Chapter 22: Miss Bai’s Dream

Chapter 22: Miss Bai’s Dream

This is what the world is, I suppose.

Everywhere, there is nothing but rotting, twisting, squirming flesh filled with stench and slime.

I do not know how long it has been.

Perhaps a thousand years.

Perhaps ten thousand.

Perhaps a million.

I do not know.

I have no concept of time at all.

But I learned that one piece of flesh is not the same as another.

Some pieces move, some do not.

And some emit various sounds—what I later learned to call "voice."

A very, very, very, very, very long time passed.

I have no concept of time.

A strange thing entered my world.

He had the same hair, the same eyes, nose, and mouth as I did.

He said he was a human.

Eyes, nose, mouth, time, voice—he was the one who told me about these things.

He said every "human" has a "name."

Because he was a "human," I could not eat him.

Human?

Why would one eat a human?

I did not understand.

But if he is a "human," then I must be a "human" too, right?

I remembered: I must not eat "humans."

His name was "Lu Li"—"the Lu Li of the strange and variegated."

I had no name.

He did not give me one either.

He said my name belonged to me alone, so I had to choose it myself.

He only gave me a nickname: "Xiao Bai."

I did not understand; I could not comprehend it.

And so, he came to see me every day, "living" with me, teaching me what "eating" was and what "resting" meant.

I was happy, though I did not know what happiness was.

If only we could keep "living" like this forever.

But suddenly, one day, he said he had to leave.

Because there were other "humans" like me who needed him.

I wanted to go with him.

But I could not move.

Why couldn't I move?

He left anyway.

My world was once again left with nothing but that rotting, twisting, squirming flesh filled with stench and slime.

Everything seemed to return to the beginning.

A very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very long time later, I suddenly understood.

Perhaps he hated what I looked like.

If the world is composed of rotting, twisting, squirming flesh, then he and I were the anomalies.

He wanted a normal life, which is why he left an anomaly like me.

So... I would become the same rotting, twisting, squirming flesh.

I succeeded.

I became the same twisted flesh as this world, a twisted flesh so repulsive it made even me want to vomit.

But for some reason, I found I could move.

And so, I began to search for him.

I wanted to tell him: "Look, I am no longer an anomaly; you won't hate me anymore, will you?"

I also gave myself a name.

I thought about this name for a very, very long time.

Bai Muli.

Xiao Bai loves Lu Li.

I set off.

I had to find him.

A very, very, very, very long time later, I did not find him.

But I gradually began to understand the words of the squirming, rotting, twisted flesh.

The sunshine, the sky, the sea that they spoke of... what were these things?

I did not know.

And I did not want to know.

I only wanted to find him.

But I could not.

I could not find him anywhere.

I could not find him anywhere at all.

I would keep searching.

Until that day... I met someone.

I heard that name from her lips.

Lu Li.

She was looking for him too.

I met this person—Luo Qianning.

I fought with her.

Because Lu Li belongs to me.

And I belong to Lu Li.

We are the same kind.

Everything else is just rotting, twisted flesh.

I am merely disguised in a form of flesh that makes me gag.

The days passed one by one.

I was searching for Lu Li, and she was searching for Lu Li.

Every time we met, it meant a battle.

Gradually, I discovered there were others looking for him, too.

I had to kill every single one of them.

But they were all so strong.

They could not be killed.

No one could kill anyone else.

Finally, one day, we called a truce.

We decided to rely on what he had left behind to find him.

We found him.

But we could not get close.

Because he was in a false world.

Later, we came up with a method.

If we killed one million powerful souls and bodies, we could open a path to that world.

But only one could pass through at a time.

I alone could not do it.

Because I could not distinguish between what was powerful and what was weak.

But I learned to distinguish.

Based on the degree of rot and the extent of the twisting, I identified what constituted powerful souls and bodies.

That would do.

I quickly gathered a million pieces of flesh that were even more rotted and twisted than the others.

But someone had already beaten me to it.

That person, Luo Qianning.

But I could not wait any longer.

I wanted to see him.

I wanted to see him, I wanted to see him, I wanted to see him, I wanted to see him, I wanted to see him, I wanted to see him, I wanted to see him, I wanted to see him, I wanted to see him, I wanted to see him!!!

And so, I squeezed into the passage that could only hold one.

But I could not get through.

If that was the case, then I would include my own soul and body in the count.

One of me was enough to equal millions of powerful souls and bodies.

I succeeded.

And I failed.

I succeeded in reaching that world.

But I would soon disintegrate into nothingness.

I only had three days.

That was enough.

That day, through the floor-to-ceiling window of the cafe, I finally saw his silhouette again.

I was finally going to see him again.

I had so many things I wanted to tell him.

I had a name.

I could become that repulsive flesh.

I could always live with him.

He wouldn't have to hate me anymore.

So, I took a deep breath, walked into the shop, and pulled him into a dream world that belonged only to us.

Then, I awakened him from his slumber.

I wanted to say "Long time no see," and I wanted to ask, "You don't have to hate me anymore, right?"

But the moment I saw his face, I didn't want to say anything at all.

At the moment he asked, "Who are you?", I was incredibly happy.

As expected, after I had become twisted flesh, he no longer hated me.

I was no longer an anomaly; I was something he liked.

So, I smiled and said: "My surname is Bai, Bai Muli."

Xiao Bai loves Lu Li.

That is my name; will you remember me?

I knew his preferences; I understood his personality.

I would become exactly what he liked best.

This time, you won't leave me behind, will you?

Even if it’s only for three days.

But he did not remember.

Perhaps it was because too much time had passed?

I said: "I am not a human."

Was that hint not enough?

I said: "I do not eat humans."

Could he still not remember?

Why did he run?

I did not understand.

But it did not matter anymore.

I only had three days.

Even if he had forgotten, I would make him remember again within these three days.

Even if he really had forgotten completely...

Then he would just have to remember me again during these three days.

And if he still couldn't remember...

Then so be it.

As long as I had these three days.

As long as I could see him for these three days, as long as we could continue to "live" together.

That was enough.

And so, I took his phone and snapped a selfie—a small, selfish indulgence of mine.

Next, I would cook his favorite food.

Watching him devour his meal.

Watching him play games.

Watching him read books.

Watching him!

Watching him.

Watching him...

This was the "life" I had longed for.

In the kitchen, I turned back and gave him a gentle smile as he just woke up.

"Mr. Lu? You're awake~~"

That was enough.