Chapter 62: Powerful Obsession

    Nian stared at the monstrous shadow in front of him with dawning horror.

    Four... there were four nightmare creatures in this Cycle. Even mid or high level Cycles only yielded one or two nightmare creatures at most, so how could this low-level Cycle have four?! This was utterly ridiculous! How were the players supposed to survive like this?!

    In the middle of the atrium, Tang Ye was still howling and demanding the return ticket, and that’s how Nian discovered that the newspaper clipping the young man had obtained must have come from the fourth nightmare creature. But the main question was, why would the creature make use of Tang Ye? What did it want to achieve?

    All of a sudden, Nian recalled the broken diary entries Jin Jiuchi had read for him, the hatch with a broken handle, as well as the iron door that could not be opened from within...

    All the bits and pieces of clues gradually fell into place with a click in his mind, allowing him to see the real truth of this Cycle.

    For years, a boy had lived and grown up within the brick walls of the secret chamber underground, never allowed to see a ray of sunlight outside. He was akin to a shadow who was fated to stay in the darkness for eternity.

    The only highlight of his solitary life came from the books given by the landlady, Madam Liu. As she was the only person he had ever talked to, he did not see any problems with living this way because he thought that it was how things were supposed to be.

    Until one day, his existence was discovered by a tenant surnamed Dong.

    Just like that, the narrow bubble of his life burst apart, and he began to see the cruel truth that had been forced onto him. No one should live in confinement like he did, no one should be isolated in the secret chamber underground like he did. No one should be content with only reading books and toying with wild animals and insects in the room like he did – no one! He had been lied to! All his life, he had been deceived and he was so foolish to never realize the truth!!

    Freedom, light, and power – he would take back everything that was supposed to belong to him!

    The amount of respect and fondness he had for Madam Liu was how much he hated her since he discovered the truth. And thus, he subjected her to the most gruesome and painful death. She would die in eternal agony as tiny poisonous spiders wormed under her skin, lay nest on her flesh and took nutrition from her blood.

    He thought he would be able to escape from this hellish place with Dong’s help, but that man ended up fearing him after seeing what he had done to Madam Liu. He cried and cursed him, saying that he regretted ever letting him know the truth. Enraged, he knocked him out and watched as the man’s flesh was chewed by tens of ravenous and bloodthirsty rats until he eventually bled to his death.

    His thirst for revenge was not satiated even after the two lives he had taken. When he finally emerged from the underground chamber and saw the dazzling radiance of sunlight for the first time, it was to the sight of a jubilant wedding ceremony taking place in the apartment.

    Red. Red was the silk adorning the entire building. Red was the elegant and grand robes worn by the beaming bride. Red was the blood that flowed out of her body as he cut her apart limb by limb.

    Red... was also the color of his accursed eyes.

    He was so fixated in escaping that it gave birth to a powerful obsession that tied him to this apartment. No matter how many people he had killed, no matter how many times he repeated that fateful day over and over again, he would always remain as the ignorant boy locked behind the iron door, never to be exposed to the light of the day.

    But it was different now.

    Eerie and soft laughter drifted out from the black shadow, only to grow louder and louder until the entire apartment seemed to shake and tremble along with his excitement. His ruby eyes flashed brightly as he stared at the player under him. "I... am the ticket you need to get out of this place," he hissed in a low voice. "If you want to escape, then you need to take me along with you!"

    Nian’s pupils dilated in shock. "Watch out, he’s—"

    But the shadow moved much faster than the warning Nian was trying to issue. It flew with a whoosh and entered Tang Ye’s body through his eyes, nose, mouth and ears, causing his eyes to roll backwards to show only the whites.

    "AAARGHH—!!" Tang Ye squirmed and writhed on the ground like a fish hooked out of the water, his face twisting in extreme agony.

    "Yang Rouchuan!" Taking advantage when the possession was in progress, Nian urgently beckoned for Jin Jiuchi to come to him. "We have to board the bus as soon as possible before the nightmare creature can follow! It’s not something we can handle any longer! Hurry up!!"

    Jin Jiuchi was breathing heavily, blood dripping out of his injured arm in an unending stream. He gazed at the jade doll, then at Xinxin who was struggling desperately to defend himself against the onslaught of rodents and spiders. He sucked in a breath, gritted his teeth and dashed toward Xinxin!

    "Yang Rouchuan!"

    "Sorry, Nian’er!" Jin Jiuchi dived head-first into the sea of small creatures and dug out Xinxin with his good arm, pulling the young boy close to him.

    Xinxin’s eyes flew wide in extreme shock at the sudden help offered to him. He looked worse to wear with disheveled hair and skin marred in bloody cuts, and the gaze he directed toward Jin Jiuchi was full of disbelief. "W–Why..."

    He had thought that he was done for. Even though he could defend himself, anyone dealing with hundreds of small creatures at once would feel overwhelmed and lose their strength sooner or later. He was quickly losing his mind due to extreme fear, but who could have guessed that he would be rescued in the nick of time, by the person whom he had never expected to boot?

    Jin Jiuchi winced as the rodents bit and tore into his flesh, but he could still flash a sharp grin at Xinxin, "Didn’t I owe you one?" he said as he struggled to get on his feet with droplets of sweat trickling down his sharp jaws. "I will help you this one time and—urgh... after this, we will be even."

    Shock coursed through Xinxin’s entire body when he heard that. Was it because of the... Angry Chicken? A cheap common prop which everyone could buy? Indeed, Jin Jiuchi had promised to help him even at the expense of his own life in exchange for that little favor, but in the Cycle, what did that promise amount to? Xinxin had not taken it to heart at all, but who knew that... who knew that Jin Jiuchi would really keep his words at a critical time like this?!

    He instantly burst into tears and clung onto Jin Jiuchi tighter like a lifeline, "Thank you... Thank you so much!!"

    "No need," Jin Jiuchi clicked his tongue in annoyance as he kicked away the rat clinging to his shoes. "Let us just—"

    "Yang Rouchuan!!"

    Nian’s horrified cry sounded at the same time as Jin Jiuchi peripheral vision caught sight of two forces that pounced on him at once. They were none other than Dong and Tang Ye who had been possessed by the fourth nightmare creature!

    Jin Jiuchi’s scalp instantly turned numb. They were fast, so fast that all Jin Jiuchi could see was a blur. There was no time to evade! In that critical second, he spun around and protected Xinxin with his body!

    "A—AHH!!!" A high pitched scream erupted from Xinxin’s throat as warm blood splashed on his face.

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    A/N: Chapter 63-66 (the end of cycle 1) will be posted tomorrow at once as a mass release, so please wait for it ^^

    On another note, I’d like to announce that ten hours after I’ve posted tomorrow’s Chapters, I will apply for the book to be locked from Chapter 46 onwards, so take your time to read through the first cycle before then I’m very sorry for the inconvenience, hope that you will keep staying with me until the end QAQ