'He' Has Come

"Because it's safe…"

Xiao Xiao's expression, however, seemed quite calm. Noticing the scrutiny in Yang Jia's eyes, he explained, "You brought me here and found this… this rat, which means you have a deep understanding of it. And when it crawled out of the human skin, you reminded me in advance, indicating that all these changes were within your expectations. There wasn't any tension on your face, which means you didn't take it seriously at all…"

"The most important thing is…"

As he spoke, he squatted down, pulled the dagger from the rat-man's head, casually wiped it on the nearby bedding, and handed it to Yang Jia, saying:

"I saw just now that you took out the dagger very early, ready to strike at any time."

He sighed softly, adding, "This thing is too terrifying, and it's the first time I've seen it. I'm not sure if it has any other abnormalities. Even if I had a gun, I wouldn't feel safe."

"So, it's safer to just hide behind you…"

"…"

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

Although, at first, she only wanted to observe whether he would have the courage to shoot after seeing the rat-man's true form…

But after listening to his analysis, she actually felt for a moment that it was most reasonable for him to hide behind her.

Was I the reckless one?

But after a slight reaction, she suddenly grasped the key point, took the dagger, and asked suspiciously, "You saw so many details in such a short time just now?"

"This…"

Xiao Xiao opened his mouth, saying, "I react a little faster than others, and I've always been good at games."

When answering this question, he deliberately made it sound easier.

Ever since he inexplicably fell into panic and headaches four years ago, he had been in a state of inability to concentrate, with chaotic and noisy thoughts.

In his own perception, time seemed to stop from time to time, progressing extremely slowly, every minute and every second was exceptionally tormenting.

In that state, he couldn't speak or think normally. When going out, he wouldn't even know to avoid a car crashing towards him, only an invisible and immense panic would overwhelm him from time to time.

The hospital couldn't find any problems, and even his parents didn't quite believe him, thinking he was faking illness.

So, he could only endure in his bedroom, trying to fight this feeling, using games or reading to gradually adapt to this state of panic, and concentrate in this state.

For four whole years, he seemed to have made some progress.

At least now he could think effectively in a state of panic, but the slowed time and heightened senses during panic attacks were still there.

This led to his reactions seeming to be a little faster than normal people…

In games, this was very obvious. Under the same mechanics, his speed wouldn't be faster than others, but his reaction and thinking time were always a bit more than others.

And this was also why he increasingly liked to use games to train his attention.

Of course, it was only now that he had started going out that he realized that he could do the same in real life.

Although the limitations of his physical fitness prevented him from making some overly complex movements, he could still judge how to make the most correct choice in chaotic situations.

He didn't elaborate, mainly because he didn't think it was anything special.

Anyone could do it with a little practice, perhaps even better than him?

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

The doctor hadn't found anything and hadn't given him a certificate for mental illness, so he didn't even have the confidence to say he was sick.

Yang Jia intuitively noticed that Xiao Xiao seemed to be answering this question somewhat vaguely, but she could sense that he didn't want to talk about it in detail, so she didn't pursue it, just pondering to herself.

From that class reunion to now, this old classmate's performance always gave people a feeling of being different from others…

"How can there be such strange things in this city?"

At this time, Xiao Xiao had squatted down, looking at the completely dead rat-man, observing it bit by bit, seemingly wanting to stick his face right up to it.

His brow was furrowed, as if his heart was enduring the nausea and visual impact brought by this twisted body.

But precisely, he was watching very seriously.

Yang Jia watched from the side, suddenly a little worried that he would 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!"

"This city not only has rat-men, but also breeds other distorted and twisted monsters."

"These things breed in the dark corners of the city, and often have the characteristics of being twisted, terrifying, and able to reproduce quickly."

"If they are not discovered in time, they will cause great harm to this city."

"And our mission is to deal with these things, to ensure that this city operates with normal order and logic, away from the fate of panic and collapse."

"…"

"Mission?"

Xiao Xiao was observing the extremely unreal rat-man in front of him, and when he suddenly heard the word "mission," he felt an indescribable strangeness in his heart.

"Yes, a mission."

Yang Jia's expression was very serious, and she said softly, "Only by accepting this mission will you get 'His' permission to live in this city."

Xiao Xiao subconsciously looked around, his mood becoming tense again.

"Who exactly is he?"

"Where is he?"

"..."

Yang Jia said softly, "Don't worry, you'll see 'him' soon."

Xiao Xiao was shocked and quickly turned his head to look around, only to see countless trembling gazes within the subway station.

Now, the last subway train had long since departed, and there weren't many people left in this subway station. However, there were still some homeless people and drunks, etc. Their gunfire was loud, and it had already awakened many people, who were just trembling as they watched them. For these people at the very bottom of the city, they seemed to have lost even the ability to be terrified. There was no shouting, and no one called the police.

They were all just trying to shrink their bodies or cover their heads with blankets.

Whether Yang Jia and Xiao Xiao were here to deal with some monster or to kill someone, they only hoped not to be implicated.

"Don't these things need to be taken care of?"

He felt extremely astonished and looked at the broken, shriveled husk of the homeless man in the corner, then at the rat-man corpse still staring with bloodshot eyes.

When passengers enter the station tomorrow, won't they be scared?

Yang Jia didn't expect Xiao Xiao to ask this question. She suddenly chuckled and said, "He will take care of it..."

"Look, 'he's' here."

"?"

Xiao Xiao didn't know why she said that, but he suddenly sensed something and turned his head to look.

Behind him was empty, only the shriveled human husk and the rat-man corpse, creating a bloody and bizarre scene.

However, the fluorescent lights flickered a few times, and something seemed to be subtly changing in this space.

Xiao Xiao thought his eyes were blurry and quickly rubbed them hard. He saw that the wall in front of him was slowly writhing.

He suddenly felt a dryness in his throat and a tingling in his scalp.

He saw that the ground and walls, which were clearly tiled, had become soft and wriggling, revealing a scarlet essence.

Then, bloated and indescribable fleshly tissue oozed out of the ground and walls with difficulty, gradually engulfing the ground in front of him.

The homeless man's husk, the rat-man's corpse, and even the flesh and blood that had been torn apart and splattered by bullets were all enveloped by this flesh.

The flesh writhed, and from time to time, a grotesque face slid slowly beneath the fleshy membrane. This flesh seemed to be chewing on something.

After a long time, the flesh receded, and all the monsters and human husks on the ground had disappeared completely.

Even the bullet marks that had just appeared on the ground due to the shooting had been restored to their original state.

This nightmarish scene left Xiao Xiao standing there in a daze, unable to react for a long time.

"Our city is alive."

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

"So, you need to get his permission to continue living here."

"And now, he has begun to pay attention to you..."

"..."

At this moment, the expression on Xiao Xiao's face completely froze, pulled into the deepest layer of the nightmare by some powerful force.

Looking slightly outward, he saw the gray walls of the subway station, and everything around him seemed to be melting, including the rusty subway tracks and the colorful graffiti on the walls.

His head was slightly dizzy, and his gaze seemed to penetrate the subway station, seeing the city full of neon lights and vehicles.

He saw buildings, one by one, suddenly turning into bloated, fleshy monsters.

He saw huge tentacles intertwined to form the city's roads and elevated rails.

He saw numb bodies, like walking corpses, standing quietly on the streets, like robots waiting for orders.

The entire city was a writhing living being. Everything he saw was just its organs and blood vessels. They writhed and operated, forming this indescribable, gigantic life form...

He could even feel the gaze of this life form cast upon him, striking the deepest part of his spiritual world...

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

So this was what Yang Jia wanted to bring him to see. This was the "he" she wanted him to meet.

Not long ago, he had still doubted whether the stories about being surrounded by monsters were false. Just now, he had still tried to find evidence from the rat-man that this might be another hallucination or some kind of elaborate, fake model.

But until this moment, he realized how naive he had been.

Even the city he was in was a huge, bloated monster...

And he was still doubting other things