Her Tentacles 22

Chapter 22: Tentacles

The suburbs darkened faster than the main city. As the streetlights on the distant national highway lit up like a long dragon, the industrial park where Shu Yao was located was like a nocturnal beast waiting to devour people. Perhaps it was because all the monsters were hiding in the buildings, but every floor of the building in front of her was profoundly dark.

The wind grew stronger, making the woman standing on the edge of the high platform look like a piece of cloth about to fall.

Just as Shu Yao thought she would jump down from that height without hesitation, treating the two of them as a dessert served up on a platter, the person quickly retreated and disappeared from their sight.

Eh?

Shu Yao blinked in a daze.

But the next second, she heard the sound of iron barrels rolling, mixed with a girl’s screams and curses, coming from deep within the building. This time, she recognized it—

It was Situ Jin!

She turned her head to look at Lin Ran, her lips parting. “Let’s just, as we…”

Before she could finish, Lin Ran shot into the stairs deep within the building like a bolt of lightning, leaving her with only one sentence, “There’s no time. You go up the stairs on the other side. We’ll split up.”

In the face of such a strange and dangerous situation, people would instinctively obey the first person to give orders, and whose tone was calm and rational. Shu Yao’s feet moved faster than her brain. She took the stairs on the side, two at a time, and was halfway up when the cold wind in the pitch-black darkness in front of her made her come to her senses a little.

Wait, why are we splitting up?

In horror movies, don’t the characters who split up always die faster?

Shu Yao took out her phone, turned on the flashlight to illuminate the stairs ahead, and couldn’t help but have these random thoughts. Until she had gone up an unknown number of steps, she heard heavy panting.

Her vocal cords tightened as she said, “Jin?”

Then, she heard hurried footsteps from above. Someone was coming down this way and poked their head out from the corner of the stairs. The person said in disbelief, “Yaoyao?”

…

The two ordinary people had successfully met.

Shu Yao looked at her friend, who was drenched in sweat, her sunscreen jacket torn, and her face and hands covered in miserable scrapes. She leaned in with concern, only to see her sitting on the side of the stairs with no regard for her image, panting and saying intermittently:

“N-no more running… I’d rather die than run again…”

Situ Jin usually either loved to climb mountains or go on trips to challenge various extreme sports on weekends and holidays, which was why Shu Yao often called her for free labor. Seeing her will about to shatter at this moment, it was hard to imagine what she had been through.

Shu Yao bent down to rummage through her bag and found a small bottle of water from the sports meet. She handed it over. “Want some?”

Her friend nodded vigorously.

But her hands, which were twisting the cap, were trembling. For the first time, she cast a pleading look at Shu Yao.

The water from the sports meet was the most common kind, with thin plastic and a very dense thread on the cap, but it was Shu Yao’s least favorite water bottle to open. She gritted her teeth and opened the mineral water, asking at the same time, “Why on earth are you here? And who is that person?”

Situ Jin stared eagerly at the water in her hand. Although her throat was so thirsty it felt like it was on fire, after knowing that Shu Yao had also met Chu Wan, she gritted her teeth and said:

“A madwoman. No, a monster.”

She had been pestered by this monster for many days.

It all started from the accident they encountered at the fruit tea shop.

At that time, Situ Jin still thought that she and her friend had escaped by a stroke of luck. It wasn’t until she returned to the Situ family villa that she realized her bad luck seemed to have just begun.

First, the water suddenly stopped while the nanny was cooking. A few minutes later, all the water outlets in the entire villa were spewing this green slime. By the time they called the police and a professional team came to deal with it, the nanny couldn’t even find a scrap of clothing.

Situ Jin and her parents moved to another house overnight. The next day, she went to the group headquarters with her father. As the heir, she had just been chosen to be in charge of the city’s shopping malls. Who knew that the next day, a terrible thing would also befall the Century Group.

Even the fire hydrants and the emergency sprinkler system in the group building spewed slime.

The disaster was like the apocalypse, enveloping the group building—

Then it spread to every mall location.

According to the feedback from the special department personnel following up on the case, since this monster disaster had concentrated on the Situ family’s properties, the number of disasters in other places had significantly decreased.

It was as if…

The monsters, which had originally just been randomly spawned, now suddenly had a unified target.

Just before the special department decided to protect everyone in the Situ family and try to figure out the purpose of these monsters and study them, she had a problem first.

The team that had been hired to protect Shu Yao and was later transferred to protect her had lost her car.

On the road, a large amount of green slime appeared, blocking the road, causing panic and traffic accidents. At the same time, Situ Jin’s sports car drove uncontrollably toward the abandoned industrial park.

After the car was scrapped, she was trapped here. Her phone was mostly out of signal, and even the positioning device installed by the special department seemed to be blocked.

It was here that Situ Jin met Chu Wan, Lin Jingshu’s new girlfriend, whom she had met once at the hospital.

…

Situ Jin initially thought she was a victim like herself.

Until the person walked out of the ruined building and stood in front of her, her pale face, her eyes filled with a hysterical madness. “You are ‘Her Highness’?”

“?”

Situ Jin had always known that her family was very rich. In the upper circles of Nancheng, many rich second generations would call her a princess when they went on blind dates with her. But to be called this by a stranger in such a deserted place, how should she put it, it was strangely embarrassing.

Her expression was subtle, but Chu Wan asked again, “The princess who is afraid of thunder and needs her company, is that you?”

“Huh?”

Situ Jin pointed a finger at herself, wanting to ask Chu Wan where on earth she looked timid. But she quickly made a connection to a certain friend of hers who was also afraid of thunder and was also called a princess.

Her expression changed. “Who needs to be accompanied?”

But Chu Wan didn’t answer, only repeating what she had just said over and over again: “You are ‘Her Highness’?”

“The princess who is afraid of thunder and needs her company, is that you?”

“Is it you, is it you, is it you—”

At first, her voice had the emotional ups and downs of a human tone, but later, her lips were just mechanically opening and closing. Although she had no expression, every sentence was exactly the same as the previous one in its pause and emotion.

This made Situ Jin’s hair stand on end. She backed away, wanting to leave this area, but saw Chu Wan walking toward her step by step, pressing her. Green slime began to flow from her human eye sockets, like tears, down her cheeks to her jaw.

Situ Jin: “!”

She was terrified. This time, she turned and ran, at the same time greeting Chu Wan with, “Are you sick?”

This sentence seemed to finally stimulate Chu Wan, who was gradually merging with the monster, not only her body, but also her thoughts were constantly being gnawed away by the monster, and she was about to become a part of the monster.

“I—I…” Her other eye, which was still normal, looked at Situ Jin, and many complex emotions seemed to flash through it. She called out, “Miss Situ…”

But before she could finish.

She plunged straight into another emotion full of jealousy. “If I eat you, she will fall in love with me. Eat you, eat you, eat you—”

Then, there was a three-hour chase. During this time, although Situ Jin didn’t know why Chu Wan, whose body could flow with monster slime, didn’t melt like the people in the fruit tea shop or be eaten without a trace, and could actually retain her own thoughts for so long, but after all, they were both human, she still wanted to keep Chu Wan as rational as possible.

Only by letting the human side of Chu Wan last longer would she have a better chance of surviving.

For this reason, her thoughts, which were unprecedentedly clear while running, quickly remembered that Chu Wan’s smile was similar to Shu Yao’s, and she also understood that Chu Wan was the substitute, and by some coincidence, Chu Wan had mistakenly identified her as Lin Jingshu’s ex-girlfriend.

It was all that scumbag Lin Jingshu’s fault for playing with people’s feelings!

Using her extreme sports stamina, while playing a chase game with the monster that had merged with Chu Wan in the abandoned industrial park, she cursed Lin Jingshu to Chu Wan for a long time, and also told her many of this person’s dark histories. When she ran out of material, she had no choice but to start making things up.

But it seemed to have the opposite effect.

The more she said, the longer Chu Wan was silent. Just now, when she was cornered in this building, and the other person oozed green liquid from below and jumped lightly from the edge to the fifth floor, Situ Jin saw Chu Wan smile for the first time.

It was the levator labii superioris, depressor anguli oris, buccinator, and other muscles being pulled in sequence, trying their best to imitate Chu Wan’s own smile step by step, as if… the person in this body had been completely digested and replaced by the monster, and from now on, she was Chu Wan.

“Thanks to you—”

She said slowly, “for accelerating my ‘descent,’ and completely destroying her will. How should I thank you? How about letting you become a part of the great me?”

Then, it was Situ Jin using her last bit of strength to escape, turning her head and scrambling down the stairs she had come up, almost tumbling down, when she met Shu Yao, who had come to find her.

At this moment, after her entire palm had turned red, Shu Yao finally opened the bottle of water and handed it to her.

Situ Jin drank a few sips in silence, then she turned her head and looked at her friend in silence.

Between the two of them, there was only the light from the phone’s flashlight. When it shone from below, not just any good looks could withstand this deathly angle. She looked at her friend who had come to find her here, but what she was thinking about was what Chu Wan—oh no—the monster that had become Chu Wan had said.

Those words that analyzed Lin Jingshu’s personality and gave the most direct description of her from an outsider’s perspective, Situ Jin thought this was the point where Chu Wan would wake up, but it was what made her completely despair, and perhaps what pushed her to willingly become a monster.

Why?

She looked at her friend, who was also suspected of being a love-struck fool, and her expression gradually became complicated.

“Jin?”

After waiting for a long time, not only did she not get an explanation, but she was also looked at with this strange gaze. Shu Yao sat on the side of the stairs and tilted her head in confusion.

Situ Jin’s gaze went to the surroundings again, wondering what new tormenting trick the monster was thinking of, that it would chase her and then start to play the long game, while at the same time saying, “How did you find this place? You didn’t come here alone, did you?”

“I’m not alone,” Shu Yao also looked around with her and replied naturally, “Lin Ran came with me.”

After saying that, she also felt that something was wrong.

Lin Ran, after saying she would split up to find her, had not been seen since, and the dangerous character she had seen on the platform downstairs had also disappeared after she rushed up.

Under the assumption that her girlfriend and the dangerous character had disappeared at the same time, Shu Yao instinctively thought of the worst-case scenario.

Her face gradually turned pale.

Situ Jin obviously had the same thought. “No, just the two of you? Didn’t either of you choose to call the police when you saw this strange address?”

Shu Yao explained guiltily in a low voice, “I—I gave the business card to contact the special department to Lin Ran.”

At the same time, she turned her phone over, wanting to see if she could make amends now. Although there was no signal in this area, you didn’t need a signal to call the police.

After dialing the number.

There was first a crackling sound of a bad connection from the receiver, then a low murmur composed of countless tiny voices: “You are, you are, you are… are, are, are—”

Shu Yao sucked in a cold breath and moved the phone away from her ear. She soon heard a piercing sound from inside, then the phone screen sparked, and it completely died in front of them.

“…”

Situ Jin picked up her phone, which she hadn’t had time to make a call with, turned on the flashlight, and said comfortingly, “It’s okay. When we find your girlfriend later and get out of here, I’ll buy you a new one.”

As soon as she finished speaking.

Her phone’s battery died, and it automatically shut down. The only light source illuminating them disappeared.

The two of them looked at each other in the darkness, unable to even see how many stairs there were up and down.

And this wasn’t the worst of it, because soon, a deafening rumble sounded nearby, like a clap of thunder, or as if someone had buried explosives under this ground and was now detonating them one after another. Thick smoke billowed in the completely darkened industrial park.

Situ Jin, who had followed the construction of the group’s real estate a few times, quickly pulled Shu Yao down and gestured for her to cover her mouth and nose. “Oh no! The surrounding buildings seem to be collapsing!”

Shu Yao: “Huh?”

…

Thick smoke billowed in the darkness.

Shu Yao couldn’t imagine why this abandoned industrial park would collapse at this moment, but thinking of the equally disappeared monster, and her girlfriend who had run off to the other side of the stairs, she couldn’t help but worry.

After squatting down and holding her head for a while, she found that the sound of the building collapsing had not yet reached them. She took out a tissue from her bag, poured water on it to wet it, and she and Situ Jin each covered their mouths and noses with one. They used the soles of their shoes to feel their way along the edge of the stairs, keeping their center of gravity as low as possible, and tried to escape from this building steadily and quickly.

The stairs of the dangerous building were staggered, and there were no handrails on either side. If they had panicked and run blindly, they would likely have fallen straight down from the middle.

Groping in the dark, amidst the loud rumbling sounds, overcoming fear and recalling the number of stairs and turns on the way here, was a great test of reason.

Fortunately, Shu Yao and Situ Jin held hands and, after counting the numbers and stretching their legs as far as they could, they both stepped on cement ground. They spoke through the wet tissues to confirm:

“We’re here?”

“I think we’re back on the first floor.”

The two of them breathed a sigh of relief, but they encountered a new problem.

Even after going down the stairs, in the absence of the moon and stars, with the light from the town hidden by the thick smoke, finding the way out was a challenge.

Shu Yao and Situ Jin, holding hands and almost dancing a waltz with each other as the center, Situ Jin couldn’t take it anymore. “Why don’t you try calling for her with love?”

“Call for what?”

“Call for your girlfriend, who probably has a full battery, hasn’t made any calls, and can now come and guide us out with her flashlight!”

Shu Yao hadn’t expected her to have the time to tease her at a time like this.

But soon, a sound even more violent than the collapsing high-rise building appeared again. This time, it made both of them cover their ears again. And this time, in front of them, a fierce flame ignited, illuminating the entire abandoned factory area!

Situ Jin looked ahead and muttered a curse, “How much does she hate me, roasting and burying me like this…”

Crack—!

The piercing sound of rebar breaking, of the cement board cracking, and of this building, burdened by the sinking of the nearby foundation, also teetering on the verge of collapse, came from above them.

Shu Yao looked up, her eyes widening. She quickly raised her hand and pushed Situ Jin out toward the open space of the floor in front of them, and followed a step behind.

“Be careful!!”

After the explosion caused by the unknown object, amidst the embers of the burning fires.

The dust was like a thick fog. In the dim, weak light, Shu Yao couldn’t see the road ahead. She was tripped by the protruding ground after it had cracked, and she fell. The broken and collapsed rebar and cement from above were about to fall on her.

She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and heard Situ Jin’s scream!

But for a long time, there was no pain.

Shu Yao lowered the hand she had been shielding her head with and looked up—

In the mist.

A thick, black and red tentacle, with strange and beautiful patterns, extended from somewhere and easily blocked the mass of rebar and cement. Compared to its suckers with their dense, sharp fangs, and its immense strength in its terrifying form, the rebar and cement, and this entire building, were like fragile toys.

Shu Yao was dumbfounded. It wasn’t until Situ Jin came over and pulled her up, and quickly pulled her to run toward the outside of the industrial park while there was still light from the distant fire, that she moved.

And as Shu Yao ran, she looked back.

After the fire went out, that beautiful and terrifying, huge tentacle, along with the dust, retreated back into the darkness.