Monster - Chapter 7
Chapter 7: King of the Square
It was eight in the morning on a fine March day. In the center of Olli Square in Center City, a slender woman stood by the central flowerbed. She wore a loose-fitting yellow sweater over a white collared shirt, the collar peeking out. A phone charm hanging from the pocket of her pants dangled below the hem of her sweater—it was an adorable little blue rabbit.
"It's so spacious here," Lou remarked. The lingering chill of the early spring air turned her breath into a puff of white smoke. Her irises, paler than most, darkened to black as she watched the middle-aged women square dancing in the distance. In the gentle morning sunlight, her long hair had a bluish tint, as if it had been dyed.
To anyone else, the people square dancing were just a group of ordinary middle-aged women. But to Lou's eyes, several of them had already mutated into monsters. These monsters had lost their facial features; their entire faces seemed to have been ground smooth by some force, covered in a mass of gnarled scars. Something occasionally squirmed beneath the scars, as if trying to break through. Their clothes had begun to assimilate with their bodies, but they still retained their original colors, only now they seemed to fit much more snugly, like a part of the monsters themselves.
These mutated people were square dancing. As they raised and swayed their arms, Lou saw two long limbs covered in eyes. The eyes, just like those of a living person, would occasionally roll around, enough to trigger trypophobia in anyone who glanced at them. But what was even more likely to trigger that fear were the mouthparts on some of the monsters' faces.
To those unaware of their own mutation, they were probably just singing along to the music. But to Lou, who could see everything, it was a terrifying sight. Their faces looked as if they were covered by a thick, tough, white plastic bag. Only when they spoke would a set of mouthparts split open where their mouths should be. Lightning-like black cracks radiated outward from the opening, covering their entire faces. When they spoke, the flesh would peel back, revealing red tissue and fine, densely packed, bone-white teeth that spiraled inward.
Based on the judgment of Lou and the crow, Miu, the monsters of Leviathan likely had several stages. Those without mouthparts were in the early stages of infection. Those with split faces were in the second stage. At this stage, the monsters' clothing assimilated more severely with their bodies. No matter how vibrant the original colors were, once worn by a monster at this stage, the clothes would be absorbed as if they were part of their skin.
"I've seen monsters offered as sacrifices to the heavens, seen them used to fill ditches, but I've never seen monsters square dancing," Lou muttered, watching the chaotic dance of demons in the distance. Her darkened eyes returned to their original color.
"You'd better be careful. The surveillance equipment and detection tools in this world are very advanced." Pinned to the collar of the woman's yellow crewneck sweater was a crow-shaped brooch. It looked like it was made of iron, but the crow's beak seemed to be moving.
"It's still better than a world full of evil gods and rotting corpses."
Lou's speech always carried a hint of this world's southern accent, the ends of her words sounding a little soft and weak, giving off a harmless and friendly impression. The music from the square was deafening. The women, arranged in several rows, were passionately dancing their routines. Lou stretched, then jogged over and quickly joined the square dancing line.
"The vast horizon is my love…" Lou raised her hands, following the deafening music, flicking her wrists as she took small, shuffling steps, her expression growing focused.
"…What kind of rhythm is the most, most groovy~~" Lou spun in place, her waist starting to sway. Her young body moved with particular vigor.
The middle-aged woman next to her gave her a bewildered look.
"Yo-la-la-ho-la-bei~~"
"Yi-la-suo-la-ho-la-bei-ya~~"
Lou threw herself into the dance, completely lost in the moment. She bent over, flinging her hair and slender arms forward, then raised her hands high and waved them around. The movement was so large that it exposed the flat stomach beneath her white shirt.
"If you're going to dance, dance to the beat!" the middle-aged woman next to Lou said, suppressing her anger.
Lou's movements were completely in a world of their own, like she was having a seizure, which made anyone who valued order feel their anger spike.
Lou bobbed her head and danced for a little longer before realizing the woman was talking to her. She stopped, brushing her messy hair back. "What?"
The vigorous exercise made her exhale even more white vapor, and her fair cheeks were slightly flushed.
"If you want to dance with us, then follow our rhythm!" The middle-aged woman, who wasn't very good at managing her emotions, raised her voice a few notches.
"This is my rhythm." Lou nodded along with the music. She stepped forward with her right foot, rising onto her toes, placed her left hand on her hip, and extended her right arm out flat. She raised an index finger in front of the woman and, while bouncing on her right foot, drew circles in the air with her finger.
A vein throbbed on the middle-aged woman's forehead. In Lou's eyes, it was a face with no features, only terrifying mouthparts.
"Then go dance over there by yourself! And don't use our music!"
"Do you own this place?" Lou was completely unfazed. She faced the woman directly, her voice calm and lazy. She swayed her hips, as if in provocation. "I'm going to dance here. You go over there."
The middle-aged woman saw that this young woman, unlike the socially anxious and easily dismissed youth of today, had effortlessly shut her down. For a moment, she didn't know what to say. She could only swallow her anger, ignore her, and continue dancing.
But Lou wasn't done. She circled the woman like a male peacock, hands on her hips, swaying her waist wantonly, shuffling her feet, and dancing with abandon.
This made the meddlesome woman fume. After barely finishing one song, she muttered that Lou was a psycho while packing up her things to leave.
"Don't be angry!" Seeing the woman was about to leave, Lou softened her tone. "Auntie, at most, I'll follow your rhythm!"
"You're insane!" the woman cursed again and hurried away, leaving Lou with a rather innocent expression on her face.
"She's right," the crow brooch on Lou's collar chimed in.
Having driven away the mutated woman, Lou lost interest in continuing to square dance. Noticing she was a little hungry, she walked toward a chain breakfast shop at the edge of the square.
The crow brooch on her collar trembled. Confirming that no one was paying attention, it suddenly transformed into a crow, landed on Lou's shoulder, and opened its beak to speak:
"I want to eat too!"
Lou ignored it, but after entering the shop, she still ordered two breakfast sets. To the employee's astonished gaze, the crow let out a "caw" and prepared to eat.
"Excuse me, miss, we don't allow pets in the shop, and besides…" And besides, it's about to eat human food, who knows if it has germs.
The employee left the rest of the sentence unsaid.
"It's not my pet. I don't know it." Lou picked up a fried dough stick, dipped it in soy milk, and looked up at the employee. Seen from above, her delicate and harmless face looked innocent and obedient. The employee immediately believed her.
"Then, can I shoo it out?"
"Sure, thank you for your trouble." Lou lowered her head and took a bite of the soy-milk-soaked dough stick. Her eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "This is delicious."
The employee couldn't help but smile, then suddenly grabbed the still-dazed Miu, threw it out of the shop, and shut the glass door.
Lou ate her dough stick, mouthing silently to the dumbfounded Miu outside the window, "Psycho~~"
Miu couldn't believe she was so petty. It had merely agreed with the middle-aged woman, and this was how the damn Sentinel treated it. It was so angry its beak was about to go crooked.
More than half an hour later, Lou came out of the shop after finishing her breakfast. Miu immediately swooped onto her head, furiously clawing at her hair and screeching.
"Jerk! You big jerk! I'm your Guide! Are you trying to get yourself killed?! Pack your bags and go back where you came from tomorrow! Jerk!"
"Hey, don't be angry, Little Crow…" Lou said with a smile, pulling the crow off her head. She held up the breakfast in her hand. "I bought you breakfast. It's fresh out of the fryer."
"Jerk! That's more like it!"
The two of them sat on a stone bench in the square. While waiting for the crow to eat, Lou lowered her head and stared at her wrist. Thin, golden lines like circuits soon appeared on her fair skin, spreading from her wrist toward her elbow. At that moment, a golden dot materialized on the line closest to her elbow joint.
The golden dot didn't change, but a name and related information appeared in Lou's mind.
Yan Ting, age: 35, occupation: CEO of Dudian Red Wine Company, husband: Zhang Jun, infection level: severe. Danger level: high.
Lou and Miu were on a mission assigned by a certain Main God from the Main World.
To put it simply, they were currently in a Tower World called Leviathan, where a contagious disease had appeared. The source of the disease was unknown, as was the method of transmission, but it could turn people into bloodthirsty monsters. These monsters, mutated from humans, were ugly and disgusting. As long as they weren't provoked by external stimuli, they could disguise themselves well and interact with normal people. But once something stimulated them and caused their emotions to fluctuate violently, they would unleash their bloodthirsty desires.
These monsters were not without intelligence. Apart from their tendency to kill when their emotions ran high, their IQ was the same as when they were human. This meant that most of these mutated monsters could hide themselves again after killing, either by fleeing or by premeditatedly murdering someone they disliked, then returning to their normal lives, leaving investigators baffled.
The Main God speculated that the apex of the system constituting this world had been infected, which was why ordinary people were suddenly falling ill.
Lou and Miu's mission was to find and destroy that infected system apex and re-establish order in this Tower World. Based on the political and ecological structure of this world, they had previously deduced that the so-called system apex was likely the thing called "The Tree," which represented the will of the people and the heavens in Leviathan.
According to Lou's usual method of carrying out missions across various worlds, she would have used the fastest, most direct way to kill anyone who stood between her and The Tree. After all, the people in the Tower Worlds were just NPCs to her; she felt no guilt whatsoever. However, for a long time, "tools" like them who carried out the Main God's missions had to strictly abide by one rule.
That was the fundamental rule of the Tower World they were sent to.
For example, if the world they were sent to had magic and spells, Lou could also use spells and special abilities, and she was extremely powerful in that regard, often completing missions in a very short time.
But if the Tower World was a modern, civilized society with no magic or spells, none of that mystical energy, but instead had modern technology and laws, then Lou would be unable to use any spells. She had to obey the fundamental principles of that Tower World. The only things she could use were what the rules of that world allowed, such as excellent shooting skills, formidable combat abilities, and so on.
Or, if the world appeared normal on the surface but had strange, mystical powers intentionally hidden, the team entering the Tower World would have to unlock those mystical powers first before they could unlock their own corresponding abilities.
In the Main World, this rule was known as: Thus Have I Heard.
That was why Lou had never liked these orderly worlds with numerous rules. She much preferred chaotic worlds that allowed the use of special abilities and spells without her having to explore and unlock them, even if it meant the world was already twisted to the point of chaos. In those Tower Worlds, Lou was like a fish in water.
Here, no matter how many divine skills Lou possessed, they were all restricted by the world's rules. Currently, they had two unconventional methods at their disposal that set them apart from the people of this world. One was that Lou and Miu could directly scan the basic information of any NPC they encountered, unlocking mysteries. The other was that Lou could share Miu's vision. Most of the time, Lou used Miu's freer, more expansive field of view to conduct surveillance and tracking.
Furthermore, the abilities of a Sentinel and a Guide had different focuses. Lou, the Sentinel, was stronger in combat skills and physical power, while Miu, the Guide, excelled in support abilities like surveillance and tracking.
Aside from these two skills, if Lou wanted to get close to "The Tree" and find out what was going on with the virus, she could only investigate and approach it step-by-step, like an ordinary person.
"The next target is named Yan Ting. She's the CEO of a red wine company. A rich and beautiful woman. Why would she turn into a monster? What a shame."
After three months of investigation, Lou had zeroed in on this woman, Yan Ting. She was currently trying to get closer to the center of power in this world, making her one of Lou's potential breakthroughs.
"Delicious! We can stay until the very last day before leaving," Miu said, swallowing a piece of dough stick soaked in soy milk. The stone bench was splattered with milky white droplets.
"I'm talking about serious business, and all you care about is eating!" Lou complained.
"That's because you, you jerk, ate first!" Miu retorted, even angrier.
"You're a crow. What are you doing eating fried dough sticks and soy milk? Are you even a crow anymore?"
"I'm done talking to you."
Author's Notes
Note 1: Phoenix Legend, "The Most Dazzling Folk Style."
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