Si Yehan's gaze swept over the corpses on the floor. The mottled bloodstains had long since dried, and the smell of blood filled the air. Mutilated corpses of men and women crowded the room.
He took a step and appeared beneath the dark clouds.
Thunder rumbled across the blue-black sky, and the rain falling straight down from it was like countless sharp blades. There was no trace of night, and the passage of time was impossible to perceive.
The ghost faces floating on all sides slowly turned, revealing terrifying scenes: corpses crushed into mist, filthy organs crumbling into scattered ash.
Blood-colored mist surged through the city, dancing on the wind like flower petals and revealing a bewitching beauty!
Si Yehan ignored the ghostly cries and footsteps at his ears. With a thought, he made the blue-black markings on his wrist slowly fade away.
With a flick of his finger, he took an intact phone from the ruined city and glanced at the time on it: [11:32]. Twenty-eight minutes remained.
Si Yehan then tossed the phone down from high in the air. He had no particular dependence on the device; even before entering the Weird Game, he had used it only a handful of times a day.
Floating high above and looking down at the surging blood mist gave him an intense thrill, but something was still missing. A thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
Si Yehan gazed impassively downward. He raised his right hand and jabbed his index finger down.
Ripples spread in circles, and the ruins shook violently. Shattered bones flew up, forming a long, interwoven ribbon. Mottled bloodstains had congealed on the white bones as they assembled and slowly formed a throne.
The blood mist surged skyward from the ground, streaking through the air beneath the throne like waves splashing to either side!
Si Yehan sat down on it, propping up his head with one hand as his fingers continued to tap. Cangyun City, dead silent everywhere, had become a playground for him to control as he pleased, like a creator.
Far from feeling lonely or bored, he was utterly delighted. If he could clear every instance, Si Yehan would turn the entire world into a living hell, and every living creature would be exterminated.
Si Yehan had never hated only humanity. He despised every walking or conscious creature other than himself, and he was willing to act to destroy them.
If a planet capable of nurturing life still existed, any supposed extinction would be temporary. Life would spring up again, and after a number of years, another round of evolution would bring new life and new civilizations into being.
So for Si Yehan, the best approach was to destroy the world along with them.
As for what he would do after slaughtering every living thing on the planet, Si Yehan would find amusement among the ruins, living alone in the world.
If he had the chance, Si Yehan would explore the vast universe in search of a way to bring about its complete destruction.
After all, the universe would eventually be destroyed, but it would also be born anew.
His thoughts drifted farther and farther afield before Si Yehan brought them to a halt. Thinking too far ahead was not necessarily a good thing; he might as well get through the new instance first.
As his thoughts wandered, wisps of bloody light appeared around him, eroding the heavens and spreading over the blue-black ghostly fog!
Countless twisted figures struggled as Si Yehan felt his strength being sealed away bit by bit. He showed no sign of discomfort, remaining utterly composed from beginning to end.
The throne beneath him blew away in the wind, turning into white powder.
Si Yehan's figure slowly faded. At the last moment, he looked at the dead-silent city reduced to ruins and could not help smiling. He wondered how furious the official organizations would be when they saw that the city had been destroyed, and how they would suppress and handle the matter.
If he could clear the second instance, those questions would be answered. The smile vanished from Si Yehan's cold face.
Boundless darkness descended, like an abyss, like a prison! Deep and utterly lightless.
Sea met sky, and waves rippled across the water.
In the distance, the setting sun cast its rosy glow over the sea, a scene as beautiful as a painting.
A cruise ship over a hundred meters long and more than twenty meters tall sailed unhurriedly across the sea. Apart from it, there was no sign of anyone for dozens of kilometers around.
In a corner of the deck, eight people slowly appeared.
As the darkness gave way to the vivid world around him, Si Yehan felt none of the dizziness he had experienced last time. A flesh-colored envelope with the same texture as before appeared in his hand.
He looked up at the other seven people: three men and four women.
This time, no one screamed as someone had last time. Though some of the seven were pale, none showed such intense fear that they shouted to relieve their pent-up emotions.
Si Yehan fell into thought. The participants in this instance were presumably all entering an instance for the second time, like him, rather than being a mix of veterans and newcomers as in the previous instance.
Would hunting them be considerably more difficult?
But not necessarily. Shen Jing and Zhang Kui from the last instance had both been "veterans" who had survived quite a few instances, and they were of a higher caliber than this group.
A man in a pale yellow suit with a leopard-print shirt underneath looked around and spoke with a smile in his voice. "Good evening, everyone. My name is Chen Guang, and this is my second instance. I imagine it's the same for all of you. I hope we can get through this together and make some friends."
Chen Guang adjusted his glasses as he spoke, his expression amiable.
A tall, sturdily built man in light green workout clothes, with a square face and wide eyes, spoke in a somewhat muffled voice. "Brother, you're absolutely right. This is my second instance too. We're all East Asians, so we should help one another instead of fighting among ourselves while facing outside trouble. We even share a surname. My name is Chen Zhongshou, and I'm a soldier from Great Xia."
Si Yehan gave a brief introduction. "Si Yehan. Second instance."
The remaining man was handsome, tall, and thin. His voice carried a teasing note. "My name is Jin Zhiguang. It's a bit unfortunate this time. It looks like I'm the only South Korean here. Friends from Great Xia, please forget the conflicts between our groups in the outside world and don't trip me up. This is my second instance, so please bear with me."
A short-haired woman in a suit, with the capable air of a business elite, had a shrewd look in her eyes. "My name is Xia Ruifei. As for my occupation, my clothes should tell you something. There's nothing else worth mentioning. This is my second instance too."
A fashionably dressed woman with long hair dyed blue-green spoke in a rather biting tone. "My name is Xu Yuanjin. This is my second instance. I hope you'll all cooperate with me. A stupid man and a bitch caused me no end of trouble in the last instance."
A tall, thin woman in a white hoodie and round-framed glasses leaned against the deck railing. The sea breeze carried her voice to everyone's ears. "My name is Wang Yuxiu. Second instance. I'm good at analyzing rules."
An obese, bloated woman stood as tall as Chen Zhongshou, her excess flesh plainly visible. Her expression was somewhat fierce, but her voice was surprisingly gentle. "My name is Cheng Zhuiyu. I'm good at communicating with the natives of an instance, and my strength is combat. Second instance."
Once everyone had introduced themselves, Si Yehan's earlier guess was confirmed.
Chen Guang waved the envelope in his hand. "Then let's all read our letters first, and exchange information afterward."