18. Night Rain in Black Harbor City

“Sis, is something wrong?”
“I just feel… haven’t we seen that person somewhere before?”
The blue-haired youth only remembered the waiter who walked by earlier: tall-waisted, slim, broad-shouldered, long-legged—a beautiful mannequin figure. A moment later, the woman with green highlights suddenly exclaimed, “This is bad!”
She didn’t elaborate, but turned and sprinted toward the elevator. The blue-haired youth followed her without looking back, shouting, “Sis, what happened?”
“That person appeared in the mall’s surveillance footage! Even if it was only a single frame!” the green-highlighted woman said. “He and the customer named ‘Lucen’ were seen both in the mall and this hotel… this can’t be a coincidence!”
Panting, the two rushed to the elevator lobby. But one elevator had already ascended, carrying the waiter straight to the 30th floor.

…

Standing before the door of room 3003, Bai Wei’s eyelids suddenly twitched. His instincts told him something ominous was about to happen. Yet, as he frowned and tried to reason it out, he found no answers.
Compared to any lurking danger, the atmosphere around 3003 was far stranger. A deathly silence shrouded the entire corridor; even the bright lights shining on the dark red carpet seemed dim.
But it was a weekday afternoon—such quiet atop the hotel was not unusual. Bai Wei pressed his ear to the door of 3003, confirming there was no activity in the living room.
He used the room card copied from the front desk to open the door. Though it was the peak of afternoon sunlight, all he saw was pitch darkness.
Every window in the living room was covered by thick curtains!
Lucen must be up to something unspeakable. Bai Wei pushed his trolley inside, slipped on his gloves once more. He edged along the wall toward the bedroom. But before he could speak, a strange scent caught his nose.
The smell of the deep sea… a trace of brine, but more of a sweet, intoxicating aroma. Bai Wei’s ears grew warm. He covered his nose and mouth, trying to drive the scent from his nostrils.
The bedroom door, black and unresponsive, was within arm’s reach.
Bai Wei knocked gently on the door.
“Room service,” he said in a low voice.
No response.
Whatever state Lucen was in, he would not notice this silent intruder. Bai Wei gripped the medicated handkerchief and twisted the doorknob open.
Bai Wei had always been a hunter, and believed himself to be one. Only much later would he realize that some predators release baited pheromones to lure prey closer—then skin, dismember, and devour them whole. On this day, for the first time, he became the prey.
The room’s scent was stronger, curtains drawn everywhere. Bai Wei’s night vision let him see scattered mineral water bottles, canned food, and a large freezer. In the center, a huge bed loomed with a mound of darkness. Seeing that shadow, Bai Wei breathed a sigh of relief, knowing Lucen was inside it.
Holding his breath, he moved past the obstacles to approach. At that moment, something tripped him. He clearly remembered there being nothing at his feet; he glanced down quickly, but saw only a blur, as if a dark lump was there.
Had Bai Wei possessed night vision better than any feline, he would have seen a few colorful tentacles dragging a shell of a body under the bed. That discarded shell, once tossed about, now needed to be stashed away. If Bai Wei’s eyesight had been just a little sharper, he would have recognized that shell’s form.

It was unmistakably his husband—Lucen’s form.
But an instinct for danger surged in Bai Wei, crawling up from his tailbone and sinking deep into his brain. Like the spark flickering when a bulb is switched on… Even standing beside the bed, even just a step from the mass breathing weakly beneath the covers, Bai Wei immediately made the wisest decision.
“Sir, the ice you requested has been delivered to the living room. I’ll leave you to it,” he whispered.
He retreated, but again something tripped him—damn it! There was nothing there just a moment ago! Bai Wei struggled to steady himself and bolted toward the bedroom door.
Had the room been lit, had Bai Wei looked down, he’d have found the thing that tripped him was a long, thick tentacle reaching for him. In that case, he would not have taken another step toward what he believed was the safe escape route… Again, his vision blurred; something stumbled him, sending him crashing toward the bed—an impossibility by any physical law. Bai Wei’s eyes widened; he didn’t see the several tentacles that had already wrapped tightly around his calves…

And were dragging him onto the bed!
“You’ve come,” an ancient voice murmured, “I’ve been waiting… you’re finally here.”
Thrown onto the bed, dizzy and disoriented, Bai Wei began to doubt Newton, question René Descartes who posited the law of conservation of momentum—from any angle of force analysis, he shouldn’t have fallen like this! The presidential suite’s bed was soft, but Bai Wei still cried out in pain. When the stars faded, he saw a pair of eyes glowing with ghostly blue light in the darkness.

“Don’t go… Don’t think of escaping…”

A mess of hands grabbed his left arm, the one he was trying to use to push himself up. Bai Wei cried out, “How many people are here…”
On Lucen’s bed, just how many people were there! Even in this situation, they were intent on dragging him over—did they think the more the merrier?
Almost at once, the sensation on Bai Wei’s arm became just one hand. As if its owner briefly broke free from the instinct to “drag Bai Wei back”, remembering that a person should only have one left hand.

“Don’t… scream.”

The other right hand gripped Bai Wei’s jaw and cheek, its thick index finger sliding into Bai Wei’s mouth, suppressing any cry he might utter.

“Mmm… mmm!”

Bai Wei fought desperately. At that moment, he realized the bed held only one person—his tall, strong husband. Bai Wei had never known Lucen’s strength, never realized how skilled he was at grappling. Bai Wei’s legs struggled so fiercely that Lucen flipped him over, pressing him down onto the bed.

“Now, you’re finally here.”

The voice sounded like Lucen’s, yet somehow not. The medicated towel in Bai Wei’s hand was snatched away and tossed to the floor. He was pinned to the pillow, hearing only Lucen’s heavy breathing. Lucen’s body was sometimes frighteningly cold, as though just lifted from a freezer. Sometimes, terrifyingly hot, like a soldering iron steaming white.
Bai Wei’s head spun. That sea scent drained all strength from his body, leaving him prone on the pillow, whimpering like a kitten, again and again. The waiter’s disguise was torn off and cast aside. When Bai Wei’s calf skin touched Lucen’s, he finally realized what Lucen intended.

And understood the words Lucen repeated in his ear.

“Let me…”

The sea’s aroma enveloped him, pulling him ever deeper. In that first moment, Bai Wei uttered a small, uncontrollable cry.

“I forgot… it hurts you…”

“Soon… it won’t…”

Bai Wei’s trembling face, buried in the pillow, was turned over. He vaguely felt something sweet and viscous drip into his mouth.

Soon, Bai Wei felt all his muscles begin to tremble.

…

“3003, I suppose this must be the room. Look, there are wheel marks here.”
The green-highlighted woman was extremely cautious. Armed, she carefully opened the door to 3003. The blue-haired youth followed close behind, nervously preparing for combat with a serial killer.
There seemed to be some noises inside. The blue-haired youth pricked up his ears, trying to listen.
But soon, his teammate retreated, a hint of embarrassment on her face… there was simply no time to enter the bedroom. The blue-haired youth waited until she shut the door and led him to the elevator before asking, confused, “Sis, what happened?”
“It’s nothing, false alarm.” The green-highlighted woman twirled her hair around her finger, a habit whenever she tried to ease embarrassment.
The blue-haired youth: “Huh?”
The green-highlighted woman: “I saw fragments of the waiter’s uniform thrown out of the bedroom into the living room… and, uh, the noises inside were quite loud.”
“Loud noises… was it a murder?” the blue-haired youth wondered. “Sis, shouldn’t we wait by the door to ambush him when he comes out?”
Her fingers twisted her hair faster, as if smoke might rise: “Rather than murder, it sounded more like… creation… Well, they probably can’t create a person, but the crying was pretty loud… I guess we just stumbled into a scene of… intimacy.”
They reached the hotel’s lobby. The phone at her waist rang.

The pink-haired woman’s message was brief: “Elite combat, come to the coordinates immediately.”

“Elite combat? So it’s an elite they can’t handle… Eh? Wasn’t it sunny outside just now? Why is it suddenly pouring?”
The blue-haired youth looked up, astonished at Black Harbor City, now shrouded in dark clouds, rain streaming in torrents.

It was as if some supernatural creature had triggered supernatural forces.

That night, Black Harbor City, accompanied by wailing sirens, was lashed by heavy rain.

Rain roared, streams whispered, droplets quivered, stirring up froth.