TBWE Extra 7

After the New Year, the temperature in Hai City rose slowly, still carrying damp and cold air.

On the fifth floor of the library in the computer area, keyboards clattered. Chu Li sat in her usual spot by the window, her laptop screen divided into sections—on the left was a literature review, on the right was an application system webpage, with several English literature windows open in the middle.

Xin Tong beside her leaned over and wailed softly. “I want to die. My advisor said my thesis was like water-injected pork. Did your plagiarism check pass?”

Chu Li rubbed her throbbing temples. “The plagiarism check passed. I’m waiting for the professor at Stanford to reply to my inquiry email.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll definitely pass.” Xin Tong glanced at the matching ring on her middle finger. “Why hasn’t He been coming to pick you up these past few days?”

Previously, every day when the library closed, Xi Chu would stand at the east gate like clockwork—it had become part of the campus scenery.

“Mm… the company has a new project this week, quite busy.” As she spoke, Chu Li paused her mouse.

Although there was a new project, He seemed a bit too quiet.

****

When Chu Li returned home, the entrance light was on, with only a corner floor lamp lit in the living room.

Xi Chu sat on the sofa wearing a white shirt and vest, his suit jacket draped beside him, laptop open, tentacles nimbly tapping the keyboard. A project proposal was spread open on His lap. The orange lamplight fell on His sculpted profile, softening the contours.

Hearing the door open, He set aside His work and greeted her at the entrance. “You’ve worked hard, Li Li.”

“Tired.” She closed her eyes and naturally wrapped her arms around His neck, hanging there like a koala. “Just got back?”

“Mm, just finished some business entertainment. Want some hot fermented rice wine?” Xi Chu supported her hips and lifted her up, carrying her to the sofa.

The collar of the white shirt gave off the lingering scent of citrus laundry detergent, along with a hint of His own crisp, cool breath.

No smell of alcohol, nor any mixed human scents.

Chu Li frowned.

Her sense of smell was now abnormally sensitive. Was there no smell because He had eliminated the absorbed scents when He returned, or had He concealed the truth?

“Li Li, what’s wrong?” Xi Chu leaned down, supporting Himself with one hand beside her, using the other to brush aside the hair on her cheek.

His expression was calm, showing no sign of anything unusual.

Chu Li suppressed her doubts and shook her head. “Nothing, I want hot fermented rice wine.”

“Alright.” His kiss fell on the corner of her lips.

Perhaps due to the effect of the hot fermented rice wine, Chu Li slept very deeply that night. Almost as soon as her head touched the pillow, she fell into deep sleep.

In the chaotic dreamscape, everything was jumbled literature and rejection emails. Suddenly, an ice-cold, slippery binding sensation fiercely wrapped around her.

The moment she woke, before her consciousness fully returned, she first felt something was wrong.

Her entire body was tightly bound and wrapped by tentacles. They anxiously and greedily occupied every inch of exposed skin, some squeezing into her pajamas.

The bedroom had also become unfamiliar.

The walls, ceiling, even the furniture—all were covered with constantly squirming tentacles. Like vines, they layered and interwove, turning the bedroom into a nest.

Low humming and wriggling sounds echoed in the silence, with a cold, eerie atmosphere overwhelming everything.

This scene completely exceeded Chu Li’s imagination. She couldn’t process it for a long time.

“Li… Li…”

A low, chaotic humming sound—as if countless voices were overlapping—echoed through the nest.

“Li Li…”

It was Xi Chu’s voice, yet completely unlike a human voice, like the most primitive, chaotic call, carrying an almost out-of-control disorder.

Where was He?

Chu Li struggled free from the tentacles, searching back and forth with her eyes. Then she froze again.

In the thickest shadow at the center of the bedroom lurked an outline that was utterly indescribable in human language—larger and more twisted.

He had completely lost His human form.

The “shadow” obsessively approached like a tide, flowing, wanting to swallow Chu Li whole.

Chu Li’s skin was enveloped by flowing darkness. Sensing the other’s intent to devour, she couldn’t help but raise her voice. “Xi Chu!”

Her voice was like a stone thrown into a deep pool, stirring up brief ripples.

In the darkness, the tentacles tightly wrapping and binding her froze very briefly.

The humming whispers also paused for an instant.

“…Li Li?”

“Yes, it’s me!” Chu Li immediately responded, her voice slowing. “I’m here.”

The darkness fell into deathly silence.

Only countless tentacles unconsciously squirmed slightly, struggling to recognize in the chaotic consciousness.

One second.

Two seconds.

After who knows how long, the tentacles pressed against her skin slowly loosened, bit by bit, inch by inch, sliding off her body and withdrawing.

The darkness in the bedroom rapidly receded.

Moonlight seeped back in through the curtain gaps. The silhouette standing by the bed became tall and straight again.

The night wind blew the incompletely drawn curtains, brushing across a few strands of hair on His forehead, a trace of chaos remaining in His eyes.

“Sorry, Li Li. I frightened you.”

“What happened to you? Why did you suddenly…” Chu Li turned on the bedside lamp. A few red threads wrapped around His fingers.

“It’s nothing, just a small matter.” Xi Chu hooked the red threads, lay back on the bed on His side, embraced her and kissed her forehead. “Sleep, Li Li.”

A tentacle extinguished the night lamp, darkness enveloping the bedroom.

Chu Li stared at Him intently. “Are you sure it’s just a small matter?”

Xi Chu lowered His eyes, kissed the corner of her lips, His voice muffled. “Mm, it won’t happen again.”

****

As He said, such incidents didn’t happen again.

But Chu Li felt subconsciously uneasy.

She temporarily suppressed this matter in her heart and continued busily working non-stop—interview emails, supplementary materials, defense deadlines…

A few days later, Xi Chu suddenly told her He needed to go on a business trip.

“There’s an important initial negotiation for an overseas partnership project. I need to go confirm things, about three or four days.”

Chu Li put down her chopsticks and looked at Him strangely.

If she hadn’t confirmed His scent was correct, she would have suspected the monster before her had been replaced.

Business trips, entertainment, going out—these were all things He disliked most.

He seemed to have a condition where He would die if separated from her for more than a day.

But now, He was actually saying He would leave for three to five days.

“Perfect, my thesis is almost done. Why don’t I free up time to accompany you?”

Xi Chu’s hand serving her food paused imperceptibly. Behind His glasses, His eyes were calm and inscrutable. “Li Li, you’ve been very tired recently. You don’t need to accompany me.”

The suspicion in Chu Li’s heart grew heavier and heavier.

But He seemed determined to go out alone this time.

Taking advantage of her going to school the next day, He left silently. When she returned, He was already nowhere to be found.

But He left a refrigerator full of pre-made meals that only needed to be heated in the microwave.

With only one person left at home, it suddenly became quiet and empty. Outside the window, cold rain pattered against the glass.

Chu Li looked at the gray sky outside, her fingers unconsciously curling.

What exactly was He hiding?

In the following days, Chu Li threw herself completely into heavy coursework.

During the day at the school library working on her thesis and preparing materials, at night returning home to repeatedly revise her personal statement. So busy her feet didn’t touch the ground, wishing she could split herself in two.

Busyness numbed the unease in her heart.

When the final draft of her thesis finally passed, it had been exactly four days since Xi Chu left.

When she returned home in the evening, there was an extra pair of men’s shoes in the entrance.

Cooking sounds came from the kitchen, the aroma of beef wafting out. Xi Chu wore her familiar light-colored home clothes, His back straight, concentrating on the food in the pan.

Hearing footsteps, He smiled and turned back. “Li Li, there’s stewed white fungus soup on the table. Have some first, dinner will be ready soon.”

Everything was like usual.

Chu Li breathed a sigh of relief, the clouds in her heart gradually dispersing.

****

Life returned to its previous calm.

The company project came to an end, and Xi Chu’s possessiveness became even stronger than before. As long as Chu Li wasn’t busy with coursework, He would keep her within His line of sight at all times.

Near May, she became free.

The final draft of her thesis had passed, the defense draft was written, and the professor at Stanford had expressed willingness to accept her.

She only needed to wait for the defense and graduation ceremony at the end of May.

Chu Li stayed home more often. But she didn’t know when it started—she vaguely noticed something was off with the monster at home.

One afternoon in early May, after finishing an online meeting with her advisor, she came out of the study to get water.

The robot vacuum hummed across the floor, tentacles rolling up a cloth, wiping the floor-to-ceiling glass in the living room.

She was puzzled. “What are you doing?”

Xi Chu took her water glass, poured a cup of warm water and handed it over. “Cleaning. It’s been a few days since we cleaned.”

“…But we cleaned just yesterday afternoon?”

Xi Chu’s hand paused. The tentacles silently retreated into the shadows. His tone was very ordinary. “It rained. There are water marks on the glass.”

“Mm.” Chu Li took a sip of warm water, reluctantly accepting this explanation.

Forgetting once was still normal.

But in the following days, this kind of “forgetting” became more and more frequent.

On the side table by the living room sofa, the tulips in the vase had wilted a bit. Yesterday evening before going out with Xin Tong, Chu Li had casually thrown them away and told Xi Chu to order a bouquet of Freud roses.

After a whole week of tulips, she was getting tired of them.

This morning when she came downstairs, she found a fresh bouquet of tulips in the vase. Xi Chu was changing the water for the vase.

“Why is it still tulips?”

Xi Chu’s movements paused. He turned to look at her. “Li Li doesn’t like them?” His tone carried a hint of uncertainty, but quickly recovered. “I’ll order a new bouquet shortly.”

So calm, as if it were just an accidental oversight.

But Chu Li clearly remembered that last night when she mentioned it, He had seriously agreed.

She was deeply aware of how good His memory was.

****

Besides subtle changes in daily life, He had also changed in bed.

It could almost be called insatiable.

Thinking that she’d been busy with her thesis and study abroad applications recently and had rarely been intimate with Xi Chu, Chu Li chose to endure it.

Every night, His kisses were scorching and brooked no refusal, tentacles drilling in from the edges of her pajamas. She was forced to cope with the tireless, insatiable non-human being.

Several times, Chu Li fell asleep during the entanglement, only to wake up with a strange uncomfortable sensation, finding the slippery sensations hadn’t stopped.

He greedily left marks on every inch of her—the side of her neck, collarbone, waist… marks deep and shallow.

After some time, Xi Chu would repeatedly caress those marks with His fingertips, His eyes extremely dark, as if those marks weren’t left by Him, but belonged to some potential invader.

Chu Li’s patience gradually wore thin.

One night close to the defense date, sticky wet sounds continued in the bedroom.

Shadows entwined with snow-white skin tinged with red, greedily absorbing breath and fluids.

“Mm, that’s enough…” Chu Li tilted her head back, gasping, her voice trembling as she called out softly, “Xi Chu!”

“Not enough.” An unquestionable voice came from above. He stared at the deep red marks on her inner thighs, His gaze dark and viscous, moving inch by inch.

Scorching kisses covered the marks on her thigh, sucking hard.

The stinging pain and strange tremors made her shudder.

“Ah…!” Chu Li’s anger surged. She suddenly bent her leg and kicked toward His taut side, “What madness is this lately!”

Red threads surged out, sweeping Xi Chu to the floor.

“Thud!” He fell awkwardly from the bed, hitting the ground.

Only a dim night lamp remained in the bedroom.

Chu Li sat up, her silk nightgown sliding down, red marks crisscrossing her fair skin.

Her chest heaved, her cheeks flushed from anger and the recent entanglement, her eyes remarkably bright as she glared fiercely at the young man whose expression showed slight bewilderment and confusion.

“Get out!” She threw the pillow and blanket. “Sleep in the next room from now on!”

Xi Chu’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He slowly stood up from the floor, not arguing, not approaching further.

The shadows quietly crept away from the bed. He silently picked up the pillow and blanket, gently closing the door as He left.

****

After Chu Li vented her anger, Xi Chu became much more normal.

A subtle calm lasted for several days.

This day, Chu Li returned to school to find her advisor to confirm format requirements for the final thesis and last few revision details. At the same time, she needed to submit a paper copy of her transcript certificate.

After discussing in the office with her advisor, it was already eleven in the morning. She hurriedly left the office to go to another building’s administrative office to submit materials. Halfway there, she suddenly remembered the transcript that needed the academic affairs office stamp was left in the study at home.

The academic affairs office closed at 11:30, and she had an important online mock interview in the afternoon.

Taking a car back wouldn’t make it in time.

Chu Li walked into the fire escape of the academic affairs building, which was piled with miscellaneous items and no one passed through.

Red threads instantly surged, space subtly distorted, and the slender figure disappeared from the spot.

The next moment, the scene before her eyes became the entrance of her home.

Chu Li suppressed the slight dizziness, preparing to change shoes and go to the study to get the transcript.

Her peripheral vision inadvertently caught sight of two figures, and she was completely rooted to the spot.

The center of the living room was completely filled with ferocious tentacles. Two figures were grappling, wearing the same black turtleneck sweaters and pants, violence surging in their eyes.

“Bang——!“

One grabbed the other’s throat with one hand, the palm transforming into viscous shadow strangling, slamming the other viciously to the floor. The floor tiles instantly shattered into pieces, then were quickly repaired by tentacles.

The other’s five fingers gathered, twisting toward the opponent’s head, shadows surging and howling as they pressed down!

The terrifying oppressive force made the glass creak and groan.

Chu Li watched this scene in disbelief, her hand loosening.

“Clatter——“

Metal keys crashed to the floor.

The two figures simultaneously froze, instantly turning their heads toward the entrance.

All tentacles rigidly froze in place, then quietly retreated into the shadows.

Sunlight streamed in from the floor-to-ceiling windows, falling on two identical handsome faces.

Absurdity and shock engulfed Chu Li.

The oddities of these days finally had a reasonable explanation.

By her side had been two Xi Chus, appearing alternately.

She closed her eyes hard, stared at them, and said word by word. “What is going on?!”