How to Feed an Abyss!

Chapter 1.1 – Little Monster

The bright moon shone directly, and the wind in the forest was chilling.

A man lay on a stone, covered in blood, surrounded by scattered tree shadows. His cheeks and neck were covered in translucent blisters, with insect-like shadows swimming in them. He reached out his hand, struggling to speak: “You…you…”

Shi Yuan paused for a moment, tossing the flashlight aside and rushed over, grasping his hand.

The man’s hand was cold, as cold as a dead person’s, trembling with pain. Shi Yuan bent down, pressing his ear against the man’s lips, and said, “What do you want to say? I’m here, I’m here.”

The man made a sound, but Shi Yuan couldn’t hear clearly. “What did you say? Do you want water or food? I have them here.”

He put down his backpack and hurriedly searched through it, but the man suddenly sat up, grabbing his wrist tightly, staring at him with bloodshot eyes, his gaze filled with anger: “You lied to me… You’re also a damn monster…!”

His voice abruptly stopped.

He died with his eyes wide open.

Shi Yuan stopped what he was doing, sitting in the moonlight, watching him.

One by one, the blisters on the man’s face burst open, and the larvae stretched their new wings, freely dancing in the wind.

One, two, three…

The insects’ tails emitted luminescent sacs, shining with a gorgeous purple light. When they flew in groups, it looked like a succession of jewels passing through the air, stunningly beautiful.

The insect eggs cracked, and the corpse was riddled with holes.

Shi Yuan slowly loosened the man’s hand, closed his eyes for him, and picked up the fallen flashlight.

The insects continued to dance. This infectious organism was called the “purple light insect,” and it had a strong aggression towards humans.

But they didn’t come near Shi Yuan.

Even though the insects danced crazily, the two to three meters around Shi Yuan remained empty.

Shi Yuan didn’t notice this and stood still for a while, picked up a stone, and gave the man a simple burial. They had met by chance five days ago, traveled together for a while, and death quickly separated them.

He didn’t feel sad, just a little bit lost.

There was a stream nearby.

Shi Yuan turned his head and stared at his reflection in the water.

His skin was smooth and almost transparent under the moonlight, but his eyes were purely black, with a few black scales extending from the corner of his right eye to his temple.

The scales on his face, the sharp devil-like horns on his head, and a long black tail.

He looked carefully for a long time, curling his tail in confusion. He thought he looked quite human, with two eyes and one mouth, able to walk upright. Why did the man curse him like that?

Shi Yuan sighed with a bit of frustration, cupped a handful of water to wash his face, and decided to continue his journey.

He adjusted his cloak, turned on the flashlight, and stepped into the deep forest.

Shi Yuan had been wandering like this for several months, without purpose or direction, with only the vaguest idea: he wanted to go where there were many people, to find the gathering places of humans, like the strong fortresses called cities.

He wanted to find someone.

He was a little monster who had lost his human companion and only wanted to find that person again.

The shadows of the trees were mottled, and the purple light insects followed him, not too close, not too far, silent and invisible. Their light illuminated the surroundings.

There weren’t many visitors in the forest, but Shi Yuan awakened many things.

The deer with eight legs stood on the treetop, half of its body intact, while the other half had turned into bones. Rocks exposed gaping mouths, chewing some dry bones in its mouth. Occasionally, one could hear the mushrooms singing, with the white umbrella-shaped ones singing in high pitch and the brown porous ones emitting a low, deep voice, but their songs quickly faded away. Sounds of rustling came from behind the trees, and when Shi Yuan shone his flashlight, he would sometimes see translucent monkeys, a few fish with human faces, or a fir tree covered in eyeballs. After locking eyes with him, they would swiftly retreat, twisting their roots.

He encountered various creatures, and the forest at night was livelier than a party.

But they all took a quick glance at him from afar and did not approach.

He didn’t know that these infected organisms were deadly, any one of them could have killed him. No one else could traverse the intertwined trees on foot, defenseless as he was.

While crossing the third small creek, Shi Yuan accidentally slipped and cut his calf on a stone, creating a long, narrow gash.

It hurt.

He clenched his lips, took out the bandages from his bag, clumsily wrapped the wound, and continued his journey.

The purple light insects silently followed him.

Everything was eerie and calm until a shadow descended, enveloping him. Shi Yuan turned around and saw countless reflections of himself in myriad compound eyes.

It was a massive queen bee.

Standing at least two or three human heights, it was entirely black, with a bright purple tail. The purple light insects flew around it, jubilant. The queen bee stared at Shi Yuan, slowly approaching, until he could see every tiny hair on its body.

“Hello?” Shi Yuan tentatively said, “Are you lost?”

The queen bee remained silent, its wings trembling rapidly.

“I’m Shi Yuan, what about you?”

Silence.

“If you’re lost, we can go together, and walk out of this wasteland.”

The monster remained silent. Its shriveled body hung in the air like an ancient dead tree.

“Come with me.” Shi Yuan no longer hesitated, “I don’t have any companions anymore. Maybe we can be good friends.” He extended his hands towards the queen bee, his fingers slender and fair.

The queen bee’s golden compound eyes looked at him.

After a long while, it lowered its head and extended its six legs towards Shi Yuan. The tips of its legs were sharp enough to easily pierce through a person. It looked like it was about to prey on him, yet it also seemed like it was about to hug him—

“Bang!” Ice-cold blood splattered over Shi Yuan’s body.

A bullet hole pierced the center of the queen bee’s head. It was still alive, emitting an ultrasonic scream that humans couldn’t hear. The purple light insects immediately erupted into a frenzy, rushing towards the enemy like a tidal wave!

They were met with a hail of gunfire, machine guns spitting tongues of fire. Bullets exploded in the air, painting the sky with a vivid red. Dozens of armed soldiers leaped forward, guns in hand. Everything happened so suddenly that Shi Yuan instinctively fell to the ground, hugging his head tightly, his tail curled up in tension.

Fire, explosions, screams.

The swirling purple light storm dwindled to a few remaining insects. The queen bee was riddled with bullet holes, its wings engulfed in roaring flames.

With the flames trailing behind, it spread its wings and crashed heavily to the ground.

It fell beside Shi Yuan.

The surroundings grew quiet, the golden compound eyes of the queen bee gradually losing their luster. Its wings turned to ashes, landing on Shi Yuan’s shoulder.

Shi Yuan looked at it and said, “Goodnight.”