The Nightmare Begins

[I was stuck on this chapter for three and a half hours yesterday, and it contains some gore, which may make some readers uncomfortable. Readers sensitive to gore are advised to skip it. Because it's about Bigge's nightmare, I could only try my best to make the story feel realistic... I apologize to those who feel uncomfortable; similar content won't appear many times in this book.]

The Black Robed Man walked up to the two boys.

"Bigge, let's play a game. Only one of you or your friend can survive. Of course, the one who survives has to come with me. Make your decision!"

The so-called "game" proposed by the Black Robed Man was actually a dilemma. If he let Peier kill him, Peier would have to leave with the Black Robed Man, and his future would be filled with endless suffering, worse than death. If he killed Peier, he would survive, but would once again become the Black Robed Man's prison, and his suffering would be worse than death.

The knife slipped from Peier's hand and hovered between the two.

"You have ten seconds to make a choice. If you don't act within ten seconds, it means you've chosen to hand your friend over to me. I assure you, I'll teach him a lesson." The Black Robed Man made no attempt to hide the smirk on his face. "Countdown, begin..."

Bigge was still struggling, his body trembling slightly. Although his memories of the Black Robed Man hadn't fully returned, the moment he saw that face, his soul trembled—a fear that originated from the depths of his being. In his mind, a voice kept repeating, "Don't go with him, stay as far away from him as possible..."

On the other hand, Peier's current appearance was somewhat frightening. Covered in blood, his consciousness seemed to be completely dominated by killing. His eyes had lost their former brilliance, replaced by savagery. Bigge found it hard to imagine what would happen if he followed the Black Robed Man.

"Three, two, one..."

The moment the Black Robed Man ended, Bigge made his move. He snatched the longsword and plunged it into Peier's abdomen, his right hand, which held the sword, trembling uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry... I can't let him take you away. Although my memories haven't fully returned, I know he'll turn you into a monster who only knows how to kill. He'll let you live, but he'll also make you suffer more than if you were dead." Bigge explained loudly, watching Peier gradually regain his senses and then look at his body, pierced by Bigge, with some surprise. But Peier didn't listen. His eyes were filled with innocence and despair, a look exactly like the scene in Bigge's memory of killing Peier years ago. Bigge closed his eyes with a pang of pity. "I'm sorry..."

"You made the right choice." The Black Robed Man removed his hat, finally revealing his face to Bigge. "A weak-willed loser like him would probably have his consciousness erased and become Blade Slave in the first trial. Death is the best relief for him."

"Didn't you come to take me away? Then there's no need for so much nonsense." After killing Peier, Bigge's fear of the Black Robed Man seemed to have lessened considerably, and he vented his emotions.

"He's not a big man, but he has quite a temper," the Black Robed Man said, stretching out his hand. Bigge's mind went blank for a moment.

When he came to his senses, he found himself in a primeval forest. At the same time, he heard the voice of the Black Robed Man, seemingly coming from nowhere, "This game is simple. There are ten thousand humans with First Order Gene Body in this forest. Each person has been given a weapon, but the game will automatically end when 9999 die. That means only one person can leave alive. By the way, food is scarce in this forest. Good luck!"

As soon as he finished speaking, several images flashed through Bigge's mind. One was of a thin, frail boy, alone in the forest, cutting off the thigh of a corpse with a knife, roasting it over a fire, and eating it with relish. And that boy was himself.

Based on the information inadvertently revealed by the Black Robed Man, Bigge deduced that this was only the first trial, and there would be a second, a third... He found it hard to imagine what he had gone through back then.

Before Bigge could react, an arrow suddenly flew over and struck a large tree next to Bigge, its tail shaking violently from the impact.

Bigge rolled over, hiding behind a large tree. His right hand, gripping the knife, tightened. He had been worrying about how to solve the food problem—the first trial had gone awry like this, and what the subsequent trials would be like—when he was ambushed. If that arrow had been ten centimeters off to the left, he would have been shot in the head.

However, Bigge also noticed that the arrow just now was just an ordinary arrow, without any Source Power or other special abilities. This meant that the opponent this time was actually just an ordinary First Order Gene Body.

Hiding behind a large tree, Bigge patiently waited for the other party to appear. According to the rules of the game, everyone in this forest was an enemy, and everyone would attack the others immediately.

The man who attacked Bigge clearly had no intention of letting Bigge go easily, because Bigge was really thin and not even ten years old. In this forest, encountering such prey, he naturally wouldn't let him go easily.

Bigge knew that he was now an easy target. Unlike his previous enormous size, he was only seven years old now, and his physique was small due to malnutrition. However, this size had its advantages: it made him easier to hide and made it easier for people to lower their guard, because most adults wouldn't think that a child under ten years old could pose any threat to them.

Bigge had lost all his strength and Source Power, but his swordsmanship remained. Although his opponent was an adult much larger than him, he was also First Order Gene Body without Source Power protection. No matter how strong his defense was, it wouldn't be able to withstand the sharp blade. Bigge felt that as long as he overcame the major problem of food, survival wouldn't be a big issue.

The burly man, carrying Mechanical Crossbow, swaggered towards the large tree where Bigge had been hiding. He felt lucky; he'd just learned the rules of the game and already encountered a child. "He's practically food delivered to my doorstep," he thought. A child under ten was like a defenseless chick to him; he could easily lift him with one hand, posing absolutely no threat.

But this time, he was terribly wrong.

When he appeared under the big tree, he found that the child who had been hiding there was gone. He looked around in confusion, "That child clearly rolled under this tree, why is no one here?"

Just then, Bigge found his footing, leaped down from the tree, gripped his knife with both hands, and plunged it deep into his opponent's body. In fact, he had already climbed the tree. Looking at the fallen corpse, Bigge hesitated. To conserve his strength, he needed enough food, but it was clear that the best food in this forest was other humans. A few images flashed through his memory, confirming this certainty.

Frowning slightly, Bigge searched the man's body, trying to find anything edible besides his corpse. But after a thorough search, he found nothing.

"What do we do? Are we really going to have to eat people?" Bigge, as a chef, wasn't picky about ingredients. He even knew of a special circle of chefs who specialized in using humans as food. Bigge had reservations about these chefs because he had never met any of them in real life, so he didn't have any opinion on whether to praise or criticize them. But for him, cannibalism was far too barbaric.

Just as he was wondering what to do, several Corpse Eating Black Beetle crawled over from not far away, which made Bigge's eyes light up.

The Corpse Eating Black Beetle is a type of scavenging beetle. Although this insect emits a foul stench, it is not poisonous and is edible.

Bigge pinned a fist-sized carnivorous beetle to the ground with a single stroke of his knife. A stream of green liquid flowed from the beetle's body, emitting a foul stench. Bigge held his breath, cut the beetle into several pieces, then closed his eyes and stuffed them into his mouth. After chewing a few times, he quickly swallowed them.

Minutes later, Bigge finally finished eating one of the carrion beetles, his mouth filled with a nauseating stench. His stomach churned, but he forced himself not to vomit. He knew that to survive, he had to adapt. If he didn't eat these insects, he would have to eat people. But he didn't want to go back to the way he used to be, the person who had eaten human flesh without any restraint.

After swallowing a fist-sized Corpse Eating Black Beetle, his stomach finally stopped feeling hungry, and the lingering smell in his mouth also reduced his desire for food to a minimum.

After glancing around, Bigge chose a direction and quickly left the scene of the battle. Staying in such a blood-soaked place would only attract enemies more quickly.

Bigge quickly darted into the depths of the dense forest, never letting his guard down regarding his surroundings. In fact, his assessment had been entirely correct; less than ten minutes after he left the battle site, a woman appeared at that location. Upon seeing the corpse, the woman expressionlessly crouched down and, with her longsword, severed the man's two thighs and two muscular arms, then tossed them into a cloth bag and slung it over her shoulder. Clearly, she intended not only to consume human flesh but also to store food.

Not long after she left, another young man, around twenty years old, appeared. In less than three minutes, he used his dagger to completely dissect the corpse, removing all the flesh, even the man's genitals. He dismembered the incomplete body, leaving only a skeleton, internal organs, and a head. He even reached out and pulled out the heart, weighed it a couple of times, and smirked, "This is the most delicious thing in the human body..." (To be continued.)