Blood Tide

As the Blood Beetles surged, the rain curtain shrouding Soraka Town gradually let up.

The thunder that had rumbled from time to time and the flashes of lightning all fell silent.

Amid the rustling scrape of countless insect legs, the entire region sank into boundless darkness.

Except...

Crack!

The crisp sound of shattering glass rang out, especially jarring against the monotonous buzzing of the insect tide.

A faint blue light flickered to life in the endless darkness, instantly drawing every gaze that could sense it.

Under the watchful eyes of countless creatures hiding in the dark, Zhou Kai plummeted to the ground beside the light, bringing shattered glass and thick blood with him.

Boom!

The cushion of rotten meat and bones crashed into the insect tide, splattering black fluid in every direction.

Using the impact to propel himself into a roll, Zhou Kai landed with a dense crunch of crushed shells beneath his feet.

With his current physical abilities, he could use the Parasitic Corpse to cushion his fall from the second floor and immediately move on to the next stage of his plan.

So he didn't pause for even a fraction of a second. Dragging the corpse he'd nearly trampled to pieces, he sprinted onward.

"Seventy meters. I'm going for it!"

The warning in Morning Star's Journal had made Zhou Kai extremely wary. He knew full well he shouldn't casually throw his life away just because he could come back to life.

Besides, he might not be in a situation where death was inevitable.

Zhou Kai gripped the Moonlight Amulet tightly. Its normally faint blue glow blazed brightly under the stimulation of the Blood Beetles!

The icy-blue radiance spread outward like a ring of scorching fire oil.

Every Blood Beetle that touched the light let out a shrill squeal, smoked, and curled into a lump of charcoal.

A few that had clung to Zhou Kai and couldn't escape in time were bathed in the light. White vapor poured off them as they shriveled up and died on the spot.

This wasn't a Desperate Realm... He just had to make it back to the Sanctuary before the amulet burned out!

With a sudden burst of strength, Zhou Kai's arm muscles bulged and the veins stood out. He swung the corpse high into the air and slung it over his back.

Then he strode toward his only hope.

Thud!

Thud!

Each footprint crushed an average of eight or nine beetles.

The dense insect tide parted before him like the Red Sea before Moses, opening a path toward No. 777.

Amid the muddy mixture of insect corpses, Zhou Kai's nerves stretched taut and adrenaline surged through him. The whole world seemed to slow down.

The buzzing of the insect tide, his heartbeat, the wind...

Everything grew distant. Only the door ahead remained perfectly clear.

His speed, by contrast, was astonishing.

His body seemed no longer to belong to him. Every movement was as precise as if calculated.

With a corpse as heavy as himself on his back, he raced through the mud as if he were flying!

The final second.

Just as the amulet began to flicker and was about to burn out.

A line of text flashed before Zhou Kai's eyes.

[A miraculous flow-state experience, Light Footwork experience points +5]

[The power of the Blood Tide yields to you... Universal Experience Points +1]

His pace abruptly quickened.

That extra burst of speed made a huge hand reaching out of the darkness miss its grab. Its skin was covered in dark blue-black scales, and its nails were as long as short blades!

Clang...

Zhou Kai crashed through the Sanctuary's door and stumbled inside.

The door stood wide open.

The flames in the fireplace suddenly flared higher, and a wave of scorching air mixed with warm red light washed over him!

Hiss—

The huge hand looked as if it had been doused in concentrated sulfuric acid. Its skin blistered and blackened in an instant, sending up wisps of green smoke.

It paused for a moment, then slowly withdrew into the darkness, unwilling to retreat.

Zhou Kai tossed the corpse to the ground, drew his Two-Handed Sword, and turned back with a savage expression.

"This is my territory. Get lost!"

At his hoarse growl,

Bam!

The heavy wooden door slammed shut, sealing out the cold night and despair.

Amid the endless tide of Blood Beetles, No. 777, where the Moonlight Orchid grew, was like a lone island in the sea.

Holy power protected the place, and flames roared in the blessed Furnace.

Evil and despair were held back beyond a certain boundary.

For now...

Hah...

Hah...

Zhou Kai gasped for breath.

There was only a door between them.

Before him lay the warm glow of the fireplace; behind him, an endless, dark and frigid night.

Zhou Kai had been hoping the rain would stop, but now that the damned rain really had stopped, he desperately missed its steady patter.

"If the rain stopping means the Blood Tide is surging, then I'd rather it just kept raining!"

Zhou Kai panted for a long while before his racing heart and ragged breathing gradually settled.

He listened at the door. Outside, layers upon layers of insects crowded together, their shells knocking and scraping against one another with an eerie sound.

Fortunately, perhaps because of the Moonlight Orchid underground, the insects always kept a distance of one or two meters from the Sanctuary.

But the insect tide was no longer what worried Zhou Kai most...

He was more wary of the other monsters that had sensed his presence and were gradually closing in.

Those things might very well break down the door!

Zhou Kai gripped his Two-Handed Sword tightly, ready to fight for his life at any moment.

A few minutes passed, but no impact came from outside.

Zhou Kai let out a sigh of relief.

It seemed his earlier judgment had been right. As long as the fire burned brightly, the so-called [Territory Law] was in effect.

Some monsters wouldn't recklessly invade his Sanctuary...

"But what about the Wanderer? The second floor... Is it because the fireplace's light doesn't reach there?"

"Or is there some other reason?"

Frowning, Zhou Kai glanced at the dark staircase leading to the second floor.

There was no way he was going outside tonight.

To be safe, he'd better stay alert around the second floor, where the fireplace light couldn't reach.

"Now... time to fertilize the plants."

Dragging his sword with one hand and gripping the corpse with the other, Zhou Kai headed down to the basement.

The Nursery was a brick bed raised above the ground, filled with so-called "clean soil."

The whole Nursery covered about fourteen square meters.

Zhou Kai's Moonlight Orchid was planted in a palm-sized patch in the lower-left corner.

After all this, Zhou Kai had finally realized just how important the Moonlight Orchid and the Nursery were.

With the Blood Tide raging, the fireplace alone was nowhere near enough to hold back this endless Nightmare!

He dug into the soil and threw most of the monster's remains into the Nursery.

"Should I cut it up first? Would that make it easier to absorb?"

Just as Zhou Kai was wondering whether to chop the fertilizer into smaller pieces,

the Moonlight Orchid in the corner of the Nursery trembled, as if it had caught the scent of blood.

Countless web-like brown roots burst through the soil. Twisting and crawling like living creatures, they wrapped around the corpse in an instant.

The tips of the roots pierced into the rotten flesh, and the corpse shriveled at a visible speed.

[Ample fertilizer, Moonlight Orchid growth accelerated]

A short while later, a dialogue box appeared above the Nursery. Zhou Kai gave a slight nod...

It seemed he didn't need to worry much about it. He just had to toss the "fertilizer" into the Nursery.

There was no peaceful sleep in the Nightmare.

This was a Desperate Realm of endless death. He had to stay alert at all times.

Zhou Kai went back and forth between the fireplace on the first floor and the Nursery in the basement.

For most of the rest of the time, he kept watch by the stairs from the second floor to the first. He practiced swordsmanship while listening carefully, guarding against anything creeping over from some corner he couldn't see.

"About... five more hours."

Using the fireplace's fuel countdown to judge the time, Zhou Kai blew out a heavy breath through his nose.

Morning Star's Journal had said the Blood Tide would last between three and six hours...

Judging by how things looked tonight, Zhou Kai figured it would probably last the full six.

Even if it didn't, it wouldn't be far off.

"Let's hope it ends soon... The Moonlight Orchid might hold out, but the fireplace might not."