Raise It

## Opens April 15: Sisyphus ##

[Nonhuman x Human | Sweet Puppy x Emotionally Detached]

[She Raised a Monster]

[Short Blurb]

“I can’t play with you,” said the fox. “I haven’t been tamed yet.”

*

Grant me a name, and teach me what it means to be one of a kind;

Grant me a tongue, and teach me eloquence and sweet words;

Grant me your love, and teach me to defy the supreme will of my kind.

[Full Blurb]

On the eve of the Gaokao, Tang Nian found an egg-laying little monster in her own backyard.

Curious, she kept it in an unused foot-soaking bucket, covered it with a stainless-steel basin, and observed its growth every day, documenting her experiments in meticulous detail.

The monster was a shapeless mass, nothing like a human, bloodthirsty and highly aggressive.

Its mimicry tentacles could regenerate: cut one off with a knife, and it would grow back endlessly.

The monster could withstand both heat and cold, and survive in extreme environments.

…

Later, eggs from an alien species began hatching across Earth. The Supreme United Government secretly dispatched agents to conduct a sweeping purge. Worried she might get caught up in the trouble, Tang Nian decided to kill the monster.

When she came home that day, the monster had vanished from the bucket as if it had sensed what was coming. In its place was the stray cat that often wandered around her yard. The cat crouched at the bottom of the bucket and imitated the nickname Tang Nian’s father used for her: “Nian… Nian.”

Its voice was high and thin, like a cat’s meow, like an infant’s wail.

*

After the Gaokao, Tang Nian confessed her feelings to Lin Yichen, a boy from her club. He turned her down gently: “Thank you for liking me.”

Not long afterward, an insect plague broke out, and human society collapsed overnight. During her escape, Tang Nian ran into Lin Yichen again. He staggered toward her, his face beautiful, his lips stretched into an unnaturally wide, rigid smile. He struggled to enunciate: “Nian Nian, I… love you.”

Tang Nian: “Disgusting.”

Tang Nian: “Get off him.”

*

#Mistletoe Insect: Named after mistletoe, this was the first extraterrestrial insect species discovered by humans. At rest, it resembles a slime and can extend mimicry tentacles to parasitize an animal’s brain. It controls its host’s behavior by secreting neurotransmitters and transmitting electrical signals. It has mouthparts, is omnivorous, and has an unknown lifespan.

#Hive Mind: The queen of an insect colony controls its other members by releasing chemical compounds, creating a collective consciousness and a highly social structure. Examples include bees and ants in the order Hymenoptera, and termites in the order Blattodea. A hive mind emphasizes the complete erasure of individual will. Every individual is a cog in the workings of the entire species. I am the swarm, and the swarm is me.

[Content Notes]

1. Dominance (female) & Submission (male)

2. The protagonist is flawed, has a weak sense of morality, and is morally gray. Readers who expect the protagonist to meet high moral standards may want to steer clear.

3. The male lead is entirely nonhuman and has no human form of his own. He can only wear human skin, which the female lead will take from corpses for him to wear.

4. The protagonists won’t suddenly fall deeply in love the moment they meet. The male lead’s traits will take time to emerge.

5. Set in a fictional world during the apocalypse, unrelated to reality. Sanity-deteriorating, with horror, a small amount of science fiction, and a touch of Cthulhu Mythos elements. Not a power fantasy; slow burn.

Theme: Love can cross rivers and seas