Love in Cthulhu

Chapter 27 Integration and Assimilation
Zhou Nan sat in the restaurant across from his apartment building, gazing towards the stairwell.

He is waiting for Gan Tang.

Logically speaking, he shouldn't have had the chance to sneak out to eat... oops, wait for someone, since they've been inseparable for the past few days since he found out Jian Xi was a monster.

But this morning, just as he and Jian Xi were about to leave the compound for breakfast, they were blocked at the gate.

The person who blocked them was Teacher Tang, who worked at the center. No one knew her exact name, but over the years, both the students and the two of them had called her Teacher Tang. She had taught Jian Xi classical dance, was also Grandpa Zhou Nan's apprentice, and was in charge of the Phoenix Lantern Dance.

That's a local traditional lantern dance, somewhat like a variation of the dragon lantern dance in the traditional lantern festival.

At the front is a phoenix head painted with colored paper, and in the middle is a bamboo body. Each section has a stick underneath for support. Inside, there are candles and colored lanterns. When it is danced, there are gongs and drums. There are sixteen sections that imitate the phoenix's posture, and there is also a special dance to accompany it.

Teacher Tang came here specifically to recruit Jian Xi to be the lead dancer.

According to Teacher Tang, no one can dance as well as Jian Xi, and it's even harder to find someone who can dance better than Jian Xi. As her own student, this pillar position should naturally be given to her.

But Jianxi didn't want to go at all.

She participated once last year. When dancing, she would wear very thin Hanfu. It looked beautiful, but it wasn't cold. In order to maintain the body's curves, she couldn't wear too many layers underneath. If it had snowed a couple of days before, she would have frozen to death after dancing.

But since the other party was his teacher, he had no choice but to be taken away to rehearse, which gave Zhou Nan a chance.

Because Jian Xi knew his whereabouts, he wandered around the city for most of the day before finally heading to this restaurant when it was almost time. He ordered a rice bowl and ate it slowly, keeping an eye on the stairwell.

Knowing full well that doing this would bring risks to Gantang, why did they still come?

It couldn't be because he was attracted to her good looks...

He felt he wasn't that outrageous. Gan Tang wasn't as pretty as Jian Xi, but her temperament and style really appealed to his favorite type.

Xue Pan is right. There are three good things about literary girls: they are delicate and easy to push over. Look at Lin Daiyu, isn't she just like that?

So he could only console himself by saying that it was because Gan Tang was the only person he knew who knew anything about such matters. First, he hoped that the stubborn Gan Tang wouldn't actually come to his house, and second, he wanted to hear what she had to say about those things.

A black minivan slowly drove up, stopped in front of the building, and drove away a moment later, leaving behind a dark brown figure.

Even though it was just her back, Zhou Nan recognized her at a glance. No one in this small county town would wear that kind of stand-up collar winter Hanfu; she wore a dark vest over a white fleece jacket, and a plaid swirling skirt adorned with numerous tassels.
Just like her previous outfits were super British, Gan Tang's fashion sense is like that of a heroine in a romance drama. Her clothes look expensive and niche, but they look good no matter how you look at them.

"Gantang!"

Hearing someone call her name, Gan Tang turned around in confusion and saw a boy running across the street.

"Were you waiting for me?" Gan Tang tilted his head, somewhat curious, even though he had always refused before.

“I’ve been waiting for you.” Zhou Nan pulled out a small box from behind his back as if by magic. “I’m sorry for lying to you that night. This is a small apology.”

Inside were small cakes from a nearby bakery. No matter what kind of girl, she probably couldn't resist desserts, so he felt that this apology was sincere.

Gan Tang glanced at it and shook her head. "I only eat macarons for dessert. Too many will make me fat."

"What is a macaron?" Zhou Nan regretted asking the question as soon as it left his mouth. It sounded like he was a country bumpkin, and it really made him look bad.

However, there really isn't anything like that in this small county town. The cake shops here mainly sell all kinds of cakes, and there aren't any special desserts at all. Jian Xi has always been a sweet tooth, so Zhou Nan doesn't know what girls her age like.

"A French sandwich dessert made with egg whites, almond flour or granulated sugar and icing, that looks like a large Oreo, but in a different color."

Gan Tang, who came from the city, did not laugh at his ignorance. Instead, she explained in a serious tone, as if she were reading a cooking textbook, without any emotion.

It seems that literary girls not only have those three good qualities, but also three lacks: being speechless, heartless, and expressionless.

“Okay…” Zhou Nan wanted to put away the box that had embarrassed him, but he had nowhere to hide it, so he could only carry it on his back.

This girl exuded a bourgeois air about her, a difference that was countless times stronger than the one Jian Xi gave him. He should have known better than to approach her; he had only made a fool of himself by bringing her an apology gift.

"But since you said it's a gift to make amends, I'll still eat it all. That way, I'll consider it forgiveness."

As she spoke, Gan Tang took the box from his hand, opened it in front of him, swallowed a cupcake, and handed him another one, saying, "I can't finish this."

Hey, your kindness is so overwhelming, it just makes me feel even more embarrassed, okay? Don't be so blunt, just be a little smug and say, "Since it's your gift, I'll accept it, okay?"
He really wanted to complain, but faced with that face that seemed so plain and even a little silly, he just couldn't muster the same吐槽 (tu cao, meaning to roast or criticize) spirit he had when he was with Jian Xi.

Indeed, temperament can change a person. If your temperament is strong enough, it will become an aura that makes the people around you follow your rhythm. Gan Tang's aura is like that of a high and mighty goddess. You can't just go to visit her in your underwear; you have to wear a suit and look respectable.

"Is there a warm place here where there are no outsiders, suitable for two people to sit and talk?" Gan Tang asked. "I rarely come here."

"Then it's probably only places like internet cafe private rooms or KTV private rooms. Development here is very slow," Zhou Nan said. He thought that if Jian Xi knew, he could say that he was too bored and went to sing karaoke by himself.

"I can't go to internet cafes, karaoke..." She hesitated for a moment, then pursed her lips, "Shouldn't that be a problem?"

"Were your parents very strict?"

Her predicament reminded Zhou Nan of the time they chatted at the internet cafe that day, when Gan Tang also had some complaints about her coming out so late. In addition, considering her appearance and demeanor, her family must have put a lot of effort into her.

“It’s very strict, but mainly my mother gets angry, the one you saw coming out of me that day.”

"That's your mother???" Zhou Nan was taken aback, and his gaze towards Gan Tang became strange. Gan Tang remained as calm as ever. Despite having just said something terrifying, she seemed to have only uttered a simple statement. She raised a finger and put it to her lips: "Let's talk in a private room at the KTV."

Before going to the KTV, Gan Tang took out a few hundred-yuan bills from her small bag and gave them to Zhou Nan. Zhou Nan asked her what she meant, and she said, "Don't you have to spend money there? I saw on TV that things are so expensive, even a bottle of drink costs over a hundred yuan."

He found it a bit funny and explained to her, "You must have been watching some gangster movies, right? A proper KTV is just a place to sing. Drinks are at most a dollar or two more expensive than outside. Those that cost hundreds of dollars a bottle are for prostitution and hiring prostitutes."

Gan Tang then asked what it meant to "play with color and find a princess," and Zhou Nan wisely shut up, saying that children would understand when they grew up. Gan Tang replied very seriously that she was sixteen years old and not a child anymore.

What kind of family could raise such a blank-slate girl? And with such a terrifying mother, even Jian Xi's monster seems reasonable compared to her.

Inside the private room, Gan Tang repeatedly checked the price list and only ordered a bottle of heated mineral water after confirming that it was a legitimate place. She did, however, order a beverage for Zhou Nan.

“Now it’s just the two of us here. Three hours in this private room is enough for us to talk forever without anyone hearing us.” Zhou Nan turned off the music, and the room became quiet. “Can you tell me what you’re planning to talk about?”

"You're going to die." Gan Tang's first words were explosive.

"........."

"?"

Don't you think there's something wrong with your lines?

"What do you mean?"

"Normally, the lines in this situation are, 'This classmate, I see a dark aura around your face, and you're about to suffer a bloody disaster,' which makes it easier for you to trick me into spending money to avoid disaster or buying your Buddhist beads. But you come up with 'You're going to die,' and even if I wanted you to fool me, I couldn't do it."

Gan Tang understood and said very seriously, "I'm not joking with you, you're really going to die."

"Evidence? Prophecy? Or is there a death star flashing above my head?" Zhou Nan still spoke in a nonchalant tone, as if he was just listening to what Gan Tang was saying. He knew Gan Tang could see things, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to find him so accurately that afternoon, but this signature fortune-telling charlatan tone was just too old-fashioned.

“There is something in your body that doesn’t belong to this world. If this continues, you will merge with that thing.”

Zhou Nan was stunned for a moment. This was the first time he had heard a specific verb. It was clear that the fusion was referring to the part that Jian Xi had placed inside his body. Even that unlucky old man Li had only noticed his abnormality but had not been able to point it out.

This girl...she really understands these things, she knows what she's talking about!

"What is integration?" He became serious, staring intently at Gantang.

"What you see does not belong to this world. It exists in a plane that cannot be observed normally. This plane completely overlaps with the world we live in, but its composition is different. That world is a pure spiritual realm. Only when your spirit expands to a certain degree can you see it and thus come into contact with it."

"Those that you see everywhere on the street are just the lowest level of weirdness, while the top level ones don't even have names or titles. I don't know which one you encountered, but it's already part of you, which is terrible."

Gan Tang said, “If you spend too much time in contact with those top-tier spiritual products, you will gradually merge with them. In this way, you will still be alive, but you will slowly become like those things, become a part of them, and be more likely to attract similar beings. Moreover, you will be unable to leave them for the rest of your life, and your physical body left here will be useless.”

"In other words, it's death in the ordinary sense of us."

Zhou Nan slowly sipped his drink, remaining silent for a long time.

According to this logic, if someone spends too much time with the monster Jian Xi, he will disappear from this world and turn into the things he saw before.

Why didn't Jian Xi tell him such a crucial matter? Was it out of selfishness? Was she afraid he would run away? Or was she deliberately hiding it from him?

“But… this doesn’t make sense, does it?” He suddenly realized the logical problem, looked up at Gan Tang’s calm eyes, “Didn’t you say that the one inside your body is your mother? Then you will die too?”

"not like this."

Gan Tang's usually calm eyes dimmed for a moment as she held the mineral water bottle, watching the water level rise and fall as she drank about half of it.

“It’s not me who’s merged with her, it’s my mother. She’s already gone to the other side, so now, even if she stayed by my side, it wouldn’t affect me. She’s not that high-class.”

Zhou Nan's first impression of Gan Tang was that, apart from being a literary girl, she was also the kind of person who was completely cold and didn't seem to care about anything except for talking about it.

But when she said that was my mother, a crack appeared in her shell, and there was a tremor in her voice that she had tried to hide. She had hidden it very well, but Zhou Nan still heard it.

Is being twisted like Gan Tang's mother the final fate of those who coexist and merge with monsters? Compared to that, being simply eaten or killed is a relatively peaceful end.

“I don’t want to see anyone else fall to that point, which is why I insisted on meeting you to talk,” Gan Tang said softly. “It’s just that my mother has never allowed me to associate with boys, especially when she’s awake. I can only be alone with you when she’s resting, like right now.”

"Rest? In that state, do you still need rest?"

"Yes, many of her habits and consciousness from her previous life will remain, so you can't provoke her. Otherwise, she might try to find out if you can see her and then kill you. But don't worry, she's still sleeping right now."

Zhou Nan remained silent. The truth Gan Tang had revealed was too horrifying; the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became.

He thought he could appease the monster who inherited Jian Xi by playing the emotional card. How ridiculous! Why shouldn't the monster have its own plans?

Her wish was to become a human, Jian Xi. Wouldn't it be a way to slowly merge and assimilate the only person who knew her secret? This way, she could satisfy her love of being together forever and never being separated, and he could stay by her side for the rest of his life, like those strange beings who murmur in front of their lovers after they die.

What do you mean, "You're very important to me"? Don't be naive, those are just sweet talk, okay? She knows you can't do anything about her. She can easily fool boys with a few nice words. Isn't that what pretty bad girls are best at?

He really didn't want to believe it, but Gan Tang himself had firsthand evidence. Every time there was a slight ripple in the story, new cold water would be poured on him. How could he face that monster again?

(End of this chapter)