Chapter 3: We Are Both Anomalies
“Is this really a newbie?”
As Jiang Cheng’s shattered body, along with those twisted tentacles, collapsed helplessly to the ground, Yang Jia mysteriously appeared at the entrance of the men’s restroom.
Looking at Xiao Xiao standing before Jiang Cheng with a mirror shard in hand, her expression seemed somewhat surprised.
Using this moment, she checked outside and confirmed that no one else showed signs of “shedding skin” before hurrying over, gun already in hand, prepared to help this naive newcomer out of trouble. Yet she unexpectedly discovered that Xiao Xiao had already solved the problem on his own. Moreover, his face showed none of the tension and panic she had anticipated—he stood before Jiang Cheng with complete calm, even coldness, gripping a blood-dripping mirror fragment in his hand.
He even didn’t forget to finish it off…
This decisiveness and efficiency caught Yang Jia completely off guard.
She had unexpectedly discovered this newcomer, and naturally wanted to observe this newcomer’s potential, so she left him some time alone with the monster.
Deep down, she naturally hoped his potential would be as high as possible, but now it seems…
……Isn’t that a bit too high?
……
The moment Yang Jia entered Xiao Xiao’s field of vision, she suddenly looked up at her with a “whoosh,” gripping the lens in her hand tightly, her entire body tense.
Only after confirming it was Yang Jia did she relax slightly in an imperceptible moment.
He didn’t understand why Yang Jia’s face showed such a surprised expression, nor did he feel there was anything wrong with what he had done.
It may have looked like a momentary escape and counterattack, but for him, it was the result of prolonged deliberation and psychological preparation—a decision to kill this monster in order to ensure his own survival.
Since that was the case, he had to see it through completely.
Only after confirming that the monster before him was truly dead—that at least the tattered heart no longer beat—did he slowly stand up, look down at the mirror shard he was holding, and suddenly throw it aside.
The heart pounded heavily like a drum, and a sense of lingering fear and tension rose from the depths of his being.
“Clap clap…”
It was at this moment that Yang Jia’s applause sounded. She slowly walked into the bathroom, her gaze at Xiao Xiao somewhat peculiar: “Your performance was quite good.”
“I…”
Xiao Xiao’s voice carried a belated sense of tension: “Did I… kill someone?”
“No, you didn’t kill anyone.”
Yang Jia walked over to Xiao Xiao’s side without any change in expression, took out a medical patch, and helped him cover the wound on his hand, speaking softly:
“This isn’t over yet. You’ve only bought us some time.”
“It’s just that you just displayed your anger, and even these monsters would be slightly suppressed by it…”
“…”
Xiao Xiao only felt the blood vessels in his brain throbbing again, the exhaustion from just killing someone, the headache from his thoughts running like an explosion, and these strange terms all made him feel deeply confused.
“Oh my, why do you two have so many secrets to whisper about?”
At that very moment, a laughing voice suddenly rang out. Xiao Xiao turned his head to look, and his entire body froze completely.
Only to see Jiang Cheng climbing up from the ground. The torn skin on his body and the wounds that had been pierced by himself were gradually healing, while those writhing tentacles retracted back into his body. As he stood up, he had already returned to his previous appearance, and walked over to the sink as if nothing had happened, washing his hands while laughing: “Back in school, we always thought you two had a story. Did I guess right?”
Listening to his words, Xiao Xiao felt that this world had become utterly unreal.
It was as if the fear he had just experienced, the extremely dangerous resistance, were all merely illusions.
He instinctively moved away from Jiang Cheng a bit, then looked up at Yang Jia, only to see her smiling, calmly explaining to Jiang Cheng: “There are too many people inside, you can’t hear what anyone is saying clearly.”
“Isn’t that just what class reunions are like?”
Jiang Cheng smiled, dried his hands, and said: “Let’s go, head back together. You’ve been out here for so long, by rights you should be punished with a drink.”
……
……
Xiao Xiao and Yang Jia, along with Jiang Cheng, returned to the private room together. Everyone indeed started clamoring to make them drink as punishment.
But Xiao Xiao only felt that everything before his eyes was bizarre and grotesque. He saw his classmates’ attitudes had all become much better. Although there were still occasional dissatisfied glances cast his way, when they spoke to him, their faces all wore smiles. Some even raised their glasses from afar to toast him. Even Jiang Cheng was talking expansively, his attitude still somewhat arrogant, yet with much more friendliness added to it. Everything, all of it, seemed as if it were nothing but false.
Only his own palm, that wound still faintly seeping fresh blood, proved that all of this had truly happened.
His classmates were all having a great time. Although Xiao Xiao seemed unable to fully blend into the atmosphere, which was somewhat disappointing, no one said anything about it. They even suggested going to sing karaoke later.
Yet the one who should have been the center of everyone’s attention, Yang Jia, seemed to have no interest.
After chatting and laughing with the people present for a while, he made an excuse: “We won’t go singing. Xiao Xiao and I have already made plans. We still have some things to do later.”
“Huh?”
The classmates present were somewhat surprised, and countless envious glances fell upon Xiao Xiao.
Yang Jia hadn’t been in contact with his classmates for four years, so how was he still so close with Xiao Xiao?
Many people had lost interest, so they all paid their bills together and left the hotel. When Yang Jia got into her black SUV with Xiao Xiao, their classmates watched with envy, and some even whistled.
Everything was so normal it was almost unbelievable.
“What on earth is going on?”
When they had left those classmates behind and the car drove onto the streets glittering with neon lights, Xiao Xiao rolled down the car window, letting the cold night wind blow against his face, and asked in a low voice.
“I can’t give you an explanation, only an answer.”
Yang Jia held the steering wheel with one hand while lighting a cigarette with the other, tilting her head to light it, and spoke softly: “Just as you can see, all the people living around us are essentially no longer human.”
“Your friends, your family—they have long since transformed into another kind of creature… perhaps it should be called a creature. You’re welcome to understand them as demons or monsters if you wish, and that’s fine. They still wear the skin of their former selves, existing in the image you remember them by, and even possess the memories and self-awareness of those people you once knew. But in reality, they have all become twisted and abominable monsters…”
“Normally, they still disguise themselves and live around you as if nothing is wrong.”
“But whenever this city begins to harbor malice toward you, you will see their true faces……”
“……”
In this moment, as if an electric current surged through his brain, Xiao Xiao recalled his mother’s cold and sinister gaze, and thought of the eerie presence that permeates this city.
“Then we……”
He opened his mouth as if there were countless things he wanted to say, yet he struggled to form an effective question.
“This world, when it changed, it forgot to call us along……”
Yang Jia seemed to know what he wanted to say, a mysterious smile playing at the corners of her mouth as she whispered: “This place is not our homeland, you and I are both strangers……”
“……”
Xiao Xiao didn’t know what to say. After a long while, he took the cigarette from Yang Jia’s mouth and put it between his own lips.
He didn’t normally smoke, but now he needed something to help calm his chaotic mind.
He found it very difficult to accept what Yang Jia had just said. It was too terrifying, too insane. He would even rather believe that he himself had gone mad and everything he was seeing was just a hallucination.
Yang Jia watched Xiao Xiao coughing from the cigarette smoke and couldn’t help but smile, saying, “I know it’s hard for you to accept.”
“Everyone who has just awakened reacts like you do, preferring to believe they’ve gone mad rather than accept such an absurd reality. But you can’t deny that perhaps you’ve already sensed the abnormalities of this world long ago.”
“……”
Xiao Xiao was heavily choked by the menthol-flavored cigarette smoke, but continued smoking nonetheless.
He couldn’t help but think about Yang Jia’s words. Had he truly sensed the abnormality of this world long ago?
Or rather, it was he himself who was abnormal from the beginning..
Four years ago, his parents chose to divorce, and the family fell apart. It seemed that Xiao Xiao’s mind also suddenly shattered that summer.
He began to be overwhelmed by intense panic for long periods of time, plagued by severe dizziness, his thoughts fragmenting inch by inch, unable to form coherent thinking or normal perception.
He went to the hospital, but nothing was found. His parents, and even the doctors, went through a period of time thinking he was faking it.
He had no way to describe to others the suffering he endured, so he shut himself in his bedroom and spent four years learning to concentrate his attention.
He read books, played games, and even just sat in a chair all day long, learning to adapt to all of this, learning to control the sense of perceptual loss that the intense fear brought to him.
Finally, after four years, he decided to return to this world.
But at this moment, someone told him that this world had been transformed into something completely unfamiliar by some unknown force?
“Alright, I know you still have many questions in your heart, but for someone new like you, there are simply too many things I need to help you with, and I can’t explain them all in a short time.”
Yang Jia looked ahead, letting Xiao Xiao sink into his chaotic thoughts. After a long while, he finally smiled and said, “How about this? I’ll send you back first.”
“I need to make some preparations to properly introduce you to this world and tell you how to survive in it.”
“……”
“Go back?”
Xiao Xiao suddenly felt a strong sense of resistance in his heart. He thought of his mother’s cold gaze, thought of everything he had encountered on the road, and felt a chill run through his entire body.
“Don’t be afraid.”
Yang Jia noticed the tension in his eyes and felt this was how a newcomer should behave. She smiled and said, “I told you, once you’ve dealt with Jiang Cheng, the world’s malice and rejection toward you will ease slightly.”
“Of course, this is only temporary. At most two days, or perhaps just a few hours, that malice will strike again, and even more intensely than before.”
“It’s not just Jiang Cheng. Perhaps everyone you encounter will want to kill you!”
“……”
Hearing her words, Xiao Xiao’s body stiffened slightly: “Then what should I do?”
“Be at ease.”
Yang Jia smiled and said: “Just as if nothing happened at all, wait quietly, and I will find you again.”
“Be at ease?”
Xiao Xiao was momentarily taken aback, even finding it absurd: “In a world full of monsters like this, you’re telling me to be at ease?”
Yang Jia listened to his words, then suddenly laughed and replied: “In a world full of monsters like this, what else can you do besides being at ease?”