CH 9

Lin Xi never thought that he'd dream about that exhibition the first night after the failed leap.

If he could retain the ability to think like in reality inside a dream, he'd attribute this dream to that weird Sunu sculpture. It was just really too ugly, Lin Xi could admit that he's been frightened by it.

Of course, part of the responsibility can also be thrown to John Bronson. If it weren't for that old man's madness, not many people would think of Talan Ida's obscure Sunu ancestry.

Or to Bryce, who firmly refused Lin Xi's innocent request for sleeping pills and tranquilizers, and kept nagging and telling Lin Xi that he should quit relying on drugs...

But anyway, he dreamed of that exhibition from many years ago.

Oh, and it's important to emphasize that the Sunu Cultural Exchange Exhibition in itself wasn't a bad thing.

Lin Xi and Bryce had a great time at that exhibition, occasionally, Lin Xi would inadvertently think of that in the summer of his childhood.

Maybe the passing of time endows human memory with beautiful filters, or maybe the Sunu displays at that time were too cute. In Lin Xi's memory, that exhibition was as strange as a fantasy, magnificent and wonderful, no matter what the details. Everything exuded an unbelievable dreamlike atmosphere.

However, Lin Xi and Bryce, who were having a great time at the time, didn't know that the Sunu Cultural Exchange Exhibition was the last event where the Sunu people ever communicated directly with Earth again.

The Sunu people, who were still on the Earth at that time, didn't know that a madness without any reason had already erupted in their home planet. However, not long after that event, the Sunu people staying on Earth also fell ill one after another. Their madness and sickness made them die like cockroaches on the foreign planet.

Oh...

Wait, let's go back to Lin Xi's dream.

Back to the Sunu Cultural Exchange Exhibition.

In his dreams, Lin Xi stared blankly at the hall decorated like a termite's nest.

A line of crooked characters hung outside the corridor, in Sunu language. He stood on tiptoe to get a better view, but got bumped and stumbled, almost falling to the ground.

There was a crowd of people around him, the excited screams and laughter of children merged into the noisy background sound of his dream.

Lin Xi's point of view was very low. In this dream, he's still the taciturn and shy child from back then.

"Lin Xi, look— I'll tell Teacher Anna about this after summer vacation's over— it's so interesting—"

Then, Bryce's crisp voice sounded.

Just like back then, he pulled Lin Xi's arm and quickly walked towards the gate of the exhibition.

Lin Xi staggered forward, Bryce's face was like a melted ice cream under the sun, and his features couldn't be clearly made out.

But his demeanor, his movements, and his voice were all so real, as if it was a video tape running in his mind.

Lin Xi felt a little out of breath.

A subtle fear seized him.

He wanted to leave here, he didn't want to enter the hall as eagerly or urgently as his child self.

However, the dream flickered a little, and he was already standing in the exhibition hall.

There's still a lot of people, but when Lin Xi looked around, those people were like Bryce, with blurred faces and dropping features, even their bodies looked bloated and sloppy, blurred to the point where there were almost no outlines, like an indistinct memory, a third-rate painter's hastily dotted paint lumps on the canvas.

In contrast, those Sunu exhibits in the cultural exchange exhibition, quietly guarded behind a glass cover in his dream, were so very clear than even decorative lines as thin as hair could be seen.

Lin Xi walked around the huge exhibition hall in a state of extreme bewilderment and fear.

Sometimes Bryce would be by his side as he remembered, but most of the time, Lin Xi was alone.

Those exhibition halls full of Sunu living utensils appeared one after another, connected by short corridors in the middle. In his dream, this exhibition was like a huge maze, enough to trap a person forever.

Lin Xi felt like he had walked through a never-repeating maze for ten thousand years, he was near fainting— of course, the premise was that he could faint in his dreams. When he came to his senses, he had already come to a corridor— yes, the organizer specially used a few exhibition boards to divide the original open corridor into a winding corridor.

Lin Xi looked at the display boards, and several of them were blurry, but only one of them— a sign— was exceptionally clear.

It said Sunu Star Butterfly, and under that line of English, someone wrote in very childish handwriting: I like star butterflies the most!

That line of crayon characters seemed to be inlaid on the exhibition board, weird and out of place.

But the hazy passers-by around Lin Xi seemed to have not noticed it at all.

Lin Xi stared at the words "Sunu Star Butterfly", his heart was pounding, he felt like some kind of animal being stared at by wild beasts. Panic and dread were gnawing at him like bugs, here was a faint tingling sensation in his soul, but he couldn't control his behavior in the dream.

The surrounding environment melted away, Lin Xi had already arrived at the exhibition area of ​​Sunu Star Butterfly.

People were crowded, pushing against each other.

This vast hall seemed to have gathered all the humans in Earth.

The unstoppable real awe was like a wave constantly rising and falling in the exhibition hall. With the bodies of those people melting together, the scene looked like a strange experiment.

But in this noisy environment, Lin Xi heard a special voice, very weird, shrill, with an indescribable smell.

"Yes, that's right. What you are seeing now is the most precious and sacred star butterfly on our Sunu planet. It's also our totem and spiritual symbol. And this star butterfly was cultivated through many years. It's a rare individual that's still active, we generally call it 'His Majesty the Prince', because its form and status are second only to the King butterfly in the entire butterfly's nest..."

Lin Xi couldn't help moving towards the voice.

Well, a dream is a dream, and he can always get what he wants.

Lin Xi remembered that it wasn't this smooth at reality. It took him a while to squeeze in front of the rare Sunu star butterfly.

But the guide is still there, as always.

The thin and tall Sunu stood there like that, his limbs unbelievably slender, his skin pale, his blood vessels could almost be seen through the skin.

From time to time, he would bend down and speak affectionately to the children around him. Whenever he spoke, the children would be amazed, smiling and hiding in the arms of their parents behind them.

How wonderful that Sunu looked, but Lin Xi didn't pay attention to him at all.

Just behind the Sunu stood the largest birdcage that Lin Xi has ever seen in his life. Of course, it just looks like a birdcage. If star sutterfly was just an ordinary exhibition animal, then people could use that kind of cold and crude thing to trap it, but the Sunu couldn't do that. They decorated the cage as grandly as possible. The metal cage seemed to be enough for several people to drive motorcycles in, and their decorations made the creature inside the look as luxurious, dignified, and aloof as a nobleman among humans.

However, the fact that it was born for an exhibition aimed at the people of Earth was an absurd contrast with its temperament.

The star butterfly named "Prince" looked a little bit similar to the butterfly that humans recognize, but that's all.

The torso's exoskeleton had an inorganic luster and was looked as tall and strong as a 1.8 meter man. It had huge mesh-like red eyes and a well-structured body. The surface of the exoskeleton shone like a polished mercury mirror, the curved surface reflecting the faces of the surrounding humans. And behind it, were two huge and elegant wings. Lin Xi was fascinated by it. Those wings were like a fairy's gauze skirt, glowing with rainbow-like neon light. Behind the star butterfly's hideous body, there was no wind, but it automatically, softly fluttered, lazily changing shapes and colors.

The combination of this gigantic bug-like body and fantastic wings was so grotesque, but at the same time, it had a beauty that can't be described by human language— the kind that can make people's skin crawl.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Just as Lin Xi was obsessively looking at the huge star butterfly, the Sunu suddenly appeared besides him like a ghost.

"..."

Lin Xi looked up at Sunu's pale face, it was very different from that of Earth people's. He said nothing.

But the Sunu didn't seem to care.

It spoke English very fluently, but the strong Sunu accent made it difficult to distinguish its words.

It stared fixedly at Lin Xi, then suddenly grinned, revealing a smile.

Immediately afterwards, Lin Xi saw it turn its head and make a long hissing sound towards the cage. Under the call of the Sunu, the lazy star butterfly that seemed to be in a daze landed.

It was almost standing in front of Lin Xi.

The Sunu reached out and grabbed Lin Xi's wrist.

"Do you want to touch it?"

The Sunu asked.

Lin Xi still didn't answer it.

But the Sunu didn't care, it grabbed Lin Xi's hand, forcing him to touch the inside of the birdcage.

Lin Xi touched the star butterfly.

He originally wanted to touch the star butterfly's wings that were as soft and beautiful as clouds, gauze, and mist. But the moment he stretched his fingertips towards the star butterfly, it's wings suddenly trembled, and stretched out before his eyes.

Hua——

That moment, it felt like the entire world was occupied by the wings of the star butterfly.

Those wings, which were as hazy and dreamy as a cloud of smoke, showed a bewitching golden red after blooming, fleshy tubes spewed out from the body of the star butterfly, forming countless curly, trembling threads.

And Lin Xi's hand was tightly attached to the star butterfly hard and rough torso.

The star butterfly's scarlet eyes were also staring straight at him.

"... Wow, this is very rare, little friend from Earth. Star butterflies will only show their wings completely in front of someone they like very much. Hahaha, I never thought that it'd show its wings in front of Earthlings ...*&...￥&t%$..."

The Sunu seemed taken aback, it looked at Lin Xi in shock and started talking.

And just as the Sunu stared at Lin Xi and began losing its mind, the dense tunes behind the star butterfly began to squirm slowly towards this weak but warm human child.

One of them had already touched Lin Xi's finger.

From the outside, those tentacles looked like some kind of jelly, translucent, moist, and elastic, like some kind of children's food.

But when they touched Lin Xi, Lin Xi realized that it was just an illusion—

Those beautiful tentacles were as tough and powerful as a python, and the force around his wrist was so strong it almost broke bone.

Lin Xi's face paled.

He wanted to cry— scream and cry like all normal children do.

But he's no ordinary child.

Orphans like him have long been accustomed to shutting up quickly when experiencing great pain, becoming quiet, and motionless to avoid worse things from happening to them.

And even though he's become a member of the Bryce's family, this nature still stubbornly stayed in his body.

So he just froze instinctively.

No one knew his panic at that moment, Lin Xi even heard people's friendly laughter, as well as exclamations full of admiration.

Oh no, maybe not everyone...

The Sunu knew something was wrong.

Lin Xi even heard him say a long phrase of Sunu language.

It put its hand into the cage with a smile. It was very close to Lin Xi, so Lin Xi clearly heard another sound— the sound of something rough rubbing against each other came out of the Sunu's chest.

The star butterfly also made the same sound.

But the beginning to end, the star butterfly never intended to let go of Lin Xi.

Finally, the Sunu shouted to his companions.

Of course Lin Xi, who was still a child at the time, couldn't understand this passage, but now, he can somewhat understand it— of course, the premise is that this Sunu star language isn't something he's imagined in his dreams.

That Sunu man said...

I have a problem here, I need help... He's made a mistake... he took this child as his spouse! He's going to capture him... this earthling will die... trouble... *...%

Those Sunu words were starting to become vague and slurred.

It didn't even sound like Sunu, but more like a high-frequency flapping of wings.

This is...*&%...%... you... like...*&%￥species...

Only a few words were barely recognizable.

But they sounded weirder and more obscure than that grinding sound.

While the Sunu was trying to seek help from his companion, Lin Xi was still looking at the star butterfly.

The star butterfly's face was slowly changing.

Its eyes, the scarlet blister pupils, split into two.

Then, it changed from two to four...

In the end, his eyeballs turned into densely packed red compound eyes.

Hiss...

Lin Xi heard that voice again.

"No..."

Lin Xi knew this was a dream, but a sense of panic still vividly reappeared in his body.

He looked at the Sunu besides him, but that person had disappeared.

No- he didn't know when, but all around Lin Xi has become empty, there's no one.

The exhibition hall in his memory has become rugged and humid.

The smell in the air, from the dryness of the exhibition, mixed with the smell of popcorn, perfume, human sweat, etc., turned into a thick and moist fishy-sweet smell.

The bright incandescent lamps also dimmed—no, they disappeared.

Those things that were glowing, they were moss all over the ceiling.

There are regular holes on the wall, each the size of a basketball, and some milky white or beige translucent eggs were embedded in the middle of those holes. It's bulging, accompanied by some kind of special rhythm, constantly wriggling.

Lin Xi could even see those disgusting maggot-like things flipping, trembling, and whispering under the translucent film.

Hiss... hiss...

And then that terrible high-frequency noise came again.

Lin Xi felt that the noise was an invisible knife, almost penetrating directly into his body through the vibration of sound waves.

Wake up—

It's too much.

Lin Xi desperately said to himself in the dream.

But the dream is still so viscous, so realistic, so... dark.

Hiss...

The sticky and tight feeling on his wrist made Lin Xi whisper uncontrollably.

Of course, when he returned his attention to the thing in front of him, he had no time to panic about the pain in his wrist.

Star butterfly.

To be more precise— the thing that used to be the star butterfly—

—transforming little by little before Lin Xi's eyes.

The black torso shattered, revealing the off-white armor underneath!

Countless spider legs-like things have changed from armor to 5 chimothenhusbgeychildnaahsiowtrjxozbsamospw#$&%—¹1

Lin Xi almost whimpered at seeing it.

However, at this moment, he couldn't even make any sound— excessive fear had completely choked off his throat.

He could only stand there sluggishly, like a weak animal in the forest that could only pretend to be dead to escape, motionless.

Let the appendages of that "thing" touch his body.

Then, pull him little by little into the darkness.

More evil, stickier, and warmer dreams slowly surrounded him.

It was pure darkness where not even fear or tears existed.

There, there's no passage of time, no rationality, only something so dark that even human consciousness could be completely melted away.

And that thing was eating Lin Xi's soul.

...

"Didi... Didi... Didi..." It was a very bad experience to be pulled out of a deep subconscious dream by a call.

Seeing that the call on the communicator actually came from Talan, you can add ten more bad points.

Lin Xi woke up from the cramped bed, which was exceptionally good at being uncomfortable. He grabbed the communicator and took a look, then covered his face and let out a low moan of pain...

Lin Xi never felt that waking up would feel as painful as now. A severe headache almost made him sleep again the moment he sat up.

Lin Xi staggered, it took a long time to barely get out of his bed. He glanced back at his bed sheets unconsciously, and was stunned by the mess on the bed.

His pillow and sheets were soaked.

The pillow was soaked with tears, and his own cold sweat printed a vivid human figure on the bed sheets.

Even his comforter had some suspicious stains on it.

Enduring his headache, Lin Xi stared at the comforter for a long time.

He couldn't figure out what was going on.

Crying, cold sweat, what else?

He vaguely remembered that he seemed to have had a nightmare.

But thinking about it carefully, that dream felt so vague and far away.

——But these fabrics can prove that, at least last night, the dream was really quite scary for him. But that makes it ever harder to explain the stains on the comforter.

Lin Xi didn't remember that he was the kind of person with such heavy taste.

"Didi— didi—"

Just as Lin Xi was staring at his bed, his damn communicator rang again.

"Fuck it."

Lin Xi cursed, he grabbed the communicator and took another look.

Very well, this time in addition to Talan's call, there was a message from Alisa.

Lin Xi hesitated for a while, but finally opened the message from Alisa.

We found something in the statue's airtight container that I think you might need to take a look at. —— The sender of the message: Alisa

"Statue?"

Lin Xi felt that his brain was quite confused.

It took him a while to realize that Alisa was talking about that weird fossil statue.

What Alisa said in the message was very vague, but Lin Xi felt more tense because of this.

After all, Alisa knew him.

If there it wasn't a difficult problem, she would've revealed some detailed information before he was summoned by the Great Demon King Talan, so that he could deal with it more smoothly.

But now, Alisa simply said "we found something" and vaguely passed it by.

Lin Xi already had a hunch.

"New trouble, ha, I knew—"

He murmured to himself.

______

Notes:

1- 无数蜘蛛腿一般的玩意从甲5牧奖咛缴觯焐母囱垡恢贝佣钔仿拥侥侵痪薮蟪孀拥母共俊 (basically a bunch of nonsense)