in the sight before her while shaking in fear. She looked at the broken glass, looked at Yu Zhi De lying motionless on the ground, looked at the disgusting seawater inside the tank, her mind entirely empty.

After a moment, she heard a weak voice gasp out, “Save me…Save me…Save me…”

She shifted her line of sight over to spot the dying Zhu Nan struggling to crawl over to the edge of the glass tank. He reached a talon out towards her, painfully begging for help.

Yu Xiao closed her eyes, her face shocked yet empty. She murmured, “I can’t even save myself; how could I save you?”

Then she took two steps back, gritted her teeth and resolutely turned to run away.