Even so, if she were to fully extend her shell that existed in the human world at this moment, it would still be considered colossal.
But could it be that the place she currently found herself in was...
The real world?
Lin Xingjie suddenly felt a bit bewildered.
Wasn't she dreaming?
By the standards of a dream, wasn't it a bit too vivid?
And how could she say that the world of silence and darkness just a moment ago was her own imagination when in the blink of an eye, she was in a familiar place?
...Familiar? Yes, very familiar.
Lin Xingjie recalled it now.
This alley, she often passed by it, right near her home.
She sniffed, and that sound resonated once again, accompanied by the "aroma" that made her stomach growl.
Was it something delicious?
The girl... no, it should be said that at this moment, her consciousness was driving the monster-like shell to crawl on the ground, moving swiftly.
The convex mirror at the corner of the alley reflected a cold luster under the streetlamp's glow, and the strange scene of the chaotic stream flowing over the ground flashed by in the reflection.
In an alley where faint disco music played in the background, Lin Xingjie finally spotted her target.
Two drunken men staggered out of the back door, arm in arm, while a rat scurried by the drainage ditch, splashing up a large patch of water.
"Hey, did you hear something?"
One of the men suddenly looked up and asked groggily.
"What... sound?" he burped, "Probably from inside..."
The companion let out a hiccup.
"Doesn't sound like the music... forget it, it must be a rat, let's just head home early..."
Lin Xingjie paid no attention to them, her "gaze" entirely focused on the young girl lying beside the trash can.
She wore earrings, her hair dyed a dark yellow, and her face caked with thick makeup was contorted with pain, the whole person curled up motionless, only the occasional weak wail validating that she was alive.
But she was not far from death.
Lin Xingjie could see a grotesquely shaped shadow, like a bug, crouching on the girl's head, its tentacles quivering slightly as if it was drinking a beverage, vigorously sucking up the nutrients within the human body. And the shadow's lower half was completely merged with the girl's head, inseparable.
The girl's face seemed somewhat familiar.
This creature... this creature was...
She pondered for a while, then suddenly a light bulb went off.
Wasn't this Wang Nana?
How did she end up like this? What was that thing clinging onto her? An alien life form?
Lin Xingjie immediately felt a sense of schadenfreude.
The odd "bug" seemed to sense her approach, fearfully burrowed directly into Wang Nana's chest, and disappeared without a trace.
The next second, Wang Nana, lying on the ground like a corpse, suddenly began to convulse all over, as if having an epileptic seizure.
Soon, the trembling Wang Nana "stood up" from the ground—no, more accurately, it was like a marionette being pulled up from behind, standing in place in an extremely unnatural and awkward posture that seemed likely to lose balance at any moment.
"Ah... ah ah..."
Wang Nana let out restrained sobs from deep within her throat, desperately opening her mouth wide; because her jaw had completely come unhinged, she could open her mouth as wide as a python ready to swallow its prey; drool uncontrollably flowing, her eyes bloodshot and rolled upwards.
Seeing this unbelievable sight, Lin Xingjie felt an urge to laugh.
If it had been someone else, they would have been scared out of their wits, but she found it amusing.
Because, she herself was no longer human either, but a monster whose strength and size were far beyond that of her opponent.
It was indeed a dream, only in a dream would there be such ludicrous and unrestrained scenes...
Lin Xingjie certainly wanted revenge on the other party, even if it was just in a dream.
Because in reality, she could only take benign measures—even if she wanted to kill the other party, even if she truly had the ability to do so, for the sake of her own future, she had to forcefully contain her rage.
However, since it was a dream, doing something a little over the top... shouldn't be a problem, right?
Besides, Lin Xingjie couldn't hold back anymore.
She was starving.
Wang Nana suddenly stretched her limbs drastically and ran backward in a comical posture like a circus clown; yet, her speed was astonishingly fast, arriving beneath the wall in the blink of an eye, and effortlessly jumped atop the three-meter-high wall, swaying as she surged forward.
But this struggle was pointless—
A breath later, Wang Nana's body was engulfed by the chaotic, murky flow.
The human flesh rapidly dissolved, leaving only the strange insect shape to squirm out of the body, desperately wriggling its slender shell trying to climb out of the "water surface," but it was utterly powerless against that terrible erosion and soon "gurgle gurgle" sank into the churning dark currents below, vanishing without a trace like someone who had accidentally stepped into a swamp.
"Hmm... there doesn't seem to be a feeling of satiation."
Lin Xingjie's "gaze" flickered for a moment, and she could feel that there were far more than one or two odd presences hidden in the city's night, and some were even more powerful—and thus, more "delicious"—than the monster inside Wang Nana.
But even having eaten a bit of "food," albeit only to the extent of a snack, was enough to clear Lin Xingjie's mind, no longer driven by the intense hunger.
She began to contemplate how to continue playing out this dream.
As the saying goes, "daytime thoughts lead to nighttime dreams," Lin Xingjie figured that her dreaming of Wang Nana must be due to the day's experiences.
So, might other places appear in the dream as well?
That's right! What about herself! She suddenly thought, what would it feel like if she went to see herself, who was currently lying in bed dreaming?
At that thought, Lin Xingjie didn't say another word and started dragging her massive "body" toward her home, fearful that the dream might be interrupted midway, thwarting her from realizing such an interesting idea.
However, the things you least want to happen always come the quickest—
As the black, filthy flow filled the alley and surrounded the small house, Lin Xingjie attempted to peek through the window at the inside of the house, but nearby, a cat's piercing cry suddenly rang out.
What, is it scared of seeing me?
After all, in the dream, I am quite the formidable monster...
All at once, the girl realized that the entire dream was starting to shake violently.
What's going on?
It was as if a shrill alarm was circling in her ears, leaving her feeling surprised and a bit uneasy.
The sounds by her ears were blurry from afar and then, all at once, they were next to her—
...
Lin Xingjie abruptly opened her eyes, sitting up in bed.
Her underwear soaked with sweat, the black-haired girl took deep breaths as she suddenly lifted her head, subconsciously looking toward the window.
— Inky darkness covered the glass, clearly there was a massive surge flowing past like a tide.
She held her breath in shock.
But after a few breaths, the strange blackness disappeared, replaced by a half-moon hanging in the sky, a dim, deep starry night, the yellow glow of a street lamp, the edges of the house across the street, and the outlines of the alley.
An all-too-familiar sight, as if everything that had happened was just her surroundings.
Only the cat's cries coming from outside the window were unusually clear.