Chapter 54: Die In My Hands

    Cw: gore

    Nian snapped his gaze to him in shock. "...What?"

    Thinking that the jade doll had missed it, Jin Jiuchi said again with a click of his tongue, "Brother Zhi. Not that nightmare creature, but the real him." He took another glance and muttered under his breath, "Though it looks like he’s seconds away from dying..."

    Nian moved to the window and upon seeing that the paper dolls were already far away, he went to flick on the switch. The scene he saw next immediately caused him to hold his breath.

    He finally knew what was making the floor sticky and slippery – blood. Lots of blood and tiny pieces of flesh that covered almost every inch of the floor. The corpses of tens of rodents strewn all around the floor, some were burnt to charcoal while the others were spotted with deep wounds on their bodies.

    Sitting in the corner of the room and partially hidden by the nightstand, was none other than the player Zhi.

    Jin Jiuchi was right when he said that the man was seconds away from death. The flesh on his lower body had almost been eaten whole, leaving only a little mangled meat sticking to the white bones. His stomach was ripped open with intestines half spilling out, and blood continued to pour out of him in a continuous stream. It did not look like he had been wounded in a single strike though. Instead, judging from the small and uneven bite marks, it looked more like he had been gnawed on by tens of ravenous rats for quite a period of time. If not for the weak movement of his chest, Nian would have taken him as a corpse for sure.

    Icy numbness washed over Nian’s spine at the thought of how those rats had kept him alive just for the sake of preserving their food fresh.

    How many hours had it been again since he disappeared? To think that he was able to stay alive until now, he really ought to be the most powerful player in this Cycle – after Nian, of course.

    Nian approached him carefully, mindful of the fact that the vicious rodents would return at any moment. Behind him, Jin Jiuchi asked in a hushed voice, "Nian’er, how come he is here? Didn’t he go missing in the kitchen? Also, we have come here earlier during the day and we didn’t see him earlier..."

    "It’s not the same," Nian shook his head. "Just think of the day and night as a parallel space that’s running in the same timeline. And the area that connects these spaces are the rooms we are staying in. In case we can’t get back to our room before morning, then we will also be stuck here together with the nightmare creatures. Just like he is."

    "Oh..." Jin Jiuchi nodded without understanding anything at all.

    Nian crouched down in front of Zhi and grimaced when he saw the grotesque state the man was in, meanwhile Jin Jiuchi was staying near the door because he could not stand the foul odor. "Hey, are you still alive?" he asked.

    The tip of Zhi’s fingers twitched and he slowly lifted his head with much difficulty. Nian cursed under his breath when he saw that the man’s eyeballs were missing, and his vocal cord was ruined so as to prevent him from calling for help. Though the man was still breathing, he was as good as dead now.

    Zhi parted his chapped lips, yet no words came out of his mouth. Tears of blood started to pour out of the empty sockets and his huge frame quivered in fear and unwillingness.

    He was but a step away from becoming a veteran player, but who could have guessed that he would end up meeting his demise in this low-level Cycle?

    That day, he was rummaging through the cabinets in the kitchen when a huge force struck him from behind. It came so sudden, so quick that he did not have the chance to defend himself. And when he came to, he found that he had been trapped in this room, together with hundreds of bloodthirsty rats that would torture him every few hours.

    At first, he could still defend himself with his props and skill card, but soon he used up all of them to their limits, and after that he could only fight using his body. How was one supposed to cope when surrounded by hundreds of predators from all sides? The answer was only one – they couldn’t.

    He could not escape, could not call for help, nor could he die. A thick sense of despair permeated off his body, and he started to wheeze as if he couldn’t quite take a breath.

    "I’m sorry," Nian told him solemnly as he summoned his needle. "Rather than dying uselessly here, it’s way better for you to die in my hands. At least, I will be able to get your skill card."

    Sensing what Nian wanted to do, Zhi began to struggle and his body spasmed like a fish thrown out of water. However, his effort ended up futile as the next second, the silver needle in Nian’s hand elongated into a thin and translucent blade that slashed the air with a light whistle, severing his neck from his body.

    Thick blood spurted out of the stump of his neck as his head rolled to the ground. In that split second before Nian looked away, his gaze fell on a familiar leather cover peeking out of Zhi’s pocket. He did a double take and his eyes widened upon recognizing what it was. He hastily took it away, though unfortunately, half of it had been drenched by the man’s blood.

    It was the journal Zhi had found in Old Guan’s room!

    "Nian’er," Jin Jiuchi alerted him. "I heard Tang Ye’s footsteps. He is coming out of his room."

    "Okay, I’m done here. You can turn off the lights."

    They could not allow Tang Ye to know what they were doing here. Nian picked up Zhi’s skill cards and props as the room descended into utter darkness once again.

    Together, they rushed out of the room toward the kitchen ahead of Tang Ye.

    "What?" Nian asked upon sensing Jin Jiuchi’s gaze on him. Despite not showing it on his face, he felt dread settle on the pit of his stomach for Jin Jiuchi had witnessed him killing someone for the first time. "Are you appalled?"

    Jin Jiuchi blinked, "Actually, I really want to see how you transform your needle into such a cool blade one more time. I didn’t quite catch it earlier. Can I?"

    Nian rolled his eyes. He should have known that it would be the only thing Jin Jiuchi focused on. What did he expect from this silly husky? It must be so hard to keep it to himself until Nian asked him instead of rambling on it like he did with Zhi’s skill card.

    "Rejected," he said coldly.

    "Moreover..." Jin Jiuchi chuckled and reached out to wipe the speck of blood on Nian’s face with the pad of his thumb, causing the jade doll to halt on his tracks with a stunned expression. "You should have asked me to do the job. Tsk, how can Nian’er dirty his beautiful hands?"

    Nian stared at him in bewilderment, not expecting Jin Jiuchi to say something like that. "You—"

    Alas, Jin Jiuchi gave him no time to ponder. He tilted his head sideways to listen and hummed. "He’s coming down." After saying that, he bent down to sweep the jade doll into his arms.

    Caught off guard, Nian scrambled to hold onto his shoulders for purchase as Jin Jiuchi carried them down the stairs with his long legs. They managed to arrive in the kitchen lightning fast and joined Xinxin on the mouth of the hallway.

    Xinxin breathed out a huge sigh of relief, "Thank God, you guys are okay!"

    Jin Jiuchi carefully placed Nian down at the same time as Tang Ye appeared in their line of sight. "Hey, sorry to make you wait," he said in a hushed tone. "Let’s go."