The world we live in is not the only one.
"Anomalies" may happen around any of us at any time. Remember: observe the "things" around you carefully, but don't let them realize you've noticed them.
Especially when they wear the face you know best and call to you with such affection...
*
"That Isn't My Younger Brother"
Fang Chi dares to swear it was an accident.
But faced with his younger brother lying in a pool of blood, he can only sit helplessly on the sofa, doing nothing, quietly waiting for his brother's breathing to stop.
Fang Chi thinks it's all over, but this is only the beginning of the nightmare.
When Fang Chi wakes from a deep sleep, his younger brother happens to emerge from the room, speaking in a strange, slurred accent.
"Big brother, I'm hungry."
Fang Chi wonders if he's gone mad. Otherwise, why is someone he's killed countless times standing in front of him, perfectly fine? Fang Chi tries again and again, but every time, his younger brother reappears the next morning, staring at him with increasingly unfamiliar eyes and smiling more and more like someone else.
Black sand washes over Fang Chi's mouth and nose, pressing intimately against him from the inside out. His whole body is swallowed up in it, and he lets the shifting sand bury him.
*
"Monster Keeper"
Xiang Yan works in a secret laboratory, leading a grueling, joyless life every day. His only comfort is probably the little monster he raised himself.
It's well-behaved and clingy, rubbing against his palm every day, wanting to be held.
It keeps growing, and becomes more and more attached to him. It won't let anyone else touch it.
As Xiang Yan watches the little monster in his care grow up, he feels an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
It's just far too clingy, to the point that it's affecting his work.
So Xiang Yan has no choice but to isolate it on its own. He simply thinks: This kid is way too possessive.
Until one day, he notices that inexplicable marks are appearing on his body more and more often. The weight crawling over him at night is no dream.
The little monster pins him beneath it, its sticky breaths blowing across his face.
All he realizes is that the little monster seems to be in heat...
*
"Bionic Lover"
Lu Yisheng is intensely avoidant. When he falls for someone, he doesn't confess. Instead, he avoids them and buys an AI companion.
With enough code and a wide enough range of plugins, it can even seem more like him than a real person.
Lu Yisheng is very satisfied with this intelligent companion. The only shortcoming is that he still doesn't think it's quite lifelike enough.
He just needs to add more data, and then...
For the first time, Lu Yisheng becomes like a creator, teaching a "life" from scratch.
He personally shapes every movement and every habit. Every word it says comes from his code, and every thought follows his will.
Lu Yisheng is pleased to control everything about it, though sometimes he feels like a pervert with an excessive need for control.
The only problem is that lately, it keeps staring at him at night, for entire nights at a time.
Those eyes remain unblinking in the dark, as if waiting for something.
So who is controlling whom? Lu Yisheng doesn't know the answer either.
But now he can't live without it...
*
This work consists of three short stories about nonhuman beings. In each, the top is nonhuman and the bottom is human.
The stories and characters are entirely fictional. Don't apply them to real life; the author made them all up.
[Cosmic Disclaimer: There are too many elements and too many spoilers, so no content warnings are provided.]
Theme: Finding warmth to depend on in an indescribable world
