Chapter 2: First Encounter?

Chapter 2: First Encounter?

Darkness swirled before his eyes, and Bai Zhou's consciousness dissipated like morning mist. In a daze, the suffocating feeling slowly faded, and a blinding white light flashed before his eyes.

He lost consciousness completely.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw a snow-white ceiling, with a faint scent of alcohol in the air. It resembled a hospital room, but Bai Zhou quickly recognized it as a room in the Academy, very private and secure.

The reason was straightforward: he had been studied by the Academy in a similar place for a long time.

The door opened, and a nurse walked in with a fresh IV bag.

"I..."

Before he could finish, he realized his throat felt dry and strange, with the monster's strange blood still stuck in his throat. He couldn't help coughing, lowering his head.

His obvious vulnerability triggered the nurse's maternal protective instincts. Her voice softened, and she set down a glass of warm water on the small table beside him.

"Don't worry. The rescue team drove the monster away. You're now taken in by the Academy. The Dean will be here shortly to ask you some questions. For now, just rest."

Could a monster like that really be driven away by the rescue team?

"...Okay, thank you." Bai Zhou pushed his doubts aside. At any rate, he was alive.

How did he manage to escape?

His communicator beeped—the rescue team had also retrieved it. When he opened it, a flood of messages flooded his inbox, mostly from his former unmarried male colleagues.

Then a sudden news push appeared before him.

"Shock! Monster Invasion at the Base, Victim Turns Out to Be Him!"

Bai Zhou's fingers paused on the blood-soaked accompanying image.

It was Lou Peng's corpse.

Lou Peng's body was bent into a grotesque heart shape, soaked in blood, with a gaping hole torn out by some unknown creature where his heart should have been.

It looked like a creepy confession scene.

Even though Bai Zhou had been on field missions outside the base for years and seen all sorts of strange monsters and deaths, the shocking image made his heart race and broke out in a cold sweat. It took him a while to regain his composure.

Lou Peng was dead. That meant he could finally shake off that harassment. But Bai Zhou couldn't feel relieved.

Lou Peng, a Class A Esper, had died without a sound.

If it was human work, that was one thing. But if it was a monster... that would be too dangerous.

Still, even if it was a monster, it had nothing to do with him. He clicked into the comments section, which was chaotic.

"I heard Lou Peng met Bai Zhou before he died. Was he killed because of Bai Zhou's constitution?"

"Creepy. I wouldn't want to be in the same place as someone like that."

"How could a monster take a photo and twist the body into that shape? Someone must have killed Lou Peng out of revenge."

...

Things seemed to be getting worse. As Bai Zhou was lost in thought, the ward door opened from outside.

"Dean Bourne!"

The nurse's delighted voice snapped Bai Zhou back to reality.

Bourne smiled and nodded at her. He was a young man with blond hair and blue eyes, exuding an air of unreliable charm that seemed popular with both sexes.

He sat down casually at Bai Zhou's bedside and winked at him.

"I didn't expect my patient would be the base's famous figure. I've heard so much about you. You're even better-looking than your photos."

Bai Zhou: "..."

After Lou Peng, he now had a psychological aversion to people who seemed so frivolous.

Cradling the glass in both hands, he said defensively, "Thank you."

"So distant? Well, maybe you prefer to get straight to the point."

Bourne crossed his legs and waved the file in his hand.

"Mr. Bai was attacked at the base. The base command suspects this attack is a precursor to a Monster Tide and needs you to describe what happened."

Bai Zhou: "...The monster attacked suddenly. I was in a secluded alley with no one around. A huge tentacled monster attacked me. But for some reason, I survived."

Bourne didn't reply. Instead, he turned on the radio next to him.

The radio crackled for a moment before broadcasting the evening news: "According to the latest report, the base was attacked at 2:00 p.m. on September 23. Fortunately, the new leader, Lu Yan, returned and suppressed the monster's disturbance."

"During the rescue, no high-threat monsters were found. According to the Academy, this invasion may be a prelude to a Monster Tide, with the actual tide expected to arrive in half a month to a month."

The broadcast then went on to praise the new leader, going on and on endlessly.

Bai Zhou had never heard of this person before. He wondered why this man had taken over after the previous Chief went missing.

After listening for a while, he quickly understood why—he was an S-class Esper. In the base, the strong ruled.

"No giant tentacled monsters were found during the rescue. And the average Esper level of the rescue team is Class B." Bourne said with a smile. "Do you mean that a monster of Class A or above invaded the base and didn't kill you?"

How could such a huge monster go unnoticed? Bai Zhou frowned and turned his head away.

The long-haired young man in a light hospital gown, furrowing his brow in thought, exuded an intriguing beauty when he was silent and half-lidded.

Bourne didn't intend to press Bai Zhou. He just smiled. "I only wanted to verify my guess. Mr. Bai, if what you say is true, and if that monster wasn't just passing through..."

"Then I'm afraid it has its eyes on you. Perhaps it's tracking you. And from what you've said, that monster is very strong. That's probably not a good thing."

Bai Zhou said calmly, "...There are five confirmed S-class monsters in the world. I've already offended three of them in my previous career."

So, what's one more debt?

As he said this, Bai Zhou felt another intense gaze fixed on him—intense and burning. There was someone outside the door.

Bourne hadn't noticed anyone outside. He laughed at Bai Zhou's remark. "Mr. Bai is quite an interesting person."

Through the blurred window, it was still easy to see that the figure was tall and sturdy, with broad shoulders and long legs.

A dark silhouette in a base military uniform fell on the glass, giving a sense of danger and oppression that matched his build.

He seemed to place his hand on the door but did not push it open completely, only leaving it ajar.

The feeling of being watched grew stronger.

Bai Zhou’s heart pounded heavily, and he couldn’t help but turn his head, taking the opportunity to get a clear look at the Chief outside the door.

Through the crack, he saw the figure of a person.

The black-haired, green-eyed young man in military uniform stared at Bai Zhou, seeming to smile slightly.

But what was most striking was the pair of beautiful green eyes hidden beneath his long lashes.

The sense of danger and razor-sharp good looks left Bai Zhou’s mind momentarily blank.

His heart pounded fiercely, much like a life-or-death struggle during a monster attack, yet also somehow different.

The assistant waiting outside quickly approached and said in a low voice, "Director, the Chief has just returned to the base. It's time for the routine check-up."

Was that person outside the new Chief, Lu Yan?

"I'll be there in a moment," Bourne replied.

"I'm leaving. If you ever need help, just let me know. The Academy of Sciences welcomes you. Mr. Bai, take your time, no rush to give me an answer."

He stood up, shot Bai Zhou a meaningful glance, and left, slapping a book down on his chest.

"Oh, by the way, according to the Academy's tests, the next Monster Tide will hit within a month—maybe even just half a month. And this time, what's stirring them up is reproduction."

"Mr. Bai, good luck."

Actually, earlier, Bai Zhou had frowned and turned on the radio. It was still broadcasting content related to Lu Yan.

Despite his immense power, Lu Yan kept to himself, living like a recluse, almost to the point of mystery.

According to the radio, Lu Yan once shredded the monsters laying siege to the city with his superpower and survived an extremely dangerous Monster Tide all alone.

When he first took office, people questioned why this Lu Yan—seemingly out of nowhere—became the Chief, but later those people vanished.

The nurse came smiling to remove his IV needle, and her voice was filled with obvious admiration: "That's the new Chief of the base. He's very powerful. A man like him is the right one to lead us, don't you think?"

—Isn't he dangerous to the point of terror?

Bai Zhou sighed. But whether the Chief was dangerous or not was none of his concern. He just needed to keep his distance and live peacefully.

It seemed the Chief had close ties with the Academy of Sciences, so unless death was imminent, he'd avoid the Academy. Bai Zhou fell silent; when he looked down, the book Bourne had given him caught his eye.

"A Study of Monster Reproductive Behavior," published by the Academy of Sciences.

Is this really what they research all day?

Bai Zhou tossed the book aside with a blank face.

When he got home, it was already dark.

Today the protests on the streets were even louder than yesterday.

Fortunately, the rescue team and the Academy had testified about the incident with Lou Peng, proving Bai Zhou couldn't have committed the crime, so they let him go home.

This was an apartment allocated by the base—very small, but enough for one person. Bai Zhou turned on the light, turned on the radio to dispel the chill in the room, opened a bottle of wine, and curled up on the sofa.

Under the influence of alcohol, Bai Zhou began searching for job information on the communication network. Just then, he suddenly remembered he had received an email from the Academy of Sciences.

The book Bourne had given him came to mind again. Bai Zhou opened the book, and it happened to open to the pages on tentacle monsters.

For tentacle monsters, courtship behavior is...

Drowsiness invaded his mind, and the communicator in his hand slipped onto the carpet. He fell asleep.

The early autumn weather was quite cold, but Bai Zhou hadn't even covered himself with a blanket and had forgotten to close the window.

So cold...

Bai Zhou shivered unconsciously, his slender body slowly curling up. Under the moonlight, his furrowed brows were extremely beautiful, like delicate fresh snow on a branch.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

There was a banging sound from the door. Bai Zhou did not wake up. In earlier years, people often kicked his door at night or splashed paint or dirty water at his doorstep. He had long been accustomed to sleeping in such an environment.

Gurgle.

Gurgle.

But this time, the situation was clearly unusual.

In the darkness, a pitch-black humanoid figure rose, its body limp. It wriggled for a moment, and gradually a vague human outline appeared.

It was here.

In the darkness, the monster's pitch-black eyes reflected Bai Zhou's figure. Then it crawled out from the shadow in the corner, its crystal-clear, rounded tentacles scraping across the floor, leaving sticky water stains.

It had followed that person's unique scent. So fragrant, so sweet, like the most tempting arsenic, capable of cutting through all reason—

"...Ah."

"...Ai... Ai..."

"..."

The monster stood by Bai Zhou's bed, practicing in a strange, almost human tone, stumbling and stammering over each word.

"Love."

"...My love."

"My love. My love. My love. My love..."

Finally, it spoke in a clear, human voice. Although the voice sounded weird, terrifying, and not at all human... It repeated it over and over, the tone sweet and drunk.

At the same time, the pitch-black monster bent down. With its movement, liquid-like tentacles merged with the darkness and silently slipped into Bai Zhou's bedding.

Cold and wet tentacles greedily coiled around the black-haired youth's skin, as if stroking a treasure. This way, it could be closer to its beloved's scent.

How could it be so sweet?

Bai Zhou's face turned even paler in his sleep. Even in his dream, he still felt very cold. Why was it so cold? He tried to warm himself with the blanket, but all he felt was a cold touch.

His long, pitch-black lashes fluttered, then fluttered once more.

Thump, thump, thump...

The monster heard the beautiful rhythm of the heart, and the sudden change in melody signaled that—the sleeping youth was about to awaken.

Thump, thump, thump—

At the same time, Bai Zhou’s heartbeat was nearly at its peak!

He caught his breath, and the drowsiness that had clouded his brain a moment ago instantly jolted him awake: How could there be someone in the room!

The room was dark, and he could only see a tall, pitch-black silhouette—a man.

Could it be that someone from the protesting crowd had found their way into his residence?

Bai Zhou pulled out the weapon hidden beneath his pillow and snapped, "Who are you! Get out!"

Under the moonlight, the blade gleamed silver, reflecting the pale youth's striking yet icy-cold face.

Of course, it was a pretense. His heart was still pounding with fear.

—So was the creature.

The monster had no heart, but at that moment, It felt something inside Its humanoid chest violently vibrating, driving It into sheer excitement.

Its beloved, Its mate—so beautiful, so fragile... It heard the mate's heart pounding just as fiercely; was this not love?

Bai Zhou frowned. The man before him seemed to pay him no heed at all. Gritting his teeth, he decided to strike first!

A whoosh of wind sounded as the sharp blade was swung with desperate resolve, carving an arc like a crescent moon.

Slash!

At the moment of impact, Bai Zhou’s hand trembled, and the strength in his blade suddenly gave out.

The man before him seemed to vanish instantly, and darkness enveloped the entire room. Amid a chaotic clatter, the lights flickered and then blazed on, the harsh glare stinging Bai Zhou's eyes.

At the same time, he clearly saw the room—empty. Things were scattered all over the floor, the door wide open, as if a bandit had just ransacked the room.

Bai Zhou: ...

The clock pendulum swung, marking exactly two in the morning.

Exhausted, Bai Zhou still hadn’t dropped the knife. He first checked his surroundings to ensure the man had truly left.

Only then did he close the door and block it with a cabinet.

Bai Zhou leaned against the cabinet, slowly let out a breath, his brows furrowing. He closed his eyes, his long lashes trembling. After that brush with death, fatigue belatedly washed over him, leaving him too tired to open his eyes.

...He couldn't just sit back and wait. The hostility the people in the base held toward him was clearly worse than he had imagined—so bad that they would even come to his doorstep to attack him.

Would he ever be able to find a normal job without facing a boycott? If the visitor today had been an Esper, he would already be dead.

Bai Zhou mustered his spirits and pulled up Bourne’s contact information.

The small green dot next to the avatar showed that the director was clearly still awake.

The call connected quickly, and Bourne's voice came through the communicator: "What's wrong? Calling so late—something wrong?"

Bai Zhou cut straight to the chase: "I'm willing to join the Academy of Sciences."

Author's note: