Pain Dilution

Memories, endless memories!

Before experiencing this feeling firsthand, Xiao Xiao had never known that memories could be as sharp as knives.

They surged up from the depths of his heart in an instant, slicing him into pieces and leaving him covered in wounds. The consciousness sustaining his human shell developed fine cracks, then silently collapsed.

At that moment, Xiao Xiao felt as if he had been struck in the heart. He nearly clutched his chest and crouched down.

Why did it have to be like this?

There were many memories he had thought he had forgotten, but they had merely been buried deep within his mind. Now, without warning, they had surfaced and ambushed him.

Indescribable frustration and despair suddenly descended upon him, like a wound that had taken a long time to heal splitting open once more.

Before him, the congealed mass of flesh had already filled the entire café.

Patches of unknown flesh reeking of rot covered the walls, while chunks of it dropped from the ceiling.

Between the seats were dazed passersby with rolled-back eyes. In the cramped café, they let out low sobs.

It was as if he had entered a dark-red hell.

Twisted, grotesque flesh vines writhed through the cramped space. Every person wrapped in the vines periodically showed an expression of agony.

They shouted, panicked, and fled, yet could not truly escape the café. Like headless flies, they merely ran in circles around it.

When they saw Xiao Xiao approaching, they instinctively moved toward him as well, just as people in pain always liked to seize others and pour out their misfortune. Blood-red hands reached toward him one after another.

Pain had always carried an instinct to be shared. This was no exception.

"Whew..."

But just as those spasming hands grabbed Xiao Xiao, he—still immersed in endless painful memories and barely able to move—suddenly raised his head.

Thump, thump. His heartbeat thundered.

Yet in Xiao Xiao's perception, the interval between those heartbeats seemed to last nearly a minute.

The attack of those memory fragments had left him in unbearable pain, but it had also immediately triggered his tension. His Mind Burst ability activated in an instant.

His body flickered from side to side, dodging a hand reaching for him. Then he spun halfway around and viciously smashed the butt of his tightly gripped gun into the head of the person before him.

The person screamed and fainted. Once he collapsed to the floor, many of the red tendrils writhing over his body vanished.

"Is this what it feels like to approach an Aberrant Creature?"

Xiao Xiao clenched his teeth and looked around.

The feeling of his body being cut by the memory fragments just now had been exceptionally vivid and unforgettable.

In fact, all those memories came from his own experiences. They had been unpleasant, but instinct had buried them deep within his mind, keeping him from recalling them under normal circumstances.

Before, they had occasionally emerged without warning, instantly ruining his good mood.

But that had only happened once in a while—just a few sudden attacks throughout his long life.

Now, however, as he approached those writhing vines and tentacles of pain, the memories seemed to come alive. They surged up one after another, ten times more intense, attacking his mind.

This should be the ability of this kind of Aberrant Creature, just as the Suffocation Puppet could strip people of their ability to breathe.

Normally, under such intense influence, Xiao Xiao might already have lost the ability to think. After all, having his brain cut apart by memory fragments had nearly destroyed his ability to form coherent thoughts and actions.

But even Xiao Xiao had not expected that, when he entered a state of tension, his Mind Burst ability would pull him out of that chaotic, painful condition.

The influence of this Aberrant Creature was to make people instantly recall a large number of unhappy memories, causing them to lose their autonomy for a short period.

They might even sink into those memories and lose control of themselves.

Yet Mind Burst could precisely stretch time infinitely on a mental level.

This severely diluted the influence of that ability on him.

It was like claiming that discussing toxicity without considering dosage was just being unreasonable. A single drop of pufferfish toxin could kill an adult, but what if that adult's body mass were ten people, or even a hundred?

With his thoughts operating ten or twenty times faster, his resistance to this negative influence was likewise ten or twenty times stronger than an ordinary person's.

Xiao Xiao endured all the negative influence brought about by approaching the café, yet he still barely maintained his rationality.

That was why he had been able to react in time, avoiding being seized by that person and preventing more Pain Substance from being transmitted into his body.

After taking a deep breath, he saw that countless people had already been captured by the Aberrant Creature in the café. They ran around it in pain and panic, like twisted, grotesque creatures.

Everyone who approached ended up this way, with almost no exceptions.

Looking at the pained, confused expressions on their faces, Xiao Xiao felt as if their brains had already been cut into pieces, left in utter disarray.

Living in this world for several decades, who could say they had no wounds buried deep in their memories?

Perhaps those wounds had never healed. They had simply stopped recalling them.

"Then let's go!"

Having figured it out, Xiao Xiao drew a deep breath and began allowing his thoughts to race madly like an explosion.

The faster his thoughts operated, the more thoroughly the negative influence was diluted, and the more rational he became.

From another perspective, Xiao Xiao had endured endless torment and repression during those four years. He had survived in an environment where he could collapse at any moment. He had even learned to focus his attention and force himself to remain calm. Compared to that, the negative influence he faced now was far weaker. Xiao Xiao did not believe he had suddenly become so weak that he could no longer endure even this little pain...

It was like a person who had been tortured to death by dismemberment seeing someone in hell who had been beheaded, crying every day about how miserable he was, and throwing him a scornful look:

"Brother, is this all you've got?"

"It was just one slash..."

"..."

Although his mind was filled with random thoughts, Xiao Xiao's movements were not the slightest bit hesitant or sluggish.

To outsiders, he merely strode toward the café. Facing the countless blood-colored hands reaching out from its entrance, he frowned slightly and slipped through them. He casually grabbed the butt of his gun and smashed down a figure rushing at him. Then he swept his calm gaze across the surroundings, taking in the entire environment, before looking at the three hounds beside him. Pointing at the swaying, crazed crowd ahead, he said softly, "Tear open a path for me."

"Whine, whine..."

When the Three Adorable Hounds had first approached, they seemed to have been affected as well. Each of them tucked its tail tightly between its legs, its ears drooping.

But as Xiao Xiao quickly overcame the effects of the pain, their condition clearly improved as well. They raised their heads warily, and upon hearing his command, immediately snarled and lunged forward viciously.

The chaotic, agonized crowd ahead was forcibly torn open, and Xiao Xiao strode into the gap.

Mind Burst not only helped him resist the influence of the dark-red tentacles, it also allowed him to search for openings to maneuver and evade within the café, where shadows constantly shifted.

Meanwhile, the three brave hounds beside him charged ferociously ahead, tearing open a bloody path for him.

Amid it all was the piercing, high-pitched bark of some black-and-white dog...

...The fierce black dog had already charged forward, biting desperately, while Big Huang Mao loyally stayed by Xiao Xiao's side, blocking every hand and dark-red tentacle that reached toward him.

...Only that one had leaped onto a café table, excitedly singing.

"It's still a little troublesome..."

During this process, Xiao Xiao also began to feel some pressure.

Although Mind Burst helped him think of ways to evade the lunges of the crazed crowd, and the three brave hounds dealt with one enemy after another for him,

he still felt that he was nearly out of strength. Mind Burst could help him find a safe position, but there was no safe position in this café at all. He could only keep fighting.

He had been inside for less than half a minute, yet he had already been grabbed several times.

Each time, it felt as if invisible spikes had been planted in his mind, stabbing his brain with excruciating pain.

The pain piled up with every instance. He did not know how much longer Mind Burst could help dilute the influence of the Pain Substance.

The thought of retreating had even arisen several times.

Yet amid this dizzying and chaotic situation, another piece of information suddenly lifted his spirits.

The Three Adorable Hounds were extremely loyal. They kept biting desperately at every enemy who came near Xiao Xiao. Even when their fur was torn to shreds, they did not care in the slightest.

As they instinctively bit and swallowed, more and more strange flesh was devoured by them.

In his extreme tension, Xiao Xiao suddenly sensed some mysterious information directly enter his slightly dazed mind:

Item Name: Three Adorable Hounds

Pain Substance detected to be increasing. Strengthen: Yes/No

Strengthening Cost: 70 points

Strengthening Cost: 50 points

Strengthening Cost: 30 points

...

Pain Substance in item detected to have reached its limit. Strengthen: Yes/No

Strengthening Cost: 0 points

...

"Can it really do that?"

A previous suspicion in Xiao Xiao's heart was confirmed. Intense excitement surged within him, even diluting the torment of those ever-present painful memories.

He blurted out, "Strengthen."

Of course he had to strengthen them.

He had already wanted to strengthen them when it required a hundred points. Now that it was free, why would he not?

As soon as he said this, the three adorable hounds suddenly seemed to sense something. They abruptly stopped biting at the surrounding crowd.

Xiao Xiao even sensed that, deep within this city, some gaze seemed to be turning toward this direction.

The three hounds were at the center of that gaze.