Chapter 40 - The Third Sun's Wrath
Our world had descended into utter chaos.
Those repulsive "sons" of Old Chu were proliferating at an uncontrollable rate, and we were completely powerless to stop them. Our solitary beacon of hope had been my miraculous roommate, but as it turned out, because Ren Xing had decided to pursue me, my roommate was now intent on wiping us all out. Now, not only did we have to worry about Old Chu’s brood, but we also had to fret over a roommate’s curse. Of course, what weighed most heavily on my mind was this: if my roommate was going to destroy the world, how could he possibly forget me?
*Liu Wukong, when you pedaled away on that bicycle, did you even notice something was missing? Do you even realize your little boyfriend isn't on the back seat anymore? You’re so scatterbrained! You’re the one who said I might be pregnant, and yet you handle things like this...* My heart felt stifled. I was so angry I felt like I might have a stress-induced miscarriage.
While Ren Xing and I stood there staring at each other in stunned silence, thunder began to rumble outside. The buildings in this area were all quite low—relics of an older era—and the wide gaps between them provided an unobstructed view of the horizon. When we rushed out onto the balcony, we saw lightning draping across the distant firmament. It wasn't just a few stray bolts; it was like a glowing mesh of barbed wire, ensnaring a massive swathe of the sky. The sheer brilliance of it made me fear for the row of indistinct skyscrapers trembling on the horizon. For a moment, the only sound was a relentless, rhythmic crackling. Many elderly residents in the neighborhood had climbed out of bed in the middle of the night, pointing toward the heavens with trembling fingers.
"Look up there," Ren Xing said, his voice tight as he pointed directly above us.
A massive vortex of drifting clouds swirled over our heads, hanging precariously low to the ground. Something unknown pulsed at the center of the whirlpool—a deep, glowing crimson that flickered in and out of existence. Intermittent peals of thunder roared like a gargantuan boiler exploding in the sky, a sound so primal it struck a chord of pure terror in the soul.
"What exactly is he?" Ren Xing hissed through gritted teeth.
I tried calling my roommate, hoping to plead for mercy or perhaps ask him to come pick me up, but the automated voice informed me he was "outside the service area." Not only that, but I nearly got struck by lightning for my efforts. While the bolt missed me, it surged through the apartment, causing every lightbulb in Ren Xing’s home to explode simultaneously. Shards of glass rained down onto the floor. Ren Xing grabbed me and hauled me back inside, slamming the balcony doors shut. He cut the power and water, and then we sat on the floor by the shoe rack in the living room, keeping our heads as low as possible.
I attempted to call Lu Daoshi. I was dying to know exactly what my roommate’s deal was and how he had become so terrifyingly powerful. I felt that he had revealed a significant amount of information tonight, and Lu Daoshi was the only one who might have an inkling of the truth.
I gave Lu Daoshi a brief rundown of the situation. The signal was abysmal, and halfway through, Lu Daoshi cut me off, demanding Ren Xing’s address. I told him it was too dangerous, but he wouldn't listen; he insisted on coming over. About twenty minutes later, a frantic knocking sounded at the door, and we quickly ushered him inside.
"Your house is... truly..." Lu Daoshi’s face was as white as a sheet. "This is terrifying!"
Ren Xing’s apartment was only about sixty square meters, and now lightning illuminated every corner, making the interior as bright as high noon. The ivy clinging to the window frames had been shredded by the electrical discharge, hanging there like a row of mangled corpses. The three of us huddled together on the living room floor, listening to the lightning crackle and pop as it blanketed the building.
"What the hell is going on?" Lu Daoshi shouted.
The noise was so deafening that we had to scream just to be heard by one another.
I yelled back, "Ren Xing tried to hit on me, and my roommate lost his mind!"
Lu Daoshi let out a string of curses. "Are you insane? I’m asking why the weather suddenly turned into a disaster movie!" Then he cursed again, muttering to himself as if realizing that asking us was a waste of time.
I shouted back even louder, "But we do know! It’s because Ren Xing pursued me, and my roommate snapped! My roommate turned a perfectly fine clear night into this!"
Ren Xing plugged a pair of earphones into his phone and shoved them into Lu Daoshi’s hands. Lu Daoshi donned them with a suspicious look as Ren Xing hit play on a recording. Had Ren Xing actually recorded everything my roommate said earlier? I shot him a look, and he nodded grimly.
After listening to the recording, Lu Daoshi set the phone down. He pulled out a stack of paper, and the three of us lay flat on the floor, beginning to communicate through writing. Speaking had become an exercise in futility.
Lu Daoshi wrote: *The way he speaks is very strange.*
I wrote: *He used to be... how should I put it? Childish. His vocabulary was limited. But today, the way he spoke was entirely different.*
Ren Xing added: *That last sentence he said—'When the third sun rises, I will overturn this city with water and fire, and no one shall survive'—what does 'the third sun rises' mean?*
I felt a brief surge of relief and wrote: *Luckily we only have one sun... Is he just trying to scare us?*
Lu Daoshi wrote: *No, it means 'in three days.' His Chinese sounds like it’s riddled with grammatical errors because the language he is accustomed to must be incredibly ancient, dating back to the early stages of linguistic development. When he says 'the third sun rises,' he actually means 'the third time the sun rises.' This suggests his native tongue lacks measure words, which is why he confuses 'times' with 'units.' Furthermore, he calculates time based on celestial movements. This method is archaic, used by almost all ancient civilizations—the Egyptians used the 'rising of Sirius' to mark the start of a year, and the Babylonians even invented calendars and the sexagesimal system for this purpose. He doesn't speak like a modern human.*
I: *...*
Ren Xing: *...*
I wrote: *Who do you think he is?*
Lu Daoshi seemed hesitant to put pen to paper, scribbling and crossing things out repeatedly. Finally, he wrote: *The words he spoke can be found in the Bible.*
Holy crap! Why was it always the Bible?
Lu Daoshi continued: *There is a city in the Bible called Sodom, known for its extreme debauchery and its tradition of same-sex love. Jehovah eventually destroyed it. From the looks of it, what we are experiencing is remarkably similar to that account. In the Book of Genesis, Jehovah said that the sins of Sodom were 'very grievous' and had 'come unto me.' He also spoke of 'overturning the city' so that no one would survive.*
Good grief! My roommate is God! It seemed I had picked a rather formidable boyfriend! This was getting out of hand!
Ren Xing wrote: *But he has almost no moral compass. He’s exceptionally cruel and views humans with utter disdain. Is there really a God like that?*
Lu Daoshi wrote: *My understanding of myths and legends is that they aren't records of the absolute truth, but rather based on prototypes that existed in history. Mythology simply processes and embellishes them. We cannot measure 'It' by the image of God we are familiar with, because what stands before us is the primordial prototype. Humans created religion because they felt no sense of belonging in this terrifying natural world, so they imagined a paternal, loving deity. But what those deities are actually like is hard to say. If they truly exist, I can't think of a single reason why they would bestow grace upon humanity. In many pagan traditions, divine favor requires sacrifice, and those sacrifices are usually bloody. It looks more like an exchange of equal value.*
We fell into a long silence.
Ren Xing finally shook his head and wrote: *What do we do now?*
Lu Daoshi: *There is nothing we can do. If what you say is true—that the lightning outside, the vortex above us, and the electrical cage sealing the city are all caused by Ye Xiao’s roommate—then we are helpless. He is god-like... Why on earth did you have to try and date Ye Xiao, huh?!*
Ren Xing ignored him, instead casting a glance at me before scribbling furiously: *So, who exactly is Ye Xiao?*
Seeing them turn their suspicion toward me, I waved my hands frantically.
Ren Xing wrote: *If Ye Xiao were just an ordinary person, there’s no way his roommate would pay him any mind. He has no affection for humans.*
Lu Daoshi stared at me as well.
Ren Xing continued: *He can grow mushrooms. He can heal himself.*
*Hey, hey! Don't sell me out!*
Lu Daoshi had a look on his face that said, "Really? That's pretty badass." What was so badass about it?!
Lu Daoshi wrote: *In the mythologies of various cultures, the consort of the chief deity usually represents extraordinary vitality. Just by standing there, they could make the wheat yield a thousand-fold.*
I wrote: *I’m a damn bag of fertilizer.*
They actually had the nerve to laugh!
Since they were suspecting me, I decided to mentally organize everything that had happened to me.
I wrote: *Everything started two years before my roommate arrived. The real Old Chu was killed by a monster that habitually wears human skin. That monster lived on the top floor of our dorm disguised as Old Chu and was very close to me. Later, my roommate arrived, and 'Old Chu' began to woo me. When he failed, he planted those spider-like things in Chun Xiao’s belly, and then my roommate flayed him. We thought it was just a gruesome murder and took the body to the Provincial Forensic Bureau, but he escaped by wearing the skin of the security captain. And based on the appearance of 'Old Chu’s' offspring, I think the monster that was eating Chun Xiao’s 'period blood' on the top floor was also 'Old Chu.' We now know that 'blood' was actually Chun Xiao’s internal organs melted into liquid. So, his feeding method might be similar to a spider’s: inject, melt, and suck. And during that injection process, he implanted his offspring into the host's body.*
Ren Xing and Lu Daoshi likely knew about the brutal "period blood" incident in our top-floor restroom, as they both nodded when they read this.
Ren Xing wrote: *So you're saying that after being taken to the Provincial Forensic Bureau, the monster masquerading as Old Chu actually came back to your dorm?*
I: *Yes. And time stopped at that moment.*
Ren Xing: *Just to feed?*
Lu Daoshi also felt that was a bit excessive; apparently, the monster was a real foodie.
Ren Xing signaled for me to continue.
I wrote: *After time resumed, I was immediately attacked. The monster that attacked me came into this world from the consciousness of some sensitive art students. It took over their bodies by replacing their consciousness, and eventually, it seemed to emerge from within them. I saw this happen—Jin Mu’s body was like a pupa; it split open, and the thing crawled out. This monster has always wanted my heart. It wants it desperately.*
Ren Xing: *Do you think the shadows that attacked you here that night were also it?*
I: *I don't know, but it must be related. It has been appearing as Zhang Litian lately. My roommate is hunting down the humans whose bodies have been controlled by it. It seems to know me. It said I made some kind of deal with it, but I’ve forgotten. I don't think I’d ever sell my heart...*
Ren Xing glanced at me and stopped writing. He began to list out a timeline. He circled the "time stop." It was strange for the flayed "Old Chu" to appear on the top floor during a time stop, and the appearance of the heart-stealing monster right after was definitely no coincidence. He believed there was some connection between the two monsters.
Lu Daoshi wrote: *Maybe they’re best buds.* He paused, then added: *Maybe you’re best buds with them too.*
Lu Daoshi: *Let’s talk about your 'bud.'*
I wrote: *He’s just... he smells like seafood. He works part-time washing dishes. He likes cats. He brings me duck blood vermicelli soup for a midnight snack every day. I’ve seen three of his forms. One is the handsome guy you’ve seen. The second was on that night—after we finished, he started molting. After he finished, he looked like a dried corpse, but his head was a lamprey with no eyes.* I finished drawing a crude sketch and continued: *The last form was when he was swimming in the sea. He was massive, like a small island, with huge bony plates on his back.*
Lu Daoshi: *You are incredibly brave.*
I wrote: *He’s really good to me. He spoils me.*
Ren Xing: *...*
Lu Daoshi: *Then can you go flirt with your boyfriend a bit? Be cute and make him calm down?*
I wrote: *I want to! I was even prepared to be dragged back and dealt with however he wanted! But he was so angry he ran back to his 'mother’s house.' My roommate usually has a great temper! He must be truly furious this time.* To be honest, I was a little angry too. Our domestic life wasn't exactly harmonious to begin with, and now our relationship was on the rocks. How were we supposed to keep dating like this?!
Ren Xing: *...*
Lu Daoshi: *Fine. Then does your roommate have any specific purpose for being in the human world?*
I wrote: *I don't know. He’s very passive. All he does is show up to play the hero whenever I’m scared witless. It feels like he has a grudge against Old Chu and Zhang Litian; he even said he’d cast them into the Abyss. The only time he took the initiative was when he pretended to be Ren Xing to take me to a hotel.*
Lu Daoshi: *Are you pregnant?*
I wrote: *I haven't had a chance to go to the hospital for an inspection—even after I called him out, my roommate refused to admit he was the one who rolled in the hay with me.*
Ren Xing: *He’s hiding things from you.*
Lu Daoshi: *Careful you don't end up like Chun Xiao. Their reproduction isn't the same as the ten-month pregnancy you’re thinking of. Him hiding it from you definitely isn't a good sign.*
*I know that! I’ve been terrified! I’ve already vomited up minced meat, for God’s sake!*
I’m going to the gynecologist tomorrow.
