When the Wild Beast is Trapped in the Nightmare Cycle (BL)
Chapter 135: Two Unique Props

Chapter 135: Two Unique Props

Gu Luoxin was unable to recover his soul even as Shen Nianzu announced that they were going to have a celebration lunch at a hotpot restaurant. Gu Luoxin, this poor college student who had struck gold, blindly followed the two men into Shen Nianzu’s car whose price was enough to feed him and his entire family for years.

After the repeated shock he received earlier, Gu Luoxin was already numb when they entered the luxurious restaurant and were escorted to the VIP room by the manager himself.

"Feel free to order what you want. My treat," Shen Nianzu said as he shoved the menu to Gu Luoxin, waking him up from his trance. The youth’s listless gaze slowly focused on the gold plated menu before him, only to see that no price was stated there. Just a glance was already enough for him to know that one meal here would cost him a kidney.

Shen Nianzu rang the bell to summon the waiter and proceeded to rattle off half of the dishes on the menu. Then he turned to ask Gu Luoxin, "Anything else?"

Gu Luoxin snapped his jaws shut, swallowed twice before he managed to find his voice that was lost somewhere along the way. He glanced at the sophisticated waiter and raised the menu to block his face as he whispered to the silver-haired man. "Mr. Shen, this... isn’t this too much?"

"Too much?!" The one who responded was not Shen Nianzu, but Jin Jiuchi who was gawking at him as if he had grown two heads. "How can it be too much?! It’s barely enough, okay?!"

"Shut up," Shen Nianzu shot the man a glare. "This is as much as you’re allowed to eat for lunch. Look at how much fat you have gained!" He reached out to pinch Jin Jiuchi’s stomach, but unfortunately, there was nothing to pinch as the silly husky’s body was full of compact muscles with no excess fat.

"F–Fat?!" Jin Jiuchi sputtered out in extreme shock. "Where am I—"

Alarm bells rang in Shen Nianzu’s mind and he hurriedly caught Jin Jiuchi’s wrist before the man could raise the hem of his shirt just to prove that he had no fat whatsoever to speak of. "Behave," he gritted out in anger. "Or else I will cancel half the food we have ordered!"

That threat succeeded in keeping Jin Jiuchi in check, as he turned to the jade doll with an aggrieved look.

Gu Luoxin stole glances at them and sheepishly returned the menu to the waiter. "I–I have nothing to add, thank you..."

At first, Gu Luoxin still held doubts whether they could really finish all the food. But when the hotpot soup and dishes finally arrived, he felt like his three views had been turned upside down. He had barely bent down to blow on his mutton, but in that short span of time, Jin Jiuchi had already devoured a whole plate of food and was now piling up for a second.

H–How was that even possible?!

Shen Nianzu snapped his fingers in front of Gu Luoxin’s dumbfounded face and warned him. "Hurry up and take what you want before he eats them all."

"Oh, oh!" Gu Luoxin hurriedly reached for another pair of chopsticks and tried to grab a piece of pork belly that floated in the bubbling fragrant soup. However, in that split second, another pair of chopsticks swooped in with lightning speed and snatched the coveted piece of pork belly right before his eyes.

Gu Luoxin: "..."

Jin Jiuchi: 0.0

Two pairs of eyes clashed in midair, and invisible sparks flew out.

In the end, the simple celebratory lunch turned into a war where Gu Luoxin struggled to salvage whatever remained on the soup, out of Jin Jiuchi’s evil claws. It felt as though he had sweated out all his sickness in this one meal, and when the pot was finally empty, he slumped back in his seat, rubbing his round belly with a flushed and satisfied face. "Thank you for the meal!"

Shen Nianzu set down the fork for his noodle salad and used the napkin to dab his lips elegantly. "Full?"

"Yes!" "No!"

Two different answers rang out in unison, and Gu Luoxin snapped his gaze to Jin Jiuchi in utter shock and bafflement. He had eaten more than 80% of the food, but he was still not full yet?!

Amused, Shen Nianzu decided to enlighten him, "Jin Jiuchi will not be full no matter how much you feed him so just ignore him."

Jin Jiuchi tugged on his sleeve and started to act cute, "Nian’er, I can still eat more~"

"Sure," Shen Nianzu agreed easily and rang the bell. When the waiter came in with a large plate of fresh fruits like honeydew, watermelon, and pineapple, the hope in Jin Jiuchi’s eyes immediately turned to ashes. Knowing that Shen Nianzu would not feed him any more meat, Jin Jiuchi could only gnaw on the watermelon with teary eyes. This time, Gu Luoxin could enjoy his dessert in bliss, as no one would snatch it away from him.

"Oh right!" Gu Luoxin suddenly remembered something and took out his phone. "Um, Mr. Jin..."

Shudders ran down Jin Jiuchi’s spine when he heard such a formal tone, and he quickly rolled up his sleeve to show Shen Nianzu the goosebumps on his arm. "Wow, look at this, Nian’er! I got chills!"

Gu Luoxin: "..."

’Why are these people so insistent on being informal?’ He lamented in his heart, but dared not voice it out loud. He weighed over his choices and tried again, "Then I will call you..." He almost blurted out ’Jin-ge’ before he recalled how Shen Nianzu had forbidden him from calling Jin Jiuchi so. Feeling like he had found out something he shouldn’t have, he braked himself in time and twisted his tongue, "...Da Shen?"

"Sure!" Jin Jiuchi gave him a thumbs up, and Gu Luoxin breathed a sigh of relief when Shen Nianzu didn’t show any signs of minding it either.

"Then, Da Shen..." He showed Jin Jiuchi his phone screen, which displayed his profile in the Nightmare App. He pointed to a particular prop. "Um, it seems like I accidentally took this out of the Cycle. Would you like me to return it to you?"

The prop in question turned out to be the dirty bandages that Jin Jiuchi had lent Gu Luoxin to wrap his face, as well as the ones he had robbed from the bus officer.

Shen Nianzu blinked, surprised. Who would have thought that something like that would be considered a prop?

Prop: Cursed Shrouds

Prop Level: Unique

Prop Usage: The ancient bandages will transform into powerful restraints that ensnare enemies and strip them of their supernatural abilities. This is a limited edition prop that can only be obtained in the Temple of Anubis.

Number of usage per cycle: 3/3

It was actually a unique prop!

Shen Nianzu rubbed his chin in contemplation, "Bind and nullify, it’s almost the same as Jiang Shun’s golden net. This will be more useful to you than Jin Jiuchi," he told Gu Luoxin. "Save it."

"C–Can I?" Gu Luoxin was still not convinced. After all, this was a prop that Jin Jiuchi had obtained. Wouldn’t the man be resentful that Gu Luoxin took his prop away?

Alas, contrary to his expectation, let alone resentful, Jin Jiuchi did not even seem to care about it. He nodded and echoed Shen Nianzu’s words, "Just take it, Xinxin. By the way, speaking of a prop from the Temple of Anubis..." Under Shen Nianzu and Gu Luoxin’s curious gazes, Jin Jiuchi retrieved his phone and opened the Nightmare app, turning the screen around to show them what he was talking about.

"What?!" This time, Shen Nianzu was twice as shocked. He snatched the phone from Jin Jiuchi’s hands and scrutinized the screen closer, but no matter how he looked at it, the words in front of him remained the same.

Jin Jiuchi, this silly husky, had brought the jackal headpiece out of the Cycle! That’s right, it was the exact headpiece he had donned when he pretended to be Anubis! How could it be possible?!

"Holy shit..." Gu Luoxin stared at Jin Jiuchi in astonishment as if he was a waving cat statue that could bring fortune into the house. "Da Shen, how can everything you touch turn into a prop?!"

"Hehe, ain’t I the coolest?" Jin Jiuchi grinned from ear to ear. "Should I touch everything in the next Cycle?" He asked, to which Gu Luoxin responded with a nod again and again.

Shen Nianzu sucked in cold air. He had never expected to see this headpiece again after leaving the Cycle. His throat tightened and the back of his neck turned cold. The sight of this headpiece reminded him of the time when he had cut Jin Jiuchi’s neck with his own hands. Well, technically Jin Jiuchi was the one who forced him to do it, but Shen Nianzu couldn’t help but feel like this headpiece was a bad omen.

With a displeased expression, Shen Nianzu tapped on the prop to read its description, and what he saw only intensified his discontent.

"What’s wrong, Nian’er?" Noticing the jade doll’s mood suddenly turning for the worse, Jin Jiuchi asked curiously. "Is that a useless prop?"

"No," Shen Nianzu exhaled. On the contrary, it was useful. So useful that he could not bring himself to tell Jin Jiuchi to sell it away.

Prop: Anubis’ Soul Relic

Prop Level: Unique

Prop Usage: Harness the divine essence of the jackal-headed deity and grant the player the power to unravel the boundaries of space. The relic unlocks the door to the underworld, beckoning forth a legion of ancient mummies to serve as guardians and soldiers. This is a limited edition prop that can only be obtained in the Temple of Anubis.

Number of usage per Cycle: 1/1

Gu Luoxin’s eyes widened in shock when he read the descriptions. "Isn’t this the same as borrowing Anubis’ power? Damn, why does it feel like a cheat?!"