When the Wild Beast is Trapped in the Nightmare Cycle (BL)
Chapter 314: Echo of the Past (3)

Chapter 314: Echo of the Past (3)

A deluge of crimson beams began its descent from the city center, but the speed in which it was spreading was disconcerting as it showed signs that it was moving in their direction. Screams and horrified cries pierced the night, intermingled with the deafening roars of the mighty creatures. The whole world was awashed in an ominous crimson hue akin to a bloody curtain that foretold the impending doom.

After being stupefied for a few seconds, the three people in the dorm room snapped back to reality and cursed under their breaths. "Damn it, let’s go! We have to get out of here, now!"

They flung open the door and bolted outside.

Nian’s friend, upon seeing that he was frozen on the spot with a dazed look, hurriedly pulled him down from the upper bunk bed. "Get a grip of yourself, Nian! We have to run!"

Nian did not even have the time to gather his churning thoughts. He scrambled to grab a coat and slipped it over his pajamas before following his friend out.

As there was no elevator, Nian and the others were forced to join the tumultuous rush down the stairs. Hundreds of people crammed into the narrow space, and Nian’s thin body was almost pulverized by the frenzied force pushing and shoving each other. At some point, Nian lost sight of his friend. The scene had become an utter mess, and his top priority right now was to break free from the surging crowd so that he could breathe properly.

"Don’t push! Don’t push!"

"Oww, who is stepping on my foot?! Move away!"

"Fuck, why are the people in front so slow?! Can’t you run a bit faster?!"

Nian was overwhelmed by the pandemonium. He felt like a single boat struggling to stay afloat amidst the furious waves. His fingers twitched involuntarily and he made a subconscious gesture as though pulling something out of thin air. Alas because nothing came to mind, his touch found only empty air. He had an inexplicable sense that he should be able to summon something, and the feeling of emptiness only left flustered. The brief lapse of concentration nearly resulted in a fatal outcome; he did not gain a proper footing on his next step, and his entire person tilted forward.

"Nian!" His friend’s alarmed shout echoed distantly.

Nian’s pupils shrank and his breath caught in his throat. Oh no! If he were to fall here, he would surely become a victim of mass stampede and be trampled to death beneath the chaos!

In that critical moment, Nian’s mind turned blank and his survival instinct kicked in. His hand grabbed onto the stair railing as he spun his body gracefully in midair, bypassing the densest part of the crowd and landed on the lower floor in a crouching position. When he raised his head, he saw his friend gawking at him in sheer astonishment.

"The hell..." he blurted out and flashed a thumbs-up. "I didn’t know you were so capable!"

Nian’s ears buzzed, and every cell in his body was boiling with adrenaline. Truth to be told, he did not know he could do something like this either. However, now was not the time to discuss this matter. "Let’s go!" He sprang to his feet and continued to make his way out of the building.

This time their journey went unimpeded as most people on the lower floors had evacuated first. As they rushed through the corridors, Nian caught sight of a round and red emergency button on the wall, but he merely gave it a passing look before shifting his focus to the front.

Students poured out of the building like a black tide, many still in their pajamas like Nian, some even shirtless or barefoot. Women were sported with messy hair and bare faces. Yet none of them could afford to care about their appearances right now, not when the scene of the apocalypse was unfolding right before their eyes. Fearful cries and desperate questions filled the air.

"What the hell is going on?!"

"A–Are we going to die...?"

"Where is the dean? Shouldn’t we have an evacuation plan?!"

Amidst the chaotic scene, another announcement was made through the speaker. "Students of Honglei, please calm down and remain in place. We have just received word from the government. Troops have been dispatched to escort us to safety. Reinforcement will arrive in fifteen minutes, so we urge everyone to stay calm and maintain order!"

Fifteen minutes? Could they hold out that long? Nian wondered as he stared at the increasingly crimson sky. The beams were closing in on them, and an ominous premonition coursed through him. He had no idea where this idea came from but his gut feeling told him that everything would be over once the crimson beams enveloped the entire city.

Other students also echoed Nian’s doubts. "Fifteen minutes?! What if the monsters reach us first?!"

"Isn’t there an underground shelter somewhere nearby?!"

"I don’t want to die... help, I don’t want to!"

The more level-headed students realized that there was nothing they could do aside from waiting for reinforcement, and they forced themselves to remain in place despite the anxiety. But there were a few who almost lost their minds out of fear. The very sight of the crimson sky and the enormous monsters was more than enough to erode their sanity. Shrieks reverberated through the air as they fled like headless flies, scrambling to get as far away as possible from the crimson radar. They were akin to a horde of mad bulls breaking away from the constraints of people who were trying to talk some sense into them.

Just then...

A crimson beam landed right on their midst, right on one of the fleeing students.

"AHHH!!!"

The barely maintained peace was shattered in an instant, and chaos erupted. The people around him were desperate to run away from the crimson onslaught, but Nian stood frozen in his tracks, his eyes taking in the grotesque transformation that happened to the student. Her slender body began to swell in size, unlike a balloon, but more like something was wiggling beneath her skin, pushing and prodding, as though trying to claw its way out.

In the distant part of his mind, Nian knew that it was the shape of a child’s hand – countless of them.

He only snapped back to his senses when someone bumped into him hard, causing him to stagger. By then, the student’s body had already mutated beyond recognition. "AH—! HELP... HELP ME!!!" An agonizing scream erupted from her throat as she clawed at herself. Blood gushed from her eyes, nose, ears and mouth.

Nian’s scalp tingled with numbness as alarm bells rang inside his mind. His instinct spurred him to move and he ran in the opposite direction, joining the panicked throng. But at the last moment, he risked a glance over his shoulder, and a morbid scene was burned into his eyes.

The female student had fallen onto her knees, though her upper body was twisted backward in an eerie manner to reveal her swollen neck. Her screams of agony were cut off abruptly when the lower half of face burst apart. A few bloody tentacles squirmed out, but instead of suction cups, what lay at the end of each tentacle was a child’s hand.

"...hehe..."

"Hehehe...."

"...free... we are free!"

The nightmarish laughter of countless children overlapped with each other, a dissonant chorus that reverberated in Nian’s ears, seeping dread into his heart. Despair clawed at him as more crimson beams rained down upon them, birthing horrendous monstrosities from within the student’s tortured body.

Nian’s feet moved where his instinct guided him, and unbeknownst to him, he was heading to the back of the university. Along the way, a whirlwind of thoughts swirled in his mind.

What the hell were those creatures?! How was he supposed to survive past this?! Or would he really die...?

"AH—!" A blood-curdling scream pierced the air, and Nian reflexively turned to the direction of the sound, his eyes widening in horror when he saw that a student mere meters away was biting the neck of another! It was not only one, but a few similar episodes also happened around him. Students succumbed to madness without a warning and exhibited cannibalism symptoms as they pounced on the person closest to them, and the victims... they either died or transformed into the same creature!

"Fuck, zombies! They’re zombies ahhh!!!"

Everyone turned and ran in the opposite direction, bumping and shoving each other. Damn it, this area was not safe either!

Nian’s frantic gaze scanned the surroundings in search of a temporary refuge, when all of a sudden, someone collided into him, sending him stumbling backward. However, relief washed over him as he recognized that it was his friend who had been separated from him since the fall of the first crimson beam.

"You..."

Nian had just uttered that one word when the man’s expression abruptly twisted into absolute horror. With a strangled cry, he shoved Nian away and scrambled to make his escape, leaving Nian sprawled on the ground, bewildered.

What was going on? Why would his friend look at him like that?

Nonetheless, he couldn’t waste any more time here. Everything could be mulled over later – he had to escape first and foremost! He clambered to his feet and winced when he felt a sharp pinch of pain from where he had grazed his palm against the sharp rock. Ignoring it, Nian was prepared to flee, but then a sight ahead caused him to freeze in place.

A few meters ahead of him was the cafeteria. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, he witnessed the terrifying scene of a zombie crouching over someone else while feasting upon their bloody flesh. The flickering lamps overhead cast eerie shadows over the victim’s convulsing body, intensifying the sinister aura. Even from a distance, he seemed to be able to hear the satisfied growls emanating from the zombie’s throat as well as the sickening sound of flesh being torn apart.

However, it was not the gruesome sight that made his blood run cold.

It was the victim.

From where Nian was standing, all he could see was the victim’s clothes and body shape. But it was already more than enough to send a jolt of recognition through him, because he realized that... the victim gave him an extremely familiar feeling. Not only that, they were also wearing the same clothes – same pajamas, same coat and even same shoes...

Nian abruptly recalled his friend’s horrified reaction upon seeing him earlier. It was as if the man had seen a ghost. Perhaps... Nian might have hit too close to home.

Nian’s heart thudded heavily on his chest and a chilling notion crept into his thoughts, filling him with thick disbelief. "Impossible..."