When the Wild Beast is Trapped in the Nightmare Cycle (BL)
Chapter 177: Space Distortion

Chapter 177: Space Distortion

"Da Shen!"

Shen Nianzu sprinted down the dim and maze-like hallway, his sharp gaze scanning the surroundings. "Xinxin? Are you guys here?!" His voice echoed through the empty space and bounced back to him, but he still did not get the response he was waiting for.

Unlike Jin Jiuchi who kept running until he was out of breath like the fool he was, Shen Nianzu knew better than to waste his energy on such a futile action. He halted on his tracks and massaged his temples, cursing under his breath, "I have been too careless..."

He had no idea how he became separated from his teammates or how he ended up in this predicament. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep in his room, and the next thing he knew, he was trapped here.

Staring at the neverending and desolate hallway, he seemed to be able to guess the ability of the strongest nightmare creature on this ship, aka the ’queen’ — space distortion.

Or in other words, it could manipulate space and create separate realms to trap people inside. Worse still, it could even hide itself. No wonder they could not find it in the crew areas last night. If the ’queen’ truly had the ability to create a separate space, then they would never be able to find it even if they turned the ship upside down!

Shen Nianzu had guessed that an accident would happen sometime between tonight and tomorrow, but he did not expect the ’queen’ to act so swiftly! What a pain in the ass!

Shen Nianzu’s expression darkened in dread. He was fairly certain he could find his way out alive, but he had no idea about his two teammates. The thought of the reckless Jin Jiuchi and timid Gu Luoxin was enough to give him a massive headache. No, he had to find them as soon as possible before everything was too late!

With determination etched on his face, Shen Nianzu summoned his transparent blade, ready to break his way out through force. But before he could make a move, one of the doors ahead swung open and walked out Lily and her teammate, Scarred Man.

Both sides were caught off guard by the sudden encounter.

Scarred Man, upon recognizing Shen Nianzu at a glance, growled in anger, "It’s you!" He could no longer count how much humiliation he had endured throughout the day because of this group of players. First, he was scolded by the crew members and NPC guests for barging into a stranger’s room like a madman. Then he was paralyzed, mocked, and eventually knocked out and dumped in the hallway on the ninth floor, becoming the subject of ridicule for passersby. On top of that, he had also been severely berated by Lily!

The second he saw Shen Nianzu, all the anger rushed to the top of his head and he rolled up his sleeves, intending to pinch this little pretty boy to death. Now that he had control over his body, he had nothing to fear anymore! He barked out, "Lily, let me just—"

Alas, he had not taken more than two steps yet when Lily stretched out a hand to stop him.

Scarred Man instinctively feared her and dared not offend her, but it did not mean he could take this lying down. His expression turned gloomy. "What are you doing? Don’t tell me... you want him because of his pretty face? Don’t worry, I will keep him alive after I’m done with him."

However, even after his long passionate spiel, Lily was unmoved. Instead, she only gave him a mocking sneer that caused his heart to skip a beat. W–Why was she looking at him like that?

"You want to mess with him?" Lily scoffed and poked her nicely manicured fingernail on his chest, the contempt on her face palpable. "Wake up. I’m saving your ass here. If you go forward, you will only send your life to him on a silver platter. Do you believe me?"

It took a while for the full implication behind Lily’s words to sink into his mind. In the next moment, his pupils shook in the mixture of dread and astonishment. "W-What are you..."

Too lazy to waste her words, Lily turned away with a disdainful harrumph and measured Shen Nianzu with vigilance, "I have only met someone who wields that transparent blade once before, but last time, he was a child. You..."

Shen Nianzu had no qualms in exposing his disguise, "That’s right, it was me."

As Lily scrutinized him, he was also observing the other party. He took in the normal interaction between Lily and her teammate, noting how she did not seem to notice that something was off with Scarred Man. Without exposing anything on his face, he nodded at her, "We met again."

Scarred Man was flabbergasted as he looked back and forth between them. "Y–You two know each other?" He had never seen Lily exercise such vigilance and reservation in front of someone else before, as she had always been unbridled and brazen like a mad horse. He couldn’t help but feel a hint of unease creeping into his heart. Why was she acting like this? Because of that blade? He tried to examine the blade in the man’s hand but unfortunately, he did not find anything special about it.

Then, Lily’s next words shattered his peace of mind. "What are you doing here, Nian? Is this your true age or... are you using a prop this time?" She swept her gaze over Shen Nianzu’s body with interest. Who was she kidding? This was the first high quality ’meal’ she had found on the ship! Sadly, this one was a hard iron plate and she feared that she would bring more harm than good to herself if she pursued her greed...

On the other hand, Scarred Man’s jaw almost dropped to the floor when he heard how Lily addressed this pretty young man. He stared at Shen Nianzu as if he had seen a ghost. "N–Nian?! The top 50 player on the leaderboard?!" He almost bit down on his tongue when he said that.

"So you challenged him without even knowing who he is? How foolish!" Lily rolled her eyes, wishing that she could ignore this pig teammate who did nothing but embarrass her. "Wait a moment," she thought of something, and her face instantly darkened. "You told me they’re a group of four. Describe their appearance to me again." She had assumed that Scarred Man was just messing with a group of low-level players, so she nonchalantly brushed it off when he complained to her. But if one of the players he was talking about was Nian, then it was another case altogether. Nian’s teammates couldn’t be ordinary players!

Scarred Man had a faint hunch that things did not look good for him. After a brief inner struggle, he honestly described the players’ appearances to Lily. When he got to the man with emerald eyes and the black cat companion, Lily sucked in a breath, and her gaze became furious.

"Y–You even dared to mess with Noir! What do you not dare to do?!" She gnashed her teeth hatefully. The longer she looked at Scarred Man, the more she felt like he was an eyesore. She truly regretted it. She should not have brought him along if she knew he would stupidly offend two top players!

Shen Nianzu, however, was not interested in their quarrel. He was tight on time, eager to find Jin Jiuchi and Gu Luoxin as soon as possible before any accident could befall them. After all, he was their leader and thus, he was responsible for their safety. "Are you done?" He cut off impatiently. "If you are, please make way. I have somewhere to be."

But Lily quickly stopped him. "Wait a moment, why are you in such a hurry?" She chuckled, and her blood red lips curved into an enticing smile. "We are trapped here. Shouldn’t we seize the advantage to get to know each other better?"

Shen Nianzu’s eyes immediately turned cold and he gripped his blade tighter, his entire body tensed in preparation to fight.

"For example..."she drawled her words, and the next second, her body vanished from the spot only to appear right in front of Shen Nianzu! Shocked, he reflexively raised his blade to block her, resulting in their proximity, so close that he could smell the thick scent of blood on her. "...how about we start with a little taste?"

Shen Nianzu’s heart instantly sank to the pit of his stomach. So fast! Lily’s skill card had nothing to do with transportation; it was simply a case of the more blood she consumed, the stronger she became. However, this was just the basic usage of her skill card, and she had another combo that was even more troublesome than the last.

Right now, all her physical attributes had been heightened to the max, making her no different than an Elite player!

This was nothing but a parasitic skill card that relied on its prey to survive!