Volume Five: Return from the Other Side - Flower of the Blood Sea (II)

"Haa... Haa..."

What happened?

No... anyone with a brain knows what happened!

The question is, why is this happening? Or rather, why is it unavoidable?

How much time has passed...? Was it really only a fleeting moment?

"Ugh... Guh..."

The Sub Core the Boundary Breaking Armor attached to his body was still eroding him, and although it was very painful, it had indeed lessened a bit just now.

... Perhaps it's because my nervous system is almost completely ruined.

"Gulp... cough cough cough!"

I coughed violently, spitting out a mouthful of extremely thick blood, which splashed onto a similarly thick Blood Sea, reflecting my face.

"..."

No, perhaps this can no longer be called a face.

My left eye was still relatively intact, but a large cluster of metal branches grew out of my right eye, covered with Copper-corroded Flower that greedily absorbed my nutrients. Many small metal tentacles extended from my nose, and large clusters of metal spikes pierced my left ear, making my entire head look like a deformed giant cactus.

"Blood..."

"Meat..."

"Bone..."

A sticky, splattering sound rang out. I suppressed my intense nausea and pain and looked around. Countless, a total of seven hundred million, blood-red humanoid figures were still slowly approaching me, uttering incomprehensible sounds. They stretched as far as the eye could see, densely packed, like countless rashes growing on scalded skin, sending chills down my spine.

Yes, that's exactly right. That's how it was when I first fell into this place.

At that moment, my upper body was almost burst apart by the metal spikes growing from the Sub Core of the Boundary Breaking Armor. I thought I was going to die, but just then, the blood-red humanoid figure at the very front was right in front of me.

A viscous, bloody humanoid figure, its lower body connected to the Blood Sea, its features blurred, its body seemingly on the verge of collapse; one glance was enough to make one unwilling to look again.

They are the concentrated remains of life, collected by the world about two hundred years ago and prepared to be offered to the Blood King.

Rather than calling it concentrated life essence, it's more accurate to describe it as Blood Corpse or a vengeful spirit.

At that time, I was almost driven crazy. All my thoughts were blown away by the pain, leaving only one goal—to survive.

Then...

"I... swallowed it..."

Like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey, I devoured the bloodied man in an instant, leaving not a trace.

Then--

"Damn... how could this happen..."

Having devoured that life, I've actually experienced the life of its original owner from a first-person perspective!?

From the time he was a fetus, through school, work, marriage, children, grandchildren, old age, and finally death... I experienced every single second of his life! I could even clearly feel his emotions, whether it was his childhood dream of becoming a paladin, the anxiety of starting a business, the joy of his wedding, or the peace of his later years... I experienced everything he went through in his life! That brief moment in the real world felt like nearly ninety years to me! Ninety years!

But... I did indeed devour it completely. I could feel something new in the blood within me—a power, a breath of life, the manifestation of the life I had devoured.

"Indeed... she's gotten a little stronger... but only a tiny bit stronger! Ninety years, and she's only gotten this little bit stronger!?"

I have become a little stronger, that's true, but the increase is practically negligible! It's like adding 0.1% to 100 million—you can barely see the difference! After all, this is just a mortal life; there shouldn't be much change after absorbing it. Thinking about it carefully, that makes sense, but... but...

For every life I devour, I only become a little stronger, and I have to experience their entire life from beginning to end, which means I have to live through eighty or ninety years of my subjective consciousness!

As Yusuo Zai said... although half of the lives gathered here were taken by that Blood Fiend guy back then, there are still a total of 700 million left, waiting for me to devour them.

If a person lives for eighty years, it would take me a total of 56 billion years, subjectively speaking, to completely devour them. But in reality, even if I swallowed one, it would only take one second, or 700 million seconds, which is equivalent to more than 20 years.

If I wait more than twenty years to go out, it will be too late! And before that, I'll probably have gone on a mental breakdown waiting for countless people's lives! 56 billion years!

"You surnamed Yu—you're fucking messing with me, aren't you?!"

I roared to the sky, but there was no response.

"Don't play dumb with me! You're watching! Come out here! Come out now!!!"

There has been no response.

In the sea of the Blood Sea, I was the only one, accompanied by the low groans of seven hundred million blood-soaked beings.

And the swift death of the broken mirror armor's Sub Core.

The metallic monster subsided for a moment before stirring again, raging through my body with a teeth-grinding noise! It devoured, seized, occupied, gnawed, and mercilessly eroded my body!

Of course, it wouldn't listen to my pleas for mercy and just kept running rampant. I wanted to ask Luo-chan for help, but she hadn't appeared since I saw Yusuo Zai!

What can we do to calm it down a bit?

I looked once again at those countless lives.

"... Is this the only way?"

It only calmed down temporarily after I swallowed the first life.

If you want to live, this is the only way.

I let out a low growl of despair and lunged at the next bloodied figure—

Jennifer is an extraordinary woman; that was destined from birth.

She was the daughter of a prominent local noble family, and an only child, showered with love and affection. From the first time she lay in her crib, more than a dozen wet nurses and maids surrounded her. As she grew older, the number of people taking care of her not only did not decrease, but actually increased to several dozen.

She possessed a stunningly beautiful face, a magnificent mansion built solely for her, the most exquisite clothing and jewelry, a formidable and powerful bodyguard team, and the most handsome male companions. All the commoners in her territory were at her beck and call, and even the local church gave her face. All of this convinced her that she was omnipotent.

Until one day, Saintess from her province came to visit and visited her family.

Jennifer's worldview was shaken.

The Saintess was so beautiful, and the knights gathered around her were so handsome and imposing, that they all overshadowed her. Overwhelmed by intense resentment, she resolved to humiliate the Saintess. But how? It was simple: she would use her brilliant mind to meticulously plan something. At the banquet, while the Saintess was speaking, she would pour a whole bucket of raw pig's blood over her! That would be hilarious!

And so she succeeded. When the mechanism in the ceiling was triggered, a huge bucket of pig's blood drenched the Saintess, turning her into a bright red, drowned rat. She laughed heartily, her laughter shaking with mirth. She had done it; she had proven that even the Saintess was nothing more than a clown she could toy with.

Then, the handsome knight who had been standing guard beside the Saintess drew his sword without hesitation and beheaded Jennifer.

"Cough cough--um..."

When I came to my senses, I was kneeling on the Blood Sea, coughing uncontrollably.

I feel terrible, my head hurts so much, but the metal monster has calmed down a bit, and I can feel something new in my blood.

Is this my good fortune? This time, I swallowed a stupid woman who dared to mess with the Saintess. She was killed by the paladin as soon as her prank succeeded, which means she was only in her twenties when she died. My experience this time was also only in my twenties.

... Of course, this "only" is derived in comparison with the first person. Experiencing this woman's idiotic life for more than 20 years from her perspective, there was some novelty at first, but she got tired of it after a few weeks, and the rest of the time was spent enduring it all with willpower.

Moreover... when I looked at this Blood Sea again, I had a strange feeling, a vague sense of distance and a slightly intoxicating feeling...

"So that's how it is... It feels like a lifetime ago, doesn't it?"

Even though it's someone else's life, it's true that I suddenly got to live an extra life.

"..."

I don't want to continue anymore.

It's been too long.

It's been so long that you feel like it doesn't matter if you fail.

However, the violent metallic sound within his body rang out again, each sound a death knell.

If I had to say what I cherish most in this world, it would probably be my life; it is my most precious treasure.

I don't want to die.

I absolutely don't want to.

So--

"All right..."

His broken teeth were trembling.

"All right..."

His bloodied fist was clenched tightly.

"Fine... fine... if this is the trial that comes with my choice, if this is the price I have to pay... very good! You bastard surnamed Yu! Who's next?!"

"The Lycoris radiata, by the River of Oblivion, wandering souls in the netherworld, dreams shattered, memories of twins broken, alas, the cycle of reincarnation severed, flower and leaf hopelessly separated, in this mortal world, devoid of love..."

In the dilapidated room, Yusuo Zai leaned against a rusty chair, humming lyrics that sounded like both poetry and song, while watching the images on a small, old television that wasn't even plugged in.

"There is the exuberant bloom of crimson blossoms, yet also the solitary loneliness of a solitary figure standing tall and forlorn. Life and death, eternity and destruction, this world and the afterlife—a convergence of contradictions, which is why the Lycoris radiata is so beautiful, so captivating..."

Watching the pink-haired woman repeatedly scream and rush towards the blood-soaked figure, devouring it completely, then clutching her head in agony and falling into the cycle of life... Yusuo Zai gently tilted her head, half of her body shrouded in shadow, the other half dyed by the orange-red sunset.

"Man is made stronger by suffering."

"We grow through loss."

"Strength born of grief."

"Wisdom comes from setbacks."

"Those who surpass all trials in this world will surely be the strongest person in the world..."

Yusuo Zai gently touched his empty eye sockets, where something invisible stirred restlessly.

"... That's how I am, and what about you, Mr. Ye?"

He smiled.

His facial muscles contorted, causing the corners of his mouth to turn up, slightly revealing his white teeth.

It was a very ordinary smile.

However, this "ordinary" does not mean "without abnormalities" or "without bias."

His smile contained so much.

Joy, anger, sorrow, hatred, fear, pain, pleasure, intoxication, desolation... all the elements that can be included are mixed together in equal amounts, in absolute balance, and ultimately return to the ordinary.

"Let me see, let me see clearly, the potential you inherited from the remnants of the Blood King... and the potential within yourself."

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Speaking of which, does anyone remember in Chapter 385, among the 664 names the 664 demons gave to the protagonist, there was one called "a sadistic literary youth"... That's right, the nonsensical thing he hummed was made up by me, don't criticize my lack of literary talent.