Chapter 593: Watermelon Rind

The little thing was sticky and gooey, looking like a lump of flesh-colored slime, voraciously gnawing at watermelon rind, seemingly oblivious to Zhang Jie's gaze.

A crackling sound rang out; Zhang Jie crouched down and observed the little thing with his special vision.

There was no black substance, nothing resembling a facial pattern, and nothing resembling any supernatural material.

All there was, was a small creature curled up with its head tucked in; looking closely, it seemed to gradually overlap with the thing before him.

"What exactly is this thing?"

Zhang Jie watched the creature voraciously gnawing at watermelon rind, and he felt an utterly strange sensation.

He... he only felt as if, in some unseen way, he stood at a crossroads in life.

This feeling came and went quickly, like suddenly arriving at a scene that feels familiar; Zhang Jie now experiences exactly that.

He didn't take this feeling to heart; he merely wondered whether he should look after this unknown little thing.

In this world, 'kindness' is the most deadly thing; stray dogs by the roadside, injured stray cats—these could easily become anomalies, killing the good-hearted people who bring them back.

But likewise, cat and dog pets are the best means for people in this world to relieve psychological pressure; mental health strengthens the corresponding will, which manifests in reality as reduced pollution.

"Emmmmm...."

His thoughts seemed like a pair of constantly entangled quanta—one wanting to let go, the other wanting to bring it back; it was strange, he had never felt this way before.

Then suddenly, his thoughts cleared sharply, as if something had reached out and anchored this very moment; Zhang Jie's brows and eyes relaxed.

"Forget it, I'll take it back and keep it for fun."

"Who made me... so unrestrained!"

Zhang Jie immediately walked back to his home, took out two pieces of delivery cardboard, and gently scooped the little thing into them.

After the little thing finished chewing the watermelon rind, its condition improved considerably; this palm-sized creature, for some reason, Zhang Jie actually saw a hint of listlessness in it.

"It's rather fun."

Zhang Jie chuckled, poked it with his finger—it was slightly damp, like a puppy's tongue, soft and bouncy.

"From now on I'll call you Watermelon Rind."

"Who made him start gnawing on watermelon rind in the first place?"

Zhang Jie turned and went back inside; just as he returned, a figure slowly emerged from the corner, gazing at the villa ahead, a long‑absent smile appearing on his weather‑worn face.

"From here on, another timeline branches off."

Every major decision a person makes, or even a casual action, can potentially split off a new timeline.

No one knows how many timelines there are, but there is always a most perfect one that will appear in this world after countless searches and efforts.

"Gurgle...."

That figure turned around, only to see more 'Watermelon Rinds' crawling along the sewer, continually emerging outward.

Who would have thought that the little things shattered into debris by a single blast would differentiate into so many individuals?

He pondered for a moment, but did not strike to destroy these little things; a new timeline thus split apart here....

Zhang Jie placed the Watermelon Rind into a small storage box at his home, not daring to rinse it with water for fear of washing it away.

It was placed in the box, its dull eyes gazing at everything around; eventually, it fixed its gaze on a piece of watermelon rind before it.

It inched over slowly, then, without a word, began to gnaw.

Zhang Jie, while eating watermelon, flipped through his phone, currently searching the investigator database for information about the creature before him.

"What the heck is this thing?"

Zhang Jie found no information about this little thing at all; he also wondered whether it might be an anomaly that was smashed here over a year ago.

However, there is no evidence to prove this thing is an anomaly from a year ago, and Zhang Jie didn't dwell on that possibility.

In the blink of an eye, the little thing finished another piece of watermelon rind; its dull eyes seemed to show some ripples, and using its sole hand with only two claws, it pushed itself up off the ground and lifted its head to look at him.

"Hiss.... ugly‑cute, ugly‑cute."

Since this thing bore no contamination, Zhang Jie relaxed and once again fed her a piece of watermelon rind he had left over.

The little thing fell silent for a moment, its small mouth twitched, and it emitted a faint sound, but Zhang Jie couldn't make out what she was saying.

"What's that chirping? Surely it's not scolding me, is it?"

Zhang Jie tapped the little thing's head with his finger; it angrily let out a 'chi' sound, then continued burying its head in the watermelon rind.

After three pieces of watermelon rind went down, the little thing seemed to have drunk its fill of water, and its whole body swelled up.

"How did you little thing manage to eat three pieces of watermelon rind?"

The little thing ignored him, laid its head down and slept; Zhang Jie pursed his lips and closed the lid.

Never mind—this is the hard‑earned rest he finally got; he's going to rest.

At midnight, many of the 'Watermelon Rinds' that had crawled out of the sewer had already died halfway; the summer sun was blazing, and lots of them were baked dry on the ground.

But some still crawled into dark corners, some were carried away by the sewer flow, and some made it into human villas, living in the crevices like cockroaches.

Besides those baked dry, there were also those stomped to death by fearful humans, but in the end a large portion remained.

But Zhang Jie knew none of this; he only knew he had picked up a little thing whose nature he didn't understand.

The next day, Zhang Jie opened the lid and immediately saw a half‑dead Watermelon Rind.

It seemed to need a lot of food, but unfortunately, Zhang Jie had slept for sixteen hours straight the previous night in a thunderous slumber, and he hadn't left any watermelon rind for it to eat.

Now it seems to be on the verge of starvation....

Zhang Jie hurriedly found a piece of apple, thought for a moment, cut it in half, and placed it in the storage box.

The fruit's fragrance arrived; the Watermelon Rind's dull eyes seemed to brighten a bit, and it pathetically dragged its body with its little hand toward it.

Zhang Jie, helpless, pinched it with his finger and placed its fragile, jelly‑like body onto the apple.

"Creak... creak...."

The little thing gratefully glanced at him, then began to gnaw the apple with a creaking sound; only then did Zhang Jie notice that the little thing had grown a finger.

Originally, the Watermelon Rind's two little fingers on its hand were like tiny tweezers; calling them fingers is a stretch—they're more like split strips of flesh.

And now, its hand could be seen to have the shape of fingers.

And just as Zhang Jie was observing it, the phone suddenly rang; Zhang Jie answered it casually, and from inside came the sound of a yellow-haired ghost wailing and wolves howling.