Ning Su shared his train of thought—from the painting to the nature of the desire monster—with the other players.
Each of them fell into their own reflections.
Suddenly, Ling Xiao asked, "Why do human faces grow on the head?"
The question sounded nonsensical at first, but it was clearly connected to Xue Fei's current form as a desire monster, and perhaps it held even greater significance.
Qin Wu answered, "Because human faces need to be exposed? They can't grow somewhere covered by clothes, right?"
Tang Xin said: "If the human face grew on the belly, as the sensory organs for communication and interaction, that belly area would probably have evolved to become an exposed part of the body as well. Aren't you putting the cart before the horse?"
Jia Yahua: "Perhaps we can set aside biological foundations and speculate in the direction of fantasy—the human face serves as the window through which the person is centrally displayed, and so it grows on the most important part of the person, namely the brain?"
Ling Xiao said flatly: "Desire monsters have no brains. Their core is desire. Their faces grow on the part of the body that best embodies their desire."
The several players were stunned once again.
Qin Wu: "In that case, Xue Fei's desire really isn't lust. So what does it mean that her face is on her belly?"
Ning Su: "To be precise, her face is on the outside of her uterus. Her desire is childbirth."
He had sensed this as early as the first time Xue Fei fed him a meal.
The several players suddenly understood.
Tang Xin: "Indeed, childbirth also requires relations with men!"
In the morning, Ning Su had corrected their line of thinking, saying that Xue Fei's desire might not necessarily be lust. They had asked if it wasn't lust, why would she sleep with so many men, and Ning Su had said that was the key point.
At that time, many thoughts had crossed Tang Xin's mind, among them the fleeting idea of having children.
Tang Xin continued: "She buys you breakfast and even feeds you by hand—she's treating you like a child. She desperately longs for a child!"
Fei Xueying: "And her head has turned into a child's head, her limbs have also become a child's limbs. Are those all manifestations of her longing, or...?"
Qin Wu added: "The face of the child's head that replaced hers looks a lot like Li Ming, the man she just had relations with!"
The more they thought about it, the more they were convinced that Xue Fei's desire was indeed childbirth—or rather, the desire to have a child.
But thinking about some of the details was still quite horrifying.
They had no idea what exactly the player Li Ming had experienced that night.
What they could now be certain of was this: if Xue Fei's desire was not lust, then she had not intensified Li Ming's lust; Li Ming had simply failed to control himself.
After they had relations, from within the empty skull of the childbirth desire monster, a child's head that closely resembled him would be pulled out.
And those endlessly growing child limbs that Fei Xueying had torn apart, scattering them all over the room.
Hiss—
Qin Wu: "So this is a desire monster? How terrifying."
"However, if something has no mind, only a single pure desire—can it still be considered a living creature?"
Jia Yahua: "Only living creatures have desires."
Ning Su: "Another thing we can confirm is that desire monsters are transformed from humans."
Qin Wu followed his train of thought and suddenly understood: "Right!"
"Everyone here knows Xue Fei. A lot of the women even asked Uncle Li to kick Xue Fei out. That proves Xue Fei was definitely a person before."
Ning Su: "So a crucial question becomes: how did she transform from a human into a desire monster?"
Qin Wu glanced at him, both puzzled and impressed. "Are you really a newcomer? How are you this good at analyzing instances?"
He had been led along by him the entire time. No newcomer was this terrifying.
Ning Su said, "What I do is nothing. I know someone who's even better at analyzing instances."
He spoke with a hint of pride—the light in his eyes was proof enough.
He had realized that if Ling Xiao's world was considered a higher-dimensional world, or a world of more advanced civilization, it wasn't because the people in this world were inherently smarter at analyzing instances. In their own world, Shi Tianzhu could outclass a large portion of the people here. Rather, the people in this world were born with stronger superhuman abilities and had technology decades, maybe even a century, ahead of theirs.
Of course, it was possible that Ning Su simply hadn't yet encountered anyone else formidable besides Ling Xiao—someone whose abilities were specifically focused on intellect and mental processing, for example.
The tattooed man said impatiently, "What's the point of all this talk? Now that we know her desire is procreation and her core body part is her belly, can we just destroy her already?"
It was already the fifth night. None of the players in their apartment building had managed to destroy a single desire monster yet.
Xue Fei had become a prize piece of fat meat, and plenty of players were itching to destroy her and advance their own mission progress.
While they were here discussing things, the other players were only thinking about kill-stealing.
Jia Yahua said, "Don't be in a rush. Once we fully understand the desire monsters, it'll be easier to destroy them later. Sharpening the axe does not delay the woodcutting."
Ling Xiao suddenly grabbed Ning Su by the wrist. "Let's go. We'll talk back in the room."
"..."
Several players' expressions soured slightly. They looked like they wanted to say something but held back.
They were anxious to hunt desire monsters, yet when Ling Xiao and Ning Su decided to retreat to their room to discuss, they desperately wanted to know what conclusions they'd reach.
Qin Wu: "Hey, wait up! I'm coming too!"
He cast an inconspicuous glance at the other players.
When they were left out of the discussion, they grew anxious. A look of frustration appeared on some of their faces—they wanted to speak up but either couldn't swallow their pride or didn't dare.
What's this called? Being spoon-fed and still complaining it's too slow.
As if anyone had an obligation to spoon-feed them.
That was surely what Ling Xiao was thinking.
Jia Yahua also followed them. He had been to the two men's room before with Qin Wu, so this time he went along just as naturally.
Tang Xin bit her lip in frustration.
She wanted to listen!
But—it was already late at night. Would it be inappropriate for a girl to go to two guys' cramped little room? Ning Su was one thing, but Ling Xiao was her idol!
Ning Su was being pulled along by Ling Xiao. Looking at Ling Xiao's hand, with its clearly defined knuckles and fingers much longer than the average guy's, he thought: Nineteen-year-old Ling Xiao really does have a fiercer temper. If it were the Ling Xiao of the future, no matter what anyone said, he wouldn't even lift an eyelid.
But then again, maybe not.
That was his Flower God. If it were the Ling Xiao inside the memory space, he probably would have just crushed the person on the spot.
They had actually covered most of it outside already. After entering the house, based on what they currently knew, they still couldn't deduce exactly how a person turned into a desire monster.
Jia Yahua said, "Here's a point: Why did Uncle Li seal up the main gate?"
Qin Wu: "Right, he said it wasn't safe outside, and the residents here also mentioned ghosts and monsters. Are the ghosts and monsters they're talking about the desire monsters? Could sealing the gate really keep out desire monsters that powerful?"
Jia Yahua added, "Desire monsters look like humans during the day. So by sealing the gate to keep outsiders from entering, does that prevent desire monsters from outside from sneaking in?"
Then he asked further, "Do desire monsters only look human during the day, and at night they revert to their monster form?"
Ling Xiao: "That's a possibility. There's another possibility—Xue Fei hasn't fully transformed into the desire monster form yet."
Jia Yahua: "You mean, what we discovered tonight still isn't the complete form of a desire monster?"
Ning Su: "It could be that she hasn't reached that stage yet, or it could be that we haven't fully unlocked her."
Unlocked.
There was that word again.
