Dark Red Tendrils

What was Despair Swamp?

How had this thing suddenly appeared on the street?

Xiao Xiao couldn't figure it out for a moment. No matter how powerful Mind Burst was, it couldn't conjure an answer out of thin air. Still, he quickly thought it through and decided to follow them and take a look.

Although this person named Little Four was someone he had only just met, Xiao Xiao had seen his identity card and could confirm who he was.

Besides, after that bout of tearing and biting in the alley, his three vicious dogs had been strengthened at the cost of their points. Their price had actually dropped from a hundred points to thirty. That had made him eager to give it a try...

He still didn't understand the underlying logic of strengthening or what they would look like afterward, but if he could get one free enhancement, it wouldn't be a loss, would it?

And finally, Little Four seemed to have said, "We've struck it rich"?

He definitely couldn't miss that!

He immediately nodded. "I'll go get some helpers."

In Little Four's eyes, however, Xiao Xiao looked entirely different. No wonder Sister Hard and Old Yang both said this newcomer has great potential. Just this steadiness and calm alone are rare.

Back when she was still a newcomer, Sister Hard wasn't nearly this tough. She probably wet herself the first time she saw an Aberrant Creature, right?

"..."

"..."

In the alley, Nuo Nuo hadn't sensed what was happening in the café across the street. But the sudden pounding in her chest made her react all at once.

She hugged Haha's warm, soft neck, feeling as if she had been saved.

Only when that wave of heart palpitations struck did she suddenly come to her senses and stare blankly at Haha in her arms.

It was true. Countless times, she had wished that when she was bullied, she could lead these three dogs out and scare those people into wetting themselves.

But she wasn't a child anymore. She actually understood that she couldn't lead them out to frighten people.

But if that was the case, how had they appeared just now?

As she pondered this, she suddenly noticed that none of the three dogs, including the one she was holding, were looking at her.

There was even blood around their mouths. They looked fierce and terrifying, yet their temperaments seemed unusually docile. Their tails were even wagging as they stared expectantly in unison at a spot in midair.

Just as she began to feel puzzled, a figure lightly jumped down from a platform on the second floor beside them.

It was at least three or four meters high, but the man landed steadily, seemingly unaffected. He wore a rough, heavy blue work uniform, yet had a handsome, pale face.

He smiled at her, then whistled.

"Awooo..."

The big black dog and the big yellow dog immediately wagged their tails wildly and dashed to his side, shaking their heads excitedly.

The black-and-white Erha in her arms was the only one who didn't follow. It was a little slow, but it was a warmhearted fellow. Perhaps sensing that she was still frightened, it seemed too considerate to struggle free.

"Xiao..."

Nuo Nuo stared at Xiao Xiao, who had landed in front of her, and said incredulously, "Xiao-gege?"

She wasn't surprised to see Xiao Xiao here. She had indeed seen him on the street earlier, but she hadn't wanted him to see her in such an embarrassing state, so she hadn't even dared greet him.

But now, seeing Xiao Xiao appear before her, and seeing how intimately the three dogs behaved around him...

A question suddenly opened up in her mind.

It was him!

He helped me?

She still had many questions. For example, how had he brought the three dogs from her home to this alley to save her?

And when she had encountered him earlier, he clearly hadn't had the dogs with him.

Yet an instinctive certainty arose within her, making her sure that it had been this big brother from next door who had helped her.

"This place is dangerous. Go home quickly. Head that way."

As she stared in surprise, unable to stop her eyes from filling with tears, Xiao Xiao had already spoken in a low voice and pointed her toward the direction opposite where the danger was coming from.

"I..."

Nuo Nuo had a bellyful of things to say, but before she could speak, Xiao Xiao seemed to remember something. He opened his wallet and took out a twenty-yuan bill.

"Take a taxi. After you've gone two blocks, take another taxi."

"..."

Looking at Xiao Xiao's face, blurred through her tear-filled eyes, Nuo Nuo suddenly couldn't say any of the things she wanted to. She merely nodded instinctively.

"All right, go!"

Xiao Xiao nodded at her, then turned and walked toward the mouth of the alley, the two hounds following him excitedly.

The black-and-white Erha also looked anxious, wearing an expression as though it had been abandoned.

But Xiao Xiao could see that the girl was still filled with fear, so he decided not to take the Erha she was holding. He would leave her a little sense of security.

Nuo Nuo, however, quickly reacted.

She stood up and instinctively patted the dirt from her clothes. Before running toward the mouth of the alley, she suddenly remembered something and said to the Erha, "Go with him!"

"..."

The Erha looked pleasantly surprised, while Xiao Xiao was also somewhat startled.

The dog's owner in the real world should not have known that he had bought the three dogs. Why had she thought of telling this Erha to follow him?

Could the city's will be influencing her again?

Or was it simply the girl's sharp intuition?

He had no time to say more. He watched the girl in the white dress wipe the dirt from her face as she ran out of the alley. The three vicious dogs beside him had already entered combat mode, crouching at his feet and eyeing everything around them menacingly.

"When Sister Hard first said you bought three dogs, I had a hard time understanding it. But looking at this, I get it now..."

Little Four's voice sounded from not far behind him.

He watched Xiao Xiao emerge from the alley, tall and straight, his face pale, three large hounds with murderous expressions at his side.

Shadows fell across their faces, giving them an oddly striking air.

All he could think was: Cool...

Little Four had always thought it was more normal for those famous people in the circle to buy the goddesses they had pursued unsuccessfully for seven or eight years before awakening, buy the people they had hated for years and torture them endlessly, or buy a little rich man and make him acknowledge them as his biological son on the spot.

But now he suddenly realized that buying several vicious dogs as helpers during the novice stage, as Xiao Xiao had done, was the calmest and most rational choice of all...

Was this the difference between us?

When I first awakened, I only thought about buying the cafeteria auntie in the compound so I could get a few extra pieces of meat at every meal...

The two men and three dogs emerged from the alley and saw that the surrounding area was already in chaos.

People kept screaming and fleeing from the direction of the café, while cars crashed into one another without aim.

Vaguely, several figures could be seen roaring in the direction of the café. Their limbs and bodies had twisted into bizarre angles as they uncontrollably clawed at passersby.

Inside the café, dark red fleshy tendrils could clearly be seen extending outward like vines.

"Buzz..."

Xiao Xiao seemed to hear a hallucination in his head, distorted as though water had been poured into his ears.

Just looking at those dark red tendrils seemed to affect his brainwaves, making his memories flicker like scrambled television signals.

"What exactly is this thing?"

He instinctively raised his voice and asked Little Four.

"An Aberrant Creature designated Sequence Number Twenty-Nine: Despair Vine."

Little Four looked at the dark red substance, his eyes faintly shining. "It's an Aberrant Creature produced when excessive painful memories repeatedly torment someone until their mind collapses."

"This vine can affect the mental worlds of people nearby, awaken their unpleasant memories, and cause their minds to collapse."

"People whose minds collapse will continue producing Despair Vines, affecting even more people. Once they become intertwined, they can form a Class C disaster: Despair Swamp."

"What we've encountered should only be Despair Vine. After all, too little time has passed for it to spread. But the Pain Substance accumulated inside this Aberrant Creature at the core is far too intense. It's hard to imagine how long her suffering had been brewing, or why it suddenly erupted. In any case, it instantly gained the ability to spread outward. Calling it Despair Swamp wouldn't really be wrong..."

"..."

Xiao Xiao considered this. "So it's only a Class D incident?"

"By nature, it's Class D, but other factors are involved."

Little Four glanced at the composed Xiao Xiao and thought, He's so cool. It's only been a few days, and he already doesn't take even Class D incidents seriously?

That's true. He doesn't even take Class C incidents seriously...

"..."

He shook his head and quickly explained, "For example, the Pain Substance in this Aberrant Creature is far too intense, clearly exceeding the standard."

"Besides, this is a busy urban district. How many people are being threatened?"

"Resolving this matter will earn us one batch of points. Saving those under threat will earn another batch. Eliminating the potential danger will earn us some points as well."

"All in all, we might get more than we would from a smaller-scale Class C threat..."

"..."

"So it's already on the same level as Choking Nest?"

Xiao Xiao was both surprised and excited. Forcing himself to calm down, he asked, "Then what should we do?"

"First, seal off this district. People can leave, but no one can enter."

Little Four said, "This thing is expanding rapidly. The larger it grows, the more Pain Substance we can harvest, but we're already on-site."

"If we let it spread freely, the city's will will lower its evaluation of us. We won't earn many points, while our malice will rise sharply."

"..."

"Seal off the district?"

Xiao Xiao looked at the street, which had already descended into chaos. "How do we do that?"

"Of course we get the people from The Guard Hall to handle it..."

"We can even mobilize the power of The Guard Hall?"

"..."

Xiao Xiao was genuinely shocked. Were the Otherworlders really this powerful in this world?

As he was thinking, Little Four suddenly reached out and snatched a phone from the hand of someone fleeing in panic nearby. He glared at the person, who didn't even dare ask for it back and ran away as fast as he could.

Little Four then used the phone to call The Guard Hall. "Hello? Police uncle? This is the location of Happiness Café on Time Street in Downtown District. Send people over immediately to seal off the district. There's a bomb here..."

"What? You want to know how I know there's a bomb?"

"I installed it myself. How could I not know?"

"I installed more than a dozen. They'll explode in ten minutes. Handle it however you want..."

"..."

Under Xiao Xiao's dumbfounded gaze, Little Four hung up and said, "Let's go. We have ten minutes to resolve this."

I'm Making Inventions at Hogwarts — Author: Weila, who writes every day.

When Voldemort escaped captivity, Harry Potter knocked him down with a super electromagnetic cannon.

"Reggie, this is much more useful than a wand!"