Novel Summary
In search of immortality, Xie Zhigui ventured into the enigmatic great mountains, employing love as a guise and his own body as bait to seduce a monster. Intertwined in a passionate affair, he whispered declarations of love into the monster's ear countless times, luring it into the soft illusion of tenderness, indulging it without bounds. His goal achieved, he casually left, thinking he would not be pursued, treating the affair as nothing more than a brief romantic interlude. But soon, bizarre occurrences began to haunt him. Stalkers who pursued him vanished from the world, he was dragged into vivid dreams by strange scents at night, unexplained bite marks appeared on the back of his neck, and his friends and family started to drift away... He questioned them, "Why?" But they only looked behind him with horror and trembled like chaff in the wind—at the pale, sinister, red-clad man behind him who raised a slender finger to his lips, signaling them to be silent. Yet, Xie Zhigui could see nothing. Eventually, he realized this was the punishment for his betrayal, unable to bear the torment, he chose to forget everything, thinking it would make the monster let him go. But a year later, by accident, he returned to that village. And he met the man in red from his dreams. The man's smile was gentle, assuring him that as long as he agreed to serve as a stand-in for a former lover, he would be safe to leave. Xie Zhigui agreed. He failed to see the madness in the man's eyes once he shed the guise of gentleness, a madness that seemed eager to devour him whole. "Now, it's my turn to deceive you," the monster schemed, trapping Xie Zhigui in a fantastical dream. When he awoke disheveled and found himself unable to move in the monster's embrace, he looked up in terror at the cruel smile on the monster's face, followed by a cold kiss on his forehead. The monster's revenge was just beginning. "My dear, welcome back to your nightmare."
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