Chapter 10: The Taste That Makes Him Hungry.
Chapter 10: The Taste That Makes Him Hungry.
Chapter 10: The Scent That Made Him Hungry
After witnessing a living employee commit suicide, Luo Shengle became somewhat distracted.
She mechanically repeated the same tasks, struggling through her shift before following a group of staff members back to the rest area.
Sitting on a chair to calm herself, Luo Shengle cautiously asked her coworker, "That employee earlier... what did he do wrong?"
"He was too careless," the person beside her replied with a regretful expression, shaking their head and sighing. "He actually injured a fish fry. These are our aquarium's most precious assets—not a single one can be harmed."
Luo Shengle murmured in a daze, "Just because he accidentally hurt a fish? A human life... cheaper than a fish?"
The person beside her immediately gave her a strange look, their expression turning wary and suspicious. "Are you okay? Fish are naturally superior to humans. They possess the most graceful forms, the most ocean-adapted figures—they are infinitely more perfect creatures than humans."
The matter-of-fact tone in which they spoke, more than the twisted logic itself, made Luo Shengle’s skin crawl.
With a reverent sigh, they added, "It’s so good to work here. When I die, I can stay in the fish tank too, evolving from a human into a far more perfect fish..."
After this encounter, Luo Shengle was ravenous but revolted by food in the staff cafeteria. The sight of braised pork made her think of the employee who had smashed his head against the fish tank, his face mangled and bloody, and her hunger vanished instantly.
Yi Fengchu observed her via the glass’s reflection, understanding all too well.
He, too, had been unable to finish his hot bowl of spaghetti bolognese earlier, thanks to the grotesque fish and bloody scenes...
After dinner, Luo Shengle quietly followed other staff members and located the staff dorms inside the aquarium.
She didn’t know which room originally belonged to "Lin Ye," the owner of the uniform she was wearing, but luck was on her side again—the dormitories here were single rooms, and many were empty, greatly reducing the risk of her identity being exposed.
An old iron-framed bed, a low bedside table, a small wardrobe with bedding and pillows, and a yellowed sink rim—these were all that made up an employee dormitory.
Luo Shengle picked a clean room at random, flicked her wrist, conjuring a gust of wind that swept away the dust, then set down the hiking bag she had brought into the instance and tossed together a makeshift bed.
Yi Fengchu frowned at the sight. His germaphobia was severe—to the point that if he cut himself while chopping vegetables and blood splattered onto his face, his first reaction would be, "Disgusting." So, he deeply admired Luo Shengle’s tolerance for putting up with the grime.
Under his watchful gaze, Luo Shengle finished arranging everything, sat down on the bed for just a second, then immediately jumped up like she’d been shocked.
She remembered the unlucky employee she had knocked out and swapped clothes with, temporarily stashed behind the stairwell door, so she hurried out again. Soon, she returned, dragging the unconscious woman’s dead weight into the room.
To avoid raising suspicion if anyone saw, Luo Shengle pulled Lin Ye’s cap low over her head and had a cover story ready—if questioned, she would say this was a drunk colleague. Thankfully, she managed to close the door without incident.
After knocking Lin Ye out, Luo Shengle had fed her the "Dreamless Sleep Pill" item, which theoretically allowed the person to sleep soundly for three days without any awareness or changes in vital signs. But leaving her in the stairwell... Luo Shengle couldn’t stomach it.
Since these were single rooms anyway, she might as well give this unlucky woman she had replaced a decent place to sleep.
With everything finally settled, Luo Shengle exhaled hard, her body going slack with fatigue.
She glanced at her dust-covered hands and moved to the sink to wash them.
As she turned on the faucet, Luo Shengle thought that if possible, she might take a shower in the communal bathroom later...
But the thought vanished as quickly as it came.
Yi Fengchu only saw an erratic trickle of water from the slightly rusted tap. Yet, the moment her fingers touched the water, Luo Shengle’s expression abruptly changed.
"Mother... Mother..."
Luo Shengle struggled to describe the sensation—as if invisible tendrils tugged at her nerves, tangling her senses.
A distant, ethereal sobbing sound traveled along the water, slowly coiling around her hands before crawling up her weary nerves, leaving behind a cold, clammy, oily residue.
It instantly reminded her of the creatures she had fed during the day, submerged in their tanks—their delicate, soft tendrils, or their scales like grated skin.
It was as if... the water was *alive*!
She snatched her hands away, her face contorted in disgusted horror. Disgusted, she shook off the remaining droplets, her back slightly hunched as she fought the urge to vomit.
It took a long while before she felt somewhat better. Dragging her heavy body to the bed, she grabbed her water bottle and gulped down several mouthfuls, washing away the nausea.
Yi Fengchu didn’t know exactly what had happened, but he could tell she was uncomfortable.
So, he patiently waited until the water in the cup had almost drained before revealing a line of text at the bottom, its silvery light rippling like liquid metal:
*"What did you sense?"*
Luo Shengle was relieved that the "Narrator" had contacted her only after she had swallowed the water and calmed down—otherwise, she might have spat it out on the spot and retched over the sink...
She had grown accustomed to this mysterious being’s clinical observations of humans and truthfully described the earlier anomaly.
"You might not understand the human concept of 'vomiting,'" she added considerately, given the "Narrator’s" likely non-human nature. "It’s a feeling of having no appetite, even a brief loss of the will to live—like the whole world has turned awful..."
Yi Fengchu’s expression was complicated. He felt like he hadn’t even been acting much, yet Luo Shengle and the others had already firmly locked in his role as an inhuman *superior*...
He even began to wonder—if he didn’t commit to the act, wouldn’t he be letting them down?
After an exhausting day, Luo Shengle finally relaxed slightly and ended up babbling aimlessly to the cup.
She didn’t know if the elusive "Narrator" was still listening, but she desperately tried to distract herself, unknowingly venting her tension along with her words:
"Today wasn’t overtly dangerous, but the atmosphere was so oppressive... The fish in the aquarium are strange, but the people are even stranger."
"Every single one of them has a worldview and logic completely different from normal people. They worship fish as the most perfect beings, so even when they offer friendly smiles, it feels terrifying."
"Right now, the first rule for surviving three days seems to be not exposing my non-staff identity. The second is not harming the fish... Otherwise, I’d probably be thrown into a tank too, becoming a nest for fry, right?"
Yi Fengchu listened quietly. Having seen all sorts of chaos in the amusement park, he felt little sympathy, but out of courtesy, he waited until Luo Shengle’s eyelids began drooping before locking his phone.
Having essentially binge-watched a livestream for most of the day, he was feeling drowsy too.
"Time flies... Swear I just had breakfast, and now it’s time to sleep again..."
Yi Fengchu glanced out the window. The moon hung high above the city’s skyscraper canyons, its serene glow making him yawn and mutter, "Thank God it’s Saturday tomorrow."
After washing up and lying in bed, Yi Fengchu quickly plunged into sleep.
But... this sleep felt different from usual.
He faintly felt himself drifting—through forests of steel and concrete, through countless snow-globe worlds with different sceneries, until he arrived at a vast, undulating sea.
His thoughts were still muddled, but his sharp senses caught an incredibly sickly-sweet, addictive aroma amidst the briny sea air.
He paused—then plunged into the water.
After what felt like an eternity of searching, he entered a dark, pitch-black space.
Closer, closer... that scent— The smell that set his teeth on edge.