Chapter 62.2 – Fish in the stone (2/2)

Translator: Xena

Jian Xie’s gaze held no trace of fear, instead brimming with an enigmatic scrutiny that sent shivers down the monster’s spine, evoking an indescribable sense of dread.

This guy…

“You—”

A voice broke the delicate atmosphere of the moment.

Lu Xueya was startled upon seeing the monster’s face and instinctively took a step back.

It was, unbelievably, the face of her deceased brother.

Seeing that someone had finally shown a reaction, the monster felt a surge of satisfaction deep within. It couldn’t help but let out a cruel grin and sneered. “You’ve been pretending all this time, but you’re not as easy to fool as that kid. You should’ve seen him. The moment I used your voice, he didn’t think twice and just opened the door.” 

At these words, Lu Xueya’s face twisted with hatred.

But she couldn’t do anything at all.

“That’s right, this is his body. As his older sister, you must miss him terribly.” It said with feigned sincerity as the curve of its smile grew wider by the second. “Just as your investigators’ [Weapons Department] uses monster carcasses to craft tools, what’s wrong with us utilizing your bodies?”  

They truly hold a grudge over the slightest slight.

Lu Xueya was suddenly speechless.

At the same time, a flicker of apprehension crossed her eyes.

She had snapped out of her grief over the death and immediately contacted the Supernatural Management Bureau to secretly transport her brother’s body to the Bureau.

The death of a Special A-level investigator was no small matter. After all, there were only three such agents in the entire Bureau. Therefore, they couldn’t allow word of this to spread without proper preparation.

But the monster effortlessly retrieved the body without triggering any alarms.

Considering that her prop were destroyed but she didn’t receive a replacement in time, and was forced to hide like a rat in a sewer, could it be that there’s already a high-ranking, A-level monster in the [Weapons Department] who can decide the allocation of weapons to investigators…?

Her inner fear fed back to the monster as raw energy, causing it to reveal a satisfied expression. It reveled in the pleasure of having thrown her into disarray with just a few words.

Noticing this, Jian Xie glanced at it.

The corpses of slain monsters were used as materials for crafting investigator props?

This was the first time he’d heard of this setting.

However, this wasn’t a hard conclusion to arrive at. When Cheng Li showed him his custom bullets, he explained that the crimson crystalline substance were made from the blood of B-level monsters.

Fu Huanyu had also been lured by an item that altered luck, nearly witnessing a transformation unfold before his very eyes.

More recently, the crowbar Jian Xie had last held in his hands didn’t appear to be genuine ironware either, which effectively corroborated this piece of information.

In that case…

Jian Xie paused: [I have an idea.]

Strangely enough, without any explanation and with the thought merely flashing through his mind, Qin Zhuo had already grasped his meaning completely.

【It should be feasible.】 It’s voice echoed in his mind, tinged with amusement. Jian Xie never ceased to surprise him. 【Go ahead.】

It was growing to like it more and more.

Qin Zhuo sat on the sofa, shifted his posture, and averted his gaze toward the kitchen.

Jian Xie turned around and saw this very scene.

It smiled almost imperceptibly.

It’s slender fingers tapped rhythmically on the sofa back, as if to pass the time, perhaps out of boredom.

Jian Xie and Lu Xueya’s figures blocked the monster’s line of sight, concealing its presence.

The chilling aura emanating from him vanished without a trace, as if he had consciously withdrawn all the oppressive pressure that would have sent the monster fleeing on the spot.

For such a capricious and self-centered evil god to conceal himself for a single human…

Jian Xie: “……”

He turned around.

But in the monster’s eyes, after Jian Xie opened the door, he stood there speechless, as if petrified by its true form, his limbs going limp.

Seeing his pale face and frail frame, a flicker of contempt instantly crossed its eyes.

The human before it were likely high school age, prone to spouting empty boasts. Only when truly facing life-threatening danger do they learn to beg for mercy, weeping bitterly.

Besides its irresistibly sweet flavor, this thing has absolutely nothing special about it.

It instantly lost interest in toying with him, kicking the door open with one foot while slipping two fingers into its mouth. With a look of contempt, it let out a loud whistle.

This was its usual pastime: first letting the crows peck out the investigator’s eyes, serving as an appetizer to stoke fear.

Then it would watch them scramble about wildly until they finally crawl across the floor in desperate pleading. Then it would be time for it to start moving—

The monster’s thoughts came to an abrupt halt.

The next moment, a tremendous force slammed into its back, hurling it straight into the villa!

It should have crashed straight into the table and wall, smashing everything in its path, but something astonishing happened. The furniture swiftly moved out of the way before it could reach them, as if some unseen force had shifted them, causing it to skid awkwardly for a distance.

The monster struggled to lift itself up, only to see Jian Xie close the door expressionlessly.

Through the narrowest crack in the door, there was only an empty view.

Over a hundred crows vanished in the blink of an eye?

It had no idea how Jian Xie managed to sever the connection between itself and all the crows in an instant.

Those were its external organs. Each raven’s pair of eyes served as its vision, capable of surveying vast expanses of land while simultaneously eavesdropping on conversations below. This ensured that it maintained a degree of omniscience within its predation field.

But now, in front of Jian Xie, it was no different from those investigators who let the crows peck out their eyes.

It has even lost its original sense of hearing!

“You seem to enjoy tormenting people.” Jian Xie stared at it and said indifferently, “Take a good look. This is what it means to give an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” 

It felt like its brain had been roughly rummaged through.

All of this was beyond its comprehension. The monster didn’t even know how the other had learned its habits.

That feeling of being completely seen through…

It didn’t know that Jian Xie had indeed seen its memory flashbacks.

Just as Qin Zhuo had taught him before, having already tried peeking at his neighbors, he naturally applied what he learned to a similar situation and put his knowledge to practical use.

Standing closest to Jian Xie, Lu Xueya witnessed firsthand as a layer of frost spread across the soles of Jian Xie’s shoes. The bone-chilling terror sent a cold shiver down her spine, halting her breath. In the blink of an eye, the entire dark swarm of crows vanished without a trace.

Everything happened too fast.

She didn’t even catch a glimpse of the afterimage in the sky.

The shrubs, whose shapes had been altered, unexpectedly flung the monster directly into the villa.

She felt fear.

Before, when she interacted with Jian Xie, she could still harbor doubts about his level in her heart. Now, she no longer could.

Precisely because she was a Special A-level Investigator, she understood the limits of human potential. Unlike those A-level and B-level Investigators, she wasn’t ignorant or overly fixated on the power of high insight values—

That was beyond the scope of what an investigator could handle.

In just a few seconds, what Jian Xie did before her eyes had already surpassed her comprehension.

This was the absolute power of suppression.

Finally snapping out of its stupor, the monster gritted its teeth and tried to scramble to its feet, only to discover with horror that its limbs were completely embedded in the floor.

The wooden floor had somehow turned into a quagmire, pulling him deeper and deeper. The more he struggled, the further he sank.

It was as if the house had come to life.

Even more terrifying was the sensation that its limbs were gradually transforming, as if some unknown force were at work within its body.

At the same time, the energy within its body was gradually fading away, as if being devoured by the human before its eyes…

Jian Xie had long since activated [Lonely Hell].

These altered realities were precisely the work of its hand.

Much like the Elephant and the Refrigerator problem, creating the [Fish in the Stone] required only three steps.

Step one: Distort the mountain wall to open its inner cavity.

Step two: Add the fish.

And the final step: Restore the mountain wall.

It was precisely this that inspired Jian Xie.

The [Lonely Hell] that could act upon reality, trapping sinners in desolate places, could actually alter the inherent form of any object.

He just gave it a try, never expecting it to actually work.

So…

Under the gaze of two pairs of eyes following him closely, Jian Xie walked up to Lu Xueya and picked up the bracelet that had fallen to the ground when he had slapped her hand earlier.

The bracelet was adorned with a beautiful gemstone.

Seeing him staring at it without a word, Lu Xueya spoke up, “This is the birthday present my younger brother gave me not long ago.” 

A few seconds of silence fell over the villa before Jian Xie suddenly posed a thought-provoking question.

“How do you determine which one is the true form?”

Lu Xueya froze for a moment.

Then she said, “Yes… it requires mutual consent.” 

That was why she felt so guilty. It was her agreement that made her brother the vulnerable one.

Oh.

If it was the same as what he thought, then there was no problem.

Jian Xie paused for a moment. “I have an idea, but I’m not sure if I can fix your prop, so I need your opinion.” 

Upon hearing this, Lu Xueya froze.

Repair… her prop?

But how can it be fixed? Her brother has passed away… 

Jian Xie offered no further explanation.

He merely raised his eyes and said, “Can you accept the bracelet being destroyed, and at the same time, your brother’s body ceasing to exist?” 

“……”

Lu Xueya bit her lower lip, caught in a dilemma.

But soon, she lifted her head and said firmly, “If there’s a possibility of repair, I can accept it.” 

She wanted to kill more monsters.

And she believed that if her brother were here, he would understand her actions.

Jian Xie gave a low hum, glancing at the monster trapped beneath the floorboards. His expression remained utterly unchanged.

Cheng Li was once a criminal investigator, so he had dealt with numerous cases involving loss of life, which made him an investigator “burdened with deep guilt.”

From this perspective, the game’s method for determining investigator eligibility was actually quite crude and simplistic. Consequently, the props involved likely weren’t particularly sophisticated either.

Since monsters and investigators were essentially the same kind of entity, and now this monster has completely taken over her brother’s body—both being Special A-level—would the prop still determine that her brother was alive, thereby allowing continued use of the prop?

“……”

“I’ll make it agree to become your true form,” Jane Xie said coldly, his words startling. “Then, I’ll seal it inside your bracelet.”

A new usage of [Lonely Hell].

However, it merely utilized the concept of the fish in a stone

……

It was best to get it over with quickly.

Otherwise, half an hour would pass quickly, and Qin Zhuo’s physical form will vanish.

After all, Jian Xie had promised to let It taste the fish he would cook today.

He really didn’t want the other person to look as gloomy as a cat curled up on the sofa.

Author’s Note:

Jian Xie: All you freeloaders, get out! Get out!