"It’s quite fun anyway. I never really cared about my life," Shinkata Misaki remarked nonchalantly, "Worst case, I’ll be a man again in eighteen years."
"It’s seventeen," Sun Hang corrected.
"Close enough."
"I don’t care if you die, but as a tool person, you can’t die until you’ve completed your task," Sun Hang said. "If digging out your eye could make a piece of Deceitful Equipnt, believe , I wouldn’t hesitate."
"Damn you," Shinkata Misaki cursed again. "Don’t you have any empathy?"
"Empathy? Are you talking about yourself?"
"I don’t care; you have to get out of here eventually. I’m almost suffocating to death in this prison-like safe house!"
"Then just wait." Sun Hang pulled his hand out, wiped it on his pants, and turned to look at Wang Xiyi, who seed a bit distracted. "Is there anything else to do later?"
"Yeah."
"What?"
"You."
"I an seriously."
"Well, there’s nothing planned today. My regular patrol duties have been canceled," Wang Xiyi’s expression quickly returned to normal. "My current assignnt is just to take care of the three ladies in the safe house and ensure their safety."
"So, you want to co with to et Yao Yu later?"
"Sure." Wang Xiyi nodded. "I’ve t that guy before, and honestly, I don’t really like him."
"Why? Is it because he’s ugly?"
"Not really. By conventional standards, he’s fairly decent-looking... What I don’t like is his attitude, as if everything in the world is under his control," Wang Xiyi thought. "To put it bluntly, he cos off as really pretentious, and what’s more annoying is that sotis he really pulls it off."
"So isn’t it perfect to witness the fall of the pretentious king this ti?" Sun Hang laughed.
...
...
Celestial City Mysterious Creature Research Institute, Field Operations Departnt dormitory, Room 102.
Ye Jiu was sitting cross-legged in front of a gaming console in wrinkled loungewear. On the nearby screen, Guan Yu was wielding the Azure Dragon Crescent Blade, tearing through a horde of minor enemies. These clone-like soldiers fell like mowed grass, only to erge again ceaselessly from all directions.
The company that made this ga was from Dongying, but with its fall, the company had faded into history. Ye Jiu had spent a month and a half of overti pay to buy this long-out-of-print ga cartridge. The seller was generous enough to include a bunch of ga morabilia with the purchase, including a flawed Diao Chan figurine missing a head.
To outsiders, these gifts appeared to be re rubbish, but to an old otaku like Ye Jiu, these were treasures scarcely seen in the market.
Ye Jiu always believed that the biggest loss to human civilization after the fall of Dongying was the setback the otaku industry suffered, regressing nearly a century back to primitive stages.
The crackle of joystick and button presses filled the air; Guan Yu’s blade had been utterly soaked with blood, and Ye Jiu’s expression in front of the console grew increasingly savage.
"Bam!!"
Finally, Ye Jiu furiously hurled the controller.
The limited-edition shell of the prized controller slamd open, its chips snapped in half, and a round button popped out, rolling all the way into the corner.
Ye Jiu took a deep breath, turned the console off, and grabbed a bottle of water, pouring it over his head.
An unseen force seed to call him; he slowly turned his head toward the living room.
A coffin-like big box sat on the living room table, emanating the source of that invisible allure.
Inside the box lay his Deceitful Equipnt—"Slaughter."
"Smack!"
Ye Jiu gave himself a gentle slap, forcing his gaze away from the box.
He decisively got up and headed into the bathroom.
He turned on the tap, and freezing water sprayed from the showerhead, soaking his clothes and pants.
Ye Jiu braced himself against the tiled wall, gasping for breath.
His eyes were bloodshot... he hadn’t slept for two full days.
He needed rest but was too afraid to close his eyes.
Every ti he closed his eyes, visions of Mysterious Armor Brave Cavalry charging at ghostly creatures and the burning Chang’an City would flood his mind; the acrid smoke and stench of blood continuously invaded his nostrils...
Such slls were not unfamiliar to him.
During a previous "street cleaning" mission, he had seen drones drop incendiary bombs into ghostly hordes, and the scorching flas roasted their charred remains, emitting this very odor.
Ye Jiu glanced at the trash can in the bathroom, finding several empty sedative syringes inside.
He felt his symptoms worsening.
He dared not put on "Slaughter" now... a part of him ominously sensed that, in his current state, wearing it might make him imdiately lose himself, becoming a slave to the Deceitful Equipnt.
He had forgotten how he removed the armor and sealed it back in the box that day after returning.
He had canceled patrols for the past few days, shutting himself in the dorm under the pretext of "needing adjustnt before the great battle" and repeatedly imrsed himself in various gas.
This was Ye Jiu’s own "treatnt"... in the past, this thod was always effective; virtual killing soon bored him, and the killing intent stirred by "Slaughter" would dissipate...
But this ti was different.
Ye Jiu didn’t dare test his synchronization rate with "Slaughter," because doing so required putting it on, and he was also afraid to see what the result might be.
Ye Jiu asked himself... maybe, he was no longer fit to be a candidate for "Slaughter"...
Reporting this to Research Institute No. 1 and surrendering the Deceitful Equipnt might be the proper choice, before things turned worse, while there was still ti.
But in his mind, another voice kept persuading him against it.
This was just temporary; if he could withstand it, things would return to how they were.
He was the most exceptional candidate for "Slaughter" in history; he was the unique chosen one, the master of Deceitful Equipnt, not a puppet enslaved by it.
Ye Jiu kept telling himself repeatedly.
The pull from the living room intensified suddenly, and Ye Jiu shuddered, moving like a man possessed, chanically stepping out of the bathroom.
He walked slowly toward the living room, leaving wet footprints with every step.
In his vision, everything turned crimson... he was no longer in his dorm but on a perilous battlefield.
He had just fought his way out of a mass of mysterious creatures, covered in blood, leaving a trail of bloody footprints.
He had lost his weapon and armor, his support in the fight... he needed... he had to find new armor...
The armor was right there, within arm’s reach.
User Comments
0 comments from readers