Chapter 15 Tongue and Fear
I grabbed Lily and rushed to the infirmary.
The infirmary door was locked.
Damn, during evening study sessions, the infirmary should be open. I remember the infirmary teacher was an elderly biology teacher. I guess they don’t open it if there are no evening study sessions.
No choice then, I’ll have to find the principal.
It’s impossible to leave the school with Lily in my arms; I’ll definitely be stopped by the security guard. Wandering the hallways would likely get me caught too, so I need to find a resting place within the school.
More importantly, I need to deal with my intestines right now, or things will get really bad.
Like playing a stealth game, I carefully avoided teachers patrolling the hallways. Finally, I reached the principal’s office.
A really uncomfortable feeling spread around my stomach, like when you accidentally cut too deep while trimming your nails, but it wasn’t completely cut off, and the cut-off flesh dangled there. Ugh, the more I talk about it, the more nauseous I get. I don’t want to think about it!
In short, I urgently need someone to help me, and the best candidate is the principal.
I knocked on the principal’s door and then tried to open it by turning the handle, only to find it locked.
Why isn’t he here again! This principal is too irresponsible!
Damn it, what should I do now? I’ll have to take a risk and climb over the wall. With my current jumping ability, it should be fine.
With no other options, I immediately decided to go downstairs and prepare to execute my wall-climbing plan.
As I reached the end of the hallway and turned,
My peripheral vision caught sight of someone coming up the stairs, and I immediately retreated to the wall.
Damn, someone’s coming up! Please don’t be another teacher. Being seen in this state…
Jumping out the window is impossible; the height is too great and I’d break my legs. Before they could reach me, going down the stairs on the other side also wouldn’t work; the sound of my footsteps would attract too much attention.
So escape is impossible. I’ll have to come up with an excuse, and I need to be careful not to let the bloodstained school uniform wrapped around my waist be seen.
I steeled myself, ready to greet the approaching teacher.
I was ready to greet the approaching teacher, but after waiting for a while, no one came. So, I curiously peeked towards the stairwell.
Huh? No one?
“Juncheng?”
“Whoa!”
Someone poked my waist from behind and called my name. I was so startled that I almost dropped Lily in my arms.
Turning around, I saw it was Xuan’er.
“Xuan’er!”
Seeing my exaggerated reaction, Xuan’er scratched her cheek and said apologetically,
“Sorry, did I scare you? By the way, why are you here? Are you looking for Nana? She’s not here right now. You know she’s the leader of the organization’s branch, so her duties there are more pressing than school matters.”
Then she looked at Lily in my arms and said,
“Why is Lily unconscious? Did something happen?”
“Ah, well, it’s a long story. Anyway, can you help me find a place? I need to put Lily down first.”
“No problem. I have the key to the principal’s office here. Let’s go inside and talk.”
I immediately felt relieved. Finally, I had a place to rest.
After entering the principal’s office with Xuan’er, I placed Lily on the sofa and then sank onto the opposite sofa, exhausted, letting out another long sigh.
Xuan’er sat beside me, tilted her head, and looked at my stomach. “By the way, Juncheng, I smelled blood just now. Are you injured?”
“Um, how should I put it… I was accidentally injured.”
I untied my school uniform from my waist and spread it on the coffee table, still wrapped around…
It seems that because my intestines were still outside my body, the wound wasn’t healing. I guess it would only start to heal after I reattach the severed parts and put them back inside my stomach.
But how am I supposed to do that? Should I use my hands to put them back?
It’s still so disgusting.
But Xuan’er should be fine, right? She’s a ghoul, this level of injury would be child’s play for her, hahaha.
“Lily accidentally fell just now, and I ran to cushion her fall. As a result, my stomach was pierced by her horns. I didn’t expect my intestines to come out. Um, Xuan’er, do you have any way to treat this?”
I was hoping Xuan’er would bestow some of her saliva upon me, and then I could use it to reattach my intestines.
However, Xuan’er didn’t respond immediately. I thought she wasn’t paying attention to me, so I turned to call her.
But I found the opposite was true. Xuan’er wasn’t ignoring me; she was paying too much attention.
Her gaze was fixed on my stomach, specifically the wound where my intestines had come out. Her wide eyes turned from black to red, and her eyeballs, like rusted hinges, refused to move.
Her stare sent a shiver down my spine, so I called her name again.
Still, she didn’t respond, falling into a long silence.
I could see fangs in her slightly parted lips, and then transparent saliva overflowed from her mouth. She didn’t even notice it dripping down her chin.
Gulp.
Gulp.
That was the sound of her swallowing. Xuan’er, lost in thought, reflexively swallowed, but the saliva continued to flow.
The excess saliva not only dripped from her mouth but also flowed down from her entire lower lip like a waterfall, wetting her collar down her neck.
I can’t make a sound! I’ve been ‘forbidden to make a sound’!
This feeling is like being ‘stared at by a ghost’! The first time I met Xuan’er, I was stared at by these crimson eyes and couldn’t move.
Xuan’er is clearly not herself now!
However, with my glasses on, I couldn’t see her condition and had no idea why Xuan’er had become like this.
Afterward, I saw her shift her gaze from my abdomen to my entire body.
After she scanned me from head to toe with her burning gaze, she met my eyes.
Just like how looking at Medusa would turn you to stone, once a ghoul stares at you, there’s no escape. I felt like a small insect caught in a spider’s web, just waiting to be eaten.
Wait, to be eaten?
Why did I think she wanted to eat me?
I was confused, and then I quickly got the answer, understanding why I felt that way.
Xuan’er was no longer just looking at me; she leaned closer, twitching her nose as she sniffed my scent.
Her close nose moved from my abdomen to my cheek, making me ticklish.
Then she stuck out her tongue and licked my cheek.
She licked from near my chin to my temple. The saliva dripped into the corner of my eye, causing a stinging sensation that made me flinch, but I couldn’t close my eyes.
Then she immediately licked my lips.
Her movements were incredibly gentle.
She licked from the corner of my mouth across my upper lip to the other corner, then licked back and forth as if unsatisfied, her tongue occasionally bumping into mine. It was impossible to tell whose saliva had dampened our collars.
But still unsatisfied, she continued to lick my body, occasionally biting me lightly with her fangs.
My whole body felt hot, and the wound on my abdomen felt increasingly fiery. It felt like my heart, which had stopped beating, was starting to beat again.
This feeling wasn’t excitement, but
Fear.
Extreme fear swept through my entire body, as if my body were enveloped in a vast darkness.
This wasn’t psychological fear, but a primal, instinctual fear within the food chain.
As a human living in this era,
From birth, I was classified as a “top predator” with no natural enemies.
I have always been the “eater,” never experiencing the fear of being “eaten.”
But now, as a human, or rather, a dead human, a zombie (corpse) that I have become, why should I not fear a “ghoul”?
Perhaps a kind wolf might try to befriend a sheep, but that doesn’t mean the wolf won’t eat the sheep when it’s hungry. As long as it’s an animal, the fundamental and simplest connection of eating and being eaten will always exist.
And everything she is doing to me is not an act of affection, but a tasting of my “flavor,” a “test taste.”
I can’t help but feel that she has developed a strong interest in me.
It’s because the “scent” I’m emitting has attracted her.
She—wants to eat me.
And if I emit such a scent, there is almost no hope.
I will be mercilessly thrown to the ground and then become her belly’s contents.
My brain is sounding the alarm, but my body can’t move.
In a state of extreme tension, for some reason, I suddenly recalled a past scene.
The day I treated Xuan’er to a meal, she said, “I want to—intestines.”
She wasn’t referring to wanting to eat intestine dishes, but she wanted—human intestines.
And my act of exposing my intestines (organs) just now stimulated her. That’s it. Now that I think about it, it was like inviting her to eat me, wasn’t it?
My brain was racing, but it was useless.
How powerful is Xuan’er? There are virtually no prey that can escape once she sets her sights on them.
Finally, the tasting stage ended. Xuan’er opened her mouth and kissed my lips, her tongue nudging mine, and then her teeth bit down.
I am, going, to, be, eaten.
“Ugh…”
This small sound shattered everything.
Xuan’er snapped back to reality instantly, sprang off me, and with a look of horror, covered her mouth.
The despair in her heart infected me through her gaze.
“Where are we?”
Lily had woken up and was sitting up, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.
Xuan’er then spoke,
“Um! I, I’m going to go back now!”
I didn’t know what to say; my mind hadn’t recovered from what just happened.
Xuan’er forced a strained, ugly smile. Seeing that smile, I instantly sobered up.
Quick, stop her! Hold her back, comfort her, pat her head and say, “It’s okay.”
She’s your friend!
But I couldn’t speak.
That sense of fear had deeply rooted itself in my heart. I couldn’t face Xuan’er properly now.
I mean—I wished she would just leave quickly.
No, how could I think that! Damn it, what am I thinking!
My heart was in turmoil, and by then, Xuan’er had already lowered her head.
She ran out of the principal’s office quickly.
In the end, I didn’t stop her; I didn’t even reach out.
In that case, I might as well have been eaten.
I slumped back onto the sofa, dejected.
I covered my forehead with the back of my hand and closed my eyes.
My tongue touched my palate, and I felt the teeth marks Xuan’er had left on it, sending another tremor through my heart.
Damn it!
Damn it!
