Chapter 176 Husband 13
After the sun hid behind the tall buildings, a small shadow peeked through the cracks, scorching the alleyway into a sea of orange. The ground was covered in crimson flesh like waves. In the blink of an eye, it spread all around, completely enveloping the mud brick walls in flesh. The flesh, juxtaposed with the burning light of the setting sun, created a magnificent and eerie scene.
Wen Hui lay in the safe space constructed by the monster's flesh and blood. The soft sticky substance squirmed into the gap between her body and the ground, replacing the hard and dirty ground with its soft body.
"Hui Hui," Zheng Song's lips trembled uncontrollably. After a while, he finally mustered the courage to call out her name. He stared at Wen Hui without blinking, his voice slightly hoarse, "... Hui Hui, don't be afraid. It's me."
When Wen Hui went out, she deliberately changed into home clothes. She wore a slightly loose white short-sleeved top, paired with a black skirt, and a belt of the same color that bound her slender waist. At this moment, her clothes were stained with dust from the ground, bright red blood, and mucus left by the sticky substance climbing up.
She was instantly wrapped up by the monster without struggling. In fact, even if she struggled, she was no match for the monster with her strength. Her clothes were still intact, but big tears were rolling down her eyes. Her usually clean face was stained with blood, and blood was flowing out from the temples that were torn by the tentacles.
Zheng Song looked at Wen Hui in his arms, his heart trembling violently in his chest, and the scarlet substance that provided blood became manic, leaving traces of erosion where it crawled and climbed. Their skin instantly turned into mucus as if stained with concentrated sulfuric acid, and the already dilapidated alley looked even more shaky.
"Huihui, don't worry." Zheng Song's lips were close to Wen Hui's face. Wen Hui was immersed in the fear created by the boy and could not come back to her senses. Her limbs were convulsing and were gently wrapped by the sticky substance to prevent her from hurting herself.
He said, "Have some sleep, Huihui. We'll be home when you wake up." A tear fell from the corner of his eye, and the monster's voice choked slightly: "It's all my fault. I didn't protect you well. Huihui..."
The sticky substance moved to the side of her face, and a familiar breath came over her. Wen Hui's eyelashes trembled, and then she fell asleep.
Zheng Song held her up and stood up. Her facial features were quickly covered by a blurry sticky substance. He hid Wen Hui in his flesh and blood until he saw that none of her limbs were exposed. He breathed a sigh of relief.
He didn't even bother to maintain his human appearance. He was like a melting ice cream cone in the summer, gathering into a large pool of sticky substance and crawling towards the depths of the alley.
…
Compared to Zheng Song, the monster that nearly possessed Wen Hui was clearly a small beast. Without the boy's skin, the squirming mass of slime looked rough and awkward, trapped in the alley by Zheng Song, whose smooth, muscular body was imprisoned.
"Please don't kill me! We all come from there..." As the torrential rain descended upon human society, the monster, in just one night and one day, unexpectedly became familiar with human society's honorifics. Facing this group of its own kind, which was even more ferocious than itself, it tried to use the emotional card to get Zheng Song to "show mercy": "...Please forgive me! I didn't mean to steal your food. I'll give it all to you. I just want her skin... Ah! I'll give you her skin too. Please let me go..."
To the eyes of others, the events unfolding in the alleyway were impossible to grasp or comprehend. Scarlet flesh, swollen to the height of several stories, trapped the rough, sticky substance within, slowly squeezing it until the monster's shrill howl abruptly broke. In its final moments, it heard Zheng Song utter a word that neither it nor its fellows could understand:
"She is my wife."
"Don't hurt her."
…
Wen Hui woke up and found Zheng Song holding her in his arms while she lay on the bed. Her limbs were wrapped in his arms, and the parts that he couldn't hold her with were covered with a quilt. Wen Hui felt a strong sense of security and trust.
Zheng Song wiped away the tears from her eyes: "How pitiful, Huihui."
He tightened his arms, staring at her intently, his tone filled with clear affection: "We're home, Huihui, don't be afraid."
Wen Hui looked up. The impact of the monster was so strong that her brain automatically activated protective measures, making her temporarily forget the fear and trembling she was feeling at that time.
As her eyelashes fluttered, tiny tears surfaced, clinging to her upper and lower lashes, the resulting thread covering her eyes. Zheng Song wiped them away with his thumb, as if experiencing her pain firsthand. His tone betrayed even greater panic than Wen Hui's. His lips trembled as he spoke, "You scared me to death, Huihui."
He was glad that Zheng Song's consciousness remained at that time, otherwise he would not be able to integrate into this body so quickly, and would not be able to understand the meaning of various emotions.
Pity shone in the monster's eyes. He had learned to inflate the pain by imagining events that hadn't occurred, thus making him more aware of Wen Hui's vulnerability. He said, "... Hui Hui is so fragile. Fortunately, fortunately, if its tentacles had taken over your brain, Hui Hui would no longer be Hui Hui." Recalling that scene, Zheng Song shuddered uncontrollably, his tone becoming increasingly urgent. "Hui Hui... Never leave home alone again. It's very dangerous."
Wen Hui felt an indescribable strangeness. Zheng Song's eyes, tone, and his trembling sigh made her feel as if she was back at the alley entrance where she was wrapped in scarlet flesh and blood. She shuddered suddenly. She didn't look into it carefully, and her expression was a little dazed, the daze that came from losing consciousness after being frightened by a terrifying existence.
The warmth of the quilt gradually eased her stiff limbs, and the emotions that had been temporarily blocked surged back.
"Zheng Song... there's a monster!" Wen Hui burst into tears, her knees bent as she curled into a ball in his arms. She couldn't wipe away the tears, which formed a string and slid across her eyes, soaking Zheng Song's chest. Her face was uneasy, and her voice was low and urgent. "... This is so disgusting! How could there be such a disgusting thing? It, it caught me. Am I already dead now?"
Looking at his wife's frightened face and feeling her shrinking towards him out of fear, Zheng Song could not feel happy even though her actions were full of dependence and trust in him.
He curled the corners of his lips in a slightly bitter tone, and gently patted her waist with his hand as if to soothe her. He slowly made up a lie that could calm his wife: "... Huihui, you're mistaken, it's just..."
Wen Hui shouted, "I didn't! I saw it with my own eyes." Tears welled up in her eyes again, and she looked pitiful. She clutched the clothes on Zheng Song's chest tightly, and her voice was filled with disbelief and loss. Then she explained anxiously, "It's true. I saw it with my own eyes. The boy had no face. He peeled the skin like a banana, revealing a sticky liquid. It rushed towards me, and I almost got strangled to death... I didn't lie to you!"
Zheng Song changed his words: "Yes, I lied to you. I did see a monster when I arrived, just as Huihui described." The scarlet flesh lying on the bed curled up like a poor, despised creature. He slowly backed away from the sticky substance that covered Wen Hui's ankles as bedding, fearing that Wen Hui would notice him.
He said, “…It’s disgusting, it really is. Don’t be afraid of it, Huihui. I was scared too, but, but I easily chased it away. I carried you home quickly. We’re safe now, Huihui.”
Is it really safe?
Wen Hui's heart pounded. She looked around and saw they were indeed home. She clutched the clothes in her hands and felt the trembling in Zheng Song's chest. It was real, she was really alive. Her eyes slowly brightened, and she suddenly broke free from Zheng Song's arms, ran to the balcony, and closed the windows and balcony door. Then she jumped onto the bed and burrowed into Zheng Song's arms, curling up like a frightened hamster in the space she thought was safe.
Wen Hui's face was filled with vigilance as she surveyed the walls, as if she had a sequelae, fearing a monster might infiltrate any corner. She wasn't mistaken! The monster's form resembled a viscous swamp. Wouldn't a crack in its muddy structure be enough to stop it? Thinking of this, Wen Hui's face was filled with despair.
Zheng Song hugged Wen Hui tightly, his eyes filled with heartache. He pinched Wen Hui's wrist and moved his lips and tongue close to lick the blood from the scratched skin on the back of her hand. His tongue was wet and soft, and Wen Hui pulled her hand back, but he held it firmly.
Zheng Song comforted her, "Huihui, since there really is a monster, there's nothing you can do about it no matter how much you think. You've noticed its form, and you should also be aware of its power. It's beyond the reach of humans, or even existing weapons..."
Wen Hui frowned: "There must be a way."
Zheng Song said, "Yes."
He explained as he licked from the back of her hand to her forearm, “…Have you ever considered, Megumin, that they’re immortal? Just like the human saying, ‘the indestructible cockroach,’ cockroaches are also creatures that can multiply and resurrect indefinitely, right?”
"No," Wen Hui ignored Zheng Song's strange subject. "'The indestructible cockroach' describes the spiritual level. You have to be strong and get up again after falling... Zheng Song, how could you not know what this sentence means? You..."
"Huihui," Zheng Song blinked and laughed, "I was just teasing you on purpose."
Zheng Song bent his back, his lips pressed against her arm, and licked her wound with his wet, slippery, soft, and warm tongue. Wen Hui's tailbone inevitably sent an electric current surging through her head, and a subtle suspicion welled up in her. What kind of behavior was this? Licking only happened to animals. When a person was injured, the first thing they would go to was the hospital. How could they lick someone's wound with their tongue?
Wen Hui bit her lip, her eyes hesitant.
Zheng Song stared at her intently and suddenly said, "How pitiful, Huihui. You're covered in wounds. Does it hurt if you lick her like this? Saliva has antibacterial properties, right? How pitiful! If I had gone home earlier, you wouldn't have run into this monster."
He said bitterly and sincerely, "It's abominable."
Wen Hui suppressed the already chaotic thoughts in her mind. She pouted her lips in grievance and threw herself into Zheng Song's arms. The man's arms held her tightly. Wen Hui smelled an unpleasant smell coming from her own body. Her tears flowed again: "...It's so dirty, so dirty. I want to take a shower. Can you accompany me to the bathroom?"
With his wife staring at him through tears, Zheng Song found it hard to refuse. Besides, serving his wife was a matter of course. He carried Wen Hui sideways, carried her to the bathroom, filled the bathtub with warm water, stripped her clothes, and placed her inside.
Wen Hui rested her arms on the edge of the bathtub, looking up at Zheng Song, and squeezed his arm tightly: "Don't go, you can't go, I'm scared."
Zheng Song had nowhere to look. He could only stare at the rippling water and replied softly, "Okay, Huihui. I'll wash you, okay? Don't be afraid. I promise you, we're at home, and no monsters will appear. Don't be afraid, don't be afraid."
Wen Hui didn't care about being shy, and even when Zheng Song was carefully cleaning her, she didn't have any romantic thoughts. She just hugged Zheng Song's arm, and if he hindered her movements, she would pinch his arm.
His arms were lean and powerful, and when bent, they revealed smooth and attractive muscle lines. They felt firm and hard to the touch. Wen Hui squeezed them hard, gazing at him with tearful eyes. Such a soft look made Zheng Song feel even more pity.
Zheng Song half-knelt beside the bathtub, with one hand bent and placed on the edge of the bathtub, letting Wen Hui hold it tightly, her neatly trimmed nails slightly piercing the flesh. Zheng Song's face was calm, holding the shower head, and fine water threads emitted a hazy mist.
Wen Hui's black hair was wet and lay softly on both sides of her arms. Zheng Song avoided the area where her wound was and cleaned the area where the monster's mucus remained.
His tone was slightly serious: "Huihui, please don't go out during the day."
Wen Hui put her arms together and rested her chin on her head, looking like she was listening patiently to the lecture.
The monster thought for a moment and patiently explained: "Some information cannot be seen in the news. Internal personnel are researching it. The teacher has channels. We have discussed it..."
He searched the information in his consciousness. Zheng Song's teacher was a professor at Blue City University, which had a research institute dedicated to unknown substances. Therefore, Zheng Song knew more information than others.
This made him feel subtly dissatisfied. Among all the husband-wife relationships he had discovered, husband-wife was the most intimate one. Since Zheng Song knew detailed information about unknown species, how could he continue to ask Huihui to leave home and walk on the dangerous streets?
Wen Huiyin was filled with curiosity about the monster because of what happened that evening, so she hurriedly urged him: "...What did you talk about with your teacher? Tell me now!"
The bathtub was full of water. Zheng Song turned off the shower and touched his wife's arm with his palm. He felt a strange emotion slowly filling his heart.
He even ignored the hunger in his stomach and just wanted to stay by his wife's side.
"...That dark cloud connects two worlds. In that other world, a variety of species live, just like on Earth...Humans are at the top of the food chain on Earth, and the first objects that fell were at the top of that world's food chain. However, they are only active at night; daytime affects their activity...After yesterday's rainstorm, quite a few species fell from that world. They're not afraid of daylight, so the streets during the day are just as dangerous as those at night."
Wen Hui was puzzled: "But, I saw infected people in the supermarket that time! How could they move around in the daytime?"
Zheng Song pursed his lips and showed a strange expression.
Wen Hui leaned forward and grabbed his arms with both hands.
Zheng Song lowered his eyes. Humanity had not yet reached a conclusion on these matters, but in the face of his wife's curious eyes, he was willing to tell her the hidden truths.
"...I, those species that fell to Earth, to use human language to describe them, have no ability to reproduce... When they die, their bodies explode, and the mucus that splatters assimilates the surrounding species into their own kind, thus continuing the life of their species..."
"Survival of the fittest. The thoroughly assimilated stand at the top of the food chain. The defective ones, those infected people you see in the supermarket, are not afraid of sunlight, but they are weak and incompetent, and can be easily crushed..."
Wen Hui was concentrating, and when Zheng Song mentioned the explosion, she nervously approached him: "What about me... What about me, Zheng Song, please save me. The monster's slime is left on my body. Will I become something as ugly as that..."
Her body, wet with water, was slippery and greasy like a loach in the river, and filled with warmth and fragrance. Zheng Song avoided the hard part of the bathtub, opened his arms, and patted her back soothingly, creating tiny splashes of water and the touch of his palms. His cheeks flushed with shame.
“No, Huihui, only the mucus that oozes out when they die is infectious. It’s fine at any other time. Don’t be afraid, Huihui.”
Wen Hui frowned: "How do you know so much?"
Although Zheng Song's teacher is a professor at Blue City University, his major is different from the major that specializes in studying new species. Even if he has inside information, how could he know it in such detail?
Since you have studied it so thoroughly, why hide it and not announce it to everyone?
Zheng Song blinked and carried his wife out of the bathtub. He ignored her wet clothes and took a bath towel from the shelf, wrapped her in it, and put her on the edge of the bed. While wiping her hair with a clean towel, he answered her question:
“My teacher told me this. Huihui, I didn’t tell you about these things because I didn’t want to cause panic. Also, some of what I told you are reasonable guesses based on the current situation. They are not exact…”
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