PTGWD Chapter 49: Feast

Beneath the surface of the water, the tentacles supporting the boat opened their “eyes,” piercing through the dark seawater to firmly lock onto the massive creature rising from the depths.

…It was a bizarre monster, part bull and part fish. Its head was a single tightly shut giant eye, its eyelid covered in writhing seaweed. Below the head were six bull-like legs, paddling in unison through the water, while its tail ended in a sharp, rigid fish tail, trailing a length of intestine that continuously oozed blood.

The tentacles observed for a moment. On the boat, Lu Jianchuan tilted his head slightly, let out a soft “Hmm?” and bent down to submerge his brain-like mass into the water, using his true form’s eyes to gaze at the rapidly approaching monster.

He wasn’t mistaken.

What trailed behind was indeed a long section of intestine, and the tail connected to it had been torn in half, revealing flesh and bone.

An injured blind Eunice… How could something in these waters have injured Eunice?

Lu Jianchuan lifted his head from the water, growing even more excited. He began to shake the embryonic blood wrapped around the tip of his tentacle, intensifying the scent of blood in the water, and focused on waiting for his prey.

Though injured, the blind Eunice moved swiftly, almost entirely driven mad by the sweet scent. Like a fervent devotee catching a whiff of divine favor, its abdominal mouthparts let out a long roar, desperate for the blessing that would heal its wounds.

It shot toward the bait like a cannonball, its mouthparts wide open, revealing sharp, densely packed teeth, and surfaced dangerously close to the boat.

Just as it was about to swallow the bait…

In a flash, Lu Jianchuan’s tentacle provocatively slapped its mouthparts and then swiftly retracted.

It had tasted a hint of an indescribable, supreme delicacy.

The feeling was akin to a starving man watching a duck fly away just as it was within reach.

No creature could endure such provocation. Eunice let out a deafening roar, its injured tail churning up massive waves in the shallows. It leaped out of the water, its “saliva” pouring down like another rainstorm, drenching Lu Jianchuan’s small boat.

Lu Jianchuan carefully stored the embryonic flesh, narrowed his eyes, and looked up at the monstrous creature blotting out the sky, muttering an evaluation:

“Hooked. But… what an ugly thing.”

In the next second, countless thick tentacles shot out from the rickety boat, instantly ensnaring Eunice, which had left the water. The suction cups opened wide, their long, sharp teeth embedding into the monster’s body like nails, pinning it in mid-air.

Lightning flashed, and the ensuing thunder was drowned out by the monster’s screams. The rain mixed with dark green blood, carrying a strange, fishy scent, splattering onto Lu Jianchuan before flowing back into the sea.

The sea was Eunice’s source of power.

But it had been lured out of the water, losing most of its strength, and could only struggle in fury.

Its mouthparts let out a roar, tearing through the fabric of space and time, creating dozens of massive waves in an attempt to engulf Lu Jianchuan and his boat, hoping to return to its domain.

Lu Jianchuan freed two tentacles to steady the boat, riding the waves effortlessly, even being tossed high into the air before smoothly landing back on the water.

While enjoying the thrilling ride, he didn’t forget to professionally dissect the trapped beast.

Eunice, a deep-sea dweller, only surfaced during mating season to prey on fishermen. Most of the time, it ruled the ocean depths, virtually without natural predators. Thus, its body was far more succulent than its eggs—firm, chewy flesh, nutrient-rich blood, bones filled with green marrow, and skin that was fatty but not greasy…

Lu Jianchuan was eating like a madman.

He abandoned all table manners, digestive fluids even dripping from his mouthparts. Hundreds of suction cups chewed simultaneously, the sound of flesh, blood, and bones being crushed filling the air, the splattering blood forming a misty haze over the water.

Chewing…

Swallowing…

Digesting…

The embryo inside him also lost its mind.

In its short five-and-a-half-month existence, it had only eaten a stinky, half-starved glutton and a few fish eggs that weren’t even enough to fill the gaps between its teeth.

The prolonged hunger now transformed into an intense craving. It even unconsciously waved its underdeveloped tentacles, piercing through the amniotic sac to snatch a piece of meat that had fallen from its father’s teeth. It wrapped around the morsel, greedily absorbing the energy within.

As the surge of power flowed in, the embryo began to grow rapidly, and the amniotic sac expanded along with it, growing from the size of a ten-month pregnancy to a large balloon, then a tire, then a yoga ball…

Lu Jianchuan, momentarily distracted by his feast, gave the sac a hard smack, snatched back the stolen meat, and shoved the embryo back into his belly, forbidding it from consuming any unpurified, contaminated food.

The embryo paused, then immediately began to wail, though it didn’t dare to push its luck too far, fearing that Lu Jianchuan might cut off its “umbilical cord” and leave it with nothing.

Lu Jianchuan ignored the tantrum-throwing embryo and focused on his meal.

In the blink of an eye, the blind Eunice, as large as a ship, had been reduced to half its size. Its tightly shut “eyelid” trembled violently, the seaweed on it writhing wildly, even managing to repel the tentacles attempting to devour its eye.

Lu Jianchuan clicked his tongue.

The eye was a bit tricky.

He stopped trying to crack the eye and focused on devouring the lower half of the body.

“Boom!”

Lightning and thunder rolled in, illuminating the hellish scene on the sea.

As its body dwindled, Eunice realized it was facing certain death and let out another despairing roar. Its tightly shut “eyelid” slowly began to open, revealing a murky eyeball.

Lu Jianchuan was momentarily stunned.

The blind Eunice… wasn’t actually blind.

The thought had barely formed when a powerful force twisted time. Lu Jianchuan’s body began to stiffen, his tentacles feeling as if they were filled with mercury, unable to move.

Then, he watched as the flesh, blood, and bones he had just devoured began to regrow on Eunice’s body. Hunger surged through him once more, and the embryo, having just been scolded, seemed to forget its mother’s reprimand, extending a tentacle from the amniotic sac to scavenge for scraps.

Time was reversing.

With each fraction the “eyelid” opened, the reversal accelerated. By the time it was halfway open, Eunice’s body was almost fully restored.

Lu Jianchuan stared into the half-opened, eerie eye. The eye had no pupil, only swirling gray nebulae, deep and mysterious.

His tentacles grew stiffer, unable to control the monster regaining its strength.

Lu Jianchuan’s half-brain began to activate, the crimson eyes spinning wildly, scanning the monster amidst the reversed time.

A few seconds later, the other half of his human brain disappeared, fully transforming into his monstrous form. The peace charm Fang Xingzhou had given him hung below the brain-like mass, becoming the most bizarre ornament.

The embryo inside him seemed to sense something and, breaking free from the time reversal, began to thrash within the amniotic sac, emitting sharp screeches, trying to halt the reversed time for its mother.

“Good baby,” the brain-like mass moved up and down, nodding slightly.

Then, the rain stopped.

—The lightning vanished, the wind and waves stilled. The pitch-black sea at 2 a.m. was suddenly bathed in blinding sunlight. The sky was cloudless, the sea as calm as a mirror, reflecting the azure sky.

Eunice’s eye could no longer continue to open. A massive rift had formed in the fabric of time, like a flowing stream cut in half, unable to reunite with its other half no matter how hard it tried.

Lu Jianchuan had pulled them into another dimension.

With time severed, the restraints were lifted. The tentacles swiftly tightened, robbing Eunice of its last chance to escape.

Eunice let out a piercing shriek in this unknown dimension, its body, now 70% restored, thrashing in a desperate struggle. It hatefully opened its mouthparts toward the brain-like mass, drenching Lu Jianchuan in disgusting digestive fluids.

The brain-like mass shook in disgust, flinging off the mucus, and extended its thickest tentacle from behind. The tip of the tentacle sharpened to an extreme point, plunging directly into Eunice’s eyeball!

Without the protection of its tough eyelid, its core was fragile and defenseless.

The shriek ceased instantly.

The blind Eunice was impaled on the tentacle, its body twitching a few times before rapidly losing strength.

The tentacle’s suction cups opened wide, devouring the tenderest, most nutritious parts of the monster. The embryo was nearly intoxicated by the feast, urgently calling for its father to hurry up and digest.

As Eunice was gradually dismantled, the blue sky vanished, and the night returned. The storm raged on, and they were back in the real world.

With its eye gone, time had been corrected. Eunice was now reduced to half a skeleton. The tentacle that had devoured the eye was still unsatisfied, chewing the bones clean, leaving only the tough eyelid uneaten.

A satisfying, hearty meal.

Lu Jianchuan exhaled contentedly, his brain-like mass transforming back into a human head.

His skin, translucent like cicada wings under the lightning, his lips a vivid red, more striking than the roses in the hallway, was surrounded by mucus-covered tentacles, looking like an illustration from a supernatural novel—both eerie and enchanting.

Starting from the head, the rest of his body gradually returned to a more “human” form.

Many of the tentacles retracted, leaving only those needed to steer the boat. His neck, shoulders, chest, waist… and finally, his long legs reappeared.

His abdomen bulged grotesquely, far larger than a human at full term, the skin writhing as the embryo inside remained excited.

Lu Jianchuan, overly full, felt somewhat lethargic and casually lectured, “Mind your manners. Be a gentleman.”

The embryo was too excited to pay him any attention.

Lu Jianchuan shook his head, turned the boat around, and headed back toward the shore.

It was now… He glanced at the starry sky visible through the clouds, which told him the time.

It was 2:30 a.m.

His wife should still be in a deep sleep, right? He needed to hurry back. Lately, Zhouzhou had become increasingly perceptive. If he woke up early and found him gone…

Lu Jianchuan shuddered.

He increased the boat’s speed, sat down with his massive belly, and leaned against his tentacles.

However, having just gone through a somewhat troublesome battle, combined with overeating and a faint sense of worry, Lu Jianchuan’s vigilance had plummeted. He failed to notice that the color of the water beneath him was growing darker…

A massive shadow had been waiting for this moment, silently closing in.

…

The ship raced toward the location marker.

Fang Xingzhou pursed his lips, watching the real-time images transmitted on the screen.

Even though the ship was still dozens of kilometers away from Lu Jianchuan’s location, the camera could clearly capture the terrifying waves in that direction, one after another, like a tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake.

Now, the waves had inexplicably calmed, as strangely as they had appeared. Had Lu Jianchuan finished his hunt?

He heard Li Xuan and Yan Xin talking.

“The magnetic fluctuations just now were beyond imagination. Lu Jianchuan might have fully transformed into his true form, and… (he lowered his voice here to avoid Fang Xingzhou hearing), for safety’s sake, we should slow down and not approach too quickly.”

“I double-checked the records of marine-related mysterious events from the past two years and found no information on a blind deep-sea monster. If this prey truly required Lu Jianchuan to use such power, I’m worried that consuming it might cause the embryo to develop too rapidly…”

“It’s normal not to find information. Although the Institute is located underwater, our understanding of marine mysterious creatures is still far from complete.”

“The magnetic fluctuations have dropped again. That area seems to have returned to normal?”

“So quickly… The hunt must be over. Let’s pick up the pace.”

“…Wait!”

“What is that?”

“Brother Xuan, come look!”

“Bzzz… bzzz…”

An abnormal static noise, and the screen filled with snowflakes, the image going black for a few seconds. Fang Xingzhou sat up straight, his heart sinking, his brow furrowed.

A few seconds later, fragmented voices came through again, too distorted to tell who was speaking.

“Damn it!” “Is that Mr. Lu?” “Looks like… Holy crap, is he so full he’s lost his senses? Why isn’t he looking back?!” “What the hell is that thing?!” “Put on your glasses! Everyone, put on your glasses!” “Prepare the missiles! Aim at the 1 o’clock direction, coordinates are…”

The camera shook violently, the snowflakes multiplying, the image almost unrecognizable.

Fang Xingzhou’s heart pounded, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly, his face pale as he stared at the phone screen.

For a brief moment, the screen cleared, showing a clear image from the ship—

On the turbulent horizon, a lone small boat was a tiny black dot, bobbing on the waves. Behind it, a colossal beast of indescribable size had surfaced, its gaping maw like a bottomless pit, creating a massive vortex that seemed ready to swallow the entire ocean.

Even the massive ship, dozens of kilometers away, was being pulled toward the beast at an alarming speed. The camera, battered by the rain, was on the verge of falling.

Fang Xingzhou’s heart stopped.

His pupils contracted to pinpoints, his nails digging into his palms, his lips parting slightly in shock, unable to believe what he was seeing.

…In the last second before the screen went completely dark, a massive “flower” bloomed from the small boat. Countless snake-like tendrils shot out from the boat toward the beast’s mouth, densely packed, blocking the maw like an attacking Venus flytrap, forcing it shut bit by bit.

At the same time, several missiles streaked across the night sky, heading straight for the beast on the horizon.

—The screen went black.

Fang Xingzhou instinctively turned his head toward the sea.

A grand fireworks display erupted over the ocean, the flames reflecting in his pupils. He sat in the driver’s seat like a statue, seemingly forgetting how to breathe, unable to move for a long time.

How much time passed, he didn’t know.

The static noise returned through the headphones.

He heard a familiar, amused voice say, “Long time no see, Officer Li, Dr. Yan. What are you doing out so late? A new patrol mission?”

Then came Li Xuan’s near-hysterical complaints and Yan Xin’s awkward yet polite attempts to mediate. After a moment of chaos, Li Xuan leaned closer to the microphone and said to Fang Xingzhou, “We’re heading back now,” before cutting the connection.

Only then did Fang Xingzhou realize he had been holding his breath.

He gasped for air, his vision still hazy from the last image he had seen, his forehead drenched in cold sweat.

So.

Lu Jianchuan’s true form was… a Venus flytrap?!