DCHHLT Chapter 18

Chu Junshan hadn’t expected an answer from Liang Xingyuan.

Frowning slightly, he seemed lost in thought. After a brief moment, the tangled knot of confusion in his mind slowly unraveled.

Chu Junshan turned around, set his half-drunk iced fruit tea on the coffee table, and sat down on the tatami mat. He reached out to stroke the head of Yaoyaoling, who had trotted over to fawn on him, while out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Liang Xingyuan, who was still standing by the terrace inspecting the broken window.

After a moment, Chu Junshan pulled back his gaze.

He knew what Liang Xingyuan was currently wondering about.

It was true that he had driven those ghouls away. For a player standing at the very top of the game’s pyramid, even without his in-game equipment and buff bonuses, instakilling a few low-level monsters was as easy as crushing ants.

However, he was still bothered by one remaining question.

Where on earth did these filthy creatures come from?

Chu Junshan had a faint suspicion. There was no doubt that Liang Xingyuan was a monster that shouldn’t exist in this world.

He must have entered through a passageway connecting that world with this one. However, perhaps after he arrived, that passage hadn’t closed completely, leaving behind cracks through which other monsters could slip through.

So, could he take this to mean that there were other monsters in the world?

Chu Junshan narrowed his eyes slightly, unable to find any evidence to disprove this hypothesis.

Lowering his gaze, he stared at Yaoyaoling’s fluffy head. Only after a long moment did he reach a decision.

He did not intend to tell Jiang Chun about this for now.

The world Jiang Chun wanted was just like this. Though busy and fast-paced, it was peaceful. There was no need to be like they were when they were in the infinite game, unable to even get a decent night’s sleep.

He had once promised Jiang Chun that no matter what occurred, he would tell him.

However, overriding that promise was a higher priority: he had to protect his friend.

And, of course, that included the monster that now belonged to him.

Today was a workday. The world had not undergone any changes because of last night’s incident. The kindergarten opened as usual. After finishing breakfast, Liang Xingyuan drove away from home.

After finishing his work from home, Chu Junshan opened an encrypted document. Inside was information on the abyss monsters from the infinite game that he had documented from memory over the past few years.

As for ghouls, because their level was too low and Chu Junshan had rarely encountered them alone, they hadn’t been included.

He opened the 315th entry and, as before, wrote down the process of killing the monster along with his experience fighting it. He then closed the document, saving it in the deepest depths of his encrypted cloud drive.

Chu Junshan stood up from his desk and poured himself a glass of water. As he passed the coffee table, his phone screen lit up right on cue.

Lowering his gaze, he stepped closer to the table and read the messages popping up on screen:

【L: Junshan, I have to work overtime tonight, so I’ll be back a bit late.】

【L: I ordered takeout for you from that private kitchen on the north side of town. Remember to eat on time. [Hug]】

The final message was a sticker Liang Xingyuan had sent, likely from the same set as before. This one featured hugging puppies.

Chu Junshan’s gaze lingered on the two black-and-white puppies spinning around in a hug, and the corners of his lips subtly curled into a faint smile.

Do monsters who come to live in human society need to work overtime, too?

As usual, Liang Xingyuan swiped his access card and became the last employee at Xinghai Kindergarten to clock off. The city lights shone brilliantly and dazzlingly, flowing into round halos against the interplay of distant and nearby glows.

Liang Xingyuan opened his car door. But instead of rushing to start the engine, he popped the trunk.

Under a small, bright light, he lowered his gaze, his eyes fixing on the items he had bought on his way to work that morning.

Three watermelon cleavers—inconspicuous enough to avoid drawing attention from normal humans, yet sufficiently handy tools for his work—two storage bags, and various cleaning supplies.

Liang Xingyuan took inventory of the items, stowed them into his bag, reached out to close the trunk, and set off toward a nearby alley.

As one of their kind, he could smell the stench of those monsters. They were creatures that had crawled out of the unfathomable abyss—as lowly as he once was—carrying a unique, thick stench of decay. In places where humans gathered, however, this scent was diluted down to a faint whisper by various perfumes and body odor.

Yet this was the only clue Liang Xingyuan had to identify and track down the monsters committing atrocities in the human world.

Like right now. Liang Xingyuan’s destination was an abandoned park just over five hundred meters away from Xinghai Kindergarten.

This park had been abandoned for many years. In recent years, numerous restaurants had opened nearby, dumping exhaust fumes and wastewater into the surrounding area without restraint. Gradually, fewer and fewer people visited the park.

For monsters, especially low-level ones like yesterday’s Dada, rotting food was more than enough to sustain them.

Liang Xingyuan had spent the entire day detecting how many monsters were lurking in the area. In truth, there were far more than he had imagined. This reality filled him with immense anxiety and gloom, but Liang Xingyuan had no choice now but to bite the bullet and press forward.

The monster gathering point he was currently heading toward was the one closest to Xinghai Kindergarten.

If one day this world truly followed in the footsteps of that foul abyss, second only to Chu Junshan, the ones he wanted to save most were the innocent children. He could under no circumstances allow the monsters to frighten these kids.

Precisely because he had experienced so much darkness and filth, he was willing to do everything in his power to protect this pure and beautiful world.

Liang Xingyuan arrived at the park’s main gate. Pedestrians strolled past in small groups, but not a single person was willing to step inside.

Taking out his phone, he noted down the park’s location and initial conditions. He slung the bag over one shoulder and walked into the pitch-black park.

Beneath the dim glow of the streetlamps, Liang Xingyuan located the hidden Dada in the pond. Saying nothing, the rounded, seemingly harmless watermelon cleaver became a deadly weapon in his hands. A flash of cold light, a swift strike—

Before the Dada could even utter a squeal, a jet of black fluid spurted from the gash separating their mouthparts from their bodies. Just as it was about to splash onto Liang Xingyuan’s pristine cuffs, he lightly stepped aside to dodge it.

Liang Xingyuan wore little expression, his eyes slightly lowered as dark eyelashes veiled his gaze, hiding the cold detachment surging beneath.

Countless pitch-black tentacles surged out from beneath Liang Xingyuan. Before the remaining Dada could react and scream as they tried to flee, the tentacles thrust with deadly precision into their mouthparts lined with sharp fangs, snapping their windpipes in an instant.

A silent slaughter unfolded in the dark night, black fluid splattering everywhere. Liang Xingyuan was like an Asura emerging from purgatory, descending upon this pure land, watching the scene before him with a blank expression, as though gazing at a past chapter of his life through the corpses of the Dada that were gradually dissolving into the earth.

To Liang Xingyuan, this was a new world.

A new, beautiful world. No entity here knew of his ties or connections to that former, filthy, corrupt world, nor did anyone know what kind of monster he truly was…

“King—”

Out of nowhere, a distorted cry rang out abruptly near his ear.

Liang Xingyuan frowned, momentarily dazed by this long-lost title.

“King!!!” In the distance, a Dada lying in a pool of blood that had somehow escaped being strangled to death by the tentacles shrieked with ecstatic frenzy. “It really is you!! King, you’ve come to this world, too… But why are you killing us?!”

Liang Xingyuan looked on from a distance, making no move, showing no intention to speak.

As the Dada twitched, it felt the tentacle inside its mouthpart—which had stalled a moment ago—begin to squirm once more, like an exceedingly agile snake ready at any second to strangle whatever threatened its master.

Sensing the looming specter of death, its countless eyes snapped wide, bloodshot and pupils trembling uncontrollably: “We clearly share the same roots and origin! Why are you killing us? Our energy… means nothing to you. You no longer need to devour us to gain power. We… are clearly the same thing…”

“I am not,” Liang Xingyuan interrupted.

Tall and lean, he stood under the streetlamp, the dim light casting a long shadow that nearly merged with the blackness of the pond.

Liang Xingyuan’s tone was flat, and the air around him dropped to freezing point. The overwhelming aura rendered the dying Dada incapable of producing another sound: “You’ve mistaken me. I am not your king.”

With those final words, every single Dada in the park was dead, leaving not a single survivor.

Liang Xingyuan did not leave right away. Remaining in place with his gaze slightly lowered, he watched the monster’s pitch-black corpse dissolve into the soil before finally turning around to leave.

As though convincing himself, he murmured, “I am human.”

I am human, I am human, I am human. I am a human… just like Chu Junshan.

He was no longer a monster. He was now a human—a normal, friendly, upright human being.

He drew a clear boundary between himself and those monsters, and even the inseparable tentacles attached to his body. Had it not been for the fact that losing these tentacles meant forfeiting most of his abilities, Liang Xingyuan would have undoubtedly found a way to sever them.

He detested everything alien to this world, hating even his truest, original self just as intensely.

And now, Liang Xingyuan was a normal human. As a human, he would stay with Chu Junshan forever.

Toward this goal, he would work step by step.

…

Liang Xingyuan’s plan was silently moving forward. At first, he had worried that Chu Junshan might grow suspicious over his frequent overtime.

Yet it was as if heaven itself were on his side. Chu Junshan told him that his studio had recently taken on a major project, requiring him to travel and work off-site with Jiang Chun for a period of time. Sometimes, when Liang Xingyuan returned home from working overtime, Chu Junshan had not even come back yet.

Even so, hunting down the monsters that had escaped from that other world still brought him no small amount of trouble.

Liang Xingyuan’s daily schedule was now carved into three parts: not only did he have to go to work during the day, but after clocking off he had to clear out those abominations in various areas showing signs of monster contamination. Upon returning home at night, he had to expend tens or hundreds of times more energy than usual to control his tentacles, which grew noticeably more active whenever they were around Chu Junshan.

If he were not a monster, but a real human, he would have collapsed from sheer exhaustion by now.

Though each day was exhausting, every time Liang Xingyuan got off work and saw Chu Junshan reading on the tatami mat in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows under the warm living room lights, with Yaoyaoling pacing around fawningly with his food bowl in his mouth, a rush of satisfying happiness instantly flooded his whole body.

The sight alone made him feel that everything he did was worth it. Even if it demanded all his time and energy, and even if new monsters kept springing up in areas he had already cleared, he still felt willing to press on.

He was willing to put in this effort for Chu Junshan, and for this world.

Liang Xingyuan paused outside the door to admire the tranquil, warm scene for a moment, and snapped a few photos. Only then did he slowly walk inside.

Without raising his head, Chu Junshan said in a soft, clear voice, “You’re back.”

Liang Xingyuan softened his tone. The exhaustion he had just endured seemed to vanish into thin air, and the cold detachment on his face when confronting those damned monsters vanished in an instant.

“Yeah,” Liang Xingyuan murmured. “Have you eaten yet?” Chu Junshan finally looked up, set aside the iPad in front of him, and stood up. “No. I ordered takeout and waited so we could eat together.”

Liang Xingyuan felt a surge of warmth wash through his heart, warming his unnaturally cold insides.

“I don’t want you hurting your stomach.” Liang Xingyuan took off his jacket, walked over to the dining table with practiced ease, and popped the cold dishes into the microwave to heat them. “You don’t have to wait for me next time, okay?”

“It was no trouble.”

Hearing Chu Junshan’s voice, Liang Xingyuan suddenly felt a flush of warmth along one side of his body as a figure leaned in close. His right hand, suspended in mid-air, was taken in a warm grasp, their fingers interlocking as heat transferred between their palms. Liang Xingyuan paused, his heart skipping a beat.

He turned around, completely off guard, falling headlong into Chu Junshan’s eyes, which were as serene and clear as a tranquil lake.

Chu Junshan’s eyes crinkled into a gentle smile. “There’s one more thing I wanted to tell you. Tomorrow is Saturday. Do you have any other plans? My parents would like to meet you.”

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