Chapter 49 – Preparing for the exchange of rings

Translator: Xena

Sorry everyone, I mistakenly labeled 43.2 as 43.1 so you were not able to read it. I fixed the error yesterday so you can read it back before this one, thank you!

Xu Yujin drew his knife and looked outside the elevator with a wary look on his face.

In the corner of his eye behind him, Jian Xie raised his eyes and put a hand on his shoulder, causing his movements to stop abruptly.

“What’s wrong—”

“Put it away,” Jian Xie said. 

He blinked in confusion.

After a while, he realized what happened and was stunned: “……?”

Even the most novice investigator would notice that the horrific corpses and tentacles in the elevator were gone.

Not only that, he couldn’t sense the eerie aura coming from this floor anymore.

However, as an investigator with an Insight of Special A-level, Xu Yujin was naturally more sensitive to monsters than others. He could easily discover the oddities in daily life. Even if a cup was moved by one centimeter, he would immediately notice the abnormality.

It was this instinct that kept him alive on countless missions.

But at the moment, he didn’t even notice when exactly the monsters were wiped out even though they were right next to him!

As he felt a chill run down his spine, his sixth sense told him that all the creepy, hair-raising, eerie atmosphere within ten meters around him or even in the entire residential building had disappeared, as if the aura that had made him so nervous that he drew his blade a second ago was all an illusion.

Were all the monsters hiding?

No, they were more likely reduced to ashes. Could it be that the person beside him…

Just as he was standing there in a daze, a figure passed by him and the feeling of horror returned for a moment.

Goosebumps immediately crawled up his exposed arms. Xu Yujin came to his senses and found that Jian Xie had already walked out of the elevator without a single word of explanation.

“……”

A familiar scene.

Xu Yujin, full of doubts, no longer hesitated and simply followed closely. As he walked, he whispered, “What did you do? And… where are your props? Why haven’t I seen you use any weapons? What if we encounter an enemy later?”    

He had a lot of questions and spoke very quickly, not waiting for the person to hear him clearly and just firing off a barrage.

Jian Xie stopped.

He took out a key from his jacket pocket, inserted it into a door lock, and then raised his eyes. “There are no enemies.” 

“……” No- enemies?

Xu Yujin couldn’t help but ask, “Why?” 

“Killed them all.” In front of his slightly widened eyes of surprise, Jian Xie clicked his tongue and said, “Props? Weapons? Whatever you call it, I just used it, and that’s why you don’t feel any more monsters—I killed them all.”  

—What?

Xu Yujin was shocked as his brain could not digest this short information.

His head was buzzing.

At the same time, the data about Jian Xie that he had accidentally seen flashed before his eyes. Although it was only a textual description, he could easily imagine the scene during the autumn recruitment when the other party, without even using any props, had effortlessly crushed over a hundred C-level monsters with just his level alone—

Due to his high Insight value, the other world directly gave him the green light.

It was like being born at the top of the food chain.

And this tendency of his to disregard rules so easily was truly terrifying, making one wonder just how far he could go.

It was important to note that Special A-level was the limit of human Insight which allowed for sanity. Jian Xie has abilities far beyond this level. In a sense, could he still be considered a human being, or was he just one of those monsters in human skin?

The terrible speculation messed up his brain. Xu Yujin’s body trembled uncontrollably and his thoughts became a mess.

“Aren’t you looking for Yu Jinghe? The man is alive, but dying.” Suddenly, Jian Xie tilted his face towards him. This cold gaze seemed to see through all the thoughts in his mind, but was too lazy to give any explanation. He said in a flat voice, “He’s in this room, find a way to open the door yourself.”  

He lazily stretched out his hand and pointed to the door opposite.

It was the neighbor’s house.

Just now, when he opened [Hell], Jian Xie divided his attention and scanned the entire building.

Not only did he pull all the monsters in, he also paid special attention to where Yu Jinghe’s body was. This kind of silent yet caring manner of doing things was indeed his style.

Hearing this, Xu Yujin furrowed his brows. He wanted to say something but was defeated by Jian Xie’s expressionless face. He very wisely decided not to ask anything in the end.

He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that the aura surrounding the person in front of him was different from before and had somewhat turned dark.

Although his way of speaking was still the same as half an hour ago, this indolent appearance towards others and even the slightly contemptuous tone in every sentence were something that the previous Jian Xie did not have. Although his emotions were unchanged, the previous persona was clearly much easier to communicate with and more polite.

But now, he was cold, unapproachable, and had no regard for the feelings of the person he was talking to.

…Was this Jian Xie’s true character? Or was he mistaking it? 

Jian Xie said, “Just take him away. I have my own things to do.” 

Reading between the lines, he was telling him not to bother him. He sensed that Xu Yujin had noticed something, so he decided not to bother with pleasantries anymore.

After saying that, he inserted the key into the door lock and turned it. Then his figure disappeared behind the door without even a goodbye.

Xu Yujin, who was left standing: “…”

Wait a minute, was he a masochist? Why was he not angry when the other party’s attitude was so bad, and instead felt that it was only natural?!

……

Qin Zhuo closed the door.

From the moment time started flowing again in the elevator, he temporarily took over the body.

Because of the [Eight Cold Hells], Jian Xie would no longer fall asleep due to indigestion after swallowing a Special A-level monster like before, but his desire to eat made him involve other monsters in the entire building after eating the monster that occupied Yu Jinghe’s body.

This group of monsters seemed to be worried that he would be dissatisfied when he woke up, so they arranged the sacrifices according to his standards, which were far too much for his human.

Therefore, when he opened his eyes, the body’s consciousness was overtaken by Qin Zhuo.

This was also the reason why Qin Zhuo had been preparing food for Jian Xie outside for so long instead of directly using the nearby resources. If he had not been concerned about Jian Xie’s mood when he woke up later, he would not even bother to say a word to the other human, especially when he was thinking about the other person in his heart.

He took the insect out of his pocket, threw it into the small candy bottle, and then sat on the sofa.

He wasn’t sure about human physical condition, so he didn’t know when Jian Xie would wake up.

Idle.

He looked at the turned-off TV, then looked out the window. Although the room was tidy, the dim light made the entire room seem particularly cramped.

Qin Zhuo sank lazily into the sofa.

All along, he had tolerated Jian Xie living here simply because of the food. However, now that all the canned food has been opened today, there was no longer any need to lower their standard of living. They could go to a better place to live.

There was WIFI that his human needed, as well as air conditioning, and everything that could make him happy.

After a moment, Qin Zhuo stood up with a bored look on his face and walked to the bedroom.

There was a mirror there.

He stood in front of it, staring at the amber-colored eyes in the mirror that had once been completely unaware of him but had met his gaze countless times.

The consciousness within his body was too quiet, yet seeing this face, the irritability in Qin Zhuo’s heart seemed to be soothed somewhat.

He had experienced the countless passage of time, and in that space that had existed for almost billions of years, there had always been only his consciousness and the screams of tortured sinners. He had never felt any hardship, but now only an hour had passed and he could no longer endure it.

“Hurry up… wake up.” Qin Zhuo’s expression changed slightly, and he whispered, “I don’t want to wait any longer.” 

……

Wu Qinghe, who was on vacation at home, was about to destroy the opponent’s crystal in a game.

It has revealed its true form, its eight eyes fixed on the screen. Just when a crucial team battle was about to break out, a phone call suddenly came in. His character was instantly stuck and unable to move, dying within a few seconds.

It wanted to get angry immediately, but when it saw the caller ID, its rising anger instantly subsided.

“Did I do something wrong?” As soon as the call was connected, it immediately spoke with a very upright attitude and a very humble tone, “Although I don’t know what happened, I’ll say it first anyway, I’m really sorry…” 

The more it spoke, the more frightened it became, as if it was not a Special A-level monster and the one on the other side was the biggest evil force.

“Quiet.” The voice on the other end of the phone was quite impatient. 

Wu Qinghe immediately shut his mouth obediently.

As smart as it was, it immediately realized that this was not Jian Xie himself, but the existence that it could not afford to offend.

“How many are coming to the auction?”

Wu Qinghe was instantly shocked; It’s meaning was very clear.

Even though It had never taken It’s eyes off Jian Xie, and was indifferent and cold about what was happening in the world, It was well aware that this auction would definitely attract the arrival of many forces. After all, that was one of the materials that could retain It’s energy, not to mention that it might also allow that being to come in the form of a clone.

“The Bureau has learned of this news, and they decided not to alert the enemy… so they will likely disguise themselves as buyers,” Wu Qinghe swallowed and said carefully, “My information came from the monsters. Some of them have already infiltrated the auction. They plan to kill the investigators when they show up, killing two birds with one stone.”

Both sides were very confident in their own strength, especially the monsters who looked down on the investigators…

More so now when they believe they could reshape It’s clone with the materials they had and discard the overly delicious Jian Xie as It’s temporary container. They believed that It would not care about a mere human body, so they maliciously set up a dining table on the spot, preparing to divide him up and eat him.

They were fools, unlike it which has long since turned to the light and dared not even shed a drop of saliva.

Thinking of this, Wu Qinghe couldn’t help but mourn for his compatriots and shed a few crocodile tears.

The winner has already been locked in, this was just formality. Not only that, if you get in the way, you may never see tomorrow’s sun again.

Qin Zhuo sneered. “You’ve told both sides the information, are you happy making double the money?” 

Although it was a Special A-level monster, it was very interested in money like humans. It was ridiculous to think that it joined the Bureau just because of the high salary.

Wu Qinghe decided to defend himself a little. “B-but I have long since cut ties with the other monsters…” 

“I know.” Qin Zhuo said coldly, “Do you think you can still talk to me alive if not?” 

“……”

Before Wu Qinghe could have time to rejoice, he suddenly heard a jarring remark come through the phone.

“Please prepare a pair of rings for me.”

Wu Qinghe: ?

The author has something to say:

Wu Qinghe:  Oh no, it seems like I’ve found out something again…

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