Chapter 389: Being a Monster is So Lonely
Outside Taoyang, the temperature had dropped to just five or six degrees Celsius. Each gust of wind felt like a blade slicing across the face.
Su Tao instinctively pulled her clothes tighter, put on her hat, and jogged after Wen Man. When she caught up, she saw Wen Man pull out a fist-sized metal sphere. After fiddling with it for a moment, she tossed it into the air.
Su Tao followed the sphere with her eyes as it floated mid-air and began to spin rapidly, gradually emitting a dazzling light.
In less than two minutes, the metal sphere radiated intense heat, warming Su Tao’s face to the point it almost burned.
Wen Man exclaimed, “Oops, the temperature’s too high—let me lower it a bit…”
Soon, the warmth became just right. Wherever the sphere’s light touched, it felt cozy—not too hot, not too cold—so comfortable that Su Tao felt sleepy.
Su Tao asked in astonishment, “What is this?”
Wen Man grinned, clearly waiting for this question. “A miniature artificial sun. Give me your communicator—I’ll link it up for remote control.”
Su Tao thought she was just connecting it for a test.
It was indeed practical and interesting. Not only could it adjust the temperature, but it could also fly around like a remote-controlled drone.
The best part? It required neither charging nor energy crystals.
With this, she wouldn’t have to worry about the freezing cold on long journeys ever again.
Just as she was about to ask where Wen Man got it, Wen Man smirked triumphantly.
“It’s already bound to you—only you can use it now.”
Su Tao froze for a moment before realizing she’d been tricked. She lunged at Wen Man, laughing. “You tricked me!”
The two of them playfully scuffled.
From a distance, Gu Mingchi scoffed quietly—childish.
Yet, despite his mockery, he couldn’t help but keep watching, eavesdropping on her laughter.
The matter of the miniature sun was brushed aside in their playful banter. Su Tao couldn’t return it even if she wanted to.
Still, she warned Wen Man, “If you give me another freebie, I’ll send an entire truckload of snacks and medicine to your Qian’an base.”
Wen Man widened her eyes. “You win.”
After chatting for a while, Su Tao spotted Jiang Yu and Jiang Tong nearby.
The siblings seemed to be in a tense conversation. Even from afar, Su Tao could see Jiang Tong clenching her fists tightly.
The sight triggered a memory of her prophetic dream.
With a whistle, Su Tao summoned Ling Yu, who had been circling above. The bird immediately swooped down and perched on her shoulder.
“Go get closer—listen to what they’re saying.”
Ling Yu, ever the expert at eavesdropping, flapped its wings and flew toward the siblings.
“Tongtong, why do you insist on leaving here? Outside, it’s full of zombies and bad people, not to mention extreme weather and scarce supplies. Life will be unbearably hard… You’ve already suffered so much—I don’t want you to go through it again.”
Jiang Tong was adamant. “I’ll protect you.”
Those ugly, brainless zombies outside were no match for her.
Even among humans—whether ordinary or enhanced—few could pose a threat to her.
She was no longer the frightened, helpless girl who used to cower and cry when her glasses were taken away.
Jiang Yu felt powerless. “How am I supposed to believe you?”
Jiang Tong wanted to confess everything—how she had been treated like a commodity, traded and abused by humans for years.
She remembered the cruelest tormentors who, finding her partial blindness amusing, gouged out her eyes for sport, laughing as she stumbled around in terror.
When she was no longer entertaining, they used her as zombie bait, leaving her to die in a horde’s jaws.
But that death became her rebirth.
When she awakened again, the world became clear for the first time.
She realized how rotten and broken the world was—and how the people who once tormented her could tremble in fear when she struck them down.
The power to control her fate—to be so strong that neither humans nor zombies could touch her—was intoxicating.
What was so great about being human?
If being a monster meant she could live with dignity, then so be it.
Yet, being a monster was so lonely.
The low-level zombies obeyed her commands but couldn’t speak, couldn’t think—just mindless, decaying bodies.
She tried reaching out to humans, but whenever they saw a vulnerable young girl alone, they tried to deceive or harm her.
So, she killed and ate them all.
She kept searching—for someone who could stay with her.
Once, she met a boy her age.
He stole water and food for her, told her stories she’d never heard before, called her brave and cute, and encouraged her to live on.
She thought she had finally found someone.
But when she revealed her true self, he ran away in terror—and brought others to hunt her down.
In the end, she killed them all and consumed him entirely.
Later, she met another like her—a “Skinwalker.”
But the Skinwalker found joy in killing, spending her days slaughtering and collecting human skins.
Jiang Tong couldn’t relate to that.
Then, she reunited with her brother.
Her human memories reawakened—of the man who once loved and protected her as if she were his entire world.
At that moment, she realized—if she had a choice, she wanted to be his little sister again.
She didn’t want to be a monster.
She wanted to go home with her brother.
The Skinwalker had warned her repeatedly:
“Your brother won’t accept you for what you are. You can’t lie to him forever. One day, he’ll find out the truth.”
Jiang Tong had come to hate the Skinwalker.
Her brother wasn’t like that boy—he would accept her, no matter what she had become.
