I Fed The Affectionate And Paranoid God - Chapter 27

Throughout the entire process, he hadn’t heard a single sound of the monster approaching.

The grotesque figure stood there, still unmoving, a disturbingly eerie smile stretched across its deathly pale face.

Everything around was deathly quiet.

Xia Chenxi could only hear the sound of his own heartbeat echoing in his ears. He gripped the weapon in his hand tightly, gaining a slight sense of security.

The man and the monster stood there, unmoving, for several seconds.

Suddenly, the monster slowly raised its hand, its black claws gently scraping against the iron door, producing an ear-piercing screech.

Xia Chenxi felt a shiver run down his spine, his nerves growing even more tense as he stared warily at the monster.

He didn’t regret his earlier reckless decision to charge into the room.

Even though the monster had now cornered him at the door with no way to escape, at least now he had a weapon in his hand, giving him a slim chance to fight back.

The monster remained still, malice deepening in its eyes, stabbing into Xia Chenxi’s skin like a tangible force, and sending waves of terrifying shivers through his body.

Xia Chenxi forced himself to endure the rising fear in his heart. He still didn’t make any rash movements, keeping his gaze fixed firmly on the monster.

The screeching sound of the claws scraping against the door rang out intermittently.

It rotated its eyeballs, its two legs spread at a ninety-degree angle, nearly blocking the entire door. Its empty arms made it difficult for its body to maintain perfect balance.

The creature’s body leaned slightly, its smile growing ever more filled with malice as it stared at Xia Chenxi.

—As if it would pounce at any moment and tear Xia Chenxi apart.

Xia Chenxi subconsciously felt beads of cold sweat form on his forehead.

Why did this dream feel so real?

The most terrifying part was that, even though he knew he was dreaming, his thoughts and logic were still shockingly clear and awake.

There was none of the usual absurdity or disorientation that dreams typically brought.

Xia Chenxi’s heart suddenly sank with a heavy thud, and an unsettling thought surfaced against his will.

What if… he wasn’t dreaming at all?

But that didn’t make any sense.

There wasn’t a single injury on his body—it was undeniable proof that this had to be a dream.

Just then, the monster outside the door seemed to lose its patience. Its two-meter-tall body slowly bent down, one hand gripping the doorframe, as it began to squeeze its entire body, inch by inch, through the doorway.

Its body was unnaturally large and twisted, making the entire room feel cramped and suffocating.

Suddenly, an invisible chill began to seep into every pore of Xia Chenxi’s skin, causing him to tremble uncontrollably. His hands were almost too shaky to hold onto the weapon.

Xia Chenxi bit down on his tongue, the taste of blood instantly flooding his mouth. The pain was sharp and real.

This seemed to shatter the idea that it was just a dream.

At this point, Xia Chenxi couldn’t tell for sure if he was in a dream or not, but his intense will to survive made him instinctively try to activate the mysterious title ability given to him by the strange romance simulation game.

This was his only chance to survive.

The next second, a string of text instantly appeared in his mind:

[Dear player, you have activated the title: Unlimited Strength · Level 1]

In an instant, Xia Chenxi felt the weapon in his hand become significantly lighter, and the pervasive chill in the air seemed to ease as well.

But he didn’t forget—the title could only be used for ten minutes.

Xia Chenxi calmed himself down and decided that he had to fight quickly and decisively. He gripped his weapon tightly and took the initiative to meet the enemy.

Since last time he was able to chop off one of the monster’s arms.

Well, this time, he could do it too.

Xia Chenxi held on to his belief, and the next second he raised his weapon and slashed at the monster.

However, the monster didn’t hide at all. Instead, it stood there and gave Xia Chenxi an increasingly weird smile.

—It was as if the monster was mocking Xia Chenxi’s foolishness.

Xia Chenxi was unfazed.

At this point, he had no other choice. He swung his weapon at the monster again.

There was a sharp clang.

Xia Chenxi’s gaze landed on the spot where his weapon had struck the monster, and his face suddenly contorted in disbelief.

The spot where he had struck the monster didn’t show a single mark.

How could this be?!

As Xia Chenxi stared in shock and confusion, the monster slowly revealed a smile, which grew wider and wider until it stretched across its entire face, almost as if it was splitting its grotesque visage in two, exposing a row of chilling teeth.

Xia Chenxi gritted his teeth and swung his weapon at the monster again. But after several more strikes, none of them caused any damage.

How could this be?

A look of confusion and disbelief flashed across Xia Chenxi’s face.

The monster let out a strange hissing sound, and its intact other hand suddenly reached out, grasping Xia Chenxi’s neck and tightening with immense force.

Xia Chenxi’s breath was instantly cut off, his face turning red and bloodshot. He fought to remain calm, using all his strength to try and pry apart the monster’s long, bony fingers.

The monster’s strength was overwhelming, but under the effect of the title, Xia Chenxi possessed tremendous power as well.

The two forces clashed in a brutal struggle.

Slowly, Xia Chenxi pried open one of the monster’s fingers bit by bit, and some oxygen was finally inhaled into Xia Chenxi’s lungs, allowing him to regain consciousness from his near fainting state.

The monster pinched Xia Chenxi’s neck more and more frantically, opened its mouth wide, and slowly approached Xia Chenxi.

Xia Chenxi’s eyes were almost bloodshot. He opened them with difficulty and could even see the scarlet, wriggling passage inside the grotesque mouth, which was filled with densely packed rotten flesh.

It stunk extremely.

Xia Chenxi was overwhelmed by the stench, his vision going black. He could only hold her breath and exert all his strength to try to pry open the monster’s second finger.

Then, he moved on to the third finger.

By this time, the monster was still slowly approaching Xia Chenxi, its wide-open mouth almost reaching him.

The danger triggered another surge of strength in Xia Chenxi, and he managed to pry open the remaining two fingers, twisting his body to break free from the monster’s grip.

Xia Chenxi fell directly to the ground, unable to hold back a coughing fit.

The monster wasn’t in a hurry, still slowly bending down, before it suddenly opening its mouth wide and lunged oward Xia Chenxi.

Xia Chenxi felt the rush of wind above his head, along with the rancid smell. In a panic, he quickly rolled and scrambled to the other side of the sofa.

His weapon had been left forgotten at the monster’s feet.

It was only then that Xia Chenxi realized that even if he grabbed the weapon, it wouldn’t be able to harm the monster.

Although he couldn’t understand why this was the case.

Xia Chenxi looked at the monster standing there, his expression fluctuating between dark and light.

From the brief struggle with the monster earlier, Xia Chenxi could clearly feel that the monster’s strength hadn’t increased.

On the contrary, it had lost an arm, significantly weakening its balance. That was why Xia Chenxi had been able to get close to it earlier.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to deliver a critical blow to the monster.

At this moment, only three minutes remained until the title would end.

Xia Chenxi tried his best to ignore the sharp pain coming from his neck, each breath causing a fiery, stinging discomfort.

He quickly racked his brain for a new plan.

At that moment, the monster bent down to pick up the machete, slowly closing in on Xia Chenxi.

Xia Chenxi’s expression shifted slightly as he swiftly ran to the side. He wasn’t about to stand there waiting to be hacked to death by the monster.

The monster followed closely behind, raising the machete and swinging it. Xia Chenxi, listening to the sounds from behind, desperately searched the room for anything that could help.

When Xia Chenxi spotted a soft leather armchair not far away, his eyes lit up.

He ran over and grabbed the chair, just as the sound of rapidly approaching wind reached his ears. Xia Chenxi quickly turned around and, using all his strength, swung the chair down with all his might.

The monster’s machete just struck the chair when the entire body of the monster was hit with a tremendous force, sending it flying through the air before crashing hard to the ground.

The chair instantly shattered into pieces.

The monster seemed a little dazed from the impact, struggling to get up but failing each time.

Xia Chenxi was panting heavily, his eyes bloodshot with rage. He stepped forward, grabbing another armchair and swinging it down with all his might.

Taking advantage of the moment, he aimed to finish the monster off.

In an instant, the monster lifted its head, its pale face filled with resentment and malice toward Xia Chenxi.

Just as the chair was only a few centimeters from the monster, the world before Xia Chenxi exploded into a blinding white light.

Then, an overwhelming darkness engulfed everything, swallowing all consciousness.

In the next moment,

Xia Chenxi suddenly opened his eyes. His right hand instinctively reached for the leg of the chair, only to find nothing there.

He breathed heavily, quickly scanning his surroundings, and his eyes landed on the familiar hospital room.

A look of confusion and doubt spread across his face.

Had he just dreamed all of that?

Xia Chenxi sat up and tried to move his injured wrist.

It hurt a little.

But in the dream, his wrist had been fine.

Wait.

Suddenly, Xia Chenxi remembered something. He quickly took out his phone and snapped a picture of the area around his neck.

Then, he opened the album to check the photo.

In the photo, there were no wounds or bruises on his neck, and with every breath, he felt no discomfort at all.

Xia Chenxi furrowed his brows.

It seemed that the experience of being hunted by the monster had indeed happened in the dream.

This, in turn, reasonably explained why the injuries he sustained in real life didn’t show up in the dream, and vice versa.

However,

This still didn’t change the fact that something about the dream felt completely off.

Xia Chenxi suspected that everything was likely connected to that vanishing grotesque being.

Maybe the monster had the ability to make him dream of it, or perhaps, it was more likely that he had been pulled into the monster’s dream.

That would explain why, just as he was about to strike the monster, he suddenly woke up.

Regardless of which possibility was true, it all pointed to one thing—the monster had probably come after him again!

So far, he had dreamt lf being chased by the monster twice.

It could happen again.

Xia Chenxi’s expression darkened as he pondered for a while before quickly coming up with a plan.

Perhaps, that game could help him.

Xia Chenxi swiftly opened the dating simulation game.

The game screen slowly unfolded, and the character was still lying there, asleep.

However, a text box popped up with a prompt.

[Dear player, because you realized the dream might be related to the monster , you have successfully triggered the task—[Collect the Mysterious Fragments]: Find the fragments hidden within the dream to earn +30 romance points and a mysterious title x1.]

[Friendly reminder: When you collect enough fragments, you will uncover a secret about the black fog.]

Xia Chenxi read the prompt, his mind filled with shock and surprise. He murmured to himself, “As expected, everything that happened in the dream is connected to that monster.”

Xia Chenxi took a deep breath, his gaze shifting back and forth over the rewards several times, and his expression turned to one of excitement.

The task’s rewards were just too much.

He no longer felt any fear or resistance at the thought of encountering that monster in his dream. In fact, he now had an overwhelming impulse to lie down and fall asleep immediately.

This was the first time the game had given such a generous reward—+30 love points, along with the mysterious title he had longed for but could never seem to trigger.

But most importantly, the fragments.

As long as he could find the mysterious fragments, he would earn the title.

Xia Chenxi took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Acting impulsively would only lead to disaster. He needed to think carefully about a way to hurt the monster.
Just then, the door to the hospital room suddenly opened.

A few police officers and doctors rushed in. When they saw Xia Chenxi sitting up, every one of them seemed to have a strange expression on their face.

It seemed like they were surprised and astonished, with a hint of relief as well.

Xia Chenxi froze for a moment, then asked in confusion, “You… Is something wrong?”

One of the police officers took a deep breath and began to explain.

“Just five minutes ago, all the survivors on the fourth floor of Fengnian Community fell unconscious at the same time.”

Xia Chenxi suddenly froze, his eyes widening in shock. “What?!”