Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Zhao Xiuming agreed softly, then slowly closed his eyes.

His chest barely rose and fell. Only the occasional flutter of his eyelashes suggested he was still alive.

He hadn’t allowed himself to lose consciousness. He was drawing on every sense his mutation had given him, investigating the heartbeat at the center of the ceiling.

The tendrils inside his body connected to everything around him. They met no resistance, merging with it all effortlessly.

A vague understanding came to him. He could sense the energy within the players’ bodies being transferred elsewhere. The abundant golden energy surrounding Li Zhehan was dissipating too.

Both flowed through the tangled tendrils into the “cocoon,” nourishing whatever unknown thing lay within.

Contamination steeped in ravenous hunger and madness seeped from the cocoon. Whispers mingled with the heartbeat that seemed to sound right beside his ear.

Zhao Xiuming tried to listen, but couldn’t make anything out.

Gradually the whispers fell into rhythm with the cocoon’s heartbeat. His own heart began to match it.

It felt wonderful: a dizzying release into madness and emptiness, tempting him to sink deeper.

He let his consciousness be drawn in, then exercised enough restraint to pull himself awake.

He loved this sort of thing: scrambling his own brain and dancing back and forth along the edge of danger.

Through the tendrils and mold, he “looked” outside the room. The elevator doors opened at the end of the corridor, revealing two figures. Assistant Li and Zhou Qingyan had found their way here.

Assistant Li was badly injured. He had to stop after every few steps.

An anxious Zhou Qingyan supported him as they slowly made their way along.

They passed among the anomaly nurses. As they went by one room, Assistant Li seemed to spot something inside, but he turned his gaze away naturally.

Zhou Qingyan noticed it a moment later. Delight lit her face, and she immediately stopped. “That’s… Xueya! That’s Xueya!”

Assistant Li didn’t want to rescue her. He’d already deduced that something was wrong with Zhang Xueya.

He’d intended to pretend he hadn’t seen her, but Zhou Qingyan had pointed her out.

If he continued to do nothing, wouldn’t that be as good as telling Zhang Xueya outright: I know something’s wrong with you?

Left with no choice, he cooperated with Zhou Qingyan. Together they “rescued” the barely breathing Zhang Xueya from the dissection room.

Tears filled Zhou Qingyan’s eyes again. She hurried forward, full of concern. “Xueya, are you all right?”

She couldn’t believe her friend was behind all this. After all, Zhang Xueya looked just as miserable as they did.

Freshly freed from the dissection table, she could barely stand. Restraint marks circled her wrists, and blood kept seeping through the bandages around her body.

Assistant Li was more cautious. He kept his guard up around her, discreetly maintaining his distance, afraid to get too close.

No argument broke out among the three. Zhang Xueya didn’t even bother explaining what had happened to her.

She gave perfunctory responses to Zhou Qingyan’s questions, seeming dazed from shock.

She concealed her distraction well. Deliberately touching her belly, she dropped hint after hint that the child was safe, but Li Zhehan was dead.

Seeing her best friend had left Zhou Qingyan’s mind blank. She offered awkward comfort. “Then what will you do now? But how do you know he’s dead? He might still be alive.”

Zhang Xueya certainly lived up to her role as the female lead. Hers wasn’t a flamboyant, sensual beauty, but her innocent looks were enough to make people feel warmly toward her.

Now she looked like a delicate flower battered by suffering. Though her eyes gave little away, she could still speak with perfect innocence. “I heard him scream. It came from the room at the very end.”

“I also saw them bring in so many bodies. Is it dangerous outside? I heard explosions. Has someone come to rescue us?”

“Oh, how did you find this place?”

Zhou Qingyan looked toward the far room with apprehension, especially as she imagined the bloody scene full of bodies inside.

Suppressing her fear, she forced a smile and tried to sound relaxed. “I followed Assistant Li.”

“He said Zhao Xiuming was here. Have you seen Zhao Xiuming?”

Sadness crossed Zhang Xueya’s face. She gave a bitter smile. “No, but we could look for him in that room ahead.”

Assistant Li adjusted his broken glasses. “Are you that eager for us to go in? Do you know what’s inside?”

Realizing how hostile he’d sounded, he added, “If you hadn’t come for an abortion, my young master wouldn’t have disappeared.”

Zhang Xueya looked close to tears. “I don’t know what’s in there. If you don’t want to look, we can leave right now. I just don’t know if it’s safe outside.”

“Besides, I didn’t get pregnant all by myself… Why bring this up?”

“You said Zhao Xiuming was here. Was he… captured and brought here?”

Before Assistant Li could answer, Zhou Qingyan spoke. “Yes. Wait, no, that’s not right.”

“Assistant Li kidnapped Zhao Xiuming and brought him to the hospital. But if you mean whether he was captured and brought down here, I think he came in himself.”

“Zhao Xiuming is really capable.”

“I don’t know how he’s doing now. Why don’t we go in and look, Assistant Li?”

She asked cautiously, afraid he would refuse. “Didn’t Xueya say Li Zhehan was in there too?”
Assistant Li wanted to cut her off, but doing so would surely arouse Zhang Xueya’s suspicions.

He sighed and kept trying to repair the damage. “Zhao Xiuming did come to the morgue himself. But none of us knew there was a basement beneath it.”

“It’s dangerous upstairs. I don’t recommend leaving. Since we’ve come this far, of course we should have a look.”

“Zhao Xiuming was probably captured and brought down here. He may be imprisoned with my young master.”

“I hope they’re both all right.”

Zhang Xueya smiled, seemingly having obtained the answer she wanted.

Apparently she no longer wished to keep up the pretense. Her air of frailty gradually faded, and her expression turned cold. “Is that so?”

Realizing she was about to drop the act, Assistant Li reached out and pulled Zhou Qingyan behind him.

Two intelligent people needed only a look to understand each other’s position.

Zhang Xueya did nothing else. She simply straightened and led them into the room full of tendrils. “It all happened so suddenly. I left too many loose ends.”

Zhou Qingyan didn’t understand, but she could tell something was wrong with the atmosphere. “Loose ends…? Ah! It’s Zhao Xiuming! Huh? Li Zhehan’s here too? Are you still alive?”

Overjoyed, she shook Zhang Xueya’s arm. “Look, isn’t that Li Zhehan? I told you he wasn’t dead.”

Seeing that everyone she knew was still alive left her excited. “How did they end up like that?”

“Assistant Li, we have to find a way to get them down.”

“Zhao Xiuming, are you all right?”

The room resembled a primeval forest, except that all its branches were tendrils. Something that might have been a cocoon or a heart hung in midair, pulsing now and then with a dull thudding sound.

The dead players were covered in tendrils, like bodies caught in a spiderweb and drained dry.

Only Zhao Xiuming and Li Zhehan seemed to have any life left in them, still able to react to their surroundings.

Zhao Xiuming opened his eyes. Beside him, Li Zhehan hadn’t expected anyone to make it here unscathed. “You…” he said in surprise.

“Zhang Xueya? Zhou Qingyan!”

“Assistant Li, get me out of here!”

“What are you standing there for?”

He began to struggle, enduring the pain as he tried to break free.

But the more he struggled, the tighter the tendrils wound around him. The motionless tendrils began to quiver faintly.

Remembering something, he went pale. “It’s just the three of you?”

“Run! Run!”

As his warning rang out, the thick, rootlike tendrils across the floor began to writhe rapidly. A tentacle as thick as a bucket lashed at the three newcomers from behind.

The tremendous force sent all three sprawling, slamming them against the tendrils carpeting the floor.

Zhou Qingyan had just scrambled up when a sharp pain shot through her calf. Her world flipped upside down as something coiled around her and hoisted her into the air.

Assistant Li and Zhang Xueya fared no better. His injuries left him unable to run.

Zhang Xueya was delicate and weak. She only managed a few steps before a tendril wrapped around her waist and lifted her.

Li Zhehan unleashed a stream of abuse. “Are you fucking idiots? You came here with just three people? Assistant Li, where’s your brain? Couldn’t you have paid someone to help?”

Assistant Li spat out blood. Zhou Qingyan shouted, “Why are you yelling at him, Li Zhehan? He’s coughing up blood! Stop swearing at him. He only wanted to save you…”

“Shut up!” Li Zhehan couldn’t stand it anymore. “You’re even stupider. I’ve never met anyone as stupid as you!”

“Why did you start shouting the second you came in? Afraid the monsters wouldn’t hear you?”

Zhou Qingyan felt wronged too. “You’re being just as loud now! Besides, none of those eerie nurses attacked us on the way here. I thought it was safe.”

Zhao Xiuming listened with relish. When he looked up, he found the bound Assistant Li staring at him with an expression that said, Just as I thought.

Guiltily, Zhao Xiuming averted his gaze and pretended not to notice.

With a soft thump, the tendrils released Zhang Xueya.

Unable to keep her balance, she fell straight to the floor. She finally managed to stand with a hand on her belly, looking innocent and astonished as she stood at a loss.

Then she immediately took out a hidden scalpel and began cutting the tendrils around Zhou Qingyan. Zhou Qingyan was deeply moved. “Yaya…”

Who knew what was special about Zhang Xueya’s scalpel? The moment she began, every tendril in the room started moving, drawing the captured prey toward the central cocoon.

The players’ bodies went first, crushed one after another. Densely packed fangs emerged across the cocoon’s surface and chewed like a meat grinder.

“Quick! Hurry!” Zhou Qingyan screamed. The moving tendrils almost dragged Zhang Xueya off her feet.

She pulled on a tendril to steady herself and kept cutting. Her hand strayed to her belly, and pain crossed her face.

Shock and violent exertion had pushed her body to its limits.

Her scalpel seemed useless. After all that cutting, she’d made only a small notch in the tendril. Zhang Xueya began to cry in desperation.

The tendrils covered the entire room. When they moved, they carried everything in it along with them.

Unable to keep her balance amid the rising and falling coils, Zhang Xueya clung to a tendril. The sharp scalpel sliced her palm. Yet the blood that spilled made the tendril split apart as if startled.
Zhao Xiuming could sense that this was due to the strange golden glow surrounding her.

[The players’ energy.]

[The male and female leads’ energy.]

[Zhang Xueya is the female lead. So her golden light can be understood as a protagonist halo.]

[Which means her blood can offer protection and attack anomalies?]

He analyzed it in his mind. The System, clearly enjoying the show as well, imitated the lie-detecting rabbit’s terse reply. [Truthful.]

Zhang Xueya’s blood took effect, and Zhou Qingyan was soon free.

Zhang Xueya immediately turned to rescue Assistant Li. Furious, Li Zhehan shouted, “Save me first!”

Assistant Li said nothing about saving the young master first. He knew it would be pointless.

The tendrils squeezed their captives harder and moved faster and faster. Li Zhehan and Zhao Xiuming were drawing ever closer to the central cocoon.

Zhou Qingyan supported the freed Assistant Li and found a patch of exposed floor. Once they were standing steadily on it, she urged anxiously, “Hurry! Please hurry!”

Straddling a huge tendril, Zhang Xueya kept climbing upward, using both hands and feet.

“Hurry!” Li Zhehan urged. “Come on, you’re so slow! Save me!”

As she drew closer, a new problem arose: she could only save one of them.

There wasn’t enough time. If she saved Zhao Xiuming, Li Zhehan would be swallowed. If she saved Li Zhehan, Zhao Xiuming would die.

Li Zhehan was certain of her choice. He knew how hard she’d worked to seduce him. Of course she’d save him first. “Xueya, save me.”

“I’m the father of your child.”

“Save me, and I’ll marry you when we get out. Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you!”

On the floor, Zhou Qingyan tightened her grip on Assistant Li.

She thought Zhang Xueya would save Li Zhehan too. But…

Assistant Li closed his eyes. Thinking he couldn’t bear to watch, Zhou Qingyan burst into tears. “What about Zhao Xiuming…?”

Under Li Zhehan’s hopeful gaze, Zhang Xueya reached them, then turned and smeared her blood on the tendrils binding Zhao Xiuming.

Li Zhehan couldn’t believe it. His handsome face was filled with shock, his voice hoarse. “Zhang Xueya, what are you doing?”

Zhao Xiuming lifted his eyelids, taking in the sweat on her forehead and her impossibly pale lips.

He looked calm. So calm that Li Zhehan lost it. “Zhang Xueya, you bitch!”

“You’re choosing him again? Because he’ll obey you more than I will? But he’s already mutated. He isn’t worth saving.”

“You’re a scheming fucking whore! Zhang Xueya, why? Why?”

“You think Zhao Xiuming will forgive you if you do this? Never.”

“Zhang Xueya, I can give you more when we get out. What do you want? Money? A house? I’ll give you all of it! Look at his family’s circumstances, then look at mine! I can give you so much more…”

Before he could finish, a soft laugh came from Zhao Xiuming. It wasn’t triumphant. It was the pleasure of someone enjoying a show.

Li Zhehan saw a sensual expression on that weak, pale face, the mutated eye brimming with a sinister light.

Yet Zhao Xiuming used that thoroughly inhuman face to feign fragility. Smiling, he spoke in a crazed, lilting voice. “Young Master…”

“You care about me…”

“You never used to give me a second glance…”

He was still being sarcastic!

Li Zhehan laughed in fury. “Are you a fucking moron? What are you so pleased about? You’re laughing at me? You hate me because you’re jealous?”

“Zhang Xueya! Zhao Xiuming! You cheating bastards deserve to die in agony! I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you both!”

Within Li Zhehan’s understanding of the world, none of this made sense.

His gold-digging girlfriend, who’d gone to such lengths to seduce him, was saving an “ex-boyfriend” she’d already offended?

What did Zhao Xiuming have to offer? He was a gloomy, penniless nobody.

“Nope.” Zhao Xiuming stopped smiling.

The tendrils around him still hadn’t broken. No matter how hard Zhang Xueya tried, they remained unharmed.

He looked straight into Li Zhehan’s eyes. “The one who hates you, wants revenge on you, and enjoys watching you suffer has never been me.”

“I only said those things because I thought you liked the fragile, innocent type.”

“Don’t you?”

Remembering the scene when he’d first arrived here, Zhao Xiuming added lazily, his words carrying a pointed meaning, “Who wants to give anyone their heart? How disgusting.”

Zhang Xueya looked terrible, but she kept cutting her palm and smearing blood on the tendrils.

As if she truly could save only one. As if, even after doing everything in her power, one was all she could save.

At Zhao Xiuming’s words, she began to tremble uncontrollably.

At his last sentence, she slowly raised her head, allowing Li Zhehan’s blood to spray over her.

Amid his screams, Zhang Xueya gave a bitter smile. “You really are heartless, Zhao Xiuming.”

Zhao Xiuming slipped free of the tendrils himself and jumped to the floor. Looking back, he said, “So are you.”