Chapter 45: Contact, Rooting

Yu Sheng's mind was immersed in a vast, indescribable tide of darkness; the shadow projected by this hungry "Entity" was far more immense than he had imagined, yet this colossal scale seemed precisely how "Hunger" ought to appear—that most primal, most gigantic terror suspended above all living beings and buried deep within their hearts.

And then, deep within that shadow, he perceived the slowly floating, writhing... "Entity".

He could hardly say what it was; it seemed to possess countless tentacles and bloated, proliferating masses of flesh, every part of its body constantly changing form, even appearing to collapse in real-time into new structures or gaps under Yu Sheng's gaze; its surface was pitch black, yet deep within the tangle of those tentacles, there seemed to hide constantly shifting colors, carrying a chaotic texture that gradually made the mind lose its way.

And the instant Yu Sheng perceived that thing, that thing also perceived Yu Sheng's existence.

There was no time to react; within a blink, countless new tentacles and branch structures spread from within that thing, malicious tentacles arrived in an instant, suddenly wrapping around Yu Sheng's mind.

Yu Sheng felt ten thousand voices explode violently within his "head"; he had no way to resist or dodge, and his mind had already established an irretrievable connection with something even more vast; that thing roared deep within his consciousness, transmitting frantic and terrible thoughts, but the next second, Yu Sheng perceived that the thing seemed to possess no true reason or thought—

It was merely some vast, wild "instinct", and the frantic thoughts and temptations he felt were merely tools mimicked by this vast instinct for "hunting".

Those originated from the living beings it had once devoured; they were the madness and despair at the end of their hunger, the lingering echoes of those victims' death throes; all of this had gathered together to form the entire malice of this monster, allowing this thing, originally just a gathering of instincts, to gradually grow to what it is today, even becoming a powerful "Entity" that actively "forages", actively tempting and forcing its prey.

And it was still growing rapidly; the thinking ability that was originally merely mimicked was now gradually becoming its true "thought"!

Now, it began to attempt to dismantle Yu Sheng's mind, attempting to turn this unwelcome guest into its new "nourishment".

The sensation of the mind gradually "dissolving" came; Yu Sheng felt he was being rapidly "digested", becoming part of that monster; he exerted all his strength trying to break free from those tentacles wrapping around him, only to find that the stronger his struggling force, the stronger those tentacles' force became!

And just then, Yu Sheng suddenly felt something.

He suddenly looked at that vast entity writhing constantly in the darkness; the next second, he saw countless eyes of various forms abruptly floating up amidst the mottled colors deep within that darkness, and among them, one pair of eyes... was his.

He felt his vision shake again; in the darkness, he saw countless tentacles extending forward, the ends of the tentacles wrapping around a human-shaped shadow struggling constantly.

He felt that monster was digesting and absorbing him.

He felt he was devouring something.

He was eating.

He was eating.

Just at the moment when Yu Sheng could hardly distinguish where his perspective truly was, could no longer tell where the boundary between himself and that monster lay, Irene's startled cry suddenly came faintly from the depths of the darkness—

"Holy crap?!"

The next second, Yu Sheng felt a violent fall.

That last extremely uncomfortable experience of a sudden awakening happened to him all over again in an instant.

Yu Sheng suddenly opened his eyes; intense stabbing pain, roaring, and pain surging through his entire body instantly overwhelmed all perception; he rolled over, supported himself on the bedside table, and vomited violently, even wanting to vomit out his own heart, but nothing came out; and only after a long ten-plus seconds did these terrible aftereffects finally gradually subside.

Yu Sheng supported himself on the bedside table, struggling to prop himself up, and saw the faint morning light filtering through the curtains into the room; he saw the doll carrying a picture frame sitting on his bed, its small face wearing great unease and tension.

"Are you okay?! Is it still you?" Irene scrambled over on hands and knees, grabbing Yu Sheng's arm and shaking it hard, "Do you remember who I am?"

"Stop shaking, stop shaking, I'm still dizzy... Holy crap, why does my whole body hurt..." Yu Sheng quickly interrupted this doll, "I'm awake, Irene, I'm fine."

Irene stared at Yu Sheng with wide eyes for several seconds before finally letting go: "You scared me to death! You, you, you... you suddenly went just like you were dead, your mental response vanished! Then suddenly you came back to life, your whole mind was a mess, I didn't even know what thing I had woken up! You scared me to death! Scared me to death!"

Irene said "scared me to death" several times in a row, clearly truly terrified; Yu Sheng, however, could hardly spare any extra energy to comfort this little doll; the huge impact brought by establishing a deep connection with "Hunger" still lingered in his heart, even seeming to leave behind a vast shadow; Yu Sheng struggled to shake off its influence, leaning against the headboard and panting for a long time before his mind finally became completely clear. "Irene, that thing is dangerous," he said.

The little doll stood on Yu Sheng's stomach: "Of course I know it's dangerous! I told you from the start that thing was dangerous!"

"No, I mean that thing is more dangerous than you know—it's about to truly learn to think."

Irene stared with wide eyes, stunned.

"It originally only had instincts; only after devouring countless minds did it learn the methods of forcing and tempting," Yu Sheng leaned against the headboard, gazing into Irene's eyes, "Simple, crude hunting can only yield limited 'nutrients'; forcing a mind to madness through temptation can yield astonishing 'nutrition'; that thing didn't know these things from the start; it learned them gradually, and now... it is almost about to exhibit true thinking activity."

A trace of fear finally gradually appeared on Irene's face, but immediately after, she suddenly realized another thing.

"How do you know?!" The doll suddenly rushed over, its face almost touching Yu Sheng's nose, "You..."

"... I established a deep connection with that thing, deeper than we originally planned," Yu Sheng did not hide it, "For a moment, I felt I even became part of that monster... so in the depths of the darkness, I saw its most primal form, and the secret of its constant growth."

"Ho... Holy crap!" Irene almost jumped up entirely, followed immediately by a storm of rapid-fire chatter, "I said long ago this wouldn't work! This is dangerous! No one knows what will happen, and you still insisted on trying, what do we do, what do we do, what do we do... we're doomed! It definitely took root! You weren't just targeted, you were gnawed by it! 'Hunger' has definitely taken root in your mind ah ah ah ah—It's over! All-Over!"

The little doll's noisy commotion grew louder and louder, crawling everywhere on the bed and on Yu Sheng's stomach; Yu Sheng tried to interrupt several times but failed; in the end, he had to forcibly lift her into mid-air to make her quiet down: "Calm down, Irene, calm down."

"Calm down my ass! 'Hunger' has already taken root in your heart! Aren't you the least bit nervous yourself?!" Irene swayed in mid-air, "It will grow within your mind, getting bigger and bigger, then 'Bang!' and you're done! Even if you hide in the real world, it's the same! Do you even know your current situation... don't talk about your resurrection! This thing has taken root in your mind! Your body can renew, but can your mind? Are you sure dying and coming back to life can get rid of this 'rooting'?"

!.

Yu Sheng of course knew all this, but he also didn't know why there wasn't even a shred of urgency in his heart that life was counting down, not even his recently increasingly accurate "Spiritual Intuition" had warned him.

He only knew on a rational level that the situation was dangerous, yet his heart was filled with an abnormal calmness.

But he knew he couldn't show this calmness too much; otherwise, Irene would go even more crazy.

"As long as we eliminate 'Hunger' before that... I mean, kill that 'Entity Instance' affecting me, there won't be a problem, right?" Yu Sheng tried to distract Irene, "The 'rooted' part needs some time before it erupts; we still have time."

"Time... yes, there's still time, hurry, we must hurry!" Irene was indeed instantly distracted, and at the same time belatedly noticed she was being held in mid-air, "Put me down! Put me down quickly, let's set off immediately, go finish off that 'Entity Instance', yes yes yes, leave right now, while you still don't feel anything..."

Yu Sheng gently exhaled, put Irene down on the bed, and prepared to get up and step onto the floor.

But as soon as he made a larger movement, he immediately felt waves of soreness and pain coming from his limbs and bones, instantly drawing in a sharp breath of cold air.

"Hiss! Why does it hurt so much..." Yu Sheng looked down at himself in astonishment, "I clearly remember that after the last 'sudden awakening', the aftereffects disappeared quickly... and back then my body didn't hurt; why do I feel like I got beaten up..."

As he spoke, the doll beside him, who had been in a panic just a second ago, suddenly fell silent; then, while Irene quietly crawled toward the foot of the bed, she muttered softly: "S-sometimes 'sudden awakening' can also produce some physical aftereffects..."

"That's wrong!" Yu Sheng suddenly realized, pulling up his sleeve, "I was beaten up—I still have a bite mark on my arm!"

By this time, Irene had already crawled to the foot of the bed: "You grind your teeth in your sleep; you bit yourself."

"You say I bit myself with such a small bite mark?"

"I was trying to wake you up! Since regular methods couldn't wake you, didn't I have to use some unconventional ones?"

Irene stood at the foot of the bed with hands on her hips, speaking with righteous indignation, then turned and jumped to the ground, running out the door at full speed!

(End of Chapter)