PTGWD Chapter 45: Satiated

Lu Jianchuan stuffed the second spoonful of eyeballs into his mouth.

After holding these harmless, adorable eyeballs in his mouth, he closed his lips. Where Fang Xingzhou couldn’t see, his tongue transformed into a tentacle, sucking all the eggs into his mouthparts. With a *crack*, they burst open, releasing a flood of juice. He then slowed his chewing, savoring the rare delicacy.

Then came the third mouthful.

His mouthparts retracted their sharp teeth, gently stirring the wildly jumping sashimi, swallowing them whole. They passed through his abdomen, which had long since dissolved into liquid, and reached the embryo, allowing the still-developing little monster inside to complete its first hunt.

The fourth mouthful, the fifth…

The frequency of the spoon dipping into the bowl increased rapidly. Half a bowl of eyeballs was soon emptied. Lu Jianchuan deliberately slowed his pace, as if reluctant to finish so quickly, and began eating the eyeballs one by one. When the last one was swallowed, he picked up the bowl and licked it clean, leaving no trace of juice behind.

A faint blush appeared on his handsome human face.

He set the bowl down, leaned back in his chair, and slightly narrowed his eyes. One hand rested on his warm belly, his expression dazed, like a human drowsy from overeating.

Fang Xingzhou watched this horrifying feast without blinking.

Perhaps because Lu Jianchuan had eaten so voraciously, Fang Xingzhou found himself strangely affected. His mouth watered, and his stomach growled with hunger, craving nourishment.

He looked down, drank half a bowl of seaweed soup to suppress the strange craving, then exhaled slowly and smiled. “Was it good?”

Lu Jianchuan didn’t respond.

He leaned limply against the chair, breathing heavily. After a long while, he finally spoke in an odd tone, “…Yeah, it was really good.”

Fang Xingzhou smiled slightly and didn’t disturb his lover’s digestion time, turning instead to his own human dinner.

He didn’t have a big appetite, but today he unusually ate two servings of noodles. He couldn’t finish the last half portion of blanched bok choy, so he asked Lu Jianchuan, “Do you want some more?”

Lu Jianchuan slowly shook his head.

This was the first time since his pregnancy that there were leftovers at home.

Fang Xingzhou felt somewhat unused to it. After a moment of hesitation, he disposed of the leftovers, washed the dishes, and took out the trash.

When he returned, the roses by the door had surprisingly grown new buds in just an hour. The petals were so vibrant they seemed to drip with crimson paint. The brown stems had turned a fresh green, and through the translucent vase, he could even see fine roots growing at the base, floating gently in the water like some kind of animal’s tentacles.

Fang Xingzhou bent down slightly, kissed the fragrant rose petals, then walked to the dining table. Lu Jianchuan was still sitting in the same position, leaning back in the chair as if he had fallen asleep like that.

“Deer?” he called out. “If you’re tired, go upstairs to sleep.”

After a while, the statue named Lu Jianchuan finally came to life. He pulled Fang Xingzhou into his arms, resting his head on his shoulder, still savoring the meal. “…Honey, tonight’s dinner was really delicious.”

Fang Xingzhou smiled.

“The fish roe sashimi? I’ll buy it for you again sometime.”

“No, once is enough,” Lu Jianchuan’s breath was slightly warm. “Don’t go to the seafood market again. If they’re selling such strange fish roe, something dangerous might happen soon.”

Fang Xingzhou looked down at his profile. “What kind of danger?”

Lu Jianchuan murmured, “A monster without eyes might crawl out of the sea, drag someone underwater, mate with them frantically, lay a large number of egg-like eyes, then chew them up and spit them out to feed the next generation, which has no hunting ability.”

A monster without eyes… Fang Xingzhou nodded. “Sounds like a dark fairy tale.”

Lu Jianchuan: “…”

“Zhouzhou, aren’t you scared?”

Fang Xingzhou then cooperatively shivered slightly and said, “I’m very scared. I’ll be careful not to go to the seafood market again. Thank you for the warning.”

Lu Jianchuan: “……”

Still uneasy, he stared at his lover, then extended his tongue, licking Fang Xingzhou’s ear and cheek like a dog, all the way to his shoulder. He then pulled Fang Xingzhou’s right hand, which had held the eggs earlier, to his mouth, covering the scent of the eggs with his own.

The tongue brushed against his skin, slightly prickly. Fang Xingzhou, ticklish, leaned back, listening as Lu Jianchuan emphasized again, “From now on, I’ll buy all the seafood.”

Fang Xingzhou smiled. “Okay.”

Only then did Lu Jianchuan let go, covering his belly and enjoying the second true feeling of fullness in five months. His brain paused, eager to revert to his true form to digest the nutrient-rich meal more efficiently.

“I want to take a bath,” he said.

“Okay,” Fang Xingzhou replied.

He quickly disappeared upstairs.

Cold water filled the bathtub. Lu Jianchuan locked the bathroom door and submerged himself in the water. His limbs disappeared, replaced by thick tentacles that filled the tub in the blink of an eye, spilling water everywhere.

Due to prolonged hunger, most of his tentacles had thinned, and some had even been consumed as emergency rations.

Tonight, after consuming enough energy, they finally had the chance to rapidly expand and recover.

The sound of flesh growing echoed in the bathroom. Soon, the double bathtub felt cramped. The excessive number of tentacles spread across half the bathroom, curling and writhing leisurely in the air. The intricate, nauseating patterns on them shimmered faintly under the fluorescent light.

The bathroom temperature plummeted, and the strange, rich fragrance grew stronger. The electrical system, affected by an unknown magnetic field, caused the lights to flicker intermittently.

The terrifying tentacle monster still retained the upper body and beautiful face of a human, like a demon luring souls from hell. In the flickering light, it was horrifying enough to drive anyone who witnessed it completely insane.

Yet the “monster” himself leaned comfortably on his soft tentacles, letting out a long sigh.

The tentacles acting as chairs opened their mouthparts, retracted their sharp teeth, and suctioned onto his back like suction cups, massaging his sore muscles.

His slightly bulging belly also became active. In just half a minute, it grew from the size of a four-month human pregnancy to the size of a full-term one. The embryo of an unknown species was excited, pushing against the belly in different shapes.

“Stop it…” Lu Jianchuan lazily said. Five temporary stomachs formed inside his abdomen, all secreting digestive fluids at once, rapidly converting the recently consumed meal into nutrients to feed the restless embryo.

For five months, he had consumed vast amounts of food to nurture the embryo, but none had been as effective as tonight’s meal.

The embryo was growing rapidly. The bathroom was filled with a rare moment of paternal affection. Lu Jianchuan even used a tentacle to grab his phone, opened a music app, and played an elegant piano piece. He tapped along with the flickering lights, enjoying himself with half-closed eyes.

…Until familiar footsteps approached, stopping at the bathroom door.

The lock made a soft *click*, but it didn’t open because it had been locked from the inside.

Both the large and small monsters froze.

Fang Xingzhou stood at the door, looking down at the water seeping through the crack. He touched it—the water was nearly freezing.

“Lu Jianchuan, what are you doing in there?” he asked with a frown.

From inside the bathroom came the sound of frantic scrambling.

Lu Jianchuan quickly used his tentacles to lick up all the water in the room, climbed out of the tub, and swiftly returned to human form. However, the egg inside him, still enjoying its meal, was reluctant to shrink back to its original size. It remained the size of a full-term pregnancy, and only after some coaxing did it grudgingly begin to shrink.

The temperature started to rise, the lights stabilized, and the hellish scene in the bathroom disappeared, replaced by a warm and peaceful atmosphere.

“…Nothing, honey,” Lu Jianchuan wrapped himself in a towel. “Do you want to join me? Should we bathe together?”

Fang Xingzhou didn’t respond.

He glanced at his phone, which showed Lu Jianchuan’s heart rate was nearing 200, while the little monster’s heart rate was also soaring toward 150.

His intuition was strongly triggered. Instead of lingering at the door, he took advantage of Lu Jianchuan cleaning up the non-human evidence and walked to the end of the hallway, opening the window.

Countless pairs of black eyes were staring at him from the power lines.

Fang Xingzhou’s brow twitched.

The power lines were densely packed with sparrows and crows. The bushes below rustled, as if something was scurrying through them. The air was filled with a dark cloud of what could be either mosquitoes or moths, hovering at a cautious distance, restless yet hesitant.

And these were just harmless small animals. Fang Xingzhou felt that something even more terrifying was lurking in the darkness, casting a predatory gaze in their direction.

Tonight, Xiangxing Street was unlit.

Fang Xingzhou gazed into the darkness for a moment, then suddenly felt a sharp pain in his temples, as if caught in an unknown magnetic field.

The next second, the bathroom door opened.

Lu Jianchuan, barefoot, strode toward him, leaving a trail of wet footprints on the floor. Seeing his wife standing by the window in thin clothing, he thought, This is bad.

His eyes flickered slightly, and a powerful intimidating force erupted from within him, spreading outward in layers from the house.

The sparrows immediately scattered, the moths vanished, and the bushes fell silent. The unknown gaze that had bothered Fang Xingzhou also disappeared, as if it had all been an illusion.

Outside, the house was peaceful, quiet, and serene, just like any other night in the past decade.

A cold body pressed against Fang Xingzhou from behind. One arm wrapped around his waist, while the other reached out to close the window.

“You’ll catch a cold, darling,” Lu Jianchuan kissed the top of his head. “You have work tomorrow. Let’s take a hot bath and go to bed together, okay?”

Fang Xingzhou turned around, meeting Lu Jianchuan’s bright eyes. Seeing no major reaction, he temporarily set aside his earlier vigilance.

“Why did you take so long in the bath?” he asked.

Lu Jianchuan blinked. “Hmm, I ate too much and accidentally fell asleep in there.”

Fang Xingzhou glanced at the bathroom door, which had been flooded earlier but was now spotless, without a single drop of water left.

He smiled, pinched Lu Jianchuan’s well-defined arm, and pretended not to notice anything unusual, giving the pair of monsters their private space. “I’m going to take a bath. You go wait for me in bed.”

Lu Jianchuan’s eyes immediately lit up.

Although he was already full from dinner, he didn’t mind a little dessert.

“Okay, honey! I’ll go warm the bed right now,” he said.

Fang Xingzhou watched him head to the bedroom, then walked into the bathroom. He scanned every detail but found nothing unusual, except for the overly strong, mysterious fragrance.

He took a bath, dried his hair, and was done in less than fifteen minutes.

His phone showed Lu Jianchuan’s heart rate had stabilized at 60.

Fang Xingzhou quietly entered the bedroom.

Sure enough, the person who had been eager to warm the bed was already asleep, leaning against the headboard, breathing steadily, without even covering himself with the blanket.

He walked to the bed, his gaze slowly sweeping over Lu Jianchuan’s body, then sat on the edge of the bed. Gently, he lifted Lu Jianchuan’s pajama top and placed his hand on his belly.

In just one night, the belly had noticeably grown, finally making its presence known. It felt warm to the touch, and the little one inside gave a slight kick, pressing against Fang Xingzhou’s palm through the skin.

He stayed like this for a while, then bent down and kissed Lu Jianchuan’s belly. In a very soft voice, he asked, “Are you full?”

The belly grew even warmer.

Fang Xingzhou added, “If you’re full, give one kick. If you’re not, give two. Okay?”

He waited.

The embryo, with its still-developing brain, barely understood the words of its other parent. It immediately pushed against the belly, pressing against Fang Xingzhou’s palm.

One kick.

After a moment, it seemed to reconsider, fearing that tonight’s feast might be its last. It began kicking repeatedly, urgently, until it accidentally woke its parent.

Lu Jianchuan opened his eyes, frowned at his belly, then quickly relaxed when he saw Fang Xingzhou. He pulled his wife into his arms, wrapping his limbs around her, and pulled up the blanket with his free hand.

“Goodnight,” he mumbled. “I’m so tired today…”

“Goodnight,” Fang Xingzhou replied.

The large monster quickly fell into a second deep sleep.

Fang Xingzhou took the opportunity to gently tap the belly and whispered to the third little life inside, “Shh, goodnight—”

The restless little monster seemed to understand. It stopped squirming and instead gently and carefully pressed against Fang Xingzhou’s fingertip through the belly, then retreated into its ‘mother’s’ womb and began to sleep soundly.

Both the large and small monsters were asleep.

Fang Xingzhou smiled, kissed the corner of Lu Jianchuan’s mouth with satisfaction, and held the jade pendant hanging around his neck. He quietly closed his eyes.