Mystic Beast City

Today marks the twelfth year since Gao Yang's transcendence. Before the transcendence, Gao Yang was an orphan who had just celebrated his sixth birthday at the orphanage. That night, after eating a paper cupcake bought for him by the dormitory aunt, he fell asleep contentedly. Before falling asleep, he made a wish to find his parents, and then drifted off into a dreamy slumber. When he woke up, Gao Yang found himself sitting at a dining table with a bowl of steaming noodles in front of him, a strand of noodle hanging half out of his mouth, swaying. In the old house's hall, the soft morning light was gentle. Sitting across the dining table were a pair of unfamiliar middle-aged men and women. An elderly lady with a kind expression sat at the seat by the door, and next to him was a little girl with big eyes, about four or five years old. Don't dawdle, hurry up and eat, don't be late for school. The woman spoke with a sense of urgency. She was in her thirties, dressed in plain pajamas without any makeup, yet still very beautiful. "Son, do you want Dad to drop you off?" The man, chewing on a toothpick and smiling, asked the question. He was tall and robust, with a slight belly protrusion, a receding hairline, and traces of youthful handsomeness still visible in his features. "No way! Dad has to take me to kindergarten!" The little girl pouted and shouted, leaning over the table and scooping up a bowl of millet porridge. "Hehe, let's drop off the big brother first, and then the little sister, how about that?" The old lady smiled kindly, reaching out to pat the little girl on the head. Gao Yang's mouth dropped open, and the noodle slipped out with a plop onto the dining table. That year, he was six years old, unable to comprehend what 'transcendence' meant, nor did he know what a parallel world was. He thought he was still dreaming, but he didn't expect that one dream would last twelve years. Now, Gao Yang has long adapted to this new world and has already merged with the host. He is Gao Yang, 18 years old, a senior high school student, living in a warm family of five, with a kind and lovely grandmother, parents who are loving and harmonious yet occasionally bicker, and a mischievous and clever younger sister. He is 14 years old. He leads a good life, like most of his peers, burying himself in study for the college entrance examination, occasionally daydreaming about what university to attend in the future, what job to find, who to marry, and how many children to have. In short, Gao Yang's wish at the age of six has come true; he found his father and mother, and even got a grandmother and a younger sister as a bonus. He lives a happy life, with no other desires. Until his 18th birthday, everything changed. After the evening study session, Gao Yang was riding his bicycle home, passing through a night road when a dark figure suddenly rushed out from the alley, knocking Gao Yang and his bike over. Gao Yang fell, but he was not seriously hurt. He stood up with a wince, and then saw the person who had hit him. Under the dim streetlight, stood a short middle-aged man, emaciated, pale-faced, with a look of terror, dressed in tattered patient's clothes, covered in bloodstains. "Uncle, are you alright?" "Run!" The man clutched Gao Yang's shoulders with a terrifying strength: "Monsters! There are monsters everywhere! Run! Get out of here!" The man's voice carried a desperate, b****y stench: "Don't trust anyone." Bang! Before the man could say anything more, a bullet pierced his temple, passing through his skull and exiting from the other temple, instantly blossoming into a blood-red rose. A thick, metallic blood mist mixed with a pungent odor assaulted the senses. The hands that were gripping Gao Yang's shoulders slowly relaxed. The man's face, frozen in horror, would never move again. His bulging eyes were etched with despair, confusion, and a sense of unwillingness. Two seconds later, the body fell heavily to the ground. Gao Yang was dazed. He stood rooted to the spot, his feet quickly soaked by the spreading pool of blood, feeling sticky and wet. The slight ringing in his ears caused by the bullet piercing the man's skull gradually gave way to the pounding of his own heartbeat: thump, thump, thump-thump-thump. "Child, are you hurt?!" "Don't be afraid, you're safe now!" "Close your eyes, don't look down." Several police officers rushed over, one of them pulling Gao Yang into his arms and covering his eyes. The next day, Gao Yang made the local news headlines: "Severe Mental Patient Kills Two Nurses and Escapes at Night, Later Holds High School Student Hostage and Is Shot Dead on the Spot." Gao Yang took a day off to rest at home. He was indeed shaken, witnessing a life being brutally shot at close range, which would be too much for any ordinary person. Moreover, the incident with the mental patient was full of doubts, which made him feel very strange, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what was so odd about it. That night, Gao Yang took a sleeping pill. After falling asleep, he dreamed. The memories from the host's life before the age of six had long been assimilated by the Gao Yang who had transcended, but there were still some vague memories that seemed to have been forgotten. In the dream, Gao Yang returned to a late summer night when he was four years old. He had eaten too much watermelon, his bladder was swollen, and he got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. As he passed by his grandparents' room, he heard a rustling sound. Gao Yang was a bit curious, pricking up his ears, pressing against the cold door, the sound became more real and more unfamiliar. He had never heard such a sound, like the whimpering of a wild beast, and like the wailing of a deep-sea giant whale, which sounded very painful, mixed with a twisted excitement. Upon closer listening, there was also a coarse and muffled sound of tearing beneath the voice. Gao Yang felt his skin crawl with fear. Just then, he had finished listening to the kindergarten teacher tell the fairy tale of "Little Red Riding Hood." He wondered if a big bad wolf had slipped into his home and eaten his grandparents, right? Gao Yang's heart was pounding, but he mustered up the courage to gently push open the bedroom door. Peeking through the c***k, what did he see! He was so terrified that he turned and ran back to his room, dove under the covers, and even forgot to take care of his own physiological needs. Early the next morning, Gao Yang had wet the bed, thinking it was all just a nightmare. At that moment, his mother came in, sadly holding Gao Yang in her arms, crying, "Gao Yang, your grandfather has passed away." When Gao Yang followed his mother out of the room, his grandfather's body was just being carried away by the medical staff on a stretcher, covered with a white sheet. By the time the funeral was held, his grandfather had been reduced to an urn of ashes. From start to finish, neither Gao Yang nor his sister were able to see their grandfather for the last time. Thinking back now, there were many doubts about the incident. Grandpa doted on Gao Yang and his sister the most during his lifetime; they were his closest kin. Why were they not allowed to see him for the last time? If his memory was correct, the shape of Grandpa's body, covered by the white sheet at the time, was quite strange, as if one of his hands was missing. Didn't Grandpa die from a heart condition? Why was one hand missing? In his dream, Gao Yang, looking at the body on the white stretcher, couldn't make sense of it. Suddenly, the body on the white stretcher sat up! The white sheet was pulled down to reveal the mentally ill man. His eyes were hollowed out, leaving two deep, dark blood pits, and viscous black blood gushed from his seven orifices. He reached out his blood-soaked hands and forcefully grabbed Gao Yang's shoulders. "Monsters! There are monsters everywhere! Run! Get out of here!" "Don't trust anyone!" Ah! Gao Yang woke up from his dream with a start. It was ten in the morning, the sunlight was just right, and the April breeze gently lifted the curtains, revealing the hustle and bustle of traffic and the city's din outside the window. "Big bro, did you have a nightmare?" His sister sat at the head of Gao Yang's bed, looking at him with a tilt of her head, her big eyes blinking. Gao Yang was taken aback: "Why are you in my room?" His sister gave him a disdainful look: "The sun is shining on your butt, mom asked me to wake you up!" "Oh, okay, I know." His sister left the room. Gao Yang was still a bit dazed. He rolled out of bed and took a big gulp of water. At that moment, his phone rang, and Gao Yang casually opened WeChat. *Splash*—he spat out a mouthful of water.