Inverted

"Thud, thud, thud!"

Heavy footsteps rang out behind him. Just as Li Ran tried to dodge to the side, a massive force slammed into his back, sending his body pitching forward uncontrollably until he crashed into the wall.

"Bang!"

The intense pain made it hard for Li Ran to breathe. He rolled onto the floor, gasping for air for a second or two before he could finally catch his breath.

The candlestick was no longer in his hand. Li Ran struggled through the pain, forcing his upper body up. Looking up, he saw Sirius standing exactly where he had been a moment ago. Sure enough, it was this old man who had knocked him flying.

Li Ran truly hadn't expected that after all those strikes, this old man could still stand up, and that such immense strength was hidden within that aged frame!

I should have just stabbed him a few times!

Li Ran felt a pang of regret.

"Get up, Luther! He's heading toward you!"

Cecilia shouted urgently.

Sirius Arepi walked toward Li Ran. Under the dim candlelight, his silhouette appeared dark and eerie. Blood dripped steadily from his forehead, and without a word, he reached his hands out directly toward Li Ran.

Survival instinct made Li Ran leap up. Seeing those hands lunging for his throat, he raised his arms to block them almost subconsciously.

In an instant, their skin made direct contact.

"Sizzle!"

A sharp, stinging pain erupted at the point of contact, like a surging electric current piercing straight into Li Ran's brain!

"Ah!"

Caught off guard, Li Ran let out a scream of pain and clutched his head.

It hurts!

It felt like someone was splitting his skull open with an axe!

The pain was so unbearable that he collapsed to his knees, unable to straighten up.

Sirius Arepi, however, did not take the opportunity to attack; instead, he froze. He shook his head, a strange expression on his face—as if he were about to cry, yet simultaneously filled with overwhelming joy.

"Lord... is it You? I can feel Your presence..."

Large tears welled up in his fierce eyes. He muttered incomprehensible words, stumbling and trembling as he walked toward Li Ran.

As for Li Ran, he could no longer hear the sounds of the outside world, for his mind was currently flooded with terrifying Whispers.

It was a language beyond human comprehension, as if thousands of people were speaking at once. They were shouting, laughing wildly, wailing, and whispering. Countless voices layered and blended into a pure, extreme madness that compelled one to listen, as if listening closely enough would reveal the true meaning of these Whispers.

The intense pain followed like a shadow. Every Whisper that entered his ears felt like a red-hot steel needle repeatedly piercing the nerves of Li Ran's brain.

It's that auditory hallucination!

It's the sound the original owner of this body heard when he had his episodes!

Past memories collided with the current agony in his mind. Li Ran clutched his head, his vision blacking out from the pain.

It was at this moment that Sirius reached out his hands once again.

"Boom!"

Li Ran felt a deafening roar in his mind. The real world vanished, and terrifying hallucinations surrounded him...

What did he see?

A cross.

A massive cross.

On an inverted cross so huge it seemed to prop up the sky, a hulking Giant hung upside down, pierced by iron nails. Blood covered his entire body. His face wore an expression of pain and bewilderment, as if he were on the verge of death, or perhaps trapped in a deep, slumbering dream.

Sacred, strange, eerie, and terrifying!

The mad Whispers echoed in Li Ran's mind, growing higher in pitch and clearer, until they finally exploded like a thunderclap.

Finally, Li Ran understood the meaning of the Whispers.

"...The will of the Lord shall eventually walk upon the earth.

He shall be with man, He shall bear our sins.

His great light shall illuminate the darkness, and thus shall all living things be saved..."

It was the sound of countless ancestors chanting ancient hymns in a strange tongue; it was an anonymous epic from an age of ignorance illuminated by torches. The singing was filled with fanaticism and awe; they were trembling, rejoicing, and going mad!

He did not know how much time had passed—it felt like an instant, yet also an eternity.

Just as Li Ran thought he would be trapped in this hallucination forever, he seemed to hear the sound of tides.

An incredibly illusory sound of tides.

Accompanied by the sound of the tides, the hallucinations and Whispers receded rapidly, and his vision gradually cleared.

But the moment he regained consciousness, he felt a suffocating agony.

"Cough, cough..."

The pressure on his neck made it hard to breathe. Looking down, he saw Sirius's hands tightly gripping his throat. The wound on the old man's forehead was still dripping blood, but the color of the blood had turned from bright red to deep black.

But the color of the blood was the least of it! What was far more terrifying was that the entire face of Sirius had twisted and deformed, turning him into a monster. Bulging tumors covered his face and hands, his mouth was split open all the way to his ears, and the teeth inside were stark white and razor-sharp!

"Lord... as expected, you are here..."

He spoke vaguely with his split mouth, his gray-blue eyes filled with fanatical joy!

"Let go, let go!"

An anxious cry from a young girl came from the side. It was Cecilia, who was hitting Sirius's arm in vain, trying to save him.

"Use... the knife..."

Li Ran felt his vision darkening and his lungs burning and parched. He gathered all his strength to squeeze those two words out of his mouth.

Reminded by him, Cecilia reacted immediately. She turned, picked up the dagger from the floor, gritted her teeth, and without hesitation, plunged the blade into the waist of Sirius!

"Ooh!"

Sirius let out a cry of pain, his arm flailing as he threw Li Ran aside!

"Bang!"

Li Ran went flying once again. This time, he slammed into the desk on the other side. He lay on the floor, grimacing in pain as a sharp ache radiated through his back.

"Ah—"

Just as he was struggling with the pain, a scream came from Cecilia across the room; Sirius had lunged at her.

Hearing the scream, Li Ran felt an instinctive surge of anxiety. The memories of Luther were urging him to save his sister. He reached out to grab the desk to pull himself up, but in his haste, he accidentally yanked the drawer out, causing its contents to spill all over the floor.

With a "thud," something heavy landed on the back of his hand.

Li Ran looked down and saw a revolver lying on the floor, reflecting the metallic luster under the candlelight. Picking up the revolver, the heavy weight and the intricate mechanical structure caught his eye.

...Is this the real deal?

Cecilia let out another scream; she had been cornered by Sirius with nowhere left to hide!

Screw it!

Li Ran steeled himself, knelt up, and mimicked the steps he had seen in videos to check the cylinder, which was fully loaded with six bullets.

"Hey! You idiot!"

He assumed a shooting stance, aimed the muzzle at Sirius, and raised his voice, "Your Lord is here, come over here!"

Sirius paused, as if instinctively drawn by Luther's words, and turned his direction to lunge toward him.

"Heh heh!"

He was becoming less and less human, his mouth wide open with saliva stringing between his sharp teeth.

Go to hell!

Li Ran gritted his teeth and pulled the trigger with all his might.

"Bang!"

The loud gunshot echoed through the room, and the powerful recoil slammed violently into the web of his hand, traveling up his arm to his shoulder as if he had been struck by an iron hammer.

Sirius's body stiffened, seemingly hit, but he quickly charged at Li Ran again.

Li Ran did not dare to hesitate and fired the remaining five bullets at Sirius.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!..."

He had never practiced shooting and was firing blindly based on luck. Fortunately, the target was close enough and his luck was good enough that one bullet happened to strike Sirius in the head. With a splat, brains splattered everywhere, and the latter collapsed forward out of control, twitching a few times before lying still.

"Huff, huff..."

Li Ran gasped for air filled with the scent of gunpowder. His gaze crossed over the corpse to see Cecilia on the other side.

The girl was unharmed, though still shaken.

Li Ran's mind was a blank slate, and his stiff face managed to force out a bitter smile to comfort her.

The first day of transmigrating, and he had killed a man with his own hands. This was truly... a terrible start.