Yin Xiu pursed his lips. "Even if I die, I don't want to become a monster. My sister won't recognize me."
"Oh..." the monster murmured in disappointment, shrinking into a ball. "Then you can't become a monster anymore..."
It curled itself up completely, seemingly pondering something important. Yin Xiu couldn't figure it out either, so he could only lie in the coffin, helplessly staring up at the darkness, waiting for his body to recover. "Am I going to turn into a monster?"
"Not yet..."
"I'm a monster, aren't I?"
The little monster scratched its head in confusion, "I'm the monster, you're the human."
Yin Xiu pursed his lips and didn't respond, not wanting to argue with it.
"You said your name was Yin Xiu before, right?" The monster, cowering there and staring at Yin Xiu's silence, changed the subject.
"Hmm," Yin Xiu replied casually.
"Every human being should have a name, right?"
"Um."
"When I become human one day, I will give myself a name and tell you about it. Then you can tell me if the name sounds good."
"good."
The monster wriggled and squeezed next to Yin Xiu, its countless eyes floating in the air staring straight at him. "I really want to keep you by my side forever."
Yin Xiu glanced at him indifferently, "Can't I stay by your side forever?"
"Perhaps..." the monster hesitated, "...not really..."
"Why?"
"Because…" the monster struggled to find the words, "because I'm not good enough…"
Yin Xiu calmly observed the monster's struggle, "What are you referring to?"
"Because I can uncontrollably harm humans, I don't know how to control it, I haven't learned yet." The monster twisted in the darkness, moving further away from Yin Xiu, as if it were sulking and standing there, not getting close to Yin Xiu.
"The human spirit is so fragile; it can collapse with the slightest carelessness, and the body will gradually change and never return to its original state, which is why they all hate me."
Yin Xiu listened in a daze.
"I haven't found a way to avoid hurting you, so you can't stay with me." The monster stretched out something and pushed Yin Xiu away. "I'm not going to sleep with you for now."
Then it wriggled and crawled a little further away, keeping its distance from Yin Xiu.
Yin Xiu narrowed his eyes, not understanding. Basically, it meant that the monster might go berserk and hurt him? But he hadn't seen it happen yet.
"Are you sure you want to stay that far?" Yin Xiu's body had recovered somewhat, and he stood up from the coffin.
For every inch he moved forward, the monster retreated a inch.
Seeing its firm attitude, Yin Xiu had no choice but to say, "Then I'm going into the dungeon. Remember to come pick me up when it's over."
He muttered to himself as he left the darkness, knife in hand.
The monster turned to look at his retreating figure, its eyes drooping in distress.
It doesn't want Yin Xiu to become like those people before. It wants to protect Yin Xiu from its influence and prevent him from turning into a monster. Yin Xiu has already shown signs of this.
"What should I do?" the monster pondered as it flipped through the book, hastily browsing through the history of human emotions in an attempt to find an answer.
When the dungeon ended, Yin Xiu felt dizzy and covered in blood.
He had just killed a monstrous boss, whose dying breath held a deep grudge against Yin Xiu, saying bitterly, "You're about to become like us! Those who stay near monsters will eventually become monsters themselves! Then we'll be your kin! You're slaughtering your own kind!"
Yin Xiu expressionlessly swung his sword, ending the other person's conversation. He casually wiped away the blood and prepared to turn and leave the instance.
When he lifted his shirt, he was surprised to see that a patch of skin on his lower abdomen had turned black.
Yin Xiu scratched and then grabbed it. This was his skin tissue, which had a feel, but for some reason... it had completely lost the appearance and feel of human skin, becoming soft and limp.
The touch even felt somewhat familiar; he had grasped it in the dark before.
Is this what you mean by uncontrolled harm to humans?
Those around it will eventually become monsters, so it must become a monster itself.
Recalling the little monster's previous question and his own answer, Yin Xiu seemed to understand why it looked so disappointed.
It was I who rejected it, refused to become one of its kind, just as I refused to become its family.
A rare look of confusion appeared on Yin Xiu's still somewhat childish face as he touched his lower abdomen.
I don't want to become a monster, and I don't want to be separated from monsters.
That was the only one that accepted its own existence; they needed each other and were best suited to be together.
After wiping his sword, Yin Xiu leisurely left the instance.
After stepping through the door to leave the instance, a dark path will appear. If you follow this path forward, you will reach another dark door.
Only he can go in and out of that door, but the little monster cannot; it is trapped inside.
Today, Yin Xiu stopped at the door and did not go in directly.
As soon as he gets close to this place, his limbs become weak and powerless, and perhaps before long, his body will become limp and lifeless, just like the monsters he has killed.
Behind the door, the sound of a small monster crawling could be heard. It had come to the back of the door, and was only one door away from Yin Xiu.
Yin Xiu raised his hand to push the door open and enter, but the little monster's voice immediately came from the other side.
"Don't come in, you can't get in now."
Yin Xiu remained silent, tentatively reaching out, but sure enough, he couldn't push the door open.
He stood quietly in front of the door, his eyes dark and deep. "Are you leaving me too?"
The little monster struggled to explain, "I won't leave you, but we can't meet right now..."
Yin Xiu's breath settled slightly, tinged with helplessness and bewilderment. "You distanced yourself from me yesterday, and you're even further away today. You'll lose me sooner or later."
"I won't lose you. I'm just leaving you for a while until I find a way that won't hurt you, but I can keep you company with a small part of myself." A small puddle of viscous fluid was squeezed out from under the door crack with great effort.
The dark thing was struggling, but Yin Xiu didn't see it for a moment.
He crouched down, grabbed the puddle of slime, and pulled it out forcefully, holding it in his palm. He carefully examined the black, eye-filled blob. "So this is what you look like... That's why you can come out, isn't it?"
"It can only come out a little bit, and it can't help you at all. It can only stay by your side." The little monster murmured, its limp body leaning against the door, all its eyes staring in the direction of the door, trying to see Yin Xiu's appearance through the door panel.
"It will stay with you until I become human. I will find a way to get out of here and then let more of my body stay with you."
Yin Xiu held a small, dark blob rolling in his palm. "So where should I take it? Live in a dungeon?"
Then all the monsters in the dungeons will probably have to flee, right?
"No, go to where you were supposed to go, a resting place outside the instance, the Rules Town."
Yin Xiu stood up, holding a small ball in his hands. He found it hard to explain his current feelings.
He is about to leave this place with a part of his important existence to go to a strange place. It is unknown when he will be able to return here to see it again, or whether he will never see it come out of here again in his entire human life.
He could only hold onto this small piece of evidence to prove the time he had spent here.
"You must come out and find me soon, preferably while I'm still alive," Yin Xiu murmured, unconsciously asking for a promise.
The monster replied, "I will definitely come to find you."
"Then you will hear my new name, and then be buried with me in a coffin as a human being, just like in the book I've been reading."
Yin Xiu lowered his head and hugged the small, inhuman creature in his arms tightly, making it his sole refuge.
"Okay, I'll wait for you."
The little monster could hear the deepness in his voice.
It knew that this human was more vulnerable and needed companionship more than it was, so it gently comforted it, "Don't be sad. There's a sentence in a book I read."
"It says, 'We are not parting ways, but waiting for a better reunion.'"
"One day, I will come to see you in human form, I promise you."
"Humans will not betray their promises, and neither will I."