When the Wild Beast is Trapped in the Nightmare Cycle (BL)
Chapter 349: Core of the Labyrinth

Chapter 349: Core of the Labyrinth

The glowing lines eventually connected to form a door and the solid wall vanished, replaced by a pitch-black darkness that led to an unknown destination.

Mission accomplished, Toki slumped into Gu Luoxin’s arms with an exhausted look and emitted a series of miserable chirps, begging for more headpats which the young man was more than willing to provide. Toki’s eyes turned half-lidded with bliss as he purred loudly from his throat.

Buzz Cut was eager to step inside and escape from the Chrono beasts, but Ying stopped him, "Wait a moment."

"What?" Buzz Cut asked impatiently, though his tone was rather mild because he knew that Ying was much stronger than him. "Do you have a better choice?"

Ying looked at the Chrono beasts a few meters behind them before shifting her gaze to the new door Toki had created. "Where does this lead? We have deviated from the plans. Can Nian still find us later?"

Her concerns were valid. After all, they were supposed to enter ’Opposite Morality World’ and meet up with the future Shen Nianzu there. Now they had stranded into another attraction, with no knowledge of what lay beyond the darkness.

Shen Nianzu scrunched up his little face in deep contemplation and asked, "He doesn’t leave you a method to contact him?"

Ying shook her head, "The earpiece can only work if you’re on the same timeline."

Shen Nianzu was stunned when he heard that. It’s not true, he wanted to say. After all, his other self had once contacted him to warn him about the Chrono beast who had disguised itself as Jin Jiuchi. If not for that warning, perhaps Shen Nianzu would have been dead. Even though the connection was extremely terrible and the time was cut off short, they still communicated regardless. Maybe... it was only possible for the same person? Shen Nianzu was eager to test his hypothesis, but a certain someone was getting more and more impatient.

"Well, if you don’t want to go first, then I will!" Buzz Cut forced his way to the door and stepped in without an ounce of hesitation. "Anywhere is better than here!"

"Eeek—!" Qiuqiu yelped in fear when she saw that the Chrono beasts were upon them, only less than five meters away. "I–I will go in too!"

Gu Luoxin and the two Jin Jiuchis instinctively turned to Shen Nianzu for opinion, eliciting a sigh from the latter. He made a decision and took a step forward, saying, "Let’s go."

They needed to get out of this place first; he could try to contact the other Shen Nianzu afterward!

Sensing the group’s intention to flee, the gears and cogs within those metal beasts’ bodies spun faster and their mechanical legs brought them to reach the door quicker. They even activated their power to slow down time around the players. However, it was as if there was a protective barrier around the door, blocking them.

Looking around, their luminous eyes eventually settled on a pair of bright blue eyes staring at them through Gu Luoxin’s shoulder. Those eyes carried a dark and ominous warning.

The beasts froze, and they could only watch as their prey escaped through the door in the wall, just before it sealed itself shut once more.

***

As they ventured into the darkness, Shen Nianzu tapped on his earpiece repeatedly, attempting to contact his other self from Team 14. The earpiece let out a noisy crackle, but otherwise remained silent. Shen Nianzu did not give up and tried to establish a connection again and again, until at last, his ears finally caught something different!

The distinct sounds of heavy breathing filled his ears, followed by discordant noises of combat, though it sounded muffled as though a thick wall was standing between them. Anxious, Shen Nianzu spoke up urgently, "Hello? Hello, can you hear me? Nian?"

Two pairs of glowing eyes turned to him – one silver and the other black with a bright golden pupil – but Shen Nianzu’s whole attention was focused on the sounds that traveled through his earpiece.

"...who..."

It was a successful connection!

Without wasting any time, Shen Nianzu hastily conveyed his message, "This is Nian from Team 4. There was a little accident, and we were forced to enter ’The Endless Staircase’! We’re on our way out of this attraction now, how about you?"

"Endless... staircase... you..."

"What?" Shen Nianzu raised his voice to ask. "What is it?!"

"Core... be careful...!"

Bzzz!!

A muffled cry escaped Shen Nianzu’s lips as a faint jolt of electricity ran across his scalp, making his vision darken for a second. He felt as if a thick needle had stabbed him right through his eardrum. Even his own voice sounded distorted in his ears.

"Nian’er!" When he managed to regain his bearings, he found himself supported by the twins who fussed over him anxiously. "Nian’er, are you okay?! Your right ear bleeding!"

...No wonder it hurt like a bitch. Shen Nianzu pulled out his earpiece, knowing that it was broken for real. Perhaps this was the price of forcibly establishing a connection between timelines. Grimacing, he rubbed his ear and showed the two dumplings a reassuring smile. "It’s okay, it will be fine after a while."

His right ear might be out of service for the time being, but it was worth the effort to try. At least he now knew that his other self seemed to be tangled in a battle, and... what did he say again? Core?

"Did you manage to contact him?" Ying’s voice came from somewhere ahead.

"Yeah," Shen Nianzu responded, squinting when he spotted a faint flicker of light in the distance. "I think he’s trying to warn us."

"About what?"

"The core," he stated solemnly. "We might be reaching the core of the labyrinth."

"What?!" Gu Luoxin, Qiuqiu and Buzz Cut exclaimed in shock.

As they stepped into the light, the brightness engulfed them like a relentless tide, forcing them to squeeze their eyes shut. And when they opened their eyes again, they found themselves in an utterly different realm.

"Wow..."

"What the hell is this place?"

The massive, circular space that lay before them appeared nothing like the university building anymore. They had emerged from one path, but all around them there were countless other paths leading to different destinations within the labyrinth. The sheer expanse of this area could easily house thousands, if not tens of thousands of people.

However, it was not the size that left everyone awestruck.

It was the ceiling. Calling them nonexistent was not right either, because they were greeted by an expansive star-studded sky. But what stole the show was a colossal golden pendulum suspended in the center. With every swing, one star faded while the other flickered to life. Under such a spectacular and breathtaking spectacle, it was like they were so small and insignificant in comparison.

"I had no idea that such a place existed here..." silver-haired Jin Jiuchi murmured, while his twin was too busy admiring the scenery to the point where he couldn’t close his jaws.

"You haven’t been here before?" Shen Nianzu inquired, to which the little one responded with a shake of his head.

In Gu Luoxin’s arms, Toki suddenly behaved restlessly, almost causing the young man to lose his grip. Gu Luoxin quickly tightened his arms around the anxious baby and tried to calm him down by patting his head, "What is it? What’s wrong, Toki?"

"Chirp chirp chirp!" Toki pointed a claw upward toward the gigantic pendulum clock, yet unfortunately no one understood what he was trying to say.

"Hahahaha!!"

Out of nowhere, a booming laughter reverberated through the space, and all eyes turned to Momoko who had appeared a few meters away. In an instant, they readied their weapons, eyes vigilant and cautious. But Momoko appeared so smug, gazing at them with a mocking glint in her blue eyes as though they were mere insignificant ants.

"I must commend you for coming this far," Momoko said, her voice dripping with condescension. "But sadly, this is as far as you will go!"

With a sudden and unexpected motion, she kneeled before the colossal pendulum clock and extended a hand toward it in an act of reverence and submission. "O’ Master Khronos, Ruler of Time. Here stand before you a group of tourists who have failed to discover the labyrinth’s exit even after going through three attractions. As the creator of these rules and the sovereign of this realm, please bestow your judgment upon them!"

Dong—!

The pendulum swing let out a resounding echo as though responding to her plea.

Shen Nianzu’s eyes flew wide in shock as he recalled a particular rule.

Rule 4: If you are still unable to find the exit to the labyrinth after the third attraction, you will need to confront the Chrono Beasts.

Damn it, out of the frying pan and into the fire! They had just escaped from a horde of Chrono beasts, and now they had to confront them again! Momoko must have been biding her time, awaiting this perfect opportunity to vent her anger on them!

The same realization struck the others as well. Buzz Cut let out a furious roar and drew out a small dagger from his belt, hurtling it toward Momoko. "You damn brat!"

However, the blade came to an abrupt halt when it was a mere hair’s breadth away from Momoko’s skin. She wore a sly smirk and taunted him,

"You dare to attack the servant of God in the presence of God Himself?"

"W–Wha—" Buzz Cut’s eyes widened in alarm as he sensed sudden changes in his body. His smooth and supple skin began to dry and wrinkle, and faint lines appeared on his face. His dyed hair lost its luster and turned dull with a few strands of gray in between. Even his once straight posture suddenly hunched. He looked as if he had just aged thirty years in mere seconds.

He looked at his own hands in panic, "W–What is happening to me?!"

Alas, nobody could afford to spare attention for his predicament as a familiar sound filled the air – the relentless ticking of a clock. It was accompanied by the ominous thunder of countless footsteps, strong enough to shake the ground beneath them.

From various paths that led to different parts of the labyrinth, a dozen Chrono beasts burst out, and this time they were twice as massive as the ones that had pursued them earlier!