Chapter 163
Chapter 163
Deep within, an iron cage already lay in ruins as countless monsters slammed into it with deafening force.
The ground was covered in dried blood and scraps of flesh. A nauseating, fishy stench filled the air.
The mangled corpses of the human players no longer resembled human beings. Some had been torn into several pieces.
And the monsters who had killed them were…
Former humans.
They were losers who had failed a game and become trapped within it forever.
Not a trace of color remained in their skin. They had long since become vampires without reason or control.
The most primitive and deranged of beasts.
Though they had lost all awareness, their eyes still retained an endless hunger and hatred for humanity.
Every inch of muscle trembled with excitement at the players’ arrival.
Blood coated the corners of their mouths as they roared without end.
Their hands had become claws that carved deep furrows into the iron cage.
This was the Corpse Cage. This was hell. Yet these monsters were not the true source of despair and terror.
That distinction belonged to the man watching from a distance.
Edwin reclined against a sofa. Moonlight flowed through the stained-glass window, casting silver across his golden hair.
He sat with his legs crossed and both hands resting on one knee, eyes lowered lazily, white lashes trembling with each breath.
Edwin’s gaze settled on the heterochromatic young man trapped in the Corpse Cage. His shirt had long since been torn to pieces, and wounds covered his body.
But even more striking than those wounds were the black markings covering him.
Scarlet blood made his white pupil appear extraordinarily conspicuous.
The black markings had spread to his cheek and looked ready to pierce straight through that white eye.
Countless monster corpses lay at his feet.
“You can endure quite a lot,” Edwin murmured, his voice crossing the space to reach the young man’s ears.
“It’s been nearly three hours, and you’re still alive.” Edwin rose and approached the Corpse Cage one step at a time. “But it seems you won’t last much longer.”
No light remained in the young man’s eyes. With his head bowed, the motion of raising his knife and severing a monster’s head had become purely mechanical.
Then he seemed to notice something. His body stiffened, and his head shot toward one monster at an unnatural speed.
Bloodthirsty madness flashed in his eyes, and saliva began dripping from the corner of his mouth.
He was clearly a human player, yet at that moment, the monster before him looked like the finest delicacy in the world.
His voice was low and hoarse, like that of a mute who had suddenly spoken after a lifetime of silence.
“Hungry… I’m so hungry…”
Edwin’s lips curved. He walked toward the young man and bent slightly, staring at him as though observing an animal.
“That’s more like it. The first time I saw you, I thought this appearance suited you better.”
He pressed a hand to the back of the young man’s head, gradually moving his nails toward the man’s ear.
Edwin leaned down and whispered beside it, “Why not give up your human identity and remain here forever? I’ll make sure you never go hungry again.”
He slowly covered the young man’s eyes, his beguiling voice echoing endlessly through his mind.
“Stay here forever, and you’ll never go hungry again.”
The young man raised his chin slightly. The black markings deepened as if they were burrowing into his soul.
“I won’t… be… hungry anymore?”
“Mm. Never again.” Mocking laughter colored Edwin’s voice.
But the young man before him could no longer distinguish the deeper meaning.
He could not even tell human from monster.
For a progenitor-class vampire, a single sentence was enough to toy with the human heart.
In his false-monster state, the young man had already become the toy Edwin currently desired.
Edwin laughed softly and lifted the young man’s chin with possessive delight. He could hear the blood pulsing through the vessels in his neck.
Very little time remained before he lost all sense of self.
“Here. I’ll feed you.” Edwin raised a hand, and an invisible force plucked out the eye of a monster crouched beside the Corpse Cage.
The monster shrieked. Edwin calmly held the eyeball and moved it toward the young man’s lips.
At that moment, a familiar voice crossed the space, passing through everything and effortlessly dragging at his heart.
“Lu Qian.”
The young man’s body stiffened, and his pupils contracted for an instant.
Edwin turned his head and looked at the newcomer.
“Xiao Huai.” Edwin’s eyes were icy. “I told you that forbidden ground is off-limits.”
Countless vampire monsters turned and charged Xiao Huai. He had inevitably sustained several wounds on his way here.
The sweet, fishy scent of his blood instantly permeated the air.
But Edwin snapped his fingers, and every vampire monster froze in place as if someone had paused them.
“You know a human cannot leave this place, don’t you?”
Of course Xiao Huai knew. From the moment he entered the Corpse Cage’s territory, the System had issued the same warning three times.
[Warning: The area ahead is the Corpse Cage. Once a human player enters, the rules will prevent them from leaving!]
Xiao Huai looked at Lu Qian. The other three players transferred here with him had long since been bitten to death by the vampire monsters.
Becoming a vampire was the only way to escape the Corpse Cage.
There were no human players left for Lu Qian to use. He had no way to become a vampire.
He could only endure at the cost of his own life.
Xiao Huai raised his eyes and gave a calm hum.
Edwin rose and grabbed the back of Lu Qian’s head. “I dislike disobedient people. I’ve just decided on your punishment.”
Edwin smiled, and blue light flashed in Lu Qian’s eyes, identical to the light in Edwin’s.
He had been controlled. Moving too quickly for the naked eye to follow, he rushed at Xiao Huai.
A chilling dagger gleamed in his hand. In that brief instant,
It pierced Xiao Huai’s abdomen.
Xiao Huai did not dodge. The sensation of his abdomen being pierced made each breath heavy, and his body trembled faintly.
For one instant, Lu Qian’s brows drew tight, grief and despair appearing beneath his eyes.
“Kill… me…”
Why had Xiao Huai come? Why had he not simply left?!
Lu Qian gritted his teeth so hard he bit blood from his lower lip.
With the last remnants of his will, he begged Xiao Huai to kill him.
Once he lost control, Xiao Huai would never be able to defeat him.
Xiao Huai reached out and seized the blade. His palm trembled, blood dripping between his fingers onto the ground.
Yet a smile lingered at the corners of his eyes.
His voice remained as calm as ever, with only the faintest tremor.
“Xiao Qian, listen to me. Death isn’t the end. It’s a beginning. I don’t like owing anyone, so you aren’t allowed to refuse.”
People said that when a whale fell, all life flourished.
Born in the sea, dying in the sea.
Yet death was not the whale’s end.
Its death brought boundless life.
A single thought formed mountains and rivers; a single thought brought every blade of grass to life.
At that instant, time seemed to slow infinitely. Edwin’s eyes widened slightly as he saw every tiny movement Xiao Huai made.
And the faint smile on his lips.
In that moment, Xiao Huai wrenched out the dagger and seized Lu Qian’s hand. Using Lu Qian’s strength to drive the blade, he plunged it into his own chest…