Chapter 83: Shen Nianzu’s Curse

    Shen Nianzu’s jaws dropped. He had not expected this kind of answer at all when he first came here. However, the Broker’s credibility had been guaranteed by the Nightmare itself, so what he was telling must be the truth. "He... is missing half of his soul? How?"

    The Broker shrugged, "I don’t know how. If there is someone who can tell you, it can only be him." He gave a pointed look at Jin Jiuchi, then chuckled in mirth. "But I bet you can’t remember anything at all, can you?"

    Jin Jiuchi chewed over the man’s words in his mind, but in the end he was still confused. "What does it mean to lose half of my soul? What is a soul, to be exact?"

    Shen Nianzu also fixed his gaze on the Broker, awaiting further explanation as the idea he had in his mind was still vague.

    Clearing his throat, the man started to explain, "To put it simply, a soul is the core essence of an individual. Without a soul, humans are just a piece of blank paper. Knowledge, experience and emotions accumulated throughout the lifetime, they shape a person’s soul and make each of us unique. This is why memories are often seen as imprints or fragments of the soul, and losing half of your soul means..."

    Jin Jiuchi put two and two together and asked blankly, "I’m losing half of the memories in my lifetime?"

    "Bingo!" The Broker once again made a gun gesture with his hand. "How is it? This is what I have read from my skill card, but whether it’s really the truth or not, I can’t verify it."

    "JJ?" Shen Nianzu couldn’t help but call out to him when he saw the dazed look on the man’s face, as if he still could not quite process what he had just heard. Shen Nianzu tried to put himself in the man’s shoes. Of course, if someone suddenly came out and told him that he was missing half of his soul, he would also be shocked. "Are you okay...?"

    "He’s right, Nian’er," Jin Jiuchi blinked as though waking up from a dream, and he let out a humorless laugh. "I have always wondered why the memories of my time in that place are fuzzy, but if I really lost half of my soul... then everything can be explained."

    Shen Nianzu furrowed his brows in thought. Was Jin Jiuchi implying that he had lost half of his soul in the asylum where he came out from? But the problem was, Jin Jiuchi did not even remember that place so how were they supposed to find it?!

    In the end, he could only turn to the Broker, "How can we find the missing half of his soul?"

    "What do you think this skill card is for?" The Broker snorted as he tapped his finger on Jin Jiuchi’s phone that was still showing the joker skill card. "As long as you continue to enter the Cycle, you will eventually find it. JJ can already be considered lucky that he retains his awareness as an adult, or else he may have ended up as a child trapped in an adult’s body – or crudely put, a bumbling fool."

    "No way..." Shen Nianzu whispered in disbelief. "Are you saying that half of his soul is in the Nightmare Cycle?!"

    The Broker was amused by his reaction. "Or else?"

    "How could this be?" Shen Nianzu’s brows creased into deep lines. You could only lose something in a place you had visited, but in Jin Jiuchi’s case, it was clearly his first time in the Cycle so how was it possible that he had lost half of his soul there? Unless...

    The Broker misunderstood Shen Nianzu’s soft murmur, thinking that he still could not bring himself to believe it. "Why not?" He shrugged. "Anything can happen in the Cycle. Didn’t you also get your curse there?"

    Jin Jiuchi immediately snapped to attention when he heard that. "Curse? What curse are you talking about? Nian’er is cursed?"

    "Oops..." The Broker covered his mouth with a startled look. "Sorry, I didn’t know that you haven’t told JJ yet."

    Shen Nianzu waved his hand offhandedly as he did not mind Jin Jiuchi finding out about his curse. "In my previous Cycle, I encountered a witch that placed a curse on me before I killed her. She said that she would come back to life to exact her revenge in my next advancement test, unless I find that witch’s bane, which exists only in the hidden land of Atlantis."

    Jin Jiuchi had heard about this from the jade doll’s last night. The players were divided into five rank distinctions; Newbie, Intermediate, Veteran, Elite and Legendary. Right now, Jin Jiuchi was an intermediate player, whereas Shen Nianzu was a veteran player.

    For Jin Jiuchi to advance into a veteran player, the Nightmare would issue him a personal task on his third Cycle – as it did to Brother Zhi and Sister Hong. If he succeeded, he would become a veteran player and if he failed, then only one thing welcomed him – death.

    The same went with Shen Nianzu. He would be tested in his sixth Cycle in order to level up into an Elite player. And it was in this Cycle that the witch’s curse would take place.

    "Atlantis?" Jin Jiuchi swore he had heard that word before. He wrecked his brain a bit and finally recalled that he had heard the jade doll saying it in the Shishen Apartment, when they were about to enter the underground secret chamber. "Oh, isn’t that the book you are searching for in the apartment?"

    Shen Nianzu nodded, "With that book as a guide, I can shift my next destination to Atlantis. I have to go there if I don’t want to die."

    The last bits of Jin Jiuchi’s doubt was finally cleared. No wonder Nian’er said that the book would determine his fate in the future...

    "Wow..." the Broker let out a long whistle and gazed at Shen Nianzu in admiration. "I only pointed you the way, and you really found the entry to Atlantis? Tsk, indeed, top 50 players can’t be underestimated at all!"

    Shen Nianzu took a deep breath and suddenly asked Jin Jiuchi, "Is there anything else you want to ask him?"

    "Huh, me?" He pointed at his own nose, pondered for a while then shook his head. "No, I have nothing more to ask..."

    "Then go out first and wait for me in the living room. I have something personal I have to ask him."

    The Broker raised his brow in interest. Jin Jiuchi, however, immediately raised his protest as he wanted to stick close to the jade doll at all times. "Nian’er, I can’t stay here with you? I promise, I will not be a bother!"

    Shen Nianzu hardened his heart and told himself not to be swayed by the man’s puppy eyes. "No," he said firmly. "Only for a while. I will not take long. And one more thing," he gave Jin Jiuchi a severe warning. "Don’t even think of eavesdropping on our conversation."

    Jin Jiuchi stuck out his tongue and laughed sheepishly. He had indeed planned to eavesdrop, but now that Shen Nianzu had called him out accurately, he could only stand up and walk to the door, all the while looking back at the jade doll every three steps.

    Just like a puppy abandoned by its owner.

    The Broker was positively amused when he saw that. He commented once Jin Jiuchi closed the door behind him, "He’s cute. What have you done for him to be so clingy to you?"

    However, Shen Nianzu was not in the mood to joke around. He did not beat around the bush and directly asked the question that had been plaguing his mind, "That man, is he really a human?"

    "Who? JJ?" The Broker was confused by this weird question that came out of nowhere. "If he’s not human, what is he?"

    Shen Nianzu’s pale purple eyes were heavy in gravity as he stated, "I suspect that he’s a nightmare creature."