When the Wild Beast is Trapped in the Nightmare Cycle (BL)
Chapter 75: Special Skill Card
Chapter 75: Special Skill Card
Jin Jiuchi stared unblinkingly at the screen, "The chosen one?"
"Yes," Shen Nianzu gave a sneer full of mockery. "That’s how the Nightmare refers to us. Because we are the people chosen to go through deadly Cycles and deal with life-and-death situations on a constant basis."
But that’s the price they had to pay for power, no? Jin Jiuchi had no idea whether it was his brain that was wired differently than others, but he felt like everything he had undergone was an equivalent exchange for magical powers such as skill card and props. According to Shen Nianzu, the Nightmare would even enhance their physique. One would give, and the other would receive. No matter from which angle Jin Jiuchi inspected it, it could be counted as a win-win situation, right?
...Of course, this only applied to Jin Jiuchi who thought of the Cycles as a spectacular vacation trip to see the world.
He had a hunch that Shen Nianzu would get angry if he were to share his genuine thoughts, and thus he opted to keep mum and pay more attention to the app instead.
The interface of the app was simple enough that a technologically challenged person like Jin Jiuchi could understand it. Basically, the app was divided into five main sections: forum, store, profile, leaderboard and organization.
Jin Jiuchi’s eyes immediately zeroed in on the store where he could buy his own props and Shen Nianzu, who saw through him at a glance, slapped his hand away before he could click on it.
"Oww...!" Jin Jiuchi put on an extremely wounded look as he cradled his hand to his chest, acting like a fragile baby bird who was kicked out of the nest by its mother. "Nian’er, I’m hurt!"
Shen Nianzu held back the urge to roll his eyes. "Props is the last thing you should check. You don’t even know how many experience points you have received from the Cycle, and you already want to buy props?"
Jin Jiuchi tilted his head in confusion, "Experience points?"
Shen Nianzu gave him a look that said, ’See?’ He then turned to the phone and clicked on the profile section. In the next second, a pop up appeared that said, ’Please enter your username. Note: This can’t be changed once you press OK.’
"We players refer to each other by usernames. It will be dangerous to give out real names in case our private information will be leaked to the public. Of course, if you have no problem with it, then you may use your real name. But I personally suggest you think of something else," Shen Nianzu elaborated.
Jin Jiuchi let out an intrigued hum. He could not think of anything on top of his head, so he turned to ask the jade doll, "What is your username, Nian’er?"
Shen Nianzu scoffed, "Don’t you know it already?"
"Is it ’Nian’?" When the jade doll nodded, Jin Jiuchi felt like his first doubt had been cleared and he became a little enlightened. "Come to think of it, previously everyone introduced themselves not with their real names. Xinxin, Sister Hong, Old Guan, Brother Zhi... oh, except Tang Ye. I was wondering why they did that, so this is the reason..."
"Hmph, Tang Ye is not his real name either."
"Wait, really?" Jin Jiuchi’s eyes went huge in surprise. "Wow, that guy is really a liar through and through. By the way, what happened to him in the end? Did he survive?"
"No," Shen Nianzu’s eyes were cold. "As soon as the fourth nightmare creature separated from his body, he was swarmed by the spiders and rats."
"Ouch," Jin Jiuchi grimaced. He could not even imagine what kind of horrible death it was to be bitten and poisoned until the last moment. Speaking of death, he recalled the conversation between two women he had heard on the street earlier. "By the way, I heard the news that a director of a... what company again is it?" Jin Jiuchi scratched his head when his mind drew an abrupt blank. Why was he so forgetful these days?
It was the jade doll who saved him from the predicament. "NH. Executive Director Hong of NH Electronics died last night after jumping off the building."
"Yes, yes, that’s right! It’s the news! Nian’er, is she—"
"You’re right," he confirmed Jin Jiuchi’s doubt. "She is Sister Hong. I’ve told you before that injuries in the Cycle will manifest in a different way once we return to the real world. It’s so that the presence of the Nightmare Cycle will remain a hidden secret from the eye of the public. On the other hand, death in the Cycle means literal death in the real world. However, you will not die in an instant, but will get into a strange accident within an hour like suicide, hit-and-run, food poisoning and etc... Simply put, it’s the kind of death that will lead to nothing even if an official investigation is being carried out."
"Oh..." Jin Jiuchi gave a slow nod.
Seeing that Jin Jiuchi was starting to become dazed from all the explanation, he finally decided to cut the man some slack, "Okay, let’s register your username first. After that, you will officially level up from a newbie into an intermediate player. You will also be able to see your rank, experience points and skill card."
Jin Jiuchi immediately perked up at that. But then he became listless again when he faced the empty bracket on the phone. What kind of username should he use? Should he follow Shen Nianzu to use one piece of his name? So that would either be Jin, Jiu, or Chi...
"How is it? Have you decided yet?" Shen Nianzu asked after minutes passed and Jin Jiuchi was still deep in his thoughts. "There’s no need to stress too much about it. Many people has strange usernames like ’I Shall Be The Number One’, ’Ghost Slayer’, or even a single alphabet or number. It’s totally up to you."
"Now that you say it..." Jin Jiuchi grabbed the phone with both hands and turned his back on Shen Nianzu to enter his username.
Shen Nianzu couldn’t help but feel amused at his sneaky behavior. "What’s the use of hiding? I will know it sooner or later anyway..."
"Okay, done!" Jin Jiuchi beamed and wiped the nonexistent sweat on his forehead. "What’s next, Nian’er?"
"Next, we will check out your profile. Let me tell you something first. Skill cards are divided into 13 levels that correspond with the deck card. The lowest will be level 2, then level 3, level 4, and so on. The strongest ones are Queen, King and Ace. But there is a very special level that’s still unknown whether it will be the strongest or weakest – Joker skill card. It is rumored to have appeared in the Cycle as of late but honestly, I have never seen it before, so let’s not bother ourselves with it.
"Don’t fret even if your level is low. As long as you have enough points, you will be able to..." His gaze landed on the open interface of the phone, and the symbol he saw there instantly caused him to choke on his saliva. "Cough cough cough— you..." he snapped his gaze to Jin Jiuchi in disbelief.
"Joker skill card, huh...?" Jin Jiuchi waved the phone in front of him where a mischievous clown was grinning at Shen Nianzu through the screen, and somehow it looked eerily similar to the grin on Jin Jiuchi’s face right now.
"Are you talking about this, Nian’er?"