Raise It

## “Sisyphus” launches April 15 ## [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.” * Please give me a name, and teach me what makes someone unique. Please give me a tongue, and teach me eloquence and sweet talk. Please give me your love, and teach me to defy the supreme will of my kind. [Full blurb] On the eve of the university entrance exams, Tang Nian found an egg-laying little monster in her own courtyard. Curious, she kept it in an unused foot-soaking bucket, covered it with a stainless-steel basin, and observed its growth every day, recording her experiments in meticulous detail. The monster was a shapeless mass, not remotely human. It was bloodthirsty and highly aggressive. Its mimetic 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, insect eggs from beyond the stars began hatching all over Earth. The Supreme Joint Government secretly sent people to carry out a sweeping extermination. Worried she’d get into trouble, Tang Nian decided to kill the monster. When she got home that day, the creature in the bucket had vanished, replaced by the stray cat that often wandered through her family’s courtyard. 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 a baby’s cry. * After the university entrance exams, Tang Nian confessed to Lin Yichen, a boy from her club, but he politely turned her down. “Thank you for liking me.” Not long afterward, an insect disaster broke out, and human society collapsed overnight. While fleeing, Tang Nian ran into Lin Yichen again. He stumbled toward her, his face beautiful, his rigid smile stretched far too wide. He spoke indistinctly: “Niannian, I... love you.” Tang Nian: “That’s disgusting.” Tang Nian: “Get off him.” * #Holly Mite: Named after mistletoe, this was the first extraterrestrial insect discovered by humans. When relaxed, it looks like a slime and can extend mimetic tentacles to parasitize animal brains. It controls its host’s behavior by secreting neurotransmitters and transmitting electrical signals. It has a mouthpart, is omnivorous, and has an unknown lifespan. #Hive Mind: The queen of an insect colony controls 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 member is a cog in the functioning of the whole species. I am the swarm, and the swarm is me. [Reader advisory] 1. Dominance (female) & Submission (male) 2. The protagonist is imperfect, has a low sense of morality, and is morally ambiguous. Please proceed with caution if you expect the protagonist to meet a particular moral standard. 3. The male lead is entirely nonhuman and has no human form of his own. He can only wear human skin. The female lead will find the skins of the dead for him to wear. 4. The protagonist won’t suddenly fall deeply in love at first sight. The male lead’s traits will take time to emerge. 5. Set in an imaginary world during the apocalypse, unrelated to reality. Sanity-blasting, with horror, a little science fiction, and a little Cthulhu Mythos. Not a wish-fulfillment story, and slow-paced. Theme: Love can cross rivers and seas