Chapter 64 : Chapter 64
Volume 1
Chapter 64 : The Love God’s Whisper (4)
Dust billowed everywhere.
The aftershock of the impact stirred up a fierce gale, leaving even Muen’s hair in disarray.
But it was not just his hair.
His heart was in disarray too.
Fortunately, his heart was strong.
Holding the roasted fish in his hand, Muen pondered for a moment, then silently turned back around.
—Better to pretend he had seen nothing.
It was only a mere meteor strike.
It was not as though some symbiotic alien was going to crawl out of it and immediately try to conquer the world or something.
hat was there to make such a fuss about?
He was a man who had already been baptized by a truck and had even gone through transmigration.
How could he possibly lack even this much composure?
Eat the fish, eat the fish. Ignore it.
Creak—
Just as Muen was about to take a bite of the fragrant roasted fish, he suddenly heard a sharp, grating sound from within the cloud of dust at the crash site.
It sounded like metal opening and closing.
Hm?
Muen froze with his mouth half-open.
Metal opening and closing?
How could a mere meteor make a sound like that?
Could it be...
Was it...
A spaceship?
Muen’s eyes widened abruptly.
What had crashed was not a meteor at all, but a lost spaceship!
And that sound just now was the spaceship hatch opening, the alien inside about to make its thrilling first step onto the ground.
A small step for me, but a giant leap for the people of Planet Zenith.
All right, sorry, that got off track.
But aliens... he really wanted to take a look.
No, impossible. This was a world with a Western fantasy setting. If aliens really showed up, the readers would curse the dog author for writing utter nonsense.
So it had to be something else.
But that did not matter.
Today, he absolutely had to finish the fish in his hand first.
He said so himself, and not even Jesus could stop him.
“Cough, cough...”
Just as Muen tried once again to bring the roasted fish to his mouth, he suddenly heard a cough from behind him, the sound of someone choking on the dust.
That voice sounded awfully familiar.
It sounded like Ann.
Ha ha, as if. He had run this far already. How could Ann possibly have found him?
Ann was not a dog. It was not as though she could catch his scent from several kilometers away.
“...”
But then again—what if, just what if, there really was the tiniest chance that it was Ann?
If that metallic sound had come from Ann’s power...
then it would make sense.
Muen lowered his head and looked at the fish in his hand. After a moment of silence, he suddenly hurled it to the ground.
“You damned thing, you’ve killed me!”
Then, without another word, he smeared oil on the soles of his feet and prepared to bolt.
Jesus could not stop him, but Ann was far more frightening than Jesus.
Jesus would not lock him up and play imprisonment games with him!
But—
“Young Master?”
It seemed he was already too late.
A familiar voice of puzzled surprise came from behind him.
It really was Ann!
“Haha...”
A dry laugh slipped from Muen’s throat. He stiffly turned around and awkwardly said,
“It’s been a long time, Ann. Have you been doing well lately...?”
Muen had originally intended to start with the classic faithless-man trifecta and stabilize her first, but before he could even throw the first punch of that combination, he quietly withdrew it.
The Ann before him seemed a little off.
Her hair was disheveled, her expression exhausted, and her maid uniform, usually immaculate, was now covered in dirt and grime.
Quite a few places were even torn open, exposing patches of fair skin.
Behind her, in the massive crater formed by the impact, the metal sphere Ann had likely condensed herself still lay there in silence.
Only now its surface was covered in savage dents and gashes, as though it had endured some brutal assault.
“Ann, what happened?”
No matter how dull Muen might be, he could still sense that something was wrong.
His smile faded, and his expression immediately turned grave.
“Were you fighting someone?”
“...”
Ann did not answer directly.
She stared fixedly at Muen for a while, then took a deep breath.
Her expression returned to normal, and she smiled.
“It’s nothing, Young Master.”
“That’s nonsense. Looking at you like this...”
“I merely took a fall.”
“Do you think I’m an idiot?”
“I’m telling the truth.”
Ann paused, then said,
“Besides, is Young Master not going to run? If you do not run, then I will have no choice but to bring you back.”
“This time, I’ll lock Young Master in a specially made cage and make sure you can never escape again.”
As she spoke, Ann took two steps forward, as though she truly intended to seize him.
But Muen did not move.
He stared at Ann.
Watched her approach step by step.
And for one of the rare times in his life, the dignity befitting the Duke’s son, the young master of the Campbell family, appeared on his face.
“Then come and catch me.”
“...”
“Ann, come catch me. I won’t run!”
“...”
Ann’s hand had already stretched halfway out. Just when it was about to touch Muen, it suddenly dropped weakly.
A helpless bitter smile appeared on her face.
“At a time like this, shouldn’t Young Master be taking the chance to slip away? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
“You only chase when I run. If you’re not chasing me, why should I run?”
Muen shrugged and gave a reason he did not believe himself. Then he asked softly,
“Answer me. What exactly happened, Ann?”
“Actually...”
Ann let out a helpless sigh and had just begun to speak when a tremendous roar suddenly interrupted her.
From behind the small mountain facing Muen, there came a sound like the earth itself trembling.
At the top of the hill, countless trees suddenly toppled, and the migratory birds that had not yet flown south burst from the forest, as though fleeing from something.
“Master—!”
“Where are you? Come and accept my love!”
“I love you...”
As though hundreds of people were shouting together, countless voices mixed into one, echoing through the mountain forest and making one’s ears ache.
Muen instinctively covered his ears. Before he could even process the meaning of those words, he saw it—
A monster nearly as tall as the hill itself slowly emerged from the other side of the mountain.
“What the hell is that—”
Staring at the creature, Muen could not help widening his eyes. His mouth dropped open wide enough to fit a duck egg.
Malformed flesh grew wildly, forming grotesque limbs that flailed in all directions.
A body that looked like countless human bodies stitched together slowly writhed across the ground, and wherever it crawled, it left behind traces as though the earth had been soaked in blood.
Any plant it touched instantly withered.
There was no counting how many twisted hands and feet waved chaotically across the creature’s surface, like weeds swaying in the autumn wind.
And on the creature’s chest, hundreds of human faces were packed together in a dense mass—some crying, some laughing, some sorrowful, some furious, some numb, some despairing.
But no matter what emotion filled their eyes, every one of them wore a smile at the corners of their lips as they called out with deep affection:
“I love you...”
“Damn.”
Looking at that monster, Muen could not help shivering, feeling his sanity plummet.
He had only gone fishing for a while, so where had something this bizarre-looking come from?
He did not remember any magical beast in the original story looking this uniquely horrifying.
A new mutant species born from nuclear wastewater?
No, no, that was not right. This world did not even have Japan.
And besides...
Muen’s gaze swept across the monster once more, especially over those densely packed human faces on its chest. He could feel his trypophobia about to flare up.
No matter how he looked at it... that thing had to have something to do with humans.