Elio’s Notes: We noticed CL quietly missed its September 20 update, so here’s a little make-up chapter for you today. Apparently one chapter managed to hide from the posting calendar. 😂
Yin Chen froze. He lowered his gaze in confusion and stared at Song Zang’s faint smile hidden in the darkness. It took him a little time to understand what those words actually meant.
“You deliberately let that childish thing jump around in front of me just to piss me off?”
“Mm. Is that not allowed?” Song Zang did not deny it. “You’re cute when you’re angry.”
“…Cute.”
Yin Chen repeated the unfamiliar word numbly.
After a moment, he looked darkly at Song Zang. “I suspect there’s something wrong with your eyes.”
“Think whatever you want.” Song Zang curved his lips. “You’re jealous, and you’re furious about it. That part is indisputable.”
Listening to Song Zang’s certainty, Yin Chen gradually fell into deep thought. He did not know how to argue.
Was he really jealous?
Judging by the example Song Zang had provided, it did sound like jealousy.
In that case, as long as he eliminated the “Song Zang” making him jealous, he could solve everything at the root.
“I understand. I’ll kill him,” Yin Chen calmly announced.
Yin Chen wanted to handle it himself, but Song Zang refused.
Because Song Zang could tell ordinary attacks definitely would not kill an Aberrant with such bizarre mobility.
He had been secretly studying “Song Zang’s” strength all this time. Ignoring the special factor of corruption, “Song Zang” was actually much stronger than Long Shao You from the previous instance.
He was nothing like the moderate level expected from a mid-stage boss. Perhaps Yin Chen had other methods, but Song Zang had no interest in making a simple problem complicated. A trick was more suitable. He could kill “Song Zang” silently by himself, so why cause a world-shaking battle?
Thinking this, Song Zang deliberately relaxed his body and leaned into Yin Chen’s arms, attempting to act spoiled. “Let me kill him, okay? Just prepare the dark room for me. Let me try by myself first.”
“That isn’t safe.” Yin Chen remained firm.
So softness didn’t work. He wanted force instead?
Song Zang’s smile did not change. His voice stayed sweet. “Yin Chen, if you don’t agree, I’m going to a bar tonight and ordering eighteen male models.”
Yin Chen: ?
“No. Eighteen is too few. I have money now. If you don’t agree, I’ll order eighty-eight. I mean it.”
Yin Chen: ???
…
After five full minutes of threats and coaxing, Yin Chen finally agreed with great reluctance.
Naturally, Song Zang’s empty threats had infuriated him. His face stayed black and he refused to speak for a long time.
He pulled a sharp, gleaming dagger from his suit pocket and silently rubbed and played with it, seeming to seriously consider how to quickly kill eighty-eight nonexistent male models.
Song Zang was not remotely scared. He nestled happily in Yin Chen’s arms, tilted his head until he found a comfortable position, and simply closed his eyes to sleep.
Yin Chen’s expression darkened further, but he did not push him away. Instead, he quietly adjusted his posture to make Song Zang more comfortable, because a certain Aberrant sitting beside the window was watching them with deep envy.
After the bus passed through the long tunnel, sunlight once again spilled across the windows. At eleven in the morning, the bus arrived on schedule at City A’s central square.
The special livestream for the third episode began the instant the bus stopped.
Follow-cameramen and the government-assigned supervisor were already waiting.
The square had been evacuated in advance, wide and empty, perfect as the production team’s base of operations.
“President Yin, Director Chang, hello. I’m Jiang Li. Everyone can call me Xiao Jiang.”
The supervisor stepped forward and gave a standard military salute.
He looked even younger than everyone had expected, very polite, with nothing condescending in his manner.
Chang Mei Jiang removed her sunglasses and smiled as she shook his hand. “Mr. Jiang. A pleasure.”
Before they could continue exchanging pleasantries, Yin Chen asked, “Where are the guns?”
Jiang Li froze. When he looked up, his gaze passed behind Yin Chen and landed on two identical Song Zangs. He froze again.
He coughed awkwardly and hurriedly looked away. “Please come with me. Firearms require registration of name and fingerprints. Teachers, please cooperate.”
“No problem.” Yin Chen nodded.
Everyone followed Jiang Li across the square and entered an ordinary-looking milk tea shop by the road.
Jiang Li went into the back kitchen and opened a stainless-steel topping container. There were no toppings inside. Instead, it contained dozens of handguns in different calibers.
“Matching ammunition is in the tea tins. The freezer isn’t plugged in. We have grenades and timed explosives prepared inside. Teachers, please register with me first. Once registration is complete, you may take whatever you need.”
Jiang Li explained gently. He looked calm, yet his trembling gaze still kept drifting uncontrollably toward Song Zang.
“Why do you keep staring at him?” Yin Chen stepped forward, blocking Song Zang behind him. He casually picked out two revolvers.
The instant he finished, “Song Zang” eagerly chimed in. “Exactly! You’re not allowed to covet my baby.”
Jiang Li’s breathing paused. His professional expression cracked for a moment. He forced out, “Excuse me… which one is the real Teacher Song?”
“Obviously my baby.”
“Song Zang” proudly introduced him and gently pushed Song Zang forward.
After meeting the terrified young supervisor’s gaze for a moment, Song Zang smiled helplessly. “Sorry. I can’t control either of them.”
“Mm. Right… Teacher Song, please come press your fingerprint.”
Jiang Li cautiously stepped backward and spoke weakly.
He seemed to be questioning his entire life.
Song Zang took a firearm he had practiced with at Helin Manor and put on one side of an earpiece. He did not plan to take more weapons. With Yin Chen around, carrying a gun was mostly for appearance anyway. He probably would not get a chance to fire it.
Every player registered their name, including Lin Wen Jing.
She had spent a week recuperating in bed. Her head was still wrapped in bandages, but at least she could walk independently now. Li Jun, meanwhile, eagerly put on a bulletproof vest, grabbed a handgun and three spare magazines, then ran straight out of the milk tea shop without looking back. His psychological trauma was too severe. He firmly refused to remain in the same room as black-clad Song Zang.
Chang Mei Jiang no longer cared. She simply threw the equally timid Lu Ren Jia at Li Jun and told the two cowards to make do and form a CP.
Li Jun surprisingly did not object. Forming a pairing with a muscular fitness instructor would let him complete his roleplay mission anyway.
After everyone finished equipping weapons, Jiang Li did not appear on camera. He remained backstage with Chang Mei Jiang watching the livestream feeds and communicating through their earpieces.
Chang Mei Jiang distributed a pink paper map of City A. Public transportation routes were marked on it, along with popular food districts and historic attractions.
The entire cast stood in front of the livestream camera and greeted viewers while holding guns.
The absurdly novel image instantly pushed viewership past the historical record. Some viewers even sent enormous monetary gifts, thanking them for bravely putting themselves in danger and taking the lead for humanity’s future.
That was a little exaggerated, but it helped the side mission enormously. Chang Mei Jiang not only allowed the praise to continue, she secretly bought some paid commenters to mix in and push it further.
Next came free date time. Everyone would split up.
To be cautious, Chang Mei Jiang gave no NPC role permission to carry a gun. If they wanted safety, they had no choice but to follow behind players. Xiao Xiao and the others glanced toward Yin Chen. After hesitating, they followed Chi Yan and Lu Xing You instead.
Because although Yin Chen was extremely powerful, he was exactly the kind of person who would protect only Song Zang during an attack and ignore everyone else.
After two weeks together, everyone understood his personality perfectly. They had long since abandoned any desire to attach themselves to him. Only Song Zang enjoyed that privilege.
The square was deserted. Song Zang looked down at the map. He made absolutely no mention of the dark room. Instead, he enthusiastically discussed where the three of them should eat brunch.
“Song Zang” did not need food and smiled as he said he would follow whatever Baby wanted.
But Song Zang himself had difficulty choosing. He had never gone shopping before. He had no idea how to leisurely spend an entire day in such a huge city.
When it came to enjoying life, Song Zang was like a blank sheet of paper.
Perhaps noticing his confusion, Yin Chen took the map from him. After a moment, he calmly said, “First, the nearest cat café. They have caramel pudding you’ll like. Then Line Three. Tea house. Church. The glass slide on the top floor of Imperial View Tower. A 4D immersive panoramic cinema. Then the mayor’s office.”
Yin Chen arranged the route neatly. First, they would eat and play as much as possible. Have fun. Then deal with Aberrants.
“Okay. I’ll listen to you.” Song Zang smiled.
He paid no attention to whatever Chang Mei Jiang had planned. He simply followed the schedule and enjoyed this bizarre three-person date. Holding Yin Chen’s hand, Song Zang walked in front. He petted soft, obedient cats, bought whipped coffee covered in crushed cookies, and ate fresh filled croissants straight from the oven.
Black-clad “Song Zang” merely followed slowly behind, his smile careless.
He was strange today. Unlike previous days, he did not cling to them and complain that “Baby is ignoring me.” Nor did he argue with Yin Chen over meaningless nonsense.
He merely killed a random pedestrian every so often, from the cat café all the way to the church. NPC pedestrians screamed and scattered in terror. The tea house owner’s eyes rolled back. The priest dropped to his knees sobbing and praying while kissing his cross.
Even the cameraman cried continuously. He wanted to run, but he was too afraid “Song Zang” would notice him and kill him.
The reason was simple. Every death was brutal.
Almost exactly like the demon Li Jun had described.
“Song Zang” was revealing the nature he had restrained for many days.
He liked crushing human skulls with his own hands, or ripping living, beating hearts from chests. He enjoyed the warm sensation of viscous □□ flowing across his palms.
Yet every time he killed someone, the main-mission progress updated.
Every victim was an Aberrant. Every one was a monster that had replaced a human. They hid among City A’s ordinary population. Only their own kind could recognize one another instantly within a sea of people.
So neither Song Zang nor Yin Chen stopped his nearly psychotic actions. Besides, Song Zang had done more psychotic things himself. A few crushed skulls were not going to ruin his appetite.
He was simply grateful he had never softened.
“Song Zang’s” love and loyalty had been forcibly bound to him by 【Mask】. A monstrously powerful Aberrant willing to restrain its violent nature for him and kill its own kind for him did not mean “Song Zang” was fundamentally kind.
Before being forcibly bound, what had “Song Zang” done?
Terrified him. Attacked him. Attempted to seize his mind. Attempted to control his body. And allowed one of his own kind to kill Qiu Shuang.
If “Song Zang” had never fallen in love with him, everything Li Jun had seen might have become reality.
The incarnation of love?
Song Zang wanted to laugh.
Humans had countless definitions of love. No one had the authority to claim a single one as absolute. And this creature was only an immensely powerful nonhuman life-form.
Whether a nonhuman creature’s self-understanding and self-definition of “love” were even the same thing humans meant by love remained unknown.
In Song Zang’s eyes, he had always been a dangerous boss inside an instance, a pervert who had watched him countless times, a monster that wanted to impersonate him but “fell in love” during the replication process.
Song Zang was willing to coexist peacefully with him for only two reasons. First, he could not kill him yet. Second, he liked watching Yin Chen get angry. Nothing more.
Perhaps “Song Zang” had already realized how little Song Zang cared. So now that the absurd dating show was nearing its end, he had stopped pretending. Song Zang did not intend to settle things with him early. He simply ignored the face identical to his own and concentrated on enjoying the rare experience of wandering around the city.
After leaving the instance, he would have very few chances to casually walk around outside.
Yin Chen, who had been annoyed all morning, finally relaxed. Smiling, he bought Song Zang everything he saw, personally fed him every kind of dessert, and even purchased an entire luxury counter’s worth of gold jewelry. Money flowed out like water.
Many people were watching their livestream. Yet the comments were mostly profanity.
【The other guests are fighting for humanity and you two are literally dating?! With an Aberrant who’s randomly murdering people?! HUH???】
【What kind of witchcraft did that dead green-tea bitch Song Zang use on President Yin? Are they both insane?】
【Mentally ill. Two lunatics.】
【Wow~ I ship it. So sweet!】
【The one above me, you’re fucking insane too.】
Song Zang secretly glanced at the comments several times and nearly died laughing.
He did not care. Viewers were furious. Yet their bizarrely relaxed attitude also reduced the fear somewhat.
The rapidly rising side-mission progress was the best proof that it worked.
Naturally, happy time always passed faster.
As the sun gradually tilted westward, the unrest-ridden city was completely soaked in gunfire and blood. Main-mission progress refreshed constantly. Chang Mei Jiang’s group had long since split up to conduct extermination operations. Everyone appearing beside Mayor Wang, everyone connected to the Lu and Wang families, even many companies under Yin Chen’s name, all disappeared from City A.
If innocent people were accidentally killed, there was nothing they could do. Before today, the expressways surrounding City A had remained open.
The government had also issued advance notices. Any resident who needed evacuation assistance, those with financial hardship, severe illness, or any other reason preventing them from leaving independently, could call the official number for free rescue.
It was practically an explicit warning: City A is dangerous. City A’s leadership has a problem. Mayor Wang is a monster.
Anyone who still refused to leave and continued working in suspicious organizations after all that… Perhaps was not entirely innocent if they died in the crossfire.
Unfortunately, despite killing so many Aberrants, the game still did not announce clearance.
The city was seriously infected. Aberrants spread everywhere like locusts.
Meanwhile, Yin Chen pushed open the mayor’s office door.
The smell of blood surged like a wave.
Bodies lay everywhere.
He raised an arm to block Song Zang outside. “Wang Ming Yue is taking revenge. Let’s wait.”
The follow-cameraman, looking like a wandering ghost, let out a tiny sob at the perfect moment. He desperately wanted to run.
That was right. Wang Ming Yue was taking revenge. At some point, she had separated from Chi Yan’s team and stormed alone into the office her “father” had forcibly occupied. She had no gun. But not long ago, she had secretly learned something new from Lin Wen Jing.
A chainsaw capable of cutting thick trees with ease was perhaps the most powerful weapon an ordinary human could hold. No body made of flesh and blood could withstand even a light touch. Bone would collapse like mud.
She had practically gone berserk. Her thin body was covered in blood. Her black hair gleamed with eerie red beneath the sunset.
Her “father” was tied to the desk. Both legs had been neatly sawed off. He screamed like a pig awaiting slaughter.
“Damn. Wang Ming Yue is amazing.” Song Zang peeked through the gap behind Yin Chen and quietly admired her.
Yin Chen’s expression immediately cooled. “You’re not allowed to like her.”
Song Zang: …
He speechlessly nodded.
After Wang Ming Yue finally sawed through her “father’s” neck, Yin Chen immediately entered and began checking the office for mechanisms.
Wang Ming Yue collapsed weakly to the floor. She raised her blood-covered face and forced out a smile. “Hah… President Yin. Teacher Song. You’re here…”
“Mm.”
Yin Chen responded casually. The look he gave Wang Ming Yue contained an almost invisible trace of wariness.
Song Zang remained at the doorway and tilted his head toward the youth beside him. “Are there any other copies of Mayor Wang here?”
The black-clad youth, ignored for a long time, immediately brightened. “Baby, hug me once. Give me one hug and I’ll tell you.”
Yin Chen abruptly turned. And saw Song Zang immediately extend his arms and hug him. Only once. Then Song Zang instantly pulled away.
The youth gave a deeply satisfied smile. “There’s an emperor worm inside Mayor Wang’s brain. You have one minute to kill it. Otherwise, it’ll crawl into someone else’s brain.”
Hearing this, Yin Chen had no time to fight with him. He took the chainsaw from Wang Ming Yue and cut Mayor Wang’s skull open.
“Aaaaah!!!”
The scream came from the severely traumatized cameraman. Chang Mei Jiang’s startled cry also sounded through the earpiece, along with Jiang Li’s heavy breathing.
Inside the stark white skull, there was no human brain tissue at all. Instead, a giant pink worm filled the entire cranial cavity.
No. Perhaps “worm” was not the right word. Because it looked disturbingly like a human embryo. Like an unborn baby.
Suddenly exposed to the air, the flesh-pink “infant” writhed and gave a hoarse cry.
“Hurry, hurry! Kill it! Stop wasting time!” the youth urged impatiently.
Yin Chen ignored him. Without saying anything, he drew the snow-white blade and chopped the creature apart at maximum speed.
Sticky squelch, squelch sounds continued endlessly. Only when the distorted emperor worm had been reduced completely into viscous meat paste did the system finally display a new notification.
This was the nine-millionth impostor counted toward the game’s progress.
Even with the most powerful blade in the world, Yin Chen had needed to hack it countless times before the disgusting creature truly died.
It looked simple. But probably only Yin Chen had the strength to completely kill it within one minute. And doing so required sacrificing countless days of his lifespan. Yin Chen did not care about his lifespan. But he cared greatly about the filthy matter splattering onto him. Frowning, he put the long blade away. His originally healthy lips had turned sickly pale.
“Don’t come closer yet. I’m dirty.”
He spoke grimly to Song Zang and pulled out disinfecting wipes to clean the filth from his sleeves.
“…Okay.”
And still, the game had not ended. That meant “Song Zang” had to die. There were probably plenty of other survivors hiding elsewhere too.
Song Zang’s face was equally pale. Yin Chen’s condition made him anxious. Unable to stop himself, he looked at “Song Zang” to distract his own attention. “This thing is disgusting. Seriously. Your true form doesn’t look like that too, does it?”
The black-clad youth looked deeply wounded. “Baby, how could you think that of me? I’m far nobler than these disgusting worms!”
“Nobler? How many kinds of Aberrants are there? Do you actually have different ranks?”
“Three. According to the messy categories your humans use, I’m the strongest and noblest angel!”
Song Zang lowered his eyes. “Besides you, are there other angels in City A?”
“Of course not. There’s only one angel. Me. I’m the most special.”
The most special… If so, how could “Song Zang” only be a mid-stage boss?
Where was the real final boss? Who was it?
Song Zang remained outwardly calm. “And what level is that emperor worm?” “It isn’t very strong by itself. Humans can defeat it easily. But it’s extremely difficult to kill. What emperor worms are really best at is laying eggs. The cloud occupying the equator before? Those were all eggs it produced.
“If it had found the opportunity to lead all its offspring to attack me together… I guess they could’ve barely fought me evenly.”
At that point, “Song Zang” curled his lips disdainfully. “It was smart enough to take over a city. But it wasn’t smarter than me. And it didn’t understand love. Low-level life-form. Deserved to die.”
“I understand. Thank you.” Song Zang showed no expression. Inside, however, he quietly relaxed.
Fortunately, they had arrived in time and stopped Wang Ming Yue from continuing to dismember the corpse. Fortunately, Yin Chen had been there to neatly deal with a creature that could reproduce so quickly.
If it had escaped and begun laying eggs throughout City A, they might truly have needed a nuclear strike to solve the problem.
When Yin Chen finally cleaned off the filth, Song Zang was about to go check on him. The youth suddenly tugged on his shirt.
“What?” Song Zang turned.
For once, bitterness appeared on the youth’s exquisite face. “Baby… I regret it a little. Why didn’t I love you from the beginning? If I had, maybe you would’ve liked me a little too. Just a little.”
“…What are you trying to say?”
“Please. Like me just a tiny bit. Then I’ll help you kill everyone. If you want to leave this place, you need my help, don’t you?” Yin Chen interrupted coldly. “Of course not. Stop overestimating yourself. Without you, we can still destroy the entire world.”
“Song Zang” gave a quiet laugh. His expression became faintly distorted. He did not even look at Yin Chen. “Baby. Stop tormenting me. Tell me why I love you this much. Why? I was supposed to control love. Control your energy. I wasn’t supposed to be controlled by love. I don’t understand! Why are you making me suffer like this?”
Song Zang did not answer. He stared at the familiar yet unfamiliar face for a moment. Then softly asked, “Did you have something to do with Qiu Shuang’s death?”
The office instantly fell into deathly silence.
Outside, dull artillery thundered. The emperor worm had died, and its death triggered a violent chain reaction.
At every entrance to City A already sealed by heavy government troops, serious riots erupted simultaneously.
Aberrants outside the city abruptly went berserk and rushed inward. Exactly as “Song Zang” had once explained. A clan-wide frenzy. They were avenging their fallen mother emperor.
A short-range ballistic missile streaked across the horizon, suddenly illuminating the dimming evening.
Boom!
The system panel lit again. The youth’s tightly pressed lips trembled. His beautiful innocent black eyes reddened pitifully.
Song Zang quietly muted his microphone.
After confirming the livestream could no longer record his voice, he spoke softly and expressionlessly. “Her death wasn’t only meant to hurt Lin Wen Jing. It was meant to hurt me too, wasn’t it? The stronger my mental pain became, the greater your chance of crushing my consciousness and taking over my body.
“Those Yin Chen replicas that appeared one after another in the villa, were they also acting under your direction? You realized Yin Chen and I had an unusual relationship. You wanted to use him to disturb my mind. Unfortunately, I would never mistake someone else for him. Everything you did to target me, the intimidation, the games, the threats, none of it worked. Your entire plan failed.”
“No. That wasn’t the most unfortunate part. The most unfortunate part was that you suddenly fell in love with me. Right?”
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Baby…”
“There’s nothing to apologize for. You had your position. We were born on opposite sides.” Song Zang’s heart was calm.
He had begun speculating about “Song Zang’s” motives long ago.
Ultimately, it came down to one thing. Song Zang knew perfectly well how powerful his body was. That was not arrogance. It was objective fact.
If Aberrants wanted to occupy player bodies, successfully impersonate them, infiltrate the group, and continue replacing humanity afterward, then there was a strong chance they would prioritize the strongest available host.
Humans might not be able to see through Song Zang. That did not mean monsters could not.
Aside from Yin Chen, Song Zang’s body was probably the most desirable vessel available. The messengers of the Earth Mother Goddess had already confirmed that.
But through a ridiculous accident, the monster originally intent on hurting Song Zang became a young man experiencing love for the first time.
At first, he was innocent, straightforward, capricious, arrogant. He competed with a “love rival.” Then became obsessive and twisted. Then tried to change himself for love. Tried to become someone Song Zang would prefer. And now, after realizing there was no hope, he was gradually confronting reality and collapsing into despair. Song Zang thought his revenge had been extremely successful. What an excellent show.
“Baby. You really can never love me? There’s absolutely no possibility for us to be together?”
“So you really do want to be with me.” Song Zang stopped Yin Chen with a glance. A trace of wicked amusement flashed through his dark eyes. “There is one way. But I can only accept that one.”
“Baby, say it! I’ll do anything!”
Song Zang paused, then softly said, “Let me eat you. We’ll completely merge into one. We’ll never separate for all eternity.”
Everyone present stared in collective shock.
“Oh my God. So romantic. As expected of the baby I love. I like you even more. But… but…” The crying youth sniffled pitifully. “I’m too big. You can’t eat all of me…”
“It’s okay. I have a way.”
Song Zang looked at Yin Chen and blinked. “Where’s the room I asked you to prepare?”
Yin Chen’s eyes were unreadable. He stared deeply at Song Zang for a long time, then said, “Wang Ming Yue, leave the office. You two. Come inside.”
Wang Ming Yue hesitated in confusion. Yin Chen drove her out with the blade.
Only the three of them remained in the office. The cameraman stood trembling outside.
“Be careful. Don’t do anything stupid.”
Yin Chen spoke meaningfully, then retreated a step.
He raised his handgun toward the ceiling light. Pulled the trigger.
Bang! The light went out. Gears turned inside the floor-to-ceiling windows. The wooden floor trembled as sections flipped. Special pure-black partitions crashed down from all four walls.
Song Zang’s vision plunged into absolute darkness.
He stared in shock. What the hell? The dark room was the mayor’s office itself?! Who would ever have expected that?! Yin Chen was far too good at hiding secrets!
“Baby… I feel awful.”
A soft sob came beside his ear, interrupting Song Zang’s momentary shock.
“I love you. I really love you. Baby, I truly don’t want to hurt you. But I can’t control myself anymore… So dark. I… I want you!!!”
“Song Zang’s” crying intensified. Greed and distortion seeped into the sound beyond even his own control. Exactly. That was what Song Zang wanted. He wanted him unable to control himself.
Song Zang said nothing. He stood in the nearly hopeless darkness and waited for the other creature to sink deeper into collapse.
The change came quickly. The crying vanished without warning. Song Zang suddenly heard clothes fall softly to the floor.
“Song Zang” disappeared.
Then came a stabbing pain directly into his brain.
Song Zang sucked in a sharp breath and collapsed to the floor, clutching his head and trembling violently.
An impossible sensation of foreign matter churned madly inside his skull. It crashed, tore, and bit savagely at the most fragile and precise organ in a human body.
His nerves spasmed. His limbs began trembling and moving beyond his control.
Endure. Song Zang bit hard into his tongue. He desperately ordered himself to remain conscious. His Resistance was high enough. As long as he stayed awake and continued resisting, he only needed to wait for one moment.
The moment the pain transferred into a reflective surface.
“Hah… hah…”
Song Zang’s breathing gradually steadied. Several seconds later, it violently accelerated again from a different pain.
There was something inside his right eye.
Tearing agony and the sensation of a foreign body shifted repeatedly between his brain and cornea.
The instant his vision went completely dark, Song Zang almost bit through his own tongue. He held his breath. Then without hesitation, reached in.
Blood sprayed. Song Zang tore out his own blood-soaked right eyeball. At the fastest speed of his life, he shoved it into his mouth and swallowed it whole.
【You consumed Aberrant · Cupid. Attack +15.】
【Congratulations! You have achieved the Legendary Achievement: Overwhelming Force Breaks All Technique!】
【You have received a special Legendary Achievement reward! Permanent Skill: Ten-Minute Invisibility!】
Song Zang collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air. With the last of his strength, he swiped across the system interface.
He ignored the new reward. Instead, he withdrew the 【Intermediate Healing Coffee】 from his permanent inventory and drank it with trembling hands.
Inside the empty socket on the right side of his face, a new healthy eyeball slowly began growing.
The wound in his nearly severed tongue healed little by little.
The next second, the door was kicked open. The mayor’s office returned to full brightness.
Yin Chen’s face was terrifyingly cold. His thin lips trembled. Ignoring the blood covering Song Zang, he pulled him into his arms, but did not dare hold too tightly.
Outside, flames lit the city. Another enormous explosion shook the sky. “What happened to your eye? Song Zang. Look at me!”
Song Zang dizzily raised his eyes. He spat out a mouthful of clotted blood from his severed tongue. It soaked Yin Chen’s thin shirt.
“Do you believe me now? My heart only has you.”
His voice was weak and indistinct. The corner of his mouth lifted. He secretly reached out and touched Yin Chen’s trembling chest muscles.
【Congratulations, Player. You have cleared the instance Cupid’s Kiss. Reward calculation in progress…】