Such words coming from a monster's mouth left Yin Xiu stunned for a moment.
"You don't even know what family is."
"I don't know, but I'm learning." The monster nuzzled Yin Xiu and tossed a few books out of the darkness. "Don't be sad. Look at me. I've only just taken shape. I don't know why I was born or what I am. I've only read two human books. I think I'm probably not human."
"I don't have any family either, none of us do, but we can become family."
As the monster spoke to him, it quickly flipped through the book. "I see that this book doesn't have anything about the meaning of family. I need to look for more."
"You can stay here until I understand the meaning of family."
Yin Xiu slowly looked around. "Is this your home? Why is it so dark?"
"Home? I don't know, but it's mostly dark here. It's only occasionally lit, but rarely. Before, it was half dark and half lit, but now it's mostly dark." The monster dug something out of the darkness beside it, then slammed a coffin down in front of Yin Xiu.
"You can sleep here. I've seen that humans will eventually end up sleeping here."
Yin Xiu stared expressionlessly at the enormous coffin before him, offering no resistance. The monster was right; humans would eventually end up sleeping inside such a place.
"I can also fix yours." The monster took Yin Xiu's empty hilt, disappeared into the darkness twice, and then handed Yin Xiu a complete knife. "This is part of me, better than your original one."
Yin Xiu silently held a complete knife, wondering what kind of being this monster was. He had watched it devour his knife, only to turn around and give him an identical one.
"So, how about staying here?" The monster stared at him intently, as if expectant.
It has done its best to keep Yin Xiu.
"Why me?"
"I don't know. You're different from the others who come here. You didn't scream or run when you saw me, so I thought you would stay." The monster's dark eyes were unblinking, almost blending into the darkness, making them impossible to see.
Even though he couldn't see its complete form, Yin Xiu could feel the chill and immense pressure emanating from it.
It claims that it has just taken shape, which means that it is still very small now. So will it become bigger and more terrifying in the future?
Yin Xiu's mind was no longer capable of thinking that far ahead; he only felt tired and exhausted.
He needs to rest, and after he rests, he will go to see his sister.
Yin Xiu did not answer it, but climbed into the coffin it had dug out, lay down in it without saying a word, and then closed his eyes.
If the monster wants to kill him, he can't escape; if the monster has no ill intentions, he just wants to rest.
The mental and physical exhaustion allowed Yin Xiu to fall asleep quickly, but even when he was asleep, he slept restlessly. In his dreams, he felt as if he were being drowned and could not breathe. Each time, he would wake up suddenly just as he was about to drown, and his mind and body would feel even more tired.
"Are you alright?" A book floated in the air in the darkness. Hearing Yin Xiu's voice, a pair of eyes emerged from the darkness and stared straight at him. "You sounded like you were about to die. Many dying people make that sound."
Yin Xiu sat silently in the coffin, his head bowed, his eyes still devoid of any light. "I'm going to find my sister... I'm going to find my sister..."
He muttered as he got up, walked past the monster and continued along the dark road, his lonely figure looking extremely tired.
"Okay." The monster responded, watching Yin Xiu leave. "I'll come pick you up after you're done."
Yin Xiu didn't understand what it meant by "the end," but he soon found out exactly what kind of place this was.
Wielding a long sword obtained from a monster, Yin Xiu began his journey to become a god of death. His extremely negative emotions and lifeless state made him, covered in blood, a nightmare for monsters.
After each instance ended, Yin Xiu would go through the exit door to that dark, lightless place to stay with the monsters.
"When you're sleeping, watch over me and if you notice something's wrong, wake me up." Yin Xiu calmly wiped the blood off his body and lay down in the coffin. He had nightmares every time he slept, dreams that seemed to lead to his death, and he was still very tired, both physically and mentally.
The monster responded, staring intently at the book, and readily agreed, "Okay."
Yin Xiu fell asleep again, but when he was awakened by a nightmare, he peeked out of the coffin and saw eyes floating in the darkness, still reading the book intently.
It seems that while he was away, other people came here and left some new books for him to read.
Although it was pitch black, there were real scenes there. Occasionally he could walk onto a soft patch of ground, or touch water everywhere, and sometimes he would bump into something that looked like a wooden house. It seemed to be an area by the sea, but it was too dark for him to see anything. He could only follow the monster that was writhing in the darkness.
"Didn't you say you'd watch over me?" Yin Xiu sat up from the coffin and said calmly.
The monster turned its head in a panic, "I forgot."
It scratched itself in annoyance, "Having only one pair of eyes is too much trouble. I'll grow several more pairs to see you."
Yin Xiu didn't pay attention at first, but the next second a pair of new eyes suddenly popped out of the darkness, then a second pair, a third pair... until countless dense eyes floated in the air staring at him without blinking, he realized that the monster had really made him grow many eyes.
"That way, when you sleep, I'll have plenty of eyes to watch over you," the monster said earnestly, freeing up one pair of eyes to read.
Yin Xiu collapsed wearily back into the coffin. As soon as he looked up, he could see pairs of eyes appearing beside the coffin, staring at him intently.
It was a very strange scene, but he felt inexplicably at ease. He must have been in a mental hospital for too long and his brain had been damaged.
"I'm going to sleep," he murmured softly. With these eyes watching, he didn't need to worry about anyone waking him from his nightmares.
"Do you need me to sleep with you?" A pair of eyes peeked out from the side of the coffin, and before Yin Xiu could respond, the monster surged into the coffin, pushing Yin Xiu aside.
Inside the narrow coffin, something cold was pressed against him, and the chill seeped in, making him feel quite uncomfortable.
Yin Xiu kept his eyes closed and ignored it, letting the monster writhe inside the coffin as it pleased.
It shifted its position for a while before finally squeezing itself into the coffin, next to Yin Xiu, and then made a satisfied sound, "I just read a book, it seems to be a human novel, in the end the male and female protagonists lay in the coffin and fell asleep together."
"Lying here like this, we must be a human being buried together, right?"
"It's like we're welcoming the end of life together."