When the Wild Beast is Trapped in the Nightmare Cycle (BL)
Chapter 361: Alienation

Chapter 361: Alienation

In the center of the circular space, five players found themselves surrounded by seven creatures, each possessing their own unique characteristics and danger.

"Fuck me..." Gu Luoxin let out a whimper, on the verge of tears. His knees buckled just by the mere sight of these creatures. "If I can get out of this alive, I will never sleep during class again. I will do my assignments the moment they’re handed out instead of waiting until the last hour..."

Qiuqiu added quietly beside him. "My mom cooked my favorite beef stew before I entered this Cycle. I told her to save it first because I couldn’t stomach anything. If I knew something like this would happen..." she burst out into tears. "I should have finished that beef stew! At least, it would have been my last meal!"

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Shen Nianzu was torn between anger and amusement as he chided them harshly. "Things are not certain yet, so why are you talking as if you’re about to lose?! Xinxin, I will kick you out of the team if you dare to give up here!"

That threat managed to scare Gu Luoxin more than the carnivorous dinosaurs in front of him. "W–Who says that I’m giving up?! I won’t! I will fight until my last breath! I..." Gritting his teeth, he decided in an instant. "I will take on those ugly dinosaurs and red-eyed monkeys!"

With a loud desperate cry, he activated his skill card, summoning the humongous and muscular cyan kingkong onto the battlefield. The creature stood on its hind legs and pounded its chest with a thunderous roar, looking no less fierce than any nightmare creature around. Seated on its shoulder with Toki in his arms, Gu Luoxin issued a command, "Attack—!"

"I–I will take on these..." Qiuqiu grimaced in a mixture of fear and disgust as she surveyed the creatures with tentacles coming out of their mouths. "...creatures."

Steeling herself, she activated her skill card once more, and this time, no other mishap occurred. She successfully summoned a creature similar to crocodile that could breathe out fire, scorching the tentacle creatures to ashes.

Without a word, Ying dealt with the man-eating plants, while Noir launched an attack against the zombies and the faceless creatures.

That left only one last challenge— the Chrono beasts.

"I will assist you as soon as I’m done here!" Ying shouted at Shen Nianzu. "Please hold on for a while."

"Don’t worry!" Shen Nianzu shouted back at her before turning his attention to the steel army that had caused him a lot of trouble throughout the entire Cycle. The corner of his lips stretched into a humorless grin, eyes gleaming in a murderous tint. "...I have been itching to dismantle you all to pieces."

Amidst the obnoxious ticking of the clock, the Chrono beasts advanced on him, prompting him to activate his skill card.

The scenery around him changed in an instant. Gone was the circular space and the starry skyscapes, replaced by the aquatic heavens stretching as far as the eye could see. The water rippled beneath Shen Nianzu’s feet, starting off small, only to transform into a tall and deadly wave when it reached the area where the Chrono beasts were, pushing them backward.

"I will not choose close-distance combat anymore," Shen Nianzu declared. "Ordinary attacks will not work on you with your formidable steel bodies, and you can block any strike with your ability to manipulate time, but... what about this ’invisible’ water? Can you stop something that essentially doesn’t exist? Are your bodies waterproof?" Shen Nianzu raised his hand and brought it forcefully, opening a deep trench beneath the Chrono beasts’ feet.

"Let’s find out about it, shall we?"

For the Chrono beasts, it might feel like an uncontrollable fall into the deep sea where the water pressure was powerful enough to crush them. But in Shen Nianzu’s eyes, all he saw were a bunch of metal bodies who suddenly lost control of themselves, collapsing like dominoes pushed by the slightest force. The beasts’ luminous eyes flickered nonstop as the metal gears and cogs in their bodies spun faster to expel the ’water’ that had entered their bodies, limbs flailing around.

Shen Nianzu’s face gradually turned pale. Suppressing these beasts demanded more energy than he’d anticipated, but he did not relent. He kept pushing himself to the limit, adding to the pressure weighing down on the steel creatures.

Taking advantage of the brief respite, Shen Nianzu scanned the battlefield, concerned about how Gu Luoxin and Qiuqiu were doing.

But much to his surprise, the two of them... were doing quite well?

Qiuqiu had summoned the perfect creature as her helper. The fiery heat pushed the tentacled creatures back, causing them to flee in fear. On the other hand, Gu Luoxin’s cyan kingkong relentlessly pummeled the dinosaurs to the ground with terrifying ferocity, its fists coated in blood and pieces of torn flesh.

Gu Luoxin himself assisted his kingkong by fending off the monkey-like creatures. He held a dagger in his hand and slashed at any that dared to climb onto the kingkong’s body, his agility and quick reflexes did not lose out to the nimble creatures. Toki even helped watch his back, spewing out a blue flame from his mouth to burn the monkeys’ fur.

Let’s not mention Ying and Noir. Both of them were powerful players, after all. Those nightmare creatures would have no chance against them, especially as they began to work together and watch each other’s back.

More and more creatures perished under the players’ hands, almost creating a mounting hill of corpses. It should have been a good thing, to see everyone holding the upper hand. But oddly, Shen Nianzu found himself unable to feel at ease.

He analyzed the situation and finally realized a critical issue they had overlooked before.

Despite the numerous kills, countless nightmare creatures kept pouring out of the passageways. For every one they defeated, two more emerged in an unending cycle! Although they seemed to be at an advantage now, sooner or later, the relentless influx of creatures would drain their energy and overwhelm them!

A sense of foreboding washed over Shen Nianzu, and he felt as though he had almost caught on to something. But before he could delve deeper into that thought, a blur of shadow flashed in front of him, and he saw Ying approaching him with a dagger drawn— or to be more precise, the struggling Chrono beasts.

Without any hesitation, Ying struck one Chrono beast right on the chest where the metal gears were located. The blade lodged inside, causing the gears to malfunction and spew sparks of electricity. Soon, the Chrono beast ceased its movements, its luminous eyes becoming dim.

Ying pulled out her dagger before moving to another one. They moved in tandem, one suppressing while the other finished the kill, and they managed to get rid of a bunch of Chrono beasts.

However, Shen Nianzu thought that they couldn’t keep this up in the long run.

It was because a new wave of Chrono beasts had appeared yet again.

Breathing heavily, Ying straightened up and turned to him. She opened her mouth to speak, only to end up surprised when she saw Shen Nianzu’s appearance. "You..."

Similarly, Shen Nianzu was caught off guard as well. He had not paid close attention to Ying because he was busy suppressing the Chrono beasts, but now that he took a closer look, he noticed that Ying’s eyes... they were turning into slits! Not only that, her skin also took on a faintly green hue!

"What happened to you?!" Ying marched toward him and grabbed his arm, frowning. She did not seem to be aware of the changes in her own body. Shen Nianzu wanted to tell her, but then all the words ended up being stuck in his throat when he followed her line of sight and saw a gleam of silver on his hand.

It was not the familiar silver of scales, but... metal. His skin was morphing into metal, similar to the Chrono beasts.

Shen Nianzu’s mouth hung open in shock. What the hell was going on...?

"Xinxin!"

Noir’s alarmed shout drew both of their attention, and they turned to see Gu Luoxin falling from the kingkong’s body. "Ah—ah—" His shrill cries echoed in the space as he grabbed his legs, which were twitching and spasming uncontrollably. "My legs... I can’t feel my legs!!"

Almost at the same time, Qiuqiu let out a horrified scream as she watched tiny eyes appearing on the skin of her arm. "W–What is this?! Help!!!"

Shen Nianzu attempted to rush toward them, when his peripheral vision caught sight of a peculiar movement. He snapped his head up to take in the starry skyscapes, realizing that the stars were now moving and twinkling in a bizarre manner. As Shen Nianzu watched, those stars seemed to form a series of words.

Alienation: 37%

Selection emotion: despair