Nightmare (21) - Confrontation

Pain.

All senses gave way to the pain, and with the madman's relentless actions, Zhao Yijiu's mind conjured up the image of himself as he felt it.

The two deep bloodstains on the left and right sides resembled a clown's face painted with oil paint, his smile insincere. Sorrow and sadness were hidden beneath the exaggerated lines, not that no one could see them, but that no one cared.

Is this kind of "vividness" what a madman wants?

Zhao Yijiu's chest heaved rapidly. He stared intently into the madman's eyes, trying to discern some emotion within them, but to his surprise, the madman was doing the same thing.

"It hurts, doesn't it? But it looks much better this way~" The madman looked at his masterpiece with satisfaction, a smile playing on his lips. After a while, he seemed to have discovered a new source of amusement. "Are you putting on a show of toughness? Really not going to make a sound?"

Zhao Yijiu stared at him, her forehead already beaded with cold sweat, her red clothes soaked through, yet her gaze never wavered for a moment.

"How far should it go? If he dies instantly, there's no fun in it..." The madman carefully traced the outline of Zhao Yijiu's face with the tip of his knife, finally stopping at the eye socket, hovering a few centimeters away from the eyeball.

"Good eye. How about this, we'll gouge out one eye first?"

"!" Zhao Yijiu struggled fiercely, but was still held down tightly. At the same time, the madman's slender fingers reached up and pried open Zhao Yijiu's eyelids.

"Get out!" Zhao Yijiu roared. For some reason, he suddenly remembered the girl in the Qingyuan Pharmaceutical Factory who died silently in the locker room with her eyes gouged out.

The girl must have felt it even more intensely than him before she died, right?

He also recalled the feeling of resentment he felt when he was caught by Ghost Tang Li and had his shoulder blade pierced.

I wasn't used to it at the time.

He's long since gotten used to the rhythm of the simulation Yugi, yet he still encounters these kinds of things when he's alone... Is he just too weak?

After leaving Zhao Mou and Yu Xing, was he really going to die so easily?

No, that's impossible.

Zhao Yijiu knew perfectly well that he was not weak.

However, this second phase of the mission was a bit strange. He was assigned a task that was almost impossible to complete, and he was left to face the pursuit of ghosts.

The difficulty level is wrong.

He can't die here; there must be another way. Or perhaps, this madman actually has many limitations in his actions against him.

Zhao Yijiu's fingers on her eyelids were icy cold, the fingertips felt rough, and the tip of the knife, manipulated by the madman's twisted sense of humor, slowly moved downwards, as if giving the prey time to appreciate the moment it was destroyed.

He forced himself to calm down.

Yes, he couldn't possibly have died here; otherwise, almost no one could have completed this mission.

Absurd World would not allow such a situation to occur.

And he also...

The next second, the sharp metal pierced through without hesitation.

"Puff."

With his eyeball ruptured, Zhao Yijiu's breathing became much heavier. He didn't utter a single cry of pain; his teeth were clenched tightly, and his face was extremely pale, as if he were enduring immense suffering.

[Aaaaaah, my iceberg, don't die!]

[My eyes!!!]

[Holy crap, that must hurt so much]

[This ghost is a death sentence; there's no way to survive if you encounter it. And it only assigns one predictor to enter the dream—is it trying to force each team to lose someone?]

[The above, I don't know how to put it, the Zhao family, the Xu family, and the Luo family have secured the qualifications to be guests on the November Death Parallel Line recording, and there have never been more than five deaths among them before. I thought the system was being lenient with them, this time it's definitely an accident.]

[Let's see what happens next. I don't think Cold Wine will die here; serious injuries are probably the limit.]

[They're digging and digging! Holy crap, they didn't even utter a sound while drinking Cold Wine. That's so manly!]

The eyes are a very vulnerable part of the human body. The madman waited to hear Zhao Yijiu's screams, but all he saw was a person who knew how to endure pain very well and had an extremely high pain tolerance. The way the other person was forcing himself to endure it was really quite amusing.

"As expected..." he murmured, then laughed even more heartily, "Actually, I've been keeping an eye on you for a while, but I never expected that he would appear by your side before I even saw you Fallen Path into corruption. Hmm... I've lost a very good subordinate..."

Zhao Yijiu's expression changed.

It's unclear what words provoked him, but even the blinding light couldn't stop him. Suddenly, an unprecedented force surged through his arm, lifting the madman off his body.

The eyeball fell to the ground along with the blade; the feeling of the nerves being torn apart was awful, it really hurt.

"You're a special guest." He rolled to his feet quickly, ignoring the fact that his leg wound had been torn open. His deep-set face now had only a bloody hole in his right eye socket, still dripping blood. He looked like a ghost without needing any makeup.

The madman stood there, quietly watching Zhao Yijiu make her guess in a declarative tone, then, with an icy expression, calmly admit, "That's right, it was me."

He's the special guest!

[Does anyone recognize who he is? Is there such a person in the Despair level?]

[Based on the information from Xinghe and the fortune teller, this should be Lingren!]

[Lingren rarely show their faces, so it's not shameful to have never seen one!]

[Wait a minute, damn it, we're getting off-topic! He's Lingren! How can Cold Wine possibly compete with him?]

Yes, when they guessed the identity of the special guest, the first thing that came to everyone's mind was how could Cold Wine possibly survive in the hands of Lingren.

The Lingren represents the ultimate evil, so it's only natural that he would play the role of an enemy boss rather than a friendly NPC. If he wanted to, Cold Wine, a newcomer who had just advanced to the Differentiation Tier, would have absolutely no chance to fight back. In other words, all those previous tests were just the Lingren trying to tease Cold Wine.

Viewers who realized this found it absurd.

It's strange that Death Parallel Line could be so difficult. The reason Parallel Lines became famous in multiple live broadcasts is because of its competitive deduction mode, not because of its difficulty.

In terms of mortality rate, the Death Parallel Line is definitely low.

With the arrival of the Lingren, all the strategists present became like ants that could be crushed at any moment.

[No, the character of the Master of Dreams appears in all the parallel storylines. Even if he is Lingren, he is Lingren who is divided into nine parts. Perhaps his power is also divided into nine parts?]

[No way, if one-ninth of the Lingren are this strong, what are the others doing?]

You haven't seen the despair level; you truly don't know how despair they can inflict.

[Lingren, Medusa, Boss Yan... Wait, Boss Yan is in this live stream!]

Yan Li, who was called upon, did not speak, but Yan Ming was on the same team as him, spoke up.

[Yan Ming: Yes, referring to my eldest son, one-ninth of the Lingren can indeed be that strong, and... the Lingren hasn't even touched his offerings yet.]

Everyone was astonished.

Because those at the Despair level are so rare and seldom participate in live streams, most people never have the chance to witness the power of a Despair-level expert.

So now, when Yan Ming, who is currently exploring the boundary between the Mourning and Despair levels, speaks, no one will doubt him.

Among the Widow Investigation Team, there are three at the Despair level, accounting for three-eighths of the entire team.

That makes even less sense!

Why would a Lingren be cast as the boss? What chance do the predictors have?

[Lu Xiaorong: The Lingren definitely has limitations in this deduction. It's not as exaggerated as you think. Maybe this is already his strongest state. It wouldn't make sense if the sacrificial offering wasn't banned.]

[No, it's just that I'm the only one who cares about what the Lingren said. He's been paying attention to Cold Wine for a while now? Is Cold Wine some kind of special person?]

[And who is "he" referring to? Who is he near? Zhao Mou?]

[Come on, considering the context, I think it should be "fortunate" or "lucky".]

Many people are very curious about these questions, and even some spies from certain factions have been secretly trying to entice the relevant bigwigs to reveal more information.

Unfortunately, Zhao Yijiu seems to be in imminent danger. The Zhao family watching the live stream are too busy to pay attention to other viewers, and the real big shots are also too concerned to speak up.

Only Zhao Yijiu, who was engaged in the simulation, was no longer at peace.

A faint red light flashed in his eyes, but it was caught by the Lingren.

"Oh dear, I didn't expect such a casual remark to hit a nerve. Which one was it?" The Lingren's amber eyes, hidden beneath half a mask, were clear and beautiful, yet held a hint of sarcasm. "Waiting for you to fall into Fallen Path?"

"... I can't be like you." Zhao Yijiu knew the difference in power, covering her bleeding eye with one hand while subtly backing away. "And I certainly can't be your subordinate."

"Sigh... It's a pity. What did he do to make you so determined?" The Lingren pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "No, as far as I know, from childhood to adulthood, you've always suppressed that kind of thing all by yourself—"

"Shut up." Zhao Yijiu coldly interrupted him, causing the viewers in the live chat to gasp.

Anyone who dared to speak to Lingren like that, except for Qu Xuanqing, is dead.

What about him?

Will I die here?

Soon, the Lingren showed everyone the answer through their actions.

He laughed, a wild, unrestrained laugh, like a madman, a far cry from the at least gentle and refined person Yu Xing remembered.

"Not bad, that's great... Hahahaha, so you still care about this. Then I'm relieved. Maybe one day in the future, I'll see your name on a membership application for Single Prism." The Lingren suddenly leaned closer, his lips close to Zhao Yijiu's ear, and said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Your problem is something only I can solve, believe it?"

Zhao Yijiu's hand trembled slightly as she thrust the Stop Killing at him.

This time, because the distance was too close, the Lingren did not dodge.

The sound of the blade piercing flesh was exceptionally clear. Zhao Yijiu felt a tightness in her hand, realizing that the knife had struck her squarely.

Blood seeped from the Lingren's luxurious clothes. The unique destructive power of the Stop Killing raged within the Lingren's body. The Lingren shifted slightly, generously opening his arms to let Zhao Yijiu admire his wounds. "That's more like it. You need to injure me to pass the test. I'm a little curious about you. You'd rather lose an eye than use some sacrifices on me?"

"..." Zhao Yijiu snorted coldly, blood sliding down his eye sockets, past his jawbone, and into his collar.

The audience then realized that they had been so engrossed in watching the close-quarters combat between the two that they had overlooked something—after being stunned by the revelation that the Lingren was actually the actor.

They only said that the Lingren had not used any offerings, but they forgot that Zhao Yijiu had not used any offerings other than those to Stop Killing in her dream!

With such strength and being a member of the Zhao family, their six sacrificial slots are likely fully equipped. So what about the remaining five?

Where did the spikes and the illusory eyes go?

Don't use anything you haven't used before.

Note: In Zhao Yijiu's mind, he was far from being at his wit's end!

Everyone underestimated him.

Having his eyes gouged out wasn't something he couldn't truly avoid; it was simply a sacrifice he made after weighing the pros and cons, a sacrifice that was only slightly painful for him.

In the second phase of the Death Parallel Line mission, Zhao Yijiu left his first somewhat shocking impression on the participants in an unconventional way.

"Ha, so you're confident you won't die, so you've left yourself with a lot of trump cards for the mission to protect Zhou Xue? Interesting. When A Xing was your age, she wasn't as outstanding as you." The Lingren praised her, causing Zhao Yijiu to frown.

Yu Xing Xingming is only twenty-three years old, younger than him. What does "when he was his age" mean?

Then, he heard the Lingren fiddling with a sharp knife, as if suddenly remembering something. "Ah, right, speaking of A Xing... does he know about your situation?"

"What do you want to say to him?!" Zhao Yijiu blurted out.

It's not about what you want to do to him, because in Zhao Yijiu's subconscious, Yu Xing is not Lingren weakling who can be done whatever he wants, but someone who foresaw everything as early as when he asked his brother Zhao Mou for help with divination.

Yu Xing wouldn't be afraid of Lingren, Zhao Yijiu thought.

But he was a little afraid, afraid that the Lingren would distort the truth and spread his situation to Yu Xing in an even worse way.

He didn't want to lose a friend... his only friend after growing up in that boundless darkness.

If anyone should say something, it should be him.

"Oh, no need to be so nervous. A Xing is different from you." The Lingren tilted his head, looked out the window, and smiled strangely. "You're just a poor little thing struggling in hell, while he... I have to treat him well. I did something to upset him before, and I was thinking of sending him a gift to apologize."

"Your physical condition must be a real downer for him, but I'm not going to be the one to spoil his fun." He moved his fingers erratically and noticed that Zhao Yijiu's face was a little pale, whether from blood loss or anxiety, he couldn't help but let out a laugh that sounded quite sympathetic.

"You guessed right. At this stage, this is the limit of what I can do. Even if I really wanted to, Absurdity wouldn't allow me to hurt you anymore."

The Lingren walked past Zhao Yijiu toward the window. "Since you're quite to my liking, I'll tell you something, and it won't cost you anything, okay?"

"A Xing, for some reason, he'll probably really hate someone like you, so you'd better never let him know about that matter for the rest of your life."

"And I'm just waiting for Zhou Xue to arrive. If Zhou Xue dies, and you all die with her, that ending would be a wonderful gift."