Chapter Two: The Mysterious Alien (Part One)

“Beep, beep...” Strange mechanical sounds echoed continuously in my ears as I gazed at the scene before me, my face etched with astonishment and shock. Only moments ago, as I awoke, I realized I hadn’t died after all. Yet, upon seeing my surroundings, I felt a terror greater than death itself. Why? Because standing before me were two monsters, resembling eight-armed octopuses!

One of these creatures wore something akin to a motorcycle helmet and was massive and entirely red, while the other was smaller and covered in green. They muttered to each other in an unintelligible language, their disgusting tentacles occasionally extending and writhing toward me. Were it not for my desperate attempt to suppress my nausea, I might already have vomited myself to death.

But what frightened me even more than these monsters was discovering that I was trapped inside a thin, membrane-like dome! My first thought was that I’d been abducted—by mysterious aliens, just like in a science fiction film!

I had no idea where I was. All around me were rows of unfamiliar machines, flashing with blue and red lights, and my body was enveloped in a green liquid, rendering me utterly immobile. The terror of the unknown made me tremble uncontrollably; I had no idea what those monsters intended to do with me. I simply couldn’t make sense of it—hadn’t I just been hit by a car? Why had I suddenly appeared in this infernal place? Did these aliens collect human bodies as a hobby? That didn’t seem right—I was alive, wasn’t I? Could they want to experiment on me to study humans? The thought nearly made me faint from fear.

As my mind raced with wild speculation, the intense fluctuations in my brainwaves triggered an alert from the machines and caught the attention of the two octopus-like creatures outside the dome. Both, one red and one green, turned their many eyes toward me in the green liquid and suddenly let out a grating wail, waving their limbs in an animated display. Witnessing this, I squeezed my eyes shut in terror and prayed fervently—I’d rather be dead than face this horror!

“Gulu gulu... Enkaka... En... Hello, sir.” Just as I was praying, a strange man’s voice suddenly sounded in my mind, startling me.

“Who? Who’s speaking?” I racked my brains, unable to understand how I could hear a stranger’s voice within myself. Perhaps I’d been so frightened by these alien octopuses that my mental endurance had increased, or else I’d have died of fright already.

“Heh heh, dear Earthling, please don’t be afraid. Open your eyes—I’m right in front of you. Sorry, your language is rather difficult; I need to adjust a few times.” The voice echoed again within me, and I finally realized it was coming from the red octopus outside the dome! Forcing myself to open my eyes, I trembled as I asked inwardly, “Wh-what are you... I—I’m telling you, I’m useless to you, just let me go...” I wasn’t joking—being abducted by aliens wasn’t just a matter of life or death; they might dissect me, leaving not a trace behind. The thought sent a chill down my spine. I’d thought dying in that car crash would be the end, but now I’d ended up in an alien lair—how absurd!

“Please, sir, don’t be alarmed. My companion Wamba Ugui and I mean you no harm. My name is Pang Guangfan Jian. We’re space explorers from Planet U. Or, in your words, aliens. This time, we were merely conducting a high-tech natural evolution experiment on Earth. We truly didn’t expect the electric beam we released to hit your body; we thought that cliffside airspace would be empty.” As he finished, I finally saw clearly that the red, tentacled giant was the one speaking. Judging by his tone, he seemed unthreatening—had they actually rescued me? I hesitated. “You say I was hit in midair by your beam at the cliff? That can’t be—I was hit by a car...” As I started to protest, I suddenly recalled that the collision happened right at a cliffside curve. Perhaps the truck’s impact had sent me over the edge.

Only then did I realize these aliens might truly have saved me. I felt a surge of gratitude and tried to thank them. “Um... Wamba Ugui, is it? Hm? Turtle King? Uh... Pang Guangfan Jian? Bladder Offender? Pfft...” I tried to address them, but their names sounded so ridiculous I couldn’t help bursting out laughing. After a while, I barely managed to compose myself. “Well, I suppose you might be telling the truth, but since I’m fine now, please send me back as soon as possible.”

“Er...” The red octopus, Pang Guangfan Jian, seemed troubled. “I’m sorry, Earthling, but I’m afraid you can’t return to your world. Because... because the only thing we retrieved with the electric beam was your soul.” At first, the sight of their thousands of eyes made me queasy, but now their words replaced my disgust with pure shock!

“Wh-what did you say? S-soul? Are you saying I’m just a spirit without a body?” Despite the crash, my intellect remained intact, and I instantly grasped the meaning behind the alien’s words. In a daze, I glanced down at myself. It was true—my body was fused with the green liquid, completely transparent! I nearly broke down on the spot; if I hadn’t already been a soul, I’d surely have fainted from the blow.

“Yes, sir, but please rest assured. With the technology of Planet U, we can transfer your soul into any living creature. If you don’t mind, we recently found a fellow explorer’s ship wrecked in space, and his body has been preserved aboard. You could inhabit it and be reborn.”

“Wait! You mean you want me to enter the body of one of your kind and become an alien octopus like you?” I was speechless. To inhabit such a form—I’d rather die! I collapsed, despairing. “Forget it. My life was worthless to begin with—just let me die...”

“Sir, please don’t think that way! Every life is precious, especially an intelligent one like yours. You must cherish it. Think—there are hundreds of billions of planets in the universe, but only a few can nurture intelligent life...” The red alien, Fang Jian Pang Guang, began to lecture me, but his words couldn’t stir any will to live within me.

“All right, enough! Just tell me—can you restore me to my original form? If not, I’d rather die!” I was in utter turmoil—how could I accept this? To appear before my family and friends as an eight-armed octopus—what a nightmare! No need to imagine; the horror was clear enough.

As soon as I spoke, the two aliens fell into deep thought, then began to consult with each other, as if grappling with an immense problem. As for me, all sense of relief at surviving had vanished. To live like this was no different from death! I had no desire to continue as a monster.