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What did that mean?
Ye Jia’s hand paused in mid-air.
There was still no expression on his face, but there seemed to be a storm surging in his heart.
Ye Jia frowned and lowered his eyes to look at Ji Xuan who was more than half a head shorter than himself.
The boy had his head raised slightly. Although Ye Jia was standing right in front of him, his eyes travelled past his body and landed on the giant ball of flesh in the distance. His scarlet eyes that resembled rubies shone brightly in the dark cave. Hair-raising paranoia and obsession could be seen in the depths of his eyes.
This madness……was familiar.
Ye Jia was slightly startled. Countless dusty memories surfaced from the depths of his mind.
He remembered that sometimes, when he inadvertently looked over, he would see the other person staring at him with a similar look in those dark eyes of his, but that would always disappear as soon as he looked over, much like the morning mist under the sun. The young boy would raise his small face and reveal a good-natured smile that cast away the gloom, and ask, “Gege, what’s wrong?”
Ye Jia blinked a few times and pulled himself back from the sudden surge of memories.
At this moment, Ji Xuan had already walked past him and approached the ball of flesh that was still squirming around.
Ye Jia hesitated for a moment before turning to follow.
He saw the young boy stop a few steps away from Mother.
The sticky sounds coming from the movements of that ball of flesh grew more intense, that disgusting sound echoing through the empty cave. Ye Jia then saw a fist sized ball of flesh separate from Mother’s main body and slowly fall into the young boy’s hands.
For some reason, Ye Jia felt that……
This ball of flesh that was the size of a fist seemed……a little familiar. It was as if he had seen it once in a vague dream of his.
The moment that ball of flesh fell into Ji Xuan’s hands, Ye Jia’s vision went blurry.
Everything scattered away like snowflakes and an even more familiar scene replaced the cave.
Tall, dark and distorted buildings stood around him. It looked like a scene that one would see in a child’s nightmare. Those cold and dark steel towers densely filled a small space, making it difficult for one to breathe.
This place was an instance.
But for some reason, Ye Jia couldn’t remember how he managed to clear it.
He frowned and tried his best to remember but it was all to no avail.
At this moment, a terrible scream sounded from ahead. It contained pain and agony that seemed to penetrate one’s heart. It was much like a beasts last cry before it dies from torture.
As if something ahead was pulling him in, Ye Jia stepped towards the direction of that sound.
In the middle of all these tall buildings was an empty field. It was like a giant alter sitting in the depths of a deep sea.
There were dark red lines on the ground and the surroundings were shrouded in darkness, giving it a strange and creepy air.
The fist sized ball of flesh hovered in the air in the centre of that open field. The surface of it seemed to be slowly writhing around.
A young man was curled up in the centre of those red patterns on the ground, his thin back and protruding shoulder blades were particularly vivid under his thin shirt which was wet from his sweat and stuck to his body. His body trembled violently like leaves rustled by the wind. The scene was much like a butterfly on the verge of death, struggling desperately against the spider web binding it.
That ball of flesh slowly descended.
“Ahhhhhhh---------”
He screamed in pain.
Pale fingers clawed at the ground, the broken nails and skin leaving bloody trails.
The young man shuddered and was forced to raise his head by some unknown force. His wet hair was stuck against the sides of his bloodless cheeks and his lips that had been bitten raw were wide open as he gasped for air.
The moment that ball of flesh touched him, it was like a raindrop falling into a pool of water. It disappeared without leaving a trace behind in a blink of an eye.
“Ahhhhh!”
The young man continued to scream miserably.
The next second, from the centre of his chest, a hard and straight handle slowly emerged.
“Riipp-----”
The sound of his shirt ripping rang out. The young man’s pale chest was covered in blood. Thick blood flowed down, falling onto the ground, and followed the dark red lines on the open field.
A long handle as white as a bone slowly emerged. Soon following that, a crescent shaped blade appeared and, finally, the entire thing had come out.
A huge scythe had been forcibly taken out of the young man’s body. The smooth surface of the scythe reflected a cold and bloody light.
There were greedy whispers from all directions.
“So fragrant…..”
“So delicious….”
Countless dark shadows flowed out from the tall buildings, rushing towards the unconscious young man in the centre of the open space. They continued to whisper greedily as they rushed over: “Eat him…..”
“Eat him….”
A cold voice belonging to a child broke the silence, “Who dares…..”
A young boy walked out from the darkness and stood in front of the young man. His dark eyes that had completely returned to its scarlet colour stared coldly at the ghosts and monsters before him. A huge shadow formed behind him, revealing his overwhelmingly intimidating force.
“A direct descendant….” The darkness spoke, “Direct descendant….”
“He is too……” The young boy slowly said with an expressionless look, “He is a direct descendant personally appointed by Mother herself, your future King.”
He took a step forward, “Anyone still dare?”
The surrounding shadows hesitated. After some time, they finally retreated into the dark night.
When those ghosts and monsters retreated, Ji Xuan bent back down and carefully supported the young man. Like he was touching a precious treasure, he carefully brushed away the wet hair strands from the young man’s face.
The boy leaned down and pressed his lips onto the other’s closed eyelid before smiling contentedly, “Soon gege…..Soon, you’ll be able to stay.”
Ye Jia’s pupils constricted. He stared unblinkingly at the scene before him.
He lowered his eyes, spread open his hands and looked at the scythe that had slowly appeared.
The next second, without any warning, the scene around him once again changed.
Ye Jia’s closed his hands again.
The scythe disappeared.
Ye Jia took a deep breath and slowly raised his head to continue watching the following events.
What happened next was the same as what he remembered.
Among the players, he quickly became the target of public criticism. Those in his teams all died one after another and those he thought could be considered as friends betrayed him one after another. After that final siege, he finally became a lone wolf and, in the end, the only person standing by his side was Ji Xuan.
Slowly, Ye Jia noticed that no matter where he went, he would always attract a large number of ghosts and monsters, like insects flocking towards the only light source around.
He rarely allowed Ji Xuan to be in a team with him when entering an instance. Even after entering an instance, he would stay as far away from the rest of the team and act alone.
Every ghost and monster that tried to kill him were conversely swallowed up by Ye Jia. As he became stronger and stronger, he also became less and less…..human.
This was until….he reached the top of the leaderboard rankings and could no longer be surpassed.
Those scenes from the past flashed before Ye Jia’s eyes.
During this time, Ye Jia tried to touch Ji Xuan, but the other party was still like a phantom, unable to be touched, let alone dragged out.
Perhaps he had to wait until this is all played out?
Ye Jia could only give up struggling and go with the flow.
Fortunately, time progressed very quickly in this world and every scene were broken snippets rather than a continuous, uninterrupted flow.
Ye Jia didn’t want to relive his years in the game all over again.
That would be too boring.
Soon, the final moment arrived.
Ye Jia once again set foot onto the ancient battlefield where countless killings had been made. The blood-soaked soil under him let out a soft squelch with each step.
He narrowed his eyes and casually looked up into the distance.
At this moment, Ji Xuan and himself walked one behind the other across the ancient battlefield that was soaked with blood over towards the steep cliff in the distance.
Ye Jia was a little lost in thought.
In fact, before setting foot here, he had entered an instance alone.
In that instance, Ye Jia encountered the dead spirits of his former teammates who grievously accused him of being cold and ruthless, and blamed him for their deaths. There, Ye Jia also saw the friend who had betrayed him and sold him out to the other players.
That originally gentle and gorgeous woman sported a twisted expression on her face, her bloodshot eyes glaring at Ye Jia as she cursed at him for his viciousness and ruthlessness.
Ye Jia expressionlessly brushed past her.
But at this moment, that woman’s rasp whisper entered his ear, “Do you really think you have friends?”
Ye Jia didn’t look back and just continued on.
“Do you really think that child is good to you?” That woman’s voice was bitter and cold, with a hint of elation, “Ever since we became ghosts, we have become a part of the game and now know a lot more than before ----- This is all a trap designed specifically for you, yet you jumped blindly into this trap and ignorantly became that fierce ghost’s food……”
Ye Jia’s pace paused for a moment.
“HAHAHAH!” The woman behind him cackled madly and all the other ghosts around her laughed along with her, “We’ll wait for you in hell!”
There was one truth in the game.
Never trust the dead.
It wasn’t the words of those spirits that made Ye Jia suspicious but, as time passed, his senses had grown more and more keen and he gradually noticed Ji Xuan’s strangeness ---- Although Ye Jia didn’t consider Ji Xuan an enemy, he could no longer trust him completely like before.
And what he heard in this instance deepened Ye Jia’s suspicions.
----- This suspicion saved Ye Jia’s life.
With this, Ye Jia was able to finally see this fierce ghost’s true appearance and sinister intentions at the last moment and, after a bout of intense fighting, the scythe in his hand pierced the other party’s chest.
Ye Jia pulled himself out from his memories.
He took in a deep breath, followed the two figures before him and entered the cave.
That large and swollen ball of flesh from earlier was already no longer in the cave. It had been replaced by a rippling pool of blood.
In the distance, Ji Xuan and himself seemed to be talking about something. Ye Jia however had no interest in listening in.
He yawned, sat down on one of the stones and rested his chin in his palm with a bored expression.
Suddenly, there was a strange sensation at Ye Jia’s ankle.
It was sharp and it poked at his ankle not too lightly but also not too heavily.
Ye Jia looked down.
Only then did he realise that the place he was sitting on wasn’t in fact a stone, but a pile of mud coated bones. Near his angle, one of the larger skulls had rolled out from that pile and he could vaguely see its shape through the mud.
Ye Jia bent down and wiped off the dust and dirt from the skull with his sleeve.
It was a lifeless skull of a goat. The horn on the head was what had poked Ye Jia’s ankle just now.
Was this…..the blood gu fish’s head?
Ye Jia stood up and dug through the pile of bones. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.
---- Turns out this was what it was made up of!
At this moment, the ground suddenly shook. Countless rubble smashed down, falling into the pool of blood below with a loud sound.
Ye Jia staggered unsteadily and quickly reached towards a wall to stabilise himself.
Suddenly, a shrill cry sounded from not far away.
Ye Jia’s expression was blank, “?”
Wait a minute….He didn’t seem to remember either of them screaming in his memories though?
---- He and Ji Xuan had fought in silence and Ji Xuan was also silently killed.
What on earth happened while he was distracted?!
Ye Jia raised his head in confusion and looked over.
The confrontation between ‘himself’ and Ji Xuan had come to an end. The scythe in his hand had fallen to the ground beside them. Although the blade still emitted a cold light, it was clearly out of his reach.
The young man was half-kneeling in the bloody mud, his pale face showing unwillingness and pain.
Ji Xuan stepped forward, bent down, cupped the young man’s face in his cold hands and lowered his head to both gently and deeply kiss the other party.
Ye Jia: “…….”
Something like this never happened!
It was difficult for him to witness this scene. The actions before him however grew more and more intense, the noises coming from their lips reaching his ears loudly and clearly.
Some…..even more vivid and detailed memories rushed to his mind.
Ye Jia’s ears heated up.
Surely something wasn’t right?!
Shouldn’t the other person’s greatest fear be sealed here? Something must have gone wrong!
Just as he was trying to clear away the chaotic thoughts from his mind, Ji Xuan ahead finally let go of the lips that had turned bright red from the kiss.
He pressed his forehead against the young man’s forehead and said in an extremely pleased tone, “How nice. Gege, we can now be together forever.”
Ye Jia breathed a sigh of relief ---- It was finally over.
He raised his head and looked into the distance.
The surrounding blood surged as if it was alive, engulfing the young man who was half-kneeling on the ground and dragging him into the depths of the pool of blood.
The entire cliff shook from the powerful force. The pool of blood on the ground suddenly rose, turning into a huge sphere that hovered in the air.
The sky and earth changed colour and the sun and the moon switched places. It was as if the world was on the verge of falling apart.
Ye Jia held his breath and looked up.
He saw the bloody ball of flesh above him suddenly explode, revealing a pupa inside.
The flow of time seemed to have lost its meaning.
The membrane on the surface of the Yin pupa had turned from its original pale white colour into one that was almost completely transparent. There appeared to be something wriggling around inside. At this moment, the pupa membrane was torn apart from the inside by a powerful force, revealing the naked young man inside.
The young man slowly opened his eyes. His eyes were as dark as ink, much like the eternal night, and terrifying yin energy flowed around him. Even without much experience, one could tell that this was most definitely a high-level, fearsome ghost that had the ability to turn the world upside down and disrupt the universe.
Ye Jia stood fixed in place as he looked up at that face that was both unfamiliar yet familiar.
For some reason, he instinctively knew----
Yes, that was indeed possible.
When his powers finally go out of control and the powers he consumed finally breaks free from his shackles, he would become like this.
A complete monster.
The young man in the distance slowly descended from the air. The muscles on his body were smooth and defined and his skin was gorgeous and firm, like a living work of art, but he also gave off an overbearing force that made others instinctively feel fear.
He lowered his eyes, his dark pupils sweeping across Ji Xuan who stood not far away. His pale lips opened and closed and his voice seemed like it came from a place very far away, “Many thanks…..”
The young boy raised his scarlet eyes and stared fixedly at the young man standing not far away from him. He slowly narrowed his eyes, his voice turning cold, “Who are you?”
“You can’t tell?” The young man slowly approached him, “Haven’t you always been waiting for me?”
There was an extremely cruel expression on his face. Like a bloodthirsty shark who had caught the scent of blood in the deep sea, his nostrils expanded slightly and his lips curled up to reveal his sharp teeth. A non-human-like, greedy smirk appeared on the handsome face, “Mother’s wish is my command. As long as you and I join forces, the world is at our fingertips.”
“And him?” The young boy continued to stare unblinkingly at the young man before him. The hand hanging by his side slowly clenched into a fist and strong emotions surged in the depths of his scarlet-red eyes.
The young man blinked a few times and then revealed and surprised look, “Oh! You mean Ye Jia?”
He laughed. That laugh was difficult to describe. It was like a child taking pleasure in the pain and despair of others as it watched insects have their legs ripped off, a kind of naïvely malicious laugh, “Trust me, he’s gone.”
The smirk on the young man’s lips deepened further such that his expression appeared quite twisted, “You killed him with your own hands, don’t you remember?”
The young boy’s pupils instantly constricted.
“How strange. You’re clearly a ghost, but you’re more naïve than most humans…..” He bent down and admired the young boy’s expression. His eyes that were as dark as an abyss narrowed as he smiled without a care in the world, “Don’t accept Mother’s gifts too easily. You actually didn’t know this?”
The young man’s laughter was harsh to the ear.
The energy around his body gathered and turned into a dark robe that covered his pale and slender body. He turned and walked out without looking back, “Goodbye my naïve little brother, I’m going to find Mother. Join us when you have figured things out --- There are still many things that have to be done.
“Give him back……..”
The young boy suddenly spoke up.
The young man looked back in surprise, “What?”
Ji Xuan slowly raised his head. His eyes were filled with anger and madness. Those terrifying emotions were so strong, it almost made one’s hairs stand on end. He silently raised the corners of his lips to reveal a sinister smile and enunciated each word with force, “Give him back to me.”
The fight between the two S-Level fierce ghosts almost managed to tear apart the entire instance world.
The cave was gone, the sea of blood had dried up and the ground had cracked open in multiple places under their mighty force.
The entire world had lost its colour. The entire ancient battlefield was a mess.
Finally, after three full days and nights, the winner was decided.
Although the powers of the two parties were similar, the new fierce ghost was after all still inexperienced.
The boy’s pale hand reached towards the young man’s chest. It pierced through the flesh and he directly held the other party’s heart.
The young man panicked, “No, wait, I’m your gege, Ye Jia! You don’t recognise me anymore?”
Ji Xuan looked at the other party’s face. His eyes were dark, like a dead abyss, and there was also a touch of madness within.
He didn’t answer anything.
With a low sound, the blood-stained hand was taken out of the other party’s chest. Little by little, that hand crushed the heart in his hand.
The young man’s body collapsed and was firmly caught by the other party.
The entire world was shrouded in darkness. A scarlet river of blood flowed under the ground, slowly diving into the depths of the earth.
With the young man’s already cold body in his arms, Ji Xuan slowly sat down.
He lowered his head and didn’t speak, breathe or move. It was as if he had turned into a lifeless statue, successfully blending in with the dead.
Ye Jia slowly stepped forward.
The soft soil under his felt squelched with each step but he knew very well that the other person couldn’t hear it.
The young man stopped before the young boy and looked down at him with a complex and deep look in his eyes.
He couldn’t forgive Ji Xuan’s betrayal, but…..
The young boy in front of him suddenly blinked and a large teardrop fell from his lifelessly pale face.
Ye Jia couldn’t help but speak up, “Hey….”
He subconsciously reached out ----- But unexpectedly, he managed to touch the other person this time.
His warm palm pressed onto the other party’s thin shoulder.
Ji Xuan trembled.
He raised his head in astonishment, his scarlet eyes reflecting the face of the young man standing in front of him. His hoarse voice contained disbelief and cautiousness, as if he was afraid of waking up from this dream, and it also trembled in fear and confusion, “Gege?”