Chapter 1: Devil's Eye

The lunch bell rang, marking the end of another tedious half-day of classes.

As I watched my classmates file out, I stretched and resumed my interrupted nap.

The empty classroom was unusually quiet, with only the occasional sound of cicadas and distant laughter.

It didn't take long for me to drift off, and soon, I was in that dream again.

In the dream, everything was pitch black, with only a giant eye in the center.

A giant eye with a crimson pupil.

My father had given me the name Cheng Yongnuo, signifying his eternal promise to my mother.

However, when I was five, he abandoned us and ran off with another woman.

My mother cried every day and remarried a year later.

Whether by coincidence or fate, her new husband's surname was Bi.

My mother's remarriage forced me, just starting first grade, to change my name and surname.

Bi Yongnuo, as if to remind my mother that there are no eternal promises in this world.

But all this no longer mattered to her, because six months after establishing our new home,

she was raped and murdered.

One night, my mother was returning home from work as usual, but she was grabbed and assaulted in an alley by a mad beggar.

My mother fought back desperately, but she was too weak, and the beggar slammed her head against the brick wall.

He kept slamming her head until she was dazed, and then he began his vile acts. Once his beastly desires were satisfied, the beggar slowly left.

My mother lay in the garbage and blood, moaning softly, unable to move.

And I saw it all.

Each night, I would sit by the window, waiting for my mother to come home, because I always felt a barrier with my new father. Only with my mother around did I feel at ease.

That night, I watched my mother come home as usual, but as she passed through that dark alley, I saw the scene unfold.

Though young, I understood from TV dramas what was happening to my mother.

I wanted to call out for my new father, but another desire took control of me.

A desire for a woman's body.

This desire consumed my mind, and I only wanted to see that forbidden area I had never seen before.

Though another voice in my mind told me to call for my father once I saw my mother's naked body,

as her clothes came off, that voice grew weaker, and my breathing quickened.

In the end, I stared intently at the scene that TV dramas always skipped.

I felt no unease, only excitement, my face flushed, and my heart pounded wildly.

Suddenly, I felt a reaction.

The man smiled meaningfully, his left eye seemingly emitting a strange red light.

Before I could react, the stranger reached out and pulled me from the classroom into the corridor.

Suddenly, everything went black, and my breath stopped for a moment. When I could see again, I found myself on the deserted rooftop of the school!

The man casually placed me on the ground, then bent down and stared at me from a very close distance.

"Boy, what's your name?" he asked.

"Bi... Bi Yongnuo."

"Bi Yongnuo..." he muttered to himself, then continued, "Are your parents still alive?"

"My mother passed away years ago, and my father left when I was a child and has been missing ever since." For some reason, this man gave me a sense of trust, making me answer his questions honestly.

"Hmm, your dad is probably long dead." The man began to press around my left eye with his rough hands.

"Who... who are you? What are you doing?" Although the man didn't look like a bad person, his one eye was so strange that I didn't dare to move recklessly.

"Have you ever felt different from others, like your behavior and personality are always very different from everyone else's?" he asked in return.

"Yes." I nodded. That feeling was very lonely.

"Have you done anything bad?" The man smiled, stopping his probing hands.

"Causing my mother's tragic death should count as something bad, right?" I said with a hint of remorse.

"Absolutely heinous." The man frowned, then pointed to his left eye, "Have you ever dreamed of this red eye?"

I suddenly froze, my mouth agape without answering.

Because after asking the question, the man used his fingers to gouge out his left eye.

He just forcefully, blood and all, gouged it out and held it in his hand.

The eyeball moved slightly, looking at me as if it were alive.

I was extremely shocked and wanted to turn and run, but my legs were so scared that they felt nailed to the ground, unable to move.

Unable to even turn my head, I could only stare at the man, stare at that red eye.

The man smiled at me, but blood flowed from the empty eye socket like tears, making him look terrifying.

"One last question, have you ever thought that you might be a devil?"

As he finished speaking, the man used the index and middle fingers of his right hand to forcefully gouge out my eye!

The tearing pain made me scream, but my body couldn't move, and I could only helplessly watch my left eye leave its socket!

The man remained calm as he put my left eye into his mouth!

"Alright, now I'm going to fit you with a new eye. It will be extremely painful, and if you pass out, I'll come to find you tonight. Don't worry."

Before I could respond, the man pried open my empty eye socket with one hand and inserted the red eye with the other!

The eyeball went in smoothly, but once inside, I felt it vibrating rapidly, growing roots in all directions, connecting with the tissues inside my eye socket!

"Ah!"

I screamed madly. The pain of the eyeball forcefully pulling was incomparable to the pain of gouging out my eye earlier!

Soon, the pain made me pass out.

In my unconsciousness, I dreamed of that giant red eye again, but this time it had a big mouth.

It grinned at me and then swallowed me whole.

That was the last time I dreamed of the strange eye.

But the nightmare was just beginning.