Chapter 65: Foolish Jin Jiuchi

    Meanwhile, outside the apartment.

    "W–What does Brother Yang want to do?!" Xinxin grabbed his own hair, flustered and confused in equal measure. "Why is he going in again?!"

    Nian pressed a hand on his forehead, his jaws clenched tight. "He wants to save those nightmare creatures..."

    "What?!" Xinxin cried out in shock.

    The fact that there existed not only one but three nightmare creatures who sacrificed themselves to save the players was nothing short of a miracle... but to dive head-first into danger to save those aforementioned creatures was just plainly foolish! They were a part of the Cycle, and whether they lived or died had nothing to do with players! Who would be so stupid to risk their own lives to save the creatures who could possibly kill them at any time?

    Ah, that’s right, that fool was none other than Yang– no, Jin Jiuchi.

    "Jin Jiuchi..." Nian murmured the name under his breath, his mind drifting back to the last smile the man shown, as well as his sincere request,

    ’Can you smile for me again? Nian’er, you look really pretty when you smile, you know?’

    Nian gritted his teeth and cursed in a low voice, "You damned husky... if you want to die so much, why did you ask me to find you when we get out of this Cycle?!"

    "What should we do... what should we do..." Xinxin bit his nails while pacing back and forth as he tried to wreck his brain for a solution. But then a movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention and he cried out in shock, "Little Brother, look!"

    Nian turned to follow his line of sight, and his gaze fell on the yellow kindergarten bus – or to be exact, the poster of Shishen Apartment on the bus.

    The original smiling faces of strangers standing in front of the entrance had morphed into the players’ who were entering the Cycle. On the poster, Sister Hong and Brother Zhi’s faces had been covered in blood spots that turned them unrecognizable. And as they watched, specks of blood also started to ooze out of Tang Ye’s beaming face just like the other two players.

    Tang Ye had died.

    But that was not the thing that turned him aghast.

    "W–Where is Brother Yang?!" Xinxin voiced the question in his mind out loud, panicked.

    The only players whose faces were still intact were Xinxin and himself. Had Jin Jiuchi also... no, that’s not right, he must still be alive. If he was dead, then his face should have also been covered in blood spots like Tang Ye, Sister Hong, Old Guan and Zhi.

    But the problem here was, Jin Jiuchi was not even included in the poster!

    "What the hell is going on?" Nian murmured, almost in a daze. "Is he not a player?"

    "What—" Before Xinxin could finish his sentence, all of a sudden came an earth-shattering explosion behind them.

    BOOM!

    Shocked, Nian spun around and his purple eyes reflected the crimson pillar that surged up to the night sky akin to fireworks. The ground beneath their feet was shaking so much that they had to hold onto the bus for support, and the wind blew scorching hot air to their faces, mixed with small fragments of glass.

    "Ah! W–What’s going on?!" Xinxin screamed in fright as he protected his head with his arms. His eyes landed on the poster beside him and he instantly cried out in joy, "Brother Yang... he’s here! He has appeared on the poster!"

    What?! Nian snapped his gaze to the poster and saw that the empty space beside him was slowly occupied by an indistinct silhouette that grew clearer and clearer. Soon after, Jin Jiuchi’s figure came to life. Even on the poster, he was still donning an annoying smirk on his face. And his eyes... they were bright silver in color and curved into crescents.

    Nian could not fully describe the intense relief that washed over him at that moment. He had no idea why Jin Jiuchi had only appeared on the poster now, but the most important thing at the moment was the fact that he was still alive.

    Jin Jiuchi was still alive! But why... why did he still not come out? Exactly what was going on inside?!

    The gale caused Nian’s silver hair to flutter behind his back. He slowly lowered the arm that was covering his face, and his purple eyes blazed in determination. It was truly not something he would do, to risk himself for the sake of someone with a mysterious identity whom he had just met a week ago, but if he were to leave just like this... he had a hunch that he would regret it for a lifetime!

    He hollered at Xinxin to rival the loud rumble of explosion, "Get in the bus first! I will catch up to you later!"

    "Wait, what?!"

    Ignoring Xinxin’s flustered calls behind him, Nian gritted his teeth and rushed straight to the apartment.

    Don’t you dare die all alone in this place, you damned husky!

    ***

    Five minutes ago, in Shishen Apartment

    With each step Jin Jiuchi took, more and more cuts landed on his skin from the flying air blade, causing blood to splatter all over the place. But it was as if Jin Jiuchi couldn’t feel anything as he rushed straight ahead to the shadow, all the while laughing like mad, "Hahaha... you cut my arm off! How dare you!!"

    Consumed by bloodlust, the shadow swung the cleaver to sever Jin Jiuchi’s other arm, yet at that moment, he suddenly caught sight of the man’s golden irises that shone unlike anything he had ever seen before.

    T–Too bright! He was a shadow who had stayed in the darkness for his entire existence, and coming face to face with something bright always evoked a sense of unease within him.

    It seemed like rather than the arm, the first thing he had to get rid of were those damn eyes, first and foremost!

    He changed the trajectory of his attack at the very last second, eager to dig out Jin Jiuchi’s eyeballs and crush them into smithereens, but then what happened next froze all of his movements and filled him in thick disbelief.

    He felt the long-lost sensation he thought he had forgotten – touch. Jin Jiuchi had touched him! But how...?!

    Even though it was only for a split second, he truly sensed it when Jin Jiuchi grabbed hold of his shadow arm, shocking him so much that he couldn’t react for a second. And that second was already enough for Jin Jiuchi to cut the distance between them. With a ferocious roar, Jin Jiuchi opened his mouth wide and bit down on the shadow’s arm, tearing it off his body!

    "Argh...!" The shadow staggered back from the excruciating pain. But even more than that, he was in a state of utter shock to discover that Jin Jiuchi could hurt him and... the man was even chewing on his arm, swallowing it down into his stomach!

    "Y–You... how..."

    Impossible! This man couldn’t touch him until a moment ago, so what had brought forth the change?!