Pain Was the Best Way to Forget Fear

As the saying went, misfortunes never came alone. Bai Zhi had now fallen into exactly that kind of situation.

The Black Fingerprint on his neck was constantly draining his stamina, while the bite wound on his Right Arm had gradually begun to go numb with time. His entire arm was becoming increasingly unresponsive.

Holding his breath beneath the bed and listening as the heavy footsteps gradually moved away from the door, Bai Zhi let out a slight sigh of relief before taking out his medical supplies from his Inventory and roughly treating the wound on his right arm.

It had to be said that his method of treating wounds was simply horrifying.

Without changing expression, he repeatedly washed the wound with high-proof alcohol until no Black Blood seeped out. Then, using a Small Knife sterilized with alcohol, he precisely cut away the rotting flesh that had been bitten off and left hanging there. He forcibly stapled the wound shut to stop the bleeding, then tightly wrapped the injury with a thick layer of industrial Tape...

—He had gotten the idea from a gangster anime about someone who wanted to become a Dance Star.

It had to be said that although the treatment process looked brutally simple, the results were immediate.

After finishing the whole process, Bai Zhi wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead. Once he confirmed by clenching his fist that he could basically hold out until the time limit ended, he crawled out from Under The Bed.

However, just as he cautiously approached the door to investigate the current situation, the sound of something cutting through the air, mixed with the foul stench unique to corpses, came down from directly above him.

—That corpse had never left at all.

With Life and Death on the line, Bai Zhi could not afford to be stingy. He immediately used one of the two Subordinate Bodies he had obtained from Beard Guy, narrowly dodging the fatal attack.

By the time he took advantage of that brief period of safety to run some distance away and look back, the corner of his mouth could not help twitching.

"...So you really are a Devil Fruit user who ate the Dismemberment-Dismemberment Fruit, huh?"

Just as it had torn its own head off its body in extreme Wrath before, the footsteps he had heard earlier had been a deception caused by it tearing off one of its feet and letting it move around on its own... This corpse was far smarter than he had imagined.

"Tch... Is this also something the trial wants to tell Players? Never treat them like idiots..."

After glancing from the corner of his eye at the foot returning to the body, Bai Zhi turned and ran without hesitation.

The few Improvised Hand Grenades he had made earlier had caused the thing some trouble. Under the scattered barrage of Iron Nails and blades, its already crudely assembled Damaged body became even more Damaged, Black Blood flowing freely across the ground.

But at the same time, his actions had enraged it even further. Although it was a little slower than him, it could split up and move separately!!

And judging from what had happened before, it could split off not only its head, but also its hands and feet...

Meanwhile, in the Other Side, in the Real World.

As time passed, Temperance Gentleheart had completely lost the ability to move. And because of that Chilling Aura that seemed to seep into every bone, Beard Guy's face had become deathly pale as well, his body icy cold.

It was already foreseeable that if Black&White failed to accomplish the objective inside, all of them would be frozen to death beside the Campfire.

After setting fire to the corpse fragments already drenched in Gasoline, Beard Guy staggered back to the Campfire as flames rose amid the smell of burning flesh. He threw every flammable thing he could find into the fire in one go.

—If he did not keep the flames burning strongly at all times, he seriously doubted whether Temperance Gentleheart, who was in the worst condition, would simply die.

Just then, Night Owl, who was in the best condition, suddenly stood up from beside the Campfire. She gripped a Fruit Knife tightly in her hand, as though she had made some kind of decision.

"What are you doing?"

Seeing Night Owl suddenly rise before him with a pale face, Beard Guy could not help frowning slightly.

But Night Owl ignored him completely. As she viciously slashed her own arm with the Fruit Knife, she ran toward the Mirror placed on the floor of the First Floor Hall.

A few seconds later, Night Owl disappeared as well.

"Going in to help... Wait, if she's going to help, why did she bring a knife?"

"Tch, the worst-case scenario really happened..."

Covering his right arm with one hand, Bai Zhi sat against the wall in a corner of the First Floor Hall, his brow tightly furrowed.

The Black Fingerprint that appeared on the body carried a special Curse capable of draining stamina. Since Temperance Gentleheart had been saved twice in succession by Beard Guy, she had accumulated two Curses and collapsed because of that... In a sense, Beard Guy had screwed her over.

His own situation was even worse. With a half-crippled Constitution of six points and the Black Fingerprint on his neck, he could theoretically hold out for less than an hour before collapsing like Temperance Gentleheart.

—In theory, there was enough time.

But even though he conserved his stamina as much as possible and replenished his endurance with sweets, which he hated most, he had still inevitably expended a great deal of stamina during his fight with that walking corpse.

By his own estimate, he could move for about another ten minutes before collapsing. The disadvantages of having such low Constitution were far too obvious.

During the chase with the corpse, he had found the final Corpse Puzzle Piece, the Right Arm. It had been placed at the Top Floor Stairwell Entrance leading to the Rooftop. Items from the Real World were quite easy to identify in this illusory space.

But although he had found it, he could not get close at all. In that narrow Stairwell Entrance, the corpse had a hundred ways to kill him before he could touch the Right Arm.

And whenever he approached that place, the corpse seemed to sense it and would frantically rush over. His second Subordinate Body had also been used up at the Stairwell Entrance.

"I have to find a way to lure it away. If I have ten minutes..."

Just as Bai Zhi was rapidly considering his next move, a figure he had never expected appeared in the First Floor Hall.

"...Night Owl?"

Looking at the Girl before him, holding a knife in one hand while blood streamed from her left arm and tears glimmered faintly at the corners of her eyes from the pain, Bai Zhi could not help freezing for a moment.

"Black&White?"

Night Owl quickly spotted him sitting against the wall. She breathed a slight sigh of relief, and her whole face brightened with delight.

"I came to help. What do you need me to do next... This?"

Noticing his gaze, Night Owl casually raised the Fruit Knife in her hand.

"You said it yourself before, didn't you? I should learn to replace fear with other emotions. Pain was the best method I could think of. Pain lets me temporarily forget fear... Though it almost hurt me to death."

"..."

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