Her Tentacles 16

Chapter 16: Chaos

Shu Yao’s hand tightened on the bone-white umbrella handle.

That kind of talk again.

Lin Jingshu had always been like this. It wasn’t obvious at the beginning of their relationship, but later, after she had dressed too brightly a few times and stolen the attention of others at gatherings, Lin Jingshu would always criticize her clothes for being too gaudy, too vulgar.

She liked Shu Yao best in white, like a pure and clean water lily.

Shu Yao had once been so timid because of this, and had even been reprimanded by her mother a few times during the New Year, scolding her for not choosing festive clothes during the holidays, for being at the age of a flower yet always dressing in mourning colors—

It was only after Situ Jin returned from abroad and heard about these things that she told her not to listen to those words, not to let others’ words discipline her.

Thinking of her good friend, her expression relaxed a little. Looking at Lin Jingshu, who had clearly come with an agenda, and then at the beautiful surroundings of Baiquan, she said, “If you have something to say, let’s go outside.”

Anyway, it was now time for the homeroom teachers of each department to hold temporary class meetings for their respective classes.

Seeing that she had ignored her earlier comment, Lin Jingshu’s brows furrowed slightly. But thinking of her purpose in coming, she managed a shrug, feigning indifference. “Then get in my car. I remember there’s a shopping mall near here. Let’s go there. I’ll treat you to lunch later.”

Shu Yao’s turning motion paused.

She had no intention of having lunch with Lin Jingshu.

But thinking of how this person had always been self-centered and disliked being rejected, she said nothing to avoid a socially awkward scene in public.

And when she got in the car, she deliberately opened the back door, buckled her seatbelt, and began to look down at her phone.

…

They drove in silence.

Lin Jingshu glanced at the person in the back several times through the rearview mirror, wanting to say something, but was deterred by Shu Yao’s indifferent, cold expression.

Until they reached the parking lot of Century City. As soon as the car stopped, the person in the back seat impatiently pushed the door open and got out.

Phew—

So smelly.

Standing by a pillar, Shu Yao took several deep breaths, and suddenly remembered a saying: you stop loving someone when you start to dislike their scent.

She had forgotten what it was like to ride in Lin Jingshu’s car before, but this trip was unbearable. She didn’t know if it was the car’s air freshener or the accumulated smell of the interior.

At this moment, Shu Yao especially missed the faint sea salt scent of Lin Ran, like a clean sea breeze.

“Yaoyao, it’s fine with me,” the person who had gotten out of the driver’s seat and locked the car said as she walked up to her. “But you can’t do this if you’re riding with a superior. Just two people, but you sit in the back. That’s treating them like a driver. It’s very rude.”

This time, Shu Yao did not remain silent.

“You’re not a superior, just an ex.”

Her translucent, light brown eyes showed little emotion, which made her words seem even more impersonal. “As an ex, it’s not appropriate for me to sit in the passenger seat, is it?”

Lin Jingshu was annoyed by her gaze.

However, in the past, when she heard such unpleasant words, she could have thrown a fit or given her the silent treatment without a care. But this time, she could only force herself to put on a smiling face. “I was impulsive to agree to that. I thought about it later and felt I should explain it to you, but you deleted all my contact information… Forget it, we can’t talk about this in the parking lot, can we? Let’s find a shop and sit down to talk?”

Shu Yao had no desire to sit face-to-face with her.

Lin Jingshu suddenly reached out to grab her—

Before their bodies could touch, she dodged. Her phone vibrated at that exact moment. She saw the message and quickly turned to walk away.

A little over ten minutes later.

By a small white table next to the window of a fruit tea shop.

Shu Yao felt as if she were stuck to a piece of chewed gum. She sat uneasily, her palm rubbing the umbrella handle until it was slightly damp, her eyes constantly looking out the window.

Lin Jingshu walked over with a tray and placed a strawberry milkshake in front of her. “Your favorite.”

“…”

Shu Yao fell silent.

She had stopped liking strawberries a long time ago. Ever since that winter in her freshman year when she ate too many strawberries, got acute gastroenteritis, was sent to the emergency room, and had to get an IV drip in the freezing hospital corridor all night, she had changed her preference.

She had mentioned this three times, but it couldn’t overcome Lin Jingshu’s eternal belief that the pink, cute fruit suited her best.

At this moment, she suddenly felt a sense of absurdity, not knowing what she had been talking about in those past few years. Staring at the strawberry milkshake, she spoke again. “I’m not getting back together with you.”

Lin Jingshu, who had been completely taken aback: “…”

She pulled out the chair in front of her with a loud screech, and under the sidelong glances of the people around her, she sat down with a composed expression. “You’re just angry. I know. You’re still mad about what happened that day. How about this, I’ll delete all their contact information in front of you, okay?”

Shu Yao: “?”

She stared in shock at her ex-girlfriend, who suddenly seemed unable to understand human language.

Just then, a hand with a diamond watch and beautiful nails suddenly reached out and slapped the small round table between them. The owner of the hand smiled at Lin Jingshu. “Let me hear what nonsense you’re spouting.”

Situ Jin, who had rushed here, immediately entered battle mode. “I didn’t look for you before, and you didn’t stay at home burning incense and praying to Buddha, keeping a low profile. Now you dare to show your face? Don’t you know that a good ex should be as quiet as a dead person? Do you need me to teach you?”

Shu Yao, who was inwardly applauding like a little seal, enthusiastically pulled up a chair for the boss.

Lin Jingshu crossed her arms and frowned. “What does what’s between her and me have to do with you?”

“Good question!”

Situ Jin elegantly arranged her skirt and sat down, tapping her index finger up and down. “I don’t want to meddle either, but today, in my family’s mall, in my own franchise store, I found such an unlucky rat dropping. If it were you, wouldn’t you want to sweep this rat dropping out with a broom?”

She gave a very sarcastic smile. “To avoid this kind of misunderstanding, how about we hang a sign at the entrance of all my family’s malls and supermarkets that says ‘Lin Jingshu and cockroaches not allowed’? What do you think?”

Lin Jingshu was livid.

She stood up and pushed the table and chair away. “Shu Yao, with me—”

“Ahhhhhh!!!”

A piercing and terrified scream came from nearby, attracting everyone’s attention.

…

When the scream rang out.

The order screen hanging in the shop, the light bulbs, and the surveillance cameras suddenly short-circuited with a pop, sparks flying. As the staff behind the counter ran for cover, a worker sitting in the middle of the shop, still holding a milk tea, suddenly became transparent and began to melt.

A sticky, translucent green liquid flowed down from his trouser legs, cuffs, and collar, like floodgates opening, and in an instant, it rolled toward the surroundings. Countless tentacles extended and retracted within it, leaving a slimy trail wherever it passed.

The surging tide rushed toward the window.

The tables, chairs, and people in its path were swallowed up.

Gloop, gloop…

Metal tables and chairs, clothes, human flesh and bones, were all devoured and digested by the slime.

And so, at first, there were people standing at a distance, taking out their phones to record this bizarre moment. But as their screens died and they witnessed others being devoured and disappearing, the shop descended into unprecedented chaos. The two glass doors were knocked down and collapsed, and the people who squeezed out to escape trampled on each other, screaming.

Shu Yao and the others were in the innermost corner. The green tide was coming right for them. The three of them were trapped, in a truly unlucky spot where they could call neither heaven nor earth for help.

The tide rose, and in a distance of just a few meters, it reached the height of an adult—

Lin Jingshu’s face had long since changed. She had been standing on a chair, thinking she could escape the disaster with height, but who knew these things were omnivorous. And so, her action of stepping onto the round table now became uncertain.

But Situ Jin reacted quickly. She had already kicked several nearby empty tables and chairs over, trying to block the speed of their spread. But when she turned around, she found Lin Jingshu standing on the last table behind her, holding a chair, as if preparing to continue stacking things to get higher.

She was so angry she laughed. “No, you don’t really think you can escape just by standing high, do you?”

Lin Jingshu looked down at her, her tone muttering, “Not necessarily.”

Then, she suddenly kicked Situ Jin’s shoulder, her eyes fierce. “I just know that these monsters eat people. Maybe you’ll be the last one to feed them?”

“Jin!”

Shu Yao, who had been unable to get a word in beside them, widened her eyes in disbelief. Instinct was faster than reason. She reached out to grab her friend, who was falling toward the tide.

But she couldn’t catch Situ Jin, and instead, she fell with her, carried by the momentum!

The world spun. Before her body could hit the cold floor hard, a crisper sound of something landing was heard.

Thwack.

Shu Yao, who had fallen with her friend and hit the back of her head on the ground, looked ahead in a daze. On the snow-white porcelain tiles, the red umbrella that had slipped from her hand had rolled a short distance away.

Her vision gradually faded. Beneath her half-closed eyelids, only this line of demonic red remained, like a bloody sunset.

And so she did not see…

On the other side of the red umbrella, the surging tide of monsters, which had been rushing forward, suddenly stopped as if a pause button had been pressed. The bottom of the tide braked abruptly, while the top, like squeezed jelly, retreated just as it was about to cross over the space above the red umbrella.

The long, straight umbrella was a fermata, dividing the chaotic shop into two worlds.

—On this side of the red umbrella, monsters were forbidden.