TBWE Chapter 33

Overflow

The torrential curtain of rain left water streaks on the glass window. The bedroom light was dim.

Shadows entangled like water plants spread across the ceiling, the walls, and every dimly lit corner.

Beneath the noisy curtain of rain, chaotic and uncontrolled sobs were hidden.

Scorching lips fell down. No longer plundering, but lightly sucking on Chu Li’s tightly bitten lips, forcing her to loosen her teeth. The warm tip of his tongue licked the bloody marks on her lips, then probed into her mouth, patiently, tracing her tongue and the roof of her mouth again and again.

That kiss lasted for a long time. Chu Li’s tense body, under the intertwining of lips and tongues and the slow grinding force elsewhere, gradually softened. Her breathing grew rapid. Her brain grew dizzy from lack of oxygen.

The French-style vintage night lamp had a colorful glass lampshade. The light was split into dazzling colors, reflected in her water-misted, vacant eyes.

Her gaze scattered. The light turned into colored spots.

Xi Chu was very patient, and extremely observant. Any tiny, subtle change could not escape Him.

Learning too quickly was not a good thing. At least, not for Chu Li.

She had a suffocating feeling close to drowning.

Her thoughts drifted away in a daze. For no reason, Chu Li thought of an afternoon before the engagement.

That period counted as the most peaceful days of her time with Xi Chu. He was immersed in the joy of the upcoming engagement, while she, out of a subtle sense of guilt, tacitly allowed His closeness.

That sunny yet boring afternoon, she sat cross-legged on the sofa, flipping through a photo album on her device, preliminarily selecting the dresses to wear for the engagement.

Xi Chu was peeling a peach for her. The seasonal peach was pink and full. Its pinkish-white skin was peeled off completely, forming a long continuous strip.

She opened her mouth to eat the cut piece of peach. The tip of her tongue accidentally brushed His finger. Without lifting her head as she swiped photos, she said, “So sweet. It would be good made into peach jasmine fresh milk.”

Xi Chu calmly licked His fingertip until her lingering breath was completely swallowed.

“Okay.”

Soon, “thud thud” sounds came from the kitchen. Chu Li grew tired of choosing, tossed aside the tablet, and leaned against the kitchen doorway, curiously watching.

The pinkish-white peach flesh was neatly cut into cubes, piled in a measuring cup. His long, pale fingers gripped the metal hand blender, continuously stirring and crushing, until the peach flesh softened and overflowed with sweet juice.

His movements seemed measured, each one precise, the force always consistent.

The peach juice was poured into the pretty glass cup Chu Li had bought, mixed with cold-brew jasmine tea, and finally topped with fresh milk.

The milky liquid blended with the peach juice, gently shaken to evenness, becoming a refreshing drink.

Chu Li sipped from His hand. Milk froth stuck to her lips.

He asked, “Is it good?”

“It’s good.”

“Really?”

A scarlet tongue curled away the milk froth, turning into a tender and lingering kiss, then gradually deepened, plundering the sweet liquid remaining between her lips and teeth.

The suffocation grew stronger.

Chu Li couldn’t help but clutch what she held. The touch was cold, round, and a bit sharp against her palm. Her blurred vision barely focused. She was gripping Xi Chu’s wrist — and the red jade bead bracelet on His wrist.

The bedframe thudded heavily against the wall.

Xi Chu released her lips. Chu Li breathed intermittently, her eyelashes completely soaked with tears. A muffled groan, twisted in pitch, overflowed from the corner of her lips.

That sound startled even herself. In an instant, she bit her lips hard.

A finger pressed against her lips, blocking her teeth from closing. Xi Chu propped Himself up with one hand at her side. The buttoned robe He had worn when they first met was gone. His cold, trailing long hair contrasted sharply against His pale body.

On Him, the place with the strongest color was the mole on His left eyelid.

Chu Li was dazed for a moment.

Looked at like this, He seemed eerily beautiful, an intense aura not of a human, like a male ghost.

“Li Li, don’t hold back.”

Chu Li trembled all over. That sentence was like a command, yet also like a strange bewitchment.

The rain outside the window was still torrential, yet could not cover the continuous sounds of the wooden frame slamming into the wall.

Meeting those pitch-black pupils, she felt as if she had fallen into an abyss. Her initial fear was muddled by the long and tormenting possession. Replacing it was a dizzying sense of sinking.

Inevitably, she thought of that cup of peach juice, and the peach flesh crushed by steady, uniform pressure.

In a daze, Chu Li seemed to fall into the deep sea. Just when she thought she would be completely submerged, the room quieted down.

All motion disappeared.

Xi Chu pressed His forehead against hers, staring into her absent eyes. In His gaze surged a greed so thick it could not be dissolved, never satisfied.

Chu Li stared at Him blankly, caught in-between, and unconsciously shifted a little.

His eyes instantly grew darker.

The room was still quiet. Xi Chu stroked her cheek, slid past her damp temple, followed the lines of her neck, and finally landed on the red mark beneath her heart.

His fingertip tapped that mark, like a declaration of ownership.

“Mine.”

Thunder rumbled outside, breaking the silence. The rain suddenly grew fierce, raindrops slamming against the glass with force.

Outside, in the violent wind and rain, a small windowsill extended beyond the glass. It was enclosed by a railing. A small jar of bowl lotus grew there. Several pale pink buds were half-bloomed.

The bowl lotuses swayed in the storm. Rain crackled down on the half-opened buds. The petals were gradually forced open by the rain.

The lotus leaves could not hold too much water, and the excess poured into the jar.

“Xi Chu…” Chu Li shook her head messily, her toes curling, her voice muffled with sobs.

Perhaps her voice was drowned out by the noisy rain outside. Xi Chu ignored it, continuing His own way.

The red jade beads wrapped twice around His wristbone collided as He moved, clinking like the sound of rain.

The bedroom light suddenly dimmed.

Until a cold, soft touch wrapped around her ankle, Chu Li sluggishly realized — something lurking in the darkness had crawled out.

They slithered through the gaps, licking the rainwater seeping in from outside, or the fine beads of sweat.

“…!” Suddenly, she burst out with a surge of strength, broke free from Xi Chu’s embrace, and staggered toward the edge of the bed, desperate to escape this terrifying place.

“Li Li.” Behind her, the monster let out a faint sigh. “Where do you want to go?”

“Don’t like it here, want to change to another place?”

A cold hand grasped her fair ankle, yanking her back sharply.

Chu Li’s back was pressed down by weight. A cry squeezed from her throat.

“Stop… get away… go out!”

One of the tentacles coiled around her slender waist, sliding down along the slight curve of her belly, then tightened downward.

In the chaos, Chu Li’s fingers clenched. She barely opened her eyes, and saw that ring — the one that should have been left behind at the engagement ceremony — firmly encircled her middle finger.

Immediately after, Xi Chu grasped her hand, made her hold the other matching ring, and slid it onto His own middle finger.

Their ten fingers interlocked, as if never to be separated until death.

This rain seemed endless.

Chu Li listened to the unceasing downpour, feeling as though she had been soaked in water, her consciousness soaked until it turned soft and limp.

Her face was streaked with tears. Her cheeks were cold and wet. Her vision blurred. The dazzling lamplight spun, distorted, and stretched in her sight, until in the end only vague halos remained.

Her consciousness was cut to pieces by the dense, violent sensory impact. Even her fear of the tentacles dulled and dissipated.

She finally realized a terrifying truth.

For the monster, satisfaction did not exist.

He would never be sated.

****

Xi Chu was born from distant nothingness.

He was summoned into the world by humans. That group of people called themselves the “Nuo.” In a land where gods and ghosts coexisted, they wandered in hardship, devoutly worshiping Him. They offered up everything they owned, praying for divine pity and protection.

The long stretch of time left Him bored. So He accepted the offerings of frail humans, granting them a portion of His own power.

The Nuo priests were grateful beyond measure. After hearing the divine name, they took “Chu” as their surname.

Only, humans were too weak. They could not see Him, could not gaze upon Him.

This prevented Xi Chu from truly descending. He could only drift in the cracks of time. To His eyes, the world was a chaos He could not make out.

With the god’s protection, the Chu clan’s Nuo priests grew stronger.

Some people began to appear who could briefly face the god directly and communicate with Him. They were called the Grand Nuo, regarded by the clan as those with the ability to commune with heaven and divine spirits.

Strength bred ambition.

They grew unsatisfied with lifespans that ended in a hundred years. They wanted lifetimes and power as long as the god’s.

The Chu clan spent thousands of years, countless generations of scheming, and paid a price nearly costing their extinction, to finally imprison the god they had once worshiped inside a divine shrine.

Yet, no lifespan or power was gained. In return, only a curse ran through their bloodline.

Every generation was doomed to fall ill and die young.

After both sides were wounded, there was no turning back. They changed strategy, trying to cultivate a new god.

They seized the god’s power, then used clan members who could face His true form as vessels, to nurture a god belonging solely to the Chu family.

Xi Chu watched coldly as they pursued their ambition.

Without His permission, no one could bear His power.

The Chu clan declined with an irretrievable trend. To Him, time was the most insignificant thing. He only needed to wait until, in some generation, the Grand Nuo was not strong enough to maintain the shrine’s seal.

That day would be the Chu clan’s extinction.

In the long wait, there would always be deluded Chu family members trying to flatter or deceive Him.

They were crushed to death like ants outside the shrine.

The only exception was the child who strayed into the divine mountain.

She saw Him.

In that instant, the chaotic world was sketched with lines and colors, fully unfolding before Xi Chu’s eyes.

From the void, He lowered His gaze, and saw those tearful, pure black-and-white eyes, clean and bottomless.

A pair of eyes unlike the Chu clan’s.

Xi Chu grew greedy, wanting to keep the owner of those eyes by His side.

So He mercifully extended her life.

But His mercy was betrayed. Before His eyes, someone stole the one already branded with the god’s mark.

Xi Chu was trapped in the cold, silent shrine.

The world was no longer chaos. The long time that had once been commonplace became torment. He could not stop thinking about those eyes.

He would find her again.

Forever, forever bound at His side.

****

Chu Li woke again. The bedroom was quiet. Outside was still a rainy night. The small night lamp at the head of the bed still glowed.

This space, constructed by divine power, had no concept of day and night.

Her throat was dry. She tried moving her fingers. The weak, sore numbness spread from her fingertips to her whole body. As if her body had been completely kneaded apart, then reassembled once again.

She could not remember when it had ended.

If Xi Chu had not fed her His blood earlier, altering part of her constitution, perhaps she would no longer have the chance to open her eyes.

“Awake?”

The low voice sounded behind her. Chu Li’s heart jumped heavily. Stiffly, she turned her head.

Xi Chu was lying on His side beside her, propping His head with one hand. He maintained human form, dressed in home sleepwear, long hair spread behind Him. The mole on His left eyelid glowed like a bead of congealed blood under the lamplight.

His eyes were dark and calm, faintly showing a trace of satiation, as if the earlier madness of plunder had not been Him.

Chu Li’s body stiffened. The lingering, drawn-out memory made her instinctively shrink back. That movement tugged at her whole body. The dull ache in her waist and between her legs was unmistakably clear.

Besides the ache, there was also that terrifying hollowed-out feeling.

As if something still remained inside, not yet gone.

Warmth spread as she shifted, seeping from the place that still carried that strange feeling.

Chu Li’s face instantly changed, flushed and pale together. She gripped the blanket tightly, making deep creases. As if enduring something, her whole body trembled.

She forced down her emotions, rasped hoarsely, “We agreed before. I was to go out for revenge. You would help me.”

“The Chu clan will decline and perish in another hundred years. Li Li, you can wait here for the result.”

“What?” A chill rose up her spine. Chu Li’s voice was incredulous. “Wait… a hundred years?”

Xi Chu’s expression was calm. He held her hand. “Li Li, I don’t believe that if you leave, you will do as you promised — break the seal and stay with me forever.”

“I have thought for a long time. It is better if you stay here.”

Chu Li’s mind buzzed. She suddenly yanked her hand free, and slapped.

“Pa!”

The slap rang in the silent space.

He kept His puzzled expression, His face turned to the side, His eyes still calm. Then He turned back, pulled over her reddened palm, and despite her struggles, gently kneaded it.

“Why? Isn’t it good to stay here?”