"Ethan!"
Autumn tried to grab Ethan's hand. But it was too late - the tentacle had already lifted him high into the air, far out of her reach.
"Put me doooown!"
Ethan could only scream helplessly.
Everyone must sympathize with him. How could anyone stay calm and silent in a situation like this?
Especially when he was dangling nearly 30 meters above the ground. To make it worse, Ethan's head was facing downward, while his left ankle was tightly wrapped by some unknown object.
The tentacle swayed wildly - first to the right, then to the left. Ethan was dragged along, swinging like a pendulum. Only when Ethan became dizzy did the tentacle finally pull him closer - toward a cluster of glaring eyes.
The eyes on the tentacle suddenly widened. Then immediately narrowed with visible irritation.
Maybe the tentacle had just realized it had grabbed the wrong person. Its target had been the petite, soft girl down on the rooftop - not this tall, scrawny boy.
The tentacle promptly let Ethan fall, dropping him from nearly 30 meters up - just as he had asked earlier.
"Nooooo!"
Ethan flailed in midair.
Just as he thought he was about to meet his ancestor in heaven, the tentacle changed its mind. It coiled around his waist again and hoisted him back into the air.
Then it dropped him again - then caught him again - and repeated this several times. The wretched tentacle was treating Ethan like a screaming toy.
It dragged him back toward the eyes on its body to get a better look. Although the tentacle had plenty of large eyes, their vision seemed terrible.
Ethan's face had gone pale. His heart pounded after so many freefalls.
The eyes on the tentacle were clearly mocking him. The body of the tentacle trembled and twitched as if it were laughing at him.
Seeing such blatant disrespect, Ethan began to get genuinely annoyed. He mustered all his strength, pushing through the dizziness and nausea.
He leaned back slightly to build momentum - then, using every ounce of power a scrawny teen could summon, he kicked straight into the largest eye on the tentacle.
One eye got hurt, and all the others got angry with it!
The tentacle writhed, twisting and trembling. From its many eyes, a dark red fluid suddenly burst out - like a ruptured water pipe.
Then, to Ethan's horror and disgust, all the eyes - both large and small - randomly popped off and dropped to the ground.
"Ewww!"
A shrill scream rang out from below. It was a girl's voice - Autumn's. Apparently, she had already made her way to the ground floor at some point without Ethan realizing.
She had gone down there to catch Ethan in case he fell. But instead of a boy, what landed on her was a downpour of giant eyeballs mixed with foul-smelling pus and blood.
Once the last eye had dropped off, the tentacle let go of Ethan again.
Ethan knew Autumn was waiting below, but he had no intention of letting a tiny girl, only 153 cm tall, catch a guy who was 178 cm. His logic demanded his brain stop imagining that ridiculous scenario.
Thankfully, during this fall, Ethan was just able to stretch out his arm and grab onto the tentacle again - having long limbs really came in handy this time.
Though the tentacle was incredibly long, its diameter was only about as thick as an anaconda. And even though the thing was slimy and slippery and gave Ethan the creeps, he wouldn't dare let go - not even for money.
So he clung to the disgusting tentacle and slid down along its body.
Now and then, his hand accidentally brushed against the few remaining eyes still on it. When that happened, the tentacle twitched and convulsed as if in pain. And from below, Autumn's scream would ring out again - yet another eyeball must've fallen on her head.
Along that most unpleasant descent, Ethan happened to glance through the balcony windows of other rooms in the mini apartment building he lived in.
He didn't mean to peek, but for some reason, his eyesight and even his hearing had gotten much better lately.
"F*** you all! It's the middle of the night and you're screaming like lunatics!"
Ethan felt relieved to hear the swearing as he passed the 7th floor balcony. If the tenant still had the energy to curse like that, it meant he was conscious - and likely not Infected yet.
The guy on the 6th floor seemed fine too. He was wearing headphones and didn't even notice the chaos outside. He was fully focused on playing an old but legendary strategy game which was so famous to Vietnamese gamers: Age of Empires.
Ah, and the couple on the 5th floor… Well, the fact they still had the stamina to be all over each other, passionately doing what couples do, meant they were also healthy and very happy.
On the 4th floor, a small group was busy drinking. Their faces were red as beets. They were so drunk they even raised their glasses to toast Ethan as he passed by - sliding down the tentacle past their balcony. Ethan just hoped that by morning, they'd be too hungover to remember any of it.
The folks on the 3rd floor were sitting in a circle when Ethan flew past their balcony. All of them had their eyes shut tight. Only one person was awake, scribbling down something on a notepad.
At first, Ethan thought they were some kind of cult performing a weird ritual. But upon seeing the backs of the cards in their hands, he realized they were just playing Werewolf.
So overall, from the 7th to the 3rd floor, the tenants of the rooms with balconies all seemed to be living their best lives.
Huh? So it turns out Ethan is the only one acting like a bad luck magnet?
Why were there so many people living in this mini apartment building, and yet Ethan was the only one targeted by the landlord and that mysterious tentacle?
With that burning question about fate still stuck in his mind, Ethan slid all the way down to the base of the tentacle, only to land with a loud thud when his long legs got caught on the balcony railing of the second floor.
"Ethan! Hurry, get down here!"
Autumn's voice rang up from the ground.
Ethan peeked over the balcony and saw Autumn pushing a delivery truck up close to the mini apartment building.
With the help of the truck, Ethan could jump down from the second-floor balcony onto the roof of the vehicle, then easily and safely climb to the ground from there.
But just as Ethan swung one leg over the balcony railing, then immediately, the tentacle shoved him hard, knocking him back down onto the balcony.
It seemed the tentacle had grown tired and bored of its little adventure. It was now slowly retracting, pulling itself back toward wherever it came from. Whether by accident or on purpose, it dragged Ethan along deep into the second-floor apartment.
Unlike the rooms above, this one was almost pitch black. The only light came from a faint red glow on the water heater's power switch.
Ethan's Bloodbound mark was pulsing and jolting more violently than ever.
Ethan scrambled to his feet.
Then he froze.
Because from the middle of the dark room, he heard a low, guttural growl.