Love in Cthulhu

Chapter 5 Testing
The distance was only a few steps, but Zhou Nan walked for a long time. He was like a cautious hunter, wandering in the dense forest without making a sound, always staring at Jian Xi's tightly closed eyes.

If she shows any sign of breaking free of her pretense and becoming aggressive, he will not hesitate to attack.

But even when he was standing right in front of her, she still didn't react at all; her breathing was soft and even, and her chest rose and fell slightly.

He hesitated for a moment, then slowly drew his knife.

The gleaming blade slowly approached Jian Xi's neck. He only needed to muster his strength, push the blade forward forcefully, and then slash it to cut her throat.

This method is far more effective than stabbing the internal organs. The intense feeling of suffocation is enough to deprive the prey of all its strength. She will not even have a chance to call for help. Blood will rush into her trachea and lungs, aggravating her injuries and quickly becoming fatal. Even if she tries to escape desperately, she probably won't even be able to leave the cultural center.

But should we really do that?
It seemed as if two little figures were fighting in his mind.

The first villain said that this was wrong. Even if the person in front of him was someone who had returned in Jian Xi's guise, did that mean Jian Xi was definitely killed by her? Everything needs solid evidence. What if it wasn't true? Wouldn't that be wrongly killing an innocent person? Jian Xi was already gone. If she disappeared too, what would you have left?

The second little man jumped out and said, "That's not right. This guy is obviously involved in Jian Xi's death. Otherwise, why would he appear in Jian Xi's appearance? Even if she didn't do it, there must be something wrong with her. Since she's not even human, why would she need any psychological burden to do it?"
The first little figure said that if you just kill her like this, you won't get any answers. What is the truth about her death? Why did Jian Xi go to the back mountain? Everything will become an unsolvable mystery.

To put it another way, it's uncertain whether she'll die if you keep stabbing her like this. She's already been resurrected once, so what makes you so sure she can't do it again?
The second little figure chuckled and said, "Isn't that simple? If you don't kill her the first time, then kill her a second time. If you still don't kill her the second time, then kill her a third time. No matter what her true form is, she's just a girl in appearance."

Anyway, this old house is secluded and no one usually comes here. Just tie her up, gag her, and interrogate her however you want. Why worry about not getting an answer?

His mind was a jumbled mess, and he suddenly remembered watching TV before, where villains always seemed to go to great lengths to use this trick: resurrecting deceased relatives, wielding weapons, and standing in front of the protagonist.

The protagonist immediately hesitated to act, but a supporting character yelled from the sidelines, "Wake up! Don't be fooled! She's dead! She was your enemy!"

Whenever Zhou Nan encountered this kind of scene, he would secretly grumble to himself, thinking to himself, "This protagonist is such a loser. You've already fought your way to the BOSS's doorstep, and you're about to avenge your beloved girl. But then he uses Edo Tensei and you're left gritting your teeth, unable to bring yourself to kill him. You get slapped a few times and kicked into a corner. Tell me, aren't you an idiot?"
If it were him, he would be sure to say no more. His weapon is the best partner. The paladin's hammer is enough to destroy all filth and evil.
Only when you experience it firsthand do you realize that this is a dilemma for everyone.

That was the girl who kept saying she would protect him. She was always bossy and domineering, with a beautiful and sharp edge. How could he bear to hurt her?

The hand holding the knife slowly fell down and was tucked back into his waistband. Just as he was having an internal struggle, Jian Xi opened her eyes without warning.

Their eyes met, their gazes fixed intently.

Zhou Nan felt a chill run down his spine. He realized he was in a very delicate position, like he was about to be thrust into a deep French kiss... It was either an attempt to take advantage of someone in their vulnerable state or a nighttime raid!

But Jianxi didn't seem to care at all whether he was holding something in his hand. Her eyes changed rapidly, from initial confusion to doubt, and then to the gradually curving eyebrows and corners of her eyes, revealing the charm of a little fox.

She grinned mischievously, then suddenly leaned in and quickly rubbed her face against Zhou Nan's. Zhou Nan was startled and covered his face, backing away repeatedly.

"What are you doing! I'm not pure anymore!"

He wasn't sure if she had really kissed him, but he felt something soft brush against his face, mixed with a warm, faint breath.

"Tsk, this withered flower looks so pitiful. You must have been the top courtesan in a brothel in your past life." Jian Xi laughed heartily. "You're so close, I'll rub my face against you to please you. Look at you making such a fuss, as if I've already taken your virginity. Are you still dreaming about a literary girl waiting for you?"

“That’s my dream as a man.” Zhou Nan’s expression turned serious. “For that, of course I must remain chaste.”

He was a somewhat traditional person, and his view on love was that any relationship not aimed at marriage was just playing around, and that intimate contact should be reserved for the wedding night.

He prefers quiet girls to lively and outgoing ones.

My ideal dream girl should be a literary young woman with long hair that sways in the wind, who loves to wear long skirts and white lace socks, and enjoys reading by the window, with dust motes dancing in the sunlight—a picture of serene beauty.

If possible, it would be best to also add a pair of glasses, preferably with red frames.

For this dream, he even resolutely chose to study humanities, since he already had higher scores in those subjects. When the second semester started and students were divided into science and humanities classes, he could go and meet his dream.

My worldly ties are severed, and my resolve to follow the Dao is firm. How can I let the little demon girl from the Demonic Sect disturb my peace of mind at this crucial moment?

"Don't be silly. There's no such thing as a big-breasted, bespectacled literary girl in this world. That kind of character only exists in comics. You should look at the cute girl in front of you with her flawless skin. That's what a dream should be." Jian Xi tried to puff out her chest.

"Looking at you?"

Zhou Nan looked her up and down, focusing on her chest, waist and legs, and said with a regretful expression, "It's not that I don't like A-cups, but the country advocates that education should not be neglected no matter how poor we are, and children should not suffer no matter how hard life is."

"You want to hurt each other, huh? Fine."

Jian Xi wasn't angry, she just looked up at the sky and said, "When I was little, I think someone watched the fairy sister in Journey to the West, so he draped a bed sheet over himself as a feather robe, put a flower on his forehead with lipstick, and said that when he grew up, he would come to carry me to my wedding in a grand sedan chair..."

"I apologize, I misspoke," Zhou Nan quickly interrupted, bowing and addressing the emperor.

Actually, when it comes to bears, both of them were equally adorable when they were young, naturally leaving behind many distant legends and embarrassing stories.

The problem is that the two of them have different levels of shamelessness. Jian Xi is the kind of girl who will retaliate once to avoid being hit a hundred times. If you bring up her embarrassing past, she will just join in and talk about it with relish.

Zhou Nan is different; he's too sensitive, so he'll always lose when it comes to hurting each other.

"Can we call a truce first?" he asked.

"That depends on how sincere you are," Jian Xi said smugly.

Is the braised beef noodle soup enough?

"Alright, I just woke up and feel rather tired. I'll have my meal in bed. Bring it up." Jian Xi struck a pose, leaning back on the sofa like a French noblewoman who had just woken up, and beckoned with her finger.

A moment later, the sounds of people eating noodles and drinking soup echoed in the old house. The slurping sounds of swallowing food made the bowl of noodles seem really delicious. In addition to fried eggs, ham slices, and beef cubes, the noodles were not freshly cut but were packaged like snacks. However, they were just right to go with instant noodles.

It's quite a strange thing about this food. When I was a few years old, I thought instant noodles were the best thing in the world, and I dreamed that when I grew up, I could eat as much as I wanted without any limit. But when I got a little older, I started to dislike it. Either I thought it was unhealthy, like the legend that it was made from corpse oil and that eating too much of it would cause goiter, or I thought it wasn't as economical as the steamed buns sold on the street.

But when you cook a proper meal occasionally, it tastes exceptionally delicious, as if even dragon liver and phoenix gall couldn't compare.

The two of them ate with great enthusiasm. Because of the chili peppers, their cheeks were a little hot. Zhou Nan kept glancing at Jian Xi out of the corner of his eye.

Although she looks like she's untouched by worldly affairs, she doesn't eat like a lady at all. For her, noodles aren't the most important thing; they're something to play with. She always uses her chopsticks to wrap the noodles around and around before putting them in her mouth and swallowing them whole. She seems to really enjoy the feeling of her mouth being stuffed full, just like a child who hasn't grown up.

But the more she resembled him, the more uncomfortable he felt. In his eyes, these little gestures seemed like a deliberate performance for him to see.

He recalled a term he had read in a book before, called the uncanny valley effect, which states that people are more likely to feel favorable toward robots if they resemble humans.

However, if robots become so lifelike that they are indistinguishable from humans, even the slightest difference will be glaringly obvious to humans, causing them to dislike them intensely.

The Jian Xi in front of him was like a robot imitating a human in his eyes. He didn't feel this disgust at first, but after returning from the funeral home, her every smile and frown amplified his aversion.

This can't go on any longer, or I'll eventually break down. Zhou Nan squeezed the hard thing in his pocket and decided to take the initiative.

"I found this key at the door. See if it's yours. Maybe I dropped it outside when I brought you back."

He placed the keys on the table, pushed them toward Jian Xi, and stared intently into her eyes.

Come on, imposter, what's your move now?

He recognized the key, of course. He had used it to open Jian Xi's door more than once. The handle was hollowed out in the middle and strung with a cord. A little above the hole, the word "Peace" was engraved.

On the way back, he made a point of keeping his phone and keys separate. These were some of the few cards he could still play, so he had to use them sparingly, especially since he might find some clues on his phone.

"A key?" Jian Xi picked up the key, looked at it suspiciously for a few seconds, and seemed very puzzled. "But I've already found it. Did you pick up someone else's?"

She took a key out of her pocket and placed it on the table: "Actually, it was in the inside pocket of my clothes. I didn't notice it at first, but when I was packing my clothes after showering and preparing to throw them away, I searched all my pockets and found it."

The two keys are placed side by side and are exactly the same in size and shape.

Zhou Nan was dumbfounded. He stubbornly held them in his hands and compared them carefully, but he still couldn't find any difference.

If it weren't in front of her, Zhou Nan would have really shoved the key into his mouth and bitten it hard to see if it would turn into Sun Wukong's hair.

"Maybe so, then your phone..." Zhou Nan was still unwilling to give up; he felt he still had a chance.

"Found it too."

But this time Jian Xi beat him to it. The silver HTC phone lay quietly on the table, killing Zhou Nan's last chance for a desperate counterattack.

Their phones were all the same model. Jianxi was not short of money and was especially generous in this regard, always loving the latest models, so it was impossible for her to mistake one for the other.

Looking at the familiar phone, Zhou Nan felt extremely scared and thankful that he hadn't rashly stabbed the phone.

He realized he had been too prejudiced. Because he had received the belongings at the funeral home, he assumed that the ones at home must be fake. But Jian Xi at home also had her own keys and phone.

Without other evidence, don't try to determine the truth or falsehood based on wishful thinking.

No wonder that silly monk, along with a pig and a water monster, couldn't tell which one was his real monkey brother. When all the familiar tricks are doubled, it would be a miracle if anyone could recognize him.

I can't tell, Jianxi, I really can't tell.

"So you're planning to go back to sleep tonight?" Zhou Nan used all his strength to make his voice sound less strange.

He suddenly understood what it meant to be so tired, and felt like he would never love again. In just one night, his mood went up and down, and the electrocardiogram-like jumps weren't enough; he needed to do a few more Thomas Flairs.

"What, do you expect me to stay and serve you in bed?"

Jian Xi carefully put away her keys and phone, then made a face. "You wish! You'll only ever be able to look at my beauty with envy and excitement. You should be happy to have a childhood sweetheart like me. You want to actually have her? Keep dreaming."

"No, I just wanted to come to your house to use your heating." Zhou Nan didn't respond to her banter; instead, he was quite serious.

Jian Xi paused for a moment, then nodded: "Okay, but didn't you always claim that you're not afraid of the cold?"

“Not being afraid of the cold and having good things but not using them are two different things. There’s nothing in the old house, and it’s really cold to sleep at night. I just wanted some comfort.” Zhou Nan rubbed his hands together, stood up, breathed on them, and started clearing the dishes.

His more important purpose was actually to use this opportunity to monitor her.

Bad things tend to happen in the dead of night when everyone is awake. Perhaps when everyone is awake, they can hide their evil thoughts and act as upright gentlemen.

But once you fall asleep, that's not necessarily the case; it's more convenient to live under the same roof.

Anyway, Jianxi definitely wouldn't mind; they used to do this all the time.

While others are empty-nest elderly, Jianxi's family is an empty-nest girl. On many rainy, slightly chilly evenings, she would send him a message on QQ on her mobile phone, and he would sneak out of his house to go to her house to watch DVDs together.

Sometimes it's a horror movie, sometimes a romance movie. In order to study the human body, they actually watched action movies together. They had subjects around them to practice on, but nothing happened. Although they both blushed a little while watching, their mindset was still serious scientific inquiry.

Now, much of what I've seen is a bit blurry, but I still remember the sound of the carbonated drink being opened, her head resting on his shoulder, the rain pattering against the window, and time passing silently.

(End of this chapter)