Chapter 16: Who Are You

……

Huaiyou opened his eyes amidst a sense of chaos.

He opened his mouth and yawned.

What met his eyes was a expanse of white—the ceiling.

Huaiyou rubbed his throbbing head; he kept feeling like he had forgotten something, but at this moment, he couldn't recall a single thing.

His throat was inexplicably sore, and it was only when he struggled to sit up that he confirmed he was in his own room.

The room appeared somewhat chaotic.

Clothes and other items were scattered about in disarray.

Huaiyou recognized them; these were his own clothes.

Yet, suddenly, it occurred to him that he was actually quite tidy; his clothes shouldn't be thrown around like this. Could he have been sleepwalking last night?

But after thinking about it—

He didn't have a habit of sleepwalking.

At least for all these years, his parents didn't seem to have discovered it, or rather, told him about such a symptom.

Besides that—

Huaiyou strangely discovered that the dust on the floor seemed quite thick, and there were actually some footprints; these footprints extended all the way to the door.

As Huaiyou's consciousness gradually cleared—

He became increasingly certain that the most obvious large footprints were his own, while next to them were some smaller ones, almost circular in shape.

It's just that these marks looked a bit strange.

So much so that Huaiyou even doubted whether they were footprints at all.

There were also some strange, sticky mouse tracks that likewise extended from the floor all the way to the door.

As for why he could recognize these tiny tracks as mouse tracks, it was mainly because Huaiyou had raised some small hamsters and fancy rats before.

So he was very familiar with this type of rodent; at the very least, they weren't unfamiliar to him.

"Did mice get into the house? Why is the floor so dirty?"

Huaiyou muttered as he stood up.

He walked slowly toward the door.

And when Huaiyou opened the door to step out, just as he opened it—

Huaiyou heard his mother's voice.

The sound was coming from the first floor.

Huaiyou's room was on the second floor.

Separated by a full two doors.

"Xiaoyou? Are you up? Come down quickly for breakfast; I just bought fresh steamed buns and fried dough sticks."

Huaiyou responded.

"Okay, I'll be right there!"

However, Huaiyou felt a bit puzzled.

"Is today the weekend? Are Mom and Dad both back?"

Huaiyou quickly opened the door on the second floor; the washroom was outside, and naturally, the necessary routine of brushing teeth and washing his face couldn't be skipped right after waking up.

But later, just as Huaiyou splashed water onto his face—

And picked up the towel to wipe it clean—

In an instant, a strange noise sounded behind him.

A sharp, child-like, wailing sound suddenly appeared, but it stopped abruptly.

Huaiyou's wiping motion froze instantly; he turned around sharply, only to find that there was nothing behind him.

Yet that sound had clearly appeared right behind him.

Not long after, Huaiyou continued to wipe his face.

In his mind, he was thinking: "Did I sleep until I was muddled? Am I hallucinating?"

Soon—

Huaiyou finished washing and left the washroom.

But he didn't notice—

Just as he had left—

That crying sound appeared again, only it was very faint.

Almost inaudible.

Huaiyou went downstairs; at this time, his parents saw him coming down and greeted him.

Huaiyou smiled and responded.

He quickly sat down at the table.

As mentioned before, today's breakfast was steamed buns and fried dough sticks.

Naturally, the standard accompaniment for these two breakfast items was soy milk.

Huaiyou was just about to start eating.

After all, these things in front of him were actually breakfasts he quite liked to eat in the mornings.

But at this moment—

Huaiyou saw his mother arch her waist forward; her movements appeared a bit stiff, as if she were out of control, and her arm reached out long.

She brought over a white jar from the side.

The jar contained white sugar.

Mother smiled and said to Huaiyou, "I've been liking sweet soy milk lately; do you guys want to add some?"

Before Huaiyou could answer—

Huaiyou's father spoke: "Give me some."

Subsequently, Father poured the freshly squeezed soy milk from the juicer into the three people's bowls respectively.

His movements actually appeared a bit stiff as well.

However, Huaiyou's movements also froze at this moment.

Because he clearly saw—

The soy milk poured from the so-called fresh soy milk machine—

He hadn't noticed at first, but now he discovered that the so-called "soy milk" was actually red.

It could even be described as viscous.

Huaiyou's parents didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with the soy milk.

The two of them poured some white sugar from the jar into the soy milk, stirred it slightly with a spoon, lowered their heads, and took a light sip.

It was as if they were tasting whether the sweetness was just right.

Huaiyou's father smiled, revealing bright red teeth: "The sweetness is just right."

A strong, fishy smell wafted out.

Huaiyou also took a light sip of the bright red soy milk and likewise smiled: "The taste is not bad, it really is just right; the beans squeezed for the soy milk today are quite fresh."

Suddenly—

She looked at Huaiyou and said with a smile: "Xiaoyou, the taste is very good, eat."

While speaking—

She took a steamed bun out of a food bag.

She took a light bite, and red juice slowly flowed down.

A greenish leg slid out by the side of her mouth.

That was a frog's leg.

At this moment, it was actually still twitching unconsciously...

Then came the crunch-crunch sound of chewing, as if crushing something.

Huaiyou's father also reached his hand into the white packaging bag at this moment and took out a fried dough stick.

Subsequently, he was seen biting one end with sharp teeth, then pulling it lightly.

The fried dough stick was pulled open.

But there was also something inside; it was actually a frog as well, only with that last bite, Huaiyou's father seemed to have just happened to stuff the lower half into his mouth, chewing it in big mouthfuls, looking like he was eating very deliciously.

And as for the other half of the fried dough stick he held in his hand, Huaiyou clearly saw that there was also a green frog inside, but only a small part of its head remained, its eyes wide open.

Under the skin, it was also twitching bit by bit.

It was alive!

Huaiyou's parents were eating very deliciously.

Their eyes were closed comfortably, as if they were eating some kind of delicacy on earth.

But in Huaiyou's perception, everything so-called was fishy, smelly, and eerie.

Huaiyou's eyes were wide open, looking at the steamed buns and fried dough sticks piled high on the table in front of him, as well as the bowl of bright red, viscous soy milk before him.

His breathing slowed down.

Suddenly—

Huaiyou felt with horror that the soles of his feet were a bit slippery.

He lowered his head to look, only to discover that the floor was covered in viscous, transparent mucus; he only needed to move his feet slightly, and that sensation was clearly transmitted.

Very moist, very slippery.

But subconsciously, Huaiyou looked at the feet of his parents sitting opposite him.

It turned out that since he came down, he had already discovered that his parents had never stood up; they had always been sitting on the stools.

And it was this scene before him that ended Huaiyou's mental calm, and to a certain extent, ended his cognition of normal things.

This was a kind of thing he couldn't imagine.

Huaiyou was suddenly enveloped by a great fear.

It turned out that within his line of sight, those two pairs of legs didn't look like human legs at all.

Although they were covered by pants—

This couldn't hide the specific shape inside and the dirty, disgusting mucus.

The legs bulged backward, presenting a twisted appearance; the legs were grayish-green.

The muscles on the thighs were very developed and powerful.

The feet were exaggeratedly spread out, and between each toe, it was as if they were joined together.

The toes were long and covered with webbing.

They twitched from time to time, and one could even clearly see the blood vessels on them.

No wonder... no wonder they didn't stand up.

Legs with this kind of structure—

They couldn't possibly stand up successfully, right?

At most, they could only crawl on the ground.

And Huaiyou turned his head stiffly; when he raised his head, he suddenly discovered with horror—

It turned out that his parents' eating movements had never stopped, and they had even become faster.

But their faces, as time passed, or rather, as they gradually chewed and swallowed these things into their stomachs—

Changed.

Their heads seemed to have grown larger in a short time with the action of swallowing things, beginning to transform toward some kind of creature that definitely didn't look like a human, and this transformation was visible to the naked eye.

Their eyes began to swell, unable to close.

Yet they seemed to have their own ideas, the pupils rolling around in front of their eyes.

They looked at least twice as large as a normal person's, and the distance between the eyes was getting wider and wider; looking from the front, it was almost impossible to see two eyes definitely.

Their mouths began to get larger and larger, yet flatter and flatter.

On both sides of their necks, one after another grayish-green bumps began to emerge; there were holes on the bumps, still contracting unconsciously.

Their hands became large and long, covered in mucus, slidingly grabbing the so-called "steamed buns and fried dough sticks" on the table.

And at this moment, Huaiyou truly understood.

The feeling that there was something moving inside those steamed buns and fried dough sticks was not fake.

They were one after another lively, jumping frogs.

Some big, some small.

A few had even crawled out from the steamed buns and packaging.

At the same time—

Huaiyou's "Mom and Dad"—

Reached out their hands, which basically had nothing to do with normal human hands; it was only now that Huaiyou discovered that there was webbing on their hands too.

Each finger was thick and long, yet they were connected to each other; their skin began to turn grayish-green, just in this short period of time.

Besides the change in color, Huaiyou also discovered that this color change had a pattern.

After the platinum, it was grayish-green, while the front was white.

The upper part of the hand was grayish-green, while the part of the palm was white.

Huaiyou's "parents"—

Suddenly seemed to notice Huaiyou's gaze changing at this moment, but they remained unmoved.

Suddenly, they just raised their heads.

The two people's movements were highly consistent; their heads turned slightly to the side, revealing the eye on the left side, biased toward the sides of the brain.

The two of them stared at Huaiyou like this.

Huaiyou's mother revealed a very kind smile: "Why aren't you eating yet? Is it not delicious?"

Huaiyou's father also revealed a smile: "Why aren't you eating yet? Is it not delicious?"

The two of them simultaneously pushed the steamed buns in front of them toward Huaiyou.

"Eat quickly!"

"Eat quickly!"

Their voices suddenly became louder and louder!

The tone, however, became lower and lower!

At the same time, Huaiyou saw that behind them, the wall began to peel off gradually.

Huaiyou felt a burst of painful and miserable terror and hatred!

The next second, he could no longer maintain this calmness.

He threw down the bowl containing the so-called soy milk filled with bright red liquid.

This bowl smashed onto the floor, and the liquid inside spilled out directly, mixing perfectly with the transparent mucus on the ground.

The strong, fishy smell of blood rose by a degree.

"Who the hell are you?!!"

Huaiyou roared crazily.

But he only saw Huaiyou's parents, those hands that made one feel fear, tightly gripping his throat.

On their faces, which had completely transformed into the appearance of frogs, was a kind of manic rage!

"Why aren't you eating?!"

They said in unison.

They looked exactly like two huge frogs!

…… ===== CHAPTER 17 =====