Translator: Xena
Okay, the only excuse I have is I’m on the night shift *deepest bow* sorry again for mistaking chapter 85 for 84. BUT! The end has finally come! Part 2 of this chapter will be uploaded tomorrow. The extra (chapter 87) and last chapter will be uploaded on Monday. Thank you so much for reading!
Despite Cheng Li’s astonished remarks, Jian Xie, on the other hand, didn’t even flinch.
He wasn’t surprised.
Qin Zhuo said that the player would pay the price.
Fu Huanyu’s transformation back then vividly illustrated what happens when investigators touch forbidden objects that were beyond their level.
“But this house…”
Cheng Li blurted out, “Does it really need to go to such lengths to deal with us?”
He looked around, his face showing disgust.
That sticky liquid, could it be saliva…?
All signs point to the fact that their guy was clearly of sound mind, so even if he had undergone a mutation, he should at least be at Special A-level.
Monsters of this level no longer rely on eating flesh and blood to sustain their lives. They prefer to exploit the fear and panic their prey experiences. However, the fact that it deliberately used an old man to lure him closer suggested that it only wanted to feed discreetly, preferably without being detected.
Suddenly, Jian Xie gave him a cold smile.
“Probably.”
Upon seeing his expression, Cheng Li instinctively trembled.
He couldn’t explain why. It was more like a sixth sense—a tendency to seek advantage and avoid harm.
His intuition told him that the whoever was opposite him was in great danger.
Jian Xie knew what it was planning to do.
Given that he had opened up Hell on previous occasions by devouring other monsters, it would not be surprising if his opponent now wanted to devour him—consuming all his previous achievements in one fell swoop—as a way to save time and settle the matter once and for all.
The idea was wonderful, but as of now, it lacked both a sophisticated plan and the powerful strength to achieve it.
Therefore, if the player exposed its whereabouts at this time, there was a greater than 50% chance that they have given up and were prepared to fight to the death.
The other possibility was that it still has an inexplicable confidence.
“You seem to have something to say to me,” Jian Xie raised his eyes. “I know you’re watching us.”
Although his voice wasn’t loud and didn’t fluctuate much, it sounded completely different to the other person.
Thief, lucky guy, imposter…
—What gives you the right to stand here and speak to him with such an arrogant attitude?!
Does someone who gets everything without putting in any effort even deserve it?!
“I’ve wanted to see you for a long time.”
Suddenly, a venomous voice came from all directions.
Cheng Li couldn’t help but exclaim “Ah!” in surprise. He quickly pulled his hand away from the wall and frantically looked around for the source of the sound.
The dark red tongue that had been wrapped around the old man’s waist before reappeared and swayed not far from the two of them. At the same time, the narrow passage leading to the kitchen began to contract with each syllable, as if imitating the vibration of vocal cords when a person speaks.
They were inside the mouth of a mutated monster… Cheng Li had never been so acutely aware of this fact.
The player has become completely integrated with this residential building.
They might be stepping on or touching its muscles, and at any moment it could crush them with its teeth to make their bones crack and creak.
Cheng Li shuddered.
He looked at Jian Xie and found that the other’s profile was cold and unmoved.
“Look what you’ve turned me into.” A foul stench swept across their faces, making them want to vomit. “From the moment you received your identity, you’ve been transforming me, turning me into a monster that’s neither human nor ghost, barely clinging to life.”
Its voice became somewhat manic.
At first, its limbs somehow grew into the ground, leaving it trapped in place and feeling the burning emptiness in its stomach. But as small, bumpy pieces of tile continued to grow on its skin, it soon stopped feeling hungry. Its body grew taller, its vision became distorted, and everything was developing in an unexpected direction.
It was a strange, terrifying, and absurd experience.
It imagined itself as a tree, a tombstone, and ended up as a concrete building that was a mixture of both.
It believed itself to be different, that it was Hell’s chosen executioner, the master of all the fugitive monsters, and that it deserved to have a place in the real world as well.
Until the very last moment, it believed it would not be affected by mutation, but reality slapped it hard in the face.
The anomaly started about a month ago.
If it weren’t for this youth in front of it—this shameless interloper who, through sheer luck, stole what was rightfully its—its plan would have been perfect…
Thinking of this, the hatred in its heart became clearer, and its thoughts became colder and more venomous.
This bastard.
Fortunately, its transformation was worthwhile. It was not too late, and there was still a chance to set everything right.
Cheng Li was stunned, but he looked at Jian Xie beside him again, and the other still showed no sign of shock.
It seemed he was the only one out of the loop.
The youth beside him harbored too many secrets that he has yet to reveal.
What he said next further confirmed his idea.
“It’s time to give me back what you took.” Jian Xie said, “I can help you turn things around and give you some dignity.”
A faint black mist swirled around his body, emanating a dangerous aura—a sign of his impatience.
As far as he was concerned, even if he had never encountered a mutation like this “monster house” before, he could still take the opponent down in an instant.
The only reason he hasn’t acted yet was because he needed to obtain the fragments of the fourth dagger it was hiding.
Seeing this, it stopped speaking and said coldly, “I’ve been thinking, if I hadn’t mutated into this form beforehand, or if I I had claimed my prize earlier, or if I had gone to that damn place before you did, would the whole story have turned out differently?”
As soon as the words were spoken, an ordinary full-length mirror appeared in front of the two of them. It blended so well with its surroundings and should have nothing special about it. However, the rough mirror surface quickly became clear, and the indoor lights dimmed.
Instead of showing a person’s silhouette, an image appeared.
A man who appeared to be a former player emerged on a deserted road. He repeatedly checked the address displayed on his phone, his eyes revealing undisguised ecstasy that tore apart his originally handsome features. Then, he walked straight into the all-too-familiar hotel—the very hotel where Jian Xie had stayed in B City.
Upon seeing this, Cheng Li’s expression turned serious.
The scene shifted, and as soon as the player entered the lobby, he came to an abrupt halt.
From his perspective, he could see two police officers standing not far away, talking to the receptionist.
Although the questioning voice was deliberately lowered, if you listened carefully, you could still hear snippets of words drifting over.
“Yes, we have received many reports of such incidents.”
“This happened yesterday… We need to talk to you about it.”
“Is that the room he’s staying in?”
Upon hearing the last sentence, the player’s face darkened.
He quickened his pace, bypassing the police and other guests, and rushed to the room mentioned earlier, where he began a frantic search.
However, he came up empty-handed.
The image in the mirror disappeared, and it returned to a state of chaos, like a door leading to an unknown realm.
“You’re just a thief who took what belongs to me.”
All the windows around Jian Xie suddenly burst opened at the same time with a furious clatter. Glass shards flew everywhere, narrowly missing his face and embedding themselves in the wall behind him, but he still didn’t move. This calm demeanor made it want to go berserk even more.
“Belongs to you?”
Jian Xie only said one sentence.
“Although the key vanished from my side the moment I left Hell, it always leaves a trace for me whenever it shifts between worlds. It just needed to test me a little but you meddled and took my reward before I was ready.”
It was clearly the one who went to great lengths to bring the key out, but it all ended up benefiting an ordinary person whose name it had never heard of and who was simply passing by.
“Wanna take a chance?”
All that it said was for the sake of this one line, “I know I can’t beat you right now. But if you and I went back to that day, and I chose to arrive a day earlier, in a fair competition, with no time difference and no inexplicable luck, who would be chosen by hell as the ‘Eighteen Evils’?”
Cheng Li couldn’t listen anymore. He gave a cold laugh that was completely out of character.
Despite his intuition telling him to remain silent, and despite having heard so many secrets to satisfy his curiosity, he was more focused on Jian Xie.
He glared at it, abruptly and rudely interrupting its words. “I may not understand what’s going on, but don’t try to fool people with lies and sweet talk.”
“You’ve done so many terrible things. You released monsters into the real world just to satisfy your own selfish desires, causing so many deaths. Why should you be given a fair chance? Every bad person blames bad luck, but never reflects on what’s wrong with themselves.”
Then, he turned to Jian Xie and instructed him, “Don’t listen to its nonsense.”
It simply couldn’t beat him, so it was trying to go and fight him out here.
In other words, it was using their social experience to try to take advantage of Jian Xie’s young age and make him choose the wrong choice.
“Am I really talking nonsense?” The house seemed to have heard something funny but only spoke to Jian Xie, “Think about the email I sent you, did you see it? So many deaths have come and gone around you, don’t you want your parents to come back alive? What’s wrong with trading with me?” Cheng Li was taken aback.
He suddenly realized the reason for Jian Xie’s silence.
He may not have been unaware that the other party was using words to lure him, but he did not take any action and simply listened.
“……”
As if thinking of something, its voice took on a hint of ambiguity and playfulness. “Of course, I’ve learned a lot from the monsters. I heard that you and that evil god… have an unusual relationship, but if someone else had come to the room that day and experienced the same thing as you, wouldn’t It have chosen that person as well?”
“It didn’t tell you that, did It? About how the dagger drew me there.”
“You’re not that special a person.”
“At best, just good-looking and lucky.”
It knew that this must have touched a nerve with Jian Xie.
Everyone who has been treated specially would surely go mad, just like itself, once they discover that it might not have been the case after all.
Moreover, the things it described were very appealing to an orphan who has lost his parents and was probably in a vulnerable position in a relationship.
Although Jian Xie didn’t respond when it spoke, it wasn’t in a hurry. It was patient and confident that the other party would eventually agree—
“No.”
The calm voice seemed to cleave through the dark environment, like a bolt of lightning gradually dispelling the darkness in the room.
Jian Xie’s profile was icy.
“If you could really go back to the past, why would you need my permission? You would have done that yourself a long time ago.”
Cheng Li instantly regained consciousness.
…Jian Xie was right.
Yes, given the player’s personality, it would never be so kind as to “notify” them.
He thought he was the one who was clear-headed, but he was unknowingly deceived by the other party’s series of words and actually believed that such a choice existed.
“Unless, you just want me to touch that mirror, because you can’t.”
Qin Zhuo may not care where his belongings were, but he would never allow others to touch them without permission. The auction and the pendant were good examples of this.
Jian Xie was the only exception.
Soon, the house began to shake.
Jian Xie’s gaze fell on the mirror. “So the one that caused your mutation, the thing I’m looking for, is right there.”
“What could happen when the fourth dagger is fused? For example, I might fall into a deep sleep and become weak, just like the last few times, giving you an opportunity to take advantage of me and devour me on the spot…”
It was just a random guess, but to his surprise, he had hit the nail on the head.
If the player had a physical body, their complexion would probably be extremely unpleasant.
“……”
