'He' Has Arrived

"Because it's safer..."

Xiao Xiao's expression was remarkably calm. Noticing Yang Jia's scrutinizing gaze, he explained, "You brought me here and found this... this rat, which means you understand it very well. And when it crawled out of the human skin, you warned me beforehand. That means all these changes were within your expectations. There wasn't the slightest trace of tension on your face, which means you didn't take it seriously at all..."

"Most importantly..."

As he spoke, he crouched down, pulled the dagger from the Rat-Man's head, wiped it on the bedding beside him, then stood and handed it to Yang Jia.

"I saw just now that you had taken out your dagger a long time ago and were ready to strike at any moment."

He let out a soft breath and said, "This thing is terrifying. And since it was my first time seeing one, I wasn't sure whether it had any other abnormalities. Even with a gun in my hand, I wouldn't have felt safe."

"So it was still safer to hide directly behind you..."

"..."

Listening to his explanation, Yang Jia found it unexpectedly reasonable.

Although, at first, she had only wanted to observe whether he still had the nerve to fire after seeing the Rat-Man's true form...

After hearing his analysis, even she felt for a moment that hiding behind her had been the most reasonable choice.

Was I the reckless one?

But after thinking it over briefly, she suddenly grasped the key point. Taking the dagger, she asked suspiciously, "You noticed all that in such a short time?"

"Well..."

Xiao Xiao opened his mouth and said, "I react a little faster than other people, and I've always been pretty good at games."

When answering, he deliberately made it sound casual.

Ever since he had inexplicably fallen into a state of panic and headaches four years ago, he had been unable to concentrate, with his thoughts becoming chaotic and noisy.

From his own perspective, time seemed to stop from time to time, moving forward incredibly slowly. Every minute and every second was an extraordinary ordeal.

In that state, he couldn't speak or think normally. When he went outside and saw a car coming toward him, he wouldn't even know to dodge. Only an invisible, enormous panic would periodically drown him.

The hospital found nothing wrong. Even his father and mother did not really believe him, thinking he was pretending to be ill.

So he could only suffer through it in his bedroom, trying to resist the feeling. Through games or reading, he gradually adapted to that state of panic and learned to concentrate while in it.

After four full years, he seemed to have made some progress.

At the very least, he could now think effectively while panicking. But the slowed perception of time and heightened sensitivity that came with an attack were still there.

This caused his reactions to seem just a little faster than those of ordinary people...

In games, it was especially obvious. Under the same mechanics, he wasn't faster than anyone else, but he always seemed to have more time than others to react and think.

That was also why he had grown increasingly fond of using games to train his concentration.

Of course, it was only after he had begun going outside again that he realized he could do the same in daily life.

Although his physical limitations prevented him from performing overly complicated movements, he could still determine the best choice to make amid chaotic circumstances.

He hadn't gone into detail, mainly because he didn't think it was anything special.

With a little training, anyone could do it. Perhaps they could even do it better than he could?

Was he supposed to tell Yang Jia that his brain had been ill?

The doctors hadn't found anything, nor had they given him a certificate proving he had a mental illness. He didn't even have the confidence to claim he was sick.

Yang Jia instinctively noticed that Xiao Xiao's answer was somewhat vague, but she could tell he did not want to discuss it further. She therefore did not press him, merely pondering it silently.

From that class reunion until now, the way this old classmate had behaved always gave people the feeling that he possessed an aura somewhat different from everyone else's...

"How could something this strange exist in this city?"

Xiao Xiao had already crouched down and was examining the completely dead Rat-Man bit by bit, as if he wished he could press his face right against it.

His brows were tightly furrowed, as though he was also enduring the disgust and visual impact brought by that twisted body.

Yet, at the same time, he was examining it with extraordinary seriousness.

Yang Jia watched from the side and suddenly worried that he might lick it.

After pondering for a moment, she sighed softly and said, "I think you should get used to it and adapt as soon as possible!"

"There aren't only Rat-Men in this city. Other deformed and twisted monsters will also breed here."

"These things breed in the dark corners of the city. They usually possess the characteristics of being twisted, terrifying, and capable of reproducing rapidly."

"If they aren't discovered in time, they can cause tremendous harm to this city."

"Our mission is to deal with these things, ensuring that this city continues to operate according to normal order and logic, far from the fate of panic and collapse."

"..."

"Mission?"

Xiao Xiao had been examining the extremely unreal Rat-Man before him when he suddenly heard the word "mission." He found it incredibly bizarre.

"Yes, mission."

Yang Jia's expression, however, was extremely serious as she said softly, "Only after accepting this mission will you receive 'his' permission to continue living in this city."

Xiao Xiao instinctively glanced around, his mood becoming tense once again.

"Who exactly is he?"

"Where is he?"

"..."

Yang Jia said softly, "Don't rush. You'll see 'him' very soon."

Xiao Xiao's heart jolted. He hurriedly turned and looked around, but all he saw were countless trembling gazes inside the subway station.

The last subway train had long since departed, and there were not many people left in the station. Still, there were some homeless people who looked like vagrants, along with drunkards and others. The gunshots and commotion from their fight had already awakened many of them, and they merely watched the two of them in trembling fear. To these people at the very bottom of the city, it was as if even the ability to feel fear had been taken away. No one shouted, and no one called the police.

They simply did their best to curl up their bodies or pull blankets over their heads.

Whether Yang Jia and Xiao Xiao had come to deal with some monster or to kill someone, all they wanted was for themselves not to be dragged into it.

"Don't these things need to be dealt with?"

An intense sense of bewilderment rose in his heart. He looked at the broken, shriveled shell of the vagrant in the corner, then glanced at the Rat-Man's corpse, whose two crimson eyes were still wide open.

When passengers entered the station the next day, wouldn't they be frightened?

Yang Jia had not expected Xiao Xiao to ask this question. She suddenly laughed and said, "He'll take care of it..."

"Look, 'he' is here."

"?"

Xiao Xiao did not know why she had said that, but he suddenly sensed something and turned to look.

There was nothing behind him, only the shriveled human shell and the Rat-Man's corpse, forming a bloody and grotesque scene.

But the fluorescent lights suddenly flickered several times, and it seemed as if something in this space had been subtly altered.

Xiao Xiao thought his vision had blurred. He hurriedly rubbed his eyes, then saw the wall in front of him slowly begin to writhe.

His throat suddenly felt dry, and his scalp prickled.

He saw the tiled floor and walls soften and writhe, revealing their bright-red essence.

Then swollen, indescribable masses of flesh struggled to seep out from the floor and walls, gradually covering the ground before him.

The vagrant's outer shell and the Rat-Man's corpse, along with the flesh and blood blasted apart by the bullets, were all wrapped up by the flesh.

The flesh writhed. From time to time, a grotesque face slowly slid beneath its membranous surface, as though the flesh were chewing on something.

After a long while, the flesh withdrew. Every monster and human shell on the ground had vanished without a trace.

Even the bullet marks left on the floor had returned to their original state.

The nightmare-like sight left Xiao Xiao standing motionless for a long time, unable to react.

"Our city is alive."

The smile on Yang Jia's face carried a faint sense of detachment and helplessness. "He has his own will, and even his own body. His body is this city."

"So you need to obtain his permission before you can continue living here."

"And now, he has already begun paying attention to you..."

"..."

At that moment, the expression on Xiao Xiao's face completely froze. Some powerful force instantly dragged him to the deepest level of a nightmare.

Looking faintly outward, he saw the dim walls of the subway station. He saw everything around him seemingly melting, including the rusted subway tracks and the brightly colored graffiti on the walls.

His head grew slightly dizzy. His gaze seemed to pierce through the subway station and see the city filled with neon lights and vehicles.

He saw one building after another suddenly transform into swollen, fleshy monsters.

He saw enormous tentacles intertwining to form the city's roads and elevated railways.

He saw one numb body after another, like walking corpses, standing silently in the streets like robots awaiting orders.

The entire city was a writhing living organism. Everything he saw was merely its organs and blood vessels, writhing and operating as they formed this indescribably enormous life-form...

He could even sense that this life-form was looking at him, its gaze striking directly at the deepest part of his spiritual world...

The indescribable impact left Xiao Xiao's mind blank for a long time.

So this was what Yang Jia had brought him here to see. So this was the "him" she wanted him to meet.

Not long ago, he had still been wondering whether the idea that everyone around him was a monster was merely false. Just now, he had even tried to find evidence on the Rat-Man proving that this was another hallucination of his, or perhaps some exquisitely crafted false model.

But only now did he realize how childish he had been.

Even the city he lived in was a gigantic, swollen monster...

And he had actually still doubted the others...