“These mud figurines that escaped from Li San Hospital are formed by twisted faiths in the shadow world. They are vessels of faith. For most figurines, as long as the consciousness of the ‘Gods’ remains, the figurines will never fully be broken,” The hostess explained. This anomaly was beyond what she could handle. She was not as carefree as when the anomaly started.
“In other words, God’s consciousness can technically shatter its own figurine?” Luo Dong stared at the pebbles in his hand. “Turning a human into a dog requires wiping away his humanity and soul. Only Gods can do something like that.”
“These fur and pebbles were on Pencil. Do you mean these two things are related to how he is the way he is now?” Yu Ruolong widened his eyes. “Are these pebbles part of the shattered figurine? The mud figurine broke itself to embed part of itself into human beings?!”
“Xiao Wu told us to stay away from the barking. That is something worth pondering. He should be hiding something.” Luo Dong cleared his thoughts. “We mustn’t go to the training room now. We should find more things that bark inside the building. We should do things they don’t want us to do.”
Luo Dong’s words reminded the woman of something. She half-knelt on the ground. The blood band around her ankle started to vibrate.
“What are you doing?”
“You should worry about yourself.”
The security room had its own communication system. However, it was hard to send information within the anomaly. The hostess knew the situation had gone out of control within the building, so she asked for help from outside. The old city was the zone with the densest population at Han Hai. The investigation centre wouldn’t allow this place to be corrupted. Therefore, a lot of centre forces were gathered around Li San.
Luo Dong already knew the woman’s real identity. He put away Pencil’s phone, hid his hatred and led his children out of the office.
The tendrils were peeled away by the torture devices. The wounded souls rolled off the surgical table. The fourth floor became a shrinking blood lotus. To prevent the tendrils from escaping through the pipes, Gao Ming took the whole floor into the torture room.
The scary scene imagined by the other players happened, but it didn’t happen to Gao Ming; it happened to the monster inside the pool.
“Now, can you let me see what you really are?” Sitting on the scythe of fate, Gao Ming held the chains carved with curses. Beside him stood the faceless disciples and the patients from Li San Hospital. Compared to the ghosts, Gao Ming was more like an antagonist. He was evil, cunning, cruel and heartless!
The patients cut away the tendrils with the torture devices. The monster that made so many players feel fear experienced fear for the first time. A child’s crying came out from the core protected by the layers of tendrils.
“I’ll give you three more seconds. If you do not give up the resistance, I’ll keep on cutting.”
Being an animal didn’t mean irrationality or destruction. Humans often used the term animalistic to describe those who were dominated by desire. However, a beast’s instinct of fear was sharper than any human's. Beasts reacted differently around different levels of danger.
The largest tendrils near the core turned grey. They slowly undulated like flower petals. Gao Ming finally saw the real appearance of the monster.
It was a young man around twenty. The roots of the tendrils were attached to his body. He was handsome and pale. However, his body had been twisted by the tendrils.
“Are you also one of the figurine’s pets?” Gao Ming jumped down. He walked towards the young man openly.
The young man’s eyes darted about. He suddenly assaulted Gao Ming. However, once his tendrils moved, he was punctured by chains. The giant God of Flesh and Blood appeared behind Gao Ming. The pressure suppressed the young man. The smell of meat wafted about.
Blood splattered on the young man’s face. The God of Flesh and Blood flung the corpses at the young man. The monster gurgled down the delicious-smelling blood. The more it ate, the more it was influenced by the God of Flesh and Blood. Its mind broke down. The pattern of a creature with a beast’s head and human body appeared on the monster’s chest.
The God of Blood and Flesh roared as his fingers dug out a stone the size of a fist out of the monster’s chest. The stone was covered in divine patterns. It was like the monster’s heart and also a large fragment of the mud figurine’s body.
Blood and flesh reconstructed a new heart for the young man. The piece of stone was tossed into the flesh furnace.
When the new heart started to beat, the young man gasped like he had been rescued from deep water. Black liquid leaked out of his mouth. Rationality returned to his eyes.
“Now, can you understand me?” Gao Ming let go of the chains, “What happened here?”
“Big sister…” The young man’s remaining tendrils fluttered about to reveal a death portrait hidden underneath his skin. The younger brother sat on his father’s shoulders. They and their mother stood before a cage at the zoo. The tall sister grabbed the rails of the fence. She looked at the lion inside the cage with need instead at the camera. 𝐑
“Nian Xin? Nian Yu?” Gao Ming uttered the names in the picture. Their parents placed a lot of hope on the siblings, but they both turned into monsters. One had his body transmuted and gained the appearance of a monster; the other had a gorgeous appearance but a heart that was darker than a monster’s.
The God of Flesh and Blood used his own manner to enslave the young man.
“This mud figurine’s choice of main disciple should be your big sister, Nian Xin. In one of the known futures, Manager Nian is a super murderer. She is wanted by both the investigation centre and the horror game players.” Gao Ming put away the death portrait. A mad person like Nian Xin must not be allowed to wander free. Being sent into the torture room was the greatest kindness for her.
The ghosts put away the torture devices. The chains slid on the ground. Without support, the young man slumped to the ground. The tendrils curled up.
Luo Dong’s wife was saved. She hugged her head and looked around in disbelief. If Nian Yu brought him ten levels of fear, the resentment room filled with torture devices filled her with a hundred levels of fear.
Her soul trembled. She could barely stand. She couldn’t imagine what would happen next.
“Do not mention what you saw here…” Holding the painting of the human with a beast’s head, Teacher Xia walked over to Luo Dong’s wife. “After all, you wouldn’t want your husband and children…”
Gao Ming quickly pulled Xia Yang into the death portrait. He helped Luo Dong’s wife up. “Don’t be scared. We won’t harm you.”