Homebody artist x gloomy nonhuman creature
Xia Zhiwei is an assistant for the struggling idol group Twinkle. Her meager salary barely covers rent, so she also takes commissions online as an illustrator.
Whenever she has free time, she likes to draw original characters.
One day, she goes fishing by boat with a friend and catches a tiny pink octopus.
Its soft, squishy little appearance instantly wins her heart, and she even uses it as inspiration for a humanoid original character.
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But after Xia Zhiwei returns from fishing, she often has trouble sleeping at night.
She keeps dreaming that her body is wrapped in tentacles, reaching toward…
She jolts awake and turns to look at the fish tank in her bedroom. The little octopus is resting obediently at the bottom.
But when Xia Zhiwei closes her eyes again
It opens its eyes and crawls out of the tank. It drags its eight arms behind it, growing larger, becoming something too strange to describe.
A slimy trail of water is left on the floor, while in bed, all its arms are wrapped around Xia Zhiwei.
It is female. It reproduces by receiving sperm packets from a male’s arm into its mantle cavity.
She is female too, so it turns its own mantle cavity inside out and loses itself in her tight, wet depths.
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Inspired by the little octopus, Xia Zhiwei designs a pink-haired original character. Pretty and adorable, she shines onstage, a born idol~
She names the pink-haired OC Lilith.
Life goes on peacefully, except Xia Zhiwei’s back aches more and her legs grow weaker.
Then one day, she happens to notice a red mark on her shoulder. She goes to the mirror and turns her back to it
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On the security footage, Xia Zhiwei sees everything it has done to her.
Terrified, she throws it out of her home along with the fish tank.
Life seems to return to normal, until a new member named “Lily” suddenly joins Twinkle.
She has pink hair and a beautiful figure. Xia Zhiwei stares in shock: Lily looks exactly like the OC on her drawing board.
Lily can sing and dance beautifully, and she turns the struggling group into a hit overnight. She has a sweet, harmless smile and seems so perfect she can’t be human.
But Xia Zhiwei alone knows what happens in the dressing room, on the deserted stairwell, and in her home, where her OC drawings hang…
Lily performs the human behaviors it has learned: a sweet smile, pleading eyes, and a voice dripping with possessiveness. It is all deeply unsettling.
What it likes most is taking possession of her, wrapping all its cold, sticky tentacles around her.
Its arms are everywhere. No matter what Xia Zhiwei does, she cannot escape its control.
“Zhiwei, call me Lilith. Ah~ Poor Zhiwei, you can’t even make a sound~”
“Are you going to throw me away again, Zhiwei? Hehe, you’re not allowed to leave me. Ever.”
Theme: Work hard every day and keep moving forward
